“Where the fuck are you? I’ll call it in, slap his drunk ass in restraints.”
“No, no! What if I’m wrong? He’s my oldest, dearest friend. Have pity. I’m asking for your help. Yours, Lieutenant, because you’ll know what to do. If I’m overreacting, you’ll know, and Sly won’t be embarrassed. And if I’m right, you’ll solve these horrible murders tonight before he . . . You’ll be a heroine, again. You’ll be credited for stopping this madness. You alone. I don’t want my name involved. It’s . . . painful. Please, please. I’m at the Strathmore Center. I can slip out. I can’t go far. I’ll have to get back before intermission in case . . . Our Lady of Shadows. It’s only a block away.”
Inside, her smile spread even as she scowled into the ’link. “A freaking church?”
“It’s close, and we can talk without being interrupted or overheard. I have to trust you. I have to trust you’ll know what to do. I’ll be there in twenty minutes, and then I’ll tell you everything I know. You’re the only one I can tell.”
“Yeah, yeah, fine. It’d better be good, Dudley. I’ve had a shitty day.”
She cut him off, tapped the ’link against her palm. “They do think I’m stupid.”
“Pissed-faced and stupid,” Roarke added. “They’ll double-team you.”
“Absolutely. Feeney.”
“I’ve got it.”
“McNab, take the wheel while I bring in the teams. I want street level and I want no more than two blocks from the target site.”
“You got it.”
“What are you doing on that thing?” Eve asked as Roarke worked on his PPC.
“Bringing up the floor plans of the church again. You’ll want to refresh your sense of the place.”
“He thinks like a cop,” she said to Feeney. “He hates when I say that, but what’re you going to do? Dudley said twenty, so he’ll be there in fifteen or sooner. I’ll need to hoof it in those bastards for a block, from the east, in case one of them’s watching for me. Dudley’s using,” she added. “His pupils were the size of dinner plates. Moriarity’s likely had a few hits, too.”
“Don’t think that makes them less dangerous,” Roarke said.
“No, I don’t. But it’s what’s making them careless, what’s pushing them as much—more, I guess, than the show we put on for them earlier.” She took the PPC from Roarke, studied it. “Okay, as we laid out when Baxter’s team reported the droid’s movements, we put men here and here.”
She looked at Peabody, got a nod. “Second team outside, covering the exits. I want them kept back until we know both subjects are inside, and I don’t want anybody breaking cover until I give that go. Clear?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll go in now, take this position. McNab—”
“I’ll take the other.”
Peabody started to speak, but subsided when she saw the look in Roarke’s eyes.
“All right. The two of you take the inside positions.” Eve would have offered Roarke her clutch piece but she knew damn well if Summerset had gotten the change of clothes for her, he’d have gotten a weapon to Roarke. She didn’t want to know how he’d gotten one through security.
“I want inside, Dallas.”
She glanced up at McNab as he maneuvered the van to the curb. He could irritate the hell out of her, but she trusted him to the bone. “You take position with Peabody. I’d better not hear any sex giggles.”
She tapped her ear. “Copy that. Dudley’s on the move. Stay where you are, Carmichael, until Moriarity makes his move. Give him room. Team A better get its asses to church.”
Roarke leaned to her, spoke with his lips against her ear. “Think twice before you let them put a single mark on you if you want them in one piece and conscious for your arrest.”
Before she could speak, he turned his head, pressed his lips firmly to hers. “Take care of my cop,” he told her, and jumped out the back after Peabody.
Eve reached for the shoes, met Feeney’s bland stare. “What?”
“I didn’t say a word. We got some body armor if you want it.”
“Makes me look fat,” she said and made him laugh.
“Wouldn’t help anyway if they try a head shot. Here.” He reached in one of the drawers, pulled out a bottle.