He began a slow scan, starting with the main floor.
“A narrow basement area beneath, in case you didn’t know. Nothing there, nothing on the main floor. Starting scan of second floor.”
Nothing flared as he scanned slowly foot by foot.
“Second floor clear. Starting scan on third level.”
Here or there, there or here, Eve thought, waiting for one of her team to report back. Waiting for something to flare.
“Ah. Geeks and cops rule, it seems. There she is, Lieutenant.”
“I see her,” Eve noted, and watched the flare of the heat source on screen.
“Stretched out. I bet she’s bored. Watching the screen, watching monitors. We’re going to give her some excitement. Lowenbaum!”
“Got you back,” he said. “Your EDD cutie’s in there, working the droid, but word is his memory disc doesn’t show the suspect in the last twenty-four. That’s as far as he goes.”
“Because she’s here.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“I want you to leave some of your men on that building. Visible, Lowenbaum, but not too obvious about it. I’m going to use your location as a distraction. Throw her off. The rest of you come in fast and quiet. We’re going to take her, Lowenbaum.”
“Bet your superior ass.”
“Reineke, you copy?”
“That’s affirmative.”
“Leave some of the uniforms. Make them visible. And get the rest of the team to this location. Barricades at the end of the block, both sides. Keep out of eyeline unless and until I say different. We’re going to move in five.”
“Watch your ass, LT, and the rest of you.”
She tagged Nadine again. “NYPSD officers, including SWAT, are moving in on the remaining suspect in the recent LDSK murders. Lieutenant Eve Dallas is supervising a takedown of Willow Mackie, believed to be holed up in an SRO building on Lexington. Dallas reports an arrest is imminent.”
“What kind of bullshit is this? You never report that—and you never feed the media during an op.”
“You’re not just the media, are you? Go with it, go now. I can promise you, it’ll be worth it. Every level worth it. Go with it, Nadine.”
“I’ll go with it, damn it. You’re going to owe me.”
“I’ve already got the payment ready. Later.”
Eve engaged her comp screen. “It shouldn’t take her long.”
In fact, it took just under two minutes before Channel Seventy-Five’s feed went to their hot blue and jittery red Breaking News flash.
The on-air reporter announced an important development in the hunt for the suspect in the Madison Square attack, and threw it to Nadine, whose voice came over with a photo of her in the corner of the screen.
“This is Nadine Furst reporting by remote as even now police officers and SWAT units converge—”
Eve cut off the screen, shoved open her door the instant she saw the
heat source move from recline to stand.
“We got her attention. Gear up.” She tossed Roarke a helmet.
“Now, really, Eve.”