The Territory of Lies

by Ana Stone

"Syd!" he pried her hands off him as she started running them down his chest to his pants. "What's with you?"

  "Horny drugs," Weasel spoke up.

  Blake looked up at him, thinking that he had not heard him right. "You want to run that by me again?"

  "Essentially, it's a horny drug according to this." Weasel tapped the book. "Illegal as hell but very effective if I read this right. Kind of turns you into a walking sex machine for about six hours."

  Blake looked back at Sydney. "You let him give you that crap?"

  "No, I think it was in the wine. I started feeling nauseous and−"

  "And what?" Blake almost did not want to know. If she told him that she had gotten all worked up over Zayne he was not sure he could take it.

  "And I told him I had to leave, so his driver brought me here and I called Jackie.” She pushed herself up, pulled her blouse free from her shirt and started to unbutton it. "I'm going to spontaneously combust if I don't get cool."

  Blake grabbed her hands to keep her from taking off her blouse and Weasel headed for the door. "Hey man, call when you get her detoxed."

  Blake nodded and turned to Sydney as Weasel closed the door on his way out. "Let's get you home and you can take a nice cool shower, okay?"

  "Let's forget the shower and play doctor," she said in a sexy tone, reaching this time for his shirt.

  "Syd," he took her hands in his.

  "Blake," she purred, moving sensuously against him. "I want you."

  "No, you don't, it's the drug."

  "I want you without the drug," she argued and pulled her hands from his to reach for the button on his slacks. "But we might as well take advantage of it."

  "I can't do that." He captured her hands once more. "I love you, Syd but I can't do this."

  For a moment she didn’t say anything. He was afraid he had hurt her when he saw a tear slide down her face but she smiled and put her hand against his face. "What did I ever do to deserve you, Blake Edwards?"

  He smiled and took her hand. "Just unlucky I guess. Now, come on, let's get you home."

  Monday Morning, April 24

  Washington, D.C.

  Sydney came in from her run to find Blake sitting at the table in the dining room with papers scattered everywhere. He turned as she came in. "Good run?"

  "Umm." She nodded and went into the kitchen to get a cold bottle of water from the refrigerator. She drank half of it as she walked into the dining room and looked down at the papers that littered the table. "When did you get in?"

  "A few minutes ago." He put his arm around her waist and gave her a hug. "I found your note. Thanks. I would've been concerned if I'd come in and found the place empty."

  She smiled and kissed his forehead. "I've got to get a move on. I'm running late. You want some breakfast?"

  "I'll fix it," he said as he made a note then looked up. "You go shower and I'll have it ready when you get through."

  She blew him a kiss and headed for the shower. The weekend had been both wonderful and miserable. It had taken her well into the evening hours for the drug to wear off and much to her embarrassment she had pestered Blake unmercifully. He’d been gentle but firm with her, refusing to make love to her or even kiss her while she was under the influence of the drug.

  Sydney thought that was the kindest, most caring thing anyone had ever done for her and it made her realize that he really meant it when he said he loved her. Her love for him had grown even deeper because of it.

  Saturday morning Blake announced he’d told Steve what they were planning. Sydney wasn’t happy at the news and they spent a couple of hours arguing about it. In the end she understood that he was only doing what he thought was right and she stopped protesting. But she reaffirmed her convictions about her patient files and made up her mind she was going to take care of Senator Tyler before Blake got the entire bureau involved. If she could get Tyler committed and out of the way where he would be safe then he wouldn’t have to face dealing with the FBI. She felt that she owned him that much.

  The rest of the morning they had spent with Weasel, going over everything. Both he and Blake were skeptical about her continuing as the 'inside man' with Adrian after what he’d done but she had argued that now she would be on her guard and he wouldn’t get a chance to drug her again.

  Weasel accepted her word but Blake was harder to convince. She understood how he felt. If the situations were reversed she’d have problems with it as well. Being a fair man, Blake gave in and agreed to continue as planned if he got permission to continue with the investigation from the bureau.

  Weasel asked him point blank what he was going to do if the bureau turned him down and Blake had no answer. Sydney suggested that Weasel go with Blake to the meeting. He hadn’t seemed keen on the idea but Blake had. Weasel was highly respected in the bureau; everyone knew he was one of the true geniuses of the age and if he had an opinion it was normally listened to very carefully.

  Sydney did not and could not admit to Blake that she was beginning to be very afraid. If Adrian would stoop to drugging her then she wasn’t safe at all with him. She started to think that it might be a good idea for Blake to go to the bureau with their suspicions. Maybe then she could just go back to being a doctor and stop all this role playing. She wasn’t a good actress and was afraid it wouldn’t take long before Adrian saw through her act.

  Later in the afternoon, Adrian showed up at her apartment. She made Blake and Weasel hide in the study while he was there. It took far longer to get rid of him than she anticipated; three hours longer. By the time he left, Blake was fit to be tied and even Weasel had a sour attitude. They both left to go out and have a couple of beers and she went to the gym for a while.

  By Sunday, she and Blake had worked through things. He admitted that he had a problem with her being with Adrian. She was flattered that he was jealous and assured him that she was not attracted to Adrian. He seemed a little unconvinced at first but after spending the rest of the day in bed she thought he was beginning to lose his jealously.

  As she turned off the water, she also turned off her thoughts of the weekend. She took care with her appearance and left her hair loose around her shoulders the way Blake liked it. Her outfit was one of her favorites, a sea blue silk tank-top and a white skirt with a matching jacket.

  Blake was setting a plate of toast on the table when she walked into the dining room. "You look gorgeous." He smiled appreciatively as she lay her jacket across the back of a chair.

  "Thank you." She walked over to the table to give him a kiss. "This looks wonderful."

  She sat down and sampled the eggs. "Umm, it's good. So, what's on your agenda for today?"

  Blake didn’tt answer for a moment and the way the smile disappeared from his face made her stomach knot up. She lowered the fork of eggs back to her plate and she reached for his hand. "Blake?"

  "I'm okay." He gave her a smile that appeared forced. "Just wish I'd hear from Steve. I'll feel better when we have the bureau behind us on this."

  Sydney almost reminded him there was a chance the bureau wouldn’t stand behind him but she changed her mind. Last night she woke to find him staring at the ceiling and he admitted that if the bureau was against his proposal he might not continue with it. He just couldn’t play the role of renegade very well and if the bureau didn’t think their suspicions were grounded then maybe they weren’t.

  She could understand why he felt that way. Blake was a very honest, loyal man and the bureau had been part of his family for a long time. He couldn’t betray his honor to them or to himself. But despite what happened with the bureau, she was going ahead with her plan to commit Senator Ned Tyler. On an instinctual level she was sure that his life was in danger and she wasn’t going to stand by and do nothing when there was something she could do to protect him.

  "Well, maybe he'll have some news for you today when you see him," she said after a moment, then changed the subject. "Say, would you like to meet me after work for some Chinese? We haven't done
that in a while."

  Blake smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. "At Fortune's in Virginia? Sure, how about six-thirty?"

  "That sounds great!" she replied and picked up a slice of toast as she stood. "I've got to run. Just leave the dishes. I'll get them tonight. But thanks again for breakfast. It was wonderful."

  "But you didn't finish−" His words were cut off as she leaned over and kissed him.

  "See you later!" She didn’t give him time to say anymore before she was out the door. Sydney hurried to her car and headed away from the city.

  

  Blake pulled into the driveway of the surveillance house across the street from Senator Tyler's. Steve was headed toward his own car as Blake parked. "I've been trying to reach you," Steve said as he walked around the front of the car and got into the passenger seat of Blake’s car. "Come on, we've got a meeting."

  "Where're we going and who're we meeting with?" Blake looked over at him.

  "We're going to breakfast," Steve replied as he lit a cigarette. "And we're meeting someone who's willing to listen to this theory of yours."

  Blake knew from Steve's tone of voice that his best bet was just to close his mouth and not ask any more questions. Just the fact that Steve had arranged the meeting told Blake that he did believe the somewhat unbelievable story he had told. Not only that, it told him that Steve was behind him. Otherwise he would not have gone out on a limb to arrange this meeting.

  "Let me bum a smoke."

  Steve handed him the pack and Blake took one and lit it. "So, anything exciting happen after I left this morning?"

  "You might say that." Steve gave him a sidewards glance. "Tyler left and met someone."

  "Who?"

  "You're lady friend, Doctor Forrest."

  Blake jerked around in surprise to look at Steve. "Sydney? You sure it was my Sydney?"

  "Unless there's two drop-dead beautiful shrinks in D.C. by the name of Sydney Forrest, yeah pal, it was your Sydney. And by the way−that possessive tone of voice is a dead give away. This woman's got you hooked."

  "So, they met at her office, right?" Blake ignored the comment. "That's not so strange. She is his doctor."

  "But they didn't meet at her office. Take the next right. They met in the parking lot of the Airport."

  "And?"

  "And nothing." Steve frowned. "If they talked in either car I'd know something, but one of them was savvy enough to avoid that. I tried the parabolic mike but there was too much interference. You have any idea what it was about?"

  Blake put out his half-smoked cigarette. "None. She didn't mention Tyler to me." He looked at Steve. "But I intend on finding out."

  "Good." Steve nodded approvingly. "Cause if we're going to have any chance of pushing this proposal through you're going to have to have all the players under control. We can't afford a wild card."

  "Don't worry." Blake hoped he sounded more convincing than he felt. "I can take care of her."

  Steve laughed and lit another smoke. "Yeah, how many men have gone to their graves with those words on their lips?"

  

  Sydney found Weasel waiting for her when she arrived at the deli. He didn’t smile as she slid into the booth and looked across the table at him. "Sorry it took so long. I had to cut a session short. What's wrong?"

  Weasel's expression was grim. "Blake got the go-ahead to proceed with the investigation."

  "Well, that's good, isn't it?"

  "That depends."

  "GW, would you just tell me what's bothering you?"

  "I found out something." He paused as the waitress walked over to their booth. "A club sandwich and fries. And iced tea."

  "I'll have a salad with oil and vinegar and iced tea," Sydney placed her order then looked at Weasel as the waitress left. "What?"

  Weasel leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Syd, you were followed this morning."

  Sydney felt her eyes widen and fought to keep the surprise off her face. "Are you sure?"

  "Absolutely. Your car's bugged."

  She leaned back and studied his face. "Do you think Blake had anything to do with it?"

  "You don't seem too surprised. Doesn't it bother you?"

  "I'm not surprised. The bureau already knows I'm treating Tyler so why wouldn't they bug my car or house or office? But what's this about me being followed?"

  "That's all I know. In fact, all anyone knows is that you met with Tyler this morning before eight, spoke for about half an hour then you went to your office building but didn't get to your office for another half hour and Tyler went straight home and didn't talk to anyone but left home right before lunch and was driven to the airport where he boarded a commuter flight for Charlotte, North Carolina."

  Sydney didn’t comment right away since the waitress returned with their drinks. If that was all the bureau knew then it would take them a while to figure out where Tyler had really gone. He’d disembarked from the commuter flight just before take-off and had been taken to Virginia by car. Aside from Sydney and Mrs. Tyler, no one knew where he was; not even his aide.

  "Why are you telling me this?" she asked after a minute of silence.

  "Because I know what you're up to," he said with a hint of a smile.

  "Oh?"

  "Don't play that game with me, Syd. I'm on your side."

  "You're FBI," she pointed out. "And I've recently come to discover that the bureau instills great loyalty in its ranks."

  "True," he agreed. "But one doesn't necessarily have to negate the other."

  "Not necessarily. But I get the feeling that there's more to this than you're saying."

  Weasel chuckled. "You know, sometimes I think we know each other too well. You're right. There is something else. I think Blake's been asked to more or less recruit you to act in the capacity we had already planned - as the inside man with Zayne. But don't let that fool you. They don't trust you as far as they could spit you. There's still the issue of the session notes with Tyler and your tapes and your little meeting this morning."

  "So you're saying that I'm some sort of suspect?"

  "Anyone associated with Tyler is suspect,” he pointed out. "Don't forget there was an investigation on him before Blake went to the man with his proposal."

  "What do you think I should do?"

  "To begin with how about telling me what that meeting with Tyler this morning was about?"

  Sydney considered it for a moment then nodded. "Okay, but I don't want you to mention this to Blake. I'll tell him myself."

  "Mum's the word."

  Sydney quickly filled him in. Just as she was finishing the waitress arrived with their order. Weasel dug into his sandwich but Sydney had lost her appetite. She pushed the salad aside and watched Weasel for a reaction. He chewed thoughtfully then dabbed at his mouth with a paper napkin and looked at her.

  "I hope you know what you're doing, Syd."

  "So do I," she agreed. "So do I."

  

  Adrian picked up the phone and lifted it to his ear. "Yes?"

  "Edwards got the green light. He's got five men, four field agents and some computer genius. They gave him complete authority to run things and from what we've been able to determine, he just might start by looking in our direction."

  "Then he will have to be dealt with, won't he?" Adrian asked acerbically. "Is there anything else?"

  "No, sir. What do you want us to do?"

  "What I always want. Take care of it."

  "You can count on it."

  "I'm sure I can." Adrian said with a smile. "Now, do you have any other news to report?"

  "Just one thing. Six o'clock at the Fortune Chinese Seafood Restaurant on Leesburg Pike at Arlington Boulevard."

  "Excellent." Adrian hung up the phone and smiled at his reflection in the gilt-edged mirror that hung on the opposite wall. Aside from a few minor irritations things were progressing very nicely and after tonight those little irritations would no longer exist. Then everything would be perfect - just like
he had planned.

  Chapter Eight

  Monday, April 24

  Washington, D.C.

  Blake sipped his beer as he waited for Sydney at the restaurant. He felt like he had just run the gauntlet and lived to tell about it. The meeting Steve had set up had been tense. Blake had been as honest and straightforward as he could be, answering all questions put to him and outlining the plan he and Weasel had devised.

  The breakfast had stretched into the lunch hour and beyond before the man they came to meet was satisfied he knew all that Blake knew. Then he had surprised both Blake and Steve by giving the go-ahead to proceed. What was more surprising was that Blake had been put in charge. Steve was going to proceed with his investigation of Tyler and act as backup for Blake.

  But the biggest surprise was that Weasel had been assigned as part of the team, along with four other men Blake had worked with a couple of times in the past.

  After the meeting concluded, Steve had Blake take him back to the surveillance house to get his car then Blake went to the bureau where the four agents he had been promised were waiting to meet with him, as was Weasel.

  By six that afternoon everything was mapped out and everyone had their assignment. Blake was both keyed up and nervous. It was a big opportunity for him to head up an investigation of this nature and he didn’t want to blow it. But he wasn’t looking forward to questioning Sydney about why she had met with Tyler this morning.

  He was just finishing his beer when he saw her being escorted to the table. He stood as she walked over to him. "Hi," she whispered as she stood up on her toes to give him a kiss.

  He returned the kiss then held her chair for her as she sat down beside him. "How was your day?" she asked. "Did you hear from Steve?"

  Blake started to answer but stopped long enough for her to place a drink order. "The investigation's official," he answered as the waiter left.

  "You don't sound particularly pleased. I thought that’s what you wanted."

  "It is and I am. It's just−Syd, I have to know. Why did you meet with Tyler this morning and what happened to him? He's vanished."