Radclyffe - Honor Reclaimed

"Fazio—-he was unpacking some of the crates for me. Why?"

"Stark and Fazio are both all right too?"

"Yes. We were instructed to move as far away from the problem site as possible without leaving the apartment. That was over half an hour ago, and that's the last we heard from anybody. Why are we being kept up here?"

Cam hesitated and then realized that the truth was the only choice. Blair could handle anything from her except a lie. "We have to assume that substance—the powder, whatever it is—-is potentially harmful. We can't move you until the potential contamination is contained. We're bringing in a team now to do that."

"There's a HAZMAT team here somewhere, I heard them talking to Stark on her radio before we lost contact with everyone. Why aren't they in here decontaminating us, if that's what we're waiting for?"

"Washington is sending up a special team," Cam said. Her shirt and jacket were soaked with sweat, despite the fifty degree temperature outside and the powerful air-conditioning unit in the van that ran at full power to cool the electronic equipment. The inactivity was making her crazy. She wanted a firsthand look at the situation. She wanted to see Blair. "They'll be here any minute."

"Yeah, yeah. Any minute. I'll bet." Impatiently, Blair strode to the windows and looked down to the street. "God, there's five times as many people down there now as there were twenty minutes ago. What aren't you telling me?"

"We're all pretty much waiting on this team to arrive, baby. As soon as they touch down, I'll come up with them."

"That's grea—" Blair stopped her restless route around the perimeter of the room, her eyes narrowing. "They're coming from DC. So someone either knows what this is or thinks they do, because they don't want the local people handling it. Just who are these people, Cam?"

"USAMRIID."

Silence ensued while Blair searched her memory for an association to the familiar-sounding name. "Wait a minute, isn't that part of the bioterrorism response unit?"

"Yes."

"So," Blair said thoughtfully, reaching behind her to grip a chair back. She suddenly felt light-headed, and the feeling frightened her. "What are we talking here? Ebola? Some kind of plague?"

"I don't know, baby," Cam said in frustration, hating the note of fear she'd heard in Blair's voice for the first time. "I'm waiting to find out, the same as you."

"I don't want you coming up here," Blair said sharply. I won't have anything happening to you. Not again.

"I'll come up with the containment team. I'll be perfectly saf—"

"No. " Blair saw both Stark and Fazio glance at her in alarm and she waved them off, mouthing, It's okay, when they started toward her.

"Listen to me, Blair. I need to see you. I need to be sure you're all right. I'm coming up."

"Cameron, think. My security chief is stuck in here with me. I've got no one on the outside who knows anything about me except Lucinda, and she's not capable of running the ground show. I need you healthy so that you can handle my security while they sort out whatever this thing is. If you get sick, or they even think you are, you won't be any use to me. Think, sweetheart. I need you out there, not in here." Don't come near me. I won't have you die because of me.

"We don't even know there's anything dangerous up there. I'll be well protected."

"Cameron, if you don't do this for me, I'll have Stark tell Stacy Landers to keep you away from here altogether."

Cam swore vehemently. The four NYPD officers hanging on her every word pretended not to notice. "Blair, don't do that."

"Promise me you won't come up here." She waited, the silence ringing hollowly between them. "Cameron. Promise."

"All right," Cam finally said. "Unless I get clearance from the USAMRIID team."

"Fine, but I want to hear it from their team leader." Blair let out a sigh. "Stark is waving to me. She wants to talk to you. I've got to go. I love you."

"I love you." Cam's throat was so tight she could barely speak. "I'll see you soon."

Stark took the phone from Blair with a nod of thanks. "Commander. I felt given the circumstances I had no choice but to—-"

"It was a good call, Chief," Cam said. "Blair—all of you, you're all right?"

"Yes, ma'am. Any word yet on what we're dealing with?"

"Negative. You'll just have to sit tight until the biohazard team from Fort Detrick has a look."

"Fort Detrick? Oh man." Stark turned away from Blair and Fazio and cupped her hands around the phone. "In today's briefing there was a report about that team investigating a bioterrorism attack in New Jersey. They suspected anthrax."

Cam closed her eyes, but she could still see the white powder blowing in the air.

Chapter Sixteen

T he dial tone that severed Cam's tenuous connection to Biair sounded as ominous as incoming shell fire. And this was an enemy Cam could not fight—not with force or skill or even her formidable willpower. This time she would have to rely on others to do that, and the prospect left her feeling helpless and impotent. Her fingers clenched the phone as the stifling air in the van closed in around her. A rush of anger and frustration filled her head, momentarily clouding her reason and fracturing her control.

"God damn it," she said as her fist struck the inside wall of the van with enough force to send a tremor through the vehicle. She didn't feel the pain as the skin split over her knuckles and a small fissure cracked in a bone in her little finger. She tossed the cell phone onto the narrow counter in front of Stacy Landers and pivoted toward the double rear doors, intent on reaching Blair. Someone behind her must have signaled, because the officer in the SWAT uniform blocked her way with an agile sidestep that she would have thought impossible for him to make, considering his bulk. "Step aside."

Her voice was once again modulated and calm. But her face was cold as death. From somewhere in the van, Captain Landers said, "I'm sorry, Cam. But you'll have to wait it out down here with the rest of us. There's nothing you can do up there now."

Perhaps it was the use of her first name, or the fact that Cam already knew that Landers was right, but she checked the movement that would have driven her shoulder hard against the SWAT team officer's chest. "I need some air."

"Good idea," Landers said. "Let her by, Lieutenant Maxwell."

"Yes, ma'am," the man said and smoothly shifted out of Cam's path.

She shoved open the rear doors and jumped down to the sidewalk. Immediately, she was surrounded.

"What's happened?" Renee demanded, her fingers clamped around Cam's forearm. "Has someone been wounded up there? Why the fuck won't they let us up? What about our people? What about Blair, Paula?"

Although the questions were reasonable, the tone of Savard's voice sent a warning signal that dissipated the remaining haze of Cam's anger. The FBI agent sounded as if she was about to crack. Cam took a close look at her, and what she saw made her shake off Savard's arm and point to the far side of the vehicle. "Let's talk over there, Agent."

Felicia and Valerie, standing nearby, moved to follow, but Cam shook her head and indicated they should wait. Both women looked impatient and concerned, but they accepted her orders. On the far side of the van, out of range of prying eyes and intrusive cameras, Cam said, "Let me fill you in, Renee."

"Paula? What about Paula? Is she hurt?"

"Paula is fine. I just talked to her. There's been exposure to an unknown substance, and they went to red alert status. SOP. We're waiting on a special decontamination team right now."

"I want to talk to her." Savard's speech was taut with tension and fear.

Cam shook her head. "You can't. You know the procedure. The longer lines are open, the more likely that transmissions will be intercepted and the greater the chance we'll have a media leak. In situations like this where the use of a biowarfare agent is a possibility, we could have widespread panic. Mass evacuations, civilian casualties. We can't risk it. You'll have to wait"