'So, what happened?' Diane asked from behind her, persisting gently.
Blair didn't turn, just kept looking off into the perfect spring morning, not seeing a thing. 'The next time I saw her, she was at my door - and back on the job.'
'Just like that?' Diane sounded incredulous. It didn't seem like Cam's style. She'd always impressed Diane with her regard for Blair's feelings, even when she was pissing Blair off by insisting that she follow orders. She must have known how devastated Blair would be to be left out of that kind of decision, something that affected her so personally. Blair's trust was so fragile, and Cameron Roberts simply didn't seem that cruel.
Blair finally left the window, stalked to the counter, grimaced when she found the coffee pot empty. 'Yes. Just exactly like that.'
Diane wanted to ask more, but the moment had passed. Blair's fury had returned, and in a way, Diane much preferred it to the pain. At least Blair had learned to survive with her rage. She wondered if Cameron Roberts had any idea how impossible Blair would be to control when she was not only angry, but wounded.
'Stark just radioed her position, Commander,' Mac said when Cam walked over to the communications station at command central. 'Egret is en route to the aerie.'
'Good,' Cam responded, glancing at her watch. 'It's almost 1100 hours. I'll inform her of the security changes at my scheduled 1300 briefing with her. Would you confirm that meeting time with her upon arrival, please.'
'Will do.' He studied her as she stood glancing at the monitors, trying to read her mood. He couldn't miss the undercurrent of strain in her voice, but he supposed it could just be due to the sudden escalation of the situation with Lover Boy. Considering the recent revelations concerning the ongoing covert FBI task force, anyone else would have been raging about the outside interference and the infringement on their authority, but she looked just like she always did. Calm and controlled. Too calm, maybe. The kind of utter stillness you feel just before the bomb explodes.
'You can page me if you need me before then,' she said, turning to leave. She needed to run off some tension. She had a splitting headache, which she attributed to her uneasy sleep. She didn't want to consider that the pounding ache behind her eyes might be due to the fact that she couldn't stop wondering if Blair had slept alone the night before.
As she turned to leave, Mac muttered, 'Uh oh, this looks like trouble.'
She turned back suddenly to the monitors, her heart racing. 'What have we got?' She followed his eyes to the central screen that gave a view of the building's double entrance doors and the doorman's desk just to one side in the lobby. Taylor, on day shift, could be seen checking the identification of two individuals, one of whom she recognized immediately.
'Here come the cavalry,' she complained under her breath. She rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'Contact Stark and tell her I want her up here ASAP. Then bring our visitors back to the conference room. Get someone to take over out here for you.'
'Yes ma'am,' Mac said as he watched the man and woman cross the lobby toward the elevators. He had an almost irresistible urge to stand outside the door of the command center and bare his teeth. The first major battle of the turf war was about to begin.
'This is Special Agent Renee Savard,' Patrick Doyle said officiously, indicating the woman with him. 'She'll be assigned as personal guard to Egret until further notice.'
Cam sensed Stark stiffen next to her. She commended her restraint but expected no less of her. She regarded Doyle implacably, happy to see that he was beginning to perspire. Her voice was totally even as she responded, 'I have a full complement of experienced agents, Agent Doyle. Agent Stark is currently functioning as Egret's primary guard. I don't need anyone else.'
Mac kept his mouth shut, watching the volleys flow back and forth across the table between the two senior agents. It'd been like this for the last thirty minutes, ever since SAC Doyle had arrived to 'inform' the Commander about the reorganization of Egret's security detail. It was clear that Doyle didn't have carte blanche from the security chief in DC, or he just would've walked in and taken command. But he was trying to bully his way to the top anyway. The Commander had been cool and composed and unyielding as stone. She hadn't given one inch, and he thought Doyle was starting to crack from sheer frustration. The guy clearly wasn't used to playing hardball.
'Look, Roberts,' Doyle grated, his fists clenched on the stack of folders in front of him, 'I can't run the task force effectively without an inside agent.'
'You've been running it for months without one,' Cam observed mildly, 'although, as you say, not particularly effectively.' She was still incensed that he had had the arrogance to keep the Secret Service on the outside when Blair was in imminent danger. On the other hand, she needed his intelligence as much as he needed her access. Her game, her rules, however. 'I'll be happy to have Agent Savard come on board as a liaison. She cannot, however, function as Egret's security. She's not trained for it, and I don't know her.'
Across from her, Doyle flushed. Next to him, the striking coffee- skinned woman lifted piercing blue eyes to Cam's with a flicker of anger. Cam continued, unperturbed. 'In return, I expect daily briefings pertaining to any new information you might have.'
'Are you suggesting that an FBI agent can't be trusted to secure the President's daughter?' Doyle demanded angrily, half-rising from his seat.
Cam stood, gathering her papers. She glanced at Doyle casually. 'I don't knowhow an FBI agent would react if Egret's life were at stake. Ido know how every one of my people would respond. This isn't the time for on-the-job training.'
'With respect, Commander,' Renee Savard said forcefully, 'I am fully prepared to assume responsibility for Egret's safety. I would like the opportunity to carry out my assignment.'
Cam studied her, impressed by her composure when it was clear that she was insulted. Still, this wasn't about personal feelings. This was about the willingness of one person to die for another. Secret Service agents were carefully screened and extensively tested to determine their psychological willingness to sacrifice themselves for an individual, or in many cases, an ideology. For better or for worse, this was what it took to do the job they did. The
