"I'm not going to ask how you'll do it," Feeney decided. "But start with Tia Wo and Hans Vanderhaven. Wo was supposed to meet me today with her gold pin, and she never showed. Vanderhaven's taken an unscheduled leave. All we can get at this point is he's in Europe. Peabody and I were about to track both of them down when you called, Dallas."
"If the pin found on-scene belongs to either of them, they'll try to replace it."
"Got that covered," McNab assured her. "I'm linked into all the sources in the city for that particular piece. Already doing a search on other sources in Europe if that's where the other doc flew. We'll have a record of every sale made."
"Good coverage."
"We'd better get started." Feeney rose, looked at Eve. "What're you going to be doing while we're busting our butts?"
"Taking a quick trip. I'll be back tomorrow. Baxter's setting up a truth testing and evaluation with Mira."
"You could put that off. We get a break, you could be clear without it in a few days."
The faint smile she'd worked up faded. "I'll never be clear without it."
"You stick with level one. They can't make you go higher."
She kept her eyes on his. "I'll never be clear unless I go the route. You know that, Feeney."
"Goddamn it."
"I can handle it." Aware that Roarke had gotten to his feet, she sent Feeney a warning look. "It's just routine, and Mira's the best handler there is."
"Yeah." But there was a sick feeling in his gut as he turned to grab up his coat. "Let's ride, people. We'll be in touch, Dallas. You can tag any of us, any time, on our personals."
"As soon as I know something."
"Sir." Peabody stopped in front of Eve, shifted her feet. "Hell," she muttered and grabbed Eve into a fierce hug.
"Peabody, this isn't the time to get sloppy. You're embarrassing yourself."
"If Rosswell's connected, I'm going to fry his ass."
In a quick jerk, Eve hugged back and released. "That's the spirit. Get the hell out of here. I've got places to go."
"Nobody gave me a hug," McNab complained as they headed out and made Eve snort out a laugh.
"Well." Fighting to steady her emotions, she turned back to Roarke. "Looks like we've got a plan."
His eyes fixed on her face, he came toward her. "I didn't realize there were levels of this testing process."
"Sure. It's no big deal."
"Feeney seemed to think otherwise."
"Feeney's a worrier," she said with a shrug, but when she started to turn away, Roarke took her arm.
"How bad is it?"
"It's not a cruise on airskates, okay? And I can handle it. I can't think about it now, Roarke, it'll mess up my head. Just how quick can that spiffy transpo of yours get us to Chicago?"
Tomorrow, he decided, they would damn well deal with it. But for now, he gave her the smile he knew she needed. "Just how quick can you pack?"
*** CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ***
The sun was already dipping down in the western sky, sending shadows to droop over Chicago's jagged skyline. She saw the last glints of it shimmer and bounce off the lake.
Should she remember the lake? she wondered.