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designation gave the case the highest priority. It also knocked out the need to abide by a million little regulations and courtesies that ordinarily they would endure. Amanda nodded at the colonel.
    “You’re primary,” Drake told Amanda. “Kate, you assist her.” After a brief glance in Kate’s direction, Colonel Drake focused again on Amanda. “Get to the bottom of this fast, and keep me posted. S.A.S.S. doesn’t leave the U.S. vulnerable, and neither its operatives nor its commander does jail. Remember that.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” Amanda took the case from Kate. Since the truth was out in the open now, there was no sense in hiding it. “What about my clearance?” she asked. It should be revoked, but without it, she’d never find the truth.
    The colonel hiked her strong chin. “Your clearance is in perfect order, Captain. Go—and make damn sure you pay attention to residuals.”
    The potential effects Dr. Vargus had warned her could happen. Big order. Huge, considering she didn’t know what she didn’t know, and what she didn’t know appeared to involve a lot more military personnel than just her. “I’ll do my best.”
    She would. And she’d pray like hell it was good enough.
     

    When Amanda stepped off the helicopter at Providence Air Force Base in Florida, the humidity slapped her in the face like a steamy wet washcloth. A tall man in uniform, wearing captain’s bars on his shoulders, stood waiting beside a standard-issue blue sedan. Seeing that he had her attention, he waved.
    Assuming he was Captain Mark Cross, she walked toward him. As she stepped closer, his features cleared. Long and lean, broad-shouldered, with a hard, angular face framed by black hair and gray eyes that, at the moment, held distrust, surprise and just enough subdued appreciation to stroke her ego without caressing it. Looking at him had words like interesting, intriguing and sexy as hell flowing through her mind. “Captain Cross?”
    He nodded, extended a hand. “Mark, please.”
    “Amanda.” She shook his hand and liked the feel of his grip. Not too hard, but solid and firm enough to assure her she could depend on him. She’d always judged a man by his handshake and Captain Mark Cross passed.
    “We’re being watched. Get in the car.”
    She resisted the urge to look around, stowed her case in the back seat and then slid into the front beside him. “Safe?”
    “Yes. I swept the car for listening devices. It’s clean.” He slid the gearshift into Drive, hit the gas and drove away from the chopper’s landing pad.
    “Who’s following you?”
    “I don’t know—yet. Two cars. Two men. Civilian clothes. They locked on to me right after Kate called and they’ve been running a rolling-parallel maneuver, tracking me ever since.”
    So his office phone was bugged and the men tailing them were professionals. “You know Kate personally?”
    “We worked together for a time before she got assigned to S.A.S.S. and we became close friends.” He grunted. “Actually, we’re more like each other’s surrogate family. Neither of us has any.”
    “So you adopted each other. Nice.” She turned the topic. “You think your shadows are connected to me, then?”
    He spared her a glance. “That would be a logical deduction, Amanda.”
    “You’ve already got a theory. I see it in your face.”
    “It’s pretty clear someone doesn’t want us sharing information on our absences.” Turning into a half-full lot, he parked the car near a tall building with no windows—the vault: a site for top-secret work. “We need a place to talk freely.”
    “Suggestions?” She assumed he’d recommend the vault. Vaults always had extensive security, including white-noise devices to prohibit communications being intercepted by unfriendly forces.
    He didn’t. “At this point, I’d prefer total isolation. Unfortunately, that can’t be assured here.”
    Surprise had her skeptical. “Not even in the vault?”
    “Not even there.” His