Page 162 of Bonded in Death

They moved quick and quiet through the dark, keeping low. Spreading out. A breeze off the river trickled through the air as Eve watched them peel off to their positions, and headed toward the front doors.

“Exterior locks down,” Feeney said in her ear. “Moving to interior. Different system on the basement doors. Prioritizing there.”

“Too easy,” Roarke muttered. “Feeney, do a U-turn and slide.”

“Copy that. Yeah, tricky bastard. Little booby-trap, secondary alarm. Another minute.”

“Everybody hold,” Eve ordered. “Hold positions.”

A line of sweat trickled down her back as she held.

“You’re clear! Moving to interior.”

“Go for entry, all positions.”

She nodded at Roarke, glanced back at Whitney.

Roarke went in high, she went in low. Whitney swept behind them.

“They’re in,” Harry said in the computer lab. “A lick and a split. If I’d had your boy back in my day, Summerset, oh, the fun we’d’ve had.”

“They’re moving upstairs. There’s barely any light,” Iris pointed out.

“Detective Peabody and her team are in the back.” Marjorie watched the different views on-screen. “Some trouble at the inside door.”

“They’ll get through.” Ivan kept his hands clasped together like a man at prayer. “They have to. That little boy…”

“Locks still engaged here, Cap.”

“Working it,” he told Callendar. “Don’t use the ram. Don’t use the ram till they’ve got the target. It’s coming. It’s… clear.”

“I see that.”

Peabody scanned the stairs. “Pitch-dark basement level.”

“I’ve got you.” Callendar switched on a flash. She swept it, and her weapon, side to side as they went down.

With the blueprints and Eve’s orders in her head, Peabody moved toward the storage room as all three women cleared as they went.

“Door lock still engaged,” Peabody said.

“Different system, got a seal and a runner. Going to take time, fuck it, by remote.”

“I can get it on-site, Cap.” Callendar holstered her weapon, pulled out her reader. “I can get it. You’ve got the seal down. I’m on the runner.”

“Trapdoor! You see it?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Now sweat beaded on Callendar’s forehead as she took slow, steady breaths. “It’s got a trigger, Cap. He could have it triggered to release gas and kill the kid. Or—”

“Don’t pull the trigger.”

“Callendar?” Eve said. “Do you need assistance?”

“No, I got it. I got it. The first read’s a decoy.”

“That’s right. Circle back,” Feeney told her.

“Reassessing, rereading. We’re clear!”

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