06. Honor Under Siege - Неизвестный

“Thank you.” Valerie met Cam’s eyes. “I know you don’t have to do this, any of this. I’m sure you were told to just turn me over to whoever’s on top of the security heap at the moment.”

Cam smiled grimly. “That would be me.”

“I hope it stays that way.” Valerie’s tone was wistful. “Thank you, Cameron. I’ll be right back.”

“Oh God,” Diane whispered, rising slowly to her feet as Valerie stepped into the room.

Blair hesitated for a second, then rose and gave Diane a quick hug. “I’ll see you later.” She left Valerie and Diane alone in the dimly lit room.

Neither moved at first.

“Were you ever coming back?” Diane asked.

“I wanted to.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Valerie shivered. “I was afraid you’d get hurt.”

Diane lifted a log and laid it on the ones already burning. “Come over here by the fire. You’re cold.” When she felt Valerie beside her, she turned to touch her face. “Are you all right?”

“A little tired.” Valerie caught Diane’s hand and brushed her lips across the palm. “I missed you so much.”

“I don’t know what to do first,” Diane confessed. “I want to feed you. You look too thin. I want to hold you. Your hands are so cold. I want you to hold me. I feel…so empty.”

“First things first.” Valerie pulled Diane firmly into her arms.

Diane gave a small cry and slid both hands under the back of Valerie’s jacket, then buried her face in Valerie’s neck. “I don’t care what happens after this, but you are not disappearing again.”

Valerie caressed Diane’s hair, sifting the sleek blond strands through her fingers. “I’d promise you that, if I could.”

A tremulous smile countered the sadness in Diane’s eyes. “Blair says you and Cam are the best at what you do. So the two of you should be able to figure something out.”

“Cam’s waiting to talk to me.” Valerie couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Diane again, especially knowing that it could be hours before she could return. And hours was the best she could hope for. Agents whose loyalties were in question had been known to be sequestered for weeks. Sometimes months. She had to believe that Cam would not do that to her, and she wagered everything that mattered to her on that belief. “I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

“She’s not going to take you away, is she?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did you come? Was it because of the newspaper article? I didn’t know—”

“When I first read it,” Valerie said, instinctively pulling Diane closer, “I thought you were hurt and I nearly went crazy. I spent half a day frantically making calls and tapping into some old sources, but no one could find an accident or police report involving you. So I realized the article was phony, but I was still worried in case it was a half truth. I had to know you were okay.”

“I’m so sorry,” Diane said. “Cam didn’t tell me what she’d done, or I would have found a way to call you.”

Valerie smiled. “That’s why she didn’t tell you.”

Diane’s eyes darkened. “You’re not angry at her?”

“I figured she had probably planted the article. Either that, or someone else trying to flush me out had.” Valerie sighed and leaned in to Diane, more tired than she’d realized. “I was running out of options. It seemed like the time to come in. Besides, I missed you.”

“Cam said you would understand what she’d done and why, and even though I don’t approve of being used to trick you, I’m so very glad you’re here.” Diane brushed her fingers through Valerie’s hair. “And I’m not letting Cam or anyone else take you away from me again.”

“I need to go talk to her.”

“I’ll be upstairs. The last door on the right. Come to me.”

“Are you sure?”

Diane put her arms around Valerie’s shoulders and kissed her, a soft lingering kiss. “Never, ever more certain.”

“Scotch?” Cam closed the kitchen door after Valerie. “There’s a good bottle in the cupboard over there.”

“Now that I could use. Join me?”

Cam nodded. She watched Valerie take glasses down from the cupboard, add ice cubes, and pour the smoky liquor. She’d seen her do exactly the same thing dozens of times before, but more than just the circumstances had changed. Valerie looked different, too. It wasn’t simply that her clothes were far more casual than anything Cam had seen her wear even when she wasn’t working, or that her silky, platinum hair was far shorter than she had ever worn it. It would take more than jeans and a short haircut to hide Valerie’s cool elegance. She wasn’t just thinner, she was leaner and tauter, and she moved with a sense of suppressed anger and almost lethal purpose that Cam associated with caged animals. Valerie might not be caged, but she was being hunted.

“Just to be clear, I don’t intend to turn you over to anyone,” Cam said.

Valerie held out the Scotch. “You don’t know what I have to say, yet.”

“Who’s after you?”

“Several different parties.” Valerie sat down across the wide oak table from Cam and contemplated her Scotch. “The Company, for certain. My handler has been leaving messages at drop points for me to come in.”

“Henry?”

Valerie smiled bitterly. “Well, that’s what I’ve always called him.”

“You don’t trust him now?”

Valerie turned the heavy crystal glass slowly between her hands. Her fingers, much like the rest of her body, were long and thin, but not delicate. “It’s unusual for him to insist on a face-to-face. In fact, in all the years I’ve worked with him we’ve only met a handful of times. Now he’s making urgent requests for a rendezvous.”

“A trap?”

“That’s what it feels like,” Valerie said with a shrug. “But a trap set by whom? Matheson because he’s working with Henry? Or the Company, because they want me in for a debriefing? Because they think I tipped off Matheson.”

“They want you for some reason.”

“Yes, and if the Company’s involved, I know what will happen if I go in. Believe me, I don’t have any desire to disappear, even temporarily.”

Cam saw no reason to protest what they both knew was possible. Agents suspected of turning were forcibly detained, debriefed, and sometimes, expunged. “Henry could want you to come in for protection from Matheson.”

“I’d like to think that.” Valerie took a slow swallow of Scotch and shook her head. “But I’d be foolish to assume that just because we’ve had a professional association for twenty years that we’re friends. If he’s Matheson’s connection, I’m a liability now.”

“That’s why you’re better off here.” Cam finished her drink. “We had an incident in Boston the other night. An armed assailant penetrated our perimeter and got off a couple of shots before we contained him.”

“Who was the target?”

“We don’t know. Emory Constantine, a high profile and not so popular stem cell researcher, was with us. It might have been her. It might have Blair. It might even have been Diane.”

“Diane?” Valerie’s face became expressionless, as cool as carved marble. “What would be the point? If someone took her out, they’d have nothing to hold over my head.”

“No one? Family? Old lovers?”

An old sorrow seemed to claim Valerie for a split second, softening her features. “You of all people should know that other than you, there’s no one. Only Diane. You had someone guarding her?”

“Savard. We were lucky, there.” Cam grimaced. “It’s possible Matheson plans to clean house and take us all down.”

“Then we need to get to him first.”

“We might not be able to unless we force Henry to roll over. Do you have any idea how we can find him?”

Valerie shook her head. “I never once met him in an office. He could be stationed in California for all I know. God, Cameron, the man has run my life since I was a teenager and I don’t even know his full name.” She laughed harshly, her eyes bleak. “What kind of fool does that make me?”

“We both know that’s not what it’s about.” Cam extended her hand across the table and Valerie clasped her fingers fleetingly. “You’ve done a job most of us couldn’t do far longer than anyone should have to. That doesn’t make you a fool in my book, it makes you a hero.”

“Thank you,” Valerie whispered.

“I take it you’ve tried to locate him some other way than through a meet?”

“I was hoping to discover his identity and I’ve called in every marker I have. Or thought I had.” Valerie’s disillusionment shone through beneath the composed façade she wore so effortlessly. “I’ve tried every source I know, but in the last few weeks, those have mysteriously dried up. Contact numbers are no longer in service, bank accounts are suddenly closed, drop boxes have new locks.”

“You’re being cut off.”

Valerie nodded. “It could still just be to force me to make contact, or it could be the first step in removing me.”

“I don’t suppose you have a photograph?”

“No, and it’s not like the Company keeps a roster of employees that I could go through.”

Cam laughed. “Now, that would defeat the purpose of being a spy, wouldn’t it?”

“A spy,” Valerie said wryly. “Operative sounds so much better.”

“Let’s assume Matheson and Henry are working together—it’s the most probable scenario. So, if we find one, we find the other.”

“Any progress on your end?”

Cam scowled. “We’re accumulating a file on Matheson’s associates as far back as twenty-five years. It’s slow going, but I’ll want you to look through everything Felicia and Savard have put together so far. Unfortunately, some of the photographs are going to be of boys or much younger men than they’re likely to be now.”

“Perhaps Felicia can use age simulator software to project present appearances for any possibles.”

“We might be able to do something even better,” Cam said slowly as she stood. “It’s almost midnight. I’d like you to brief with us in the morning. 0600 in the guest house.”

“Are you sure? Savard and Felicia might not be quite as trusting as you are,” Valerie pointed out.

“I disagree, but either way, it’s not their choice.”

Valerie rose. “You’re taking a chance, Cameron, and I know that. I want you to know I appreciate—”

“Don’t insult me, Valerie.” Cam lightly touched her fingertips to Valerie’s cheek. “Get some sleep.” Then she dropped her hand and walked away.

Valerie waited until she heard Cam’s footsteps disappear before following down the hallway and up the stairs. As she passed the room that she knew was Blair’s, she recognized Blair’s sensuous alto and then Cam’s slightly deeper tones. The sound of Cam’s voice in a phone message had once stirred her heart and her blood. Now, it filled her with a sense of comfort and safety. Wondering if that was fair, but being glad for it nonetheless, she continued to the last door on the right and knocked quietly before letting herself in.

The room was lit by a bedside lamp. Diane was in bed, a sheet pulled to her waist. Her breasts formed soft curves beneath a pale peach camisole. Valerie sat on the side of the bed and took her hand. “There’s part of me that thinks I shouldn’t be here.”

“What does the other part think?”

“That it’s the only place in the world I want to be.”

Diane drew back the covers. “That’s the part I’d listen to, if I were you.”

“All right,” Valerie whispered softly.

She stood and unbuttoned her blouse, unhooked her bra, and let them fall to the floor behind her. She unzipped her jeans, pushed them down along with her panties, and stepped out of them. Watching Diane watch her, she was surprised to feel her body quicken when for so long the only sensations she’d been aware of were fatigue and desperate sadness. She turned off the light and slipped into bed. Then she did something she’d never done before. She pulled Diane on top of her and guided Diane’s hand between her thighs.

“Please make love to me. I need you.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Monday

“Any response from Lawrence on your request for a meeting?” Matheson inquired via his disposable cell phone.

“Not yet.”

Matheson sipped his coffee and watched the traffic on Main Street through the diner window in the small seaside town. A waitress slid a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of him. He made eye contact when he thanked her.

“You’re very welcome.” The brunette offered him a sultry smile as she lingered by the red leather booth made shiny by years of bodies slipping in and out.

He held her gaze for a few seconds, noting the invitation in her eyes while surveying her full breasts and curvaceous hips. His penis lengthened, reminding him that it had been some time since he’d satisfied his needs. He made a mental note to take care of that, then looked away, dismissing her from his thoughts. “Why do you think your operative is ignoring your direct order?”

“Because she’s one of our best,” the man snapped. Then, as if regretting his outburst, he added in a conciliatory tone, “The leak came too soon after her report to me for her not to be suspicious, but I didn’t have a choice. If Special Forces hadn’t moved on the compound so quickly, I might have been able to find another way to warn you, but Roberts’s team was far more effective than we anticipated. I didn’t have time for a cover story, and I didn’t think you’d enjoy captivity.”

“It’s never wise to underestimate the enemy,” Matheson said mildly, spearing a fluffy mound of egg. “It’s unfortunate that eliminating her will cost us an inside link to several of our primary targets, but the longer she stays alive, the greater the likelihood you’ll be compromised.”

“I’ve warned her she’s in danger, but she won’t agree to a meet.” “You’re not using the right enticement.” “What do you suggest?”

Matheson told him, disconnected, and punched in another number. “He has forty-eight hours to take care of his mess, then we’ll clean house ourselves, starting with him.”

“Yes sir. It’s a pleasure to serve you, sir.”

“Valerie?” Diane called urgently in the dark. The bed beside her was warm, but empty. The nightmare of the past few weeks instantly closed in around her, and she felt as if she were smothering. Bolting upright, she gasped, “Oh God.”

“I’m here.” Valerie hurried to the side of the bed and pulled Diane into her arms. “I found some clothes I’d left here last month, and I was trying not to wake you while I dressed.”

“Where are you going?”

“A briefing with Cameron.”

Diane held her tightly, running her hands over Valerie’s back. She wore only a snug tank top and panties. “You’re cold. Go finish dressing.”

Valerie pulled the covers back and slid underneath. “I frightened you. I’m sorry.”

Diane shook her head. “Just for a second. I wish you didn’t have to go.”

“I’ll be back.” Valerie stretched out above Diane and kissed her throat. “I wouldn’t leave now except I might be able to help.”