Skin Deep

“Just a few offices and public areas,” said Terryn. “His cooperation did not extend to risking his offices being searched unattended.”

“What did Alfrey want with him the other day?” Laura asked.

“He wasn’t specific. They were partners in various business ventures but had a falling-out,” Terryn said.

“Can we confirm that?” asked Laura.

Terryn nodded. “Already in motion. Preliminary results confirm they went their separate ways two years ago. Alfrey had decided to take his politics in a more radical direction.”

“Are you comfortable taking Blume off the table?” asked Laura.

Terryn spread his hands. “No, but he’s cooperated. We’re not finding any co

Laura paced around the side of the office. “I don’t like Blume. He was afraid of something last night. There’s a co

“When we find it, we will deal with it,” Terryn said.

Laura sat again and leaned forward. “We have another problem. InterSec has a leak. Gia

Terryn nodded. “Nothing is one hundred percent secure, not even the Guild.”

She looked away from Terryn. “Do you think it was Liam?”

“Who’s Liam?” asked Sinclair.

Laura ignored him. Terryn paused, his eyes shifting to Sinclair. “It’s possible. Other possibilities exist.”

Sinclair jutted his jaw out in a

“Jono!” Laura said.

He glared at her. “He can imply that I’m trying to kill you, and you get mad I called him a name?”

“It’s not that, it’s…” She fumbled for words. “It’s not very nice.”

Sinclair laughed. “Good. I got my point across.”

“Anyway,” Terryn interrupted, “the good news, if we can call it that, is that only a low-level agent was exposed. I’ll have Cress start pulling files to check on everyone you interacted with as Janice Crawford inside and out. We may find someone who knows too much about her.”

“I’m retiring her,” said Laura.

“You know I wanted that, and now she’s too compromised to keep in play any longer,” Terryn agreed.

“Retire? For good?” asked Sinclair.

Laura leaned back with a mixture of disappointment and resignation. “I’ve done it before. When a persona has outlived its usefulness, there’s no point in keeping it.”

“Does this mean we can’t live together anymore?” Sinclair asked in mock sadness.

Laura glowered but didn’t answer him. “Do we have anything new on the drug-raid data?” Laura asked Terryn.

He slid a folder across the desk. “The raid did, in fact, disrupt a drug operation. There’s been chatter about its being a front. It looks like you were right. The evidence and underground chatter strongly point to an assassination plot, with Senator Hornbeck or the president as the likely targets.”

Laura shook her head. “Who will both be at the Archives tomorrow. That puts the ceremony back in play as a target. We have to get it canceled, Terryn.”

Terryn frowned and nodded. “We’ve informed both offices of the information and received the standard reply.”

Laura knew what that meant. “Dammit! Someone needs to tell those idiots they won’t need to bow down to terrorists if they get their legs shot out from under them,” she snapped.

“They have full confidence in our ability to protect them,” said Terryn.

Laura scoffed. “And if something goes wrong, we’ll get hung out to dry because they didn’t listen to us.”

Terryn sighed. “This is Washington.”

“I have an idea,” said Sinclair. They both stared at him as if they had forgotten he was in the room. “What? I can’t have an idea? I thought you wanted me on the team?”

Laura glanced at Terryn. “Go on,” he said.

“We flush them out. You said you weren’t going to use Crawford anymore. They’re trying to kill her because they think she knows something. Use her to flush them out,” Sinclair said.

Terryn shook his head. “Too risky.”

“I like it,” said Laura. Sinclair nodded a flattered smile at her.

“Laura, you’ve done enough. I’m putting other agents on this. You and I will focus on Archives security,” Terryn said.

“Agreed. Tomorrow. Today, I want Alfrey or Gia

“No.”

She tapped a finger on his desktop. “I’m demanding the right to do this, Terryn. They’ve tried to kill Janice three times. I deserve the chance to get them before this goes any further.”

“What do you have in mind?” he asked.

With a sly look, Laura leaned back in her chair. “I’m going to be terrorist bait.”

CHAPTER 32

LAURA STOOD OUTSIDE Sinclair’s apartment, ru

Sinclair opened it immediately. “What happened?”

She rushed in and stopped short of the dampening field near the armchair. “I had to talk to you.”

Sinclair closed the door. “They told me you were in protective custody.”

“I was. I had to talk to you. I remembered something, Jono, and I don’t know what to do.”

He stepped close and brought his hands up to hold her. She slipped away, remaining outside the field and giving him a warning look. “First, tell me what happened. I got a call last night that you needed me outside the Vault. When I went out, four guys jumped me and took me to a house outside the city. They wouldn’t tell me anything, then let me go about an hour ago.”

“Someone tried to kill me last night,” she said.

“What!” he said.

They stepped into the dampening field. Laura spread sheets of paper on Sinclair’s coffee table with large text and plenty of white space. “That’s a good start,” she said.

Identical sheets were on the dining-room table and another set on the kitchen counter. Laura had written dialogue as well as movement directions, a flow designed to weave in and out of the fields of the listening wards throughout the apartment.

Sinclair sat next to her. Sinclair’s knee touched the side of her thigh, grazing it, not firmly enough for her to call him on it. It took several heartbeats before Laura noticed she hadn’t automatically moved away. “You think this will work?” he asked.

She pursed her lips, tilting her head from side to side. “It was your idea.”

Sinclair sighed. “I know. If they were trying to kill us before, they’ll definitely try after this.”

She turned an intentionally enthusiastic smile at him. “Isn’t knowing it’s going to happen better than wondering?”

He looked amused. “You’re odd, you know that?”

She stood and adjusted her T-shirt. “Just stick to the dialogue. Ready?”

He checked the pages. “Here goes…”

He stepped out of the field of the living-room dampening ward. “I’m getting a beer. You want one?” he asked.

He waited near the dining-room table while Laura stepped away from the dampening field.

“Yeah.”

Sinclair moved into the kitchen. Laura had placed masking tape around the listening-ward field to show him when his medallion was too close and blocked transmission. Laura leaned against the dining-room table. “Someone tried to poison me last night. InterSec got it out of me in time.”

Sinclair came to the kitchen door. “Gods, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Really. But here’s the weird part. When I woke up, I remembered the raid. All of it, Jono.”

He went back in the kitchen. “That’s great, isn’t it?”

“I’m a little freaked out by it.”

Sinclair retrieved two beers from the refrigerator and handed her one. “Are you going to keep me in suspense, or are you going to tell me what you remember?”