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listening intently to the reporter’s statement that the fire marshals had found evidence of arson, in fact, of an explosive device. No one had been hurt in the blast and resulting fire, but a tenant was missing. Police were searching for the missing tenant, Shannon Brown, whom they wanted for questioning.
    Derek sat back and glanced at his watch. He wondered how early he could phone the governor.

T WO
    “Y OU ’ RE SURE SHE ’ S all right?” William Franklin’s voice had lost the last vestiges of sleep, and he sounded worried as hell.
    “I’m sure. She’s asleep in my bed right now.”
    There was a beat of silence, and then the governor’s voice came over the telephone line more calmly. “I knew you’d look after her if anything happened.”
    “Uh-huh. And you knew something would happen, didn’t you? That’s why you gave her myname. Is there anything you’d like to tell me, Governor?”
    “Stop being so damned formal,” Franklin ordered peevishly. “You’re beginning to sound like a government operative, and heaven knows you never have before.”
    Derek took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. “William, my doorbell rang at four this morning, and I found a very frightened, very vulnerable lady on my doorstep. I’m functioning on about four hours’ sleep, I have a monumental case of jet lag, a pounding headache, and what I suspect is the beginning of a hellish problem. Play games with me, and I’m coming over there to tear your heart out.”
    Franklin chuckled. “Now you sound like yourself.”
    “William.”
    “All right, all right. Just remember this: you take care of that lady. She’s something special.”
    “I caught that. Why’s she special to you?” A blunt question, but Derek was a blunt man.
    Calmly, Franklin said, “Partly because she took a bullet meant for me.”
    “What?”
    “You heard me. There was a private party about two years ago for my key campaign workers. Some maniac decided to kill me, and Shannon saw what none of the security people did. She threw herself at me, knocked me down. I didn’t get hit, but she did, in the shoulder.”
    Slowly, Derek said, “There was no publicity.”
    “No.”
    Derek decided not to ask how that had been arranged: as it was, he knew more than he cared to about “political realities.”
    “I see. That’s why you got her a job at Civatech?”
    “One of the reasons. While she was recovering from the wound, Annie and I also grew very fond of her.” Franklin hesitated, then asked, “Have you ever met someone who’d been slapped down so many times they’d learned to expect another slap?”
    “Yes.” Derek cleared his throat. “At four this morning.”
    Franklin sighed. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? That damned limp and some bad luck, and the poor kid’s convinced she’s just taking up valuable space in the world. Sometimes she forgets it all. And then she remembers, and it’s like watching a flower close up.”
    After a moment, Derek said, “So tell me about Civatech.”
    “Not much I can tell you.” Franklin accepted the shift in subject. “Shannon could probably tell you a lot, even more than she realizes she knows. She’s observant and perceptive. All I know is that some of those odd sentences she picked out of a few letters sounded suspiciously like the codes I remember from my Army days. And with a high-security firm like Civatech, I just had to wonder.”
    Derek told him what Shannon had reported to her supervisor about the nonexistent product and the nonexistent company. “What do you think?”
    Worried, Franklin said, “Dammit, I don’t know. Some of their
products
are not exactly nice toys. If a design was scrapped, it was probably because there was something that made it unworkable, uncontrollable, therefore, quite dangerous. If some idiot has built a prototype from a defective design and means to peddle it to the highest bidder—Damn. I can—”
    “No, you stay out of it. If something happens and I