But that wouldn’t work here. Jacob Swann would simply have to do what he did best; while Shreve Metzger would deny that kill orders even existed, Swann would make absolutely certain that no evidence of or witnesses to his clean-up operation could possibly tie NIOS or anyone connected with it to the killing.

He could do that. Jacob Swann was a very meticulous man.

Besides, he had no choice but to eliminate these threats. There was no way he’d let anybody jeopardize his organization; its work was too important.

Swann dried the dishes, silver and coffee cup, using thick linen, with the diligence of a surgeon completing the stitches after a successful procedure.

CHAPTER 13

Robert Moreno Homicide

• Crime Scene 1.
  • Suite 1200, South Cove Inn, New Providence Island, Bahamas (the “Kill Room”).
  • May 9.
  • Victim 1: Robert Moreno.
    • COD: Gunshot wound, details to come.
    • Supplemental information: Moreno, 38, U.S. citizen, expatriate, living in Venezuela. Vehemently anti-American. Nickname: “the Messenger of Truth.”
    • Spent three days in NYC, April 30–May 2. Purpose?
  • Victim 2: Eduardo de la Rua.
    • COD: Gunshot wound, details to come.
    • Supplemental information: Journalist, interviewing Moreno. Born Puerto Rico, living in Argentina.
  • Victim 3: Simon Flores.
    • COD: Gunshot wound, details to come.
    • Supplemental information: Moreno’s bodyguard. Brazilian national, living in Venezuela.
  • Suspect 1: Shreve Metzger.
    • Director, National Intelligence and Operations Service.
    • Mentally unstable? Anger issues.
    • Manipulated evidence to illegally authorize Special Task Order?
    • Divorced. Law degree, Yale.
  • Suspect 2: Sniper.
    • Code name: Don Bruns.
    • Information Services datamining Bruns.
    • Voiceprint obtained.
  • Crime scene report, autopsy report, other details to come.
  • Rumors of drug cartels behind the killings. Considered unlikely.
• Crime Scene 2.
  • Sniper nest of Don Bruns, 2000 yards from Kill Room, New Providence Island, Bahamas.
  • May 9.
  • Crime scene report to come.
• Supplemental Investigation.
  • Determine identity of Whistleblower.
    • Unknown subject who leaked the Special Task Order.
    • Sent via anonymous email.
    • Contacted NYPD Computer Crimes Unit to trace; awaiting results.

Hands on her hips, Amelia Sachs studied the whiteboard.

She noted Rhyme glance without interest at her flowing script. He wouldn’t pay much attention to what she’d written until hard facts—evidence, mostly, in his case—began to appear.

It was just the three of them at the moment, Sachs, Laurel and Rhyme. Lon Sellitto had gone downtown to recruit a specially picked canvass-and-surveillance team from Captain Bill Myers’s Special Services operation; with secrecy a priority, Laurel didn’t want to use regular Patrol Division officers.

Sachs returned to her desk. She didn’t do well sitting still and that was largely what she’d been doing for the past two hours. Confined here, the bad habits returned: She’d dig one nail into another, scratch her scalp to bleeding. Fidgety by nature, she felt a compulsion to walk, to be outside, to drive. Her father had coined an expression that was her anthem:

When you move they can’t getcha…