"I don't care. I need to see Allie before we go. It's important to me."
Rachel expected Tavak to argue with her, but he only gazed at her for a long moment before nodding. "Fine."
NSA HEADQUARTERS
WASHINGTON, D.C.
This should be my office, Norton thought.
He was seated in the outer office of Deputy Director Robert Pierce, trying not to let his annoyance show. Annoyance at being kept waiting. Annoyance at the pissant assistant who treated him like an outsider. Annoyance at the fact that he still wasn't working here at headquarters.
Shit.
Pierce appeared in his doorway. "Norton, good to see you. Come in."
Norton stepped into Pierce's sparsely decorated office, ignoring the obligatory posed photos of Pierce with the president and other VIPs.
Pierce motioned him toward a small seating area. "I was disturbed when I got your call. What's the latest on your situation down there?"
Norton sat down. "We're still not sure why Rachel Kirby was targeted by the campus shooter. Our first thought is that it may have been a random act or maybe someone she had angered, either personally or professionally."
"What makes you think it isn't?"
"The level of sophistication in the attack and the shooter's escape."
"Except for the fact that he couldn't hit the bull's-eye."
"Another inch, and he would have killed her. Considering the distance that the shot was fired from, it was still impressive targeting."
"And I imagine it wouldn't have been too difficult to slip out of a busy college campus."
"Not only did he slip out, but he managed to erase any record of ever having been there."
"What are we talking about?"
Norton filled him in about the tampered security-camera feeds, despite the fact that he had spent considerable time outlining it in a memo. Didn't anybody read anymore?
"Have you been working with the local police?" Pierce asked.
"No, but we've been monitoring their progress through sources in the department. We thought it would be best not to make our interest known."
"Good."
"But I've already been contacted by two detectives on the case." He paused. "They do suspect that our project may have something to do with the shooting."
"Do we have a file on these officers?"
"It's in progress. I'll send something to you by the end of the day."
"I'd rather not get involved there unless we have to. We'll see how persistent they are. And you're absolutely sure this Tavak hasn't compromised our data in any way?"
"Our IT guys have gone over his intrusions into Kirby's system with a magnifying glass. He couldn't have been less interested in any of the projects her system is working on. His only concern was using her system for his own project."
"What project? Did we take a look at it?"
"Of course. Tavak is trying to decipher a code of some kind. A code written in Egyptian hieroglyphics."
"For what purpose?"
"At his interview in Cairo, he claimed not to know. He indicated that it was more for scholarly interest."
"And you believed that?"
"No. John Tavak is a fortune hunter, not an academic. Some of our intel suggests that Mills Pharmaceuticals may also be on the trail."
"Interesting."
"In any case, once it was determined that Tavak posed no threat to our project, we dropped it."
Pierce tapped his forefingers together. "Let's take a closer look at Tavak's code. Put our cryptography guys on it."
"Tavak already has one of the world's most powerful computer systems trying to decipher it."
"Are you arguing with me, Norton?"
"No, sir. Merely commenting. May I go now?"
Wrong move. He should have been more patient, but Pierce had pissed him off.
Pierce nodded. "By all means." He leaned back in his chair. "Run along, Norton."
That condescending dismissal annoyed him even more than the questioning that had gone before. Norton got to his feet and moved toward the door.
"Excellent work," Pierce said quietly. "I knew you were the one to handle Rachel Kirby's project. But this is a team effort; I'd be very unhappy if I found out you were doing anything that would prove awkward for the NSA."
There it was in a nutshell, Norton thought. Who had tipped Pierce off? Or maybe it was a bluff. He forced a smile. "I don't know what you mean. I've always been loyal to the agency."
Pierce nodded and gazed down at the papers on his desk. "As you said, just commenting."
* * *
"Russia?" Allie dropped down in a chair and watched Rachel toss her duffel onto the bed and unzip it.
Rachel pulled out the clothes she had just taken to Egypt and threw them in the hamper. "Yes. St. Petersburg. Our flight leaves at eight thirty to night."
"You just got back here."
"Pit stop. I wanted to see you before I left."
"Why?"
"I need a reason?"
"I sometimes go days without seeing you when you're cooped up in that lab or at a conference. What makes you think I needed you to rush back here?"
Rachel stopped packing. "Has it occurred to you that I may have needed to see you?"
"We have time, Rachel. The peripheral vision is back, and I'm feeling pretty good right now. You don't need to do this."
"I told you, I just wanted to see you."
Allie studied her for a long moment. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Rachel pulled four shirts from the drawer and pressed them into her suitcase.
"Don't tell me that."
"It's the truth. Why would anything be wrong? This is the best hope we've had so far."
"Except that it all might be for nothing. Is that what's bothering you? You think this is my last chance?"
"Of course not."
She smiled. "Liar."
"It's just… " Rachel sat on the edge of the bed. "I think it's your best chance. At least right now. And I don't want to screw it up."
"You won't. You're incapable of that. You're like one of your supercomputers."
"You wouldn't say that if you knew how buggy some of them have been."
"It's not like you to doubt yourself. What's going on here?"
"It's sort of like a treasure hunt. With the biggest treasure of all just around the corner."
"Not quite around the corner," Allie said. "Russia."
Rachel chuckled. "Point taken. But it's a small world, after all."
"If that's supposed to remind me of that comforting Disney World song, you're failing big-time. There's nothing comforting about you getting shot and ending up in the hospital." Her lips tightened. "And, since you won't tell me the truth about what's happened since then, I can't be sure that you're not walking a tightrope whenever you walk out that door."
"I wouldn't do that." She didn't look at her. "I'm much too practical."
"But you admit you've been sugarcoating everything you've been telling me."
Allie was being as tenacious as a bulldog, Rachel thought. She couldn't lie to her. "I suppose I didn't want to worry you with no cause."
"I think there may be cause." Allie stood up and crossed the room to the bed where Rachel was sitting. "And before you leave here, I'm going to know the truth." She sat down on the bed beside her and took Rachel's hands. "You're not going to sugar-coat, you're not going to avoid the truth. You're going to tell me everything that's been going on." She looked Rachel in the eye. "Everything. If you love me, you won't cheat me by treating me like a child. It's not fair."