'I'd like to stay until there's some word.'
Cam heard the true caring in her voice. She looked around, relieved to see her team nearby. 'Of course. I'll have Fielding find a room where you can wait. I'll tell you the second I hear.'
'Thank you,' Blair said softly. 'Take good care of yourself, Commander.'
'I will,' Cam murmured, losing herself for just an instant in her eyes. 'I'm glad that you're here, you know.'
'That's a good thing,' Blair whispered, 'because nothing could have kept me away.'
Nine hours later, Cam walked into the command center and regarded the remains of her team. Most of them had never gone home but instead had voluntarily taken turns rotating between there and the hospital. As she expected, Stark was among them. The young agent appeared pale and shaky and she had that haunted look in her eyes that Cam knew would linger a long time.
'The conference room,' she said as she walked through.
A few minutes later, she stood at the head of the table, as she had so many times before, and looked at each of them in turn. Finally, she said quietly, 'We got him. Nice job, everybody.'
Then she opened the cover of a thick file folder and tossed it into the center of the table, a color photograph of a male in uniform clipped to the first page. 'State Trooper James Raymond Harker. Ten years ago he was detached toGovernor Powell's security detail.'
For a moment there was stunned silence, then Stark muttered vehemently, 'Bastard.'
'I can't believe it,' Mac said, obviously distressed. He glanced at the picture then passed the file to the person next to him. 'Why weren't we onto this? Background checks should have turned up something.'
'This information stays in this room,' Cam said quietly. She had to work at keeping her own anger in check as she continued, 'Apparently, the FBI task force ran background checks soon after Egret alerted them that she was receiving email from Loverboy. They cleared everyone who had ever had anything to do with her security.'
Mac interrupted with a derisive laugh. 'Sure - they checked all ofus out.'
Cam nodded grimly. 'Unfortunately, there appears to have been a breakdown in their internal communications, and the security officers assigned to Egret when her father was the governor were never checked. Harker, AKA Loverboy, was one of them.'
Fielding raised his head sharply. 'Does that mean this nutcase was shadowing her for over 10 years?'
'Lindsey Ryan says it's possible,' Cam said, struggling to keep the loathing from her voice. The fact that he would have killed Blair was only part of what made it so abhorrent. Cam was sickened by the very idea that this psychopath had probably watched Blair from the time she was teenager. Worst of all, she knew Blair would never be completely free from idle curiosity and might someday become the object of someone else's obsession. She shoved the thought away. She had to get through this, and then maybe she could lie down and the pounding in her head would stop. 'Whatever happened, the FBI will clean up their own mess.'
'Yeah, right,' Mac snarled. 'Except we've had to pay the price for their foul up. First you, then Jeremy, and now Grant.'
'Update on the injured,' Cam continued, ignoring Mac's remark although privately she agreed with him. From what she had heard from Stewart Carlisle, SAC Doyle was getting all the credit for the takedown. She didn't begrudge the FBI that, because Savard had been the one to stop him. This was not about who got the glory, but about the fact that Blair was no longer in danger, at least for the moment. For that, she would always be grateful to Renee Savard. The fact that Doyle had nearly gotten Ellen Grant killed was another issue, and she would not soon forget that.
Her mind was wandering. She took a deep breath, trying to clear her head. 'Grant is awake and says for none of you to touch her desk. Said she'll know if there's a pencil missing.' Cam smiled faintly. 'She'll be discharged in five to six days and back on duty in six weeks if the next CAT scan is clear. '
She glanced at Stark once, quickly, and then continued quietly, 'Renee Savard is still unconscious in the intensive care unit, but the surgeons are optimistic. She lost a lot of blood, but apparently no critical structures in her shoulder were involved. In the absence of any unforeseen complications, they're predicting a full recovery.'
She looked at the people gathered around the table and said, 'We owe her. She stepped up for us and even after she was hit, she managed to get this guy. No one is exactly sure yet what happened, but he was probably carrying another explosive device that he either hadn't had time to dispose of or that he was planning on planting somewhere else. The ATF commander tells me that the shockwaves from a bullet impacting anywhere near a high-order explosive can trigger it. She hit him, and his own bomb took him out. We're waiting for forensics to give us the final ID, but Harker was missing after the action and everything else fits. When we ran our own background check, it turns out that he had applied to the Secret Service before he joined the troopers and had been denied for psychological reasons. I guess the state system never turned up that information with a computer check of his application. Not surprising, since none of our systems are interfaced.'
Now came the hard part. 'I looked at the tapes from the explosion in Central Park. Harker was the trooper standing next to Jeremy's car. He probably placed the device right there.'
The silence was heavy with sorrow and fury.
'He's also the one who pulled me away from the car that day. I don't know why.'
Lindsey had told her that it might be something as simple as the fact that Harker didn't want anything or anyone to alter his plan - that he needed to be the one to determine who should live, and who should die - and when.
Mac slid Harker's file back to her, and Cam closed it with a sense of finality. 'Egret is due to leave for San Francisco in a little over a week. She's staying with Diane Bleeker for a few days until some of the publicity dies down. I'll review her plans with you when I know them. Mac, would you set up the shifts please.'
