* * *
Carly slipped from the bed as quietly as she could so as not to wake Shane. She grabbed her robe from the chair beside the bed, belted it firmly around her waist, found her slippers, then crept from the bedroom, closing the door softly behind her.
She padded to the table by the front door where she’d left her purse and pulled out a pen and her notebook. She always thought better with them. Her mini recorder was great for recording conversations with her interview subjects, but her notebook was where she made sense of everything. And she needed to make sense of something now because she couldn’t sleep until she tried.
She headed for the kitchen, debating whether she wanted to make a pot of coffee or not, and decided against it. Not that the caffeine would keep her awake—she could drink coffee any time of the day or night and it didn’t bother her—she just didn’t want to waste the time right now. An idea was buzzing in her brain and she needed to get her thoughts down on paper ASAP.
She sat at the kitchen table, opened her notebook to a fresh page and started jotting down random words and phrases. Every so often she circled one, then drew a line connecting it to another. And another.
She propped her elbow on the table and leaned her head on one hand—thumb beneath her chin, two fingers supporting her cheek, her ring finger across her lips—as she stared down at what she’d written. She shook her head a couple of times and drew Xs over a few words and phrases, then wrote something else in their place.
The hair on the back of her neck began to rise as a picture started taking shape. She scribbled one word and circled it three times, then drew lines from it to the rest of her notations. “It fits,” she whispered. “Oh my God, it all fits.”
“Can’t sleep?”
Carly jumped and gasped when Shane spoke from the doorway, fear-induced adrenaline coursing through her body. “Oh my God,” she breathed, “you scared the hell out of me.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” He pulled out a chair and took a seat across from her, then tapped a finger on her notations. “What are you working on?”
She glanced from his face to her notebook, and back again. “I think I know why you’ve been targeted. And it doesn’t have anything to do with the New World Militia.”
In Carly’s experience men had a tendency to dismiss a woman’s ideas, especially if they contradicted his. That was one of the main reasons she’d switched from her previous network to her current one, even though some people might have viewed the move as something of a demotion career-wise. As much as she clashed with J.C. at times, he never dismissed her ideas. He challenged them, made her defend them, but he never dismissed them out of hand.
So she knew an instant of surprise when Shane didn’t automatically dismiss her statement. But then she chastised herself for lumping Shane in with the rest of mankind. That’s not who he is and you know it in your heart. She couldn’t have loved Shane if he was like that.
“So if it’s not the New World Militia,” he said, his words slow and measured as he obviously tried to read her notes upside down, “then who?”
“Follow the money,” she said softly, holding his gaze.
It took him a minute, then his eyes widened in disbelief. “The pipeline?”
She nodded. “Not retaliation. Just greed.”
He looked blown away. “That’s...not possible.” When she just continued to stare at him steadily, he said, “I’m not even the leading voice of the opposition to the pipeline bill.”
“But you are the pivotal vote,” she reminded him. “As it stands now, the vote is split right down party lines, and you’re an independent. But it’s not just that. You’re passionate and eloquent in your opposition, and you’ll sway others to your side.” She thought for a moment. “Remember what you told me about the people who came forward to testify in that domestic terrorism case, the ones who said your actions that day inspired them to have the courage to speak up?” She put her hand on his. “You have that effect on people, Shane. You make them examine their consciences. You make them do things they might not otherwise do.”