The In Death Collection Books 16-20 - J. D. Robb [355]
“Lieutenant.” Peabody waited until Eve’s gaze shifted to her. “If you don’t know we’re in, you should.”
“This isn’t business as usual.”
“No, because it’s ultimately iced.” Peabody grinned when she said it and earned a snicker from McNab.
Shaking her head, Eve sat on the corner of her desk. She’d known they were in, but she had to give them the out. “Blair Bissel was a level-two operative for the HSO, recruited and trained by Felicity Kade.”
“It was an HSO hit?”
She glanced at McNab. “I haven’t quite tied it all up in a bow for you, Detective. No notes,” she said when he got out his book. “Nothing logged or recorded except on cleared units. Here’s what I know. Bissel was in Homeland for nine years. At level two he functioned primarily as a liaison. Passing data from point to point, accessing data or accumulating intel, which he passed along to a contact. Kade generally, but not exclusively. Three years ago, Kade was assigned to Reva Ewing for the purposes of developing a relationship, a friendship.”
“Why Ewing?” Peabody asked. “Particularly.”
“They’ve had her under observation for a number of years, including her time with the Secret Service. This observation was beefed up after her injury, line of duty, and subsequent retirement. She was approached by a recruiter for the HSO during her recuperation, and—according to the file—was less than gracious in her refusal. As she was offered a substantial incentive package, her refusal and her subsequent employment were suspect.
“Roarke . . . Industries,” Eve continued, “is a hot button for the HSO. They’ve spent considerable time and manpower trying to tie it to espionage, without success. Reva Ewing was considered a strong candidate for information due to her personal and professional relationship with the industry’s head, and her mother’s position as Roarke’s admin. The hope was Reva would chat about her work, her boss, her projects, and so on, and the HSO would be one up.”
“But she didn’t,” Feeney prompted.
“She didn’t give them what they were after, but they had a lot invested. And Felicity was committed. She brought in Bissel and set up for the long haul.”
“He married her for intel?” Peabody queried. “Sucks wide.”
“For intel,” Eve agreed. “And for a stronger cover, for the additional contacts that came from her. She’s still friendly with some of her associates from the Secret Service, and she has former President Foster’s ear, among others. Neither Foster nor the current administration has maintained very friendly relations with the HSO, or vice versa. There’s a lot of resentment, one-upmanship, a lot of secrets and backbiting.”
“I’m following all this well enough, kid,” Feeney put in. “But it doesn’t explain why Bissel and Kade were hit, and Ewing set up.”
“It sure as hell doesn’t. So let’s find out.”
She glanced at Roarke, silently passing him the ball. “The Code Red must factor into it,” he began. “The units were taken out with the Doomsday worm, or a close clone of it. It’s possible, though it pains me, that they’ve infiltrated my security at Securecomp, using Reva as their conduit. The contract came through the Global Intelligence Council, and was heatedly protested by the HSO, and a few other acronyms.”
“HSO would’ve wanted the contract themselves,” McNab speculated. “Privatization of this kind of work put the squeeze on the budget of some of these agencies.”
“There’s that,” Roarke agreed.
“Add that if they had the contract and the fee,” Peabody continued, “they’d also have all pertinent intel on the Code Red in-house. They don