Divided in Death

“Agreed. He’s an amateur who thinks he’s a pro. His life’s screwed. He’s pissed off and scared, with no place to go and nothing much to lose. Civilians are our first priority because he won’t think twice about taking any out, and we don’t know what kind of firepower he’s got in there. We remove the civilians, box him in. Take him out. And we want him breathing. He’s a key to the case against Sparrow. I don’t want to lose him.”

“You’re going to end up fighting the spooks for him,” McNab said. “They’re going to want him.”

“Exactly. I need Bissel to lock down the case on conspiracy to murder. I want to win this one. Feeney, I need you working with the geeks-with Ewing and Tokimoto,” she corrected. “However much Roarke trusts them, I want you at the helm on whatever electronics go into this op. Ewing’s tough, and she’s pulling her weight, but she might lose it in the crunch.”

“She’s held up better than most, but I’m with you on that.” Feeney dug out his bag of almonds. “This is going to shake her some. I’ll stay on top of it.”

“The Crisis Team is backup, backup only. I don’t want them cowboying this. Four of us go in, two teams of two. McNab and Peabody, I don’t want you guys thinking of each other as anything but cops. No personal feelings go through the door. If you can’t deal, tell me now.”

“It’s a little hard for me to think of McNab as a cop when he’s wearing a shirt the color of a persimmon.” Peabody sent him an arched look. “But otherwise, no problem.”

“We’ll do the job,” McNab assured her. “And this shirt matches my underwear.”

“That’s something we all needed to know. If we all agree to keep our minds off McNab’s underwear, let’s get started.”

“You said four of us,” Peabody pointed out.

“Roarke goes in. McNab can handle any electronics Bissel may have on site, but he’s not trained in weaponry. Not the kind we may have to handle. Roarke knows his war toys. And he knows how to go through a door. Any objections to that?”

“Not from me.” McNab shrugged. “I’ve seen his weapon collection. It’s beyond.”

“Then let’s put both ends of this team back together and close this down. Feeney, I just need a word with you.”

She waited until they were alone, and shook her head when he held the bag of almonds in her direction. “The… data we discussed before, the personal data that had come into my hands. I wanted to let you know it’s not going to be a problem. No action will be taken.”

“Okay.”

“I put you in a bad spot by telling you about the data, and my concerns. I shouldn’t have done that.”

He folded the top of the bag, put it back in his pocket. “We go back too far for you to say that to me. Because we do, and I know where it’s coming from, I’m not going to be pissed at you for saying it.”

“Thanks. My head’s been pretty screwed up.”

“On straight now?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s load up the rockets and get the sucker launched.”

“I’ve got one more thing to do, then I’ll be right behind you.” She went to her desk when he walked out, turned on her ‘link.

“Nadine Furst.”

“Dallas. It looks like I’m going to be able to clear my schedule in a couple hours. Three anyway. Since we missed that lunch, why don’t we get together today. Just you and me.”

“Sounds like fun. Where should I meet you?”

“I’ve got some business to take care of. Why don’t you meet me at Fifth Avenue, between Twenty-second and Twenty-third. Around two. My treat.”

“Perfect. Looking forward to seeing you.”

Eve disco

She joined the others in the lab as Roarke demonstrated equipment for Feeney.

She frowned at the screen, and the colors moving on it. “I assume this is not a new vid game.”

“Sensor. Configured to body heat. You’re looking at Summerset puttering around in the kitchen downstairs. You input the coordinates of the location you want to scan, and the nature of the object you want to track. It’ll read through solid objects like walls, doors, glass, and so on. Steel. Flatiron’s a steel skeleton. The distance it will work depends on basic interference. Other objects with similar makeup will, of course, interfere. But once you’ve homed in on your target, you can lock and follow.”

“What’s this?” She tapped the screen where a red-and-orange blob circled. “Is that-”

“The cat.” Roarke gri

“Nearly. Another moment.”

“We’re locked on,” Roarke explained. “Interface the audio sensor, and find the right combination of filters, and we should be able to pick up sound.”

“Two floors down? Without direct linking or satellite bounce?”

“We’re utilizing satellite. With equipment we’ve got in the lab, we’d be able to see and count Galahad’s whiskers. But with this portable ‘link, we’ll make do with body heat image.” Roarke glanced up. “It should be enough for your purposes.”

“Yeah. It’ll work just fine.” She pursed her lips when she heard what might have been violins coming from the equipment, then the unmistakable sound of Galahad’s most persuasive meows.

“This,” McNab said with an avaricious sigh, “kicks solid ass.”

“How about his security and monitors?” Eve asked.

“I can shut them down by remote. We can bypass his building audio so he won’t hear the evacuation orders. We can have this equipment set up, on site, in twenty minutes, have him sca

“We start boxing and locking him first, then evacuate. We’ll need to clear out a space on the floor below his for base. Keep that quick and quiet, then set up this equipment there. Feeney?”

“On that.”

“Peabody, break out the body armor for the takedown team. Load up. Roarke, with me.”

“Always,” he said and followed her out.

She said nothing until they were back in her office. She checked her weapon, her clutch piece, then opened a drawer in her workstation and took out a stu

He turned the weapon over in his hand. He had more powerful and certainly more efficient weapons of his own. But it was, he decided, the thought that counted. “You’re not going to make me ask.”

“No. You’ve earned it. I want you going through the door with me. More than that, I don’t know what he’s got in there. When we go in, I need you to focus on the weaponry. Leave him to me. Leave him to me, Roarke.”

“Understood, Lieutenant.”

“There’s something else. I’ve given Nadine a head’s-up. When this is over, if you wanted to say something to the media about how Bissel and Sparrow screwed over an employee and attempted to steal data from Securecomp, to sabotage a Code Red and so on, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings.”

“You’re feeding them to the dogs.” His lips twitched as he skimmed a finger down the dent in her chin. “Why, Lieutenant. You excite me.”

“I figure they’ll be cleaning up the blood and bones for some time. And a lot of the blood and bones are going to be scattered throughout HSO. There’s all kinds of payback, Roarke.”

“Yes.” He slipped the weapon into his pocket so he could take her face in his hands, lay his lips on her brow. “There is. If this satisfies you, it’ll do me as well.”

“Then let’s go kick some righteous ass.”

It made it stickier, and just a little nerve-racking, to have Commander Whitney and Chief Tibble step into the operation as observers. She did her best to ignore them as she coordinated her perso

“Both protocol and courtesy demand that the HSO be informed if and when we verify the location of Blair Bissel,” Tibble commented.