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The disc proved to be in Mandarin Chinese, but Feeney dealt with it and put it on the wall screen.
"Mira's preliminary profile," Eve began, "and the computer analysis of data and supposition indicates these are the most likely targets. All are entertainment complexes, either landmarks or constructed on the site of destroyed landmarks. All have performances scheduled this afternoon."
"That's a good angle." Anne tucked her hands in her back pockets as she read the screen. "I'll send out teams for a search and scan."
"How much time will you need?" Eve asked her.
"Every damn bit of it." She whipped out her communicator.
"No uniforms and unmarked vehicles," Eve said quickly. "They may have the buildings under surveillance. Let's not tip them off."
With a nod, Anne began to bark orders into her communicator.
"We got through the fail-safe." Feeney picked up with EDD's progress. "The old bastard coded his data. I'm running a code breaker, but he used a good one. It's going to take more time."
"Let's hope it's something worth looking at."
"McNab tracked down a couple of names from Fixer's old unit. Men still in the area. I've got interviews set up for noon today."
"Good."
"Teams are moving." Anne tucked her communicator away. "I'll be in the field. You'll know when I know. Oh, Dallas," she added as she headed for the door. "That address we discussed earlier? It's clean."
"Thanks."
Anne sent her a grin. "Any time."
"I'll be on the code until we have something to move on." Feeney rattled his bag of candied nuts. "This kind of shit went on all the damn time during the Urban Wars. Mostly we suppressed and subdued, but there's bigger and better shit out there now."
"Yeah, but we're bigger and better, too."
It made him smile a little. "Goddamn right."
Eve rubbed her eyes when she was alone with Peabody. The scant three hours' sleep she'd managed was threatening to fog her brain. "Man the computer in here. As Malloy's teams report in, adjust the list. I'll report in to Whitney, then I'll be in the field. Keep me updated."
"You could use me in the field, Dallas."
Eve thought of how close she'd come to getting her aide blown to pieces once already and shook her head. "I need you here," was all she said, and headed out.
An hour later, Peabody swung between being miserably bored and outrageously edgy. Four buildings had been tagged clean, but there were another dozen to go with just under two hours until noon.
She wandered the room, drank too much coffee. She tried to think like a political terrorist. Eve could do that, she knew. Her lieutenant could slide into the mind of a criminal, walk around in it, visualize a scene from the eyes of a killer.
Peabody envied that skill, though it had occurred to her more than once it couldn't be a comfortable one.
"If I were a political terrorist, what building in New York would I want to take out to make a statement?"
Tourist traps and lures, she thought. The problem was she'd always avoided that kind of thing. She'd come to New York to be a cop and had deliberately—as a matter of pride, she supposed—avoided all the usual tourist havens.
The fact was, she'd never been inside the Empire State or the Met until Zeke…
Her head came up, her eyes brightened. She'd call Zeke. She knew he'd studied his guide disc front and back and sideways. So where would he, as an eager tourist from Arizona, most like to attend a weekday matinee?
She turned from the window to start toward the 'link, then scowled when McNab strolled in.
"Hey, She-Body, they dump you on desk duty, too?"
"I'm busy, McNab."
