Reunion in Death (In Death #14)(99)

"Then let's move. I'll get clearance on the way."

CHAPTER 20

She was a pleasure to watch, Roarke thought, while he relaxed with a brandy as they raced through the sky above the Atlantic. Raw energy in motion, he decided.

She used a headset, keeping her hands free for a coffee cup or a notebook or a second 'link if she had two transmissions going at once. She paced, up and down, up and down the short, narrow aisle in the cabin of his fastest transport, snapping out orders, chewing out data, vocally flogging anyone who tossed up an obstacle to her goal.

She spoke to Feeney, to her commander, to someone in the United States consulate-whose ears would probably leak blood for the rest of his natural life-to the Italian police captain who continued to hold up his hands, still empty of the proper paperwork. She contacted a lawyer who specialized in international law, waking him without regret or mercy and shoving him into the fray.

"Data port's down?" She raged at the Italian cop on the next transmission. "What the hell do you mean your data ports are down?"

"Such things happen, Lieutenant. We should have them back in an hour or two."

"You'll waste an hour or two. You can get oral or e-authorization now."

"I must have the proper documentation, in hard copy, with the authorization stamp and seal. This is the law."

"Let me tell you my law, amigo. You screw up this apprehension and I'm frying your balls for breakfast." She cut him off, kicked the base of the nearest seat.

"We're halfway there," Roarke told her. "You've done all you can do and terrified a number of minor bureaucrats. You should sit down and get some sleep."

"I don't want to sleep."

"Sit down anyway." He managed to snag her hand, tug her into the seat beside him. "Shut down, Lieutenant. Even you can't alter the laws of physics and get us there any faster." He draped an arm around her, drew her head firmly down to his shoulder.

"I need to update the commander."

"When we land. Just rest and imagine Julianna's face when you walk into her suite. And think of all the Italian ass you get to kick."

"Yeah." She yawned. "There's that." On that pleasant thought, she slid into a shallow sleep.

...

"Jet-copter?" Eve stood staring at the small, sleek, four-person transpo with blurry vision. "You didn't say anything about having to do the last leg in a jet-copter."

"And you slept easier for it." Roarke boosted himself in behind the controls. "Eight minutes from port to port. A great deal less time than ground transpo on Italian roads, in Italian traffic, through the hillsides, around the lake-"

"All right, all right." She sucked in a breath. "Everybody has to die of something."

"I'll try not to take that as an insult to my piloting skills. Strap in, Lieutenant."

"Believe me." She snapped on her safety harness, checked its tension twice. "I hate going up in these things."

"I can't think why." The instant he got clearance, Roarke shot the copter up in a vertical, slicing up two hundred feet in the time it took Eve's stomach to execute the first of a serious of stylish somersaults.

"Cut it out!"

"Sorry, did you say something?" On a rollicking laugh, he punched the jets and arrowed into the pink-streaked sky.

"Why do you think that's funny?" She gripped the sides of her seat with fingers that dug in like steel claws. "You sadistic son of a bitch."

"It's a guy thing. We really can't help ourselves. Christ, look at that sky."

"What's wrong with it?" Images of some horrendous natural disaster layered over a visceral fear of heights.

"Not a bloody thing. It's quite gorgeous, don't you think? It isn't every day you watch the dawn break over the Italian Alps. Next time we have a little time we should spend a few days out here."

"Fine, great. Terrific. As long as it's on the ground. I will not look down, I will not look down, I will not look down."

And of course she did, felt her head spin in the opposite direction of her belly. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Are we there yet?"

"Nearly. You can see the lake, and the first sunlight just sliding over the water."

That only made her think of the horrors of an emergency water landing. "That's the place?"

"That's it."

She saw the pink and white stone of the old estate, the spread of grass and gardens, the blue gems that were pools and fountains. Instead of seeing beauty, she saw the finish line.

"At least that putz Captain Giamanno's on his way. I'm looking forward to biting out his throat once the formalities are over."

"This is not America," Roarke said in a dead-on mimic.

Eve grinned at him. "You're all right, Roarke."

"Remember you said that." And he sent the copter into a steep drop, chuckled over his wife's thin scream as he touched down onto the helipad. "That got the blood moving."

"I so completely hate you right now."

"I know, but you'll get over it." He shut down the engines. "Smell that air. Lovely. You can still smell the night-blooming jasmine on it."

She managed to jump out, with some semblance of dignity, then gave up, bent from the waist, and waited to get her breath back.