They quickly located the tree Jonathan had described as the hiding place for the shooter, and Kris parked on the street in front of the yard.

She spent a few minutes surveying the tree, trying to decide the best way to reach the lowest branch without taxing her bruised muscles any more than necessary.

Focusing, Kris crouched slightly before jumping up and grabbing onto the high branch, grimacing, but holding on and eventually swinging her body onto the tree limb. The next branches were comparatively easy, and she found the rifle a little higher in the tree, well hidden in foliage and secured by bungee cords.

Kris glanced around and silently commended the shooter on the excellent vantage point. She dropped to the ground a few minutes later, carefully holding the rifle by the trigger guard because of the remote possibility the sniper had been careless and not worn gloves or wiped the weapon clean after firing it.

"Jonathan was telling the truth. This is a professional sniper's rifle. I'll turn it over to Earl, but there won't be anything on it to identify the shooter or where the weapon was purchased. Anyone can get one through mail order catalogues if you know where to look."

Shelby glanced at the weapon, but her concern was for Kris. "Are you okay?"

The operative smiled wanly. "I'm fine, just a little sore, yet."

"Uh huh." Shelby knew a little sore really meant Kris was majorly hurting. "I hope we see someone on tonight's surveillance. We really need a break."

"I hear you." Kris closed the car door behind Shelby, secured the rifle in the trunk, and slid into the driver's seat. Doubts began to plague Kris as she searched her mind for any way to expedite the search for her mother and the leak in the case. Troubled, she began to wonder if they had any chance for success.

Softly spoken words broke through her dark musings and a small hand came to rest on her thigh.

"We're going to find her in time."

The operative glanced at the unshakable optimism on her partner's face. After all she'd been through the last week, that Shelby could be so positive amazed her. She cast her doubts aside, determined to prove the analyst right.



*  *  *

Kris took a sip of her Coke, her eyes steadily tracking the people walking along the Georgetown sidewalk, oblivious to her scrutiny. Shelby had grown quiet the last half hour and the operative suspected that her arm was probably bothering her, although her partner had insisted it was fine and had taken a pain killer in the restaurant.

Her concern for her partner's welfare had overridden her logic while they were eating, and she'd suggested they cancel surveillance that night, but Shelby had pointedly vetoed the idea. Kris marveled at the iron will and quiet strength of the woman she loved and vowed to do everything within her power to ensure they shared a future together.

The operative's thoughts turned to Dimitri. She wasn't surprised that the Russians were maintaining a low profile right now by leaving her alone; she'd expected that. But, it was going on nine p.m. and no one had shown the slightest interest in the drop, either.

She glanced in their rear view mirror frequently, habit dictating her action. She turned her head toward Shelby when she heard her suck in a breath and whisper, "Maggie."

Taking in the wide eyes and astonishment on her partner's face, she looked in the direction Shelby was gazing. Kris recognized the woman she had seen sitting in the canteen across from Michael earlier in the week. Her eyes riveted on the casually jean clad woman, she watched her nonchalantly pass the "blind" man sitting there collecting coins and put something in his basket. "You know her?"

Shelby nodded, still stunned. "Yeah. She works down my hallway. She invited us out for a get together last night, but I told her I was stopping over at my mother's..."

As the realization of what she'd said, impacted her, Shelby turned and faced Kris, who was tracking Maggie down the street. "I forgot all about that. She knew, too." The analyst fell silent wondering how she could have misjudged Maggie so badly, and then realized she'd never talked to her enough to really develop any kind of rapport with her. She glanced up as Kris started the car.

"That's her in the blue Mercedes," Kris said. "Let's see where she's going now."

Shelby watched Kris expertly blend into the traffic behind the Mercedes, always keeping two or three cars between them and their target. She was glad Washington had a thriving nightlife, knowing they could easily keep Maggie in sight without being obvious until she reached her destination.

Disappointment coloring her words, Shelby looked at her partner glumly. "I never even suspected her."

Kris reached over and linked her fingers with Shelby's. "You probably never had any reason to. Did she ever act suspiciously or do anything out of the ordinary?"

"No. But she was always big in the rumor mill. She's the one who told me she heard Blue was in town and then asked a few questions about you when you first started working on the case. I never thought anything of that because she was always talking about some rumor she'd heard."

"Sounds to me like there was no reason for you to be suspicious. I wonder what her tie in with Michael is?"

Puzzled, Shelby asked, "What're you talking about?"

"I saw her in the canteen with Michael on Monday. I didn't know who she was, but now I think she probably told him you were headed to your mother's house after work yesterday. He fits Jonathan's description, meager as it was. We can run that license plate number tomorrow, but if it is Michael's, I doubt he registered it in his real name."

"Yeah, but I have access to each of the agent's various identities unless he got one off the black market. I doubt he expected anyone to see him, so he might have just used whatever he had on him."

"True. Let's hope he did. I'd like to nail him. What I can't figure is why he would be shooting at you." Kris didn't expect Shelby to answer and mulled the idea over in her mind. It has to be to get to me. But why not just target me? Why Shelby? The answer came unbidden. To discredit me. This would be just like him. Killing me wouldn't give him any satisfaction unless he'd managed to destroy my career first. Well, two can play that game. He wants a war, he'll get it.

"Kris? You okay?"

The operative nodded. "Just planning my next move."

"You mean, our next move?"

Kris chuckled ruefully at having been caught thinking singularly. "Yes. That's exactly what I meant."

Shelby returned the smile and said sweetly, "Just checking."

Glad for the cover of darkness, Kris cut the headlights when Maggie turned into an apartment complex, staying well back until the Mercedes was driven into a parking space in front of one of the garden apartments. The two women watched Maggie exit the vehicle and walked up the steps to a second floor apartment and enter it.

Kris glanced at Shelby, her face momentarily visible in the car headlights of a departing tenant. Her faced was strained and she looked tired. The operative had wanted to hang around for a while to see if Maggie had any visitors, but she didn't intend to do it at Shelby's expense. Her partner had very little time to relax since the shooting, and that, combined with her confrontation with Jonathan was taking a toll. "How're you feeling?"

Shelby was touched by the worry in Kris' voice and smiled reassuringly. "Fairly good, now. Those pills are pretty potent." She studied her companion, in the dim light. "How about you? Climbing that tree had to hurt."

Kris reached over, pushing a wayward lock of hair from Shelby's face, drinking in the love she could feel emanating from the blonde woman. "It did for a while, but it's not too bad now. Aren't we a pair? I never meant for you to be hurt. I'd give anything if I could change that."

Shelby spoke softly, but meaningfully. "I know you would, but you can't and I'm doing just fine. So don't worry about it, okay? We've got too many other things to do right now."

Kris nodded. "You up to hanging out here for a little while? Maybe an hour or so, just to see if she has any visitors? It's okay if you don't want to."

"I want to." She held her arm up until her watch was visible in the dim light. "Besides it's still early – only nine-thirty." Shelby decided it really felt like midnight and she was exhausted, but she wasn't about to let Kris know that.

Still visualizing the earlier strain she'd witnessed on her partner's face, and feeling guilty for asking her to stay, Kris asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Her stomach tightened when she saw the fleeting look of hurt cross her partner's face. She laid a hand on Kris' thigh, and smiled. "Thanks for caring. Now will you quit being such a worry wart?"

Kris knew she was being overprotective, and chuckled at Shelby's description. "Worry wart?"

Shelby teased, "If the shoe fits..."

Kris muttered, "Paybacks are a bitch," grinning when she heard Shelby's answering chuckle.

The time passed slowly, both women tired, but still hopeful of learning something new. Shelby caught herself dozing off, and broke the lengthy silence. "Do you think anyone will show up?"

Kris considered the question a moment. "Not really. But we might get lucky."

Shelby's expression turned pensive as she turned to face Kris. "Have you figured out why Michael is after me?"

"I think it's to discredit me. He blames me for him getting pulled from the field and reassigned as a technical advisor. It was his actions that got him pulled, not my testimony. But if he's tied in with the Russians, that incident makes a lot more sense in hindsight. He may have had an entirely different agenda. I never bought his excuses or the board's findings that he had just used poor judgment. Michael was too controlled for that."