[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

detonated with something as innocuous looking as a radio pager. We have no idea how or when it was
placed, but the vehicle was serviced three days ago. Doyle has a team at the shop now - interviewing
employees, tracking parts that might have been used - looking for anything. Something."
"But surely someone was watching the car while it was worked on?" Blair asked.
"Yes," Cam confirmed, "but Lane said it wouldn't take more than a second to slip something under the
carriage with a magnet or even quickbond of some kind. It could have happened while the car was
following us along the race route. Jeremy would have had to make multiple stops with people all around."
Blair shivered, but could find no words to express her horror.
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"There's something else," Cam said quietly, handing her the small white rectangle she had been carrying
in her pocket for hours.
"I don't understand," Blair said, staring at the photograph. It was an image of herself standing on the
platform in Sheep Meadow, with Cam visible just behind her, clearly taken the previous day during her
speech. Her eyes were riveted on the circled "x" inked in red over her chest. "If he targeted me while I
was on the stage, why --?"
"Turn it over," Cam said gently.
Blair did, and read in chillingly familiar block print on the back, IT COULD HAVE BEEN YOU. She
caught her breath, and her hand trembled. "This is what was in the envelope that Marcy was trying to
give me, isn't it?
"Yes," Cam responded. "Agent Ryan believes that you were never the intended target yesterday. He
didn't mean to kill you at all. He simply wanted to send you the message that hecould have if he'd wanted
to."
Blair stared at Cam, a horrible realization dawning upon her. "And the rifle shot outside my building?
Was I the target then - or was it you all the time?"
Cam looked uncomfortable, but she wouldn't lie to her. "That's unclear. It's impossible to reconstruct the
scene exactly, because we don't have adequate video documentation. I didn't realize there evenwas a
reconstruction until this afternoon. The FBI had confiscated all of the tapes and none of us had ever seen
them. You can't tell from the camera angle the precise sequence of events when the shot was fired. Even
with digital remastering and time sequencing, it's unclear whether the trajectory line was toward you or
me, because we were so close together, and there aren't good sightlines on the video. I just can't say for
sure."
"Are you telling me you spent all afternoon watching a videotape of yourself being shot?" Blair asked
incredulously.
"Well, notall afternoon," Cam said, trying to defuse the anger she heard brewing in Blair's voice. It hadn't
been that difficult after she had seen it the first time and recognized how quickly everyone had responded,
and how well protected Blair had actually been. It relieved a great deal of her anxiety about Blair's
vulnerability.
Blair stood quickly, wrapping her arms around herself. Although the night air was still hot and humid, she
was chilled. She tried but could not comprehend what it would take to sit there and watch something like
that.
Cam stood and went to her side. "Blair, it's all right."
"No, it isn't," Blair snapped, unable to contain the storm of emotions buffeting her. "It most certainly is
not all right. It's bad enough knowing that you might have been killed trying to protect me. It's worse
thinking that you might have been killed just to get my attention."
She turned so suddenly in Cam's direction that their bodies touched briefly. Cam took a half step back,
uncharacteristically startled, as Blair's fiery gaze locked onto hers.
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"Now do you understand why I don't want you on my detail?" Blair demanded. "Can't you understand
that I don't want to lose you?"
"Blair," Cam said, desperately wanting to reassure her. "We'll get him. I promise. We have thousands of
feet of video from the park, and hundreds of still shots. We have Marcy Coleman's description of the
person who handed her the envelope. Lindsey Ryan's profile is running through every database in the
country right now. The ATF bomb squad is constructing a profile from the bomb remnants. Every hour
that passes we have a better idea of how to find him."
"And until you do, you're in danger," Blair argued, her chest tight with panic. "You or Stark or Mac or
Savard or someone whose name I don't even know might die."
Cam took her hand, uncaring that Grant would see them. "Every single one of us is well-trained and
we're all aware of the danger. Nothing is going to happen."
"You can't know that."
"You're right, I can't," Cam said, her voice rising with a combination of frustration and sympathy. "But I
don't intend to walk away. I know how to do this job, and I have more reason than anyone else to do it
right." She clasped Blair's other hand and stared intently into her troubled blue eyes. "Damn it, Blair, I
love you."
"If you did, Cameron, you'd leave me alone," Blair protested, pulling her hands free of Cam's grip. Then
she turned and climbed hurriedly up the slope past Grant and disappeared into the house, leaving Cam
staring after her.
Chapter twenty-seven [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]