Shadows in Death (In Death #51) - J.D. Robb Page 0,110

have Cobbe taking a closer look. Which is why you and the commander are on watch in the barn, and Podock will be in the second house.”

She watched him assess that, reluctantly.

“Second, while I know the commander can handle himself, I don’t know if you can when it comes to hand-to-hand. Any of your agents who can’t pass as one of the family also need to keep out of sight until we have him in the box. He’ll want the house because he figures he’ll find Roarke’s aunt, maybe some kids inside. Easy targets. Possibly, he’ll wander over to one of the men working outside as if he’s asking for directions, but the house is more likely. Either way he kills close up.”

“He’d kill who he can, then send me a vid of it,” Roarke finished. “He may not have gotten me, but he’ll have made me pay.”

“That’s Cobbe all over,” Brian agreed.

“I have no argument with that. I agree with all that. I don’t like being shuffled off to a bloody barn.”

“We get him, he’s all yours.”

“Understood. Apologies. It’s—”

“I’d feel exactly the same in your place,” Eve told him.

“I’ll take lookout in the barn with the commander.” But his shoulders straightened. “And I can handle myself.”

“Good to know. We have e-men at the three locations. Constant communication. They have scanners set up, looking for movement, but … people around here take walks.”

“It’s still raining.” Jenkinson tugged on a pair of black boots.

“Sure we don’t melt in a bit of soft weather,” Mary Kate pointed out as she offered him a cap.

“There are a lot of places for him to run if we try to take him outside and he slips away. And there are other homes within running distance. I’m not risking him killing anyone else, so we take him inside—that’s optimum. Should he approach anyone outside, stun his ass. Don’t let him get close enough to use a sticker, and remember he’s fast. Everybody goes home tonight, except Cobbe.

“How much time have we got?” she asked Roarke.

“We should move.”

“Then let’s move. Sinead, I need you and Mary Kate upstairs. You lock the door, and you stay inside.”

“You don’t look like me, or Mary Kate,” Sinead pointed out. “If, as you said, he has field glasses, looks through the window, he’d know you’re not either of us.”

“I’m going to wear one of those things.” Eve pointed at the aprons on pegs. “And a hat, and I’ll keep my back to the windows.”

“You won’t look natural in a kitchen, as I’ve seen you in this one.” Sinead smiled at her. “It’s important you lure him in, and stop him. If you were in the mudroom there, there’s no window, and I could do what I do here. You’d know, as you’ve people everywhere, if he’s coming. He’ll have to come in the front, won’t he, or run into the men working outside. He comes in, I’ll go up the back steps straightaway, and lock myself in as you ask.”

“Damn it.”

“If he tries to get in through the root cellar, it’s the same thing. He’d be seen, and would know he’d be seen. He has to come in the front door. He may even knock and expect me to answer so he can kill me. But it’ll be you who answers, and so he’ll be done. If you don’t bait the hook, you don’t catch the fish.”

“You’re not to be bait,” Roarke objected.

“If he gets away, somehow, he’ll come back, won’t he? When will we be safe?”

“She’s right. I’m sorry.”

Roarke looked at Eve. “I can know it and not like it.”

“We might put the music on,” Sinead added. “I often do when I’m working in the kitchen.”

“It’ll cover any noise, too. Do that.”

“I know my way around a kitchen,” Peabody began.

“He’ll know your face, too. He knows your face by now.” Eve paced as music began to play. “Put on an apron, keep away from the windows. Stick close to Sinead without being obvious about it. Make sure your weapon and harness are hidden. Take positions.”

She drew Roarke toward the mudroom. “I won’t let him touch her. I swear to God.”

“We won’t.” He had his hair bundled under a cap and put on his borrowed work jacket. “Do I look like a farmer?”

“No, you just don’t.”

“Well, it’ll have to do.”

“We’ve got movement,” Feeney announced. “Coming in from the southwest. Slow. Too big to be a dog or livestock.”

“Positions, now. Commander?” She eased into the mudroom. “Do you see him?”

“Not yet.”

“Movement stopped.”

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