Loyalty in Death (In Death #9)(31)

“I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep, Commander. But if there’s anything to trace, we’ll trace it. First we’ve got to put the pieces together.”

“Captain?” Whitney shifted his attention to Feeney.

“I’m down to the last couple of layers in Fixer’s unit. I should have it bypassed by the end of the day. He put in a maze, but we’re working through it, and we’ll have whatever data there is. I’ve got some of my best going through his equipment at his shop now. If, as we believe, he was connected with this morning’s explosion, we’ll find the link.”

“Lieutenant Dallas, according to your report, the subject was never connected with any political group or involved in any terrorist activity.”

“No, sir. He was a loner. Most of his suspected criminal activity was in the area of robbery, security bypass, small explosives used in those fields. After the Urban Wars, he retired from the army. He was reputed to have become disenchanted with the military, the government, and people in general. He established himself as a freelance electronics artist, with his repair shop as a front. In my opinion, it was for those very reasons that once he discovered he hadn’t been hired to take out a bank but to be a part in something much larger, he panicked, attempted to go under, and was killed.”

“That leaves us with a dead electronics man who may or may not have recorded data on his activities, a previously unknown group with as yet undetermined purposes, and a privately owned building that’s been destroyed with enough overkill to spew debris over a two-block area.”

He leaned back, folded his hands. “Each of you will work on your particular angle, but I want all efforts coordinated. Data is to be shared. We were told this morning was a demonstration. They may not choose an uninhabited building in a scantily populated area the next time. I want this shut down before we’re picking fragments of civilians as well as explosives out of the rubble. I want progress reports by end of shift.”

“Sir.” Eve stepped forward. “I’d like to take copies of both discs and each report to Dr. Mira for analysis. We could use a more detailed profile on the kind of people we’re dealing with.”

“Granted. The media will be given only the information that this explosion was a deliberate act and is under investigation. I want no leaks regarding the discs or the possible connection to a homicide. Work fast,” he ordered and dismissed them.

“Normally,” Anne said when the three of them moved down the corridor together, “I’d arm wrestle you for primary on this little project, Dallas.”

Eve slid her eyes over, sized up Anne’s tiny frame, and snorted. “I’d hurt you, Malloy.”

“Hey, I’m little, but I’m tough.” She bent her arm, flexing her biceps. “In this case, however, the ball bounced to you first, and these jerks contacted you personally. I’ll give way here.” As if to symbolize it, she gestured Eve onto the glide ahead of her, then winked at Feeney and hopped on.

“I’ve got some of my top people on site,” she continued. “I juggled the budget to work them round the clock, but it won’t shake loose for that kind of OT in the lab. IDing and tracing these parts and pieces after a major explosion takes time. It takes manpower. It takes some hot f**king luck.”

“We coordinate what you find with what my team comes up with at Fixer’s, we might find some of that luck,” Feeney said. “We could get even luckier, and I’ll find names, dates, and addresses on his hard drive.”

“I’ll take luck, but I’m not going to count on it.” Eve tucked her hands in her pockets. “If this is a well-funded, organized group, Fixer wouldn’t have joined, but he wouldn’t have run, either. Not as long as they were paying. He ran because he was scared. I’m going to tag Ratso again, see if he left anything out. What does Arlington mean to you, Feeney?”

He started to shrug, but Anne shot her hand between them, grabbed Eve’s arm. “Arlington? Where does that play?”

“Fixer told my weasel he was afraid of another Arlington.” She stared into Anne’s troubled eyes. “Mean something to you?”

“Yeah, Christ, yeah. And to any E and B man. September 25, 2023. The Urban Wars were basically over. There was a radical group, terrorists — assassinations, sabotage, explosives. They’d kill anyone for a price and justified it as revolution. They called themselves Apollo.”

“Oh shit,” Feeney breathed when the name hit home. “Holy Mother of God.”

“What?” Frustrated, Eve gave Anne a quick shake. “History’s not my strong suit. Give me a lesson here.”

“They’re the ones who took responsibility for blowing up the Pentagon. Arlington, Virginia. They used what was then a new material known as plaston. They used it in such amounts and in such areas that the building was essentially vaporized.

“Eight thousand people, military and civilian personnel, including children in the care center. There were no survivors.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

In Peabody’s apartment, Zeke cleaned and repaired the recycler and replayed the ‘link conversation with Clarissa Branson on the kitchen unit.

The first time he played it back, he told himself he was just making sure of the details, of what time he was to report to work, the address.