"They were simply tests of my commitment. God always tests His disciples." But he pressed his fingers to his lips, rubbed them there. "It's almost over now. It's the last round, and you lose." Eyes bright as a bird's, he cocked his head. "You might want to sit down, Lieutenant. You lost some blood, and you're looking very pale."
"I'll stand. Aren't you going to tell me your game plan? That's how it works. What's the point in ending it if you don't brag first?"
"I don't consider it bragging. I'm honoring my father, avenging his death. Point by bloody point. When I'm done here, I'll go back for Kelly and Murray and one more. Suffocation, drowning, then poison. Six sinners for the six martyred, and three to make nine for the novena. After that, he'll rest in peace."
He set the laser down to run a finger down the folds of the veil of the Virgin Mother he'd placed on a table. "The order's changed, but God understands. Tonight, Roarke will walk into his own private hell. His longtime companion, his trusted friend, dead. His whore, his slut cop, dead. It will look as if they did away with each other. A terrible fight right here in his own home, a fight for life, for death. For a moment, just for a moment, he'll believe that."
He smiled at Eve. "Then I'll step out and he'll know the truth. The pain will be worse then, unbearable, excruciating. He'll know what it is to lose, to have all that matters stolen from him. He'll know that by his own evil he brought the angel of death into this house. The avenging sword."
"Angel. Avenging Angel." She had to risk it, play on his madness. "A. A.? Is that where you got your cover? We know all about you. Everything. How you infiltrated Roarke's company, worked on his equipment. Stole from him." She stepped closer, keeping her eyes steady on his. "We know where you came from, where you've been. We found your hole. Your picture's on the news right now. Right next to your mother's."
"You're lying. Lying whore."
"How do I know who you are? How do I know about A. A.? And the dinky little room in your mother's apartment where you kept your equipment. And the other place, downtown." It has to be downtown, she told herself. "The bugs your mother planted in Summerset's quarters. We played the game, Liam, and we beat you. What we didn't find out, Audrey filled in. Right before I locked her in a cage."
"You're lying!" He screamed it, and rushed her.
Braced and ready, Eve met the attack, using her uninjured arm to block the blow, her elbow jabbing into his stomach. She got her foot under him, threw her weight into the move, and sent them both tumbling to the floor. She ignored the eye-searing pain when he fell on her injured arm; slamming her fist up, she connected with bone. But she'd miscalculated the strength rage would bring him.
It was she who screamed when he dug his fingers into her wound, and the room swam blackly. When her vision cleared he had her weapon on her throat, where firing it even at mid-setting could be fatal.
"You lying cunt bitch. I'll cut out your tongue for your lies."
"Turn on the screen." She wanted to curl up, hide from the agony screaming in her arm. "See for yourself. Go ahead, Liam, turn it on. Channel 75."
When he released his grip on her arm she had to swallow a sob. He bounded off her, raced to the recessed unit. "She's lying, she's lying. She doesn't know anything." He talked to himself in a sing-song tone as he switched on the viewing screen. "Hail Mary, full of grace. She's going to die. They're all going to die. The valley of the shadow of death, but they'll fear. God will destroy them, all of them, through me. It's for me."
"You have to stop this." Summerset strained against his bonds as Eve crawled to him. "Get out. He's mad. You can get out while he's involved with the screen. He doesn't even know where he is now. You can get out. He'll kill you if you don't."
"I'd never make it to the door." Her wound was bleeding again, dripping through the makeshift bandage. "I have to keep him focused on me. As long as he is, he's not interested in you. I have to keep him busy, distracted, and he might not hear Roarke come in." She dragged herself up to her knees. "If he doesn't hear Roarke, he'll have a chance."
"Audrey's his mother?"
"Yeah." She gained her feet. "She's responsible for all of it." She looked over as Liam screamed at the images on the screen. "For everything. For him." She steadied herself, bearing down when her knees threatened to fold under her. "Liam, I'll take you to her. You want to see your mother, don't you? She asked to see you. You want to see her, don't you? I'll take you."
"Did you hurt her?" Tears began to leak from his eyes.
"No, of course not." She took a shaky step forward. "She's fine. She's waiting for you. She'll tell you what to do next. She always tells you what to do, doesn't she?"
"She always knows. God speaks through her." He started to lower the weapon, as if it were forgotten. "She's blessed," he whispered. "And I'm her only son. I'm the light."
"She wants you now." One more step, Eve thought. Just one more. She only had to get the stunner away from him.
"She told me God's plan." The weapon came up again, and Eve froze. "To kill you. God demands the sacrifice. Him first," he said with a sly smile as he shifted the weapon toward Summerset.
"Wait—" Instinctively Eve stepped between, and took the hit.
The jolt sizzling through her nervous system dropped her. Her body forgot how to breathe, her eyes forgot how to see. Even pain was gone. She never felt him kick her, bruising ribs as he screamed and cursed and stormed through the room.
"You try to spoil everything. Everything!" He ranted as he shoved over a table and its beautiful old Ming vase. "Cheater. Whore. Sinner. Even your weapon's inferior. Look at this—pitiful. You have to manually increase power. Just as well, just as well, why kill you all at once?"
"She needs a doctor," Summerset said. His breath was ragged, his arms and wrists raw and trembling from struggling with his bonds. "She needs medical attention."
"I could have been a doctor, the way my uncle wanted, but it wasn't God's plan. My mother knew that. She knew that. My father loved me, he provided for me. Then he was taken from us. Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. I am his vengeance."
Shuddering with pain, Eve rolled onto her side. If she was going to die, by Christ she would have the last word. "You're nothing but a pathetic and defective tool used by a woman who cared more about herself than her own son. Now both of you are going to spend the rest of your lives in a cage."
"God will show me a sign. He'll direct my path." Liam walked over and stood above her, weapon aimed down and on full power. "As soon as I send you to Hell."
Eve kept her eyes open and kicked upward with what strength she had left. The blow caught him at the knees, sent him staggering back. She pushed herself up, hoping for one last grab at the weapon. But the whine of a stunner came from the doorway, shooting Liam back against the wall.
His body jittered in a death dance she'd seen before. The nervous system went into overdrive, sent the dying body shaking like a puppet, then shut down.
He was sliding to the floor when Roarke rushed across the room.
"Game over," Eve said dully. "Amen."
"Oh God, Eve, look at you. You're a mess."
Little white dots circled in front of her eyes so that she barely saw Roarke face as he dropped beside her. "I almost had him."
"Of course." Even as he gathered her up, rocked her, she fainted. "Of course you did."
When she came to she was on the sofa, with Summerset efficiently treating her arm. "Get the hell away from me."
"This needs tending. You're badly injured, but Roarke seems to believe you'll be more cooperative here than at a health center."
"I have to call this in."
"Another few moments won't matter. The boy won't be less dead."
She closed her eyes, too tired and battered to argue. Her side was screaming, and whatever Summerset was doing to her arm was just one more small torture.
His hands were as gentle as a mother's with an infant, but he knew he hurt her. "You saved my life. You stepped in front of me. Why?"
"It's my job, don't take it personally. It wasn't set on full power anyway. Oh shit." The moan escaped her clenched teeth. "Ten years I've been a cop. First time I took a stunner hit full body. Christ, it really hurts, everywhere, all at once. Where's Roarke?"
"He'll be right here." Instinctively he stroked her hair back from her damp face. "Don't squirm. It'll only cause you more discomfort."
"Nothing could." She opened her eyes again, looked into his. "I fired the weapon that killed Liam Calhoun. I fired it before Roarke came in. Do you understand?"
Summerset studied her for a long moment. Pain swam in her eyes, must have been screaming through her system. But she thought of Roarke. "Yes, Lieutenant. I understand."
"No, you didn't kill him," Roarke corrected. "Summerset, I expect you to give a clear and truthful statement. You're not going through Testing for this, Eve. Not for this. Here, you need to sit up a bit to drink this."
"You shouldn't have had the weapon. It'll complicate—Where did you get the weapon?"
"You gave it to me." He smiled as he eased her up, his arm supporting her neck. "Your clinch piece. I never gave it back."
"I forgot."
"I hardly think the authorities are going to give me any trouble about it. Drink this."
"What is it? I don't want it."
"Don't be such a baby. It's just a soother—mild, I promise. It'll help the pain."
"No, I—" She choked a bit when Roarke simply poured some of the tranq down her throat. "I have to call this in."
Roarke sighed. "Summerset, would you contact Commander Whitney and tell him what's happened here tonight?"
"Yes." He hesitated, then gathered up the bloody cloth. "I'm very obliged to you, Lieutenant, and I regret that you were injured performing your duties."
When he walked out she pursed her lips. "I'll have to get blasted more often. He didn't even sneer at me."
"He told me what happened. And that you're the most courageous and foolish woman he's ever known. At the moment, I have to agree."
"Yeah, well, we lived. I'll take the rest of that soother now that he's gone. The arm's some better, but my side's killing me."
"You took a kick." Gently, Roarke lifted her higher so that he could sit down with her resting against him. "My brave and foolish cop. I love you."
"I know. He was only nineteen."
"Evil isn't the exclusive territory of adults."
"No." She closed her eyes as the pain eased away toward numbness. "I wanted to take him alive. You wanted him dead. He swung the tide in your favor." She turned her head. "You'd have killed him anyway."
"Do you want me to deny it?" He lowered his lips to her brow. "Justice, Eve, is weak and thin without the underpinning of retribution."
She sighed, rested her head, closed her eyes again. "What the hell are we doing together anyway?"
"Leading lives that are often too interesting. Darling Eve, I wouldn't change a moment."
She looked around the wreckage of the lovely room, at the wasted boy on the floor. And felt Roarke's lips brush over her hair. "Me either."
J. D. Robb, Vengeance in Death
(Series: In Death # 6)
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