End of Days (Pike Logan #16)(70)
She slammed her eyes closed and he slapped her again, saying, “You understand me. Don’t do that. Look me in the eye.”
She did, seeing an abomination. She said, “I don’t understand you. Why are you doing this?”
He said, “I didn’t want to kill those women. I really didn’t. I served the Church faithfully, doing humanitarian deeds all over the world. In Syria, I realized that what they were doing wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to put a Band-Aid on the pain and destruction. What was needed was to eliminate the pain and destruction.”
Hesitantly, she said, “So what does that mean?”
He smiled and said, “It’s the red cord. The walls of Jericho need to come down. The Israelites must take control of the promised land. I’m the spy for Jericho, only I’m going to do it worldwide.”
She said nothing, not understanding what he was blathering about. He reached for his belt, releasing it. He dropped his pants to his knees, then pulled down his underwear.
She was revolted, her eyes going wide, her head rolling back, the entire insanity of the moment threatening to break her.
He grabbed her hair, jerked her forward, and said, “If you can finally give me pleasure, I might let you live. We’re one, me and you. We understand what’s needed.”
She twisted her head away, ripping her hair out of his hands. He snatched her face and said, “Don’t fight this. It’s your chance at redemption.”
She slammed her head to the left, toward her kitchen counter, and saw her Amazon Echo Ten rotate on its base, looking for a face to recognize. It reached her and stopped.
Chapter 46
Outside the apartment complex, Aaron driving and Shoshana about to go nuts in the backseat, I said into my phone, “What’s Creed got? We need to go in.”
Jennifer said, “He’s working it. He’s got something called an Amazon Echo Ten. It’s a thing you use for Zoom calls. Lia apparently has it because of the pandemic and being forced to work from home.”
“How does that help us? We’re running out of time here, and the building is four stories.”
She came back a little curt, saying, “Well, if you’d wanted me to climb it, maybe I should be in the car, commando. You shouldn’t have left me here watching a computer.”
After I’d convinced George Wolffe to bring on Creed, we’d been at a little bit of a quandary. Brett and Knuckles were still dealing with the Rome authorities and absolutely no help. I was sure with Wolffe and Amanda Croft on the case they’d be released soon, but not in the time we needed. That left me with Jennifer, Shoshana, and Aaron. Since the entire assault was predicated on the inside information Creed could get us, that meant some Taskforce personnel had to stay behind to coordinate. And there was no way I was staying behind. That left Jennifer, and she was none too happy about it.
She wanted to get in the fight like no tomorrow, but I couldn’t order Aaron or Shoshana to coordinate with the Taskforce. So I’d ordered her to stay behind. In truth, Creed had a crush on her from previous operations, and would probably work harder with her on the other end of the VPN.
She knew that and hated me for putting her on desk duty. But then again, sometimes we all have to sacrifice for the greater good. Not every mission required a monkey. Sometimes it required a bikini model. Too bad she was both . . .
I said, “We’re about to exit the vehicle. Give me something.”
And like magic Jennifer said, “We’ve got the Echo. Passing control to you now.”
Creed had been able to access Lia’s phone, and like all normal humans in today's society, she had her phone automatically tether itself to the home Wi-Fi. Because he had the number, he was able to springboard off the phone into the network itself. He’d scanned it and found that Lia owned a device from Amazon called an Echo Ten. A basic screen for virtual talks, which had become a mainstay after the pandemic had hit in Italy, but it had a twist. It would find your face and follow it if you moved around, rotating on its base.
The entire concept was creepy to me, not the least of which was that the thing answered to voice commands, but the worst of it was it could also act as a surveillance camera if the owner wanted, rotating around the room to see what you wanted it to see. Meaning we now could see inside the house.
I pulled out my tablet, hit a Taskforce app, and was looking at the inside of the room. I saw a window in what appeared to be a kitchen. I gave a command to the device and it started rotating, searching for a face. It found one, and when it focused, I almost dropped the tablet.
A man was standing in front of Lia with his pants down around his knees, his hand in her hair. She was in a chair with her hands behind it, cinched tight, and she had some sort of thick necklace around her throat.
And she was scared out of her mind, the fear from her eyes penetrating my soul.
I slammed the tablet to the floor, pulled out a small explosive charge from my backpack, press-checked my pistol, and said, “We go, right now. There’s only a single threat. Aaron, find the back of this place. Prevent a squirter. Shoshana, on me.”
Aaron said, “Wait, wait. Let’s make a plan here.”
I said, “No time. You guys can stay here if you want, but I’m going killing.”
Shoshana saw the ferocious violence exploding from me, looked at the footwell where the tablet lay, and saw the live picture on the screen. Something she was intimately familiar with when she’d been abused in the service of the Mossad. She hissed, a feral sound that penetrated the car.