Oath of Honor

“Detained, at the very least.”

“Can we trust him—”

“Her.”

Russo rubbed his eyes and fought down the wave of anger. “You

entrusted something of this magnitude to a woman?”

“Believe me, she’s qualified.”

“Apparently not that well qualified. What about the specimen?”

“Confiscated.”

“You’re telling me that all this time and money has been

wasted?”

Hooker’s mouth tightened. “I advised you against a plan this

complex. Too many ways for it to go sideways.”

“How did they find out?”

“I don’t know. It’s going to take me some time to get back

inside.”

Russo tightened his fist. “You need to see that none of this comes

back on us.”

Hooker smiled. “Already being done.”

“And how much is that going to cost me?”

“The same as my original fee.”

“The next time,” Russo said, making sure the threat was apparent

in his voice, “I’ll expect no mistakes.”

“Next time, maybe you’ll take my advice and use something more

straightforward and dependable.” Hooker tossed back his drink and

slapped the glass down on the expensive wood top with a sharp clink.

“Like a rifle.”

“I don’t like loose ends,” Russo said.

“Neither do I. There aren’t going to be any.”

Russo unlocked his bottom right-hand desk drawer and sorted

through the cash. He relocked the drawer, walked around the desk, and

• 271 •

RADCLYfFE

handed the money to Hooker. “Merry Christmas. I’ll have Derrick see

you out.”

v

Blair jumped to her feet as Cam strode into Lucinda’s office.

“You’re not hurt?”

“No.” Cam kissed her quickly. “We’re all okay. Evyn Daniels has

a flesh wound, but she should be fine.”

“And the virus?” Lucinda said, coming around to the front of her

desk. “Contained?”

“All but a certainty,” Cam said. “We’ve all been cultured, but the

lab reported the vial appeared to be intact. They say the likelihood of

infection is very low.”

“Good news, then,” Blair said.

Cam grimaced. “Not exactly.”

Lucinda straightened. “What?”

“I don’t suppose you have anything stronger than coffee?”

Lucinda smiled faintly and gestured to the two chairs in front of

her desk. “Both of you, go ahead and sit.” She walked back around to

the other side. “Scotch work for you?”

“Sounds perfect.”

“Blair?”

“No. Thanks.”

Cam settled into the chair and leaned her head back with a sigh.

Blair eased onto the arm and stroked Cam’s hair. “You’ve been at it for

hours. You need a break.”

“I’m okay.” Cam opened her eyes and smiled up at her. “How are

you doing?”

“Fine, now that you’re here. We only got a partial report from the

field, and when they said an agent had been wounded, I had a couple

of bad moments.”

“I’m sorry, I called as soon as I could, but—”

“I know. You can’t stop in the middle of what you’re doing to

check in with me.” Blair slid her arm around Cam’s shoulders and

leaned down to kiss her. “So I’m just going to have to worry once in a

while. I can handle it.”

Cam gripped her hand. “I’ll try not to make it too often.”

• 272 •

Oath Of hOnOr

“Deal.”

“Here you are.” Lucinda held out a short heavy glass filled with

an inch of amber liquid.

“Thanks.” Cam swallowed down half. “I don’t think there’s

anything quite as scary as fanatics. Practically impossible to interrogate.

They can’t be intimidated, and when they’re absolutely certain they’re

right—which is always—they’ll protect the rest of their bunch no

matter the consequences.”

“I take it the lieutenant isn’t talking?” Lucinda asked.

“Oh, she’s talking,” Cam said. “She’s adamant she had no idea

what was in the package, that she’d never met the man in the diner

before, and she only drew her weapon because she felt threatened by

Agent Daniels.”

Blair snorted. “You’re kidding me, right? We’re supposed to

believe that she thought Evyn was going to accost her? What about the

virus?”

“She insists she thought she was carrying a gift from her sister.

Unfortunately, the taped phone conversation from last night could be

construed as supporting that story.”

“Oh sure, right. How does she explain this guy passing her the

vial, then?”

“She claims she’s an unwitting victim in a scheme to spread the

virus in the White House. According to her, the real boyfriend is still en

route—and this guy hacked her e-mail to look for a cover story.”

“They’re smart,” Blair snarled. “While it’s a little outrageous, it

could be possible.”

Lucinda tapped her fingers on her desk. “What do we have for

leverage to force her to cooperate?”

“Right now? Not much—the lab tech, Angela Jones, disappeared

the same day the virus went missing. We’ve got her name and her

suspected association with Jennifer Pattee. We’ll work that. And we

have Pattee’s contact in custody.” Cam set the unfinished scotch on

Lucinda’s desk. “And there’s the other problem. He says he was hired

to make the delivery yesterday—that a friend of a friend called him and

offered him ten grand to meet a woman and pass her a package.”

“He’s claiming to know nothing of what was in the package?”

Lucinda asked.

“According to him,” Cam said, “he’s just a messenger.”

• 273 •