Calculated in Death

calculating the most likely escape route. Out of the theater, out of the area.
    She routed the quickest, then routed what she considered the best. She’d run probabilities, but her instinct told her he’d go quickest. She didn’t think he was smart enough to see the advantage of the longer, less direct route.
    As she began to see the structure of her operation in her head, she used one screen for exterior, one for interior of the theater.
    She highlighted potential routes, added highlights to maintenance areas, security areas, offices, employees only. She studied the layout—rest rooms, viewing rooms, bars, café, vending area, food sale area, ticket sale area.
    Mentally she placed cops on sectors, like chess pieces on a board.
    She glanced over as the door opened, turned when Detective Yancy came in.
    “Lieutenant. Baxter said you’d be in here. I’ve got your likeness. Sorry it took so long. Some wits need more time.” He offered her a printout and a disc.
    Eve studied the image—the wide face, squared at the jaw; short, medium brown hair, buzzed at the crown; brown eyes heavily lidded, the slightly hooked nose, the more prominent top lip.
    “How confident are you?”
    “I think we’re close.”
    Yancy slipped his hands into the pockets of comfortably worn jeans. “His overall impression was big, kind of surly, but he started to remember the details as we went along. It’s a strong face. It comes off surly,” Yancy added, “because that’s how the wit saw him. But the features, I think, are close.”
    “Then we’ll go with it. Thanks.”
    “No problem.” When he glanced at the board, his young, attractive face hardened as he scanned Jake Ingersol’s crime scene shot. “You’d have to be pretty damn surly to do that.”
    “Yeah. I think he’s got an anger management problem.”
    With a half laugh, Yancy shook his head. “I hear they have good programs for that on Omega.”
    “We’ll do our best to get him in.”
    “Let me know if you need more. See you around, Peabody.”
    “I had a sex dream about him once,” Peabody said after Yancy left.
    “Oh my God.”
    “It was before McNab. Well, before McNab and I were together. He’s so fatally cute—Yancy, I mean. McNab, too, but—”
    “Shut up now.”
    “It was a really good sex dream,” Peabody said under her breath. “Speaking of,” she added as Roarke walked in the room.
    “One more word, and I’ll get that hammer out of evidence and beat your tongue flat with it. Did you get the hacker?” she asked Roarke.
    “Ian’s nearly there. He asked if you’d excuse him from the briefing until he’s finished.”
    “Yeah. He should stay on it. Why aren’t you?”
    “Because he’s nearly there,” Roarke repeated. “And I want to know what you’re planning as I have a vested interest.” He smiled over at Peabody. “Or two,” he said and made her flush with pleasure.
    “Aw.”
    “Peabody.”
    “Aw’s not a word. It’s a sound.”
    “Stop making sounds. I’ve got his face. Yancy’s confident on it. I’ll be running facial recognition, and I’m going to key in military and sports. If I’m right on either, it may cut back on the time, may bring us a quicker hit.”
    Roarke took the sketch to study it. “You think if he does try to infiltrate, it’ll be as security.”
    “Look at that face.”
    “Yes, security’s the most logical.” He turned to the screens, scanned both. “It’s a large building, numerous points of entry and egress on both levels, and more in the basement maintenance and storage areas. The security system is good, but it’s not excellent. There’s relatively little to steal, and there are standard alarms on the doors set during vids to discourage any attempt to break in and watch for free.”
    “How do you know?”
    “I did a bit of research on it after you told me your plan.”
    “I don’t think he’ll break in. He’ll blend in. The hacker could create a pass for him, a badge, whatever he needs. Or he could target someone legitimately on security, take him out, replace him. The security is to keep the public from getting too familiar with the celebrities, to keep them out of the theater, to be present. It’s soft duty. He could bribe somebody, but he’d probably just kill. He’s got a taste for it.”
    “He’ll need to get close to you.”
    “That’s right. He’ll need to get close to kill me, and he’ll need to get close so I can stop him from killing me and catch him.