Annie nodded. "Look on my desk before you come back."

Sarah took some sweatpants and a sweatshirt out of the dresser she had been using, looking through her clothes for heavy socks. Not finding the warm ones she thought she'd brought, she went into Annie's bedroom. Knowing Annie wouldn't care if she borrowed some of hers, she opened a drawer. She stopped and stared. There lay a gun, a standard police-issue 9mm, holstered properly, but a gun. Sarah took it out to make sure it was empty. It was. She put it back carefully, curious why Annie had a gun and wondering where the clip was. Annie had been adamant about not liking them or having them around her.

The next drawer had the socks she was looking for, and she sat on the bed, putting them on, thinking about the trip to Green Bay. Not tonight, it was too late and they both needed rest.

Switching on the lights in Annie's office, she grinned when she saw the country music CDs on the desktop. She carried them into the den and Annie looked up with a playful expression.

Don looked at his watch. "We have two people at the hospital personnel office, trying to identify your sketch. Scott will let you know if they find her. And now, ladies, I have to go. When this is all over, and it will be, will you stop by my office? I'd like to talk with you, Annie."

Outside, he stopped, outlining the two cars posted at the house and reminding them that there would be perimeter checks every half hour or so. He had Sarah check the alarm system and the computer.

Settling back into the den, Sarah lay on the couch and Annie sat down in her rocking chair. The fire popped a few times, and Sarah stretched, trying to find energy but found none. She closed her eyes.

"I want a beer," Annie said.

"No, not with that medication," Sarah said without opening her a 201 a eyes. She could hear Annie going through the CDs, then quiet. She opened her eyes to find Annie's face, frowning, about five inches away from hers.

"My God, Annie." Sarah jumped and sat up.

"Beer," Annie said softly but firmly.

"No. That was the only thing Dr. Williams said you couldn't have.

Alcohol."

"This is dumb," Annie said, going back to her chair. She held out a Dixie Chicks CD with a questioning look on her face.

"Love 'em," Sarah said. Annie put some discs into the stereo. "I borrowed a pair of your socks and noticed the gun. When did you pick that up?"

"The day you came to Mom's clinic. My brother Will got it for me. How about helping me learn to handle it?"

Sarah sat up and braced her legs on the coffee table. "Come here,"

she said, patting her legs.

Annie turned the music on and was in her lap almost immediately, snuggling into her, sighing. Sarah brushed the hair back from Annie's face. "I like your haircut. I kept meaning to tell you but forgot."

"I got it the day I got the gun. I thought I might as well make a clean sweep. Haircut and gun, kind of goes together, don't you think?"

She smiled up at Sarah, who just shook her head. "The network keeps me in the trendiest styles so I can go on air at any given moment."

"I just wanted you to know that I noticed," Sarah said, running her fingers through the layered hair.

"Oh, girl, those brown eyes of yours are always on the move. I don't think you miss much." Annie gave her a crooked smile that made Sarah want to kiss her.

"How's your head?" Sarah asked, gently lifting the hair, looking at the stitches.

"I've been taking the mother of all pain pills. How about you?"

"Living on ibuprofen," Sarah said. "We're a pair, aren't we?" She picked up Annie's hand. "Where shall we start?"

Annie traced Sarah's mouth with her fingers. "I suppose not where I'd like?"

"Rules, damned pesky things," Sarah said. "I could get fired, Annie. I'm out to the agency. It's in my file, but clients are absolutely a 202 a forbidden and I've never-" Annie quieted her with a finger on Sarah's lips.

"Okay, I'll play nice. I know you're from Arizona. Are you a cowboy...a cowgirl...a cowperson? What the hell do you call those people these days?" She laughed.

"I wouldn't know, but I do love horses. You know, the motorcycle jacket thing. Do you ride?"

Sarah took a sudden deep breath as Annie snuggled deeper. "I ride. My grandparents had a stable next to their cabin, so I grew up on them, and I've ridden a lot at Kilie and Nicki's too. Wouldn't be any good in a rodeo, but I like them. I learned to hunt and fish at my grandparents' cabin too."

Sarah raised her eyebrows. "You hunt? I thought you didn't like guns."

"I did until I started seeing how people use them against each other. I'll tell you about Grandpa, but that's why I need your help with this gun." She pressed Sarah's hand against her mouth. "Thanks for the beautiful crow carving. See it up there, on the mantel? Rainbow's End, right, where the horses are?"

"How did you know the name of the ranch?"

"The card was taped to the inside of the box."

"Nina and Sherry, always advertising." Sarah chuckled. "By the way, where do you keep the clips for that gun?"

Annie laughed.

"What?" Sarah said, wondering what so funny about ammunition for a gun. Annie sat up.

"The clips are in the bottom drawer, the sex toy drawer." She grinned at Sarah.

Sarah burst out laughing. "The sex toys?"

"When I started going overseas I'd look around and pick up new ideas, fun things." She sat up with an impish look and held her hand out. "Come on. I'm starving. Let's eat," Annie said. "The night you had dinner with my family, Dad gave me some of his stew and I froze it. It's been in the oven since we got home tonight, so it should be ready."

Sarah's stomach started to grumble as she followed Annie to the kitchen. "I just remembered. Do I still get to see your painting?"

a 203 a Wheeling around from the stove, Annie looked at Sarah for a moment, then turned back. "I hadn't even thought of it. Let me get this on the table." She placed large stoneware bowls on the table with utensils and napkins. "What do you know about the brother and sister, the ones that you think have been following me?"

"Do you have any idea who they are? You've seen them both now, at Sam's and Majer's party, the hospital."

"They're familiar. That's all I know. I have thought about him until my brain hurts, but I can't connect, and that's strange for me. And her? I can't figure out if she's familiar because they look alike, or if I've actually run into her. It was a shock to see her at the hospital."

"We have their information out overseas. We'll find them. Both Don and I feel they're connected with Majer's group. Getting you out of town will give us time to work on it without worrying about them hurting you again." Sarah tackled the food but felt adrenaline start to edge into her one more time.

Annie was quiet, her eyebrows knit.

"What?" Sarah asked.

"Just instinct, experience. I always have it, like an internal warning. Something's off here. Don't you feel it?" She stared at space for a moment. "I don't think these people are part of the terrorist group.

I think they're involved with the prince. We're not ready."

"We're ready, and if they are involved with the prince, we'll know.

We'll find out." Sarah fought the increasing edginess, wanting to just sit in the warm kitchen with Annie and enjoy the food. "Tell me about learning to hunt."

Annie's face relaxed. "About my granddad?" Sarah nodded.

"He was quite a man, my father's father. He was determined that his granddaughters, all of us, would learn to hunt just like the men. He even taught Mom, and you know what? She's a pretty good shot. He took Molly and me out in the woods behind the cabin with two guns, a small shotgun, and a twenty-two rifle. He handed each one of us a gun and said we were going to learn to shoot. Molly was sixteen and I was twelve, so I got the twenty-two. We shot tin cans, bottles, whatever he could find to put in front of us."

Annie's eyes twinkled. "We progressed to rabbits and squirrels.

Will had teased both of us unmercifully all year about being girls and a 204 a not being able to shoot. Grandpa evened it all up, and after a whole summer of shooting in the woods behind the cabin, he took us on a aspecial' pheasant hunt with Will. I didn't hit anything, nor did Will, but Molly shot two of them. Grandpa was so proud of her, and Will never teased us again. That night we had to clean them, behind the cabin, and it was awful. To this day, when I smell burnt hair or feathers, I think of pheasant."

"So you know how to shoot a rifle or a shotgun, but not a pistol?"

"I target shoot with Will now and then, but nothing like I've got in there in the drawer. Will said it's much faster than anything I've shot before."

Sarah nodded. "Will is right, and we'll practice. I promise. We'll take some time up in Green Bay. Did you eat what you shot?"

"I love squirrel and rabbit." Annie grinned. "You just ate some."

"What?" Sarah stopped and Annie started to laugh.

"There was rabbit in that stew. Dad, Molly, and Will did some hunting last month. In the winter we get together and hunt."

"Where? I didn't know you could hunt in town."

"Right here, out in the woods beside my house. I'm in the county, not the city, and this land is grandfathered for hunting."

They took coffee back to the den, and Annie talked about hunting with her family. Sarah leaned her head back on the sofa and closed her eyes.

"Can I lie in your lap again?" Annie asked and curled into Sarah when she nodded. "This is much better than the hospital." She reached up into Sarah's dark hair, playing with the curls.

Sarah pulled her closer. "I love touching you, even when I'm not supposed to."

"Want to hear something funny?"

"How funny?"

"I told Rebecca, when I first got home, that I was fairly certain you and I didn't bat on the same team."

"How could you not know?"

"I'm pretty sure I've lost my gaydar."

"Good, you don't need to be looking anywhere else," Sarah said.

"I hope you have."

a 205 a "That's not nice, FBI Agent Moore. Tell me about the person who got you into the FBI and then left you."

"You want to hear about Patricia? I don't know if there are enough mean words in the dictionary to describe our relationship."

"Were you the same age?"

"Thereabouts. It's been over eight years since that disaster. We hooked up briefly in college, then lost sight of one another and found each other again. Crazy."

"What was she like? Did she like sports, books, or just bodies?"

"No, well, yes, all of the above. She's a drummer in a band."

"What? You're putting me on."

"Nope. She's a drummer for the Last Girls, an all-girl band in California, or that's where they were when I last heard from her, just after I moved here. She called me, drunk or high, whatever. She was trashed. She was a smart, pretty girl, Annie. Just couldn't get it together. I never met anyone as well read as she was. It's just a shame.

And she did want me out of town. Patricia could always find someone more interesting. She had met a musician, some dark-haired guy that looked like he was going to stick a gun in your ribs any moment."

"A guy? That's always an option, isn't it? I don't know what I'd do in that situation."

"There's not much you can do, believe me. I came home, unexpectedly, and when I walked in on them in my bed, she didn't even bother to cover herself. That stays with me."

"I'm sorry," Annie said. "That's an ugly story. Anyone else?"

"Sure, but nothing that stuck. I'm always so busy and sleeping when I'm not." She looked down into Annie's face, realizing she hadn't really cared until now. "Where do you go with Mary now?"

Annie scrubbed her hands over her face. "I'd just like to salvage a friendship out of this. When she was in Switzerland, she yelled a lot.

I was kind of crazy myself and told her to go home, but she wouldn't leave. I'd never seen her that angry. In my opinion, we officially split right there." She was quiet for a moment. "Do you really want to hear this?"

Sarah nodded, staring down at the green eyes. She had never seen so many shades of green as Annie's eyes.

a 206 a "I don't think we said more than twenty personal words to each other on the trip home. We had both just shut down, and I didn't even want to be here. I stayed with Rebecca for a couple of weeks. Mary came back here and moved into the guest bedroom. We never slept together again, and should have just stopped right there, but Mary wouldn't. She said to keep trying, but it was over. She never mentioned the word alove' again."

Annie slipped a warm hand under Sarah's sweatshirt, letting it lie lightly on her stomach. "I think she was already seeing Meg but wasn't sure enough to make a move. She finally did tell me just before this last trip."

The logs in the fireplace shifted and Annie got up, poking them around. "I'm ready to move on, Sarah. She already has, and frankly, I'm glad she has Meg. I can see how happy she is. I have to forgive myself for not listening all those years, or worse, not paying attention."

"Why didn't you? Pay attention, I mean?"

Annie sat down in the rocking chair and was quiet, thinking.

"When Jack first took me over there, I fell in love with our troops and the cause. Those boys and girls, the men and women are so...American.

And the Iraqis. It's such a different culture. I was fascinated. Then everyone began to die, and it began to be people I knew. I'd come home and send their parents or wives and husbands notes, especially if I had photos. Then there were just too many. I couldn't keep up." She stopped and took a drink of coffee. "The thing in Saudi Arabia happened and I changed. Mary would list all the ways I was becoming someone else, and I didn't know how to fix it. Everything I did just made it worse, made me restless. I couldn't find one single place to connect with her any longer. I used to leave here, go back, and practically drive myself crazy trying to think of ways to make us work. I never could find the answer."

"Was there been anyone else besides Mary?"

"As a matter of fact, the answer is almost. It was Kerry, the English photojournalist, the woman who took those pictures I gave you. At the last minute, it just wasn't enough, but she came the closest." Her voice trailed off and she looked away. "I haven't wanted anyone to touch me. When I was younger, I always took all of this for granted, but the a 207 a attack in Saudi Arabia really messed with my head, and hell, my body."

Annie yawned, and Sarah noticed the smudges were back under her eyes again.