Big Jack

“Shut down the coms and screens,” Eve ordered Feeney through her communicator. “We’ll have to take the door.”

“Shutting them down.”

She turned to McNab. “Nice job. I’d’ve bought it.”

“If that was Dix and he wasn’t under duress, he’d have opened the door.” McNab drew his weapon from the base of his spine and holstered it at his side.

“Yeah. Take care of the locks,” she told Roarke. “Weapons on stun,” she ordered the team. “I don’t want a hostage taken down. Hold fire until my command. Peabody and I go in first. You take the right. McNab, you’re left. You, you, you, fan out, second wave. I want this door secured behind us. Roarke?”

“Nearly there, Lieutenant.” He was crouched, delicately disarming locks and alarms with tools as thin as threads.

She squatted beside him, lowered her voice. “You’re not going in.”

“Yes, I don’t believe I heard my name in today’s lineup.”

She suspected he was armed-illegally-and that he would-probably-be discreet about it. But she couldn’t justify the risk. “I can’t take a civilian through the door until the suspect is contained. Not with this many cops around.”

He shifted his gaze and those laser blue eyes met hers. “You don’t need to explain or attempt to quell even my infamous ego.”

“Good.”

“And you’re in.”

She nodded. “You’re a handy guy to have around. Now step back so we can take this asshole.”

She knew it was hard for him to do just that, to stand aside while she went through the door. Whittier was almost certainly armed, and he would kill without hesitation. But Roarke straightened, moved away from the team.

She’d remember that, she thought-or she’d try to remember that-when things got heated between them as they tended to do. She’d remind herself that, when it mattered to her, he’d stepped aside so she could do her job.

“Feeney? Emergency evac?”

“It’s down. He’s boxed.”

“We’re on the door. Peabody?”

“Ready, sir.”

With her weapon in her right hand, Eve eased the unsecured door open with her left. With one sharp nod, she booted it, went in low and fast.

“Police!” She swept, eyes and weapon, as Peabody peeled to the right and McNab came in from behind and shot left. “Trevor Whittier, this is the police. This building is surrounded. All exits are blocked. Come out, hands up and in full view.”

She used hand signals to direct her team to other areas, other rooms as she moved forward.

“You’ve got nowhere to go, Trevor.”

“Stay back! I’ll kill him. I have a hostage. I have Dix, and I’ll kill him.”

She held up a closed fist, signaling her team to stop, to hold positions, then eased around the corner.

“I said I’ll kill him.”

“I heard you.” Eve stayed where she was, looking through the open glass doors. Light glittered on the toy-decked shelves and on the blood smeared on the white floor.

Trevor sat in the center of it, the prize he’d killed for beside him. He had an arm hooked around Dix’s neck, and a knife to his throat.

Dix’s eyes were closed, and there was blood on the otherwise spotless floor. But she could see the subtle rise and fall of Dix’s chest. Alive then. Still alive.

They looked like two overgrown boys who’d played just a little too hard and rough.

She kept her weapon trained and steady. “Looks like you already did. Kill him.”

“He’s breathing.” Trevor dug the point of the knife into flesh, carving a shallow slice. Blood dribbled over the blade. “I can change that, and I will. Put down that weapon.”

“That’s my line, Trevor. There are two ways you can leave this room. You can leave it walking, or we can carry you out.”

“I’ll kill him first. Even if you stun me, I’ll have time to slit his throat. You know it, or you’d have hit me already. You want to keep him alive, you back out. You back out now!”

“Kill him and the only thing I put down is you. Do you want to die today, Trevor?”

“You want him to die?” He jerked Dix’s head back, and stirring slightly, Dix moaned. “If you don’t clear this place, that’s what’s going to happen. We start negotiating, and we start now. Back out.”

“You’ve been watching too many vids. You think I’m going to deal with you over a single civilian who’s probably going to die anyway from the looks of things? Grab some reality, Trev.” She smiled when she said it, wide and white. “I got pictures in my head of the two women you killed. It’d just fucking make my day to end you. So go ahead, finish him off.”

“You’re bluffing. Do you think I’m stupid?”

“Yeah, actually. You’re sitting there on the floor trying to talk me into negotiating when you’re holding a knife, and I have this handy little thing. You know what they do when they’re on full? It’s not pretty. And I’m getting a little tired of this conversation. You want to die over a toy truck, your choice.”

“You have no idea what I have. Clear the others out. I know there are others out there. Clear them out, and we’ll talk. I’ll make you the deal of a lifetime.”

“You mean the diamonds.” She gave a quick, rude snort. “Jesus, you are stupid. I gave you too much credit. I’ve already got them, Trevor. That’s a plant. Set you up. I set you up and used that clown for bait. Worked like a charm. It’s just an old toy, Trevor, and you fell for it.”

“You’re lying!” There was shock now, and there was anger, clear on his face.

As his head whipped around toward the bright yellow truck, and his knife hand lowered a fraction, Eve shot a stream into his right shoulder. His arm spasmed, and the knife fell from his shaking fingers.

Even as his body jerked back in reaction, she was across the room, with her weapon pressed to his throat. “Gee, you caught me. I was lying.”

She was glad he was conscious, glad she could see it sink in. Tears of rage gathered in the corners of his eyes as she dragged him clear of Dix.

“Suspect’s contained. Get medical in here!” It gave her a dark satisfaction to flip him onto his belly, to drag his hands back for the restraints.

She’d lied about the diamonds, but not about the pictures in her head. “Andrea Jacobs,” she said in a whisper, close to his ear. “Tina Cobb. Think about them, you worthless fuck. Think about them for the rest of your miserable life.”

“I want what’s mine! I want what belongs to me!”

“So did they. You have the right to remain silent,” she began, and flipped him back over so she could watch his face while she read him his rights.

“You got all that?”

“I want a lawyer.”

“There you go, being predictable.” But she wanted a few moments with him first. She looked over her shoulder where the medical techs were readying Dix for transport. “How’s he doing?”

“Got a good chance.”

“Isn’t that happy news, Trev? You may only get an attempted murder hit on this one. That’s no big after the two first degrees. What’s a few years tacked onto two life terms anyway?”

“You can’t prove anything.”

She leaned close. “Yes, I can. Got you with both murder weapons. Really appreciate your bringing them both along today.”

She watched his eye track over to where Peabody was bagging the baton.

Leaning back again, she laid her hand on the bulldozer, rolled it gently back and forth. “You really figure they’re in here? All those shiny stones? Be a joke on you, wouldn’t it, if your grandfather pulled a fast one. Maybe this is just a kid’s toy. Everything you did, all the years you’ll pay for it would be for nothing. You ever consider that?”

“They’re in there. And they’re mine.”

“That’s a matter of debate, isn’t it?” Idly, she worked the lever that brought the blade up and down. “Pretty freaking arrogant of him to pass this to a kid. Guess you take after him.”

“It was brilliant.” There were lawyers, he thought. His father would pay for the best. “Better than a vault. Didn’t they do exactly what he told them? Even after he was dead, they kept it.”