Page 1 (1/2)
chapter one
She woke in the dark Through the slats on theshades, the firstshadowy bars over the bed It was like waking in a cell
For a , imprisoned, while the dream faded After ten years on the force, Eve still had dreams
Six hours before, she’d killed a man, had watched death creep into his eyes It wasn’t the first time she’d exercised maximum force, or dreamed She’d learned to accept the action and the consequences
But it was the child that haunted her The child she hadn’t been in time to save The child whose screams had echoed in the dreams with her own
All the blood, Eve thought, scrubbing sweat froirl to have had so much blood in her And she kneas vital that she push it aside
Standard depart in Testing Any officer whose discharge of weapon resulted in tero e duty Eve considered the tests a mild pain in the ass
She would beat them, as she’d beaten them before
When she rose, the overheads went auto her way into the bath She winced once at her reflection Her eyes were swollen from lack of sleep, her skin nearly as pale as the corpses she’d delegated to the ME
Rather than dwell on it, she stepped into the shower, yawning
“Give rees, full force,” she said and shifted so that the shower spray hit her straight in the face
She let it steah the events of the night before She wasn’t due in Testing until nine, and would use the next three hours to settle and let the dream fade away completely
Srets were often detected and could mean a second and more intense round with the machines and the owl-eyed technicians who ran them
Eve didn’t intend to be off the streets longer than twenty-four hours
After pulling on a robe, she walked into the kitchen and prograh hershe could hear the heavy hu early commuters to offices, late ones home She’d chosen the apartround and air pattern, and she liked the noise and crowds On another yawn, she glanced out the , followed the rattling journey of an aging airbus hauling laborers not fortunate enough to work in the city or by home-links
She brought the New York Times up on her monitor and scanned the headlines while the faux caffeine bolstered her systeain, but she ate it anyith a vague thought of springing for a replacement unit
She was frowning over an article on a mass recall of droid cocker spaniels when her tele-link blipped Eve shifted to co officer flash onto the screen
“Commander”
“Lieutenant” He gave her a brisk nod, noted the still wet hair and sleepy eyes “Incident at Twenty-seven West Broadway, eighteenth floor You’re primary”
Eve lifted a brow “I’ Subject terminated at twenty-two thirty-five”
“We have override,” he said, without inflection “Pick up your shield and weapon on the way to the incident Code Five, lieutenant”
“Yes, sir” His face flashed off even as she pushed back from the screen Code Five meant she would report directly to her commander, and there would be no unsealed interdepartmental reports and no cooperation with the press
In essence, it meant she was on her own
Broadas noisy and crowded, a party where rowdy guests never left Street, pedestrian, and sky traffic werethe air with bodies and vehicles In her old days in uniform she remembered it as a hot spot for wrecks and crushed tourists ere too busy gaping at the show to get out of the way