“This is Dan Bussy. What do you need?”

“I need to know why you picked the Timberwolf for Sky’s meeting.”

“I…I don’t understand.”

“I don’t care if you understand or not. Who gave you the name of the place?” If she’d been standing in front of him, she’d have had her hands around his throat. He was the weak link—he had to be.

“Look, let me talk to Sky.”

“I’d really like to do that, but she’s not available right now.”

“What does that mean?”

“Unless you want me to come down there looking for you, you’ll answer my questions. And I promise I won’t ask nicely if I have to find you.”

“I don’t answer to you.”

“You do now, or I’m going to start making calls to people you might not want me to be talking to.”

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on there, and I haven’t much to tell you. Sky needed backup, and I arranged for it.”

Loren went cold. “Backup. Who knew?”

“Just the local sheriff. And they didn’t know who she was—”

“What did they know?”

He sighed. “That one of our agents was meeting a VIP out-of-towner and we wanted backup.”

“And did you happen to tell them who the VIP was?”

“I had to give them someone to identify. I couldn’t keep them completely in the dark.”

“Jesus, how stupid could you be. Who knew? Names.”

“I told you, I dealt with the local sheriff. We’ve used his guys before for backup. They’re reliable and it’s their turf. It’s good for public relations.”

“Right. Your public relations compromised Sky. We all might be. Find out what happened to the backup, because it doesn’t look like there was any.” She disconnected.

Someone had ambushed Sky and Roberts. Why? Who would benefit? Taking down federal agents was no small deal. The problem was, too many people were getting too close to the truth. Someone in the sheriff’s department had leaked the intel about the meet. Ramsey had connections inside the department, undoubtedly the militia did too. If it had been Ramsey, he would have gone after Sky before the meet, and chances were she and Sky would both be dead by now. That left the militia. They wouldn’t want Sky, they wouldn’t even know who she was. They wanted Cameron Roberts.

She started her engine and pulled out onto the highway. In seconds the Timberwolf was swallowed by the night. By the time she reached home, she had a plan.


*


Cam sat with her back against the wall, her legs stretched out on the narrow bed, waiting for Jones to make her next move. Jones must have contacted Lucinda by now, and if she had, Lucinda was tracking her. It wouldn’t take that long to find out where she had been staying and who she’d been meeting. Narrowing in on this place was going to take some luck.

Blair would know by now too. And that was the thing worrying Cam the most, that Blair was going to suffer because of her. At least Blair would know she was doing everything she could to come home. Blair would know that nothing mattered more than that.

She was worried about Dunbar too. Dunbar was shivering despite the heat being thrown off by a space heater in the corner of the room. Cam got up to cover her with her topcoat.

“Thanks,” Dunbar said unsteadily, her teeth chattering.

Cam laid her palm on the back of Dunbar’s neck and looked over her shoulder at the guard on the door. The woman had been replaced by a heavyset bearded man in black BDUs carrying the ever-present assault rifle. “Hey, she’s running a fever. Someone needs to dig up some antibiotics. You must have some around here.”

He snorted. “In case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t Walter Reed and you’re not in charge.”

“Then get me the person who is.”

“Like I said, you don’t give orders around here.”

“If you want my cooperation, you’ll get someone in here with the authority to open up that drug cabinet.”

“Or…?”

“Or I’m going to suddenly become very uncooperative. And nothing will happen in terms of a prisoner exchange unless I make it happen.”

The guard looked uncertain for the first time. After a moment, he spoke into a radio.

Cam leaned down to Dunbar. “Just hang in there. We’ll get you some medication.”

Dunbar’s eyes were glassy. “Don’t worry about me. Don’t make any decisions because of me. I’ll be fine.”

“I know.” Cam squeezed her neck gently. “But I need you mobile if the time comes we have to move.”

Dunbar grinned, a savage, wild light in her eyes. “I’m tough, I’ll make it. Just say when.”

Cam nodded. She’d have to trust Dunbar and hope they’d have a chance to find out just how tough she was.

Chapter Thirty-four


Lucinda answered her private line, expecting the call to be the technician in the communications center answering her priority request for a trace on Cam’s recent calls. Instead, the White House operator said, “I’m sorry to interrupt you, Ms. Washburn, but I have a caller who insists on speaking to the president about a matter of national security. She says she’s a federal agent, but she won’t give me an identification number.”

Lucinda sighed. “Tell her you’ll connect her to the Secret Service—”

“Yes, ma’am. I offered that, but she said it had to do with Deputy Director Roberts, and I—”

“All right, I’ll take care of it.” Lucinda switched on the recorder attached to her phone. “Put her through and scramble the line, please.”

“Of course.”

A faint click was followed by silence.

“This is Lucinda Washburn. Who is this?”

“Special Agent Loren McElroy.”

“Why are you calling?”

“I have reason to believe Deputy Director Roberts has been ambushed and taken prisoner by a paramilitary organization that goes by the name of FALA, and I thought I ought to start at the top. We don’t have a lot of time to cut through red tape.”

“Can you verify your identity?” Lucinda made notes on a yellow legal pad as she spoke, even though the tape was running. She might find it necessary to erase the tape. She used a shorthand code she’d created years ago, one no one was likely to identify as anything other than aimless doodling.

“I could give you the names of some people who would vouch for me, but it would take some time,” McElroy said, “and I’m not sure exactly who can be trusted. Roberts was out here to meet with an undercover agent, looking for leads in some case that had to do with the militia operating in this area. The meet was compromised and they’re both missing. At least one of them has been wounded.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Because I’ve been undercover for two and a half years and my…handler is the agent who met with Roberts.”

“Give me your location.”

“That’s not going to help you any. You’ve probably already tracked Roberts’s last known location. I’m no closer to them than that, but I think I know where they’re being held. At least the general vicinity.”

“Tell me.”

“Here are the coordinates of the last meeting I had with members of the militia. My guess is they’re somewhere within a fifty-mile radius.”

Lucinda jotted down the coordinates. “That’s a lot of area to cover.”

“It’s worse than it seems. That’s undeveloped, densely forested land, and you can be certain they’ve done everything possible to camouflage their location. How long do you think it will take you to get some kind of aerial surveillance?”

“Not long.”

“Did they give you a deadline for whatever it is they want?”

Lucinda hesitated. Every instinct told her this agent was being truthful. No one should know the things she knew, and the people who had taken Cam had no reason to try a ruse. They already held all the cards, and they knew it.

“About nine hours, now. What about the agent who was taken with Director Roberts?”

“FBI. Skylar Dunbar. You probably won’t find much on her.”

“How many people know she’s missing?”

“As far as I know, just me and her partner in LA. I don’t think he’s completely trustworthy.”

“Name?”

“Dan Bussy.”

“Is there a number where I can reach you?”

“Hold on. This number will be good for tonight.”

Lucinda jotted it down. “I’ll call you in an hour. Stay available, and if you discover anything at all, call me.”

“Fine. But listen—FALA is well organized and well trained, but they’re basically fanatics. You can’t trust anything they tell you. If they don’t get what they want or even think they won’t, they won’t have any compulsion against killing hostages.”

“I understand.”

“Is there any possibility you’ll be able to meet whatever demands they’ve made?”

Lucinda was silent.

“Then you have to find Sky and Roberts quickly. As soon as FALA figures out you’re not going to play ball, they’re going to make a statement, and what better way to do that than with two dead federal agents.”

“I’ll be in touch.”

The line went dead and Lucinda switched over for another call. She reached the director of the FBI after three rings. “Mike, this is Lucinda Washburn. I need everything you have on a Skylar Dunbar, and I need you to pull an agent from the field and hold him for debriefing. No communication.” She waited for the objection she knew would be coming. “I’m sorry, it’s not something I can read you in on right now. The name is Dan Bussy. As soon as I can—yes. Thank you.”

She hesitated, knowing she needed to brief Andrew. She made another call first. “Blair? We think we know where she might be. We’re going to have some difficulties getting to her, however.”