life all over the front page didnt.'
'Ive been managing my private life and my fathers career for a long time without your help'.
The silence that followed on the line sounded ominous even to Cam, 3000 miles away. She took a deep breath, blinked back the pain, and regrouped. 'I'm sorry. I only meant-'
'I understand what you meant, Commander.' Blair's tone was icy. 'I know very well who I am to the public and how to behave in the political arena. I was under the mistaken impression that we were discussing something private. Something betweenus .'
'Look, I-'
'There's no need for you to explain. Is there anything else?'
'I should speak with Mac.' Cam rubbed her eyes wearily.
'I suggest you try him at the hotel. I'm sure you have the number.'
'Yes.'
'Goodnight then, Commander,' Blair said.
'Goodnight,' Cam said softly, but she was listening to a dial tone. She set the receiver carefully in its cradle and leaned back on the sofa. Lifting a remote from the end table, she shut off the room lights and closed her eyes, knowing she wouldn't sleep.
Chapter Two
Blair stripped off her sweatpants and reached for her jeans. She tucked in her T-shirt, closed the buttons on the fly, and pulled on her sneakers. Then she sorted through the clothes in the dresser until she found a favorite hooded black sweatshirt with NYU stenciled on the left chest and shrugged into it. As she crossed to the bedroom door, she checked to be sure she had her wallet in her back pocket. She opened the door and stepped out into the hall.
Paula Stark was leaning against the wall opposite. The two women stared at one another, the silence deepening as the seconds passed.
'I'm going for a walk,' Blair said at last.
'I'll notify Mac,' Stark said without a single inflection in her voice, lifting her wrist to speak into her radio mike. To her complete and utter shock, Blair Powell stopped her with a hand on her arm.
'Don't. I just want to walk. I'm not going anywhere.'
'You can't go alone,' Stark responded emphatically, forgetting to appear impassive. She was still working on that. 'Besides, the Commander'
'Isn't here, is she?' Blair retorted sharply.
'Well, it's not like she won't know...Hey!'
Blair turned and walked away, Stark close on her heels.
'PleaseMs. Powell, just let me call the cars.'
'If you want to come along-fine. But just you.' She started down the back stairs, and would be outside, free, in a few seconds.
Stark had no choice but to follow. She knew the Presidents daughter well enough by now to know that arguing would not work. She also knew that if provoked, Blair was perfectly capable of giving all of them the slip and disappearing. It had happened before, and that was a worse threat to her safety than going out with only one agent as protection.Oh man, Mac is going to kill me. Thank Godthe Commander is in DC.
It was just after 9:00 P.M., and the sky was clear, nearly cloudless except for wisps here and there that glowed silver with reflected light from the full moon. In a city famous for romance, on a night made for lovers, Blair was lonely.
Starting down the steep, twisting wooden stairs that led from the rear of Marcea Cassells' house to Lombard Street at a pace too fast for the terrain, especially in the near dark, she steadfastly ignored the ache. She hadn't been aware of loneliness for a very long time, and on the rare occasions when she had been, she'd known just what to do about it. A few hours lost in the arms of an attractive stranger, anonymous pleasures at no cost to anyone, had served her well until Cameron Roberts had come along less than a year before and changed everything.
'Like I ever asked her to.'
'I'm sorry?' Stark asked, trying to stay within touching distance of the Presidents daughter without actually touching her.
'Nothing'.
They reached the street and began wending their way down the sharply curving road in the general direction of the Bay. When it became apparent that Stark wasnt going to do anything except dog her steps, Blair relaxed infinitesimally.
'What are you doing here any way? I though you were off for a while'.
Stark blushed, overjoyed that her companion couldnt see it. The question caught her off guardshe hadnt realized that Blair Powell, code name Egret, gave any thought to the schedule of her security team. Although Stark was the lead agent in Egrets personal security detail, and spent hours with her every day under every imaginable circumstance, they had not had a personal conversation in months. Not since the night six months before when theyd spent a number of frantic hours together in bed.Well, I was pretty frantic. And come to think of it, we didnt do much talking even then .
'Couldnt stay away?' Blair probed. She still couldnt quite figure out why one human being was willing to risk their life for a person to whom they worked so hard to appear invisible. Although she knew all the agents on her detail by name, she knew very little about most of them personally. They rarely looked directly at her because they were too busy looking everywhere else. If she stripped naked in front of them, they wouldnt blink. She grinned to herselfwell, Stark would. But that was because the agent hadnt mastered the game face yet.And besides, I wouldnt do it to her.
'After everyone left for the airport last night, I felt useless', Stark confessed, stepping slightly to the right of Blair so that she could get between her and the traffic side of the sidewalk.
'You need to get a life, Stark', Blair commented, not unkindly.
'After what happened, I justI dont know. I just wanted to be here'.
Blair caught her breath, because she understood. All of themthe whole teamhad been through hell together, and although they were strangers in many ways, they were also bonded by shared victoryand by shared loss. Despite understanding, she was amazed that Stark could admit it. 'Dont you ever worry about saying things like that? It will ruin your macho image'.
'Macho?' Stark laughed, and very unobtrusively stopped at the corner of Hyde and Beach, blocking Blairs body from the intersection while glancing up and down the street. Thankfully, it was a weeknight and not many tourists were about. As they crossed, heading steadily downhill toward the water, she added, 'As long as the Commander trusts me, Im not too worried about my image'.
'It matters that much to you what she thinks?'
'Of course', Stark replied, clearly surprised. 'I mean shes well, shes what we all want to be'.
'Be careful what you wish for'. Blairs tone was sharp, but it wasnt anger. It was pain.Cant you see what it costs her?
Stark fell silent and Blair walked on rapidly, eventually turning left onto Jefferson until they reached the beach. She threaded her way with Stark by her side down stone stairs to the sand, and finally sat, knees drawn up, watching the moonlight play across the waves.
'Hows Renee?' Blair finally asked, her voice low and pensive. She drew the fine white sand through her fingers, letting the grains fall in a steady stream by her side.
'Shes okay', Stark replied hesitantly, still unsure how to talk to the woman she spent more time with than anyone else in her life. 'She pretty much kicked me out this morning, which is why I decided to fly out here in the afternoon. Catch up to you all'.
'Why did she chase you off? Were you hovering?'
'Uhwell, maybe. Some'.
Stark shifted in the stiff vinyl-cushioned chair, peering at her watch in the semi-darkness. Ten after five. In the morning. Shed slept all the previous afternoon after the Commander had declared the entire first team off duty. As soon as shed awakened, shed come to the hospital, found Savard too sedated to talk, and had decided to sit for
