In Death 20 - Survivor in Death

communicator’s going bad on me. Like the shield’s thinning out. It happens, right?”
    “Yeah, but there’s a default warning.”
    “Wouldn’t be the first time departmental equipment went bad. You should see my damn computer.”
    “Still giving you grief?” McNab asked.
    “It’s holding. I haven’t gotten any foreign porn when I ask for a file. Lately.”
    “Hand it over.” Feeney held up his palm. “We’ll play with it. You got your backup?”
    “Yeah.” She pulled both out of her pocket. “Just dink with the one. Can you make it so the signal coming into it is still shielded? So they only get bits of what I transmit?”
    “We’ll get you covered.”
    There were enough rooms in the house to billet a military battalion. It was risky tucking Webster away with Baxter, but she didn’t want IAB strolling around her office. He wanted to observe, she thought, he could observe Baxter and Trueheart. Before rounding up Peabody, Eve slipped into her bedroom to make a private call.
    “How about some more tit for tat?” she asked when Nadine came on-screen. “I need a spin, apparently. An incident last night--”
    “Your air show through midtown?” Nadine gave a wicked laugh. “We got some extreme footage on that. Bought it off a tourist from Tokyo. It’s aired twice this morning.”
    “Great.”
    “You’re taking some heat on that? I’ve never known you to worry about a little sweat.”
    “They’ve sicced IAB on me, and it could get in the way of the investigation. Trueheart was with me, and shit trickles even if you plug the dam. I’m advised to spin this around so it’s the courageous cop in pursuit of kid killers. Risking life and limb to apprehend cop killers and protect the known universe.”
    “Boy, that’s killing you.” But Nadine angled her head. “That’s what you were doing, wasn’t it?”
    “The point is this kind of thing doesn’t reflect well on the department.”
    “And the department will take a sacrifice, if deemed necessary.”
    “It’ll be Trueheart, Nadine. They’ll give me a slap, maybe a smudge on my record, but if they have to roast somebody, it’ll be him. He’s more disposable. I put him on the line.”
    “So you’re asking me to spin the story so the crap doesn’t clog up the momentum of your investigation, and so the cutie-pie doesn’t get his tight little ass fried.”
    “That’s the idea. And in return--”
    “No, don’t tell me.” Nadine sat back, held up both hands. “Because it’ll kill me to turn it down.”
    “Look, Nadine, it’s not that big a spin.”
    “Obviously you didn’t catch my pithy and insightful morning report. Spin’s already spun. The cool-headed, nerveless Lieutenant Dallas and the young, dedicated Officer Trueheart, risking their lives in pursuit of the vicious killers of children and their fellow officers. Killers who discharge weapons with no thought to the welfare of innocent strangers--men, women, and children who live in or visit our great city. And so on.”
    “Okay. You’ve got another IOU.”
    “Slate’s clear. This played better--and the vid showed the blasts coming out of that van. Most of the competition worked the same angle, but there’s still some heat, some stirring of the urban terrorism pot and why aren’t we safe walking the streets, in our own homes.”
    “It’s a good question. Could it be because a portion of society sucks?”
    “Can I quote you? Better, how about a quick talking head while you repeat that?”
    Eve considered. “How about you say, ‘When contacted, Lieutenant Dallas stated that every member of the NYPSD will work diligently to identify and apprehend those responsible for the deaths of their fellow officers, for Grant, Keelie, and Coyle Swisher, for Inga Snood, for Linnie Dyson. We serve them, we serve New York. We serve Nixie Swisher because surviving the brutality that was brought into her home isn’t enough. She deserves justice, and we’ll get it for her.’“
    “Good. Got it. As for the other IOU, toasting these bastards from my media vantage point? I’d be doing it now anyway. I’d be doing it for Knight and Preston. Both of their memorials are tomorrow.”
    “I’ll see you there.” Eve hesitated. “An unnamed source at Cop Central has confirmed that the abduction and murder of Meredith Newman has been connected to the recent home invasion and murder of five people, including two children, on the Upper West Side. Meredith Newman, a Child Protection