"Youre right. Thats no excuse for what you all have been participating in. Regardless of Ms. Powells duplicity, it is your sworn duty to guard her. If you dont have what it takes, you dont belong here. I dont want anyone on this team who doesnt want to be here." She looked over the group. "Ill see that there are no repercussions if you request transfer now, but I guarantee I will see you posted to an embassy in Somalia if you fuck up on my detail."


An hour later, Mac knocked on the door to Cams eight by ten office.


"Comander?"


Cam studied his boyishly handsome face. His blue eyes were serious.


"Are you staying or leaving, Mac?"


"Im staying if you want me. Two men want transfers - theyre bringing the paperwork. Im sorry I fucked up. If you dont trust me"


Cam stopped him with a raised hand. "I need a good coordinator, Mac. We have an uncooperative target - nothing is going to change that. We are going to have to be able to readjust personnel, vehicle placement, even motor routes at a moments notice. I need to be with her - consistently, persistently - until she figures out that we are not going away."


She saw the look of disbelief he quickly tried to hide. She laughed, the tension easing from her shoulders for the first time since she left the gym. "Yeah, I know. Im dreaming. Youll be the desk jockey most of the time were here, and the communication center when were not. Are you in or not?"


He favored her with a brilliant smile. "Im in."


"Good - then find me replacements for the two who are leaving. I dont even want to see the files until youve been through them. And Mac - we both know what the problem has been. If theres even a hint of homophobia, I dont want them on this assignment. Blair Powells lifestyle is not our concern, and shouldnt affect the way we do the job. I want that clear."


"Yes maam. I understand."


"Good. Well brief for the trip to Washington at 0700."


As soon as her second in command closed the door, Cam leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. She didnt want to think about her response to Blairs blatant sexual overture at the gym, but she had to. She could not afford to be distracted, and there was no denying the effect Blair had on her. Fortunately, it was purely physical, and they would be in Washington in two days. She could satisfy the insistent demands of her body then.


**********


Cam was the last one on the plane. The cabin space was small, and Blair sat alone near the rear. Three other agents had boarded earlier and occupied the area just behind the cockpit. Cam nodded to them as she moved toward the rear, finally settling in the seat across the aisle from Blair. She stretched her legs into the aisle and pulled a stack of memos from her briefcase.


"Do you have plans for tonight, Agent Roberts?" Blair asked. She liked the semi-casual look of Cams pressed khaki chinos and matching blazer over a cotton broadcloth shirt. The only way she liked her better was in the tight faded jeans she wore when she was off-duty. Blair remembered very well how good Cam looked in those. In fact, every time she thought about that night in the bar she wanted nothing more than to get her hands inside those jeans. For the moment at least, that seemed unlikely.


Cam smiled, shaking her head slightly. "No plans. Happy Birthday, by the way."


Blair flushed slightly, then reminded herself the agent was only being polite, like most of the people in her life. She leaned forward, lowering her voice as she spoke. "Why thank you. I dont suppose a birthday kiss is in the offing?"


Cam glanced at her, aware of how attractive she was, then back at the papers before her. "No."


They did not speak for the rest of the flight.


Cam accompanied Blair across the drive to the private entrance to the White House. She stopped at the door as a guard opened it for Blair.


"Ill see you in the morning, Ms. Powell," she said. The door swung shut with no response from the Presidents daughter. The White House Security staff would be responsible for her welfare from this point until she was ready to leave the next day. Cam was looking forward to a day off, and a relaxing evening.







Chapter Eight



Cam stretched out on the couch with a drink and watched the traffic below on Pennsylvania Avenue. From her highrise apartment she could see the White House in the distance. She wondered fleetingly how Blair was faring, then put the thought from her mind. Tonight she did not have to worry about her. She reached for the phone and dialed a number from memory.


"This is number 38913," she said as a female voice answered. "Id like to confirm my arrangement for tonight." She waited for a moment as her client ID number was verified. "Yes - eleven o-clock at" She hesitated as her beeper went off. "Just a second," she added, checking the number. It was the White House. "Ill have to call back. It may be later. Yes, keep it open - Ill take care of the time. Thank you."


She pushed the other line, keeping the scrambler engaged. "Roberts," she said tersely when the phone was picked up.


"Commander? Its Mac - Im sorry to bother you, but I thought youd want a call."


"Mac?" she said in surprise. "What are you doing there? Whats going on?"


"Im not supposed to be here. Shes gone, Commander. They lost her an hour ago. The commander here didnt want anyone to know, so when it started getting late a buddy of mine called me on the sly."


"Goddamn it," she cursed. "Who else knows?"


"Just the inside team here. They havent a clue where to look."


She understood his message. "Right - we cant very well call out our own people. Were not even supposed to know about this. There are a few places I can check. Listen Mac, theres a floating club - it travels around from one venue to another all over the city. Very trendy, only people in the know have the address. Find it for me. Ill call you in an hour."


She interrupted his protests. "I dont know how youll find it, but Im sure you will."


Two hours later he called her with the address. Cam arrived at the warehouse close to midnight. She had been to every gay bar she knew of, and several Mac had come up with. It was New Years Eve. The bars were packed with exuberant men and women in various stages of intoxication and undress. She hadnt found her. For all she knew, Blair was tucked away in bed somewhere with a girlfriend they didnt know about. Cam hoped so.


It was worse than she expected. Wall to wall people, jostling bodies, smoke hanging in clouds below the dim spotlights, the air heavy with sex and booze. Cam pushed her way into the shadowy depths of the long room, hoping that each blonde she saw would be Blair.


Blair watched her drawing closer. She stood leaning against the wall in the narrow passageway leading to semi-private alcoves and niches which women were using for quick assignations and frantic couplings. She had been watching a young tough in tight black leather pants swagger about at the bar, trying to impress her friends with her bravado. Blair thought she might be fun to toy with. It was always so satisfying to humble the butches, and she made a bet with herself that she could make this one beg. She was about to go over when she caught sight of Cam. Taller by a head than most of the women, she cut a swath through the crowd like a sleek cutter through the sea. In a light windbreaker, dark polo shirt, the signature faded jeans and boots, she should have looked ordinary, but she was easily the sexiest woman in view. She moved with certainty and grace, lithe and powerful, a hunter searching its prey. It was only the darkness in the hall that gave Blair the advantage. As Cam moved closer, Blairs pulse quickened. This time the hunted would have the hunter.


Cam stepped through the archway into the hall just as the countdown to midnight began. People were crushing in around her, searching for that elusive partner to claim at the dawn of a new year. Blair caught her by the arm and spun her against the wall, pressing into her, her hands around Cam's waist. Cam was momentarily stunned. Blairs breasts were soft against her chest, her breath hot on Cam's neck, Blair's thigh tight into her crotch. Cam hadnt been close to a woman this way in a year and her body surged with reawakened sensation. She caught her breath as a stab of desire pierced her. Her clit swelled, hard and ready in an instant.


"Happy New Year, Commander," Blair breathed into her ear, grasping Cams head and pulling her down into a kiss. Cam gasped in surprise as Blair pushed into her, fusing their bodies in the press of the milling crowd.


Can groaned as Blair's searching tongue invaded her mouth, adding heat to the fire that raged through her. Cam kissed Blair back, she couldnt help it. For an instant she forgot who she was, or where she was. All she knew was the pounding in her head, and the ache in her belly, the throbbing in her clit driving her quickly toward climax. Blair pushed her hand between Cams legs.


"Oh Jesus!" Cam gasped, pulling her mouth away so abruptly her head banged against the wall. Her legs were trembling. She grasped Blairs hand, dragging it away from her body. "No, goddamn it! Thats enough!"


"Are you crazy?" Blair exclaimed, her voice thick with her own urgent need. "Youre so hot I can feel you through your jeans! Youre almost there - let me do what I know you want!"


That moment was all Cam needed to find her control. She pushed Blair back a step, breaking their contact.


"I want to get you out of here."


Blairs eyes blazed dangerously. She had come close to humiliating herself. The fire in Cams body had ignited her own, and she had been very close to coming herself. She throbbed still. "Go fuck yourself, Agent Roberts!"


As she tried to walk away, Cam grasped her arm. "Ms. Powell - please!"


"Leave me alone. No one knows Im here."


"Iknow."


"Then pretend you dont," Blair snapped, trying to escape into the crowd. She couldnt move very quickly through the mass of revelers, and Cam stayed right beside her.


"I cant," Cam stated with finality.


Blair turned to face her, her body rigid with fury. "Then do your job, but stay out of my way!"


Cam nodded, accepting the slight concession. She let Blair move ahead of her, wishing she could reach Mac for backup. The best she could do was stay close to Blair until she settled for the night, and then call for another team.


Which is how she came to find herself on the phone in the lobby of the Franklin Hotel at two am. "Mac?"


"Yeah, Commander. Tell me you got her - please."


"Send two of our people, not the White House detail- to the Franklin Hotel on the parkway. Ill wait 'til they get here. Shes in Room 1302, and I think shell be here for the night. I need someone in the room across from hers - Ive booked it- and a car downstairs. And Mac, keep this quiet for Gods sake. If the White House press corps catches on to her little foray, theyll be all over us."


"Any info on who shes with?" Mac asked hesitantly.


"No," Cam said curtly. Except that she was young, recklessly beautiful in an androgynous way, and had followed Blair without hesitation when Blair walked up to her, kissed her by way of introduction, and said, "Im leaving. You coming?"


Cam had followed them the few blocks to the hotel at a discrete distance, hanging back in the shadows every time Blair stopped to grope and fondle her leather clad conquest. Blair never looked in Cams direction, but she had to know Cam was there, watching the display. If the seduction was meant to anger Cam, it did, but probably not for the reasons Blair intended. Cam was infuriated at the risk Blair was taking by picking up a stranger and checking into a hotel a few blocks from the White House. It was dangerous on more levels than she could count. Blair Powell was beautiful, bright, and talented. She didnt need to waste herself on one-night stands. It was physically hazardous, politically suicidal, and willfully self-destructive. Cam came close to breaking up their little tryst at one point, but she reminded herself that Blair Powell had every right to do what she was doing, and any effort to intervene would only make her more reckless. The last thing she had seen was Blair backing her girlfriend up against the door to their room as she fumbled to fit her card in the lock behind them, kissing her with an intensity that echoed in Cams body. The door finally swung open and they disappeared breathlessly inside.