"My mission isn't completed. It isn't over. I say when, I tell you when. The fourth damned soul meets God's judgment today. Two hours." He let out a long, shuddering breath. "Two hours is all you've got to find the pig and save him from slaughter. 'By his own iniquities the wicked man will be caught, in the meshes of his own sin he will be held fast; He will die from lack of discipline, through the greatness of his folly he will be lost.' "
"Proverbs again? There's never any variety with you."
"All that is necessary for life is found in the Bible. He's walking into my arms, a squealing pig into the land of sleek and pampered dogs and underpaid nannies."
"That's not much of a clue. Am I getting too close for you to play a fair game?"
"The game's fair enough, but here's another: The sun sets behind, and before it drops to night, the next Judas will pay dearly for his betrayal. Two hours. Starting now."
"Give me good news, McNab." Eve demanded when the transmission ended.
McNab looked up, his green eyes shining. "I got him."
Eve rose slowly, disengaging the hologram herself. "Don't toy with me, McNab."
"Transmission source is sector D, grid fifty-four."
Eve strode over to the chart, scanned quickly. "Son of a bitch, the Luxury Towers is in that grid. The fucker's in there. He's working out of the building were he did the first murder."
"Do we move on him there?" Peabody demanded.
Eve held up a hand to halt the questions until she could think it through. "He said I had less than two hours. He doesn't rush through his work, so he'll want at least one of those hours in here. He'll be contacting this room any minute. Did Jackison get in?"
"He's in the next room."
"All right, let's give our boy a little time. He's already got his tools packed. He doesn't leave anything to the last minute. He'll get his transpo, and he won't break any traffic laws getting here. He's on a timetable. We need a second team over at the Luxury Towers, but I don't want them moving in. If he's working with anyone and they stay behind, they could tip him off."
She pulled out her communicator, contacting Whitney to report and outline strategy for the next stage. Her blood was cool, her mind clear as she began snapping out orders.
She broke off when the room fax beeped. "He's made contact, Commander. I'm reading it now. He's giving instructions for the mark to expect a uniformed driver within fifteen minutes. He wants the mark to wait in the room. This indicates the hit is meant to go down here, as anticipated. Mark is requested to release the elevator when signaled by 'link from the lobby. Three beeps. Transmission's ended. He'll be moving now."
"A second team will stake out the Luxury Towers. I can give you two detectives from the Homicide Division and three officers."
"In civilian attire, Commander. And I need at least one man from EDD to run a trace sweep."
"You already have three there, Dallas. You're straining the resources."
She set her teeth, wishing desperately to be in two places at once. "I'll send McNab to coordinate with the second team."
"I'll squeeze out a van with the necessary equipment. Keep this frequency open."
"Yes, sir. McNab."
Insult radiated from him. "You're kicking me now, when it's going down?"
"I need you to find his hole."
"He's coming here. We can scoop him up."
"I need you to find his hole," she repeated, "because God help us if he gets past us and crawls back in it. You find it, McNab, and you block it off. That's an order, Detective."
Steaming, he grabbed his coat. "Homicide figures all EDD's good for is ghost work. Fine when you don't have the answers, but when you do it's back to the recorders."
"I haven't got time for temper tantrums. See that the other e-men here are fully briefed, then turn it over." She brushed by him and into the parlor. "Everybody out of this room but Jackison. Take your positions. Weapons on low stun. We want him coherent."
She lifted her eyebrows at Roarke. "Civilians, in the spare room." She picked up one of the remote monitors. "You can watch."
"I'm sure it would be entertaining. Lieutenant, you've just shorted yourself one e-man. I'll take his position. Bend the rules a little," he said before she could object. "It'll do you more good than having me twiddle my thumbs."