“I’ll be waiting.”

“Anything?” Cam asked as she strode into the operations center. Stark, Mac, and—to her surprise—Wozinski were reviewing printouts. “Hi Greg. Things finished up in Boston?”

Wozinski shrugged. “The feebies are handling it. Need I say more?”

“Other than things are moving slowly?” Cam grinned. “What do you have?”

“Shooter’s name was Allen Strassmann, and as we already knew, he was on Constantine’s watch list. He’s also on half a dozen other lists under watch—all right-wing, pro-Christian, pro-life, ultraconservative groups.”

“On the surface,” Stark said, “it looks like Dr. Constantine was the target.”

Cam leaned against the door jamb and folded her arms. “You disagree?”

“If the doctor was the target, it seems pretty stupid to try to take her out when she’s with Egret, who everyone knows would be heavily guarded.”

“Maybe it was simply a matter of opportunity,” Cam said.

“Possible. But how did they know that Constantine was in the hall with us? It was a spur of the moment decision to leave then.”

“Maybe Strassmann was in the banquet hall or had someone watching Emory’s movements who could alert him, the same as we postulated might be the case if Blair were the target.”

Stark nodded, but she didn’t look convinced. “If I were going to take a shot at Emory Constantine, I would plan to do it when she was leaving the hotel after the event—in the parking garage, maybe, or even in the crowd coming out of the banquet hall. There’d be a much better chance of getting away with it—and getting away, period.”

“Do we have any indication that this guy Strassmann might have targeted Blair?” Cam joined the others around the table.

“We don’t have anything in the files about this guy—or any organization he’s involved with—contacting her, issuing statements, or posting inflammatory messages on any of their message boards regarding her. Nothing ties him to her.”

“I’m not surprised. If I were going to choose an assassin, I’d want him, or her, to be someone anonymous.” Cam shrugged. “That assumes there was someone behind this other than Strassmann himself.”

“It would be a damn big coincidence,” Mac said as he sat down with coffee, “if someone just happened to take a shot at Emory Constantine when she just happened to be with Egret. Despite the evidence, or lack of it, it’s too big a coincidence for me.”

Stark nodded. “I agree.”

“So do I.” Cam stood. “Keep working the Strassmann angle and assume his target was Blair. See if you can find a relationship between him and any known Matheson connections—maybe he’s related to one of Matheson’s men captured at the compound.”

“Will do, Commander.” Stark hesitated, as if she were about to say more, then fell silent.

“Chief?” Cam asked.

“Nothing, Commander.”

“No,” Cam said as if the question had been asked. “We didn’t make a whole hell of a lot of progress, but we’re still digging.”

“We really need Valerie Lawrence to come in if we’re going to find the link to Matheson,” Stark said.

“I’m working on it.” Cam surveyed the group. “Until then we carry on.”

Cam leaned into the living room and tapped on the partially open French door that divided it from the hallway and the first floor bedrooms. Diane was curled up on one end of the dark brown leather sofa in front of the fireplace. A half empty glass of wine sat on the end table beside her. She’d changed from the jeans she’d been wearing earlier into black slacks and a fitted, white scoop neck top with three-quarter length sleeves. She looked remote and very much alone.

“Can I talk to you?”

Diane glanced over her shoulder. “Of course.”

Diane turned back to the fire as Cam sat down next to her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to warn you about the newspaper article before you saw it,” Cam said.

“Would you still have released it if I had objected?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you for letting me make the phone calls this afternoon. My sister and my office manager were very relieved to hear that I wasn’t seriously injured.” Diane added sharply, “Of course, I stuck to the script Stark provided me. The one you approved, I assume.”

Cam winced. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like a conspirator.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“It’s complicated—”

“That means it’s about Valerie.”

“Yes,” Cam admitted. “She won’t come in to protect herself, but she will to protect you. And we need her.”

Diane shifted, studying Cam with no apparent trace of her previous anger. “That’s emotional blackmail, don’t you think?”

“Yes, it is.”

“How do you make that all right?”

“It’s better for Valerie, it’s better for you. And it’s better for Blair.”

“That’s the bottom line, isn’t it? Blair.”

Cam regarded her steadily. “Yes.”

“No apologies? No elaborate rationalizations or arguments?”

“No.”

“Clear and simple,” Diane whispered to herself.

“Not clear and not simple,” Cam said. “Necessary. Valerie will understand.”

“And you’re sure that this is the best thing for Valerie?”

“As sure as I can be,” Cam said. “You have to trust me on that one.”

Diane laughed harshly. “It seems that we all have to trust you for quite a bit, Cam. That’s asking a lot, don’t you think?”

“Diane,” Blair said from the doorway. “Cam knows what she’s doing. There’s no one better to make these decisions.”

“I hope you’re right.” Diane rose and strode abruptly toward the door, then paused to look back at Cam. “Because if something happens to Valerie because of this, I’ll never forgive you for using me against her.”

As Diane hurried from the room, Blair said, “She’s just upset. I’ll go talk to her.”

“It’s okay. She deserves to be angry. I didn’t handle it well.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Cameron. You’re not responsible for everyone, and she happens to be wrong.”

Cam’s lips twitched. “Thank you for coming to my defense. I think.”

Blair grasped Cam’s chin in her hand, and kissed her, a deep probing kiss. “I know how you get. I’m not letting you beat yourself up about this. You did the right thing even if your timing sucked.”

“You don’t usually complain about my ti—” Cam broke off as her cell phone rang. “Roberts.” She held Blair’s gaze as she spoke. “Where…? Tell them to intercept, but do not… I repeat… do not use deadly force. Alert Stark to secure the house. I’ll be right there.”

“What is it?” Blair asked anxiously.

“Intruder on the beach. I have to go.”

“Let Tanner’s people handle it. Cam—”

“Stay here, Blair. I’ll be fine. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Damn it, Cam—”

Cam ran toward the back of the house, punching in Felicia’s number on her cell. “I need back up. I’ll be on the path to the dunes.”

“Roger, Commander. Savard?”

Cam pushed through the back door. It was dark with only moonlight to guide her, but she knew the route by heart. She issued orders as she ran, phone in one hand and weapon in the other. “No. Savard’s not mobile enough. Tell her to take a position behind the guest house. No one approaches the rear of the compound except on my orders. Call Stark—red alert.”

“Copy that.”

Cam hit the beach running and saw a flurry of activity, dark shapes converging from multiple directions, a quarter of a mile up the strand.

Hearing muffled shouts, she closed the phone and shoved it into the pocket of her pants. As she drew closer, she saw three of Tanner’s agents pointing assault rifles at a figure kneeling in the sand, arms outstretched. A slender figure with short blond hair in a dark jacket and pants. Cam skidded to a stop a few feet away and holstered her weapon.

Valerie looked up at her. “Hello, Cameron.”

“Are you okay?”

“Perfectly, thank you.”

Cam motioned the others away. “I’ve got this. Thank you. You can return to your posts.”

Valerie rose and brushed sand from her pants.

“That was risky,” Cam said. “They might have shot you.”

“I knew your people would be better trained than that.”

“Pretty trusting.”

Valerie smiled softly. “I’ve always trusted you.”

Cam wondered how long the trust would last. “Come up to the house,” she said. “We’ve been expecting you.”

Chapter Twenty-One

“I take it the newspaper item was fabricated?” Valerie asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the guards.

Cam grinned briefly, not surprised that Valerie had been suspicious of the cover story. Agents indoctrinated to clandestine work understood how often and to what extent the media was used to subvert the truth. Cam had hoped that Valerie would not take a chance on ignoring the report, even though she might not completely believe it. “Most of it was an embellishment.”

“Is Diane all right?”

“Yes, she’s completely fine.”

“But there was some kind of an incident.”

“Yes,” Cam said, unwilling to discuss any further details until she had a better sense of Valerie’s agenda.

As if understanding, Valerie didn’t pursue it further. “I expected the guards to call Stark when they intercepted me,” she said. “Are you running Blair’s detail again?”

Cam shook her head. “No, but this entire operation is an OHS matter, and that puts me in charge.”

“And you’re going to take on the Company?”

“If need be.”

“The Company’s been around a long time,” Valerie said. “Homeland Security is so fresh most people don’t even know what it is.”

“They’ll find out soon enough.”

“I guess we all will.” Valerie pushed her hands into the pocket of her jacket and hunched her shoulders against the wind. “God, this is going to be a mess until people sort out their turf.”