Page 172 of Bonded in Death

He just shrugged. “Needs must. You’re like them, The Pathetic Twelve. Always concerned about civilians, innocents. War is death. And death doesn’t separate the innocent. By firing at them, I stopped you.”

For the first time he frowned. “And hit you. I’d swear it. But you had body armor, I suppose. Still, it stopped you, and I completed my retreat.”

“Only to, a short time later, abduct Devin McReedy. He was on his way home from school. You must have scouted that area previously, known about the park, the school, the alley and empty building.”

He sighed, adult to slow-witted child.

“Of course I did. Preparation is key to success. If the boy hadn’t been alone, if his mother had done her parental duties, I couldn’t have taken him. She bears the blame.”

“You complete prick.” When Peabody shoved up from her chair, Eve held up a hand.

“Easy, Detective.”

“He’s sitting there blaming the mother for somehow allowing him to drug a child, dump an unconscious child into the trunk of his car. To zip-tie the kid’s wrists and ankles and dump him in a locked storage room.”

“Emotions, you see?” Visibly amused, Potter shook his head. “The female runs on emotions rather than logic. The softhearted man does the same.”

“I’ll show you emotions.” Peabody balled a fist, and Eve pushed quickly to her feet.

“Take it down, Peabody.”

“Lieutenant, I carried that kid out of that basement, sat with him while the MTs treated the wounds on his wrists, his ankles. Held him while he cried.”

“Have one of your own then,” Potter suggested. “And be a mother to it instead of pretending a sidearm and badge make you as good as a man.”

Eve put a hand on Peabody’s shoulder as if restraining her.

“Take it down, Detective,” Eve repeated. “He’s bitchy because his mother ditched him when he was a kid.”

“You shut up about that.”

“Hey, I get it. No mother on record here.” Eve tapped her chest. “Maybe Devin’s mom should’ve walked him home from school—orchestra practice,” she added. “He plays the violin, which his mom found in its case in the alley. Guess he dropped it when you grabbed him.”

She walked around the table, gave a long look through the two-way glass before she turned again.

“But since none of it matters… I have to say it took some guts to let Pierce dose you back in Five Hells, make you essentially dead.”

“He’s a greedy man, an unhappy-in-his-circumstances man. It pays to know your tools, and I knew he wanted that second payment. He wouldn’t get it until I was clear.”

“Risky though, still risky. But you’re a man who takes risks to getwhat he wants. Gotta admire that.” As if chatting, she eased a hip onto the table on his side.

“You took your time after. Accessed your hidden funds somehow or other, got your face work. Took some time to refresh. Where’d you go? I bet France. Say… a flat in Paris, then a villa on the French Riviera. How about Saint-Tropez?

“I research, too,” she said when his surgically chiseled jaw hardened. “You go for French food, another reason you chose Chez Robert for your kill trap.”

“The coquilles Saint Jacques is excellent there.”

“I bet. You had to enjoy freedom after all those years in a cage. And had to plan. Logically. But with complexity, too. No simple, direct methods. Not your style. I think I get why New York. You had a little thing for Alice Dormer, but she was married to Summerset, and didn’t return that little thing.”

“I assure you, had I pressed the matter, she would have. And she had no business remaining in the unit after giving birth.”

“Mom thing again,” Eve said casually. “I bet you’ll mine that one, Dr. Mira.”

“Oh, I already am.”

“Figured. But the point is, Summerset’s in New York, and as it happened, a second target on your kill list, Ivanna Liski. They’ve been friends since childhood. Pre-Urbans friends who worked and fought together when war broke out.”

“A talented dancer. That should’ve been enough for her, as obviously her fatherless children weren’t. And Fox? Some skills, certainly, but he should have kept his wife out of the fray. Wasp at least did that much.”

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