J.D. Robb - Visions In Death

"God. Oh God." "She's strong. She's young and strong and healthy. It weighs on her side. You know that." Broken. Shattered. Fractured. "Go tell him. Feeney's here, Feeney's with him. Go tell them." "Come, sit down then." Gently, he kissed her forehead, her cheeks. "Wait with them. We'll all wait together." "Not yet. I'm okay." She eased back, but took his hands, squeezed them before releasing them. "I just need to settle down. And I… I need to contact some people. I need to do… things, or I'll go crazy." He drew her to him again, held tight. "We won't let her go."

An hour ticked by, minute by endless minute.

"We get any more?" Eve shook her head at Feeney. She'd taken to leaning up against the wall outside the waiting area when she wasn't pacing. The waiting room had started to fill with cops.

Uniforms, detectives, civilian drones who settled in to wait or stopped by for news.

"Her family-" "I talked them into staying put, at least until we know more." She sipped from another cup of coffee. "As soon as we do, I'll give them her status. I played it down, a little.

Maybe I shouldn't have, but-" "Nothing they can do, for now." "Right. If they have to get here, Roarke's already made arrangements for transpo. How's McNab?" "Hanging on by a couple of greasy threads right now, but hanging all the same. Helps to have other cops around." His eyes went to slits. "He's meat, Dallas. There's not one badge in the city who won't put in the time to track him now he came after one of ours." "He's meat," Eve agreed. "And he's mine." She stayed leaning against the wall, only turning her head when she heard the clip of heels. She'd been expecting them.

Nadine streamed down the corridor, two uniformed officers at her back.

Good, was all Eve thought. She needed the distraction of going a round with someone.

But Nadine stopped in front of them, laid one hand on Feeney's arm, the other on Eve's. "How is she?" Friendship first, Eve realized. When it came to the wire, friendship crossed the line first. "She's still in surgery. Nearly two hours now." "Did they give you any idea when-" She stopped herself.

"No, they never do. I need to talk to you, Dallas."

Talk." "Alone. Sorry, Feeney." "No problem." He slipped back into the waiting area.

"Is there somewhere we can sit down?" Nadine asked.

"Sure." Eve simply slid down the wall until her butt met the floor. And looking up, sipped her coffee.

After a tap of her foot and a shrug, Nadine sat on the floor beside her. "As far as Peabody's concerned, I won't air anything you don't want aired. That's for her." "Appreciated." "She's my friend, too, Dallas." "I know she is." Because her eyes stung, she closed them.

"I know it." "You give me what you want out there, and I'll get it out.

Now let's take a minute to discuss the gorillas you've put on my tail." Eve looked over at the uniforms, satisfied they were – per her orders – burly guys and seasoned. "What about them?" "How do you expect me to work with a couple of storm troopers in my shadow?" "That would be your problem." "I don't-" "He went after her, he could go after you. We were on screen together. Little push," she murmured. "A little push. I didn't expect him to go for Peabody." "He was supposed to go for you." "Makes more sense, goddamn it. I'm primary. I'm in charge. But he goes for my partner. So he could go after you. Working through the lineup, I get that now. Wants me to see he can take out my people under my nose. Wants me to know it before he comes for me." "I can follow the dots, Dallas, but it doesn't address how I'm suppose to gather data and report same when I come as a trio, and two of that trio are badges. Nobody's going to talk to me." "Deal with it," Eve snapped. "Just fucking deal, Nadine.

He's not going to put his hands on another friend. He doesn't get the chance for another." Nadine studied the icy rage on Eve's face, and said nothing.

She leaned back, took the coffee out of Eve's hand, sipped.

"Tastes like warm piss," she commented, then sipped again.

"No, maybe a little worse than that." "It's not so bad after the first gallon." "I'll take your word," she decided, and handed it back. "I don't want him to get his hands on me. I do want to mention I know how to take precautions. Particularly after my own romp in the park with a homicidal maniac a year or so ago.

And I haven't forgotten who got me out of that. I'm also smart enough, and have a healthy enough sense of self-preservation to accept that there might be times I need someone to take an interest in my welfare. So I'll deal, Dallas." She shifted, looking for comfort on the hard floor. "And actually, the one on the left is kind of hot." "Try not to have sex with one of my men when he's on duty." "I'll try to restrain myself. I'm going to go see McNab for a minute." She nodded. Eve considered pacing again, or just closing her eyes and pushing herself into oblivion. Roarke came out before she'd decided, crouched in front of her.

"It might be an idea to go down, get some food other than the slop available through vending for the horde in there." Trying to give me something to do with myself?" "Both of us." "Okay." He straightened, took her hand to pull her to her feet.

"It just seems like we should know something more by now. It just seems like-" She looked toward the elevators and saw Louise and Charles rushing in.

"News?" Charles demanded.

"Nothing. Nothing for over an hour now." "I'll go into surgery." Louise squeezed Charles's arm. "I'll scrub up, get a look for myself." "That'll be better," Eve said when Louise dashed off. "We'll know more, and that'll be better." "What can I do?" Charles gripped Eve's hand. "Give me an assignment something." She looked into his eyes. The friendship deal came in a lot of layers, she thought, a lot of measures. "Roarke and I were talking about getting some food for everybody." "Let me take care of that. I'll just go let McNab know we're here, and I'll take care of it." "It keeps rippling, doesn't it?" Roarke watched Charles move through the groups of cops to where McNab stood.

"All the people, the relationships, the connections. Lieutenant." He framed her face with his hands, kissed her gently on the forehead. "It wouldn't hurt you to find a flat surface, close your eyes for a few minutes." "Can't do it." "I didn't think so." She waited. And felt she was at the center of a vortex as she contacted or was contacted by Whitney, Mira, Peabody's family. Cops came. Some went, more stayed. EDD and Homicide, uniforms and rank.

"Get McNab," she murmured to Roarke when she spotted Louise. "Keep it low. I don't want the whole department out here when she fills us in." Bracing herself, she stepped forward to meet Louise.

"Roarke's getting McNab, so you only have to say it once."

"Good." She wore scrubs now, pale green and baggy. "I'll go back, observe, but I wanted to give you what I could." Roarke came out with McNab, with Feeney and Charles.

The first circle, Eve supposed, of all those spreading ripples.

"Are they finished?" McNab said quickly. "Is she-" "They're still working on her. It's going well. She's got a solid surgical team, Ian, and she's holding her own." She reached out, took his hands. "It's going to take a while longer.

There was extensive damage, and the fact is she's undergoing more than one surgery. Her vitals are good, and everything that can be done is being done." "How much longer?" Eve demanded.

"Two, three hours more. At least. She's critical, but she's holding. Now I'm going to suggest you go down and give blood. It's something positive you can do. I'll go back in, observe. The head of the surgical team will give you more details when it's done, but I'll keep you updated as much as possible." "Could I go in with you? If I scrubbed-" "No." Louise leaned in, kissed his cheek. "Go down, give blood. Do the positive, think strong thoughts. Those things matter, I promise." "Okay, I'll go down now." "We'll both go down," Feeney said, then jerked his chin toward the waiting room. "We'll go down in shifts. Time we're finished, you'll have more cop blood in this place than you know what to do with."