How Spy I Am (42 page)

“During those dates,
both the Lowell Observatory and the Observatoire du Pic-du-Midi
observed transient lunar phenomena.”

“What the hell is that
supposed to mean?”

I expected him to make
another insulting crack, but instead he looked thoughtful. “The
Knights don’t really know. At the time when I… obtained
information… from Rimmel, the Knights believed that the lunar
phenomena during those dates were caused by solar energetic
particles. The particles that caused the glowing colours on the
moon were bombarding Earth at the same time. They could have caused
the tiny anomaly during your conception that allows you to use the
key.”

“So you’re saying all
the mages look like me. Born on the same day.”

“No, stupid, conceived
within the same three-day span. Actual birth dates cover a range of
several weeks about nine months later. And of course you all look
different. The only similar physical characteristics are varying
shades of red hair and brown eyes. Do I have to explain genetics to
you, too?”

“Call me stupid again,
and I’m going to yank out a couple of teeth just for fun,
dickhead.”

He shut up, leaving me
to try to make sense of the new information ricocheting around my
skull.

“So… Why are the
Knights trying to kill me?” I asked.

Kasper snorted. “Why
do you think? You wiped out one of their mages from a thousand
miles away just by touching her mind in the network. You killed a
Knight inside the network without even trying. You’re threatening
their entire operation.”

I stared at him while
my brain did a few gymnastics. That didn’t quite ring true if the
Knights were the idealistic group I’d envisioned, but if one of the
Knights was selling intel to the highest bidder, eliminating me to
protect his livelihood would be at the very top of his to-do
list.

Just like Sam had
said. If I could stop the evil Knight, I’d save the world and save
myself in the process.

Assuming everything
Kasper had said was true. I still wasn’t sure I could trust him,
but I didn’t have any reason to disbelieve him. And he’d given me
names. I straightened and returned my attention to my captive.

He was beginning to
shiver on the cold floor of the truck box. And his wrists and
shoulders must be killing him. I knew exactly what that felt like.
He might be a dickhead, but he was still a human being.

I determinedly
suppressed a tug of sympathy.

“How do I find the
Knights?” My voice was harsh enough to hide any trace of
compassion, and he twitched.

“Th-they have th-their
own n-network.” He cleared his throat and his shivering
intensified. “It’s a s-subset of the old ARPANET.”

I wrapped my arms
around my own chilled body and tried again not to feel sorry for
him. “What the hell is ARPANET?”

I could hear his teeth
chattering. “The original p-packet switching n-network.” At my
blank look, he groaned and struggled onto his side on the hard
steel floor. “Oh, for c-crying out loud… B-basically the f-first
internet. N-now untie me and g-get me w-warmed up b-before I die of
hypothermia.” He clenched his quivering jaw and glared.

“Sorry, I can’t do
that.”

“Th-that’s everything
I know…”

He trailed off and the
expression drained from his face, leaving behind an impassive mask
remarkably similar to Kane’s cop face. I was wondering absently if
they taught you that in spy school when he spoke again, his voice
completely flat.

“I sh-should have
known you c-couldn’t let m-me live. Y-you are a s-spy, aren’t you?
I should have r-recognized that r-right off the b-bat.”

“I’m not planning to
kill you.” I did my best threatening glare. “Unless you’re stupid
enough to attack me. I just have a few more questions.”

Kasper went limp,
resignation slackening his features. “F-fine. I can f-feel
pneumonia c-coming on already.”

“What were you doing
at the park tonight?”

“Robert c-contacted me
and t-told me to m-meet him there.” He looked down his nose at me.
“I suppose he m-must have intended to b-brief us b-both.”

“Why would Robert fake
his death without telling us? Or you, at least?”

“H-how the h-hell
should I know?”

“Could he be working
with the Knights? Trying to capture or kill me?”

“No, of c-course
n-not! He h-hates them. Wh-why would he t-try to s-save you only to
t-turn y-you over t-to them?” We stared at each other in the dim
light, and his face slowly hardened. “Unless…”

“Unless he was
planning to deliver me and the key to a buyer three years ago but
something went wrong. And he was setting you up to take the blame
for stealing the key. And now he’s setting us both up again.” The
words came out sounding as thin and icy as the dagger of pain that
slipped into my heart.

I saw the same pain
twist his face for just an instant before his expression closed
down. “H-he w-wouldn’t. I’m p-positive he w-wouldn’t. Th-there
m-must b-be another explanation.”

“What other
explanation could there be?”

“I d-don’t know…” He
stared at me for a long moment before his face twisted. “L-let m-me
g-go. I have t-to t-track d-down an old f-
friend
.”

“Two more questions.
Who are the mages? And where do you live?”

“B-Betty Hooper is
M-Magnolia…”

By the time I pulled
up in the darkened alley behind Kasper’s apartment and went around
to open the tailgate, I was pretty sure he wasn’t much of a threat.
The entire truck vibrated with his shivering, and I could hear his
teeth chattering from six feet away.

I braced one foot
against the tailgate and dragged him to the edge to pull him into
sitting position, his legs dangling.

“Let’s be clear,” I
muttered. “You make a single move against me, and I’ll kill you on
the spot. Got it?”

He nodded jerkily, and
I cut the nylon tie around his ankles. “Come on.” I grabbed one of
his bound arms and helped him stand.

“C-cut m-me
l-loose.”

“Not yet.” I closed up
the truck and pointed him in the direction of the apartment. “Walk.
Where’s your key?”

Inside his remarkably
clean and tidy apartment, I heaved an internal sigh of relief.
Lucky it was a small town. Nobody was still up at two in the
morning to see me ushering a tied-up man into his own
apartment.

“Where’s your
bedroom?”

He eyed me without
expression and led the way in silence.

“Lie down on the
bed.”

This time there was a
tinge of nervousness in his expression, but he complied without
comment.

I glowered down at
him. “If you find Robert first, you will do nothing until I get to
talk to him. You will tell me the instant you find him. If you
don’t, I’ll tell Stemp you’ve been working with the Knights,
concealing knowledge of their treasonous activities. I guarantee
you won’t like the results of that. And I’ll tell the Knights you
know about them, too. I don’t care who gets you first. Either way,
you’re toast unless you do exactly as I say. Clear?”

He nodded, still
shivering convulsively.

“Good,” I said, and
shot him with another trank.

I cut the tie on his
wrists and heaved his limp body into a comfortable-looking position
before covering him up with every blanket I could find in the tiny
closet. The shelves were neat, the bedding clean, and curiosity
made me peek into his dresser as well.

One plastic-lined
drawer held the malodorous, food-stained clothes he usually wore,
balled up and rumpled. The other drawers contained clean,
neatly-folded clothing. The bathroom was clean, too, toiletries
tidily arranged inside the medicine cabinet.

I shook my head as I
locked the door behind me before pushing his key under it. Damn
spies. How many times had I passed him on the street without
noticing his unremarkable face when he was wearing clean
clothing?

Back in the dark
silence of the park, I hurried to collect my wheelbarrow, wondering
if Robert had watched me arrive. He’d been one step ahead of me the
whole time, the bastard.

My skin crawled into
icy gooseflesh at the thought that he might be watching me even
now. I gave a whole-body shudder and jogged for the truck, the
wheelbarrow bumping noisily over the gravel.

Home again, I unloaded
everything in the garage before heading for the house. Goddammit,
I’d sit on the fucking computer until Robert contacted me. I’d had
more than enough of his bullshit.

I settled in for a
long night, but he must have been waiting. I’d only done a couple
of clues in my first crossword puzzle when the tiny blinking square
appeared.

As soon as I clicked
on it, the text scrolled rapidly in its box. “23:00 tomorrow night,
same place, flash light 3 times”.

My fingers flew across
the keyboard. “Confirmed. Last chance…” I hesitated. How could I
raise the stakes so he’d be sure to show himself? “…before I
disappear,” I finished, and hit the Enter key. Let him make
whatever he wanted of that.

The text box blinked
out of existence without further comment.

By the time I parked
in front of Kane’s office at last, my shivering rivalled Kasper’s.
Fatigue and delayed reaction sent long tremors through my body, and
my leaden legs barely carried me up the walk.

When I entered the
subterranean meeting room Kane was waiting for me beside the door,
and I realized he must have been watching the monitors for my
arrival.

“Glad you made it,” he
said, the darkness of his eyes betraying his casual words, and I
realized the interior surveillance cameras must still be
active.

He handed me a small
carton of orange juice, his warm fingers lingering over my icy ones
for a moment.

“Are you all right?”
he asked, studying my face.

“Fine.” I took a long
swallow of juice. “Thanks.” I turned away to head for the
bunkroom.

“Did you get the
information you needed?”

I held back a sigh and
answered without turning. “Most of it.”

“Anything you can tell
me?” His voice was emotionless.

“No. Sorry. Good
night.” I kept on walking.

Sleep eluded me for a
long time while I lay curled in a shivering ball. I wanted nothing
more than to hand over the names of the Knights to Stemp and let
trained professionals deal with them, but I was still hoping he
wouldn’t have to find out about Kane’s failure to kill Robert.

Just a little longer,
and then I’d spill the whole thing. I needed to find the Knights. I
needed to talk to Sam. And Robert had a hell of a lot of explaining
to do.

I groaned my way
through the shower in the morning, wondering how Kane could get by
on so little sleep. When I finally made my way to the meeting area,
the mouthwatering aroma of hot peanut butter made me pounce on the
brown paper bag awaiting me on the table.

“Thanks,” I mumbled
through a mouthful of crispy bagel.

“You’re welcome.” Kane
smiled, but his eyes appraised me with a cool reserve that hadn’t
been there before.

I sighed as the bagel
lost some of its flavour. I’d feigned sleep when Kane had slipped
into the opposite bunk the previous night, and he’d been gone
before I’d awakened.

I stopped another sigh
before it could slip out. His withdrawal was
good
news,
dammit. He’d be safe, and I could do what I needed to do.

Assuming I didn’t end
up dead.

The sigh escaped
anyway.

In my office, I took
stock of Spider’s smile with rising hope. “Does this mean you have
some good news?” I asked. “I could sure use some right now.”

“Maybe. I did a bit of
research last night, and I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to
get through that DMZ in Macon. You might just have to do things a
little differently than usual.”

He turned an eager
face in Kasper’s direction, faltering only slightly at Kasper’s
sullen glare. “Um… She should be able to bypass the security
servers entirely, shouldn’t she? Just get a fresh IP from the
external firewall and use it to jump directly to the internal
firewall on the other size of the DMZ?”

I eyed Jack and Kane,
relieved to see they looked just as uncomprehending as I felt.
“What does that really mean?” I asked cautiously.

“Oh!” Spider bounced
up from his chair and grabbed a marker to draw on the whiteboard,
his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. “DMZ stands for De-Militarized
Zone. It’s a security buffer, essentially like a no-man’s-land
between a private network and the public internet. Here’s how it
works…”

Long minutes later, I
could feel my eyes glazing over. “Hang on, Spider.” I rubbed the
incipient headache between my eyebrows. “So you said I could jump
over it, right? Why don’t I just try it and see how it goes?”

“Oh. Okay…” He trailed
back to his seat, looking disappointed.

“Thanks for the
explanation, though,” I added quickly. “That really helped.”

“Oh, you’re welcome!”
His smile returned and he turned back to Kasper. “What do you
think?”

Kasper crossed his
arms and slouched back in his chair with a shrug. “I don’t know why
you’re asking me. As we established yesterday, I’m only guessing.
Let her try if she wants to.”

I tried to temper my
annoyance with the knowledge that he was probably as sleep-deprived
as I was. Guilt nibbled me at the sight of the shadows on his
cheeks where my fingers had clamped down. He was probably still
finding bruises in places he hadn’t even known he had.

I reached out to
accept the network key from Kane. “Okay, then, same as yesterday.
This time I won’t panic if I get tossed around, but if I vanish
from the sim again, signal me with some web searches, okay?” I
paused. “Maybe it would be better if you didn’t use my name,
though. How about if you search for something else. Something
unusual. Then just keep searching it over and over so I know it’s
you.”