In Death 20 - Survivor in Death

team and screw the OF. We’re moving on this tonight.”
    “Hot damn!”
    “E-men first,” she added. “And I want, let me think, I want Jules and Brinkman from Bombs and Explosives. We don’t know how they may have that place wired, or what booby traps they might’ve set inside. I want body armor on everyone, full riot gear. These three may not be it. I’ll contact the commander and clear it.”
    She turned to Roarke. “You’re in if you want it.”
    “I can’t think of a more entertaining way to spend the evening.”
    “Give me five.” She walked away, yanking out her communicator. “That’s my weapon, you putz,” she snapped at one of the Crime Scene techs as he bagged it. “Give it back.”
    “Sorry, sir, it has to go in.”
    “Goddamn it, do you know how long it takes to get--Commander, we have two suspects in custody and one suspect DOS.”
    “I’m on my way to the scene now. I’m told four officers, including yourself, are injured.”
    “MTs treated on-scene, three are being transported to the hospital. The suspects are secured. We have what we believe is the location for their base of operations. I’ve called in my team, as well as two members of B and E. As it’s more efficiently located to both this scene and the suspected base, I’ll be coordinating the maneuver from my home office. With permission, sir.”
    “I’ll meet you there. How extensive are your injuries, Lieutenant?”
    “I’ll do, sir.”
    “Yes, you will.”
    “Okay then,” she muttered when he clicked off. “I want the evidence from this scene so clean I could eat off it,” she told anyone from CSU within hearing. “I want this scene secured so tight a fucking flea couldn’t squeeze under a doorway. Any screwups, I’ll be eating asses for breakfast.”
    She nodded to Roarke, who fell into step beside her. “I love when you snarl. Stirs me up.”
    “You’ll be plenty stirred before the night’s over.” She stepped out, amused when he draped her ruined jacket over her shoulders.
    And the smile fell away when she saw Summerset sitting in one of Roarke’s vehicles with Nixie in his arms. The window rolled down as she approached.
    “I had to promise we wouldn’t leave until she’d spoken to you.”
    “I don’t have time to--” She broke off when Nixie lifted her head. “What?”
    “Can I talk to you, just you, for a minute? Please.”
    “Sixty seconds and counting. Come on then.”
    When Nixie climbed out, Eve started to walk down the sidewalk. Gave a snarl Roarke would’ve enjoyed as she stared down the gawkers already pressed against the barricades. She detoured to her vehicle, gestured Nixie in.
    “You hid in the backseat?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “I ought to pound every square inch of you. I won’t because my arm still hurts, and because--maybe--by being a stupid ass you helped. I could’ve taken the three of them.” She pressed a hand to the throb of her shoulder. “But it was handy having Roarke pull down the third.”
    “I wanted to go home.”
    Eve laid her head back on the seat. Taking down three armed and dangerous was easier than picking through the minefield of a child’s emotions.
    “You did. What did you find there? It sucks wide, the widest, but that’s not home anymore.”
    “I wanted to see it again.”
    “I get that. It’s just a house, building materials. It’s what you had there before the bad stuff happened that counts. That’s how I see it.”
    “You’re going to send me away.”
    “I’m going to give you a chance, the best I’ve got to offer.” She lifted her head, shifted in the seat. “You got kicked hard. You can get up, or you can stay down. I’m saying you’re going to get up. Elizabeth and Richard are good people. They know about getting kicked hard. They want to give you a place, give you a family. It’s never going to be what it was, but it can be something else. You can make it something else and never forget what it was like in that house there, before the bad stuff happened.”
    “I’m afraid.”
    “Then you’re not as stupid an ass as I thought. Another thing you’re not is a coward. You’ve got to give this a chance, see how it goes.”
    “Is Virginia really far away?”
    “Not all that much.”
    “Can I see you and Roarke and Summerset sometimes?”
    “Yeah, I guess. If you actually want to see Summerset’s ugly face again.”
    “If you promise, I know you mean it. You said you’d find them, and you did. You keep