'Mac, we need an agent, not just the video cameras, stationed in the lobby around the clock. The surveillance tapes need to be backed up every twelve, and I want them analyzed for repeat visitors, delivery people, public service crews - anyone who doesn't live or work here. Run the backgrounds again on everyone with access to floors above the lobby.'
Mac and Stark were taking notes, but Cam had nothing written down. As she spoke, her gaze was distant, her mind clicking down the list of priorities as automatically as she dressed in the morning. She understood intuitively what few citizens of the United States did. The illusion that the President and those close to him were untouchable was part of the image of invincibility essential to a world power. Unlike the leaders of many nations, the President of the United States was incredibly accessible. He could go jogging through the streets of Washington D.C., he could stand on an open podium and give a speech, and he could ride a bicycle through the dunes on Martha's Vineyard with only a few Secret Service agents nearby. He was at risk in ways that few people ever considered, unless, like her, it was their job to do so.
In many ways, Blair's security was even more critical than his. The presidency was not a man, but an office. If the President were incapacitated, the line of succession was clear. But the President was susceptible to manipulation through his affections. It was the policy of the United States government not to negotiate with terrorists. But what if the hostage were the President's daughter?
For an instant, Cam remembered waking with Blair in Diane's apartment. Blair had still been asleep, naked and warm in her arms. All her fury and fierceness had quieted in slumber, and Cam shivered inwardly at the image of her vulnerability.
Not Blair. Not on her watch. Not ever.
She cleared her throat and picked up where she had left off with barely a moment's hesitation. 'Her mail needs to be visually inspected before she picks it up. Any package, any delivery ofany kind, requires verification of its point of origin before it goes to her, including ID checks for all delivery people. I'll arrange for a portable x-ray machine to be set up downstairs.'
She took a breath and began to relax for the first time in days. It felt good to be in charge and comforting to know that the right people were providing Blair's safety.
'We'll go over the rest of the details with the team later today.' She looked at Mac and asked the question she had avoided thinking about since she had awakened at five am after a few hours of restless sleep. 'I'll need a special briefing this morning with Ms. Powell. Is she on-site?'
'No,' Mac said carefully. 'Grant checked in at 0600. She's requesting relief for continued surveillance at an off-site location.'
She didn't come home. Cam had to work to ignore the swift surge of disappointment, but she said without inflection, 'Right. See to it then. I'd like a full report ASAP.'
After Mac and Stark left the room, she finally sat, resting her face in her hands, and tried to dispel the image of Blair in the arms of another woman.
Diane Bleeker eyed Blair speculatively across the small glass-topped table in her breakfast alcove. She watched her start on her second cup of coffee and decided it might be safe to try conversation.
'Are you going to tell me why Roberts is your head spooky again?' Diane asked offhandedly, reaching for a croissant and hoping that she would live to eat it.
Blair looked up from the cup she had been mindlessly staring into, searching Diane's face for some hint of the motive behind the question. She wasn't up to verbal sparring at the moment. She definitely wasn't up to hearing Diane talk about how much she'd like to get Cameron Roberts into bed. It had never been enjoyable, but now it actually hurt.
She didn't think Cam would be susceptible to Diane's brand of casual seduction, but she wasn't entirely certain. Diane was very beautiful, and Cam gave no hint of entertaining celibacy. All you had to do was look at her to sense her sexual energy. Blair recalled the rumor that her FBI contact had recounted to her about Cam's secret lover in DC. For all she knew, Cam might still be involved with someone there. She didn't want to think about that, not when she couldn't get the feel of Cam's hands out of her mind. But Diane merely regarded her solemnly, patiently, without the slightest hint of confrontation. Friends then, for the moment.
'Why?' Blair asked, trying not to snarl.
Not too bad,Diane thought.She didn't throw anything.
'Because I got the distinct impression that while I was in Europe you made good use of my apartment, and I presumed you were with her,' Diane answered. She'd seen the way the two of them had looked at one another for weeks before the shooting - as if they were struggling not to jump on each other and start tearing off clothes. And she'd seen Blair frantic with worry those first few days after Cam was wounded, until it was clear that she would survive. Even while the Secret Service agent was recovering and they'd had no contact, Diane had seen the change in Blair. Her notoriously restless friend hadn't been out hunting for a one-night stand in months. Blair must have wanted to be with someone very badly if she'd arranged for them to spend more than a night together somewhere. Since she couldn't bring a woman to her own apartment, at Diane's they would have at least some privacy. 'Itwas her you brought up here, wasn't it?'
Blair just nodded, seeming to have forgotten that she still held the coffee cup raised in front of her. Her mind balked at returning to those brief days and her wild hope of happiness. She wasn't sure she wanted to remember, not until she stopped aching every time she thought of her.
'Then we crossed in the air and by the time I got back from Europe, you were off to China. I never heard the juicy details.' Diane spoke carefully. Blair's expression was haunted. 'The next thing I know we're sitting in a cafe, Roberts is across the room watching you on full spooky status again, and you're a mess.'
Blair's hands trembled slightly as she set the cup down. In the past three days she'd begun to wonder if she hadn't dreamed those five nights in June. Five nights, and then Cam had returned to Washington for her new posting as a regional director in the investigative division. They both expected it to be weeks before they saw one another again. Blair had the China trip with her father, and Cam would be in the field soon. She might have believed it a dream, she supposed, if her skin didn't still tingle with the memory of their last morning together.
