During the drive, Dana reviewed everything she’d learned during her stay in Oregon. By the time she pulled into the warehouse parking lot, she had concluded that the only new information she’d picked up concerned Max Dietz’s disappearance and the deaths of Jerry Swanson and Tom Oswald. The disappearance and the deaths were suspicious, but no facts connected them to the China Sea. More important, nothing she’d learned showed a connection between Justice Price and the China Sea.

The sun was starting to set, and Dana shivered when she got out of her car. No ship was moored at the pier, but Dana walked to the water’s edge anyway and tried to imagine what the scene was like on the night of the murders.

The discomfort caused by the wind made Dana cut short her reverie, and she walked back toward the warehouse. It looked deserted, but she circled it anyway. On the side opposite the spot where she had parked her car, she found a door with a heavy padlock.

Dana decided that there was nothing more she could accomplish, so she headed back to her car. As she turned the corner, she discovered a black SUV parked sideways in the lot and a large man leaning against her rental. After her escape from the basement where she’d been held captive, Dana never went anywhere without a weapon. The Beretta that nestled in a holster in the small of her back brought her great comfort. She slipped it out before stopping far enough from the man so she could shoot him if he became a threat.

“It gets cold out here,” the man said. Dana thought she heard a trace of a Scandinavian accent.

“Why are you leaning on my car?” she asked.

The man smiled. “I heard you were tough.”

“Look, jerkoff, I don’t have time for your routine. You may think you’re cool, but I just find you annoying. If you know anything about me, you know that I have no problem killing if I feel threatened. So tell me what this is all about, or fuck off.”

The man straightened up. All traces of amusement disappeared from his features, and his stare was as cold and cruel as Dana’s.

“Tell Patrick Gorman that there is no story here.”

Dana didn’t respond.

“Your boyfriend, Jake Teeny, is in Sierra Leone. That’s a dangerous place.”

Dana cocked the gun. “Watch your mouth.”

“That was simply an observation. And here’s another one. It would be difficult for Exposed to print a story about the China Sea if its building was vaporized.”

“Who are you?”

The man smiled. Then he turned without answering Dana’s question and got into the SUV. Dana let him. As soon as he was out of sight, she leaned against her car. The mention of Jake Teeny had shaken her. Dana had lost all fear of death while she was a captive. That had enabled her to do anything, regardless of the risk. Falling in love had changed her. She still had no fear where her personal safety was concerned, but the idea that Jake might be hurt because of something she did filled her with dread and made her vulnerable, something she hated.

Dana started the car and drove onto the highway. It was ironic. The man had threatened her so she would kill the story about the China Sea, but his threats had made her realize that someone still thought that the incident could turn into a very big story. The question Dana had to answer was how much she was willing to risk to uncover it.

“Pat, it’s Dana.”

“Where are you?” Gorman asked.

“I’m on my way to the airport in Portland to catch my flight back to D.C.”

“Do you by any chance have the scoop of the century packed in with your sexy lingerie?” the editor asked.

“I’m not carrying either of those items, you pervert.”

“Do you have anything for me?”

“What I’m working on is too big to discuss without proof, and I wasn’t able to get any hard evidence.”

“We don’ need no steenking evidence to print our stories,” Gorman said in an atrocious Mexican accent.

Dana laughed.

“If you don’t have a story for me, why are you calling?”

“You’ve got contacts with deep knowledge about the intelligence community, right?”

“Why do you ask?” Gorman said with all traces of humor gone.

“I was threatened by someone while I was conducting my investigation, and I want to know how seriously I should take the threat.”

“What’s the intelligence agency?”

“I’m guessing CIA, but it may be Homeland Security.”

“Let me make a call. I’ll get back to you.”

“Thanks, Pat. If this wasn’t important, I wouldn’t ask.”

“I know, Dana. That’s the reason I’m willing to burn a favor for you.”

Part VI.The Evil Twin

Chapter Forty-seven

Ginny assumed that her workload would lessen now that she was part of the team preparing Audrey Stewart for her congressional hearing, but she soon learned that this was a false assumption. She staggered through her front door at ten o’clock to the sound of an urgent conversation coming from her living room. One of the speakers was a woman, and the voice sounded familiar. While Ginny was propping her attaché case against the wall in the entryway, the name “Millard Price” drifted toward her from the other room. She strained to hear the conversation as she took off her coat. She could detect the urgency in Brad’s voice, but not what he was saying. Then she heard the woman say, “You’ve got to tell Justice Moss that this is way too dangerous for you to stay involved.”

“What’s too dangerous?” Ginny asked as she walked into the living room and saw Dana Cutler with Brad.

They looked like startled deer caught in the headlights of a Mack truck.

“What’s up?” Ginny asked suspiciously when neither Brad nor Dana answered her question.

“I didn’t hear you come in,” Brad said.

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Ginny answered. “What are you two discussing?”

“Business, honey,” Brad answered, “and it’s confidential.”

“Not if you’re doing something dangerous. I live here, too. And if it concerns Millard Price, I may be able to help. He was a partner at Rankin Lusk before he went on the Court.”

“Please forget anything you may have heard,” Brad begged her.

Ginny stared daggers at her fiancé. “This has something to do with the attack on Justice Moss, doesn’t it?”

“Why would you think that?” Brad asked with a nervous laugh.

“Because, dear, I am not stupid. I distinctly heard your co-conspirator tell you that you should tell your boss that whatever you are doing is dangerous, and the attack on Justice Moss is the only dangerous thing that’s happened at the Court since you started working there.”

“We are working on something that involves the Court, and it’s something Brad can’t discuss,” Dana said. “And I just learned something that made it clear that amateurs should not be involved.”

“Is this something serious enough to require police involvement?” Ginny asked.

Dana nodded. Ginny looked frightened. “You follow her advice, Brad.”

Brad looked like he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“I mean it,” Ginny said. “You were almost killed in the garage. I love you, and I can’t stand the thought that your life might be at risk.”

Brad’s shoulders sagged and he sighed. “All right. You win. I’ll tell Justice Moss that she should talk to Keith Evans.”

“You’re doing the right thing,” Dana assured Brad.

Ginny looked relieved, and Dana looked at her watch.

“It’s late,” Dana said. “I should be going.” She stood up. “It was good seeing you again, Ginny. When Jake gets back, we should get together.”

“I’d like that. Maybe we could meet for lunch before that.”

“You’re on. I’ll call you.”

Brad followed Dana into the entryway and locked the door behind her.