"They were certainly eager to get him on board."

"Her."

"Oh really?" Blair's hand stopped moving. "You know, I seem to be surrounded by an inordinate number of female spies."

Cam laughed. "Baby, we're not spies."

"Oh, all right then, spooks." Blair began stroking again, her fingertips brushing back and forth through the curls at the base of Cam's belly. "Still, I wonder what that's about."

"Probably coincidence." Or maybe someone thinks you'll be more open around women. They don't know you very well. Cam covered Blair's hand and guided it lower. "I have to get up in two minutes."

Blair bit Cam's shoulder once more and slipped her fingers slowly inside her. "Make it five."

Cam lifted her hips to take her deeper and instantly felt her clitoris surge back to life. "Don't think so."

"Try," Blair murmured as she rose above her, angling her arm to claim her more fully. "And don't close your eyes."

"Christ," Cam muttered, her vision wavering, "you're tough."

Aware only of Blair inside her, somewhere beyond the boundaries of her flesh and blood, she climaxed to the beautiful sound of Blair's laughter.

Chapter Fourteen

Saturday, September 15

B lair found Diane entertaining Stark, Patrice Kara, and Greg Wozinski with stories of their youthful indiscretions over coffee and croissants in the living room. Fortunately, they seemed to be getting the G-rated version.

"Diane," Blair said mildly as she reached for the coffee carafe, "I prefer that you not educate them in all my techniques for eluding surveillance."

All three Secret Service agents laughed, although Hara and Wozinski cast obvious sidelong glances at each other. Blair caught the looks and surmised that they had heard of her tendency to ditch her assigned protectors with regularity. Laughing, she said to Stark, "I see you've briefed them thoroughly."

Stark answered with a deadpan expression. "Of course. That's standard operating procedure,"

"Where's Cam?" Diane inquired.

"She'll be right out. She's... "Blair had been about to say arranging a briefing with Savard when it occurred to her that Cam might not want to disclose the nature of her special investigation to Stark or the other Secret Service agents. "She's on the phone."

"Here," Diane said, holding out a cup of coffee. "Why don't you take this to her in case she's going to be a while. She's probably ready for it by now."

"Thanks." Blair accepted the mug and turned toward the hallway, but at that moment, Cam walked in.

"Is that for me?"

Blair held it out. "Compliments of Diane."

"Thank you," Cam said before taking a sip. She looked at Stark and said, "Can I see you for two minutes, Chief?"

Stark quickly set her cup aside and bounded up. "Sure thing, Commander."

They walked to the other side of the room and stood facing the balcony. Cam kept her voice low when she spoke. "I'm expecting an agent to meet me here in the next few minutes, so you might alert your ground team. Then I'm going to head over to your apartment for a quick briefing with Savard and Davis. I imagine Blair will want to go to the loft as soon as possible."

"I've got the vehicles standing by, and I called in two extra people from the swing shift," Stark said. "We're covered."

"I'd prefer it if you could wait for me, but I know she's not going to want to. I'll have to meet you there." Cam looked once in Blair's direction and saw that she was deep in conversation with Patrice Hara. "Make sure you check the high ground, Stark, before you let her exit the vehicle."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And send in an advance team to secure the lobby before she enters the building."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And the elevators...Don't forget she gets off last and that you need—" Cam stopped abruptly. "Christ. Sorry."

Stark's eyes never left Cam's face. "I understand, Commander. It never hurts to run through procedures again."

Cam let out a long breath. "I know you know the job, Stark. I, uh...she's just..."

"Yes, ma'am. She is."

"Savard told you about our investigation?" Cam asked, changing the subject with relief.

"Uh..."

"Don't worry—there's no problem there. I advised her to. There's no way we can run an operation of this magnitude without Blair's security team being aware of it. Hell, we're all going to be working and probably living in close proximity for the next few weeks, if not months." She inclined her head toward Patrice and Greg. "They don't need to know the details, but the basics will be apparent. We have to assume that Justice looked at the new team members thoroughly, but I still don't want to take anyone into complete confidence on this except you."

"I'll handle that, Commander."

Cam gave Stark's shoulder a brief squeeze. "Thanks. It helps that you—"

Stark's radio sounded and she listened for a few seconds. "Double-check the ID." She glanced at Cam. "An agent, asking for you." She listened again and raised her eyebrows. "CIA."

"Perfect," Cam muttered. CIA agents were notorious for not being team players. No one in the other services really trusted them, and with good reason. They showed little allegiance to anyone except their own director, never shared intelligence—and what they did share was always suspect. "Do you have a name?"

"Lawrence."

Cam shook her head. The name rang no bells.

"What shall we do with her, Commander?"

"Send her up. We might as well get a look at her."

Stark relayed the message and signed off.

"Kind of strange, isn't it?" Stark asked. "CIA doesn't usually get involved in domestic issues."

"All bets are off, now. And besides," Cam said pointedly, "we have no idea what they might know about the situation that we don't. Let's hope we can work this street both ways and learn as much from them as they think they're going to learn from us."

"Now there's a plan I can get behind."

The buzzer sounded and Cam said, "I should be at the Aerie by 0830."

"Yes, ma'am. See you then."

Cam crossed the living room while the others continued to talk and opened the door. She felt a wave of dizziness, as if the room had suddenly spun three hundred and sixty degrees while she stood rooted in place. Then her natural instincts surfaced and she felt nothing but a cold calm. Valerie looked different than she had ever seen her before. She was just as beautiful—dressed just as elegantly as ever in a Prada business suit and low Ferragamo heels—and her eyes held the same glimmer of compassion that had always drawn Cam in. But this morning she wore a weapon on her right hip, although no one who wasn't very good at detecting such things would have noticed because of the excellent cut of her suit jacket. But the core of steel that Cam always knew Valerie possessed was very close to the surface now. It was evident in the way she stood and in the sheer power of her gaze. She radiated the supreme confidence that some agents had, but few deserved.

"Agent Lawrence," Cam said quietly. "Is it still Valerie?"

"It is, yes."

Cam glanced at her watch. "We have a briefing in twenty minutes, so if you don't mind, I'd like to leave the introductions until later. Although, of course, I'm sure you know everyone's names already."

Valerie's eyes skimmed past Cam to where Diane sat on the sofa, laughing at something that Blair had said. At that instant, Diane turned her head, a look of shock crossing her face when she registered Valerie's presence. Diane stood quickly and took two rapid steps forward, her expression of pleasure quickly turning to one of uncertainty.

"I just need one minute," Valerie said, her gaze still fixed on Diane's face.

Cam didn't need to turn to know who Valerie was looking at. "I'll say goodbye to Blair."

"Valerie?" Diane asked, her voice raised in surprise.

"I only have a few seconds right now," Valerie said quickly. "Everything I said to you was true. But there—"

"What are you doing here?"

"Just listen, Diane." Valerie touched her hand so fleetingly it might have been an accident. "I couldn't tell you everything before. I'm a federal agent. I—"

Diane's expression shut down, her face going as blank as if she'd suddenly donned a mask. "Never mind. I don't want to hear it." She turned abruptly and without a word walked past Cam, who was on her way back to the door.

"Ready?" Cam asked.

"Yes." Valerie watched Diane until she disappeared into the far hallway, then met Cam's gaze without a trace of emotion. "Let's go."

*

They'd been in the car ten minutes before Cam broke the silence. "Why did they bring you in now?"

"Since Tuesday, priorities have changed," Valerie replied.

"You must have been under for a long time to establish Claire's identity. I can't imagine they neutralize your kind of operative's cover lightly."

Valerie put her back against the door to face Cam in the driver's seat. "They don't tell me all the reasons, Cameron. But we all know how important Blair's security is." She saw Cam's hands tighten on the wheel, but continued evenly. "I know the players. And believe it or not, there are people who think that I can be helpful in the situation."

Cam swiveled her head and fixed Valerie with a cold stare before averting her gaze back to the traffic. "Well you know me, don't you?"

"You fell into the net by accident, Cameron. You were never an intended target."

A muscle in Cam's jaw bunched. "And I don't suppose you can tell me who you were supposed to be spying on, can you? When you weren't fucking them, that is."