How Spy I Am (29 page)

She’d missed it.

Another shudder shook
me.

“Hey, Betty.” I leaned
close to get into her fixed line of sight. “Betty. Cassandra misses
you. She wants her Nana.” I patted the waxen cheek. “Come on,
Betty, you need to wake up now.”

She blinked at the
contact with her cheek, but the fixed stare never changed.

“Don’t bother,” Sam
said quietly behind me. “We even brought her granddaughter in to
see her, but it didn’t help. You might as well go directly into the
network and see what you can do there.”

I peered into her
unresponsive face for another moment before letting go of her hand
to take the chair Sam indicated. He wheeled over a cart containing
familiar-looking monitors and hooked up the electrodes to Betty’s
and my foreheads.

He handed me a fob
that looked very similar to the security fobs at Sirius, and I shot
a questioning look at him. “Do you have one for Kane, too?”

“Uh.” He frowned. “Is
that necessary?”

“Yes.” Kane’s voice
was hard, and Sam blanched and stepped back a pace, his fingers
combing his beard again.

“Just a moment,” he
said, and hurried from the room.

Several minutes later,
he returned with a fob. Kane accepted it wordlessly, and we
exchanged a glance before I took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do
it.”

I caught the beginning
of Kane’s nod as I closed my eyes and stepped nervously into
virtual reality. Kane popped into existence, and a moment later
Betty’s immobile avatar appeared beside us, too, her empty gaze
fixed at infinite distance.

“Okay…” I approached
Betty’s still figure. “Betty. Hey, Betty.” I stood in front of her
while her eyes looked through me. “Betty?” I held her face between
my palms to look directly into her eyes. “Betty, it’s Aydan. We met
in the network, remember?”

A faint tremor shook
her avatar.

I shot a quick glance
at Kane. “She moved.”

He stepped closer. “Be
careful. If she does come out of it, you don’t know how she’ll
react.”

I nodded and returned
my attention to Betty. “Hey, Betty, remember me? Aydan Kelly?
I-”

Automatic weapons fire
exploded out of the suddenly darkened void and Kane flung us to the
virtual floor, his avatar sprawling across us. Hysterical screams
ripped my eardrum while Betty thrashed frantically beside me.

Warm wetness pattered
across my arm, and I jerked my head from under Kane’s shoulder to
see a half-naked man crumpling under a hail of bullets. Blood and
tissue spattered us and pooled in the void. Betty’s screams changed
to gagging and animal-like whimpering.

Kane lunged to his
feet, and I was scrambling to my knees when his hard hand landed on
my shoulder. “Stay low!” he roared over the deafening fusillade of
shots. He was reaching for Betty when the sim vanished.

Suddenly, I was
staring at him as he bolted upright in his real-world chair.

“Aydan, are you all
right?” he snapped.

“Fine.” My voice
didn’t seem to be working right. “You?”

“Fine.”

We turned
simultaneously to stare at Betty’s white face on the pillow. A tear
tracked slowly down one cheek, but her eyes still stared
sightlessly at the ceiling.

“Betty.” I tottered
over to the bed and took her icy hand in my shaking one. “Betty,
wake up. That’s not real. It’s just a sim. You’re safe in the real
world. Come back and wake up.”

No response.

I looked up to meet
Sam’s worried gaze. “What do you think that was, Sam? Is she
hallucinating or something?”

His shaking fingers
combed his beard over and over. “I… don’t know. That was very…
disturbing.” He curled the fingers of both hands deeply into his
beard and sank slowly into a chair. “I’ve certainly never seen
anything like that in any of Betty’s sims before.”

“I’ve seen something
like it,” Kane said quietly.

We both turned to him,
and he held me with his troubled grey gaze. “So have you,” he
added.

“Oh!” Recognition
paralyzed me for an instant. “But I didn’t create that in the sim.
I don’t think I did, anyway.”

Sam frowned at us.
“What are you talking about?”

“I, um…” Suddenly I
didn’t really feel like explaining.

“What you saw was part
of Aydan’s experiences,” Kane said diplomatically. “Could Betty
have absorbed Aydan’s data the same as Aydan absorbed hers?”

“You experienced
that?” Sam looked horrified.

“Well, yeah, kind of…”
I mumbled. I noticed one of my shoelaces was loose and avoided his
gaze by leaning over to retie it.

After a short silence,
Sam spoke again. “Maybe this makes sense, if she’s withdrawing from
a shattering emotional experience. I need to consult a
psychiatrist. Why don’t you go and get some lunch? We can try again
this afternoon.”

When Sam finished
removing the monitoring electrodes from my forehead I rose
gratefully and headed for the door, Kane trailing me.

At the front desk,
Candy chirped a cheerful, “Can I help y’all with anything?”

I leaned tiredly
against the desk. “Maybe. Where’s a good place to find lunch?”

“Oh!” She smiled. “Try
the little coffee shop just north of this building. Y’all just have
to try their pecan pie, it’s the best in Macon.”

“Sounds great.” I was
straightening when an idea occurred to me. “Hey, I should ask a
native. Where’s a good hotel? The one we checked into is so
disgusting, we’ve decided not to stay.”

She gave a little
bounce in her chair, her smile brightening to supernova levels.
“Oh, y’all just have to stay at my Nana’s bed and breakfast. You’ll
just absolutely love it, it’s so charming, it’s right close to
here, and Nana is the best cook in the whole wide world. Her
breakfasts are just to die for.”

I shot a cautious
glance at Kane, but couldn’t read approval or disapproval in his
expression. I turned back to Candy. “Do you think she’d have a
couple of rooms available?”

“I’ll call her right
this very minute and find out.”

I started to demur,
but she was already dialling the phone, beaming. All that
high-wattage energy was too much for my exhausted state, and I
slouched against the desk while she had a short but affectionate
conversation with her Nana.

After she hung up, she
wrote out an address on a slip of paper and handed it over. “Y’all
just go right on over there, and Nana’ll get you all tucked in,”
she advised.

I summoned up a smile.
“Thanks. See you later.”

When we gained the
sidewalk I stretched, letting the warmth of the sun relax some of
the tension in my muscles. “I sure hope this B & B is okay,” I
muttered to Kane as we strolled toward the coffee shop. “I’d hate
to rain on Candy’s parade.”

He shrugged. “At least
it’s close. And it has to be better than where we were.”

“True.”

The pecan pie was as
good as Candy had promised, and my attitude was much improved by
the time we pulled up in front of the Queen Anne style house with
its modest “Bed & Breakfast” sign. We were just getting out of
the car when a large but shapely woman hurried down the steps of
the verandah toward us, smiling.

“Oh, you must be
Arlene,” she greeted me in a voice like a gravel crusher. I was
struck momentarily speechless by a wave of too-sweet floral
perfume, and I nodded and plastered on a smile in response. I
accepted her handshake cautiously, avoiding the painted and
bejewelled talons that adorned each fingertip.

“Come right on in,”
she invited, her hands fluttering in a pretty welcoming gesture
that seemed at odds with her booming voice, brassy bottle-blonde
hair and the eye-popping orange spandex wrap dress that hugged her
ample curves like a second skin.

I followed her inside
while Kane brought up the rear with our bags. As he stood just
inside the doorway, she gave him a frank and appreciative
once-over. Her face split into a smile, showing man-eating
yellowish teeth.

“I surely love it when
a man fills my doorway,” she growled confidentially, and I couldn’t
hide my smirk.

“May we see the rooms,
Ms…?” Kane inquired.

“Now, sugar, you just
call me Lurene, and this is my husband, Winston,” she purred,
indicating a small mild-looking bald man who was almost invisible
in the forest of porcelain knick-knacks that crowded his desk. He
clicked his mouse, pausing the murmur of sound from the computer
speakers, and gave us a pleasant nod from behind an oversized
computer monitor before returning his attention to the screen.

I was just turning
away when I caught a glimpse of movement, and I glanced back to see
Winston staring at me. He quickly looked back at the computer
screen, but my heart sank as I watched his gaze ping-pong between
me and the screen.

I turned away when
Lurene spoke again, extolling the virtues of their B & B. Maybe
I was wrong. Maybe Winston wasn’t watching what I thought he was
watching.

Please let Winston not
be watching what I thought he was watching…

When Lurene guided us
down the hallway, I discovered the almost-overpowering scent of
potpourri was mercifully confined to the front sitting room, and
both rooms had a private bath. Kane gave me an interrogative glance
and I returned a nod despite my misgivings about Winston. The rooms
were beautiful, and more importantly, spotless.

Kane settled the
transaction while I deposited my suitcase in my room. The soft
bedcovers issued an almost-irresistible invitation, but I hurried
out before I could succumb.

When I returned to the
sitting room Kane had vanished, and Lurene and Winston exchanged a
significant glance. Lurene leaned close to whisper. “Is that
gorgeous hunk of man your bodyguard, Miss Cherry?”

Aw, shit.

“Uh… I’m not…”

“Don’t worry, sugar,
we won’t tell anyone who you really are. It’ll be our little
secret.” Lurene nudged me with a suggestive elbow, grinning. “Maybe
you could introduce me to your producer. I used to be a dancer, you
know. I’ve still got all the moves. Just ask Winston.”

I couldn’t help
glancing at tiny Winston and back to big Lurene.

No, no, brain, please
don’t go there.

“I think you’ve got me
mixed up with somebody else,” I said.

They both straightened
indignantly. “How stupid do you think we are?” Winston began.

“It’s okay, honey, if
you don’t think I’m right for the part, just say so…” Lurene
trailed off, looking hurt.

I sighed and gave up.
“I’m sorry. You’re right, I’m Arlene Cherry. Just don’t tell
anybody. Please. And Lurene, I didn’t mean to insult you, you’re a
beautiful woman…”

Lurene beamed at me.
“So is he your bodyguard? Two rooms when you’re travelling with a
man like that? What are you thinking, honey?”

“We’re co-workers.
Strictly professional.”

“Sweetie, you’re
crazy.”

I blew out a sigh at
the sight of Kane’s shoulders filling the hallway as he emerged
from his room. “You’re probably right.”

Back beside the
hospital bed again, I eyed Sam doubtfully while he hooked up the
monitors to my forehead.

“Are you sure this is
a good idea?” I asked.

“Dr. Cartwright and I
agree that this is the best course of action,” Sam replied,
indicating the well-dressed white-haired man seated at the head of
the bed.

“I need to see what
Betty is experiencing,” the doctor added.

“Um… Does Dr.
Cartwright know…” I trailed off, not quite sure how to phrase the
question.

“Dr. Cartwright is my
counterpart for this installation,” Sam assured me. “He’s familiar
with the operation of the network, and he’s also a medical doctor
with training in psychology.”

I nodded, somewhat
reassured. “What do you want me to do this time?”

“Exactly what you did
previously,” Dr. Cartwright replied.

“Is that a good idea?
I don’t want to put her through any more…”

“It’s necessary,” the
doctor assured me. “What you saw in the sim was just a
manifestation of what she’s suffering. We need to access those
memories before she can make any progress.”

“I’ll be ready to
terminate the sim the same as last time if necessary,” Sam
added.

I sighed acquiescence.
“At least it’s painless with this fob.”

When Kane nodded his
readiness, I closed my eyes and stepped into the virtual network
again.

As before, Betty’s
avatar stood still and silent while Kane and I approached. She
didn’t react when I stepped in front of her blank gaze, and I
hesitated. It seemed cruel to make her experience my memories when
her own were so pleasant.

Now that I understood
what had happened, the images in my head made more sense. I sighed
at the peaceful montage of cool dew-wet grass, a sweet explosion of
peach juice from ripe fruit, the laughter of friends and family,
rich desserts, and the sound of the church choir on Sundays.

Kane’s hand on my
shoulder jarred me from my reverie. “Are you all right?” he
asked.

“Fine. But I really
don’t want to do this to her.”

“It’s already in her
head,” Kane said gently. “You can’t change that. All you can do is
help her through it.”

“Yeah, I guess…” I
cupped Betty’s plump cheeks in my hands. “Betty, I know you’ve got
some scary stuff in your head right now, but you need to let it
out. It’ll be okay, you’ll feel better afterward.”

Her eyes stared
through me.

“Betty. Come on,
Betty.” I patted her cheek, but she didn’t even blink.

“Sam?” I inquired.
“Why isn’t it working this time?”

“I don’t know.”

Dr. Cartwright’s voice
chimed in. “Try identifying yourself. Say your name the way you did
last time.”

I drew a slow breath
and leaned closer. “Betty, remember me from the sim? Aydan
Kel-”