Page 57 of A More Perfect Union

“Do you thinkthere’s any chance you could stop pacing so we can figure this out?” Rook askedas Julia marched by her once again. She’d spent the last hour filling Julia inon everything Eric had found on Mitchell’s network and she’d topped it off bytossing in her theory about Sharp.

“You’re not allowedto come in here, ruin my day, and then tell me how I should react,” Juliabarked.

Rook didn’t take thereaction personally. Every client was different, and her many years offriendship with Julia allowed her to be as frank as the situation demanded, soshe barked back, “Dammit, Julia, sit down. We’ll figure this out.”

“Where’s MajorGranger and that other one, the guy, Donald? Davis?”

“Dixon,” Rooksupplied, stalling because she didn’t want to admit she’d last seen Zoeytangled in her bed sheets. “I didn’t include anyone from the Pentagon becauseyou specifically asked me not to, remember?” She held up a hand as Juliastarted to speak. “And for the record, I don’t think Major Granger is involvedat all, but if we drag her in then Sharp may start to suspect she knowssomething.”

“How can you be sureshe’s not involved?”

Rook scrambled for ananswer, but it was easier than she thought. “Well, first off, she’s beenstationed overseas, which isn’t definitive, I know, but it doesn’t make sensewith the pattern we’re seeing. This agency targeted officers at the Pentagon.Their only deviation that we can see was the students from McNair, but I have atheory about that as well.”

“Spill.”

“Mitchell may havebeen instructed to compromise Donny Bloomfield to taint his father’s nominationor gather blackmail material. Any chance you have Sharp on a backup list ofnominees?”

“Great, so now theRussians are trying to pick our nominee for the Joint Chiefs?”

“I could be wrongabout the McNair thing, but I’m certain I’m not wrong about Zoey.”

Rook caught the slipthe moment it fell from her lips, and she could tell by the sly smile onJulia’s face that she did too. “Zoey, huh?”

“Don’t even.” Rookshook her head. “We’ve become…close. Trust me, Julia, she’s not on the insideof this, and I haven’t even shared my theory with her.”

“I do trust you, butin a minute we’re headed to the Oval to explain to the president and the headof the NSA what’s going on. They’re the ones who need to trust you because ifyou’re right, all hell’s about to break loose.”

“Give me five minutesto check in with my team,” Rook said, “and then I’ll be ready to answer anyquestions you or anyone else has.”

“Take the room. I’mgoing to do my pacing in the hall. The operator will connect you.”

Rook called heroffice, and Lacy connected her directly to Eric. “Any luck on the emailtracing?”

“No. It’s going totake someone with a lot more infrastructure to break this chain.”

“Well, I’m about tomeet with the man in charge of the biggest spy network in the country. Heshould be able to help. Once we get the all clear, I’ll put you in touch withhis people and you can put your heads together.” Without waiting for hisresponse, she asked, “Is Blake back at the office?”

“Just walked in.”

“Put her on.” Rookdid some pacing of her own, as much as the phone cord would allow, while shewaited for Blake to come on the line.

“Hey, Rook”

“Did you find her?”

“Oh, I found her allright. Not in a very good mood, that one.”

Alarm bells sound inRook’s head. “Care to elaborate?”

“She was still atyour place, but I got the impression she misunderstood me showing up andletting myself in. Of course, she might just have been embarrassed that she washalf-dressed when I walked in the door.”

“Jeez, Blake, did youever think of knocking?” Rook tried not to imagine what Zoey must have thoughtwhen Blake walked in like she owned the place.

“Sorry. I gave herthe note, but she wouldn’t read it while I was there. She refused a ride andshe practically shoved me out the door. I hung around outside and picked up hertail.”

“I asked you todeliver a note and offer her a ride, not spy on her.” She took a breath andhated herself for her next question. “Where did she go?”

If Blake caught theincongruity of her question, she didn’t let on. “She drove to a house in Viennaand about fifteen minutes later, she was in uniform and drove to the Pentagon.Once I saw her go past the guard gate, I headed back here.”

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