"Or never went at all," Roarke suggested. "Tossed you a red herring."
"Maybe, yeah, maybe. If she's had contact with Avril, she knows or will know that this whole thing's about to go public. What does she do?"
She paced. "She's got her mission. Most of what she wants is going to come down. But..." Case is basically closed, she thought, but was that stopping her from pursuing it, from doing what she could to finish it out herself?
"She'll try to finish it. Hell, they trained her for this kind of work. They imprinted her to succeed. She's already gone rogue from her own underground. She's been in the Center once already that we know of. To kill Icove. But she doesn't attempt to do anything else there."
"She's focused."
"So far," Eve agreed. "Icove to Icove to Samuels. Because even if she does get in, compromises their database, their equipment.. . Hell, even if she blows the place up, key members are still around to put it back together. Take out the human factor first, then the system."
She paced some more. "Don't take the chance on the government getting the system, covertly continuing the program. I put the clock on her with Nadine. She's got to move on it tonight."
She stopped when Feeney came in. He was, if possible, more rumpled than usual.
"I need that tracking."
"I got the data from Samuels's records on the type of implant." He looked at Roarke. "You got anything in here that'll track an internal?"
"I've got a few things we can put together in the computer lab. There's-"
"Go do that," Eve interrupted, sensing a compu-geek mode coming on. "I'm going to outline the op."
"What op?" Feeney wanted to know.
"I'll catch you up." Roarke started out with him. "Have you ever worked with an Alpha-5? The XDX version?"
"Only in my dreams."
"Your dream's about to come true."
E
ve gave them twenty minutes. It was all she believed they could spare.
"Got her?"
"Got something," Feeney told her. "It's being jammed, and it's weak, but it matches the codes of the implant listed for Diana Rodriguez. We wouldn't be getting anything, I can tell you, if we weren't working with the Alpha, 'cause the jam is choice. Might not even get what we got with the Alpha, except the implant's within a mile of our location."
"Where?"
"Moving north. West of here. Got that map ready?" he asked Roarke.
"Just coming. And on."
A city map flashed under the fuzzy blip on-screen. "The Center." Eve set her jaw. "She's less than a block from the Center. She's taking the kid and going in. Feeney, don't lose her. Contact Whitney. You're going to have to convince him to let you break Code Blue on communications. Then you've got to convince him to get us a warrant and a team. Use the kid. Minor civilian, suspected abduction, imminent jeopardy. With or without, I'm going in. I'm changing to Delta frequency on my communicator. Use it only if you get affirmative."
She spun to Roarke. "Let's gear up."
She yanked on her weapon, strapped on a clutch piece. She opted against body armor as it was too bulky and annoying, but hooked on a combat knife.
When Roarke joined her he wore a knee-length leather coat. She had no idea what sort of weaponry and illegal electronics might be under and/or in it.
She'd leave it to him.
"Some couples," he said, "go out to a club for an evening."
Her smile was thin and sharp. "Let's dance."