Rule #1: Trust No One

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

Three weeks earlier

Cameron sat back and released a deep sigh. The day was finally done. She’d been poked, prodded, bled, X-rayed, stressed, and peered at through strange instruments. No part of her body had escaped. It had been one of the longest days she could remember in years. Even her mind had been invaded with question after question.

“Well, sweetie, feeling better now that you’ve eaten? Do you want any more of anything?”

Cam looked across the table at her best friend, her mentor, her psychiatrist and, most of all, her “control.” Maggie was the woman who supervised her actions as a deep-undercover federal agent. More important at times, Maggie was also the person that everyone thought was Cam’s lover. Everyone, that is, except those few who knew the real truth. They had first met when Maggie had been assigned to be liaison when Cam went undercover as a convicted felon into a women’s prison.

Cam was always amazed at how unruffled Maggie looked. Never was any of the short dark hair, sprinkled with gray, out of place. There was never a wrinkle in the sleek, colorful, natural fiber clothes or even a scuff on either of the expensive leather pumps. There was never a smudge in her makeup. But then, Dr. Margaret Thomason was supposed to look that way. She just was.

Dr. Maggie had impeccable taste. And, she had a very successful private practice so the cost of the items she wanted didn’t seem to matter. The fact that Dr. Maggie was a respected psychiatrist and was also employed by the Federal Justice Department in the capacity of overseeing, evaluating and supervising undercover agents of the CIA and the DEA did nothing to tarnish her charisma.

“I’m exhausted, Maggie,” Cam answered, running her fingers through her short dark hair. “Thank you for this marvelous dinner. You definitely know how to treat a woman. Are you sure you’re not a lesbian?”

“If I were, you’d be the first to know, darling.” Maggie smiled at her. She placed glasses in front of each of them: Cam’s scotch and spring water; and hers, vodka and tonic. Then she sank down into the chair across the table from Cam. “The doctor says you’re fit again for another year. How do you feel about that?”

“Is that a personal question or the beginning of a professional evaluation?” Cam retorted.

“Ah! Starting to answer questions with questions again.” Maggie chuckled. “Yes, you’re ready to go back to work.”

“I’ve been ready for months. I don’t know what the problem was,” Cam groused.

“We just wanted to be sure that there are no lasting effects from your last injuries. I still worry about you, you know.”

Cam sat forward as she sipped her drink. She smiled at Maggie. “Is that a concern for the person or for the agent?” She chuckled.

“You stop that, young lady! I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking questions here!” Maggie shook her head as she sat back.

“Well, I’m sure there’ll be other injuries in the future.” Cam sighed.

Maggie watched her with a look that straddled the line between concern and despair. “Yes, and telling you to be more careful seems to be an exercise in futility. You’ve been very lucky so far.”

She looked back up at Maggie. “I don’t go out looking to get hurt. It’s just part of the job.”

“Yes, sweetie, I know. That’s what makes me worry even more.”

Cam smiled across the table at her. “But we haven’t had the chance to talk in so long,” Cam complained. “Don’t I get a chance to find out how you are?” Cam picked up her drink and walked to the large picture window overlooking the bay. It would be dark soon and the lights across the water were slowly coming on. That window was one of Cam’s favorite views of Chesapeake Bay. It faced west, across one of the fingers of the bay and caught all of the afternoon sun. She felt ultimately at peace here. She never felt that at any other place she knew. The early evening sunset glistened off the tides, creating sheen off the placid water that looked like folds of silk. It had a visceral effect that soothed her no matter how stressed she’d been before coming here.

Cam turned back to Maggie. “When is Dickie going to be here?” she asked ignoring Maggie’s silence

Maggie looked up at the big wall clock.

“In about an hour,” she decided. “We still have time to talk, unless you want to rest until he gets here. You can lie down upstairs if you want.”

Cam smiled. Maggie was always making things easy for her.

“No. I’m too wired to sleep. I’ve been resting too long this time.” The restless feeling had been creeping up on her for the last two or three weeks.

“Even after all your travails today?”

“Even after all my travails.” Cam glanced once more out the window, then turned her attention to Maggie.

Maggie sank into her usual spot at the end of the couch, next to the oak end table. She turned on the lamp and arranged the stoneware coasters so that she and Cam could rest their glasses. She plumped up the throw pillows and patted the spot next to her.

“Come sit down. We haven’t talked in a long time. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

When Cam first became an undercover agent for the DEA, Maggie had delved and prodded, trying to find all of Cam’s trigger points so that Cam could be aware of where, psychologically, she was most vulnerable. This was in lieu of the usual training that The Company gave its agents. Cam’s undercover persona was too valuable to allow any “regular” agent to know about. As time slid by, they’d become close friends as well as colleagues. In many ways that made Maggie’s job harder. She watched as Cam sank down onto the couch beside her.

“First, tell me how you are,” Maggie began. “How’s your family? I know you called Lori a lot. I just got the phone bills.”

Cam could tell by the tone in Maggie’s voice that the warm smile forgave what must have been a lengthy list of calls on the bill. She’d spent hours talking to her little sister while she was staying at the beach house between assignments.

“She wanted me to come home.” Cam sighed, remembering her younger sister’s pleading. “Since Grandma Chris’s death Lori’s been at a loss. She was as close to Grandma Chris as I am to Gramma Anne. And I think maybe Aunt Carrie has been relying on her a lot, too.”

“Do you want to go up to Boston before you start this assignment?”

“I’d like it, Maggie. I…I just haven’t been ready to deal with all that.”

Maggie let Cam remain silent for a few minutes. She knew that Cam was still having a hard time handling the loss of another member of her close family. When Grandma Chris died last month that left just Gramma Anne, Aunt Carrie and Lori, although Lori’s husband and her two sons rounded out the clan. Cam’s parents had been killed in a car accident shortly after her brother Ben had died of a drug overdose. Therefore, it had taken quite a lot of strength for her to follow her dream and give up her career in the police department and take the job as an undercover special agent. It had been her life mission since her brother’s death to get as many drugs off the streets as she could.

“You miss her, don’t you?” Maggie said gently. She’d watched all the thoughts go through Cam’s mind.

Cam nodded. “Yes,” was all she said.

“And now,” Maggie asked, “how’s Lori doing?”

“Lori’s fine. Lori’s always fine. She has David and the boys to keep her busy. Gramma Anne is always there and Aunt Carrie’s just a few minutes away. She doesn’t say much to me about it but I know she’s still confused by my situation. I tried to explain it as best I could without telling her everything but I’m not sure she really understood that I’d do something so radical. It’s beyond her comprehension that anyone would give up so much of her life for a job.” Cam chuckled. “We’re so much alike in so many ways but so terribly different in how we prioritize our lives.”

Cam’s two grandmothers had refused to believe that their elder granddaughter was a drug dealer and had simply assumed that it must have been an undercover job she was working. Cam had not been able to confirm their assumptions and so it went unspoken until Christine’s death. But the tension had remained.

Finally, taking a deep breath and a long drink of her scotch, Cam sat back.

“Maybe I should call Lori before Dickie gets here,” she decided. “It’ll only take a couple minutes.”

“Take as long as you need, sweetie,” Maggie agreed. “I’ll just go put on another pot of coffee. This may go long into the night.”

Maggie got up to refill the coffee maker as Cam reached for the phone.