Page 164 of State of Alert

“Around four o’clock this afternoon.”

“Okay. What else did I miss?”

“Archie was here looking for you. He seemed stressed about something.”

“I’ll run up and check in with him.” Sam unlocked her office door and draped her coat over a chair. Her cell phone rang with a call from Darren Tabor that she took, feeling exasperated, the way she always did when he called. “Yes, Darren?”

“The whole world is on fire about you lying in the Rodriguez case. Are you going to address that or let it fester?”

“I’m gonna let it fester.”

“Seriously?”

Sam left her office and headed for the stairs. “We did a sit-down with Peter Wagner earlier. It’ll be dealt with there.”

“You gavehiman exclusive? What the hell, Sam? I thought we were friends.”

“We’re not friends. We know each other through work.”

“Wow, that hurts. I think of you as a friend.”

“Stop being sensitive, Darren. You know we’re not friends in the traditional sense of the word. We have an adversarial relationship that involves you wanting me to tell you things I can’t or won’t.”

“What can you say on the record about the Rodriguez case?”

“I’ll tell you this… It’s a very complicated situation that involves multiple agencies and jurisdictions. We’re not the lead on that case, so there’s not much I’m able to say about it.”

“Did you lie to Juan’s roommate?”

“No comment.”

“Sam, come on! People want to know!”

“It’s not my story to tell. You should contact Agent Truver with NCIS.”

“They’re not talking.”

“So what makes you think I will? It’s their case, not mine. I have to go, Darren.”

She closed the phone before he could try to continue the conversation that was going nowhere fast. On the second floor, she walked into the IT department, where Archie’s team was hard at work. Sam would be bored stiff being chained to a computer all day. She preferred being out and about, talking to people and hunting down leads the old-fashioned way, even if that was much more complicated these days when everyone recognized her as the president’s wife.

“Hey,” she said in the doorway to Archie’s office. “Heard you were looking for me.”

He waved her in. “Close the door.”

Sam shut the door and sat in the chair in front of his desk. “What’s up?”

“The girlfriend has gone silent.”

“I hear that happens these days. It’s called ghosting.”

“Except I don’t think she’d do that. She mentioned how it’d been done to her and how she’d never do that to someone else.”

“Huh. What’re you thinking?”

“I’m not sure what to think, but my gut’s telling me she’s in some kind of trouble.”

“What does she do for work?”

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