A woman's voice came on the line. "Whatever you darned well please. Just no boots, buddy."

Annie laughed at Bill's direct superior, Ellen Kennedy. "I wasn't even thinking of boots. Although, now that you mention it, they'd probably be a lot more comfortable than those killer heels you had me in the last time we did this."

a 118 a "Yes, but if I recall, you loved my choice of dress," Ellen said.

"Why don't you let me do it again? Feed my love of shopping and save you the trouble?"

They laughed. The last award had been with Jack, and Ellen had dressed her in one of the most revealing dresses Annie had ever worn, before or since.

"Okay, deal, but don't forget about my arm and the stitches, or we could turn it into a trendy tattoo. Anyway, I'm a little older, so less skin would probably be in order, don't you think?"

"Have you seen what women are wearing?" Ellen asked. "Next to nothing. It's crazy. We'll get back to you with ticket information and what else within the hour. Talk to you later, sweetie." She hung up.

Annie pumped her fist and whispered, "Yes! This'll make Jack so-" She went quiet, remembering, and walked to the big windows, gazing out at the lake. Walking around the studio, she looked at the locks on the windows, checking each one of them. The familiar shiver of fear ran through her . Damn, in my house. She wondered how they had opened the windows from the outside. She felt it again, the urge to run, to get out of here, then she stopped herself. What was she thinking?

Her flight left for New York in less than three hours. She was getting out of here. She turned to the painting of Sarah. The work could be seen at this point, but did she want Sarah to see it? She reached out and traced the outline of the body, almost feeling the skin, the clothing, her hands in the black hair. It made her tingle, and she stepped back, surprised. It had been years since anything on her body had done that.

She pulled the cover over the painting and clattered down the steps to her office.

v Sarah was on her computer, looking at the history on Annie's passport, coming in and out of the country. It had taken her quite a while to gain access, but she was rolling now. She scrolled backward and found the time both Annie and her mother had spoken of. About three years ago there had been a three-month period where she had been in the United States, then she left for Japan. Sarah scrolled down and saw that Annie had been accurate. She generally was out of the country for three to four months and then back here for three to four weeks. Her a 119 a trips had been steady for almost ten years with the exception of this three-month period. Annie wasn't kidding. The network had her on the fast track. Sarah leaned back in her chair just as the phone rang.

"Okay, what did my mother tell you?" Her voice had a smile in it.

"Me first. What did my mother tell you?" Sarah said.

"Not going to talk, huh? All right, how would you like to join me for tonight and three days in the Big Apple?"

"New York City?"

"Last I heard they were still calling it that."

"What's the occasion?"

"There's a network award program I have to be at Friday night.

The boss himself was on the phone to let me know that this is not an option."

"I have to clear it with my guy here," Sarah said. There was no way would they let her go and she knew it. They'd hand Annie off to Josh Palmer. "Annie, let me call you back." She got up immediately and left for Don's office.

"No," was Don's first response. "Sarah, you know the drill. Josh will pick up on that end. How long again?"

"She leaves today and returns Saturday, in time for the party at Majer's." Sarah tried to keep a professional tone as she looked across the desk at her superior. "Josh is too new, and this is not what I had in mind when I said I wanted to get her out of town."

"You know the new rules. We have to hand the client off to the next available office. You're right about Josh, but they'll team him up with experienced people." He picked up the phone. "But we won't know if we don't ask, right?" Ten minutes later he gave up and set the phone down.

"No dice, girl, sorry. But still, she's out of town."

Sarah got up to go back to her office. "Right, but what if this turns out to be domestic, or whoever it is, and they just plain follow? I appreciate your effort, but I swear, if anything happens to her out there, I will go to New York City, whether the agency wants me to or not."

Sarah slammed into her chair in her office, knocking it back against the wall. Damn, if it wasn't one thing it was another. It should have been simple. Just take Annie to Green Bay. Now she's going off to New York City and I can't even go. She called Annie.

a 120 a "What?" Annie said. "Why not?"

"Because, post nine-eleven, things just go from office to office in the FBI. I think you'll probably get Josh Palmer."

"That kid is so green he looks like an alien," Annie said with a disappointed laugh. "It would have been so much fun. Will you take me to the airport today and pick me up Saturday?"

"Wouldn't miss it. What time?"

"Now. I have exactly three hours."

"I'll be there. I'll call Mike's house and explain what's going on."

v Unlike the night Sarah had first picked Annie up, the airport was jammed. They battled their way through the crowd, and Scott put the luggage out for security. Sarah talked to the U.S. marshall that would be on the flight and introduced Annie. Cleared, they walked down to the gate where Annie would be boarding. "Will you watch the show Friday night?"

Sarah turned, hearing a whisper of shyness. "You shouldn't even have to ask," she said softly, away from Scott's ears. The airline announced the flight, and Annie picked up her backpack.

"Here I go again. Thanks for bringing me, and I'll see you Saturday?" Sarah's heart clutched. She'd miss her and was afraid for her.

"You know I'll be here, and you know how to reach me, Annie."

Annie turned to go but stopped, coming back to Sarah. She dropped her bag and hugged her. "I'll miss you, Agent Moore," she whispered in her ear and then was gone. Sarah stood at the window until the plane took off. She could still feel the warm brush of Annie's breath on her ear. Scott had waited with her, and they walked silently together back to the parking enclosure.

"I don't like not going with her," he finally said.

Sarah just shook her head. "She'll be back." She waited until he got in his car and left.

Driving away from the airport didn't feel good to Sarah. The Milwaukee sky had turned cloudy, and the lake that had been so blue this morning was now gray. At an intersection where she would normally turn to drive to the office, she turned the other way, driving a 121 a out of the city and into the surrounding country. It was a good day to go to the stable and see how her horses were doing. She called and left Don a message that she would be out the rest of the day but would leave her phone on.

Rainbow's End sat on a corner, a bright yellow house with yellow barn and stable. Sarah parked then knocked on the back door, but no one answered so she walked toward the stables.

As she came around the corner, she could hear Sherry whistling, and despite her mood, she started to smile. "Hey, there," she said into the stable door. Sherry spun around and dropped her brush.

"Dammit, Moore," she grumbled, "remember how old I am. You'll give me a stroke." But she hugged Sarah. "I think I've lost my touch."

"Old FBI agents don't lose their touch," Sarah said, "just their fingerprints." She looked down the stable to see if she could see her horses.

"They're out in pasture," Sherry said. "You're not dressed to ride anyway." She cupped her hand under Sarah's chin. "What's this I see?"

"I just put someone on an airplane, and I'm going to miss her."

Sarah looked down. "You've known me too long."

Sherry gave a disgusted snort, "Yes, we've known each other a long time, but that's a good thing, isn't it?" She tossed a brush at Sarah.

"Here, help me finish this bad boy, and we'll go to the house."

Later, in the kitchen, they sat over a cup of coffee and talked.

Sherry's partner owned a computer firm in Milwaukee and would be home soon. It didn't take much to persuade Sarah to stay for dinner.

Sherry had retired from the agency four years ago and bought this farm about the same time Sarah had been transferred to Milwaukee. Sarah was helping set the table when Nina came in, smiling when she saw Sarah.

"Look what I found, Nina," Sherry said. "Someone claiming to be from the FBI."

"Thank God it's not you anymore," Nina said, giving both women a hug. "I wondered whose big black SUV was in our driveway. You're driving those these days?"

"No, that car belongs to someone else, not the agency." Sarah had driven Annie's car to the airport.

"Nice car," Nina said.

a 122 a They caught up over dinner and settled into the living room over coffee.

"What's up, youngster?" Sherry asked, putting her arm around Nina. Sarah watched them and wished Annie was beside her.

"Just wanted to see you," she lied, "and the horses. If I'd thought of it, I'd have dressed for a ride. Bet those guys are a ton overweight."

"We ride them all the time, and you know that." Sherry lifted her eyebrows. "You didn't answer my question."

"Well," Sarah started and then stopped, realizing it had been just a little over two weeks. "I've got an assignment. A woman's name on a terrorist Web site, and they've assigned me."

"And?" Nina gave her a smile.

"And," Sarah echoed, "she's kind of fascinating."

"And," Sherry prompted, grinning, "you'd like to know her a bit better?"

Sarah felt her cheeks grow warm. "All right, you two, yes, I'd like to know her a bit better, and I think the feeling's mutual."

"Do we get to know who this is?" Nina asked.

"Sure, it's Annie Booker-" Sarah started, but Sherry interrupted.

"The correspondent from Iraq that just won the award today?"

Sarah nodded, surprised Sherry knew about the award.

"It was on the radio station that I was listening to in the stable.

She's local and well known," Sherry explained.

"God, Sarah, she's gorgeous," Nina finished for Sherry, "but the word around town is that she's been tied up with some doctor for a long time. Wait, wasn't she injured there?"

"They've split, and the doctor's with some other doctor. I know a little about why, and I'm being careful of it. Still, they are definitely over. And yes, she was injured, a car bomb." She looked at both women, frowning at her. "What?"

"We've known each other for a long time, and you've never brought this kind of, well, whatever it is, you've never brought this to us."

Sarah gave a little shrug, uncertain how to explain.

"It's the look on your face," Sherry said. "You look almost, what, Nina, reverent? That struck-dumb look, and I've never seen you look that way, even around that blonde, what was her name?"

a 123 a "Patricia."

"Heard from her lately?"

"Long time ago. This woman is different." Sarah finally said what her heart had been messing with since leaving the airport. "First of all, you know the agency's rules about clients, not to mention my own rules, never get involved. Then, there's the fact that she's good at her job, well known, as you said, and will probably go back to Iraq."

Both women sitting across from her laughed. "This is a first, Sarah.

Usually you're out here, hiding from someone. I'll be darned, Sherry.

You're right. She's been struck." Nina laughed again as she said it.

Sherry gave her an encouraging smile. "Tell us about her."

"She's incredible." Sarah knew she was blushing but forged on.

"Best sense of humor, and brains all over. You're right, Nina, she's gorgeous, but she doesn't seem to notice, and she laughed at me when I called her a celebrity. She didn't even tell me that she'd won an award.

One of my agents told me. I've met her family, and I swear they've cloned my parents. Her mother is a psychiatrist at the women's clinic downtown, you know the place, and her father has a huge nursery business."

Sarah stopped talking, seeing her two friends staring intently at her, then she babbled on. "And she plays serious golf and likes to fish.

What are the odds?"

"Charlene's Angels, right?" Nina said and Sarah nodded. "I do their computers, Sarah, and I've met Hannah Booker. Neat lady. No kidding, that's Annie Booker's mother? I never even thought about that.

Well, that's just crazy because I know her sister too, Molly."

"Don't you agree Hannah's a cool lady? I haven't met Molly."

"Sure is, but I don't know the reporter, other than seeing her on TV. This is kind of a big deal, I agree." Nina looked at Sherry. "They're good businesswomen and down to earth. They actually listen to you when you talk to them."

It occurred to Sarah that Annie did that too. Always listened, really listened, when they talked. Her heart thudded a bit.

"I'm not sure what to do," she said softly.

v a 124 a After two twelve-hour days with the network, Annie was tired.

Her suite at the hotel was littered with papers, clothes, and empty coffee cups. She wandered around, putting things where they belonged and throwing trash in the garbage. She spoke to the FBI agent sitting in the larger room in the network's suites and walked back to the kitchen, picking up a bottle of wine. Everything was ready for tomorrow night, and she looked at her dress hanging on a door. Finally, she headed for the shower and decided against clothes when she got out. She grabbed a blanket off the bed, wrapping it around her, and went to the table in the suite's bedroom. She collapsed into a comfortable chair and sat in the dark, staring out at the clear, cold sky. She counted the different countries where she had sat and stared at the night sky. Her arm ached from today's workout, and she missed her home, the lake, and something else. Sarah.

Annie had called Rebecca and then her parents earlier, but she'd waited to call Sarah. She called her own house, wondering if Sarah would stay there, but no one answered. Annie reached for the wine bottle, poured half a glass, and then moved her laptop across the table.

Sarah's card was in the top pocket, and she pulled it out, looking at all the numbers listed. She hitched the blanket up over her bare shoulders and called Sarah's home phone.

It rang twice before it was picked up, then dropped with a loud thud, more noise, and then a voice said, "Moore."

"Hey, super sleuth, what's up?"