hands up her back, pressing her face to Cam's shoulder. Her hands met the leather harness of Cam's shoulder holster, and she shuddered briefly. There had been too much loss and it was draining her spirit.
Cam ran her hand lightly up and down Blair's back, caressing her softly. 'The FBI are on their way to Diane's now. She'll be safe.'
'Who will be next?' Blair said, her voice muffled against Cam's body. 'Will it be one of you? Will it be Marcy Coleman - or some poor random person who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? I can't just stand by and watch it happen. I've got to do something.'
Cam's stomach knotted, but she smoothed her hand gently over Blair's hair and pressed her lips to her forehead. 'It isn't going to be anyone. We'll stop him. I need you to trust me, Blair.'
Blair said nothing, and Cam's heart pounded with sudden alarm. 'Blair, please promise me that you won't do anything without discussing it with me. I need you to do that. Please.'
Blair leaned back in the circle of Cam's arms and studied her face. There was something close to panic in Cam's eyes. Blair had never seen her look that way before. 'Cam-' she whispered, slipping her hand to the back of her neck, stroking her. 'Hey.'
'I can't lose you,' Cam rasped, her throat tight with the anguish, the edges of her mind still raw with old memories.
Her haunted expression tore at Blair's heart. She sighed, and ran her fingers lightly over Cam's cheek. She could no more hurt her than she could stop loving her. 'I promise. Just do something, please.'
Cam kissed her, a kiss of thanks and tender possession. When she lifted her lips away, she whispered, 'I will.'
*
Cameron walked into the conference room at Command Central and nodded to Patrick Doyle. As had become the custom, the FBI were lined up on one side of the table, and her team on the other. She and Doyle faced off once again from opposite ends.
'We have to assume an action from Loverboy is imminent,' Doyle said immediately, his preemptive attempt to take charge glaringly obvious.
Unperturbed by his attitude, Cam nodded her agreement as she sat down. She'd played these interagency power games before. 'What's the status at Diane Bleeker's apartment building?'
'Our team and the bomb squad are there now,' Doyle informed her. 'She's been moved temporarily to a secure location.'
Cam's face showed no sign of it, but she relaxed as some of her inner tension dissipated. One disaster averted. 'I talked to Lindsey Ryan at Quantico and brought her up to date,' Cam began. 'She believes that this is a real threat, and if he can't access his primary target - Egret, or his designated substitute - Diane Bleeker, then he may choose someone else out of frustration or anger.'
She looked around the table, and she knew that she didn't need to repeat what Lindsey Ryan had already told them. Any of them could be next. 'Egret will remain sequestered here for the immediate future. She's agreed to postpone her plans for San Francisco, but we only have a two and a half week window until Paris. Then she is going to have to travel, and she'll be visible again.'
Vulnerable is what she meant.
Doyle waved a hand in dismissal. 'It's unreasonable to keep her out of sight indefinitely,' he said, carefully avoiding the suggestion that Blair's visibility was one sure way to draw out their UNSUB. Unconsciously he rubbed the fading abrasion on his neck. 'On the other hand, offering Loverboy a meet is the best way to get him out in the open.'
Cam saw both Mac and Stark stiffen, and she knew one or both of them was about to vehemently protest. She raised her left hand an inch off the table and both of them settled back in their chairs, their faces set and angry. Cam stared at Patrick Doyle and said very evenly, her voice completely controlled, 'Special Agent in Charge Doyle, I am certain that you are not suggesting that we use the President's daughter as bait for a proven psychopathic killer.'
Doyle's jaw bunched, and he answered stiffly, 'Of course not.'
'Then we needn't pursue that line of thought any further,' Cam responded, struggling to control her anger. 'Egret continues to receive regular email from him. He is using hacked IP numbers and routing messages through random computers so he is still not traceable. As was previously decided, there has been no attempt to block his messages, because it's our only means of judging his state of mind and potentially predicting his moves.'
'Well, that's been a royal failure,' Doyle remarked harshly.
Cam ignored him and continued. 'Agent Ryan suggests that we communicate with him via email, as Egret, in an attempt to get more information about his plans. This seems logical. An agent with computer and electronics expertise will be joining my team later today. She can begin the exchange after Loverboy's next contact.'
There was an uncomfortable silence as everyone realized that this new agent would be a replacement for Jeremy Finch.
Doyle broke the silence as he said with a smug smile. 'I talked with the Director on the way here. He agrees with me that we need to be more proactive if we're going to resolve this situation.'
Cam didn't move an inch although every muscle became rigid. 'Meaning?'
'We're planning on initiating contact, just as you suggested, Roberts,' Doyle stated with an unmistakable note of condescension. 'But we're not interested indialoguing . We're going to set up a meet.'
'A decoy operation?' Mac exclaimed in surprise. 'This guy is a bomber. You can't send someone in undercover when she might be walking into a bomb.'
'We assessed the risk to be acceptable,' Doyle said brusquely. Straightening a pile of folders in front of him, he added, 'We expect it will take several days to put things in place. We're bringing in our own person to establish electronic contact with him.'
'It's a risky operation, Doyle,' Cam said quietly. 'There are other avenues we can pursue first.'
