a little like a fish out of water. The entire fabric of her professional
life—which was her life—had shifted precipitously. She was still a
doctor, still a naval officer, but she had been transported out of the
highly structured world of military hierarchy into what felt like a new
society where the rules weren’t clear and no one was filling her in.
To dispel the undercurrent of anxiety, she fell back on what she knew
best—discipline, order, and medicine.
As she’d mentally run down the things she wanted to do to fine-
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tune the medical unit, her thoughts kept wandering off to Evyn. Snippets
of their first encounter, their first meal, their first fight, their first touch
kept jumping into her mind. Flashes of Evyn’s faintly teasing smile, the
challenge in her deep blue eyes, her certainty about her job—everything
about her stirred her. Spending time with Evyn had been easy, natural.
Exciting. And considering their positions and the specter of a security
breach hanging over every member of the team, including Evyn, very
ill-advised. No matter she couldn’t imagine Evyn violating her oath,
she needed to keep perspective, and the only way she could do that was
by maintaining professional distance.
Finally, to distract herself from thoughts of Evyn and a disquieting
buzz in her belly, she’d texted her youngest sister Denny, a night nursing
supervisor at Methodist Hospital, who was usually able to chat when
her patients were all asleep.
Hey, you busy?
Got a minute. Why are you awake so late?
New post. Can’t shut off my head.
Not like you. Something wrong?
Nah. Not really. How’s everyone?
We’re good. Miss you. You’re going to make it home for
Christmas?
not looking good miss you too
will mail leftovers
can’t wait
Gotta go. Call—call me. Don’t stress. Love you.
Her sister had provided enough diversion that she’d been able to
fall asleep. But as she rode the elevator down to the lobby, her thoughts
returned to Evyn. She looked forward to seeing her. Spending time
with Evyn was exhilarating—in one moment Evyn was a highly trained
professional, demanding and a little arrogant, in the next personable,
funny, a little flirtatious. Wes never knew what to expect, and she
always knew what to expect. She planned everything and lived by her
plans. She’d just discovered uncertainty was damned exciting.
Right now, though, she’d settle for boring routine over a new test
of her fitness for her post, but what she’d like and what she got were
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often different. She pushed through the revolving door and stepped out
onto the sidewalk at precisely 0600. Ten seconds later, a black SUV
pulled up and the rear door swung open. Wes walked over and saw
Evyn in the back beside Gary. “Morning.”
“Morning,” Evyn said.
“Hi, Doc,” Gary echoed.
Wes settled down across from Evyn and the vehicle pulled away.
Evyn pointed to the newspaper in her lap. “Want a section?”
Wes smiled and slid an e-reader from her pocket. “I took your
advice and picked this up yesterday at one of the bookstores.”
“Smart.”
“What? Taking your advice or getting the reader?”
Evyn laughed. “Both.”
Gary’s gaze flicked back and forth between them, a glint of
curiosity in his warm brown eyes. Wes opened the reader and selected
the Washington Post app she’d downloaded the evening before.
Skimming through the sections with a flick of her fingertip, she asked,
“Where we going?”
“Kitty Hawk, North Carolina,” Evyn replied, surprising Wes with
an answer.
“That’s a long ride.” Wes tried to remember what was in Kitty
Hawk besides a nearby Coast Guard station.
“We’re not driving the entire way.” Evyn folded the newspaper
vertically, as if she was going to read it in sections like a subway rider.
“What’s in Kitty Hawk?” Wes asked.
“Ocean,” Evyn said.
Gary laughed.
“I didn’t bring a suit.”
“That’s okay. The water’s pretty warm this time of year.”
“It’s December,” Wes pointed out.
“Believe it or not, water temperatures average over sixty degrees
in December in that area. Something about the Gulf Stream.” Evyn
looked up from her newspaper, her eyes dancing. “You’re a sailor.
You’re not afraid of a little water, are you?”
“Just because I’m in the navy doesn’t mean I enjoy being cold
and wet.”
“I promise we won’t let you drown, or freeze.”
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“I feel so much better. What are we doing?”
“Water block.” Evyn went back to her newspaper.
“I gathered it had something to do with water. I don’t suppose you
could be any more specific?”
Evyn smiled above the newspaper. She was enjoying this, the power
play, and Wes was too, even though Evyn wasn’t playing by the rules
Wes was used to. She followed the commands of others and expected
her own orders to be obeyed without question. She understood and
accepted the reasons why. The military was a huge organization whose
effectiveness was dependent upon coordinated action and instantaneous
response, a hierarchy that could only function if orders were immutable.
Otherwise, chaos reigned, missions failed, and causalities resulted. Part
of what made the system work was accurate intel and preparedness.
In contrast, Evyn gave her no operation details—Evyn not only
didn’t brief her, she purposefully kept her in the dark. Evyn was testing
her without giving her the benefit of bringing her best game. She should
have been pissed off, but she wasn’t really. If she’d felt she was being
set up to fail, she would have resisted, but she sensed no malice from
Evyn, despite Evyn’s friendship with Peter Chang. They were playing
war games, a challenge Wes enjoyed, and she intended to prove herself.
Evyn was enjoying herself too, and Wes liked being part of Evyn’s
pleasure. That was a thought she wasn’t going to study too carefully right
now. She settled back and scanned the news. The vehicle slowed and
she looked up. Evyn was watching her, her expression contemplative.
Wes raised a brow. “What?”
“You look relaxed.” Evyn sounded surprised.
“Shouldn’t I be?”
“You’re not annoyed any longer.”
Wes smiled. “Would it do me any good?”
Evyn grinned. “No.”
“Then why bother?”
“You’re pretty sure of yourself.”
Wes glanced at Gary, who stared straight ahead as if he were deaf
and their conversation wasn’t happening inches away. Maybe he really
wasn’t listening. Privacy took on a different meaning for these two,
apparently. She shrugged. “All I can do is my best.”
“Do you always bring your best game?”
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Wes didn’t do humble when it wasn’t true. “Always.”
“To everything?”
“Don’t you?”
“Damn straight.”
Wes laughed. “Then we’re not so different.”
“Maybe not,” Evyn said softly.
The SUV slowed onto the airport exit, and Wes pocketed her
e-reader. She grabbed her overnight bag, followed Evyn and Gary into
the airport, and went through the line while they cleared their weapons
with security. The flight got off on time, and one hundred and twenty-
six minutes later, they landed in Charlotte.
When they walked outside, a sun-washed blonde climbed out of
the driver’s side of a white Ford Explorer and approached with long,
graceful strides. She looked to be mid-thirties, tanned, and was dressed
in light blue cotton pants and a long-sleeved white T-shirt with a logo
over the left breast reading Ocean Rescue Center. “Agent Daniels,
Agent Brown—good to see you again.”
“Hi, Cord.” Evyn indicated Wes. “Dr. Cordelia Williams, Dr.
Wes Masters. Cord is an oceanographer and an environmental medical
specialist.”
Cord said, “Good to meet you.”
“Same here,” Wes said. “What came first—medicine or the sea?”
“Medicine—then I saw the light.” Cord grinned and shepherded
them toward the vehicle. “Glad the flight was on time for a change—
we’ve got a lot planned. Weather report says breezy and unseasonably
warm, but a cold front is moving up the coast. Good conditions for
riptides.”
Evyn grinned. “Sounds perfect.”
“Does that mean no riptides?” Wes asked as she climbed into the
back after Evyn. Gary rode shotgun.
“No, it generally means strong ones.”
“Perfect all right,” Wes muttered, and Evyn laughed softly.
The cargo space behind Wes was filled with gear smelling faintly
of salt and sea—wetsuits, fins, personal flotation devices, a buoy with
a short length of rope attached. Evyn saw her checking it out and her
eyes twinkled.
“I love water exercises,” Evyn said.
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RADCLY fFE
“You’ve been here before, obviously.”
Evyn nodded. “Gary and I are both water-rescue certified. Cord is
the supervisor for the training. We all train down here with her.”
“You’ve probably checked my file—I’m pretty good at advanced
lifesaving techniques.”
Evyn laughed. “I don’t doubt it. But when POTUS is in the water,
we will be too. He likes to snorkel. If we need to evacuate from the
water, that’s a little bit different than what you’re used to on shore.”
“Hence all the water gear. You weren’t kidding when you said
water exercises.”
“No. You’re going to get wet today.”
“Sounds like fun.” Wes settled back and closed her eyes. “Sixty
degrees is cold.”
“We’ll just have to make sure you work hard enough to stay
warm.”
Wes smiled. “Never doubted it.”
v
Blair grasped Cam’s hand as they walked along the shoreline. The
wind blew through Cam’s hair, the mist from the water curling the ends
as they lay on her neck, softening the sharp edge of her jaw, making her
look younger, more vulnerable. Blair’s chest tightened. She couldn’t
remember a time when she hadn’t been with Cam—no, she didn’t want
to remember a time when she hadn’t been with her. Before Cam, she’d
thought she was as happy as anyone in her situation could be. She’d had
moments of professional satisfaction, friends—Diane and Tanner—she
cherished, but at the very core of her had been a seething sense of
restlessness, of never quite fitting, of unsettled searching discontent.
Cameron Roberts, someone so much like her father, was the last
woman in the world she would’ve chosen. She adored her father but
had spent much of her life angry with him. Cam and her father were
both so dedicated to their jobs, guided by goals and principles that were
so clear to them, and both so willing to ignore their own needs. What
she hadn’t appreciated when she was young and had only learned after
being with Cam was the personal cost that living by those goals and
principles exacted from her father and Cam and others like them. What
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she had seen as selfishness had been exactly the opposite. Cam, like her
father, was willing to forgo personal happiness, was willing to risk her
life for what she believed. As much as Blair loved Cam, she couldn’t
bring herself to give Cam that one thing—her permission to sacrifice
herself for Blair or her father or her country. She needed Cam to be
more selfish than that. She was not willing to sacrifice her, no matter
the cost.
“I love being here alone with you,” Blair said. “You know that,
don’t you?”
“I know,” Cam said, lightly swinging Blair’s arm between them.
“And I love you more than you think.”
Blair caught her breath. “What are you talking about?” She
couldn’t imagine that Cam didn’t know how much her love meant to
in awe of how her life had changed, of how much more there was to
cherish than she had ever imagined. If she had failed to let Cam know
that, she’d failed the most important challenge of her life. “I know you
love me. Your love means every—”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Cam lifted Blair’s hand to
her mouth, brushed her lips over the top of Blair’s hand.
Her lips were warm, reminding Blair that she often didn’t know
she was cold until Cam’s touch warmed her deeper than flesh. “Then
what?”
“I won’t do anything to destroy what we have, not even for my
country. I took the job with Homeland Security because I thought I
could make a difference there, that I could contribute something. But
there was another reason—a more personal one.” Cam smiled. “You.
I know how pissed you’d be if I stayed on protection and put myself
between a bullet and a protectee. I really hate it when you’re pissed at
me.” “Are you angry at me because I don’t want you to die for someone
else?”“No.” Cam faced ahead, her expression growing remote, and Blair
knew she was looking back. Maybe as far back as her father’s death,
when she’d watched him die and hadn’t been able to stop it. She wished
she could go back to that time, to hold the twelve-year-old Cam, to
comfort her as she’d never quite been able to comfort the adult woman
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she loved. But as much as she wished for that, she couldn’t go back in
time and erase the pain and abolish the disappointment. She could only
go forward and love, and hope it made a difference.
“I’m a lot more selfish than you,” Blair said. “I don’t mind
admitting I’m glad you’re not doing protection anymore. I don’t want
to lose
you. Couldn’t bear to lose you.”
“You know it’s one in a—”
“Yes,” Blair said sharply, “I know it’s one in a million. And you
know, if you’re the one, that million doesn’t matter.”
Cam laughed softly. “We’ve been down this road before, and we
don’t need to re-travel it.”
Blair sighed. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to ruin our time together.”
“Baby,” Cam murmured, releasing Blair’s hand and sliding her
arm around her shoulders, drawing her close. “Nothing can ruin our
time together. Are you worried about your father?”
Blair rested her cheek against Cam’s shoulder. “Yes. It’s hard,
wanting him to be safe and not wanting you to be the one responsible
for it.”“I’m not. That’s Tom’s job, and the rest of your father’s detail.
That’s a big reason why I’m not doing protection anymore. I don’t
want you to have to choose between your father’s safety or your own,
and mine. I get that. But what Luce asked me to do isn’t the same
thing. I won’t be primarily protection.” Cam stopped, put her arms
around Blair’s waist, and kissed her softly. “All I’m going to do is tag
along, keep my eyes and ears open, try to find out who has access to
the information that’s getting out. I’m looking for leaks, holes in the
security network, I’m not doing security. You don’t have to choose
between us, Blair. I would never do that to you.”
“I’m sorry,” Blair said softly. “I know, I do, really.”
“I know you’re worried about your father. Nothing’s going to
happen to him. He’s got the best people in the world around him. He’ll
be fine, so will we.”
Blair threaded her arms around Cam’s neck and kissed her. Her
protective detail was somewhere nearby, pretending not to watch them
while keeping them in sight, pretending they didn’t see their private
moments, while seeing everything in their path. Right now, she was
more grateful for those agents than she’d ever been. Where she’d
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once thought they imprisoned her, she now understood they gave her
freedom. “Sometimes, I feel like a selfish shit.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth. You know what I think?”
Cam said.
“What?”
“I think we should go back to DC a little bit earlier than we’d
planned. Weather reports say another big storm is moving up the coast.