Chapters (53)
- BALANCE OF POWER
- Acknowledgments
- About The Creators
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
The deputy extended his hand across the large mahogany desk. McCaskey shook it. Serrador swung his hand toward Aideen. She shook it as well, very briefly. There was no warmth in the short look they exchanged.
McCaskey had eased his hand onto Aideen's back. He half-guided, half-pushed her out the door and they walked the corridor in silence.
When they were inside the deputy's limousine, McCaskey turned to Aideen. "So."
"So. Go ahead. Tell me I was out of line."
"You were."
"I know," she replied. "I'm sorry. I'll take the next plane home." This was becoming the theme of the day. Or maybe it was something larger, the wrong fit of Aideen Marley and ivory tower diplomacy.
"I don't want you to do that," McCaskey said. "You were out of line but I happen to agree with what you were saying. I don't think our accidental good-cop, bad-cop routine worked, but it's got potential."
She looked at him. "You agreed with me?"
"Pretty much. Let's wait until we can call home and see what the rest of the clan has to say," McCaskey continued.
Aideen nodded. She knew that that was only part of the reason McCaskey didn't want to talk. Limousine drivers were never as invisible as passengers presumed: they saw and heard everything. And putting up the partition wouldn't guarantee privacy. Chances were good that the car was bugged and their conversation was being monitored. They waited until they had returned to McCaskey's hotel room before continuing. He'd set up a small electromagnetic generator designed by Matt Stoll, Op-Center's technical wizard. The unit, approximately the size and dimensions of a portable CD player, sent out a pulse that disrupted electronic signals within a ten-foot radius and turned them to "gibberish," as Stoll described it. Computers, recorders, or other digital devices outside its range would be unaffected.
McCaskey and Aideen sat on the side of the bed with the Egg, as they'd nicknamed it, between them.
"Deputy Serrador thinks that there isn't much we can do without cooperation on this end," McCaskey said.
"Does he," Aideen said bitterly.
"We may be able to surprise him."
"It might also be necessary to surprise him," Aideen said.
"That's true," McCaskey said. He looked at Aideen. "Anything else before I call the boss?"