Неизвестный - 06. Honor Under Siege

“I’m going to come.” Valerie’s head fell back, her eyes wide and fixed on Diane’s. “God, I love you.”

“I love you,” Diane cried.

Shuddering, Valerie spilled onto Diane’s welcoming body and collapsed into her arms.

With several minutes to spare before the briefing, Valerie knocked on the door to the guesthouse. Savard answered.

“Hey,” Savard said, holding the door wide. “You missed a good show at Matheson’s compound a couple of weeks ago.”

“So I hear.” Valerie stepped inside but hesitated before going any further. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it.”

“Yeah, me too.” Savard glanced toward the adjoining room where Cam and Felicia waited. “It could have been any of us in your spot. I’m glad it wasn’t me.”

“I appreciate that.” Valerie grasped Savard’s arm. “Listen. Cam told me about what happened in Boston. I owe you for taking care of Diane.”

“No you don’t,” Savard said dismissively. “But if you really feel like you do, you can plan on sticking around here where your friends are for a while.”

“Thank you,” Valerie softly. “I’ll do that.”

“Good.” Savard turned and started toward the command center. “Then let’s go to work.”

“Good morning,” Cam said as Valerie came in. Felicia nodded to her. “Our priority for the day, and every day until it’s accomplished, is to identify your handler. We’ll work from the assumption that he’s an associate of Matheson’s, because otherwise we don’t even have a starting place.”

“All right.”

“I want you to scan the files Davis has compiled of known Matheson associates, including the academy students. We might get lucky.”

Valerie smiled ruefully. “We could use some luck.”

“Before we get to that,” Cam said, “I want Stark to join us so she can hear how you got behind our lines.” She opened her phone and pushed several buttons. “Chief, can you come down for a minute? Thanks.”

While they waited, Valerie and Felicia got coffee and opened several boxes of doughnuts that Tanner’s day crew had delivered.

“It’s good to have the team back together,” Felicia said.

“It is.” Valerie opened the refrigerator for milk. “How’s Mac?”

“He’s back on the team, too. He’s up at the main house seconding for Stark. I’m sure you’ll see him later.” Felicia smiled and stirred her coffee. “He’s…making a remarkable recovery.”

Valerie studied her with interest. “Really.”

Felicia met her gaze. “Quite.”

“Well, good for you.”

“Yes, it is.” She sipped her coffee. “Ah, Diane?”

“Luckily, she’s forgiven me.”

Felicia shook her head. “I don’t believe she ever thought there was anything to forgive.”

“I hope you’re right.”

At the sound of the front door closing sharply, Felicia said, “Time for round two. Stark’s not going to be happy.”

“I don’t blame her.” Valerie followed Felicia back into the other room and sat at the table next to Cam. Stark sat stiffly across from her.

“Good morning, Chief,” Valerie said formally.

“Agent Lawrence.”

“Valerie will do,” Valerie said softly.

Stark seemed to relax by degrees. “Sorry. That was quite a stunt you pulled last night. We could have killed you.”

“I wanted to talk to Cameron.”

“Did you ever hear of a phone?”

“I don’t like phones.”

“How about a car? You could have driven right up to the foot of this road and our people would have stopped you, checked your ID, and called me.”

“Assuming they were all your people, and trustworthy.”

“You don’t trust us?” Paula flicked her gaze to Cam, who said nothing.

“I trust you and the other people in this room. And Mac, and Hara, and Wozinski. I don’t trust people I don’t know.” Valerie’s face was hard to read. “Besides, I might have been followed.”

“How do you know you weren’t?” Paula couldn’t keep the anger from her voice. “You know you’re a target, and you could have led whoever might be following you right here. And showed them a back door in.”

“Number one,” Valerie said, “anyone who might want me dead already knows where you are. I was extracted from here a few weeks ago, remember?”

Paula said nothing, but the muscles along her jaw tightened.

“Number two, no one followed me last night.”

“How do you know that?” Paula demanded.

“Because I’ve been on the island since late last week. No one has been following me.”

“The marina,” Cam said, annoyed with herself for not having anticipating that.

Felicia laughed. Stark merely stared. Savard made a point of not looking at her lover.

Valerie smiled. “Yes.”

“You came in by boat?”

“I rented a slip at the marina for my cabin cruiser a while ago.”

Cam glanced out the window, realizing how far ahead Valerie had planned her moves. On some level, she must have been uneasy with her assignment from the beginning. “You set up an alternate identity when you were here working with us last month. So when we did a sweep for any newly registered guests last week, you didn’t turn up. You were already there.”

“I worried when the Company sent me in to infiltrate your team that it wasn’t going to turn out well. It’s always prudent to establish a new identity when you can’t be certain that any of your old ones will be safe.” Valerie spoke directly to Cam. “And I knew if you wanted to get Blair to someplace inaccessible, you’d come back here.”

“Your handler doesn’t know about any of this?”

“No.”

Stark made an exasperated sound. “So last night you just circled around the tip of the island on foot and walked down the beach.”

“Yes. Not exactly the route I’d use for a surprise attack, but it got me where I wanted to go.”

“So we can assume,” Cam said, “that Matheson and your handler suspect we’re here. They know the general area since they were able to extract you undetected, but we hadn’t established a perimeter that far from the houses at the time.”

“Tanner has had reconnaissance boats on the water twenty-four hours a day since we’ve been here.” Stark looked pointedly at Valerie. “Other than normal marina traffic, every vessel is monitored to ensure they aren’t attempting a beach landing.”

Valerie felt a mixture of gratitude, guilt, and relief at the disclosure. Stark trusted her or she would not be discussing their security measures. Valerie could tell her colleague was still angry with her for ignoring procedure the night before, but at least she was talking as if they were still on the same side.

“I’m sorry I put your team in an awkward position, Chief,” she said. “To tell you the truth, I just wanted to get here.”

“Well, we didn’t shoot you, which is the main thing. It would have caused all kinds of hassles trying to come up with a cover story for that.”

Cam gave Stark a nod, part affirmation, part prompt.

Stark rose. “If you don’t need me any longer, Commander, I’ll go back to the marina and look at everyone who has a slip or rents a room there.”

“I think we’re done, Chief. You intend to advise Tanner of the situation?” Cam struggled not to issue orders to secure the marina.

“Immediately, and I’ll inform Egret and Ms. Bleeker that the marina is off-limits for the time being until we’ve secured it.”

“Thank you.”

Stark nodded to the group and left.

“What name have you been using here?” Felicia asked Valerie.

“Ingrid Klein.”

“You realize you’ve just burned that identity if you want to disappear again,” Savard pointed out.