working ...
"Secondary search. Top five transportation companies that have service between New York and Europe."
secondary search acknowledged. working ...
"Okay, it's worth a shot." She checked at her wrist , unit, swore. "When search is complete, save data on hard drive, copy and save same on disc."
acknowledged ...
Satisfied with the new thread to tug, Eve made one quick 'link call then headed out to keep her promise to Peabody.
On the way, she juggled her mental notes. Poison, she thought as she nipped onto a glide. Both personal and aloof, traditionally more a female weapon than blades or bludgeons.
Kill without contact. That was important to Julianna. The sex had been a kind of necessary evil in the past.
Demeaning to both parties, she'd said, Eve remembered. Penetrating. Plunging.
No, she'd never use a blade, ramming it into flesh was too much like sex.
Another difference between us, Eve thought before she could stop herself. Then wiped her suddenly damp hands on her trousers.
You've killed. Julianna's voice echoed in her head. You know.
Not for pleasure, Eve reminded herself. Not for profit.
Yet she'd taken her first life at the age of eight. Even Julianna couldn't top that.
Feeling slightly ill, Eve rubbed her hands over her face.
"Interview C."
When she jumped, McNab grabbed her elbow. "Hey, sorry. Didn't mean to spook you. I hopped on behind you. Thought you heard me."
"I was thinking. What are you doing in this section?"
"I wanted to catch some of Peabody in action. I didn't say anything to her in case it distracts her. But I thought I could slip into observation for ten or fifteen. Is that okay with you, Lieutenant?"
"Yeah, sure. McNab?'
"Sir?"
She started to speak, then shook her head. "Nothing."
They moved down a narrow corridor past a grim set of gray doors that led to a temporary holding tank and coded into Observation.
It was little more than another corridor, fronted by two-way glass. There were no chairs. The lighting was dim and dreary and it smelled of someone's obsessively pine aftershave or a pine-scented cleaner. Either way, it filled the air like a forest.
They could have opted for one of the trio of more comfortable screen rooms in this section where there were chairs, credit-operated Auto-Chef, and equipment that would allow them to hear and view the interview.
But Eve found the facilities there kept the observer too distant and detached. She preferred the glass.
"You want me to get you a chair or something?"
Distracted, she looked over at McNab. "What?"
"You know, a chair in case you get tired of standing."
"Golly, McNab, are we on a date?"