TWO ENERGY BOOSTS WITH A TRANQ CHASER, Eve thought. The combination had her feeling stupid, shaky, and not a little sick. But she not only had to stay on her feet, she had to do the job.

Reaching around, she fumbled at her back for her restraints. Either they weren’t there, or she’d lost all sensation in her left hand. “Crap. I’ve got to restrain this son of a bitch, but my cuffs…I must’ve dropped them upstairs when he tranq’d me. Let me just…okay.”

She turned, saw the ropes looped through the side holes in the table. “Here we go. Okay.”

“You don’t look so good,” Ariel commented. “I probably look a whole lot worse, but you don’t look so good.”

“Been putting in a lot of hours looking for you, Ariel.” Eve fought the knots on the rope, cursing under her breath as her fingers felt as agile as limp soy dogs.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Bloody buggering hell! Was this son of a bitch a Youth Guide or something?”

“I always thought they were little psychos.”

Unsteady fingers slick with sweat, Eve tugged and dragged. “Almost got this bitch. Just hold on.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Eve muscled one rope free, then bent over from the waist, blowing out breath as her stomach tried to heave. “Little sick to my stomach. Don’t be alarmed if I boot.”

Ariel managed a smile through gritted teeth. “If you do, boot on him. Bastard.”

On an appreciative and slightly drunk laugh, Eve crouched down to tie Lowell’s hands. “You’re a stand-up, Ariel. A goddamn Amazon. I can see why Erik’s in love with you.”

“What? Erik? Erik loves me?”

Eve swiped at her sweaty brow, glanced up and over at Ariel’s pale face. “That was probably something I was supposed to keep to myself. Crossed the line. Blame the tranq. But listen,” she continued as she tied the rope around Lowell’s wrists just a little tighter than strictly necessary. “If you don’t go for him, you know? If you don’t, take it easy on him, okay? ’Cause he’s really gone over you.”

Eve stood, ignoring the way her head swam, to release the second rope for Lowell’s feet. And saw tears sliding down Ariel’s cheeks. “Oh, man, I know you’re hurt. I know this sucks out loud, but just hang on a few minutes more.”

“I’ve loved that dumbass almost since he moved in across the hall. Dumbass never made one move.”

“Oh.” God, people were strange, Eve thought. The woman had stood up under unspeakable pain, but she was leaking because some guy was soft on her. “He probably will now. Jesus, music off!” she ordered as she bound Lowell’s feet. But the voices continued to soar. “You know how he shut that shit off?”

“Not really. I’ve been kind of tied up since I got here.”

Eve plopped down on her ass and laughed like a loon. “You ever think of giving up baking and going into police work, Ariel—I swear you’ve got the spine and the nasty streak for it.”

“I like baking. I’m going to bake you the most incredible cake. It’s going to be a goddamn work of art. Oh, God, God, do you think someone’s coming with drugs soon?”

“It won’t be long. I’m going to see if I can get the doors open, or break the glass.”

“But…don’t leave me.”

“Listen.” Eve gained her feet, stepped over so she and Ariel were face-to-face. “I’m not going anywhere without you. On my word.”

“What’s your name? I’m sorry, did you tell me your name already?”

“It’s Dallas. Eve Dallas.”

“If I give Erik a break and we get married, I’m naming the first kid after you.”

“There’s a lot of that going around.”

“Get us the hell out of here, Dallas.”

Eve moved to the door, yanked, shoved, pulled, kicked, rammed. Cursed. Turning again, she pulled the coat over Ariel’s face. “Just for a minute, in case the glass flies around.” And taking out her weapon again, she upped the stream and blasted at the door.

The glass held, but she saw it shake. She hit it again, aiming for the same spot, then a third time. On the forth, the glass erupted into a wild spiderweb of cracks.

“Nearly through, Ariel.” Eve holstered her weapon, picked up the stool and slammed it into the damaged door. She beat at it until the ground sparkled and the opening was clear.

After heaving the stool aside, Eve went back to uncover Ariel’s face. Paler now, Eve noted, shaking a little more. Had to get moving, had to get gone. “Found a way out. I’m going to cut these ropes now.”

“Try not to let the knife slip. I’m pretty tired of getting cut.”

Eve picked up one of Lowell’s tools, nudged the coat away from Ariel’s arm. It was patterned with cuts, punctures, burns. Eve set the blade on the rope, looked up into Ariel’s eyes. “He’s going to pay. He’s going to pay for every minute you spent in here. I swear it.”

She had to saw through the rope, leaving bracelets of it around Ariel’s abraded wrists. And she had to turn her mind, her rage away from the wounds she saw.

As she freed Ariel’s feet, she heard Lowell give a soft groan.

“He’s waking up, he’s waking up.” Voice pitched in panic and pain, Ariel struggled to sit. “He can’t get loose, can he?”

“No. He’s not getting up on his own. And look, if he tries, we have this.” Eve drew her weapon again.

“Why don’t you stun him again? While I watch.”

“Appreciate the sentiment, but I think it’s time to get you out of here. Here, let’s get this coat on you.” As Eve slid the sleeves on, Ariel hissed. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She kept her eyes trained on Lowell. “I’m okay. Can you help me down so I can kick him? In the face. That’s what I imagined doing. I want to kick him in the face.”

“Again, kudos on the sentiment. But here’s what we’re going to do. I want you to wrap your arms around my neck. Glass everywhere, and I don’t have a spare pair of shoes on me. I just need you to hold onto me, and I’m going to carry you out. You hold onto me, Ariel. I’ll get you out.”

“Like…Like piggyback,” Ariel managed between shaky breaths when Eve backed up to the table.

“Yeah, that’s the way. You get a little piggyback ride, and I’m hoping you don’t sample a lot of your products.”

Ariel managed a watery laugh, then collapsed against Eve’s neck and shoulders.

“Ready? Here we go.” With her own legs wobbly from the drugs, Eve bent to take the weight. She focused on the door. Five feet to get through, she calculated as she put one foot in front of the other. Another two, maybe three to get past the broken glass on the floor.

There was communication equipment out there, she reminded herself as sweat slid over her skin and Ariel bit back whimpers. She’d tag her backup, the MTs.

She heard something crash, then the rush of feet. And tightened her grip on the weapon in her hand. She let out the breath she was holding when she heard Roarke shout her name.

“Back here! Call the MTs! That’s the cavalry, Ariel.”

“No.” Ariel’s head slumped on Eve’s shoulder. “You are.”

Roarke flew through the maze of the basement toward the echo of Eve’s voice. The sound of it had stabbed through the music, blown through him like breath.

He saw her, pale, face gleaming with sweat, her weapon in her hand, and a quietly weeping woman on her back.

He lowered his own weapon, let the tremor in his belly come and go. “We’ve come to save you.”

She worked up a grin for him. “About damn time.”

He was to her in the single beat of a heart, and despite the flood of cops pouring down, gripped her exhausted face in his hands and kissed her.

“Here.” He shifted to lift Ariel from Eve’s back. “Let me help you.”

“Is he yours?” Ariel asked.

“Yeah. He’s mine.”

Ariel stared up into Roarke’s face. “Wow.” She let out a deep, deep breath, then just closed her eyes.

“MTs, now.” Eve bent, bracing her hands on her knees. “Peabody, you here?”

“Present and accounted for.”

“I want this place secured. I want a team of sweepers in here, going over every inch, documenting everything.”

“Dallas, you look a little green.”

“Tranq’d me. Fucker got by me for a half a second. Energy pills, tranqs, I’m a chemical stew.” She stayed as she was, snorting out a laugh. “Damn it. All electronics seized. Droid somewhere upstairs deactivated. And Jesus, somebody get that music off before my head explodes.”

She pushed herself up, swayed, and might have tumbled if Feeney hadn’t gripped her arm. “Head rush. I’m okay, just a little queasy. Lowell’s in there, secured. You need to haul his ass in. Your collar.”

“No, it’s not.” Feeney gave her arm a squeeze. “But I’ll haul his ass in for you. McNab, help the lieutenant upstairs, then get your butt back down here and start on the electronics.”

“I don’t need help,” Eve protested.

“You fall on your face,” Feeney murmured in her ear, “you’ll ruin your exit.”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

“Just lean on me, Lieutenant.” McNab wrapped an arm around her waist.

“You try to cop a feel, I can still put you down.”

“Whatever your condition, Dallas, you still scare me.”

“Aw.” Touched, she slung an arm around his shoulders. “That’s so sweet.”

Taking her weight, he led her through the maze of rooms, up the stairs. “We couldn’t get in,” he told her. “We were maybe ten minutes behind you—traffic snarl—then we couldn’t get in the damn house. Your car wasn’t there, but we knew you’d gone in. I couldn’t get through the security. Roarke did. We had battering rams and laser torches coming, but he got through.”

“Nothing much keeps him out.”

“It took time, even for him. Place is like the frigging Pentagon or something. Then we had to get through the next level on the basement.”

“How long was I in there?”

“Twenty minutes, half an hour, maybe.”

“Not too bad.”

“I’ll take her from here,” Roarke said.

“Don’t—aw, no picking me up.” But she was already cradled in his arms.

“I have to, for a minute anyway.” He simply buried his face against the side of her neck as cops and techs swarmed by. “I couldn’t get to you.”

“Yeah, you did. Besides, I told you I could handle myself.”

“So you did, so you always do. Are you hurt?”

“No. Feel like I guzzled a bottle of wine, and not the good stuff. But it’s passing some. Gee, your hair smells good.” She sniffed at it, caught herself, and winced. “Damn tranqs. You gotta put me down. This is undermining my rep and authority.”

He eased her onto her feet, but kept his arm around her waist for support. “You need to lie down.”

“Really don’t. You lie down and everything starts spinning around. Just need to walk it off.”

“Lieutenant?” Newkirk walked up with her coat. “Ms. Greenfeld asked that this get back to you.”

“Thanks. Where is she?”

“MTs are working on her, in the hall—the foyer, I guess it is.”

“All right. Officer Newkirk? You did good work.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant. Right now it feels like good work.”

“I want to take a look at her before they transport her,” Eve said to Roarke, and let him help her to the foyer.

Ariel was on a stretcher, covered with a blanket, a pair of MTs preparing to roll her out.

“Give me a minute. Hey,” she said to Ariel, “how you doing?”

“They gave me some really mag drugs. I feel sooooo good. You saved my life.” Ariel reached up to grip Eve’s hand.

“I had a part in it. So did the cops crowding into this place, and this civilian here, too. But mostly, Ariel? You saved yourself. We’re going to need to talk to you some more, when you’re feeling a little better.”

“So he pays.”

“That’s right.”

“Anytime, anyplace.”

“Okay. One more second,” she told the MTs, and held out a hand to Roarke. “Let me have your pocket ’link.” She took it, keyed in a number. “Hey, Erik. Hey,” she repeated when he began to spew out questions. “Quiet down. I’ve got someone here who wants to talk to you.” She put the ’link into Ariel’s hand. “Say hi, Ariel.”

“Erik? Erik?” She began to cry, to laugh, and beamed up at Eve with drug-hazed eyes. “He’s crying. Don’t cry, Erik. I’m okay now. Everything’s okay.”

“Go ahead,” Eve said to the MTs, “and tell the guy on the ’link where you’re taking her. He’ll want to be there.”

“Nice job, Lieutenant,” Roarke murmured as they wheeled Ariel out.

“Yeah. And you can always get another ’link. I have to go in, finish this up.”

“We have to go in, finish this up,” Roarke corrected.

 

S he was steadier when she got to Central, and forced down some of the Eatery’s fake eggs in the hopes of smoothing out her system. She forked them up in the war room, chasing them with all the water she could stand.

She wanted a shower, she wanted a bed. But more than she wanted anything, she wanted a turn with Lowell in the box.

She set the food aside, rose, and walked over to stare at all the names on the board. “For all of them,” she said quietly. “What we did, what we do now, it’s for all of them. That’s the point that has to be made. In the box, in the courts, in the media. It’s important.”

“No one who worked in this room these last days will forget them,” Roarke told her.

She nodded. “This is going to take some time. I know you’re not leaving until it’s done, so I won’t bother suggesting it. You can stand in Observation, or be more comfortable and watch from one of the monitors.”

“I like Observation.”

“Okay then. I’m going to have him brought up, so go pick your spot. I need to talk to Peabody.”

She headed toward the bullpen. It was buzzing, and as she stepped inside, applause broke out. Eve held up a hand. “Save it,” she ordered. “It’s not done yet. Peabody.”

Peabody shoved up from her desk, turned, and took a quick bow before going out after Eve. “We’re pumped.”

“Yeah, I know. Peabody, I have to ask you for a solid.”

“Sure.”

“You earned a turn in Interview with this bastard, and you’re secondary on the investigation. It’s your right. I need to ask you to step aside for Feeney on this.”

“Can I stand in Observation and give Lowell the finger?”

“Absolutely. I owe you.”

“No. Not on this one. Nobody owes anybody on this one.”

“Okay. Bring him up for us, will you? Interview A.”

“Oh, my sincere pleasure. Dallas? I’ve just gotta dance.” And she did so, a kind of tap/shuffle as she walked away.

Eve wen............