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“Yes, but I’ll be monitoring.”
“We’ve got a little while before the show starts.” At the stage door, Eve punched in the code she’d been given. “You’ll likely get bored.”
“Oh, I sincerely doubt that.”
They walked out on the stage, where preparations were already under way.
“Hey, Lieutenant! Heads up, She-Body!”
Twenty feet overhead, McNab swung by in a safety harness. He gave a kick of his shiny green boots and sailed in a very graceful arc.
“Stop that horsing around.” Feeney squinted up, wincing when his detective pretended to swim through the air.
“What’s he doing up there?” Eve demanded. “Besides making an ass of himself.”
“Overhead cams. You gotta be young to enjoy that kind of duty. Most of the equipment was already in place. Roarke didn’t miss a trick. But he wasn’t setting up for a police op. We’re adjusting. We’ll be able to monitor the action from all angles.”
“Is Roarke on-scene yet?”
“Yeah, he’s in control, showing a couple of my techs more than they’d ever hoped to know. The man’s a genius with electronics. What I couldn’t do with him in EDD.”
“Do me a favor and don’t mention it. He’s hard enough to deal with. Auto-locks set on all exits?”
“Yep. Once everybody’s in, nobody gets out. We’ve got three uniforms, two techs, you, me, and Peabody. And flyboy up there. McNab, get the hell down from there now! You sure you don’t want a bigger team?”
Eve did a slow turn, scanned the theater. “We won’t need it.”
“Feeney.” Roarke stepped from the shadows onto the stage. “Your control appears to be set.”
“I’ll go look it over. McNab! Don’t make me come up there. Christ, how many times did I say that to my kids?” With a shake of his head, he walked offstage.
“He’s going to hurt himself.” Torn between amusement and concern, Peabody nudged Eve’s shoulder. “Tell him to come down, Dallas.”
“Why me?”
“Because he fears you.”
Because the idea of that was pleasing, Eve set her hands on her hips, scowled up, and shouted. “McNab, stop screwing around and get your ass down here.”
“Yes, sir.”
He came down in a whoosh, cheeks flushed with the thrill. “Man, you gotta try that. What a rush.”
“I’m happy we could provide you with some entertainment, Detective. Why shouldn’t we have a little fun and frivolity during the course of an elaborate and expensive police operation, particularly when we’re employing multi-million dollar civilian equipment and facilities.”
“Um,” was the best he could do before he cleared his throat. The grin had already been wiped off his face. “The overhead cams are set and operational, Lieutenant. Sir.”
“Then maybe you can make yourself useful elsewhere. If it’s not too much trouble.”
“No, sir. I’ll just…go.” Somewhere, he thought, and escaped.
“That ought to keep him straight for the next five minutes.” She turned to Roarke.
“I don’t fear you,” he told her. “But I brought you a present.” He handed her a mini-remote. “You can signal control,” he explained. “For lights, sound, set change. You can direct from any location in the theater. The play’s in your hands.”
“Opening act’s up to you.”
“It’s already in place.” He checked his wrist unit. “You have just over an hour before curtain.”
