“We can use that. We can hammer that.”
“I agree,” Mira said as she joined them. “He doesn’t believe he’ll be punished. He’s convinced nothing will happen, but even the thought of, the remote possibility of being locked up off-planet frightens him. It’s a lever.”
“Yeah, and we’ll use it. Singa’s going to keep him clamped down, clammed up. He didn’t know about Silverman, but he’s getting that out of Iler now.”
She paced away, paced back. “And you know what he’ll do? He’ll start rolling the line that Silverman coerced his client, lied to him, forced him, threatened him.”
“Fuck that.”
She nodded at Baxter as she paced. “Yeah, fuck that, but it’s what he’ll do. He’ll string it out, jockeying for a deal, and he’ll start with immunity—Yeah, fuck that sideways,” she said before Baxter could. “I’ve got another way, maybe. I’ve got another lever.
“Baxter, do you know anybody in the IRS with some punch who’s not an asshole?”
“I might know somebody.”
“Tag him.”
“Her.”
“Of course her. I want a jump on the slaps for those dark accounts. And given that he’s currently charged with conspiracy to murder, etc., etc., they might freeze everything. No access to funds until the IRS completes their investigation, blah, blah.”
“Could work.”
“I’ve got another button to push.”
* * *
* * *
While she pushed another button, Roarke worked with Feeney and Callendar.
“Fucker’s got enough electronics to open his own shop,” Feeney complained.
“That could make me like him, if he wasn’t a fucker.” Callendar jiggled while she worked.
“A fucker he is,” Roarke agreed, “but a smart enough one, or paranoid enough, to have filters and fail-safes on every bleeding thing. We’d do better with this in the lab, as even when we get through on something, the scanning and decoding from here will take hours—and that’s piece by piece.”
Feeney chugged out a breath. “You’re right on that. We’ll haul it down to Central.”
“My lab’s closer,” Roarke pointed out, which had Feeney rubbing his chin.
“You’re right on that, too. Still, we’ve got the portables he had with him to get through, and that shit pile from Silverman’s.”
“Split it up, Cap?”
Feeney grunted at Callendar. “Yeah, shit. I hate missing out on any of it, but that’s the way to do it. I’m going to have some boys head up, tag, and log all this and haul it to your lab. You take that, and my boy and I here will head to Central with the rest.”
“Girl, Feeney. I keep telling you, I’m a freaking girl.”
“Boy, girl, what’s the diff?
“Boy, penis. Girl, vagina.”
The tips of Feeney’s ears pinked. “Don’t start that. An e-man’s an e-man, whatever their works.”
Feeney pulled out his comm, walking away with his pink-tipped ears to start it rolling.
“I don’t mind being one of his boys,” Callendar told Roarke. “I just like to rag him, watch him get all hunchy.” She looked around the living area where they’d pulled out and set up all the electronics. “It’s a lot.”