AllFreeNovel
Share Us
WORKING . . . AUTO-NAVIGATION ON THIS VEHICLE IS EXPERIENCING SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS. DO YOU WISH TO NOTIFY MAINTENANCE AT THIS TIME?
“I wish to blow Maintenance and everyone in it to holy hell. And don’t tell me that will result in fine and/or imprisonment because it’d be worth it. Re-engage manual.”
The engine rumbled on, and the air conditioning whirled, filling the cockpit with frigid air. “Disengage climate control.”
WORKING . . . CLIMATE CONTROL IS EXPERIENCING SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS. DO YOU WISH TO NOTIFY MAINTENANCE AT THIS TIME?
“Oh, fuck you,” Eve said and rolled down all windows.
She shot away from the curb, and unwilling to trust the in-dash ’link, pulled out her own.
Mrs. Whitney answered, looking perfectly groomed and very annoyed.
“I’m sorry to disturb you at home, Mrs. Whitney, but I need to speak with the commander.”
“It’s after eleven o’clock, Lieutenant. Can’t this wait until morning?”
“No, ma’am, it can’t.”
“One moment,” she snapped, and switched Eve to wait mode, complete with canned music. Eve listened to violins and flutes as she drove one-handed through a snarl of traffic.
“Whitney.”
“I’m sorry to call you at home, Commander, but there’s been a break in the investigation.”
“I’m always ready to hear good news.”
“I’ve just come from questioning Stefanie Finch. She has a date with the suspect tomorrow at thirteen hundred, Greenpeace Park.”
“He’s moved to days?”
“It fits the profile, sir. Upping the risk. Finch is cooperating. She’s agreed to remain inside her residence. I have two uniforms with her, round the clock. Unless the suspect hears from her by noon tomorrow, he’ll keep the date. I’m making arrangements to go in her place.”
“Is there a physical resemblance?”
“We’re close in height and build. I’m making arrangements to take care of the rest. I’ve got more data to study, but I can maintain the cover until he gives me the drug. He puts it in my hand, Commander, a
nd we sew him up.”
“What do you need?”
“I’d like six cops, soft clothes, in addition to my team, stationed at strategic areas. I’ll go over diagrams tonight and determine placement. I’ll go in wired. I’ll need Feeney and the e-man of his choice in a surveillance vehicle. Additional vehicular and air backup is advisable, in case he gets past me. I’d like to select the rest of the team and brief them from my home office by oh eight hundred hours. I want everyone in place by eleven.”
“You’re cleared. Pick your men, and keep me updated. What the hell is that noise?”
“Ah, my climate control’s dinky, sir.”
“Well, notify Maintenance.”
She heard her own teeth grind. “Yes, sir.”
When she got home, she marched through her office and into Roarke’s.
“Can you get your hands on any explosives?”
He glanced up from his work, picked up the brandy snifter that sat at his elbow. “Probably. What would you like?”
“Anything that will blow that insult, that abomination parked out front into a million tiny little pieces that can never be put back together again.”
