“What about now? You said before 9/11.”

Savard averted her gaze again and slumped back in her chair. “I fucked up.”

“You did? You personally?” Cam had seen Savard close to coming apart when Stark had been hospitalized following exposure to a possibly lethal biological agent. Even as bad as it was then, Savard hadn’t looked or sounded like this. As if she’d somehow already given up on everything. “How do you figure that?”

“I was there, Commander. Not just in New York City, but right in the goddamn building that they hit. What kind of an agent sits in the target zone and doesn’t even have a clue about what’s coming?”

“I was in the Aerie,” Cam said, “and my only job—my number one priority—was to see that no one got close to Egret. I failed.”

“That’s not true,” Renée said sharply. “Blair’s alive because of you and your team. No one could have anticipated that kind of assault in the middle of Manhattan. Jesus, Foster was one of us.”

“That’s really the point, isn’t it? No one anticipated either of those events, which makes us all equally responsible.” Cam didn’t point out the very real differences between her degree of culpability and Savard’s. It had not been Renée Savard’s responsibility to anticipate disaster scenarios on a worldwide scale, but safeguarding the first daughter against any conceivable attack had been Cam’s. No amount of rationalization would change that.

“I know in my head what you’re saying is true,” Savard whispered. “But I still feel guilty.”

“Are things better or worse than a month ago?”

“It’s different. Then, I was just so angry. Now I feel…helpless.”

“Are you seeing anyone about it?”

Savard flushed. “Yes. Couple times a week, we’re talking on the phone.”

“Good,” Cam said briskly. “Then the only thing left to do is get you back to work.”

“I’m due for my final med check in a couple of days. Once I get cleared, I’m going to call the SAC where I was last assigned and try to find out if I’ve still got a job there.”

“I’ve got another suggestion.”

Savard’s eyes brightened. “What?”

“How would you like to work with me in homeland security?”

“You’re moving over?”

Cam nodded. “Officially as of today.”

“In what capacity?”

With a sigh, Cam confessed to the title she’d rather not use, but understood was part of the package. “Deputy director of counterterrorism.”

“Oh man,” Savard whispered. “And you can take me with you?”

“I’ve got the green light to handpick my core agents.” Cam grinned. “Kind of a special ops thing.”

“Yes. I’m in.”

Cam laughed. “I haven’t outlined what you’ll be doing.”

“I don’t care. When can I start?”

“How does tomorrow sound?” Cam stood. “0700, room B-12 in the West Wing.” At Savard’s look of surprise, she said, “Temporary quarters, just until we get organized.”

“Looks like I need to get some clothes.” Savard glanced down at her sweats. “I just brought hanging-around stuff. I guess Paula will have to take me shopping tonight.”

“Since that’s what she’s been doing all afternoon with Blair and Diane,” Cam said with a straight face, “I’m sure she’ll be eager to do a little more.”

Savard smiled, some of the pain lifting from her eyes. “She’ll probably hate it, but she won’t complain.”

“Better woman than me,” Cam muttered as she started toward the door. Turning, before she exited, she said, “See you in the morning, Agent Savard. And welcome aboard.”

“Thank you, Director Roberts.”

“Make it Cam.”

“Yes ma’am. Commander.”

With a shake of her head, Cam walked out into the hall. She had a few more people to talk to, a few calls to make, and then she could go home. Home to Blair. She smiled, liking the sound of it.

The phone rang in a room two floors below Stark and Savard’s. A broad-chested, trim-waisted man with an upright, military bearing strode across the room and picked up the receiver. His dark button-down collar shirt and black pants were pressed and wrinkle-free. On some men the clothes would have appeared casual. On him, they were a uniform.

“You’re right on time. I hope you have something useful to report.”

“Nothing yet, I’m afraid.”

The general smiled thinly. “How is it that one of your own people, someone you presumably control, can evade you so successfully?”

“Lawrence is a chameleon. She was trained to be elusive and is very good at it. But we’ll find her. For now, I have someone watching the girlfriend.”

“We don’t even know that Lawrence is trying to make contact with her.”

“We have reasonable Intel that they’re lovers. That’s not her pattern with women, so I suspect she’ll try to contact her.”

His smile disappeared. “It’s a long shot, but I suppose it’s the best we have at the moment. It’s your job to improve those odds. I want her silenced before the rest of our operation is compromised.”

“Yes, sir. I’m tracking her through every known alias and attempting to set up a meet, but I obviously can’t go through channels. It’s slowing me down.”

The general’s jaw tightened. He hadn’t been prepared for the attack on his compound because he hadn’t expected anyone on the government’s payroll to uncover his connection to Foster and the assault team—certainly not as quickly as Roberts had managed. The warning from his contact within the CIA that his mountain camp was about to be raided had barely come in time for him to escape. He’d slipped their net but at the cost of revealing that he had sources within the Company. He preferred not to sacrifice those sources, but if he couldn’t find the one person who might expose the link, then he might

be forced to take other action. “I’m not interested in excuses. You have someone on Bleeker?”

“Yes sir, but close surveillance is out of the question. She’s with… her friend, sir, and security there is very tight, especially after…New York.”

“Yes, your percentages have been poor lately.” The general rolled the hotel pen idly between his fingers. His mission had come so close to succeeding. His men, his handpicked boys, had nearly succeeded in eliminating their prime target. “I’m not impressed.”

“We’re confident Lawrence will attempt contact eventually, and then we can eliminate any chance of compromise.”

“Let’s hope the bait is sweet enough.” Matheson drew a circle on a notepad next to the phone and then placed a precise X through the center. When he turned the pad, the X looked like the crosshairs of a gun sight. “Perhaps this time we can sweep the board. In memory of our fallen friends.”

There was a moment of silence, then, “Yes, sir. And may God bless America.”

“May He indeed. You know where to reach me if anything changes before our next scheduled communication. Let’s take care of these loose ends quickly, agent.”

The general broke the connection, then pushed the extension for valet parking and requested that his vehicle be brought to the front of the hotel. He clipped a holster with his Glock to his belt and selected a dark overcoat. It was time to take another drive through the city, past the White House and Cameron Roberts’s apartment building.

The time was rapidly approaching when he would have to take care of unfinished business personally.

Cam stepped off the elevator and, with a quick rush of relief, nodded to Greg Wozinski, who stood just outside her apartment door. For the first time in almost a year, she hadn’t sat in on the morning briefing with Blair’s security team. She hadn’t been advised of the shift schedule or known from one minute to the next where Blair was. She had been uneasy all day.

“You can spell Hara in the lobby now that I’m here,” Cam said,

appreciating the close surveillance but knowing that it spread Stark’s team thin. “I may not be official, but I still know the ropes.”

Wozinski grinned. “I’ll check with the chief.”

“Absolutely. Whatever Stark says.” Cam let herself into the apartment and closed the door behind her. The first thing she noticed was that the living room was empty, and the second was an amazingly good smell coming from the direction of the kitchen. She followed it, to discover Blair and Diane cooking together.

Cam eyed the stir-fry concoction that Diane tossed in a large skillet. “Chinese?”

“Thai,” Blair said. She slipped both arms around Cam’s neck and kissed her hello. “Wine?”

Cam encircled Blair’s waist. “Sounds great. Let me change, and I’ll give you two a hand.”

“I’ll help,” Blair said, grinning at Diane’s snort. “I’ll be right back, Di.”

“Sure,” Diane said good-naturedly. “I won’t time you, but don’t be too long because this will be done soon.”

“Promise,” Blair said, tugging Cam by the hand across the living room and into the hallway to the bedroom.

“How was your day?” Cam asked as she followed Blair into the bedroom. She hung up her blazer and removed her weapon and holster. She secured them on the top shelf in the closet and unbuckled her belt.

“It was fun,” Blair said, sliding Cam’s belt through the belt loops and draping it over the rack on the back of the closet door. “I’d forgotten what it felt like to just have fun, even though Stark seemed to be in serious pain.”

Cam laughed. “She’s in for some more, I’m afraid. I saw Savard this afternoon, and she said something about Stark taking her shopping for work clothes.”

“You saw Renée?” Blair asked as she unzipped Cam’s trousers and pulled her shirt free, then began working on the buttons. “How come?”

“I recruited her for my team.”

“Oh.”

Cam covered Blair’s hands with one of hers and tilted Blair’s chin up with the other. “And Felicia.”

“That’s good. They’re good people.”

“But?”

Blair shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just…” She smiled a little crookedly. “Goddamn it! I’d gotten used to you and the rest of them being on my detail. Now I’m not going to know what you’re doing, and they will.”

Cam sensed Blair’s real concern that in this new position there were things they would not be able to discuss. They’d worked hard to overcome the twin obstacles to communication between them—Cam’s natural reluctance to share professional and personal information, even when it wouldn’t violate procedure or protocol, and Blair’s deep-seated need to safeguard her privacy, even from those she loved. Now, Cam’s job was reconstructing those barricades, and this time she would be taking some of the important people in Blair’s life behind those walls with her.

Cam eased away and shed her trousers, exchanging them for a pair of sweatpants. She finished unbuttoning her shirt, placed it on the pile to go to the dry cleaners, and pulled on a T-shirt. Then she drew Blair with her to the side of the bed, sat down, and guided Blair onto her lap. She clasped her loosely around the waist and kissed her throat.

“It’s going to take some getting used to, but we’ll manage.” She rubbed her cheek over the valley between Blair’s breasts, inhaling the lingering scent of her perfume on the silk T. “I promise to tell you as much as I can, but right now there really isn’t much to tell.”

Blair combed her fingers through Cam’s hair, then tilted Cam’s head back and kissed her. “Did you meet with my father today?”

“No, just with his security adviser. The president doesn’t really get involved with the specifics of these things.”

“That’s a very subtle way of saying he needs to disavow all knowledge.”

Cam lifted her shoulder. “It’s important to insulate him.”

“Insulate,” Blair mused, remembering how it always seemed as if her father had a shield between him and everyone else, even her. “Yes, that’s a civilized word for it, I guess.”

“Baby,” Cam heard the unspoken fear, “I won’t let that happen to us.”

“When did you learn to read my mind so well?” Blair lifted Cam’s T-shirt and stroked her abdomen.

“Still learning,” Cam said, her voice thickening as Blair untied the string to her sweatpants and slid her hand lower. “Blair. Don’t go there.”

Laughing softly, Blair caught Cam’s earlobe between her teeth and nipped it gently. “Since when?”

“Since Diane’s in the kitchen, and if you make me come, she’ll know just from looking at me.”

“So? She can always tell when you make me come, and you don’t seem to mind.” Blair cupped her hand between Cam’s legs and teased her with one finger.

“She’s your friend.” Cam gasped, and yanked Blair’s hand out of her sweatpants.

“Okay,” Blair murmured, sucking lightly on Cam’s neck. “But only because dinner’s almost ready, and I think Diane could use the company.”

“How is she doing?” Cam noted the fact that Blair had not asked if the issue of Valerie’s disappearance had come up during her discussions with the president’s security adviser.