'Are you awake?'
'Did you get what I need?'
'More or less - I dont think this is going to make you very happy.'
Blair sighed as she pulled her robe around herself and stumbled toward the kitchen and her first cup of coffee. 'Tell me.'
'Shes not going to be easy to slip away from. Twelve years in the investigative division. Her specialty was tracking Columbian drugs paid for by counterfeit US dollars. Crooks scamming crooks. Apparently she was very good at it.'
Blair watched the coffee drip into the pot, her thoughts swiftly calculating. 'Why is she suddenly assigned to protection? What arent you telling me?'
'There are substantial holes in the information on her. As a matter of record, she was involved in a multi- jurisdictional snafu last year. The secret service had surveillance units watching a drug factory on the outskirts of DC. Apparently the ATF was involved because they thought the same guys were trafficking guns as well as phony money. Unbeknownst to either Federal agency, the DC narcotics unit had an agent under cover with the drug boys. Somehow the Colombians got wind of it, the narcotics detectives cover was blown, and she was killed in a shoot out. Cameron Roberts was shot trying to warn her off seconds before the whole place went crazy.'
Blairs stomach tightened. 'She was shot?'
'In the thigh. Thats not the whole story though.'
'What is?'
Her caller hesitated. Even friendship had its limits. 'Roberts has a sterling reputation, Blair.'
'I dont intend to sully it,' Blair snapped.
'There are rumors - not many, and no one will commit to knowing anything for sure. Shes well-liked by her colleagues-'
'Allright! I get your point. You dont want to tell me, but you will. Because if you dont Ill make sure youre never an Assistant Director.'
'Blair!'
'Im kidding, and you should know that, if you dont after all these years. Tell me who she is, AJ. Shes got control over my life!'
'Deep sources say the narcotics dick who was killed was her lover.'
'Christ!' Blair breathed.
'That may explain the change in assignments. A thing like that can ruin you for field work.'
Blair pictured the clear-eyed, focused woman who had tracked her down at the bar with seeming ease two nights before. None of the other agents had been able to find her once she'd slipped into the shadows. Or at least none had ever dared to.
'I dont think shes ruined for anything, AJ. Shes ice.'
'That would fit.'
'What do you mean?'
'Theres one other rumor, buried so deep Im not even sure its her theyre talking about.'
Blair sat on the edge of the stool at her breakfast bar, her coffee forgotten. 'What is it?'
'Youve heard of the very hush hush escort service that operates on the hill?'
'You mean the one that provides all kinds of companions- boys, girls, either or both - for senators, dignitaries, and supposedly my father?'
'I dont know a thing about your father!'
'It doesnt matter one way or the other to me. He leaves me alone, thats all I care about. Whats this got to do with Roberts? Is she trying to shut it down?'
'Might be shes using it.'
Blair caught her breath, then laughed derisively. 'Your sources havent seen Cameron Roberts. Believe me, she doesnot have to pay for sex!!'
'Maybe she wants to.'
'Come again?'
'No strings - no attachment - nothing to lose.'
'I forgot youre a psychologist,' Blair commented dryly. She finally sipped her coffee. 'So what youre telling me is that my new keeper has no weaknesses I might exploit to make a little breathing room for myself, huh?'
