Page 46 of Bonded in Death

“He’ll give you what he can,” Roarke told her. “And we’ll find what we can find on this security company. If it’s a front as you believe, we’ll dig down. And I do think, considering murder, Ivanna will tell you if she knows more.

“They fought as you do, Eve, for the innocent, for the right.”

“The fight should be over for them. I just want to say, to you, I’m sorry to bring it back.”

“You haven’t. Rossi’s killer did. After we finish dinner, we’ll clean this up, won’t we? And go up to the unregistered.”

The cat, curious enough to stir himself, followed them up to the secured office. At the door, Roarke plugged in the code, engaged the retinal scan.

“I’ve upgraded a bit, and as CompuGuard adds layers, so do I.”

“CG serves a purpose. I don’t always like it.”

Roarke gave an elegant little shrug. “And those who want to evade that purpose will find a way.”

He opened the door, called for lights on full as Galahad wandered in. He found a leather chair acceptable and made himself comfortable there. A plump, watchful gray pillow.

Here, privacy shields guarded the windows, the sort that would give the equipment and expertise at EDD a lot of frustration.

The vast command center looked the same to her, but then she expected upgrades meant some internal e-wizardry she’d never understand.

Roarke crossed to it, laid his hand on a palm plate. “Roarke. Open operations.”

It came to life, a quiet hum like a breath taken. Across the black field, control lights snapped on, gleamed like colorful jewels struck by the sun.

The command center faced an enormous wall screen, but for now, Roarke tapped a control. A screen slid out of a hidden slot on the black field.

“This may take a bit of a while,” he told Eve. “Even if they’re only what they purport to be, any good cybersecurity company will have their blocks, walls, tunnels, shields, and so on.”

“Okay.”

“If you’ve work of your own you want to deal with?”

He used another control, and a mini data and communication unit opened at the end of the counter.

“Upgrades,” he said again as she frowned at it. “You can use the mini well enough. It’ll require your thumbprint and voice command.”

She walked to it, pressed her thumb on the pad. “Dallas.”

And it hummed to life.

“I can’t use unregistered for reports.”

Roarke merely stepped over, pressed a glowing red button. It shifted to green.

“Now it reads as the comp in your office.”

Slick, she thought, just slick. And while more a violation than a crime, still.

Still, she decided, she’d think of it—right now—as a tool. A comp was a comp wherever it sat.

Roarke set coffee on the counter for her, then flicked his finger down the shallow dent in her chin.

“You can go to your own office, and I’ll bring you whatever results I have when I have them.”

“So I not only bend the rules, but I’m a hypocrite about it? This is fine.”

“The rules snap back, Eve. If we’re honest, CompuGuard’s stated purpose is to detect criminal activity, which they do a remarkably poor job of. You don’t.”

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