Net Force - Tom Clancy [70]
He looked down at the poodle, then back at her. The dog? Why?
Well want to run a scanner over him, see if there is an ID chip implant or anything.
No, I think hell stay with me. Have somebody from the lab come by, they can check him here.
Alex, hes evidence.
No, he is what kept me from going to fill a hole next to Steve Days. He looked at the dog and scratched behind one of its ears. Hes a good boy, arent you, Scout?
Toni nodded. Anybody who didnt know him would think Alex was used to assassins coming into his house, no sweat, and isnt it a nice night? But she knew him. Maybe better than he knew himself. I guess we can work on this for a while. She held up the cane, wrapped in no-smear plastic sheeting.
She wore gloves, Alex said. White, silk or cotton, probably. I bet it was wiped clean after she put them on. The gloves.
Wont hurt to look, Toni said.
He shrugged.
The last of the D.C. police were gone, but there were four of Net Forces agents still there. A man on each entrance to the house, one in a car across the street, one standing by the sliding glass door. Theyd stay with Alex until they got this sorted out.
Toni felt a surge of anger she had to hold on to. Whoever this person was, she-or he-was going to be sorry if Toni got to them before anybody else did.
You okay?
Yeah. It was just such a surprise, seeing this nice little old lady from my neighborhood ready to knock my head over the left-field wall.
I bet.
Ive seen her around for at least a week.
So did the agents on your door during the protocol watch. This wasnt some spur-of-the-moment thing. You were being stalked.
He shook his head. Because I sit in Steve Days chair. This woman probably had something to do with that.
Yeah, that thought had crossed my mind.
Well. Take that stick into the lab.
I can stay around if you want.
No, go back to work. Im all right.
She left, reluctantly, and the image of Alex standing there petting the little dog stayed with her as she drove back toward HQ.
Friday, October 1st, 7:37 a.m. New York City
Johnny the Shark stood in front of Ray Genalonis desk with a sheet of paper in one hand.
Okay, what?
This just came from our guy in the D.C. cop shop, Johnny said. I thought youd like to see it first thing.
Genaloni took the paper, put on his reading glasses and looked at it.
Before he got six words into it, Johnny said, Seems some woman tried to kill the Commander of Net Force.
Genaloni looked up from the paper, over the top of the reading glasses. Tried? Tried to? Then it sank in, the rest of it. A woman? You saying the Selkie is a fucking woman?
Johnny held both hands up in an I-dunno gesture. This is what our guy in D.C. sent.
Genaloni read the paper. It was a copy of an incident report, and it was lean, not much to it. And it didnt look as if the cops were gonna stay on it, either; the feds had kicked them out.
Genaloni shook his head. A woman. He couldnt believe it. Hed talked to the Selkie on the phone three, four times, had never had a clue-shed sounded like a man. A woman. That bothered him more than that shed tried the hit and missed. And that bothered him more than a little. What if they caught her? What if she kept some kind of records, linking him to her?
Hed worried about this before, of course, but not really. The Selkie had always delivered. There was a lot of money to be made and it wouldnt serve him-no, her-to rat him out. But now? This was bad. Especially if she was a woman. You couldnt trust women with your ass.
We got some computer geeks on the payroll, right?
Some of the best.
Put em to work. I want them to run down the Selkie. Find her-if it really is a her.
And after we find her?
Nothing. Just find her. Ill decide what I want to do once you get that part done.
Johnny nodded and left. Genaloni looked at the fax sheet. This whole thing with Luigi and the feds was a fuckup. He didnt like any of it, and it was getting worse. Maybe it was time to cut his losses and tighten up. Find Luigi and put him away, in case hed said anything he shouldnt have. Find the Selkie, put her away.