Origin in Death (In Death #21)(105)

"Diana!" Deena hissed as she jerked the stunner away. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Going with you."

"You can't. For God's sake. Avril must be out of her mind by now."

"Then we'd better hurry, get done, get back."

"I have to get you out of here."

"You've come too far to turn back now. Someone might come looking soon."

"No, they won't, not where I'm going. And where I'm going, what I'm going to do, you can't have any part of that. Listen to me." She took Diana's shoulders. "There's nothing more important than your safety, than your freedom."

"Yes, there is." Diana's eyes were clear and dark. "Ending it."

Alarms were shrilling when Eve strode into the ER. So were a lot of people, she noted. But then, they would. Panic was as natural to some as breathing.

Health care workers, security guards were trying to restore order.

"This will be her work." Eve badged an ER nurse who barely gave her a glance. "Emergency entrance has to be the weakest point. Add some disorder to the natural disorder an area like this has, and go about your work." She glanced at Roarke. "Let's take a page out of her book."

He looked down at the scanner he'd palmed. "Beacon is a hundred meters northwest. No current movement."

They followed the trail, came to a dense cloud of smoke.

"Sulphur cube," Roarke said when Eve cursed at the stench. "Kids tend to make them up. I did myself. Messy, smelly, and harmless."

Eve sucked in a breath, moved into the stench at a jog. A maintenance worker wearing a safety mask waved her back. She shoved her badge into his visor, then kept going.

"Harmless?" she said on the other side. "How about the hour we're going to have to spend in fumigation?"

"The fact it reeks to heaven and back is part of the fun." He coughed, winced. "When you're twelve. Forty-six meters, east." He adjusted his earpiece. "We've still got her," he told Feeney on the other end. "Got that. He says the commander's authorized backup. Feeney'll be guiding them in using the beacon. As long as he can hold it."

"Just so it's long enough. She couldn't pull this off alone. I don't care how smart she is. She's got to be with Deena."

"Smart timing. Make your sortie not only through the weak spot, but at the weak point in time. Late night, holiday eve. A lot of the sectors would be shut down, skeleton staff. People's minds are on their holiday plans, or they're aggravated they have to work while others are sitting about eating turkey or watching the game on-screen.

"Through there." He nodded toward the secured doors. "Wait. She's heading down."

Eve tried her master through the security slot, and was rejected. "Get us through."

He pulled a device out of his pocket, attached it to the head of the slot, then tapped keys. "Try now."

The second swipe opened the doors.

"Just a different kind of cloning," Roarke told her. "She must've done something similar herself, blocking out any code but her own. Target's still descending."

"From where?" Eve demanded, and Roarke tilted the scanner, aimed it at a floor-to-ceiling drug box. "There's your point. Elevator, has to be."

"How the hell does it open?"

"I doubt it's 'open sesame.'" He ran his fingers over one side while she searched the other. "It can't be manual. Too easy to trigger it accidentally."

Eve gave it a vicious shove and earned a pitying glance from Roarke.

"It's fused to the wall."

"Not on this side," he mused. "Switch."

He worked the opposite side while Eve bellied down to search the floor for any signs. "It's got glides. It's on a glide."

"I'm getting it," he muttered. "I'm getting it."

He pried open a small panel, studied the controls with satisfaction. "Now I've got you."

"Where is she? Where's the kid?"

Rather than respond, he handed her the scanner and got to work on the controls. "Code slot has to be around here somewhere, but this should be quicker than hunting it up."

"She's stopped descending, moving west. I think. We're losing the signal. Hurry."

"There's a certain amount of delicacy required to-"

"Screw delicacy." She whipped off her coat, tossed it aside.

"Pipe down for two bloody seconds," he snapped. Then sat back on his haunches as the cabinet and wall slid left. "You're welcome."

"Sarcasm later, hunt down lair of mad scientists now."

Authorization required,

the security panel announced when they stepped in. Red sector only. "Try your master," Roarke suggested.

Incorrect code. Please insert correct code, and stand for retinal scan within thirty seconds . . .

Eve pulled back a fist. Roarke cupped his hand over it. "Don't be hasty, darling." Once again, he affixed his scanner to the panel, tapped keys. "Now."

Incorrect code. You have twenty-two seconds to comply . . .

"Or what?" Eve snarled as Roarke reconfigured. "Again."