Jack Daniels Six Pack (98 page)

“I’ve got two heat signatures on the first floor, and one on the second,” he said into his comlink. “No movement.”

“Human beings?” I asked.

He didn’t bother looking at me.

“Unconfirmed.”

I watched an SRT member reposition the thermal optics, and another, a woman, sweep the building with a DOX sound cannon—a device that looked like a bullhorn but was actually an ultrasensitive unidirectional microphone. Two others were examining a printout that showed the floor plan of the building.

These guys were fast.

“Stryker,” I said, tapping him on the shoulder. “Has your team been briefed?”

Again, the team leader didn’t so much as glance at me.

“Sixty-three-year-old Caucasian male, considered armed and dangerous, probable location in the rear bedroom on the second floor, no other civilian activity, possible presence of biological agents. Two by two surgical entry, Taser capture takedown.”

“He’s a cop,” I said. “His name is Jason Alger. I just cracked his file—his record on the force is golden. I also spoke to his former commander on the ride over. Alger was a straight shooter, family man, wife passed away six years ago, has a daughter and grandchildren in California. This isn’t in character for him.”

Stryker grunted, or perhaps it was a laugh. “Sometimes good apples get rotten.”

“And sometimes they get thrown away while they’re still good. Take it slow in there. Something isn’t right.”

“That’s the only time we get called.”

“Yeah. Well, good luck, Sergeant.”

“Luck is for the unprepared.”

I took a step back before the testosterone surging off his body caused me to grow a mustache. Special Agent Rick Reilly sidled up behind me, so close I could feel his body heat.

Or maybe that was my imagination.

“These guys any good?” he asked under his breath.

“They’re good.”

“They’ve got a lot of fancy equipment. Is the subject inside the house?”

“We’re not sure. Thermals have a few readings. Could be a person. Could be a radiator, or a fireplace.”

“In June?”

“Or a water heater or a stove.”

“I like his utility belt. He looks like Batman.”

Normally I didn’t mind jokes, but I was on edge.

“You’re a biology guy, right?”

“I’m a doctor, actually. But saying
Special Agent Dr. Rick Reilly
is too much of a mouthful.”

“Will those gas masks they have protect against BT?”

“They’re standard NBC masks—nuclear, biological, chemical. NATO threaded filters. Should be fine. You look worried.”

“I am worried. Show me a leader worth her salt who doesn’t worry.”

Rick pointed his chin at Stryker.

“GI Joe doesn’t seem worried.”

“And that worries me. Confidence is essential, cockiness is lethal.”

This was my show. I wondered if there was anything more I should be doing. Go in with them? I didn’t have that kind of training. And if I got into a
whose balls are bigger
spat with Sergeant Stryker it might be distracting, and I wanted him focused.

They know what they’re doing,
 I assured myself.

“Why aren’t you married?”

I narrowed my eyes at Rick, knocked off guard by the non sequitur.

“What does that have to do with this case?”

“Not a thing,” he said. “But it might have everything to do with grabbing a bite to eat later.”

“I have a fiancé,” I said.

“Forget to wear the ring this morning?”

His eyes had a playful glint to them, which annoyed me. This wasn’t the time or place for flirting. And cute guys had no right coming on to me only a few hours after the man I loved proposed marriage.

The man who was waiting patiently for me back at the house.

I excused myself and walked into the street, hitting the speed dial button on my cell phone.

“Hi, Latham.”

“Hi, Jack. Any chance you’ll be home soon? I made your favorite. Wiener schnitzel and spaetzle.”

German food was comfort food to me. I mentioned it offhandedly on one of our early dates, and the next time I went to his place Latham cooked it for me. Men who could cook trumped men with sexy bedroom eyes.

Not that Latham didn’t have sexy bedroom eyes.

I involuntarily glanced at Rick, noticed he was watching me, and gave him my back.

“You’re a sweetheart, Latham. I’ll try my best, but I’m in the middle of something big.”

“I understand. I’ll wait for you.”

The man was a saint.

“No. Go ahead and eat without me.”

“Are you sure?”

“I insist. I don’t know when we’ll finish up here. It could go late.”

“I’ll keep it warm for you.”

“The food?”

“Everything.”

Some paramedics pulled up. Standard procedure for a smash and grab, but it made me even more uneasy.

“How’s that mariachi?” I asked. “Did he ever find the rest of his mustache?”

“No. I think Mr. Friskers ran off with it.”

I smiled for the first time in hours.

“Look, Latham, I know I owe you an answer...”

“Focus on work, Jack. Keep your mind on the matter at hand. Everything else can wait until later.”

That proved it. Latham was an alien pod person. No man could be this perfect.

“I love you,” I said, and meant it.

“Love you too. Stay safe.”

Stryker rallied his troops, and my leadership role was relegated to the sidelines to impotently watch his “two by two surgical entry.” I stood alongside Herb, who’d been on the phone for over an hour organizing the task force teams, and snagged a headset from the SRT member monitoring the infrared. Beta Team marched around back, Stryker gave the radio command, and they rushed the front door. His partner did a knock-and-announce, Stryker hit the door with a handheld Thunderbolt battering ram, and they both stormed inside, weapons drawn.

“Team Alpha in,”
the radio squawked.
“Hallway clear.”

A similar banging came from the rear of the house.

“Team Beta in. Kitchen clear.”

The headsets were so sensitive, I could make out four different breathing rates, four different footfalls. They had gone in under the assumption that anyone inside would have looked out the window and noticed the police carnival camped on the street, so this arrest was about speed rather than stealth.

“First bedroom clear.”

Shuffling sounds. Some clicks.

“Hallway clear.”

Then came a gunshot.

And screaming.

“Beta Team leader down! Repeat, Beta Team leader down! We have gunfire!”

A horrible gurgling came through my earpiece, like someone choking in a shallow pool of water.

“Alpha Team has been hit! Possible IED! Alpha—”

There was a popping noise, another gunshot, and static.

“Team Alpha, do you read,” I said into the comlink. “Team Alpha, do you read.”

Moaning, but no coherent response.

“Team Beta, do you read. Beta, are you there, goddammit.”

More gurgling, weaker this time.

Herb closed his cell phone and said, “Jesus.”

I looked at the laptop monitor and could spot the heat signatures of all fou. SRT members. None were moving.

“Stryker, are you there.”

The moaning became a keening cry, like a sick dog. It made the fillings in my teeth vibrate.

“Gamma Team going in!”

Two more SRT members, a man and the woman working the cartoid mike, rushed the house.

“Hold it!” I yelled.

They didn’t listen, quickly disappearing through the front door.

“Gamma Team, stand down,” I said into the radio. “Repeat, stand down. I’m OIC. I want your asses back here now.”

White noise. A groan.

“They’re dead. They’re all dead.”

I gripped the headgear so tight, my fingers shook. “Get the hell out of there!”

“Jesus, what happened to his eyes—”

“This place is rigged. It’s all rigged. Oh my—”

A snapping sound, then coughing.

“Gamma Team, do you read? Gamma Team, come in, over.”

More coughing, and then the horrifying screech of someone screaming while throwing up. My skin got prickly all over.

“Gamma Team, come in.”

The silence was suffocating. Then, after almost thirty seconds:
“Please...someone help me...”

The final two SRT members made a try for the door. Herb tackled one. I used both hands to grab the other by the wrist.

“No,” I told him.

“That’s my team!”

“We’ll get them out.”

His name tag said
James, Joshua
. A kid, early twenties, barely old enough to shave. His eyes were wide, panicked, and he looked like he desperately wanted to believe me.

“How?” he asked.

I turned to the super, who appeared shaken, but not nearly as shaken as everyone on the line.

“I need a HazMat team, and the bomb squad, and that robot they have, the remote control one with the cameras.”

“Bomb squad is at the Twenty-first District, the other side of town,” she said.

“Tell them to drive fast.”

Rick took my arm. “Make sure the HazMat uses self-contained breathers. I think something got through the NATO filters.”

“I thought the NATO filters were safe.”

“For BT, yes.” Rick glanced at the radio unit, painful gurgling coming through the speaker. “That doesn’t sound like BT.”

“Do you have...what are those protective suits called?”

“Space suits. Back at Quantico. Not with me.”

“...help me...please God help...”

I racked my brain. Who would have a space suit? Fire stations? Nearby laboratories? I just saw a suit like that a little while ago. Where the hell was it?

Then I remembered what neighborhood I was in, and who lived nearby.

“Goddammit,” I said, yanking out my cell phone, wondering if I’d ever bothered to erase his number.

It was still there. I hesitated two full seconds, then pressed the dial button.

“Harry’s House of Love Juice, one hundred percent natural with zero carbohydrates, stop by for a free sample.”

“McGlade,” I said, swallowing my pride. “It’s Jack. I need your help.”

Chapter 6

M
C
G
LADE BEAT THE BOMB SQUAD
and the HazMat team to the scene, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because we desperately needed his help, bad because being around McGlade was slightly less enjoyable than pulling out your own toenails with pliers.

“Hiya, Jackie,” he said through the driver’s-side window, pulling his Corvette alongside the curb. “You want me to park this big boy here, or shall I use your rear entrance?”

I briefly wondered what happened to his trademark 1968 Mustang, then realized he couldn’t drive stick shift with his newly acquired prosthesis. McGlade had been a player in a homicide investigation of mine not too long ago, and he hadn’t come out of the debacle entirely intact.

“Got the space suit?”

“I got it. You’re lucky too—I just had it cleaned. There were stains, Jack. Lots of stains.”

I put the thought from my mind. An eternity ago, Harry McGlade and I were partners. Since his dismissal, he’d been earning his living as a full-time private eye and part-time television producer. Along with boasting the IQ of a tire iron, McGlade also had the unwelcome distinction of being one of the biggest perverts I know, and I’d met quite an assortment of them working Vice. Whatever he was using this space suit for had nothing to do with science.

“Where is it?” I asked.

“In back.”

He popped the trunk, and I stared at a big pile of Day-Glo orange. I grabbed a sleeve and pulled the suit out of the car. The material felt like a combination of rubber and nylon.

“I should be the one going in,” Rick said, coming up behind me.

“Those are my people in there, Agent Reilly. I’m going.”

Herb ran over, looking even shittier than he had earlier.

“They’re not responding anymore,” he said. “Radio is silent.”

“Can you hear anything? Moaning? Breathing?” Rick asked.

Herb shook his head. I kicked off my shoes and pulled down my skirt. Rick an. Herb averted their eyes. McGlade whistled.

“This is a police matter, McGlade,” I said, struggling into the suit. “You can leave.”

“Ease up, Lieutenant. We still haven’t worked out what you’re giving me because I’m letting you use my suit.”

I fought the material. The inside clung to my bare legs like plastic wrap. “It can wait.”

“I want a liquor license.”

Unbelievable. Herb must have thought so as well. He grabbed McGlade’s shoulder.

“You need to leave. Now.”

McGlade waved his artificial hand. It wasn’t a primitive pirate claw, but it didn’t look entirely realistic either. The flesh color was too light, and shiny like rubber.

“Don’t shoot me, Sergeant,” he said. “I’m unarmed.”

Herb gave McGlade a push backward.

McGlade smiled and shook his head, raising both hands in apparent supplication. Then he placed his fake one on Herb’s shoulder. There was a faint mechanical sound, like gears turning, and Herb yelped and fell to his knees.

“Modern technology,” Harry said. “Six hundred pounds of pressure per square inch.”

I got in his face. “Dammit, McGlade! People are dying! Stop screwing around!”

Harry shrugged. The mechanical hand whirred open. Herb had lost all color.

“Sorry, Jackie. I didn’t know we were in such a rush.”

I managed to snug the suit on over my shoulders. McGlade leaned close to me and whispered, “So...if I let you use the space suit, can you talk the mayor into letting me have a liquor license for the bar I’m open—IIIIEEEEEE!”

McGlade fell over, clutching himself between his legs. Herb unclenched the fist he’d used to induce McGlade’s aria, then got up off of his knees, his other hand rubbing his shoulder.

“I hate that guy,” he said.

Rick helped me strap on the SCBA tank. The gloves were thin, but not thin enough to get my finger inside of a trigger guard. Herb noted this and promised he’d be right back. The headpiece went on over the radio headset, a large hood with a Plexiglas faceplate.