"It happened," she said through her teeth. "I don't know about the dam or Arapahoe Junction, but I know that second landslide was caused by the same men who killed Ken Nader."

"Then I'm sure we'll find some evidence to prove it. You said they called the pilot Powers? We'll try to trace him. I'll check out everything you've told me." He stood up. "I'll do my best. I'd like you to come to the precinct tomorrow and look through the mug books and databases of suspected terrorists. Will you do that?"

"You bet I will."

"Don't get your hopes up. You'll have to get lucky to find them."

"I have to try." She met his gaze. "You have to try too. You can't let them get away with it. You're not even sure I'm telling the truth, are you?"

"I'm sure you think you are." He wearily shook his head. "Look at it from my point of view. You've been in the hospital for two days suffering from concussion. Isn't it possible that you might not remember things exactly as they occurred? It's happened before with head-injury victims."

"No, it's not possible."

He smiled. "Okay. It wouldn't have made any difference anyway. I'd still do my job. Come on, Jerry, let's get out of here."

The lanky young sergeant in the corner, who'd been silent throughout the interview, rose to his feet. "Good night, Ms. Graham, I hope you feel better."

"Thank you."

"I'll see you tomorrow at the precinct," Detective Leopold said.

"Oh, I'll be there."

"Pretty crazy stuff," Jerry Tedworth said to Leopold as soon as they'd left the hospital room. "Do you believe her?"

"She makes it hard for me not to. She's smart and she's strong and she absolutely believes what she's telling us."

"Like you said, she's had a bad knock on the head."

"Wishful thinking. I hope to hell she didn't get it right." "Why not?"

"Because if Arapahoe Junction and the dam were also targets, that would mean mass murder. Who commits mass murder? It takes a special kind of criminal. Nuts. Sociopaths. Terrorists. We don't want to have to deal with a case like that." He punched the button at the elevator. "We'd better hope she's just having hallucinations."

Breathe deep. Calm down.

Her head was pounding and Alex forced herself to unclench her fists. All this emotion wasn't going to help anything. Leopold hadn't been out of line in suspecting she might not have all her marbles at present. At least he had listened and promised he'd check into everything she'd told him. But it didn't stop the anger and frustration she was feeling.

Anger and frustration and this haunting antiseptic smell of a hospital room.

Dad…

She quickly blocked the memory. Don't think about her father. Jesus, she had to get out of here. She didn't need that wound ripped open. Well, tomorrow she'd go to the police station and see if she could identify any pictures in the mug books.

If they were there, she'd know them. Every feature of those faces was engraved permanently on her memory.

"She's being discharged tomorrow," Lester said as soon as Powers answered the phone. "Two police detectives were there to see her tonight."

Powers muttered an oath. "You should have gotten to her while she was unconscious."

"I told you, her room's right next to the nurses' station. I couldn't do it without being noticed. I'll find a way to put her down tomorrow."

"You'd better. If you'd been on time, I wouldn't have had to take down that helicopter. And, dammit, she can recognize me."

He didn't care that the woman could also recognize both him and Decker, Lester thought. "Maybe you shouldn't have come along."

"And trust the two of you to do the job right? I had to be sure. It's too important. I'm the one who has to report to Betworth."

Bastard. "Well, you can trust me to do this one. I'll let you know when she's no longer a problem." He hung up.

He leaned back against the brick wall and looked up at the seventh floor of St. Joseph's Hospital. Too bad he hadn't been able to reach Graham before she talked to the police.

Oh, well, he was used to doing damage control.

Sarah was waiting for Alex when she came out of the police station late the next afternoon. She was still wearing her work clothes and had obviously come straight from the site. "Any luck?"

Alex wearily shook her head. "It seemed as if there were thousands of faces… They were all blurring together. But I'll be coming back."

"I know you will." Sarah unlocked her car door and motioned for Monty to get in the backseat. "That's a given. When?"

"Tomorrow." She got into the passenger seat. "I'll need to pick up my rental car at Arapahoe Junction so that I'll be mobile. May I go back with you?"

Sarah nodded. "That's why I'm here. I thought you'd want to go back." She pulled away from the curb. "Why don't you try to nap on the way up there? You probably shouldn't even be out of the hospital yet."

"You're the one who should be sleeping." Alex glanced back at the golden retriever, who was stretched out on the backseat. "Like Monty."

"He needs it. Monty's the one who does the work. I just go along for the ride."

"Yeah, sure." Alex stared unseeingly out the window. "Leopold isn't sure that I'm not imagining everything. He says there's no proof. Do you believe me, Sarah?"

"Damn straight I do. I called John after I left you last night. He's going to try to light a fire under the FBI team who's doing the investigation at the dam."

If anyone could do that, it was Sarah's husband, John Logan, Alex thought. He was a billionaire whose influence stretched from the political elite of Washington to Wall Street. "Good. Though I don't know what the hell they're going to find at the dam that they didn't before. They went over that entire area with a fine-tooth comb." She rubbed her temple. "But maybe they'll be able to find the helicopter and pilot."

"That's possible." Sarah gave her a sideways glance. "Now stop thinking and close your eyes, dammit."

"What else did Logan say?"

"Quite a bit." She made a face. "He said for me to go home.

He said it was bad enough that he had to worry about me on disaster sites, but he wasn't about to let me run around with scumbags blowing up dams."

"And you said?"

"Nothing. He didn't expect me to cave. I told him I'd be home when the job was done." Her expression became shadowed. "Which may be pretty soon. I think they're going to change the status at Arapahoe from rescue to recovery tomorrow. They say there's not much chance of there being anyone left alive."

"Shit."

"Right." She drew a deep breath. "But even if the job is done, I'm not leaving you alone here. If you won't come home with me, I'm staying with you."

"No, I can't blame your husband for being worried. He's right. You have enough on your plate without worrying about me."

"Shut up," Sarah said. "We've discussed this before." "I'm not your responsibility."

Sarah didn't answer.

God, she was stubborn.

Stubborn, loyal, and brave, and the best friend a woman could have. All good reasons to get her to go home to her husband and leave Alex to solve her own problems. But Alex couldn't argue with her right now. She was so exhausted she could barely put two sentences together. She leaned her head back against the seat rest. "We'll talk later."

Sarah chuckled. "That's what John said, and in exactly that tone." She switched on the headlights as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. "And I'll tell you what I told him. Don't mess with me or I'll sic my dog on you."

Alex found herself smiling as she repeated, "We'll talk later."

"Go to sleep. It's going to be another hour or so before we get to the site."

Alex doubted she could sleep, but she fell silent, gazing out at the rolling foothills through which they were driving. This was wonderful country. Purple shadows, white peaks in the distance, such a beautiful place. Terrible things shouldn't happen in beautiful places like this…