CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Cam turned on her side, her cheek resting on Blair's lower abdomen. Sighing, she murmured drowsily, "Why is that I can't remember what I was so worried about ten minutes ago?"

Blair threaded her fingers through Cam's hair and drew the damp strands over her palm. "Sex does that. It melts your synapses, at least it does when we do it."

"Well, I’d better get my brain reconnected." Cam pushed herself upright, her hand trailing lightly up and down Blair's bare thigh. "I need to review the Paris itinerary with Mac tonight and be sure everything is in place since I won't be go..."

"If you don't go, I don't go," Blair said with absolute finality.

Cam turned your head and studied her lover, who still reclined among the displaced cushions, her clothes disheveled, her color still high with their lingering passion. She was beautiful and strong and everything that mattered in Cam's life.

"You have to go."

"No, I don't. It's a public relations trip and there are plenty of other people my father or rather, Lucinda, can tap to make nice to the French President and whoever else needs to be stroked. It doesn't have to be me, and it's not going to be me—not unless you go as my security chief."

Cam raised an eyebrow. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you nearly freeze me out a month ago after I took the reassignment as your security chief?"

"That was different," Blair said calmly. "That was your choice, and you made it without my input. You were wrong."

Momentarily, Cam was silent, and then she said, "You're right. You were right then, too. I'm sorry."

Blair found Cam's hand and squeezed it. "I know. And it's over. This is something entirely different. You are being targeted, and by someone who has a personal agenda. If not Doyle directly, then someone who Doyle or one of his friends is twisting too. It's wrong, and I won't let that happen. I won't be a willing party to this kind of political terrorism."

"Have I mentioned lately that I love you?" Cam asked, her throat tight again, not with want this time but with gratitude and wonder.

"You mentioned it. In fact, you just showed me."

"I don't know at this point that there's anything we can do to stop my suspension."

"Does this new information about Doyle help at all?"

Cam shook her head. "It explains some things, but I don't think it gives us any particular ammunition. Now I know why Doyle has always had it in for me, and in all likelihood he's the one who ordered the surveillance of you and me in San Francisco. That's got Bureau written all over it. I doubt that he's the only one behind the investigation into the escort service, though. And if we're going to fight back, we need to know the power behind the entire operation."

"I want to come with you tomorrow when you go to Treasu..."

She was interrupted by the ringing of the phone.

Leaning on her side, she fumbled with one hand on the end table until she found the receiver. "Blair Powell," she said abruptly. After a second, she continued, “Yes... no, it's fine...come up now."

She set down the phone and sat up on the sofa, rapidly buttoning her shirt. Reaching for her jeans, she said, "Time to get yourself together, Commander. The troops are returning."

"Felicia has something," Mac said before the door had closed behind him and Felicia.

Felicia, who managed to retain her composed, elegant appearance despite having worked more than 15 hours, smiled back at his obvious excitement. "I've narrowed down the origin of the emails," she explained as she and Mac walked to the sofas and the four of them sat down, Mac and Felicia facing Cam and Blair across the coffee table.

"Where?" Cam asked, trying to ignore the first flutter of hope in her chest.

"I've got bundled transmissions from the Bureau director, the deputy attorney general's office in Justice, and two Senate committees."

"Which committees?" Blair asked sharply.

"Intelligence and Arms."

“Specifics?” Cam probed.

"Unfortunately, no,” Felicia replied. “I can't narrow down individuals because I've essentially got to search every file."

"How long?" Cam inquired, her face grim.

"I don't know. I could get lucky and hit right away, or it could take... days."

It's over. Cam straightened, tapping her palms on her thighs briskly. "Well, that's it then. I'd say you've done about all you can do. I appreciate your efforts."

Glancing at Mac, studiously avoiding Blair's piercing gaze, she said, "I'll need to review the details of the transition with you, Mac, before you take over."

"Commander," he protested.

"It's got to be done, Mac." She glanced at her watch. It was 11:15 p.m. "We're out of time."

"What about Stark and Savard?" Blair interrupted. "Have they turned up anything else in the background checks?"

"No, and neither have I." Mac shook his head dispiritedly. "They’ve pretty much cleared Fielding, which we expected. I ran down everything I could think of on the reporter in Chicago. I can't find a link."

"There must be something there, Mac," Blair insisted. "What about his friends or associates?"

"It would take too long to run that kind of search, and I calculated the yield would be too low." He slipped his PDA from his shirt pocket and tapped through several items. "The guy's clean. Married, couple of little kids. Freelances out of Chicago."

"What about his wife?" Cam asked. "Anything there?"

Mack shook his head, reading from the screen. "Not that I can see. They were married four years ago. Wife Patricia, maiden name Carpenter, educated..."

"Patty Carpenter? College at Amherst?"

Mac's head snapped up. "That's right."

"God," Blair breathed. It was her turn to stand and pace. She walked from the group to the windows, needing a semblance of space and air. Even the huge loft seemed suddenly too small. As she considered the new information, she ran her fingers over the double-paned bullet proof glass. She was beginning to see how all of this had come about, but what to do about it wasn't as simple as she had imagined it would be. Knowing did not make the solution all that easy. She jumped, startled, when Cam came to her side.

"What is it?"

"I know her. And I think I know how her husband came to have that photograph of us."

"But?" Cam asked gently, sensing Blair's struggle.

Blair took a deep breath and turned to search Cam's eyes. They were tender, patient, giving her time to decide. And in the deep, uncompromising love she found there, she found her answers.

"But nothing, really. Your reputation, your career, is at risk here. Our relationship is at least in danger of being interrupted by negative publicity and pressure from any number of quarters. I can't let that happen."

"It's a friend, isn't it?"

"Yes," Blair sighed, resting her palm on Cam's chest, her fingers gently stroking, "it's a friend. And you're my lover."

"Blair, we can find a way through this. I don't want you to betray..."

"Cameron," Blair said with a fond shake of her head. "When are you going to learn that you are the one thing that matters more to me than anything in this world?"

Without waiting for Cam's answer, she walked back to Felicia and Mac, who were pointedly not looking in their direction.

"Mac, try cross-referencing those two committees with the name Gerald Wallace."

Mac's eyebrows flew up, and even Felicia's normally calm countenance registered surprise. "Senator Wallace?"

"Yes," Blair said.

"With a name to follow," Felicia commented as she stood, smoothing the lines of her skirt over long slender thighs, "I might have something for you within a few hours."

"Senator Wallace," Mac repeated. "There’s been a low level hum for months that he’ll challenge your father for the nomination. Jesus Christ, this is going to get ugly."

Cam moved to Blair's side, and rested her fingers lightly on the back of Blair's hand. "Let's try to see that it doesn't. Keep this totally under wraps. Advise Stark and Savard, but nothing gets written down. Reset the hard drives, and only one hardcopy to me along with all the disks," she advised.

"I can guarantee our security here," Felicia said without hesitation.

"Good. I'll be here when you have something."

The two agents nodded and departed. Cam turned to Blair and said, "Can you tell me now what's going on?"

Blair sat heavily on the sofa, extending one hand for Cam to join her. When they were both settled, facing one another, Blair said quietly, "Gerald Wallace is AJ's father."

"Ah...and how did you make the connection?"

"Patty and AJ were roommates at Amherst. That's why she used Patty's husband...because he would hold off on a follow-up story if AJ asked him to, whereas any other reporter would have kept digging."

"It fits," Cam mused. "That explains why the media interest in you has been pretty low-key, too, despite that one photo in the Star. There hasn't been anything else to chase." She grimaced. "Of course, they'll still want their story."

"That explains why AJ didn't call me, too. She warned me in the only way she could without betraying her father. I doubt that she ever thought we would figure it out and uncover his involvement."

"Christ, if Justice and the Bureau and Wallace have been colluding to covertly investigate political figures on the Hill, including the president, it's going to be a scandal of major proportions."

"And if it comes out that AJ was the leak, she's going to lose her job." Blair tightened her grip on Cam's hand. "I don't want that to happen, Cam. She was trying to help me. I can imagine how hard it must've been for her to send me information when it endangered her father's career. I can't turn around and destroy hers."

"It might be better if we just did nothing," Cam said resignedly. "I can weather a Justice inquiry."

"Not if the cards are stacked against you," Blair protested. "You know and I know and everyone involved knows that your actions were perfectly appropriate during the entire Loverboy operation. But if Doyle has enough pull to get you investigated, who knows what the outcome might be? We can't chance that."

"But if it means we can avoid creating a public scandal that might extend even further than we imagine, I'll chance it." Cam ran the hand that was not clasping Blair's over her face. "I have a responsibility to the Agency, to the system, and I don't want to put it on public trial for my own personal benefit. I'm willing to risk the inquiry."

"Well, I'm not," Blair said softly, lifting her free hand to run it through Cam's hair. "Not when it's you. Besides, it's not just a Justice inquiry. God knows what they're going to do with the information about you and the escort service, or how they might try to link me to it."

"If I can get hard facts, I'll go to Carlisle before Justice convenes tomorrow," Cam said, thinking aloud. "It's possible with that kind of ammunition he can stop the inquiry before it becomes a matter of record. I'm not sure yet what we can do about the rest of it."

"I might have some ideas," Blair said.

"I don't suppose there's any chance that I can talk you into staying out of this, is there?"

Blair smiled softly and kissed her. When she drew back, she said, "Not a chance in hell."

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 584