As everyone began to rise, Blair said, 'No, stay.' Glancing at Cam, she smiled wryly. 'They're all in it now, and I have nothing to hide.'
Cam sighed and studied the faces of the three agents sitting shoulder to shoulder across from her.
'I don't know where all this is going. Maybe nowhere.' She lifted the photos and let them fall back to the table. 'Maybe straight to the AP hotline and the front page of every newspaper in the country.'
She had everyone's attention.
'Iknow this woman,' Cam said, pointing to Claire in the photograph. 'She's an escort with a highly exclusive service in D.C. She and Ms. Powell have no relationship whatsoever.'
'That might be difficult to disprove after this, Stark pointed out in as non-accusatory a tone as she could manage.
Blair laughed shortly. 'I'm certain that's precisely what this is meant to imply.'
'Well,' Cam said bitterly. 'It seems that someone is tightening the noose. First we have a leak to the press about Blair's secret relationship. Then, obviously, we have documentation of the two of us together in a position that would be hard to explain away.' She glanced quickly at Blair. 'Even if we wanted to. And now,' she finished, pointing to the photo of Blair and Claire, 'we have the connection between myself, Ms. Powell, and an escort service. All highly inflammatory business in DC.'
'I'm sorry,' Stark said ingenuously. 'What link is there between you and the escort?'
'I know this woman in the photograph because I've been involved with her, professionally.'
'Oh.' Stark blushed but held Cam's gaze. 'Can anyone prove that?'
Shrugging, Cam replied, 'I have no idea.'
'Well,' Mac said briskly. 'That's one of the things we're going to have to find out. And from the looks of things, pretty quickly.'
'I agree,' Savard said firmly. 'We need to devise strategy, divide up the work, and narrow down the suspects in short order-before this whole thing spins out of control.'
'Suspects?' Blair said in surprise.
'Yes,' Cam said, looking at Savard. She and the FBI agent were the only two people in the room with true investigative experience. Stark and Mac had both been part of the protective arm of the Secret Service their entire careers. 'Who stands to gain by this?'
'Well, as you mentioned before,' Blair mused. 'Any reporter who uncovers an elite escort service in Washington D.C. that caters to government employees and visiting dignitaries would certainly garner quite a reputation. It's a career maker and reason enough.'
'Thats true,' Mac said. 'Except it seems unlikely that a reporter would also be interested in impugningyour reputation. That would only piss off the White House. So why release the photo of you and the Commander to the newspaper before the story breaks? In fact, why involve you at all?'
'Point taken,' Blair agreed.
'What about Patrick Doyle?' Stark offered, carefully not looking at Renee Savard. 'He hasn't been happy since the Commander upstaged him in the capture of Loverboy-'
'Before that, really,' Mac interjected. 'He's always had it in for her.'
Stark nodded eagerly. 'If he's behind it, that would explain a photograph of the Commander with the woman in the bar. She could have been an FBI agent or just a decoy he set up. We all know the FBI has been known to shadow public figures to gather information on them.'
'I don't disagree with any of that,' Savard said calmly. 'But this looks like a much bigger operation than one man could possibly orchestrate. Especially if you're talking about infiltrating and exposing a very well-shielded escort service that's obviously been operating undetected for a long time. That takes undercover agents and people with computer expertise who can access IRS records, phone records, trace calls-the whole nine yards. Doyle couldn't do that on his own.'
'Besides,' Blair pointed out, 'none of this explains why we are getting these cryptic messages. If they were threats, why hasn't something been demanded? Why hasn't someone asked for money or threatened to go public if Cam doesn't resign or put pressure on me to intervene with my father about some upcoming vote?'
'Maybe,' Cam muttered, 'maybe it's a little of all of the above.'
Four sets of eyes stared at her questioningly.
Chapter Thirty
Cam thought aloud. 'Maybe there is a politicaland a personal agenda at work here. Maybe the FBI or a Justice division or both is gathering information for some future political purpose. Maybe Doyle is part of it or knows someone who is. If he's privy to what's going on, he may have discovered my involvement with the escort service by chance. Maybe he's taking advantage of that knowledge.'
'How?' Mac asked warily.
Cam met his eyes. 'Stewart Carlisle informed me yesterday that Justice has initiated an independent investigation into what happened in New York. They're looking at me, specifically. I could be suspended at any time.'
Mac and Stark exploded together with a series of expletives and outraged remonstrations. At length, Cam held up her hand to still them.
'For some reason, Carlisle hasn't put up much of a roadblock, which I find unusual. All I can figure is if thereis a large-scale operation in place to exert influence using blackmail tactics, maybe he's in a crunch, too.'
'Can something like that really be happening?' Blair asked incredulously. 'We're not talking about the Hoover administration here.'
'It didn't all stop in the mid-70s when Hoover was forced to retire,' Savard said regretfully. 'It's just gotten more subterranean. It's been rumored for some time that the new Director-whose appointment your father opposed, I might add-has been pushing Justice hard for permission to use surveillance in the private sector, including electronic wiretaps and computer investigation into corporate and private accounts, ostensibly under the guise of national security.'
'All right,' Blair interjected. 'So if thereis some covert group of high-level intelligence agents, or politicians, orboth gathering information, what would be the reason?'
'Almost anything,' Cam said grimly. 'Anything from controlling promotions within various departments to influencing who will be the next party nomination for president. That's what's so dangerous about these operations. Information gathered today might be used a decade from now to force someone's vote in a critical Congressional decision or be used to place a candidate sympathetic to law enforcement in a newly created cabinet position. When, where, and how intelligence is used can't always be projected-which makes it impossible to neutralize. That's also what makes it so potent a weapon.'
'For the time being,' Savard said emphatically, 'we need to concentrate on discovering as much as possible about who's behind this.' She stared at the opposite wall for a second and then began ticking off points on one hand. 'Mac-you've already been looking into the reporter who provided the first photograph to the Associated Press, right?'
He nodded. 'I should have a name by morning.'
'Good. What we need is to work backwards from there. The reporter needs to be interviewed and if they wont provide a source, we need to dig deep into his or her background. There has to be a connection to someone in D.C. Whoever leaked the photograph almost certainly used someone they knew and trusted.'
'Fine. I've got that,' Mac said. 'I've also got the video tapes of the couriers who delivered the packages. I'll run their scanned images through the DMV, NCIC, and Armed Forces data banks. If I can ID them, I'll interview them.'
'Try for a match with the registered courier services in New York and D.C., too,' Cam added. 'They have to be bonded, so they'll have photos. I doubt our Deep Throat used a service, but you never know.'
Mac nodded.
'Two-Stark and I will run background checks on everyone associated with you, Commander,' Savard said evenly. 'We'll need a list of friends, lovers, professional associates-anyone who could be remotely connected.'
At Cam's raised eyebrows, Savard continued, 'We have to assume that if thereis a personal agenda in addition to a political one, you are the epicenter.'
