Divided in Death (In Death #18)(33)

"They."

"There's got to be a team working on this. Someone for the murder, someone for the setup, someone for the hit on the security and data units at the gallery and studio. And somebody, I betcha, pushing all the buttons."

"It's so nice when we agree. I need to move this to the unregistered."

"Why?"

"Come with me, and I'll show you."

"I'm working here."

"You'll want to see this, Lieutenant."

"Better be good."

The equipment unregistered with, and undetectable by, CompuGuard was in a secured room.

The wide wall of windows was screened against prying eyes, but let in the view of New York, with all its spires and spears rising into the night sky.

The black, U-shaped console was slick, and studded with dozens of controls. It reminded Eve, always, of some sort of futuristic spacecraft. So much so, she wouldn't have batted an eye if the entire thing had floated up from the floor, then zoomed off, to wink away in some time warp.

He got a brandy from the fully stocked bar behind a wall panel, and because he intended for her to sleep shortly, poured her another glass of wine.

"I'm on coffee now."

"Then it won't hurt you to dilute some of the caffeine. And look what else I have." He held up a candy bar.

Greed shot into her eyes before she could disguise it. "You have candy in here? I've never seen candy in here."

"I'm just full of surprises." Watching her, he waved the wrapped bar from side to side. "You can have the candy if you sit on my lap."

"That sounds like something perverted old men say to young, stupid girls."

"I'm not old, and you're not stupid." He sat, patted his knee. "It's Belgian chocolate."

"Just because I'm sitting on your lap and eating your candy doesn't mean you can cop a feel," she said as she folded into his lap.

"I'll just have to live in hope that you'll change your mind. Which you may when you see what I've found for you."

"Put up, or shut up."

"That's my line." He nipped her ear, passed her the candy bar, then inserted a disc. Reaching over, he laid a palm on the console. "Roarke. Open operations."

It hummed, more like a powerful animal waking than a machine booting up. Lights flashed on.

"Upload data."

"If you've got data on the disc..." She swallowed a bite of candy. "... Why do you need the unregistered? You're already on record."

"It's not what I have, but what I intend to do with it. Digging around, I ran into a couple of blocks. Nothing unusual initially. Standard privacy blocks, all very usual and law-abiding. But when I nudged them a bit, I got this. Computer, display last task from disc on screen one."

Screen one on. Display up.

Eve frowned at the snowy-white screen and blurred black letters.

RESTRICTED DATA

ACCESS DENIED

"That's it? Access denied? You run into a wall and I have to come in here and sit on your lap?"

"No, you're sitting on my lap because you wanted my candy."

Rather than admit that was true, she took another bite of chocolate. "Why's the display fuzzy?"

"Because, fortunately, I engaged filters before digging around. If I hadn't, I'd have set off an alarm, and my little excavation would have sent up all manner of flags. So, we do it in here. Computer, redo last task."

Acknowledged.

The screen flashed off, then on again, clear.

Task complete.

"So?"

"You have no faith whatsoever. Just for that, sit over there and be quiet."

She shrugged, moved off his lap, and onto a chair. She finished off her candy bar, sipped lazily at her wine.

It wasn't exactly a hardship to watch him work. She liked the way he rolled his sleeves up to the elbow, tied his hair back-like a man preparing to do some serious physical labor.

He used both manual and verbal commands, so she could watch his quick fingers fly over keys, hear his voice-more Irish as he concentrated-flow out.

"Access denied? I'll show you access denied, bloody wanker."

Smiling a little, she closed her eyes, telling herself she was just going to rest them while she walked mentally through the investigation to date.

The next thing she knew, he was shaking her gently by the shoulder. "Eve."

"What!" Her eyes popped open. "I wasn't sleeping. I was thinking."

"Yes, I could hear you thinking."

"If that's some smart-ass way of saying I was snoring, bite me."

"I'd be more than happy to bite you later, but I really believe you'll want to see this."

She rubbed her eyes, and focused on his face. "Since you've got that big I'm-the-cat's-ass grin on your face, I guess you got into whatever you wanted to get into."

"Have a look." He gestured toward the screen.

Reading, Eve got slowly to her feet.

HOMELAND SECURITY ORGANIZATION

REDSTAR ACCESS ONLY!

"Jesus Christ, Roarke, you hacked into the HSO?"

"I have." He toasted himself with a brandy. "By God, I have, and it took considerable doing. You were... thinking for over an hour."