Chipping Through the Ice
Chapter 45
Lanie rolls almondy sweetness over her tongue. "If you take more cases that put you near Zabar's, I won't mind at all."
"Even if I have to pretend to be married to Lisa?"
"As long as you keep your act G-rated. Maybe we should go out with her and her husband. I'd like to meet him, and it would keep the couples straight."
"Lisa was going to bring Eric to a poker game, but Rick had to cancel it. Kate didn't say much about why, but it sounded serious."
Lanie drops a piece of halvah back on her plate. "I hope my god baby isn't sick - but I think Kate would call me if she were."
"I don't think it's anything like that," Farley offers. "She said something about a security issue."
"With Custos around, it'd have to be a pretty big one. Those two have always been trouble magnets, but without each other, they'd probably both be dead by now. You know Rick took a bullet meant for Kate?"
"I didn't, but I can see that their relationship is amazing." Farley cups Lanie's face in his broad palm. "I believed I'd never find anyone I could look at the way Rick looks at Kate, but I think that now I have."
Lanie stretches up to meet his lips with her own. "I think we both have."
Rick hands Kate a mug of morning coffee as she studies her emails. "What are you pondering?"
"This is from Jake. He wants OOTC to hire the window washing company owned by the suspect in the murders he's investigating. He thinks if we can get a Cyril Mulligan to sit down to negotiate a contract, we can snag some of his DNA to compare with a sample Terry has."
"I can't say I like the idea of inviting a potential murderer into your office."
"I don't either," Kate agrees, "but I can't think of a better one. Callie can stay with you. I'll keep my weapon handy, and I'll have Roy to back me up."
Rick shakes his head. "I still don't like it. Can I at least get some of Keith Proctor's operatives to go with you? You might already have a target on your back as is."
"If it will make you feel better."
"Nothing is going to make me feel better until we get the bastard who planted that camera at our door, but I'll do the best I can to make sure you're protected. I'll call Proctor right now."
The crate for the pipe crawler isn't as large as Volkov had expected it to be. He barely needs the help of his driver to stow it in the van that was part of the Diplomatic Residence fleet. Good. Once he has it unpacked, he'll be able to transport it on his own.
Gregor's been working on his plan ever since before he talked to Yuri. The discovery of his camera made it clear to him that he won't be able to get close to the Castle loft. Very well. He won't have to.
Large water and gas pipes run under the street in front of the building. He's already located an access point blocks away where he can launch his robot. The tracking system designed to detect and report potential leaks will allow him to know precisely where the crawler is, and when the time comes, detonate the payload he'll put on board.
His explosives are compact, the newest generation, but powerful enough. No matter what pipe Gregor sends his deadly device through, he'll be setting off a secondary gas explosion, that should take out not only the building housing Hunt's family but also structures on both sides of it. The conflagration will also destroy his mechanism and cover Gregor's tracks. It will be glorious, and The "tragic accident" will be captured on every American phone nearby, even before the news media pick it up. Wherever Hunt is, whatever he is doing, he will suffer the anguish that Gregor feels every moment of his life.
Gregor will have to construct his device with care. His detonation signal can't impinge on the telemetry from the crawler, but he is up to the task. He's been preparing for it since the moment Anna died at Hunt's hands.
"What the hell?" Hunt exclaims, watching Volkov cart a crate into the residence. If there's a weapon in there, it's a big one. He focuses in on the words on the wood. They're in Russian, of course, but he isn't that rusty yet. "Diplomatic pouch," is clear enough, and what looks like a serial or model number: труб – 1044. Some analyst better be able to trace that down.
Janelle is frustrated. She's gone to OOTC after she's gotten off work for two days in a row, crouching in the shrubbery near the parking lot to try to spot Farley, but she hasn't seen him. Maybe her timing's been all wrong, but Janelle's off for the whole day, today. She'll take food and something to pee in with her. She can watch Out of the Cold as long as she needs to, and when she finally gets to speak to Farley, she'll make him understand what a mistake he made trying to keep her away.
Kate wasn't expecting to get a meeting with Cyril Mulligan so quickly, but she sets it for 3 p.m. Proctor will have two of his people ready to accompany her, but that doesn't keep Rick from pacing the floor of the loft until she's ready to leave. Sensing the unease, Custos alternately rubs up against both of them, in-between checking on Callie in her swing. Rick wishes the dog had a twin he could send with Kate, but human protection will have to be enough.
While Proctor bodyguard Mick Tunney accompanies Kate inside the OOTC building, Proctor operative Paula Stabler checks around outside, noting a young African-American woman doing a poor job concealing herself behind some bushes while crunching on chips and drinking from a can of soda. It's Paula's job to determine if there's a threat to Kate, and the covert snacker doesn't appear to pose one, but Paula snaps a picture on her phone. She'll report the lurker when she gets inside.
Kate studies the image on Paula's cell. "I don't recognize her - wait - one of our guys, Farley Kutcher, had a stalker. I should send the picture to him and see if he recognizes her." Kate checks her watch. "Cyril Mulligan should be showing up any time now. My husband is nervous about this, but if Mulligan is a murderer, I don't believe I'd be his target for about 20 years. I don't want to spook him. There's a security camera in my office, and you can join our operative Jake Lipman in the next room to watch the feed." Kate hears a buzz from the reception desk. "That should be him now. I'll have Laura show him in when you're set up."
Other than his height, Cyril Mulligan doesn't look menacing. What's left of his hair is a dull gray, and he walks with a pronounced limp. Still, there is something about the way he looked at Laura and the way he's looking at Kate - a disgust like most people reserve for roaches and other vermin. The man doesn't like women. He does, however, accept Kate's offer of coffee. Terry should have a DNA sample soon enough.
