“How is morale? Matheson had lost some of his best of icers during the
Special Ops raid on his compound in Tennessee. Unfortunately, many
of his ground troops were unseasoned volunteers who had never faced
combat or even given any thought to what a real bat le might be like.
Now he needed to rebuild his paramilitary force and relocate his
base, and some of the menmostly truck drivers and other blue-col ar
workerswere beginning to realize that they werent just playing at being
weekend soldiers. There was a war on. And war meant casualties.
“We lost about twenty percent of our original force to desertion, in
addition to those who were captured, the redhead reported. “But were
adding new men at twice the normal rate since 9/11. The patriots are
rising across the nation in response to the attack.
patriot brothers had been wil ing to aid the foreign insurgents was to
further their own agenda. An at ack on American soil was guaranteed
to ral y the loyal. Now, with more men joining them every day, he and
his compatriots could consolidate their power base and expand their
sphere of influence.
“The FBI wil undoubtedly accelerate their at empts to infiltrate our
ranks now, so be vigilant, Matheson said.
“Yes sir. Were screening careful y. The redhead hesitated. “Have we
resolved the problem with the security breakdown here, sir?
Matheson shook his head. “Not yet. Take this lesson to heart, my friend.
Never rely too strongly on anyone but your most trusted brothers-in-
arms. He clamped a hand on the younger mans shoulder. “But, despite
the unreliability of dealing with bureaucrats and low-level informants, its
also useful to have sources inside the system. We may be able to deal
with al our problems another way.
“Sir?
“I was advised that the White House press secretary released an
interesting tidbit last night, Matheson said. “Blair Powel and her
deviant secret service guard intend to hold a so-cal ed
ceremony. I imagine the papers wil have that this morning.
The redhead grunted. “Shes an embarrassment to the entire
country.
“But the timing is good for us. If a moral y outraged manor womanwere
to put a stop to them, wed fulfil our mission to destabilize
President Powel s administration, and wed cut of a possible return
route for our missing CIA agent.
“And
involvement.
“Exactly. Lets cal on our friends to activate someone, preferably a
member of one of the splinter groupssomeone expendable who wont be
traceable to us or our Conservative Coalition al ies.
“What should I tel them about the target,
sir?
“That we want both neutralized, but Roberts should be the
priority.
“Do we have their location,
sir?
Matheson grimaced. “No, weve lost them temporarily, but Powel s
of icial schedule of appearances is updated daily.
“A public assault is a suicide mission, the redhead said
mildly.
“All the better, as long as heor shetakes the targets out
first. “Yes sir.
The men shook hands. “Godspeed, Colonel. “God bless
America, General.
* * * * *
When Blair awoke, she was surprised to discover that Cam
had gotten out of bed without waking her. Ordinarily she was a
light sleeper, but she had lain awake for a long time the night
before, after Cam had fal en asleep in her arms. Partly, shed
still been wound up from worrying about Cam all day, but it
was more than that. Felicia and Renée were staying in the
guesthouse, which had been transformed into an ad hoc office
for the OHS. Her security team had relocated to the main
house, and Mac was probably already setting up a command
center in the dining room downstairs. Diane remained in
the main house at Paulas
suggestion, which made it easier to protect her as well. The
new arrangements made it impossible to deny that she was
living in a high security complex. And now her lover was a
deputy director in a national security organization that had not
existed two months before. Blair was faced with the cold hard
realization that, even when her father was no longer president,
her life was not suddenly going to be normal. This
and it was what shed been fighting to avoid all her life.
Blair rolled over and opened the bedside table. Cams
weapon wasnt there, because she was wearing it. Because
even in this, their soon-to-be new home, they werent entirely
safe. She walked to the window to look out over the dunes to the
ocean. There was no one in sight. Even the fishing trawlers
were so far out to sea they were no more than dots on the
horizon. She was as alone here as she had ever been, and she
should have felt free, but she didnt. With a sigh, she pushed
