Page 165 of Bonded in Death

“Good. Everybody get to work. I’ll be back in five. Ten,” she corrected as she had to make some contacts of her own. “Roarke, let Summerset and the rest know this part of the mission, accomplished.”

In the computer lab, they stood, linked with Ivan’s hand gripping Iris’s, and Cyril’s arm around her waist, his hand on Summerset’s shoulder. Ivanna had Summerset’s hand in her right, Marjorie’s in her left, and Marjorie held Harry’s.

“That was brilliant.” Tears clogged Marjorie’s throat, thickened her voice. “That was bloody brilliant.”

“I wish Gio could’ve seen it,” Ivan murmured.

Harry nodded. “So say we all.”

Summerset took out his ’link when it signaled. “Roarke, of course.”

“Should we move out of here before you answer?” Cyril asked him.

“No. The boy and I don’t lie to each other.”

When he answered, Roarke lifted his eyebrows. “Ah, I see. So you already know.”

“We needed to bear witness.”

“Of course. Go get some sleep. It’ll be some time yet.”

“Tell the lieutenant… well done.”

“I will. I’ll send a driver when it’s time, so you’ll all come at once and together.”

“Thank you for that. From all of us.”

When Summerset replaced his ’link, Marjorie sighed.

“You know, I believe I could sleep now.”

“So say we all,” Harry repeated, and made them laugh.

As they shut down, started out, Summerset picked up the cat. “They won’t be home for a while, my friend. You can settle in with me.”

Eve spoke to the boy, but didn’t push. Peabody remained his anchor until his parents arrived, younger brother in tow, and all rushed to the MT truck.

As tears and gratitude flowed, and the kid was all but smothered in hugs, she left it to Peabody, stepped out of the van.

She made her first contact. “Reo, we got Potter. Let me roll through the many charges here in New York. Have you got anybody there who can carve their way through international laws and all that?”

“As a matter of fact.” Reo stood in a robe, her hair still dripping from a shower. “I think I know where you’re going, and was going there myself.”

“That’ll save time. Abernathy—Interpol—he’s my next contact. They’ll start working the extradition. I’ve got some ideas on that, and I want to know if we have weight.”

“I’m all ears.”

They confiscated twenty-three handguns, ten AR-47s, four M16s, silencers, bump stocks, body armor, an assortment of knives in the second-floor armory.

And enough ammunition to start a war.

He’d rigged two canisters of gas in the air vents of the storage room and had another six to spare. In the basement, he’d stockpiled the C-4, the grenades, along with chargers, timers in a workshop set up to make more.

And a lab where he made and stored a variety of drugs, paralytics, hallucinogens, poisons, anesthetics.

With sweepers, explosives teams, hazmat teams in place, Eve left Feeney and his e-team in charge.

In the van, Roarke at the wheel now and the rest of her team in the ridiculously plush back, Eve let her shoulders finally relax.

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