“Six, six, six, the devil’s in the hole.”

As soon as Jack and Laura were alone, Jack called Connie and told her what had happened, except for anything to do with Lorraine or that they knew it was her who told.

“Get back here, pronto,” said Connie. “We need to find out who tried to set you up. I’m sure you’ll recognize her voice. She’s someone who knows you both. Sounds young.”

“What do we say to Connie?” asked Laura, while returning to the office.

“Stall until we know Lorraine has been taken care of.”

“What if she doesn’t OD? Maybe someone finds her in time?”

“Then we have to stall. Try and talk Connie out of doing anything that would heat us up until we know she’s dead.”

Laura nodded and was quiet. As Jack was driving, he saw that she was trembling and there were tears in her eyes.

“Want to talk about it?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t know where to start,” she replied. “Everything that happened today. Even the thing with the hamster. How can someone be so cruel? Why do people act the way they do?”

“Abusing pets … lighting fires … violence … classic symptoms of sexual abuse. Maybe Cocktail has some real demons lurking inside,” suggested Jack.

“And what about all the other stuff he’s responsible for? Gabriel’s little girl with cancer. Setting up labs everywhere and putting bozos in charge of them. Sending kids to rape and mutilate Amanda Flowers.” She looked at Jack for a response, but he remained quiet so she added, “I don’t know who to hate more, Cocktail or Sy.”

“Sy is a moron,” replied Jack. “He does whatever Cocktail says. Regardless, you have to face the facts. Even if we could prove Cocktail is behind all the labs, he wouldn’t get as much time as he would for murdering a priest. That has to be where our priority lies.”

“Yeah, and how much time will that be? It wasn’t premeditated, so what? Fifteen years max with parole in ten? You think that is enough? Will Gabriel’s kid even be alive in ten years? Think Amanda will ever forget?”

They stopped talking as Jack sat waiting for a traffic light. Jack stared at Laura for a moment before responding. “Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself of something. Why don’t you talk about what is really bothering you?”

Laura looked at Jack, took a couple of halting, deep breaths and said, “She’s only sixteen. I know she tried to kill us, but … but I’m not sure what we’re doing is right.”

“I don’t think there is a right thing. I try to look at it like destroying a rabid dog.”

“She’s not a dog. She’s a human. Someone’s sixteen-year-old daughter.”

“Imagine a sixteen-year-old in a clock tower with a rifle killing people. Imagine you’re a police sniper. Do you wait and hope the kid runs out of ammo? Somewhere along the way something went terribly wrong with this kid. Maybe she was born a psychopath … who knows. She may not have a rifle, but she’s just as deadly.”

“It would be easier if she were older,” replied Laura quietly.

“Compared to most other sixteen-year-olds, I would say she is a hell of a lot older.”

“I know, but where does it end? Where do we draw the line?”

“I don’t know. We have to decide in each given situation. You and I see and know things the rest of the world doesn’t. We need to survive and protect the people who work for us. To me, morality is a big issue and the more I do this job, the more I think morality and the law are polarized opposites.”

“We were sworn to uphold the law.”

“What about justice? I try to balance all three. Morality, the law, and justice. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but I try to do what I think is right.”

“It scares me.”

“It scares me, too. It would be easier if twelve informed people could think about it for as long as was needed. That is what the law intended. We don’t have that luxury. What we are doing now seems wrong. If she were to live and kill someone else, that would be wrong, too. Somehow we have to live with what we decide.”

Jack buzzed the security button to allow them access to the monitor’s main office and hallway leading to the monitoring rooms.

The door opened and Connie said, “There you two are. We were about to send out a search party. You both know Dallas, don’t you?”

Jack and Laura nodded. They knew Dallas was one of Connie’s partners and a blood-splatter expert.

“Hi, Jack,” said Dallas. “It’s been a while. Last time I saw you was behind that woman’s house where the priest got slaughtered. Remember?”

“Remember? I wish I could forget. I still dream about the blood. Doesn’t it bother you?”

“Not really,” replied Dallas, “but I don’t deal with the people end of things. I do my analysis and split.”

“And your analysis of this perp?” asked Laura.

“Prone to violent rage. Probably had a pretty bad childhood.” He looked at Jack, chuckled and added, “He’s not afraid of blood, that’s for sure. Not to mention what he did after —”

“Can it, Dallas!” said Connie sharply. She turned to Jack and Laura and in an apologetic voice said, “Sorry, there’s hold-back information I don’t want out. All you need to know is that ‘prone to violence’ is an understatement.”

“Not a problem,” said Jack. He knew that most homicide investigators kept information back. It made damning evidence in court if the accused admitted to something that only the killer knew about.

“Enough chit-chat,” said Connie. “I want you to listen to this girl’s voice and — Christ, you stink, Jack. Smell like burned hair. Anyway, come in and join the party. Third room down the hall. You said on the phone that all went well with Sammy and Sy?”

“Sammy is a good operator,” replied Jack. “Sy trusts him.”

“Good. Bomb disposal called a few minutes ago. They’ve neutralized the bomb. I don’t know what it was made of.”

“Some of it was ether,” replied Jack. “Highly flammable. I don’t know what the other ingredients were.”

“The lab will tell us,” replied Connie. “In the meantime they’ve put something else in the carboy to smell and look real.”

“Good,” replied Jack. “I think Sy will be dropping by in a few days with a prospect to see how Sammy is progressing.”

“How long before they expect their first shipment?” asked Connie.

“One week,” replied Jack. “I’m hoping to meet Cocktail long before then.”

“He didn’t show his face today,” noted Connie.

“With Sammy running a lab, Sy is even more comfortable with us. He already indicated that he would like me to be a silent partner. I’ll push that angle and demand to meet Cocktail. It only makes sense that I should meet him if I’m going to be Sy’s partner.”

“Providing this girl on the phone doesn’t kill you first,” said Connie, as she opened up the door to the monitor room.

As soon as Jack and Laura entered the room a young woman with teary eyes took off her headphones and said, “I’m really sorry. I should have been more on top of things over someone trying to set you up. I was backlogged and didn’t get around —”

“It’s okay,” replied Jack. “Not your fault. Everyone is short of manpower these days. Let me listen to who tried to set us up.”

“Got some other news for you, too,” said Connie, while waiting for the monitor to find and replay the conversations. “Satans Wrath searched your apartment this morning. They found the identification.”

“Perfect,” said Jack. “Love it when a plan comes together. Did you notify Anti-Corruption?”

“Already done. Someone checked your aliases on CPIC and saw the fake criminal record.”

“Someone?” asked Laura. “You mean we still don’t know who the dirty narc is?”

Connie smiled and said, “I talked with your husband. He said it gave them the lead they needed. They had six possibilities. Today, your aliases were checked using an access code belonging to the secretary in Drug Section.”