Clean slate.
For now, he gathered the suit, the cast, picked up the weapon Eve had dropped. It was possible she’d called in her intention to stop there. Someone would come, be that the case. But there would be no sign she’d been there.
Her vehicle would be found miles away.
He would have all her communication devices, and all would be shut down.
He would have her, Lowell thought as he started down the steps to his work area. And complete his life’s work.
O utside the house, Peabody stood sick with frustration and dread. She’d called for a battering ram for the door they couldn’t budge, and for laser torches to cut through the riot bars on every window.
Eve was inside, and she couldn’t find a way in.
“You’ve got to override the security.”
“I’m working on it,” McNab said between his teeth as he pulled out every trick he knew. “It’s got backups on its backups. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
They both whirled as a car squealed to a halt in the street. Some of her dread lessened when she saw Roarke and Feeney jump out.
“We can’t get past the system. The place is locked down like a fort.”
“Move aside.” Roarke shoved McNab away, pulled out his own tools.
“Tried the master, tried the override, got my comp to spit out codes. But when you input, they shift to another sequence.”
“It was a Stealth base during the Urbans,” Feeney told Peabody as sweat rolled down his back. “The minute she walked in, all comms were useless. We got the data on the way over. First Robert Lowell had it titled in his wife’s maiden name, ran a branch of the business out of here. More a front during the Urbans.
“Get that damn system down,” he ordered Roarke.
“Quiet and let me work.”
“You don’t get that down, get us inside before he puts hands on her, I’ll be kicking your ass for the rest of my natural life.”
A riel’s eyes tracked to him as he came in behind the droid. “Who is she? Who is she?”
“You could say the last of her breed.” He leaned over the table where the droid laid Eve, went through her pockets for her ’link, her communicator, her PPC. He removed her wrist unit. “Take these and put them into the recycler. Go upstairs, shut down,” he told the droid.
“Well, now.” Gently Lowell brushed a hand through Eve’s hair. “You’ll need to be washed and prepared. Best to do that while you’re sleeping. We’re going to spend some time together, you and I. I’ve been looking forward to it.”
“Are you going to kill me now?” Ariel asked.
“No, no, indeed, your time’s still running. But I am going to do something very special.” He turned to Ariel as if pleased to be able to discuss it. “I’ve never taken the opportunity to work with two partners at the same time. And you’re proving to be so much more than I anticipated. I really believe you’re going to exceed most, if not all who came before you. But she?” He glanced back at Eve. “I’ve set the bar very high for her. The last Eve.”
“She…she looks familiar.”
“Hmm?” Absently, he looked at Ariel again. “Yes, I suppose you might have seen her on some of the media reports. Now-”
“Mr. Gaines!”
He stopped his pivot back to Eve, frowned down at Ariel. “Yes, yes? What’s so urgent? I have work.”
“What…what is the most time? I mean, how long is the longest anyone-any of the women you’ve brought here-has lasted?”
His eyes brightened. “You’re such a delightful surprise to me! Are you challenged? Have I tapped your competitive streak?”
“I can’t…if I don’t know how long, I can’t try to last longer. Will you tell me how long?”
“I can.” With her clutch piece in her hand, Eve sat up on the steel table. “Eighty-five hours, twelve minutes, thirty-eight seconds.”
“No.” He looked baffled first, then red-faced and furious. “No, no. This is not allowed.”
“You don’t like that, you’re going to hate this.”
Eve shot out a stun, on a setting a little higher than was considered proper procedure, and dropped him like a stone. “Fuckhead,” she muttered, and prayed she wasn’t going to pass out or vomit.
“I knew you’d come.” Tears swam in Ariel’s eyes. “I knew someone would come, and when I saw them bring you in, I knew it was going to be okay.”
“Yeah, hold on.” She had to slide to her feet, give herself a moment to balance. “You did good. You did real good keeping his attention on you so I could get to my piece.”
“I wanted to kill him. I imagined killing him. It helped.”
“I bet it did. Listen, I’m a little off center. I don’t think I’d better try cutting those ropes just yet. You’ve got to hang in there a little bit longer. I know you hurt, but you’ve got to hang in.”
“I’m so cold.”
“Okay.” Eve managed to pull off her coat, then draped it over Ariel’s bleeding and battered body. “I’m going to secure him, okay? I’m going to secure him, then go call for backup.”
“Would you bring me back some water?”
Eve laid a hand on Ariel’s cheek. “Sure.”
“And maybe a whole bunch of drugs.” While the tears spilled out, Ariel struggled to smile. “This is a really nice coat.”
“Yeah. I like it.”
22
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?”