Cloud Dust: RD-1 (R-D #1)(42)

"She did say something this morning as we were walking downstairs at the Mansion," Rafe acknowledged. "That things seemed to be in flux."

"Madam President?" An aide knocked softly on the outside door.

"Come in," the President said.

"We just received word," the young man reported. "Captain Dalton was found dead inside his quarters and General Cutter has disappeared."

"Thanks, Greg," the President said.

*

"This is the best we can do at the moment," August said as we arrived at a building in Arlington. "It's scheduled for renovation, but for now, it's ours until they can find something else for us."

Sometime in the past, the four-story, square brick building had been used as upscale apartments. That was in the eighties, judging by the décor.

Every suite held a kitchenette—dated, of course, but still functional.

Rafe lifted an eyebrow at me. I shrugged. It didn't matter. We'd lost so many. The latest death toll was twenty-two, plus the six Secret Service agents. We only had the clothes we wore. Those things no longer mattered. So many families would receive bad news, and there was no comfort we could give them.

"This location isn't on anybody's radar," August said, taking a seat on a floral-patterned chair in the common area downstairs. "Those responsible for the bombing don't know about it, and the information won't be given to anyone else for a while. Cori, did you get anything on Preston? Did he leave with Becker and Gene?"

"No—to the last question."

"Dead then." August shook his head.

Nick, who sat nearby, wore a stone-faced expression. Preston was his handler.

"We heard from Jeff; he's on the way now with James," August said. "There's an office upstairs, but the equipment is outdated. That'll either be fixed in the next week or we'll be moved again before then. Safer's talking with the President now—he says he should have waited to send Dalton out of the Mansion. This likely put Cutter on alert."

"Cutter's involved in this?" Maye asked.

"It's likely. All his personal files and belongings are gone—his home was searched earlier. It's suspected that he was involved in Dalton's death, too."

"Why would he do that?" Nick asked.

"Because Dalton wouldn't cooperate, most likely, so Cutter convinced Becker and Gene to do his dirty work instead."

"What does that do to the Program?" Rafe asked quietly.

"It could blow up in our faces," August said. "Only one or two know everything there is to know about it. The rest of us only know what we need to know to do our jobs. With Becker in enemy hands and available for testing, somebody could backtrack and produce the same results in others."

"He was pissed because he wasn't going on assignments like he was before," Nick offered. "Becker, that is."

"He's placed all of us in danger," August said. "He was presented with what he saw as a better deal after Safer told Gene the other night that he was useless. That set the wheels in motion."

"Where does that leave us?" Nick asked. "We're two men down, and those two men could help track enemy movements through cyberspace."

"Auggie, I know you may not think this is important right now, but we still need those photographs I asked for," I said. My fingers twisted nervously together as I asked, and I wouldn't have asked if I didn't feel it was important.

"I'll see what I can do," August sighed. "You understand that the President's mind is on other things, right now."

"Yeah."

*

"Cabbage?" Rafe's arms were around me the moment the door shut behind us. We stood inside his new apartment, both of us feeling as if we'd been dropped onto an alien landscape. Nothing there belonged to us, and the day's events had ensured that we were on unsteady ground.

"Oh, God, Ilya," I mumbled against his chest. The chessboard was shifting around us, in movements too swift and blurred for us to comprehend or counter.

"Corinne?" Dr. Shaw's voice came after the knock on Ilya's door. I moved away from him and Rafe called for him to come in.

"She could use a sedative, I think," Rafe said before I could stop him. "She's been shaking for hours."

"Corinne, I do have something with me. It'll relax you, that's all," Leo Shaw said. "You can eat something while it takes effect, then lie down and rest. There's pizza on the way," he added.

"But what if I," I began.

"Cabbage, trust me. Nothing will happen while you rest. I promise," Rafe said.

"Fine."

"Yes, it will be fine. Doctor, please proceed." Rafe waved Leo forward.

James walked in with a box of pizza two minutes after Dr. Shaw gave me the sedative. I think I fell asleep before I finished my second slice.

*

Ilya

She fell asleep against my shoulder, a half-eaten slice of sausage pizza still in her hand. "Thank you," I nodded at Leo Shaw, who'd joined James, Corinne and me for pizza. James and Leo looked exhausted to me, but I didn't want to point that out. Corinne was my primary concern.

"No problem. James, take enough pizza with you to fill you up—I believe we have bedrooms waiting across the hall." Shaw nodded to James, who rose stiffly.