“Don’t you mean trust you?”

“Yes,” Dana said fiercely. “Yes. Trust me.”

“I don’t know that I can do that.”

The instant Valerie was off the phone, Blair pulled her out of earshot of the others. “Tell me what you know. Whatever it is.”

“Cameron sent a coded digital signal from her cell phone to our base twenty-two minutes ago. The message directs us to secure you here, and lock down the building.”

“That’s it? You didn’t speak to her?”

“No.” Valerie paused, then added, “And I don’t think you should expect to hear anything from her anytime soon.”

Blair fought the surge of nausea. She’d been in this position before. She knew the drill. Communications were a two-way street. Almost any transmission could be diverted, tapped into, decoded. Cam would not risk a security leak in the midst of a crisis. The fact that she had contacted them at all indicated just how serious the situation was. “You can’t call her?”

“You know that I can’t.”

“Do you know where they are?” Blair glanced over at Stark, who stood just inside the door, her hands behind her back, her jaw clenched. Savard was with Cam. Just this morning, Blair had wanted Valerie to go with her. Then it would have been Diane wondering, worrying, fighting back the fear.

“No. We can’t triangulate the signal. It’s intentionally designed not to be traceable.” Valerie lowered her voice. “My feeling is that Cameron believes there’s a major security breach—either here or in Washington. She has access to her phone, which suggests she’s not being detained, and she was able to send us a message, which indicates she’s not badly injured. Both of those facts are very much in her favor.”

“But you think she’s hurt?” Blair asked.

“I don’t know that,” Valerie said firmly. “And speculation will do none of us any good. You need to trust Cameron. She’s very good.”

Blair had the urge to laugh, but it wasn’t because she found anything humorous She was struck by the absolute absurdity of discussing whether her lover might be injured or in grave danger with a woman whom she’d alternately envied and resented. “What if it were Diane out there?”

Valerie’s expression never changed. “Then if I weren’t with her, I would wish that Cameron was.”

“You believe in Cam that much?”

“Don’t you?”

Blair was taken aback by the mildly challenging tone and then answered firmly, “Yes, I do.” She knew it as the absolute truth, and in the knowing, felt her panic subside and calm take its place in the center of her being.

“Well, then,” Valerie said, “I have some calls to make. The moment I know something, I’ll tell you.”

“Thank you.” As Valerie started to turn away, Blair caught her wrist. At the question in Valerie’s eyes, she said, “I’m glad that Cam has you to rely on.”

“I’m not the only one Cameron can count on.” Valerie smiled for the first time. “She has you.”

Chapter Twelve

“How’s your leg holding up?” Cam suspected the accident and the rough terrain they’d been scrambling over were taking a toll on Savard’s barely recuperated knee. Her own body felt as if it had been run over by a truck with very large wheels, but other than being winded from breathing the hot, polluted air, she couldn’t register any serious damage. Savard had only been back to full duty a few weeks, and she probably wouldn’t admit to being injured unless she couldn’t move at all. “We need to secure the road before we call for extraction. I don’t want another team walking into this if there’s a sniper up there.”

“I’ll go,” Savard said.

“That’s not what I asked.”

“I can make it, Commander. And it ought to be me.”

Cam didn’t agree with Savard’s belief that safeguarding Cam was her duty. She also didn’t believe that going up the hill was more dangerous than staying where they were. Anyone still in the area who wanted to be sure they were all dead was probably in the process of working their way down the hillside right now. They would likely approach from their flanks, not from directly ahead. The road above was probably clear, but she needed to be sure. “Go. And don’t trust anyone, no matter who they say they are. Keep your weapon at the ready and signal me.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Savard disappeared into the murky gloom. The burning cars were smoldering now, generating more black greasy smoke than flame. The night was closing in around her, and Cam was suddenly aware of being in the mountains in November. It was damn cold. She was in shirtsleeves, and her trousers were soaked from crawling through snow-covered brush. She checked on the two injured agents. Both were either unconscious or asleep. They had been wearing trench coats that they’d removed in the SUV, and now both were dangerously exposed. She needed to get these men to a hospital, but she didn’t want to get them killed in her haste to save them. Savard had been gone a few minutes, long enough to have reached the road. Cam was about to start after her when a shower of rocks cascaded down the slope followed by Savard tumbling out of the darkness to land by her side.

“The road is empty, Commander. There’s no guardrail where we went over and nothing to really show that we did, except some debris on the side of the road. It’s so foggy, I don’t think the smoke is all that noticeable to any cars passing by. That’s probably why no one has shown up yet.”

“People have gone off these highways and been trapped in their vehicles for days before rescue teams ever found them,” Cam said. “Tonight, that works in our favor.” She removed her cell phone from her pocket and dialed a Washington extension. The phone was answered on the second ring. “This is Cameron Roberts. I need an alpha-level extraction team, including a med-evac helicopter. Engaging the GPS now.”

“That signal is going to light up for anyone looking for us,” Savard said when Cam disconnected.

“Let’s hope our team wins the race,” Cam said.

“How long, do you figure?”

“She’ll probably send a chopper from Langley. Maybe thirty minutes.” Cam settled down on her stomach to wait, facing upward where she could see anyone who approached from above. “Keep an eye on those guys and make sure they stay close together to conserve body warmth.”

“What about you?”

“I’ve been colder.” Cam remembered the frigid waters of the Atlantic and how very much she never wanted to be that cold again. She needed to stay alert now, because she had to be sure that the next people coming down the slope were there to take care of her injured escorts and get her and Savard out of there. She couldn’t afford to let herself get too comfortable, so maybe the bone-chilling weather wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “You watch sectors twelve o’clock through six, I’ll take the other half.”

“I’m on it.” A minute later, Savard added, “And, Commander? You know that request I made about more fieldwork? I’d like to reconsider.”

Cam laughed, knowing that Savard wouldn’t want to be anywhere other than where she was right now. In some ways, she felt the same. This was what she was trained for. This was what it meant to live her beliefs. And if there had only been herself to consider, she wouldn’t even be particularly worried. She did not fear death, although she had no desire to die. She wanted to live a long time and share every moment she possibly could with Blair. And above all else, she wanted to spare Blair the agony she knew Blair would feel if she did not return from a mission. She couldn’t imagine losing Blair—in fact, even contemplating it was more than she could tolerate. Without taking her eyes off the murky shadows around her, she said, “Forget changing your duty request, Savard. I’m afraid you just proved you’re combat ready.”

Savard’s quiet laughter pushed back the cold and made the dark just a bit less impenetrable.

“How are you doing?” Valerie asked, joining Diane where she stood before the fireplace. Although the room hadn’t been cold, she’d asked Diane to start a fire to chase away some of the gloom. Earlier, she’d ordered the blinds closed against the possibility of outside surveillance, which had added to the claustrophobic atmosphere in Blair’s loft. Although she trusted the bulletproof glass to stop most small weapons fire, she didn’t trust it to stop a surface-to-surface missile. And it was well past time to anticipate an attack from unexpected sources.

Diane took Valerie’s hand and leaned closer to her. “I feel guilty for being glad you’re here and not out there with Cam and Renee. Isn’t that horrible?”

“No,” Valerie whispered. She wanted to hold her. She wanted to kiss her. She also wanted to tell her that everything would be all right, but she didn’t. Lies came easily to her, because altering others’ perception of reality was what she was good at. So good that few people even knew who she was. That skill had suited her very well up until now—more than once the ability to make others believe a lie had saved her life. Now, what mattered most was that Diane never doubt she was telling the truth. “When I got the emergency evac signal, I ordered Stark’s team to secure not just Blair but everyone with her because I knew the team would keep you safe too. Not strictly protocol.” She brushed a quick kiss over Diane’s hand. “But I didn’t care. I need you to be safe.”

“Do you think they’re all right?” Diane asked.

“Everything I know tells me they’re in trouble, but able to maneuver. If Cameron has any opportunity at all to gain the upper hand, she will.”

“I know it’s going to be hours, maybe days before this is resolved, and you need to be here.” Diane caressed Valerie’s face fleetingly. “But after that, I need you to come to me. Promise me that you will.”

Valerie didn’t hesitate, because this was a truth she embraced without question. “I will. I love you.”