could do was appreciate the subtle message it sent: she had nothing new to worry about other than the fact that he was not responding, and she knew enough not to send any important information. It was good to hear her voice.
He had little to do except think, and few of his thoughts were comforting. If he were alone on the case, it would be over for him, at least for now. But he had a partner, and he had to think about what that meant. He wasn’t a training officer, but that didn’t absolve him from giving Livvy the essentials of LLE work. He had thoroughly discussed the case with Livvy, and tried to give her a few basics along the way, but there was a lot he had neglected.
Did Livvy know by now that if the Chief followed his own strict policy, she was left to working the case alone? Chris understood and respected the policy, and had preferred working cases alone, for that matter, but Livvy was an LLE rookie. He had faith that Livvy would continue to work energetically, but that meant that his inattention yesterday, which had landed him here, was likely to get her killed.
It was no excuse that they had been thrown almost immediately into this complicated case with the concomitant distraction of becoming targets for assassination.
Did she know she could trust Meg and the Chief, and not trust Williams, who was almost certainly Bedford’s LLE ally?
She was a quick study; she’d understand by now how important it was to avoid media attention. That was probably Bedford’s biggest advantage, knowing from Williams that LLE shunned publicity so completely that the sad truth was that if he succeeded with his plan, unless someone very persistent found some incontrovertible evidence and refused to bury it, he wouldn’t be challenged, at least legally. Jesse would take Bedford’s place and die; John would get Jesse’s allotment. Jesse’s parents would be dead and everyone else in his life could be replaced. No one, other than a few people in LLE and Paula Bedford, would suspect. The scandal would be buried with Jesse.
On the other hand, odds were good that he could count on Williams to minimize to Bedford the threat Livvy represented. Williams might also let Bedford understand that Chris could be held indefinitely without significant LLE retaliation, and emphasize to Bedford how important it was to figure out how Chris had found Bedford’s connection to Josephson. That might keep Bedford from killing him outright.
He kicked the guilt around a while longer and then set it aside as unproductive. Later, if there was a later, he could re-explore it and what it meant to him.
By 10 pm he was tired of mentally running through the same pointless scenarios. A small, private war. For now, it was all on Livvy.
He had another glass of Chablis while he set a chair loaded with some cooking equipment leaning against the sliding door. Sometimes, primitive traps were the most reliable. Even if he had missed an acueye or two and they knew he was sleeping, no one could come in without creating a racket. Then he went back to the bed, carefully lowered himself until he was flat on his back, and stared at the ceiling. He might as well sleep, if he could.
Chp. 14 Tactics (Friday night)
When Livvy called Bruno Morelli’s home code a woman answered. Chris had mentioned, after they were introduced, that Bruno had been happily married for over sixty years. Cara, that was her name.
“Maybe yes, maybe no,” the pleasant female voice answered when Livvy asked to speak to him. “You do realize that it’s 2230?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Livvy said. “Unfortunately I still need to speak to him. It’s important. Urgent really.”
“But not quite an emergency yet, and you’re counting on Bruno to help prevent one.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Whom may I say is calling?”
“Livvy Hutchins. I’m Chris McGregor’s new partner.”
“Ah, yes. Well, my dear, I’m quite sure Bruno will talk to
“How is Chris?” the voice asked, back on the comu.
“Currently missing.”
“Hmm, and how long has that been going on?”
“Over 28 hours now.”
“I see,” the voice said, and then again, muffled. “Bruno, you might as well get dressed and take the call in the car.
“Hang on. He was in the laver, but if you give him another moment, he’ll be in the car, and you can explain it to him while he’s on his way.”
Twenty minutes later Livvy was in Bruno’s office in the Special Tactical unit. She’d told him as much as she could over the comu while he was on his way. Given the blanket order from the Chief, that wasn’t much. In the end, he knew little more than what she’d told Cara: Chris was missing and hadn’t responded to communication for over 28 hours, and that she and Chris had been working on a major case that had given Livvy reason to be worried.
“Look, I know how LLE works. I’ve been supplying McGregor with bags of tricks for almost 60 years, and never asked a question I didn’t need answered to do the job. But you are one little… “ Bruno said, frowning briefly and then giving her an apologetic smile, “… woman, and most of the guys LLE goes after have plenty of resources, which means brigades of lethally-armed muscle-bound security lugs.”
“Yes, but I’m quick and strong on initiative,” Livvy said. “Look, Bruno, I’m going after McGregor with or without your help, and I don’t have much time.
“If it comes down to numbers, which we can surely anticipate it will, McGregor, or even you, won’t weigh in that much heavier than I do. It’s your tricks and my enterprise. Synergy.”
Bruno assessed her. He wasn’t going to find a nick in her resolve, she thought, which meant that he was worrying about her capabilities. She sat up straight and firmed her jaw, concentrating on projecting the kind of image that would dispel his concerns about her atrophied tactical skills.
“Okay, so we need to start with the basics,” Bruno said finally. “I’m gonna guess it’s been a while since you’ve been on the street in some situations. You know about the reversal implants the pros are getting now? They’re better than ours.”
Livvy nodded.
“These mickey-mouse gangs of security guards most of the rich are hiring get them, too. The guards put it on their friggin’ resumes.
“So. In a take-no-prisoners kind of scenario you want to use duoloads and put two in everyone. They have a short, very fast-acting sop and a much longer-acting one. They’re still considered safe so you can use two even on non-players, but even three is unlikely to kill anyone, especially if they have an implant. Use ‘em if you need to. I’ll set you up with some clips of duoload darts that will work with a standard Stinger.
“What else do you think you’ll need?” Bruno asked.
Livvy put her elbows on Bruno’s desk, rested her chin in her hands, and prepared to pay close attention.
“What kind of bombs do you have?”
Bruno smiled.
When Agnew had called Bedford’s mansion a fortress he had exaggerated. There were no ramparts, canons, or visible guards, other than one man at the gatehouse. There was a complete seven meter tall perimeter wall topped with glass and razor wire with an ironwork gate at the driveway – the old ways were often still the best, especially if one worried about technical failures – and there were undoubtedly security acueyes with comprehensive coverage of the house, inside and out. The rest of the guards would be inside. Not a fortress, a fortified mansion. She parked three blocks away, and resigned herself to waiting. She was so tired of waiting.
During the half hour she’d delayed before confronting Agnew in the bar, she’d accessed 3-D utility maps of all of Bedford’s known properties in the city and narrowed her search down to a few possibilities. By mentioning the bunker, which of course wasn’t portrayed on anything official, Agnew had given her a final direction. She couldn’t
