Devoted in Death (In Death #41)(102)

She decided to count on that, and brought up the vid map Roarke had sent her of the target building and its neighbors.

“We walked right by this building last night. I walked by it on my own the day before. Right by it.”

“As you can’t see through walls, walking by it was all you could do.” Roarke sent her a quick look. “There’s no time to beat yourself up,” he said, repeating her words to Peabody.

She couldn’t argue, and instead contacted the uniforms to tell them Banner would be on point.

She edged forward in her seat when Roarke turned onto Downing. Quiet street – at least at this hour. On the shabbier side but trying to hold on.

Barred windows the norm for basement and street level. Apartment 1-A of number 251 had bars and privacy screens, no exterior cam. She couldn’t make the locks from the drive-by.

“Drop Banner on the corner. Eyes, Banner, nothing but eyes.”

“That’s a big yes, sir.”

He climbed out, hunched his shoulders against the cold, then sauntered across the street in the crosswalk.

“They might make him for a cop if they look out and look close, but they sure as hell won’t mistake him for a New York cop.”

“Which is why you put him on point.”

“Which is why,” she agreed. “And because we wouldn’t be this far unless he’d stuck on Little.”

She checked the time, gauged the distance to Central and contacted Whitney.

She was still updating him when Roarke pulled into Central’s garage.

“I’m in Central now, sir, and heading up to the division. I’ll brief the team, coordinate with Captain Feeney. We’ll be in place in under an hour. I’m looking at forty minutes. I’ll contact Special Agent Zweck now to apprise him of the situation so the FBI can join us.”

“I’ll contact Zweck. At the moment this is an NYPSD op.” His tone was brisk and final. “I’ll let you know if and when that changes.”

“Yes, sir, thank you.” She ended transmission as they piled on the elevator. “Damn straight. Let’s get this on, and get it on right before federal red tape trips anything up. Roarke, you can make this elevator bypass floors, go straight to my level, right?”

“An express ride? Happy to.” He pulled out his PPC, went to work.

Seconds later, Peabody said, “Whee!” as they zipped straight up.

Eve was off and striding to Homicide the second the doors opened.

“McNab, use our single and rarely reliable wall screen in the bull pen. I don’t have time to fight for a conference room.” She turned into the bull pen. “Get the vid map up. Carmichael, Santiago, front and center.”

She hesitated a moment when she spotted Carmichael’s sapphire-blue cowboy boots with jewel-colored studs running down the sides. “Are you serious?”

“Sheepskin lined, Dallas. Warm as it gets. You said soft clothes. Santiago bought a hat.”

His lip actually curled. “I’m not wearing it.”

“Not on an op, but on the job, five full days. He lost a bet.”

He shook his head sadly at Eve. “I didn’t learn from my mistakes, and now have to pay the price.”

“Pay it later. Target’s the basement apartment, 251. We believe the two vics are still alive in there. Banner is currently on point, on location. We have four uniforms, here, here.” She used the laser pointer. “Two with eyes on the rear exit, here. The rear exit is an escape window, backed by a short alley to Bedford.”

She highlighted it with her pointer.

“According to our expert consultant, civilian who accessed the blueprints, the escape window must be released from the interior to unlock the bars, then lifted manually. To get out, you climb up and out. An unlikely exit, but our e-team will bypass the release. You’ll take the rear, close off that escape route.”

“We got that,” Santiago said.

“Medicals will be on tap, Seventh and West Houston. EDD will have its van at the end of the block, east side. We’re after four heat sources, two suspects, two victims. EDD will approach the building from the east, get us eyes and ears, if possible.

“We go when I say go. Body armor?”

Santiago tapped his chest. “We’re geared up.”

“You’re clear to go to the location. Let Banner know when you’re there. And tag me. McNab, body armor. Roarke, can you zoom in on the target door? I want to see the locks.”

“They’re standard click/slide with dead bolt,” he told her. “Middle range. Not utter crap, but nothing fancy. Might be a riot bar on the inside, but we’ll know that once we have eyes in there.”

“We’ll take a battering ram, in the event.”

“No cam, no alarm that I can see, and none added in during building rehab some twelve years ago. They’ve a Judas hole, and that’s all.”

McNab came back wearing the black armor over his sweater of screaming red with shivering silver stripes to match, Eve supposed, his silver pants.

“EDD’s in the garage, Lieutenant.” He pranced to her in his red-and-green plaid boots. “And Feeney’s in the van.”

“Let’s move out. Roarke, you’re with Feeney. Let’s go save lives and kick ass.”

She ran it through, over and over on the drive, but she understood, too well, you couldn’t know all the angles, all the movements, until you were in it. Having two civilians, likely restrained, certainly injured, added to the issues.