In Death 18 - Divided in Death

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’t have to wait to be fed through channels.”
    Eve nodded. “Using Reva was a way to feed.”
    “Add that since Roarke Industries is considered suspect by some factions . . .” Roarke let that hang in the air a moment, almost as if amused. “The HSO found it expedient to focus on infiltrating and gathering data and intel—whatever came to hand—in order to attempt to build a case against the corporation. For espionage, double-dipping, tax evasion. Some such thing.”
    He shrugged it off. He was—since Eve, in any case—a completely legitimate businessman. And if he wasn’t, he had no doubt he’d have gotten around Homeland, just as he’d always done.
    “I’ll be looking into security and plugging any potential holes, but at this point it’s a bit like bricking up the hole after the rat’s slipped in to nibble the cheese.”
    “You can always lay out more cheese,” Feeney commented.
    Roarke smiled a little. “We’re of a mind there.”
    “What about the worm itself?” Peabody asked. “If this was an HSO hit, and the units were corrupted, that means the HSO has the worm, or a clone. Wouldn’t they be working on an extermination program and shield themselves instead of . . . Oh.”
    “Global espionage isn’t so very different from the corporate sort.” Roarke picked up the pot and topped off his coffee. “If they’re working on spec, or have another organization working on the protection programs, it would pay them to know what we’re up to.”
    “And to kill for it. Just another kind of organized crime.” Peabody flushed a little. “Sorry, Free-Ager roots showing. Realistically, I know governments need covert organization to