Divided in Death (In Death #18)(46)

"It feels like it."

"That can't be helped. On the other side, those two women are my employees. Spanking me in front of them demeans my authority and position, Eve."

"That can't be helped either. They know you've got balls." She offered a razor-thin smile. "Now they know I've got them, too."

"This isn't about-" He cut himself off, offered a prayer for patience. "Christ, there's no point to this. We'll have a go at each other later."

"Count on it." She reached around him and opened the door herself.

Thinking of authority and position, she made sure that she strode through the door first. "You've got five minutes," she told him.

"It shouldn't take longer. Computer, lock down this room only, for silent running."

Acknowledged. Commencing silent running.

"What the hell is-" Eve whirled, hand on her weapon, as titanium shields lowered on the windows behind her. Others slid into place over the doors. The lights took on a red cast, and every machine in the room sent out a series of beeps and hums.

"Totally Bond," Peabody murmured with a big, dazzled grin on her face.

Lockdown complete. Silent running fully engaged.

"In your home office." Reva got to her feet, walked over to examine the window shields. "A little paranoid, but excellent. Have you equipped the whole house with SR capability? I'd really like to see the-"

"You kids can play with the toys later," Eve interrupted. "Now I'd like to know why we need them."

"I ran some tests at Securecomp. Very detailed and exacting tests. They showed traces of a mobile bug."

"Mobile?" Reva shook her head. "Someone got through security, all the scanners, with a device on their person? That shouldn't be possible. In fact, it isn't possible."

"So I believed, but the device is also very sophisticated. It wasn't on someone's person, Reva, but in yours."

"In? Internal? That's out of the question. Completely bogus."

"Then you won't object to a body scan?"

Her face went hard, her stance combative. "I submit to one every time I go in or out of the damn lab, Roarke."

"I've something a little more sensitive, a little more specific."

"Go ahead." Reva threw out her arms. "I've got nothing to hide."

"Computer, open Panel A."

Acknowledged.

A section of the wall opened. Inside was a small room, hardly bigger than a closet. It held what looked like a high-end drying tube, with clear, rounded sides and a door with no apparent lock. There were no visible controls.

"Something I've been working on, on my own," Roarke said when Reva lifted her eyebrows. "An individual security scanner, higher intensity than what's on the market currently. It'll also read vital signs, which will come in handy for evaluating a subject's state of mind during scan."

"Is it safe?" Caro had risen, walked over quietly. "I'm sorry, but if it hasn't been approved, there may be some risk."

"I've used it myself," he assured her. "It's quite safe. It'll feel warm on the skin as it scans," he told Reva. "Not uncomfortably so, but you'll notice the change in temperature as it moves from area to area."

"Let's just get it done. I've got the Truth Testing scheduled today. I'd like a little time between scans and probes if it's all the same to you."

"Computer, open scanner."

Acknowledged.

A door opened on the tube with a little puff of air. At Roarke's gesture, Reva stepped inside, turned to face the room.

"Begin process on Ewing, Reva, full body, full power on my command. It needs to read and record your height," he said. "Your weight, your body mass, and so on."

"Fine."

"When the door closes, the process should only take a few moments. There'll be an audio and video readout, if you don't object."

"Just do it."

"Computer, begin."

The door of the tube closed. The lights inside it turned to a cool blue. Eve listened as Reva's body statistics were noted. A horizontal red beam rose up from the floor of the tube, slowly traveling up the body, down again. Her various injuries were listed, and the evaluation of healing.

"Excellent." Reva's voice sounded hollow through the tube, but she was beginning to grin. Eve could see that most of the temper had drowned in professional fascination. "And thorough. You're going to need to get this on the market."

"A few more tweaks," Roarke said.

Then came a series of red and blue beams, crisscrossing her body, pulsing as they scanned her, section by section from feet to head.

Electronic device located, subdermal, sector two.

"What the hell is it talking about?" Her tone a quick jerk of panic, Reva pressed her hands against the tube. "Where's section two? This is bullshit."

Roarke noted the increase in her pulse rate, her blood pressure.

"Let it finish out, Reva."

"Hurry up. Just hurry up. I want to get out of here."

"It's all right, Reva." Caro spoke softly. "Only a little more, and it'll be done. Everything's going to be all right."