'May I join you?'
'If you wish.'
Blair did not miss the stiffness in Cameron's voice, nor the cold smoldering anger in her eyes. 'I take it you know I had company last night.'
'I am aware of it.'
For some reason, Blair took no satisfaction in making it clear to her aloof security chief that Cameron was not irreplaceable, especially in her bed. In fact, she had been plagued by an unfamiliar uneasiness throughout a restless night. For the first time in her memory, she felt regret. Regret that the woman beside her meant nothing to her. Regret that the entire time she had made love to Paula Stark, she had wished for another's body beneath her lips, beneath her fingers. Regret that even as the young woman lay spent and vulnerable in her arms, she felt nothing for her. Regret that the woman she had taken to her bed had been cheated by that very fact.
Cam gritted her teeth, trying desperately to control her temper. She wasn't certain whom she was most angry with - Paula Stark for her lack of judgment, or Blair Powell- for her total lack of discretion in choosing her bed partners. Looking at the woman across from her, Cameron had to struggle not to imagine the soft sensuous lips stroking her own. She had felt the power of Blair's embrace, and she was finding it difficult to banish it from her memory.
Blair pushed back her chair and stood, her breakfast untouched before her. She stared down at Cam with something close to remorse in her eyes. Nevertheless, her voice was bitter. 'If it makes any difference to your sense of ethics, it wasn't exactly her idea. And I'm done with her now. It won't happen again.'
Without waiting for an answer, the President's daughter turned away abruptly. She didn't so much as glance in Paula Stark's direction.
Cameron sat for a moment, watching Blair cross the dining room in angry strides. She struggled for composure, knowing that her anger would only cloud her judgment and make it more difficult for her to do her job. Two of her agents moved quietly from the room to follow Blair at a discrete distance. Cameron was confident that they would be ready should the President's daughter decide to leave the lodge.
**********
Half an hour later, Cameron gathered her gear and stepped out into a glorious Colorado morning. The air was crisp, the sun a blazing white light that forced her to immediately pull on her ski goggles. She knew from communications that Blair was on the upper slopes, preparing to spend the morning on a long and challenging downhill trail. By the time Cameron reached the peak, Blair was pushing off for her second run down the mountainside. Cameron stepped into her traces, and started after her, staying just slightly behind Blair to give her plenty of room to maneuver over the slope. Cameron was content to follow, keeping her eyes on the woman ahead of her. She felt only a momentary flicker of surprise when a dark form hurdled from a stand of trees 20 feet away and headed directly for Blair Powell.
Fear was not an emotion that Cameron allowed herself. It merely slowed the reflexes, and clouded judgment. In the second it took her to reach for her gun, she saw Blair go down as the figure careened into her. For a brief instant Cameron was struck with a sense of deja vu that nearly made her dizzy. Her stomach clenched as panic threatened to engulf her. As quickly as the image of Janet falling, a blossom of red on her chest, glided into Cameron's mind like a familiar slide on a well- viewed screen, Cameron forced it away. The assailant had fallen from the force of his impact with Blair, and was struggling to rise in the snow.
Cam skidded to a stop at Blair's side, shedding her skis before she had even stopped moving. She threw herself over Blair's prone body, her gun trained on the figure not far away. With her other hand, she pulled her radio from her belt, screaming hoarsely, 'Red alert, red alert!'
Even as she curled herself protectively around Blair's still form, four agents emerged from the trees on either side, guns drawn, shouting for the assailant to get down. Within seconds, they surrounded him. As soon as Cameron was certain that the immediate danger to Blair had passed, she switched radio frequencies to that of the communications center at the lodge, and requested urgent transport and a medivac unit to meet them on the slopes. She eased herself off Blair's body, holstering her gun and pulling off her gloves.
Blair lay on her back, eyes closed. Cameron quickly ascertained that her pulse with strong and steady, but she appeared to be unconscious. With hands that trembled only slightly, Cameron opened Blair's parka and slipped her hand inside, searching for evidence of a wound. It was entirely possible that the assailant had slipped a knife or ice pick into Blair's body during the collision. One part of her mind worked efficiently, by the book, while another part warred with the terror rising within.
Jesus, don't let her be hurt
Cameron slipped her hand under Blair's sweater, finding no evidence of blood. She slid her fingers over the tight abdomen and tried to check Blair's back without turning her.
'What are you doing,' Blair whispered, her blue eyes unfocused.
Cameron look down, relief clearly evident in her face. 'Just lie still. Everything is all right. You're safe.'
'I've been wanting you to do this, but this wasn't exactly the place I had mind,' Blair commented weakly, a smile flickering uncertainly across her face. She started to push herself up, and winced as a barrage of cannon fire began in the back of her head. She fell back limply. 'What the hell happened?'
Cameron zipped up Blair's jacket and started to remove her own. She could see Blair was beginning to shiver. 'I don't know yet,' she said grimly. 'How do you feel?' She spread her jacket over Blair's body.
Blair gingerly moved each arm and leg. Her vision was clearing, and other than a phenomenal headache, she seemed to be fine. 'I'm all right.'
'We'll have you off the ground in just a minute,' Cameron said gently. She lifted her radio, and barked into it, 'Where the hell is medivac?' Static was all she heard for a moment, and then Mac's voice.
'The helicopter was delayed because of cloud cover,' he said. 'We have an ambulance on its way and there should be snowmobiles on site in approximately two minutes.'
Cameron didn't like it. It was sloppy work. They should have been informed that the helicopters were
