Vengeance in Death (In Death #6)(92)

“He won’t be able to stop himself. He’s likely to have a period of silence. He’ll sulk, have a temper fit, and he’ll attempt to find some way to harm me physically. I’d say he’d consider that I cheated, and it’s his game. Cheating would be a sin, and he’ll want God to punish me. He’ll be scared, but he’ll be pissed, too.”

She hesitated, then decided to lay out her thoughts. “I don’t believe he’ll return to the Luxury Towers. Whatever he is, Chief, he’s smart. He’ll know that if we could get as close as we did today, it’s likely we’ve begun to track his transmissions. He made us in the lobby today, so he’s got sharp instincts when it comes to cops. He walked into us at the hotel and we blew it. But if we can find his equipment, if we can find his hole, we’ll find him.”

“Then find his hole, Dallas, and bury it.”

She swung by her office to make copies of all audio and video discs from the failed operation. She intended to study every second of every disc.

“I told you to go on home,” she said when she saw Roarke waiting for her.

He rose, walked over, and rubbed his knuckles over her cheek. “How much skin did Tibble leave on your hide?”

“He barely stripped any, considering.”

“This wasn’t your fault.”

“Fault doesn’t matter, responsibility does. And this was mine.”

Understanding, he rubbed her shoulders. “Want to go out and kick some poodles?”

She let out a short laugh. “Maybe later. I’ve got to get my record copies then I’m heading over to join the search and sweep team.”

“You haven’t eaten in hours,” he pointed out.

“I’ll grab something at a QuickMart.” Disgusted, she scrubbed her hands over her face. “Goddamn it, Roarke, we were inches away. Inches. Did he see Baxter go for his weapon through the door? Did one of the team look too hard in his direction? Did he just smell us?”

“Why don’t you let me look at the records, with the eye of a veteran cop-spotter?”

“It couldn’t hurt.” She turned to her computer, ordered dupes of all operational files. “We should have plenty of full views of him on the lobby file. There’s not much of his face, but maybe you’ll spot something that clicks. You’ve got to know him, Roarke.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

“I don’t know when I’ll be home.” She handed him the copies. “But don’t wait up.”

She grabbed a cheese phyllo and an energy bar at a QuickMart and settled for a tube of Pepsi rather than their notoriously poisonous coffee. She carried the miserable meal with her into the second-floor conference room where McNab was heading the electronic sweep.

“Anything?”

“Plenty of hits on mega-links, laser faxes. The building’s lousy with high-end electronics. We’re checking floor to floor, but there’s nothing on the scale of what our guy plays with.”

Eve set the bag down, then reached out and turned McNab’s face toward her with a firm thumb to his chin. There was a bruising knot on his forehead and a long thin scrap just above his right eye. “Get the MTs to look at that ugly face of yours?”

“Just a bump. Damn dog came at me like an Arena Ball tackle.” He shifted in his chair so that the gold rings in his ears jangled. “I’d like to apologize for my insubordination during the operation, Lieutenant.”

“No, you wouldn’t. You were pissed and you still are.” She pulled out her tube of Pepsi, broke the safety seal. “You were wrong, and you still are. So stuff the apology. Don’t ever question an order from a superior officer during an operation, McNab, or you’ll end up skulking in some little dark room listening to sex noises for a private security hack instead of rising through the ranks of the illustrious EDD.”

While his temper bobbed up and down, he meticulously manipulated his scanner, noting the location of a dual communication unit on floor eighteen.

“Okay, maybe I’m still a little steamed, and maybe I know I was over the line. I’m lucky if I get out of my cube at Central once a month. This was the closest I’ve come to action, then you yanked me.”

Looking at him, at that young, smooth, eager face, she felt incredibly old and jaded. “McNab, have you ever participated in hand-to-hand other than in training?”

“No, but — “

“Have you ever discharged your weapon at anything other than a heat target?”

His mouth went sulky. “No. So I’m not a warrior.”

“Your strengths are right here.” She tapped a finger on his scanner, then pulled out her energy bar. “You know as well as I do how many applicants wash out of the EDD program every year. They only take the top. And you’re good. I’ve worked with the best,” she said, thinking of Feeney, “so I know. This is where I need you to take this f**ker down.”

Then none too gently, she tapped her finger on the swollen bruise on his forehead. “And action mostly just hurts like a bitch.”

“Guys are going to rag me for weeks. Getting taken down by a dog.”

“It was a pretty big dog.” Sympathetic now, Eve took out the phyllo and gave it to him. “Really big teeth. Lorimar took a bite in the ankle.”