schematics and the blueprints from the island community.”
“How’d you find time to get those already, and what we’ve got going here?”
“Delegating. Summerset—and don’t snarl—handled this.”
“I want to snarl, but I can’t because we need it. How’d he get it—Don’t tell me.” She quickly waved even the thought of it away. “Just send it to Whitney. He’ll get it to Abernathy, and we’ll hope they don’t ask too many questions.”
“There’s always an answer that will suit if necessary. You’ll feel better knowing that since the block in Tribeca wasn’t actually built by Natural Order, Feeney’s team is getting those blueprints. My system again, so the security’s easy to access. You’ll have that shortly.
“Now.” He rolled his shoulders. “Hot white diamonds, is it?”
“Zillions.”
“I’ve always been fond of them.” He sat down at one of the computers, rolled up his sleeves. Tied his hair back. “If I can build it, I can break it. It starts with the walls.”
She’d spent nearly her entire career as a murder cop. She’d never chased down a master thief unless a murder was involved. And had never considered, exactly, what went into planning a theft of a highly secured building—much less multiple buildings.
Apparently at least some of it involved math. What looked to her like really big math, like calculus or physics.
Before it gave her a headache, she left him to it. She took the other computer and began her own calculations, her bare outline of multiple operations, and timing, and coordination.
All assuming Roarke got them over, through, or around the wall.
“That’s that then.”
She looked up. “What? You’re in?”
“That’s the wall, and all attached alerts, alarms, deterrents, and so on. You’ve the gatehouse there, and the best solution would be to just shut it down. Shut down its communications, power. If a guard or guards are inside, well, you’ll have to deal with them.”
“We can do that.”
“Look here now. I’m highlighting what I’d consider the best areas to breach the wall. Climbing it’s going to be the best of the options, at least until we reactivate the gate from the gatehouse. But I’d stick with a very small number going over and in. I’d want to be over and in before I start shutting down other areas. It needs to be done layer by layer, sector by sector.”
She didn’t need to understand his math to get the picture. “Can you show and equip other teams of two—three tops, with one an e-cop—how to take down levels? If you and I go over here.”
“You and I?”
“That’s right. We go here, front gate, deal with the gatehouse, move on. Other teams go over at your designated points. We start working our way in, shutting things down as we go.”
“All right, I see it. I always kept my … team, we’ll say, on the very small side, so I’ll adjust for expanding that.”
“I need how many we can get inside on the first stage, how long to shut those layers—all down—so that we can spread out to every area. My focus, off the bat, is the suspected prison, the main house. But we need to hit it all.”
“Let me work out the how, then I’ll give you numbers and times.”
She had enough to start putting some meat on the bones of her operation. Yes, she could flesh it out now, could start to see.
Using a highlighter, she tried different routes in from the breach points he’d chosen, began assigning buildings and structures to each team—with backup coming in as the system shut down.
She lost track of time, building layer by layer as Roarke broke layer by layer.
He rose, put a hand on her shoulder, then kissed the top of her head. “I believe I have it. A bit more refining to do, but I can give you some times and some numbers.”
“I’ll take them.”
“From point of entry, each team—I’d keep that to two each with an e-man for three—must—absolutely must—go no more than fifteen feet from the wall. Go fifteen and an inch, they’ll set off the next layer with motion detectors.”
“Got it.”
“From that point, it will take them about four minutes, unless I can shave that down more than I have, to take down the next section. Fifteen feet at a time, Eve. No more, not a toe over.”
“Slow and steady.”
“Aye, slow and steady. When a team reaches these apartments, these houses, this building—do you see where it’s going?”
A slowly shrinking circle. “Yeah, yeah, working that slow and steady in.”
“They can adjust the jam. I can have them execute