Chapter Twenty #2
She considered. “That’s one way to look at it. I like that way. The point of the media thing, for me, was to speak directly to Redman, which I’ve already done. To try to talk him down, and I’m not sure that’s possible.”
She ate a little more and gave thanks to whoever had come up with the idea of pasta in red sauce.
“Roarke, he said the serum—that he created—he said it kept him alive, and was killing him. Somehow, because I believe him, it’s doing both. He said his time was running out.”
“You want to stop him, and you want to save him.”
“I have to stop him. He’s smart. I don’t think he anticipated Banner in a cell, but Redman will find a way in. I don’t know how, but he’ll find a way.”
“So you’ll be speaking to him after all tomorrow.”
“I hope he listens.”
“You did, eventually.”
“I should’ve anticipated he’d stay close—the timing. But he’s smart, and the smart thing was to get gone. But he stayed close, and listened to me, to Peabody, to all of it. Normally, I’d call that a mistake, but it was purposeful.
“He’s studied me.”
“Has he now?”
“He trusts me. He looked into Feeney, and if he hadn’t seen a solid cop doing his best, there wouldn’t be a Feeney. Same with the arson investigator.”
“He only goes after the guilty.”
She heard it in his tone, the way he brushed the line of black-and-white into the gray.
“He’s still a vigilante, and a killer. Wyst was taking off, making all the plans, arrangements, transfers. He’d poof, or poof until this blew over.”
“Bloody coward.”
“They’re all bloody cowards, cowards who think they’re above the law because they have money and influence. This is so damn good,” she said, and ate some more. “I have a favor to ask.”
“It’s a fine time to ask me for one.”
“There’s a couple of people, a scientist, an exec coordinator—well, two exec coordinators,” she amended as she thought of Lorilee. “Smart, steady women. They come off clean, have assisted in the investigation. We’ll be shutting down Banner-Wyst.”
“And they’ll be out a job, won’t they?”
“You could take a look, run them through your system. If you’re satisfied, have a place for them, all good. If you’re not and don’t, still good. I could probably work them into the NYPSD.”
“Where, I imagine, the pay and benefits aren’t anywhere near what they’re currently getting. I’ll have a look, of course. Send me what you have, and we’ll go from there.”
“Thanks. I have to look at the recordings, write my report, update the board.”
“We’ll look at the recording, and I’ll update your board while you write your report. Then you’ll have that bath, the blockers, the wanding. And you’ll get some rest.”
“Okay.”
“And, Eve, I’m with you tomorrow.”
“You can’t just—”
“You can’t come home to me like this and deny me that. I’m with you tomorrow.”
She couldn’t think of an argument that held up against that. Because, she admitted, there wasn’t one.
“Are you thinking of trying to take him on?”
“Since I know very well how skillful you are in a fight, I certainly hope not. But I’m with you. I need that.”
“All right. Okay.” She got to her feet, half amazed nothing hurt nearly as much as it had. Then it hit her. “That party’s tomorrow night.”
“It is.”
She lifted her hands to her face. “Damn it. Can’t think about it. I’ll set up the recording. I’m going to start when we entered the penthouse. See if we missed anything. You can see if we missed anything.”
He watched with her, listened with her, seeing what she’d seen, hearing her voice, Peabody’s. Viewing the body and the destruction as she turned to the office. He went through the process with her.
He watched the elevator doors open, watched them close.
He caught her change of stance, then the blur of a man with brown-speckled white hair falling on her from above. He heard how her breath caught in pain, the clatter of her weapon skidding over the elevator floor.
The man’s voice as he told her to stop, to stay down. He said he didn’t want to hurt her even as he did.
She fought. Of course she did. She was Eve. But sweet Christ, the speed of that fist coming at her, the sound of it connecting to her flesh, her bone.
The sound of her body, already bruised and bloody, slamming against the elevator wall, then dropping with a thud, with a moan she couldn’t hold back.
The man’s face—she’d have been dazed, hurting, but she’d made sure to get a clean recording of his face.
And his words.
He’d damned the man whose body lay inside the penthouse, and the others he’d killed. When he spoke of his family, grief soaked the words. When he spoke of those responsible and why, fury burned through them.
When it was done, Redman leaped up through the grate and was gone. He saw Eve’s hand reach for her weapon, heard her hiss and moan of pain. Rolling faceup, Roarke understood, as he saw her weapon pointed up at the grate.
She ordered the recording to stop.
“I wasn’t too slow. He was too fast.”
“He didn’t want to hurt you. I couldn’t quite believe that before, but now I’ve seen it. It doesn’t change the fact he did.”
“It got him what he needed. I heard him out and he’s not in a cage.”
“And he won’t be because he’ll die first.”
“We can’t know, absolutely, whatever he’s taking is killing him.”
Despite everything, Roarke thought, she wanted to save him.
“Eve, whether by that or his own hand, he’ll be dead by the end of this. Death is his answer.”
“We can get him into a secure medical facility.”
“You won’t. You’ll try because you must, but you won’t.”
She wanted to argue that, needed to, but her ’link signaled. “It’s Feeney.” She answered quickly. “You got more of the more.”
“You look some better.”
“Some better than what?”
“Than you did on Peabody’s record. You look goddamn trashed on that, even though he was holding back. Guy’s on some sort of super ’roid.”
“That’s the best I can figure. Peabody sent you her record?”
“No, she brought in the e’s, since we’re doing some OT in the lab. I just sent all the kids home, but I thought you’d want this before I do that myself, and have a big, cold brew.”
“I appreciate the assist.”
“Didn’t do that fucker Wyst much good. But he did us a favor before he went to hell. He had a conversation over ’link with Banner that ended, as I figure it, about three minutes before Redman started on him.
“And he recorded it. Since it’s going to give you a nice leg up when you start on Banner, I’m sending it to you now for your listening pleasure.”
Eve heard incoming signal. “He recorded it.”
“You ask me, he wanted the insurance, so he had his comp record the whole thing. Probably he was going to copy it onto disc, then pull the guts out of the comp, destroy that. Didn’t get the chance.”
“Did they— Never mind, go home. I’ll listen to it.”
“I’m going.” He angled his head. “You icing all that down?”
“Yeah.”
“Keep doing that.”
When he clicked off, she immediately called for the recording.
Banner’s face came on-screen. He looked very comfortable, Eve thought, sitting in a big leather chair, a view of sweeping lawns, trees with their green summer leaves just touched with the reds and golds of fall.
And from the timeline on the recorder, he’d had about a half hour or so to stay comfortable before Whitney arrested him.
“Jacob. What is it now?”
“Cruz is dead.”
The man in the leather chair, shining silver hair like a lion’s mane around a sharp-featured face, just shrugged.
“He could have become a problem, so we won’t mourn his passing.”
“For God’s sake, Calvin, it has to be Redman. Delgato, Chu, Dent, now Cruz. He’s come back, and for payback. He’s figured it out, Christ knows how, but he’s figured out we hired Cruz to rig that explosion.”
“Are you on a secure ’link, you idiot?”
“Of course I am! You’re in this as much as I am, Calvin. More. You gave the order. I’m not waiting around for him to come for me, and he will. He’s coming for both of us.”
“And if he tries to breach my walls, my men will cut him down before he hits the ground. Get your guts up, Jacob. You have security.”
“Security didn’t help Chu, Dent, and I’m not risking it. We should’ve paid him off. None of this would be happening if we had. We’d have Rainmaker if we had.”
“Now you’re rewriting history, as at the time you agreed he wouldn’t be bribed.
A dreamer, you called him, naive and staunchly moral.
You agreed with Delgato and with me he needed to be eliminated, and in a way that couldn’t and wouldn’t be traced back to us.
You also agreed the Rainmaker project was all but complete, and Chu, Dent, and Delgato could easily finalize it. Your mistake, Jacob, and a costly one.”
He sipped from the cup in his hand. “Who would have thought the virtuous moron would destroy his own discovery, all that work, wipe all that progress? My regret? The pussy-whipped son of a bitch went out to buy ice cream. Taking that building down turned out to be a waste of good money. He should be dead. Long dead. If he’s not, and you’re correct, well, he soon will be. ”
“I want that every bit as much as you, but I’m not willing to risk my life. And I’m not going to prison over this. That bitch of a cop is breathing down our necks.”
“She’ll be dealt with. Again, your mistake was going to the police chief, the mayor. I intend to have a word with Hawley, among others. What’s the point in having a United States senator in our pocket and not using him to flick away an annoying gnat like this Eve Dallas?”
“You know who she’s married to?”
“I’m aware.” Banner smiled thinly. “It’s time that Irish upstart learned a lesson from his betters. It’ll be handled, Jacob. Now, I want you to keep the machine running, and smoothly, and not panic like that fool O’Brian.”
“Redman—”
“If alive, maybe the annoying gnat will kill him for us. Or he’ll take care of her. But one way or the other, all this will blow over inside a week. This won’t touch us. We’re too rich and too important. Do your job; I’ll do mine.”
The recording ended.