A blast hit the landing seconds before their feet. “Such as now?” Roarke commented.
But it was Eve who fired, leaning over the railing and turning the steps below into rubble. Caught in midstride, Hayes tried to swing back, bolt for the door, but his momentum skewed his balance.
He went down hard on the smoking, broken steps.
And Angelo shoved through the door, weapon gripped in both hands.
“Trying to take my collar, Dallas?”
“All yours.” Eve stepped down, onto the weapon that had flown out of Hayes’s hand. “Two people dead. For what?” she asked Hayes. “Was it worth it?”
His mouth and his leg were bleeding. He swiped at the blood on his chin while his eyes burned into hers. “No. I should’ve been more direct. I should’ve just blown you to hell right away and watched the bastard you fuck bleed over you. That would’ve been worth everything, knowing he’d live with the kind of pain his father caused. The commander could’ve died at peace knowing I’d found his justice. I wanted to give him more.”
“Did you give Weeks or Vinter a choice?” Eve demanded. “Did you tell them they were going to die for the cause?”
“Command isn’t required to explain. They honored their fathers, as I honor mine. There’s no other choice.”
“You signaled Weeks to move in on me, and he didn’t have a clue what it was going to cost him. You had Vinter sabotage the cameras, and when she realized why, you killed her.”
“They were necessary losses. Justice requires payment. You were going to be my last gift to him. You in a cage,” he said to Roarke. “You in a coffin.” He smiled at Eve when he said it. “Why aren’t you giving your seminar, Lieutenant? Why the hell aren’t you where you’re scheduled to be?”
“I had a conflict of…” She shot to her feet. “Oh, God. Peabody.”
She charged through the door and out into the corridor. “What floor? What floor?”
“This way.” Roarke grabbed her hand, pulled her toward the elevator. “Down to four,” he said. “We’ll head left. Second door on the right takes us behind the stage area.”
“Explosives. He likes explosives.” She dragged out her communicator again as she willed the elevator to hurry. “She’s turned hers off. Son of a bitch! Any officer, any officer, clear Conference Room D immediately. Clear the area of all personnel. Possible explosive device. Alert Explosive Division. Clear that area now!”
She was through the door and streaking to the left.
I sent her there, was all she could think. And I smirked about it.
Oh, God, please.
There was a roaring in her ears that was either her own rush of blood, the noise of the audience, or the shouted orders to clear.
But she spotted Peabody standing behind the podium and leaped the three steps on the side of the stage. Leaped again the minute her feet hit the ground and, hitting her aide mid-body, shot them both into the air and into a bruised and tangled heap on the floor.
She sucked in her breath, then lost it again as Roarke landed on top of her.
The explosion rang in her ears, sent the floor under her shaking. She felt the mean heat of it spew over her like a wave that sent the three of them rolling in one ball toward the far edge of the stage.
Debris rained over them, some of it flaming. Dimly she heard running feet, shouts, and the sizzling hiss of a fire.
For the second time in two days, she was drenched with the spray of overhead sprinklers.
“Are you all right?” Roarke said in her ear.
“Yeah, yeah. Peabody.” Coughing, eyes stinging with smoke, Eve eased back, saw her aide’s pale face, glassy eyes. “You okay?”
“Think so.” She blinked. “’Cept you’ve got two heads, Dallas, and one of them’s Roarke’s. It’s the prettiest. And I think you’ve really gained some weight.” She smiled vaguely and passed out.
“Got herself a nice concussion,” Eve decided, then turned her head so her nose bumped Roarke’s. “You are pretty, though. Now get the hell off me. This is seriously undignified.”
“Absolutely, Lieutenant.”
While the med-techs tended to Peabody, and the Explosives Division cordoned off the scene, Eve sat outside the conference room and drank the coffee some unnamed and beloved soul had handed her.