Page 9 of V-Day

A soft cheer sounded.

Chloe glanced at him. “Coffee is a treat?” she asked.

“There’s not enough of it for everyone,” he said shortly. “We stretch it out. Every second or third day only.”

“You’releadingthese people,” Chloe breathed, as she put it together.

“Someone has to,” he said flatly. He got to his feet. “We can’t talk here. They’ll tap my shoulder every thirty seconds now everyone is awake.” His scowl deepened. “They forgeteverything,” he added, sounding peeved.

“They have you to remember it for them,” Chloe replied.

“Come on. I know where I can disappear to for a while. We can talk there.”

*

PARRIS TOOK THE LAPTOP FROMLocke and settled it on her knees. “Colonel?” she acknowledged. Strickland was wearing full dress uniform, she noted.

Strickland nodded to her. “Are we secure, Captain?”

She looked up at Locke, who nodded.

“I have Lieutenant Locke within earshot, sir. No one else.”

“Ask Lieutenant Locke to move out of hearing range, Captain,” Strickland said.

Cold tendrils of alarm touched her. She glanced at Locke again. He nodded and moved twenty meters along the gully and put his back to her.

Parris looked back at the screen. “Just you and me, sir,” she told Strickland.

Strickland grimaced. “I’m afraid it is not just you and me, Captain.” He stepped to one side of the frame. Behind him was a long conference table filled with men and women in uniform and in civilian suits. Sitting at the far end was…

“Mr. President, sir,” Parris acknowledged, her voice emerging hoarsely.

President Collins nodded back.

“We’re in the Situation Room, Captain Graves,” Strickland said. “I need to ask you a few questions.”

“Yes, sir.”

“When you located the Cobalt 60 at the top end of Vistaria, three days ago, Captain, did you see the actual bomb itself?”

Her heart was trying to climb out of her rib cage. “No, sir, we did not. The place was a rabbit warren. The radiation was off the charts, too. It was there, sir.”

“Or it hadbeenthere,” someone whispered from off-camera.

Parris’ chest felt as though it was being squeezed in a vise. “The radiation levels were too high for background noise,” she said sharply. “It was there.”

“Are you certain about that, Captain Graves?” President Collins asked her.

Parris could feel sweat breaking out on her temples. She clenched her hand into a fist beneath the level of the laptop so the camera wouldn’t pick it up. “Mr. President, sir, I cannot give you absolute assurance it was there,” she said carefully. “I stand by my original report. Even though we did not sight the cobalt core or the bomb, we knew it was there because of the radiation spikes. To have lingered any longer to find it, while under fire, would have put my men at an intolerable level of risk. Sir.”

President Collins nodded.

“May I know why you are asking, Mr. President?” Parris added. “It may help me give you better information.”

“That’s above your pay-grade, Captain,” Strickland said.

Collins held up his hand. “The Captain has shown she can think clearly in the field. It might be useful to have an asset on the ground who knows the real situation.”