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"I thought he was the police," Summerset said wearily. "He was driving a cruiser, wearing a uniform. He said you'd sent him."
"Couldn't break the security field here, could you, Liam. Just a little over your head."
"With time I would have." His face went sulky, like a child's denied a favored treat. "There's nothing I can't do. But I'm tired of waiting."
"You missed the last two times, didn't you?" Eve forced herself to her feet, clamped her teeth together as the pain sang through her. "You didn't get Brian, and you didn't finish Pat Murray. He's going to make a full recovery, and he'll point across the courtroom at you at your trial."
"They were simply tests of my commitment. God always tests His disciples." But he pressed his fingers to his lips, rubbed them there. "It's almost over now. It's the last round, and you lose." Eyes bright as a bird's, he cocked his head. "You might want to sit down, Lieutenant. You lost some blood, and you're looking very pale."
"I'll stand. Aren't you going to tell me your game plan? That's how it works. What's the point in ending it if you don't brag first?"
"I don't consider it bragging. I'm honoring my father, avenging his death. Point by bloody point. When I'm done here, I'll go back for Kelly and Murray and one more. Suffocation, drowning, then poison. Six sinners for the six martyred, and three to make nine for the novena. After that, he'll rest in peace."
He set the laser down to run a finger down the folds of the veil of the Virgin Mother he'd placed on a table. "The order's changed, but God understands. Tonight, Roarke will walk into his own private hell. His longtime companion, his trusted friend, dead. His whore, his slut cop, dead. It will look as if they did away with each other. A terrible fight right here in his own home, a fight for life, for death. For a moment, just for a moment, he'll believe that."
He smiled at Eve. "Then I'll step out and he'll know the truth. The pain will be worse then, unbearable, excruciating. He'll know what it is to lose, to have all that matters stolen from him. He'll know that by his own evil he brought the angel of death into this house. The avenging sword."
"Angel. Avenging Angel." She had to risk it, play on his madness. "A. A.? Is that where you got your cover? We know all about you. Everything. How you infiltrated Roarke's company, worked on his equipment. Stole from him." She stepped closer, keeping her eyes steady on his. "We know where you came from, where you've been. We found your hole. Your picture's on the news right now. Right next to your mother's."
"You're lying. Lying whore."
"How do I know who you are? How do I know about A. A.? And the dinky little room in your mother's apartment where you kept your equipment. And the other place, downtown." It has to be downtown, she told herself. "The bugs your mother planted in Summerset's quarters. We played the game, Liam, and we beat you. What we didn't find out, Audrey filled in. Right before I locked her in a cage."
"You're lying!" He screamed it, and rushed her.
Braced and ready, Eve met the attack, using her uninjured arm to block the blow, her elbow jabbing into his stomach. She got her foot under him, threw her weight into the move, and sent them both tumbling to the floor. She ignored the eye-searing pain when he fell on her injured arm; slamming her fist up, she connected with bone. But she'd miscalculated the strength rage would bring him.
It was she who screamed when he dug his fingers into her wound, and the room swam blackly. When her vision cleared he had her weapon on her throat, where firing it even at mid-setting could be fatal.
"You lying cunt bitch. I'll cut out your tongue for your lies."
"Turn on the screen." She wanted to curl up, hide from the agony screaming in her arm. "See for yourself. Go ahead, Liam, turn it on. Channel 75."
When he released his grip on her arm she had to swallow a sob. He bounded off her, raced to the recessed unit. "She's lying, she's lying. She doesn't know anything." He talked to himself in a sing-song tone as he switched on the viewing screen. "Hail Mary, full of grace. She's going to die. They're all going to die. The valley of the shadow of death, but they'll fear. God will destroy them, all of them, through me. It's for me."
"You have to stop this." Summerset strained against his bonds as Eve crawled to him. "Get out. He's mad. You can get out while he's involved with the screen. He doesn't even know where he is now. You can get out. He'll kill you if you don't."
"I'd never make it to the door." Her wound was bleeding again, dripping through the makeshift bandage. "I have to keep him focused on me. As long as he is, he's not interested in you. I have to keep him busy, distracted, and he might not hear Roarke come in." She dragged herself up to her knees. "If he doesn't hear Roarke, he'll have a chance."
"Audrey's his mother?"
"Yeah." She gained her feet. "She's responsible for all of it." She looked over as Liam screamed at the images on the screen. "For everything. For him." She steadied herself, bearing down when her knees threatened to fold under her. "Liam, I'll take you to her. You want to see your mother, don't you? She asked to see you. You want to see her, don't you? I'll take you."
"Did you hurt her?" Tears began to leak from his eyes.
"No, of course not." She took a shaky step forward. "She's fine. She's waiting for you. She'll tell you what to do next. She always tells you what to do, doesn't she?"
"She always knows. God speaks through her." He started to lower the weapon, as if it were forgotten. "She's blessed," he whispered. "And I'm her only son. I'm the light."
"She wants you now." One more step, Eve thought. Just one more. She only had to get the stunner away from him.
"She told me God's plan." The weapon came up again, and Eve froze. "To kill you. God demands the sacrifice. Him first," he said with a sly smile as he shifted the weapon toward Summerset.
"Wait—" Instinctively Eve stepped between, and took the hit.
The jolt sizzling through her nervous system dropped her. Her body forgot how to breathe, her eyes forgot how to see. Even pain was gone. She never felt him kick her, bruising ribs as he screamed and cursed and stormed through the room.
"You try to spoil everything. Everything!" He ranted as he shoved over a table and its beautiful old Ming vase. "Cheater. Whore. Sinner. Even your weapon's inferior. Look at this—pitiful. You have to manually increase power. Just as well, just as well, why kill you all at once?"
