The In Death Collection Books 16-20 - J. D. Robb [294]
Selecting Eve Dallas had been a brilliant stroke, if he did say so himself. And oh, he did.
A man wouldn’t have given him nearly the same buzz. But a woman, a woman who like most of her kind considered herself superior to a man simply because she could trap him between her legs. That added spice to the brew.
He could think about choking her, beating her, raping her, gutting her even as she watched him with those cool, flat eyes.
He would never have known the same level of excitement with a male adversary.
She would be punished, of course, when she failed to stop him. When others were killed, as the accountant bitch would be killed. The lieutenant would be punished and disciplined by her superiors, as it should be.
And she would suffer, never knowing who’d bested her, she would suffer until the laser blast struck her in the back of the head.
If only he could find a way to let her know, to tell her, reveal himself to her an instant before her death. Then it would be perfect.
There was time, of course, to work that out.
Content, he settled into bed, to dream his terrible dreams.
They had obviously been off by a night, Eve thought, as she set up the morning briefing in her home office with a small, tight team. She didn’t want to risk Central, or a larger operation. A leak, even a trickle might send Renquist into the wind. Now they could tighten the trap so he’d never get away.
She used her board, the wall screens, and one of Roarke’s new toys, a portable holo-unit.
“We’ll have units set here, and here.” She highlighted the map on-screen with a laser pointer. “They are for observation only. I want to take Renquist inside the loft where he can be contained and no civilians are at risk. We moved Mitchell’s across-the-hall neighbor out at oh seven hundred on the pretext of a broken water pipe. The cooperation of the building super is ensured and we’ve got him under wraps in case he gets an itch to share any of this with the media. The empty loft will be Observation Post C.”
She highlighted the third floor of the building blueprint on the second screen. “We’re installing cameras. The loft will be under constant observation. It’s unlikely Renquist will use the elevator, but we’ll have cameras there as well. And once he’s inside the loft, the power to the elevator will be shut down, giving him only one exit. A team will move in to block that exit, another will be set on the street below in case he decides to take a header from the windows.”
“Rat in a trap,” Feeney commented.
“That’s the idea. I’ll be inside the loft, as will Officer Peabody, who will be briefed when her examination is finished. Captain Feeney will run electronics from Mitchell’s home office inside the loft, and Detective McNab will head Observation Post C.”
She ordered up the holo and brought a scaled-down version of the Mitchell loft into her office. “Memorize it,” she ordered. “Officer Peabody will be decoy. She and the target are approximately the same size and coloring. She’ll be in the bed here, I’ll be posted in this closet. Getting Renquist in the bedroom is optimum. No windows, no escape route.”
“He’ll be armed,” McNab put in.
She nodded, noting the worry in his eyes. That was the trouble, she thought, when a cop fell for another cop. “So will we. It’s possible he’ll bring his own blades, or that he’ll detour into the kitchen first to avail himself of Mitchell’s kitchen stock. He may have a blaster or another weapon, though he has yet to utilize one. We will go into this assuming he’s armed, as Marsonini habitually carried a blaster or stunner, and act accordingly.”
She waited a beat. “We’re working on finding him before tonight. He’s in the city, and as he’s emulating Marsonini, it’s likely he’s settled in somewhere near his target’s home. Marsonini habitually had a good meal, with wine, on the evening before a murder. He dressed well, generally in suits by Italian designers,