Cameron Andrews Box Set

Chapter 2-3

He sat back down beside her. “If all goes the way I’d like it to, this will mean a big change in your life. I can’t say any more about the cases or the plans. But I can tell you that if you pass all the tests, and I see no reason why you wouldn’t, you may be asked to take some very difficult, very dangerous assignments.”

“Why me? Why not someone already in the Department?”

“I can’t explain fully. It has to be someone with no apparent connection to the Agency. From now on, we’ll do all your testing elsewhere. You and I will meet somewhere else. I don’t even want to see your car in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I’m talking total secrecy, total disassociation. I also must ask that you adhere to a full oath of secrecy about this conversation. It never happened.” He hesitated for a moment. “Do you realize that our interview is being taped?”

This last question took Cam by surprise. She hadn’t even thought of the possibility. She kept her composure, though.

“No, I wasn’t,” she admitted, “but it doesn’t really astound me. Craig, you still haven’t answered my question. Why me? Why not someone else.”

“Let’s just say it’s the right person in the right place at the right time. Look Cam, as a person, I like you a lot, I always have. As a cop, I respect you a great deal. You know that I’ve always marveled at the way you crawled through those stupid codes and made sense out of sheer gibberish. I’ll still never understand how it’s done.

“This is not a job I’d want to offer to a friend and I do think of you as a friend, but I’m offering it anyway, because I think you’re the perfect person to do it. Think this over hard. Take a few days to live with it. If you want to come back, there’s a place for you, but it won’t be a cushy desk job, you can count on that.” He stood and walked around his desk, then hesitated slightly. “Do you have any vacation time coming to you?”

“A couple weeks, maybe up to three.”

“Good. The beginning of May would be a good time to take it.” He turned back from the window and flipped a switch inside his top desk drawer. Then he handed her a business card with just a telephone number printed on it. “Let me walk you out.”

Cam set the empty coffee cup on the desk and stood, trying not to show how wobbly her knees felt. “That’s it?” she asked. “That was a short job interview.” Then in an attempt to break the tension, “Don’t you want to see how fast I can type?”

Craig let out a big laugh and his body relaxed. “Don’t worry, the interviews will get longer…and harder.”

He put his arm around her shoulder. Cam wasn’t sure whether it was to show physical or moral support.

Martita handed Cam her coat and Craig walked her to the elevators. They rode to the first floor and walked out of the building in silence.

“This is a lot to think about.” Cam admitted as she put the key into the lock of her car door.

“Good, I’ll expect a call from you in four or five days. Don’t forget to use my private line.” He tapped the card she still held in her hand. “Oh, and Cam. One other thing. Uh, about your s****l lifestyle…Don’t even make it look like you’re trying to hide it.” He winked at her, then turned and strode back into the building.

Now what in hell did he mean by that?

* * * *

Cam hadn’t remembered driving back to Baltimore but there she was, parking her car near her apartment. Her mind was buzzing with questions. It had happened too fast. She’d expected to go in there, have a nice chat and maybe, just maybe, get a “We’ll call you in a few months, or years,” but not, “Make up your mind and call me in four or five days.”

And what they had spoken about had raised more questions than it had answered. What had he meant when he picked up on the word “action” and why should she “not make it look” like she was trying to hide her lifestyle? Didn’t the Federal Government still have its “no queers here” policy? What was she getting herself into? How much did she really want this job? And exactly what job was she being offered?

Cam understood the need for secrecy, but she’d sure like to go in with her eyes open, especially if her life was going to be on the line.

Her life on the line? Why in hell was she even considering it?

She unlocked the door to her apartment. Had she just walked up the long flight of stairs without noticing it? And her mail was in her hand. She had no recollection of stopping at the mailbox next to the gate.

“You’d better get your head on straight before you go out into the streets tonight, kiddo, or you won’t have to worry about being alive to have to make this decision,” she told herself.

She stopped. She put her life on the line every night. Maybe she should go for it and make it count. But was she playing against the odds now? How big was the safety net the Agency could provide for her? At least out on the street, she knew that her partner, Russ, was right beside her, or, at most, just a few doors away. Come to think of it, Craig hadn’t even mentioned backup. She couldn’t believe they’d let someone go out without a safety net. But then, hadn’t he said “deep cover?” Maybe, just maybe…