Loyalty in Death (In Death #9)(111)

“Go,” Eve told Roarke. “I’m right behind you.”

“Your data’s still coming in.” Peabody slid over the frost on the lawn, grabbed her footing. “I relayed to Central. Units are being mobilized.”

Eve took the scanner. “Full protective gear. You scan before you go in. I’m not losing anyone else.”

“Yes, sir. The commander wants your destination and ETA.”

Eve whirled around as the silky drone of the jet-copter blurred the air. She watched it sweep out of the mini-hangar, purr. “God help me, I’m going up in that. Liberty Island. You’ll know my ETA when I do.”

She crouched to avoid the blast of air, tossed the scanner to Roarke, then hooked a hand on the door opening, propped a boot on the runner. She gave Roarke a brief glance. “I hate this part.”

He grinned at her. “Strap in, Lieutenant,” he advised as she boosted herself through the door. “Secure the door. This won’t take long.”

“I know.” She hooked the strap across her body, braced. “That’s the part I hate.”

He went into a steep vertical lift that had her stomach flopping as she contacted Whitney. “Sir. En route to Liberty Island. Data should be coming through to you now.”

“It is. Mobilizing backup and E and B teams to each location. ETA to Liberty Island, twelve minutes. Give me yours.”

“What’s our ETA, Roarke?”

They rose over trees, buildings, engine purring. He sent her one quick look out of wickedly blue eyes. “Three minutes.”

“But that’s — ” She managed not to scream when he punched in the jets. The purr turned to a panther roar and the copter ripped through the sky like a pebble shot from a sling. Eve gripped the seat with white-knuckled hands and thought, Shit, shit, shit. But her voice was relatively controlled. “We’ll be there inside of three minutes, Commander.”

“Report in on arrival.”

She clicked off and struggled to breathe steadily through her teeth. “I want to get there alive.”

“Trust me, darling.”

He banked over the city, adjusted course, and the copter tilted dramatically. Eve felt her eyes roll back in her head. “We’ll need to scan the site.” She picked up the instrument, studied it. “I’ve never used one of these.”

Roarke reached over, flipped a switch on the base of the scanner. It let out a mild hum.

“Jesus Christ! Keep your hands on the controls!” she shouted at him.

“If I ever want to blackmail you, I can threaten to tell your associates of your phobia of heights and high rates of speed.”

“Remind me to hurt you if we live.” She wiped a clammy hand on her thighs, then took out her weapon. “You’ll need my clinch piece. You can’t go in unarmed.”

“I’ve got what I need.” He sent her a grim smile as they flew out over the water.

She let that go and called up the data on the in-dash. “Five locations, from base to crown,” she said, studying the image. “If they follow these plans, how long would it take you to deactivate them?”

“Depends. I can’t say until I see the devices.”

“Backup’s nine minutes behind us. If this is the target, it’s going to be mostly up to you to take the explosives down.”

“Activate long-range sensor and screen,” he ordered. The in-dash monitor blipped on. Eve saw lights, shadows, symbols. “That’s your target. Two people, two droids, one vehicle.”

“Have they activated?”

“I can’t read explosives with this equipment.” He made a mental note to add that capability. “But they’re there.”

“Droids here, and here?” She tapped a finger on the screen, indicated the black dots on the screen.

“Guarding the base. Ever been in the lady?”

“No.”

“Shame on you,” he said mildly. “Museums in the base. She’s on a pedestal, several stories high. Added together, she’s got to be twenty, twenty-two stories, easy. There are elevators, but I wouldn’t recommend them under the circumstances. There’ll be stairs. Narrow, winding metal. Up to the crown. Then a jag and they follow up to the torch.”

Eve wiped a hand over her mouth. “You don’t, like, own her or anything?”

“No one owns her.”

“Okay. Go in low.” Gritting her teeth, she unstrapped. “I’ll need you to get close to give me a shot at taking the droids out.”

He pressed a button under the dash. A compartment opened. In it was a long-range laser rifle with night scope. “Try that instead.”

“Christ, you could get five years in maximum lockup for transporting one of these.”

He only smiled when she pulled it out, checked it for weight. “Or you could get two droids before we land. My money’s on you, Lieutenant.”

“Just keep this thing steady.” She opened the door, gritted her teeth against the blast of wind, then bellied down on the floor of the cockpit.

“We’ve got one at three o’clock and one at nine. We’ll take three o’clock first, then I’m going to swing around. So brace yourself for it.”

“Just get me in range,” she muttered and sighted in.