Purity in Death (In Death #15)(105)

"During the Urban Wars there were a number of civilian-driven organizations. Some risked their own lives to try to protect neighborhoods under siege or to rebuild those that had been decimated. There were many acts of heroism. And there were other groups who were also organized. They sought only to destroy, to punish, to wage other levels of warfare. Some formed their own courts, held trials. Oddly, all of those trials ended with a verdict of guilty, and were swiftly followed by execution.

"Each," he said, "had considerable success with their separate agendas. History is, however, enlightened by one and tainted by the other."

"I'm not looking to make history."

"That's a pity," he said as she continued up the stairs. "Because you've done so tonight."

She went by the lab first, but there was only Jamie. He was obviously out of work mode and into recreation. There was a graphic of Yankee Stadium on his monitor. He was playing against Baltimore, and the O's were up two runs in the bottom of the sixth.

"Shit, you blind?" He slapped the unit as the ump called a strike on his batter. "That was high and outside, ass**le."

"It caught the corner," Eve disagreed. "Nipped the strike zone. Good pitch."

"Like hell." He paused his game, swiveled around. "Wanna take me on? It's better with two reals instead of playing against the comp."

"I'll trounce all over you some other time. Hit the sheets."

"Hey, hey, wait!" He scrambled up. "Aren't you going to tell me how it went down?"

"It went down."

"Well, I know. We got the call on it. But no deets. Spill some deets, Dallas."

"Tomorrow. We'll have a full briefing."

"One deet. You give me one, then I got one for you."

"We confiscated discs containing records of every meeting. We've got them sewn up so tight they can't hack their way out of the sack with a broadsword. Give."

"Okay, frig-o. We got some track."

"You found the source?"

"Nothing to it once we cloned. Virus was sent out from the unit confiscated from Dukes's lower level work area. He sent them staggered over a three-day period. He pushed the button on every one of them."

"They brought him in from Albany tonight. He's lawyered up. I'll take him apart tomorrow. Go to bed, kid."

"Got to smash the O's first."

She shrugged. "Whatever." She walked to the door, paused. "Jamie. I was against Roarke bringing you onto the team. I was wrong. You did a stand-up job."

His face brightened like a sun. "Thanks."

She left him to battle the Birds, and went to Roarke's office. He, too, was at his unit, but she doubted he was playing. Whatever his business was, he shut it down when she came in.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant. Where's your team?"

"They were heading to some after-hours place to wind down with a couple of drinks. I passed."

"Then you can have one here with me." He rose to top off his brandy and pour her a glass of wine. "We have your source."

"Yeah, Jamie told me. I stopped by the lab on my way."

"He's still up?"

"Yankees and O's, bottom of the sixth. He's two down, with two out and a runner on first."

"Ah, well then." He gave her the wine. "Did he tell you we also found a number of transmissions? To and from Price and Dwier. And three, so far, from Mayor Peachtree's office 'link. The last coming in the afternoon of your visit to the Dukes house. Text only. It advises Dukes to take a little holiday with his family, and gives a suggestion for the address in Albany. It's carefully worded, but under the circumstances, damning enough."

"I take Dukes and the mayor tomorrow." She sat on the arm of a chair, but didn't drink the wine. "I split up the interviews after the bust. Gave a push at suspects with various team members and combos. Everybody yelled lawyer, like it was their team cheer. I broke some pathetic housewife in under thirty minutes. Spilled her guts while her lawyer's huffing and puffing about duress. Pleaded her down a couple levels to shut him up, and she rolled over like a puppy."

"You stopped them. You shattered them."

"I took in a judge, two other cops-a retired cop who'd put thirty years in. I took in mothers who were almost as panicked about notifying their child care provider as they were about spending the night in a cage. I took in a boy barely old enough to shave, and a woman who won't see a hundred again. She spit on me." Her voice quavered just a bit on that. "She spit on me when we were putting her in the wagon."

Roarke stroked a hand over her hair, and when she turned her head, cradled her face against his side. "I'm sorry."

"Me, too," she murmured. "I just don't know what I'm sorry about. I've got to go to bed." She eased away, stood. "I'll look over the data you and Jamie extracted in the morning."

"I'll be along when I can. I have a meeting shortly."

"A meeting? It's almost three in the morning."

"It's in Tokyo. We'll do a holoconference."

She nodded, then set the untouched wine aside. "Were you supposed to be there? In Tokyo?"