Stark jumped and turned quickly toward Blair, who was leaning on the railing looking down at her, a quizzical expression on her face.
'Ma'am?' Stark blushed again.Damn it.
'Would you let the Commander know that I'm ready to go home as soon as she gives the word?'
'Yes, ma'am. I will,' Stark assured her, all business once more. According to what Lindsey Ryan had told them the day before, once they left the relative sanctuary of this house, any of them were targets.
Mac held out the phone, a puzzled expression on his face, and said, 'Commander? Egret wishes to speak to you.'
Cam was bent over one of the nearby desks, replaying a segment of videotape taken in Central Park during Blair's speech. She was specifically studying the crowd in the general vicinity of Marcy Coleman, searching for a slim, 25 to 30-year-old white male, approximately five ten, a hundred and fifty pounds. That was the description Dr. Coleman had given them of the man who had handed her the envelope for Blair Powell.
'I'll take it over here,' Cam said immediately, surprised and concerned. Blair rarely contacted her for anything official.
She reached for the receiver, the only indication of her disquiet a faint line between her brows. 'Yes?'
'Cameron, can you come up here please?'
There was hollowness in her tone that set Cam's heart racing with anxiety. 'Right away. Are you -'
'I'm all right,' Blair said hurriedly, but there was a faint tremor in her voice.
'I'm on my way,' Cam said, dropping the receiver into the cradle. She headed swiftly toward the door, instructing Mac as she walked, 'I want a voice check with all agents. Verify that all agents are at their posts and that they have nothing out of the ordinary to report.'
Mac straightened and immediately turned to the monitors, simultaneously activating his transmitter. 'Yes, ma'am,' he said sharply.
Cam didn't hear his reply because she was already through the door and in the hallway, keying the elevator to Blair's penthouse. Thirty seconds later she was at Blair's door. When the door swung open, Blair was standing just inside, waiting, her face pale. Cam took Blair's shoulders in both her hands and looked intently into her face. 'What is it?'
Blair managed a smile, but the smile was faint and her blue eyes were deeply troubled. She extended a white envelope toward Cam. 'This came in the mail.'
Cam took it and studied the front. Blair's name and address were affixed with a common bulk-mailing label. It looked perfectly ordinary. The return address was for a well-known charity organization.
'I thought it was about a fundraiser,' Blair said quietly.
Cam looked inside and the muscles in her stomach tightened. 'Have you touched it?'
Blair nodded. 'Yes, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking-'
Cam shook her head. 'It doesn't matter. He's never left prints before. Still, we have to go through the motions.'
She looked around for something with which to tease out the white rectangle. Blair handed her a large paper clip and she hooked it over the corner of the photograph and slid it out.
Cam silently regarded the image of Diane Bleeker standing in front of her Upper East Side apartment building with a sense of fury and dread. There was a familiar red circle with an x through it drawn centered over her chest. Cam turned over the Polaroid and saw another mailing label affixed to the back. Typed on it were the words:Meet me or she's next
Cam placed the photograph back into the envelope and slipped it into her inside jacket pocket. Then she walked directly to the wallphone in Blair's kitchen and rapidly punched in a series of numbers.
'Give me SAC Doyle immediately, please. This is Commander Cameron Roberts, Secret Service.' She looked at Blair as she waited, smiling faintly as if to say it would be all right. Then, she said brusquely into the receiver, 'Doyle, this is Roberts. I need you to send a team to Diane Bleeker's apartment at 88th and 5thAvenue ASAP. She's his next possible target. I'll fill you in at Command Central.'
Blair said quietly when Cam hung up, 'Thank you. I know you probably didn't enjoy making that call.'
Cam shrugged dismissively. 'The problems between Doyle and me don't matter. Diane does.'
'Something has to be done, Cam,' Blair said urgently, pacing in agitation. 'I can't stand this any longer.'
'Blair,' Cam began gently, walking back to her, her face filled with concern. 'I know how hard this must be for you.'
Blair shook her head impatiently. She didn't want sympathy - she wasn't the one being shot at or blown up. 'I don't care what it takes, Cam. I don't care what I need to do. I need this to be over.'
Cam put her arms around her, pulling her close and holding her tightly. 'Soon. I promise. It will be over soon.'
Blair did not resist the embrace, but she said stubbornly, her body stiff with fear and frustration, 'I'm okay.'
'I know you are,' Cam murmured, resting her cheek against Blair's hair. 'This is for me.'
Blair relented, because she needed the comfort of her. She slipped her arms under Cam's jacket, sliding her
