In Death 13 - Seduction in Death

irritated. "I'm not down. Repeat, I am not down. Security panel's over there." She jerked her head. "Bypass the damn voice command and get the lights on. Dunwood!" she shouted, duck-walking to the doorway with her left arm hanging useless and her weapon in her right hand. "It's over. The house is surrounded. You've got nowhere to go. Throw out your weapon, and come out with your hands up."
    "It's not over until I say it's over! I'm not finished." He fired again. "Do you think I'm losing to a woman!"
    The lights went on, and gave her a good look at the blackened hole in the floor only inches from her feet. "Seduce and conquer. We accessed your game, Lucias. Not too smart of you to write it all down so nice and tidy for us. We know you did Kevin. That was slick, but you don't know as much about law as you do about chemistry. His confession stands. And you were stupid enough to leave traces of putty and base in your bathroom. Really losing points fast."
    Glass crashed inside the room, and his voice raged as temper lashed out. "It's my game, you bitch. My rules."
    She held up her gun hand, signaling the men back as she heard them rushing down the stairs.
    "New game, new rules, and you'll never beat me, Lucias. I'm better than you are. Throw out the weapon and come out or I'm going to hurt you."
    "You won't win." He was weeping now, a spoiled boy choked by a tantrum. "Nobody beats me. I'm undefeated. I'm a Dunwood."
    "Cover me." She drew in a breath, tucked and rolled into the room. The stunner blasts jolted over her head, shot along the floor by her hip as she dived for cover.
    "Not smart, Lucias." She pressed her back into a wide cupboard. "Nope, not so smart. You keep missing. Aiming wild. You buy that off the street? Did they tell you it was fully charged? They lie. I bet if you check the discharge rate, you're more than half out already. I've got a full load. And I don't miss. I won the game. And my prize is locking you into a cage for the rest of your life. A woman's going to lock you away, Lucias."
    She angled herself, signaled to Roarke to lay down fire to her right. On the blast, she leaped up. She swore, fired a stun shot. But was already too late.
    The vial he held slid out of his hand as he shuddered and collapsed.
    "Call for MTs," she shouted, and leaped over the broken glass. She kicked his weapon away, crouched. "What did you take?"
    "What I gave Kevin." He smiled, coldly. "Double the dose for speed. No woman's locking me away. I end the game my way, so I win. I always win. You lose, bitch."
    She watched him die, and felt nothing. "No. Everybody wins."

EPILOGUE
    She stood outside, breathing in the night air, cradling her now tingling left arm in the palm of her right hand.
    Sarah Dunwood would be burying both her father and her son. Daughter and mother, trapped in loves and loyalties that made no sense.
    Maybe they weren't meant to.
    "Do you want medical attention, Lieutenant?"
    She glanced over at Whitney. "No, sir." Flexed her fingers. "It's coming back."
    "You played him as well as anyone could." Together, they watched the black bag that held Lucias Dunwood, twenty-two, boy genius, beloved son and predator, being carried out of the house. "You couldn't guess he'd self-terminate rather than surrender to you."
    But she had, Eve thought. A part of her had known exactly what she was doing -- and had done it, had goaded him to it, with cold calculation.
    Had they carried her father out of that freezing, filthy room in a black bag?
    Then she closed her eyes because she was a cop -- and the badge stood for... Everything. "I knew it was a risk, Commander. I pushed his buttons fully aware there was a probability he'd take himself out rather than lose when we had him cornered. I could have ordered the room rushed. Potentially he'd be on his way to lockup instead of the morgue."
    "He was armed, dangerous, and had already fired on you with a black market weapon set on full. Men might have been lost, certainly injured, who are going home to their families tonight. You played him as well as anyone could," he repeated. "File your report, then go get some sleep."
    "Yes, sir. Thank you."
    Rolling her awakening shoulder, she crossed the street to where Roarke waited. "I have to go in, write and file my report."
    "How's your arm?"
    "It feels like there are about six million hot needles sticking in it." She wiggled her fingers again. "Should be back to normal in a couple hours, which is about what it'll take to do the