Reach For the Spy (14 page)

He blew out a breath.
“Aydan, don’t drive yourself so hard!”

“I had to. Have to. If
one of your agents has been captured...” My voice wobbled like my
knees, and I concentrated on holding them both steady.

Kane laid a gentle arm
around my shoulders. “You’ve done all you can. More than anybody
has a right to expect from you.” He steered me to my car. “Are you
okay to drive home?”

“Yeah.” I delved into
my waist pouch for my keys.

I slid shakily into the
driver’s seat, and Kane rested his forearm on the top of the open
door to lean in. “Get some sleep. Don’t come in until at least one
tomorrow.”

“But what about your
agent? What if you get another document?” He started to shake his
head and I gripped his wrist. “John, promise you’ll call me if you
need something else decrypted. Don’t make me responsible for...” My
throat closed up, and I swallowed hard. “...For whatever might
happen to that agent.”

“Aydan, you wouldn’t be
responsible...”

I shook his arm.
“Promise me! Don’t put that on my conscience! If you don’t promise,
I swear to God I’ll go back into Sirius right now and sit in the
lobby until somebody retrieves that agent!”

His face softened, and
he gently pried my hand off his wrist and placed it on the steering
wheel. “You’re a good person, Aydan. I’ll call you if we need you.
Go home. Get some sleep.”

I searched his face. He
was a spy. I’d seen him lie easily and convincingly before.

He met my eyes. “I
promise.”

“Okay. Thanks. Good
night.”

“Good night.”

I drove slowly down the
silent street, thinking. A glance at my watch made me groan. After
one A.M. Every inch of my body hurt. I was so exhausted it was an
effort even to grip the steering wheel.

I could go back to the
hotel and try to salvage the evening. Hellhound would welcome me
regardless of the hour. And he’d make it worth my while. That man
could give an orgasm to a dead woman. And I could really use a
little comfort tonight.

I sighed. If I ran into
Bill Harks again, I might be a dead woman. I couldn’t summon up the
courage to go through the lobby again, and I couldn’t phone
Hellhound to come and meet me because my phone was tapped. I
whimpered self-pity while I drove on past the hotel and hit the
highway.

I had to stop twice for
fresh air to keep me alert on the fifteen-minute drive home. Parked
in my yard, I jerked awake when my forehead thumped against the
steering wheel. I groaned and hauled myself out of the driver’s
seat.

When I stepped into the
house, the stuffy heat closed around me and I gasped with a
momentary return of claustrophobia. I quickly opened all the
windows before grabbing a blanket. I’d just go and sit outside
while the house cooled down.

Perched again on my
hill, I watched the stillness of the long silver vista in the light
of the full moon. The house had held the heat of the day but the
evening air was cool, and I wrapped the blanket around me while I
let the wide-open silence soothe my ravelled nerves.

A sudden sense of
foreboding made me jerk around to confront the dark figure behind
me. Terror flashed through me and I leaped up to run, my heavy feet
too slow. I shot a fearful glance over my shoulder as I fled over
the uneven ground. He was gaining.

The earth vanished
under my feet and I tumbled into a pit I hadn’t seen. Lying in the
cold, damp dirt, I tried to scramble to my feet but my legs
wouldn’t move. Wordless wails of dread escaped me when he grinned
over the edge. I clawed frantically at the wall of the pit, sharp
stones tearing my fingers. Clods of dirt rained down while he
buried me alive…

The last scream tore my
throat as I bolted upright on the hillside. Flailing free of the
blanket, I crouched gasping in the grass. When the nightmare
finally dissipated I whimpered and collapsed back onto the blanket.
The cold moon poured its indifferent light over me while I lay
shivering, catching my breath. After a few minutes, I dragged
myself to my feet.

Through the open
windows of my house below, I heard the ringing of my phone. I
sighed and made my quivering way down the hill and inside. No rush.
They’d call back.

Sure enough, as I was
closing the windows the phone rang again. I picked up without
bothering to check the call display.

“Hello?” I mumbled.

“Aydan? It’s Tom
Rossburn. Is everything okay over there?”

“Huh?” I’d been
expecting silence on the other end of the line. “Uh, yeah,
everything’s fine. Why?”

“I’m up tonight with a
colicky horse, and I heard screaming.”

“Oh.”

I thumped my head with
my free hand. Jeez, as if the bloody bugs weren’t enough. Now the
neighbours had me under surveillance, too. “Thanks for checking up
on me, but everything’s fine.”

“Okay, sorry to bother
you. I guess it must have been a wild animal.”

“It’s okay. I hope your
horse gets better soon.”

“Thanks. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I dragged myself into
the bedroom and fell into bed.

The phone rang.

“Unnnggghh!” I flopped
over to check the illuminated clock. Three thirty. I groaned and
pressed my face into the pillow.

I fumbled the receiver
up to my ear. “Hello?”

“Hey, you hot bitch.
Wanna party?”

“Wha...? No! Who is
this?”

“Come on, I got good
money. How much for a little party?”

“You’ve got the wrong
number.” I slammed the phone down. Seconds later, it rang
again.

I picked up.
“What!”

“You’re gonna be nice
to me, bitch. I know where you live. I’m gonna come over, and we’ll
have ourselves a party. Just you and me.”

Fear turned to fury so
quickly I barely registered the transition. “Listen, you bag of
shit, if you come anywhere near here, I’ll blow your fucking nuts
off with a twelve-gauge. So come on over. Right now, asshole. Right
fucking now!”

My only response was a
click when the caller disconnected. I slammed the phone back into
its cradle and collapsed onto the bed, trembling and
hyperventilating. I was so mad and scared, the threat about the
twelve-gauge was probably superfluous. I’d rip his nuts off with my
bare hands.

I gradually brought my
breathing under control and willed my shaking muscles to relax. I’d
never be safer than I was right now. Thanks to the bugs and the
phone tap, Stemp’s minions would undoubtedly have a guard on my
house faster than my unknown caller could get here, and the guard
would probably stick around for the rest of the night.

I almost hoped the
stupid asshole caller did show up. Wouldn’t he get a hell of a
surprise.

I groaned and buried my
head in the pillow. Normally, I’m a morning person. Not so this
morning. I swore at the cheery clamour of birdsong from outside and
stomped over to slam the window shut. Then I burrowed back into the
bed and clamped the pillow over my head.

Several hours later I
emerged, feeling less than refreshed. I scowled at my baggy-eyed
reflection in the mirror and bitched my way into the shower.
Resting my forehead on the shower wall, I let the water pour down
my back for a long time, trying to ease muscles stiffened from my
wild run.

After breakfast, I
glared at the clock, irritated that half my morning was gone. I
creaked my way out of my chair and headed for the garden.

A couple of hours of
pleasantly mindless work in the warm sun eased my tense muscles and
frazzled nerves. If Stemp had put a guard on me last night, the
guard was either really good, or else he was gone. Nobody disturbed
my peaceful solitude.

Back at Sirius
Dynamics, my heart started to thump before I was even inside the
building. I leaned against my car and concentrating on breathing
deeply and evenly.

Kane emerged from the
building and glanced both ways before striding across the street
toward me. He stopped a couple of paces away and activated a small
electronic device, apparently scanning for bugs again.

After a moment, he
looked up. “Walk with me.”

I fell in beside him
and we ambled down the sidewalk. Anything that postponed going back
into Sirius was fine with me.

When we were out of
visual range of the building, he finally spoke. “You had some
excitement at your place last night.”

I sighed. “Yeah.”

“We traced the call. It
came from the pay phone in the lobby of the Silverside Hotel.”

“Gee, there’s a
surprise. I don’t think it was Harks, though. His voice is
wheezier.”

Kane lifted a shoulder
in irritation. “We have no way of knowing who it was. I questioned
the desk clerk, but he said he didn’t notice anybody using the
phone last night. Either he was lying, or he has the intellectual
capacity of a flea. I’m leaning toward the latter.”

I looked up at him.
“You look as tired as I feel.”

“Probably because I
spent half of last night skulking around your yard.”

“I wondered about that.
Doesn’t Stemp realize that you do actually need to sleep at
times?”

“Actually, yes. He’s
pulling Germain up from Calgary today. It seems like a waste of
resources to me, but Stemp says he’s not sparing any expense to
make sure you’re protected.”

“I’m flattered.”

Kane snorted. “Too bad
he won’t give you what you really need.”

I gazed up at him
uncertainly.

“I talked to Stemp
again this morning,” Kane said. “He’s still not willing to
compromise with the network key. I’m sorry. He insists it has to
stay below-ground.”

I gave him my best
nonchalant shrug. “No surprise.”

I felt his eyes on me,
and kept my face composed.

“Aydan...” He
hesitated. “I know you have reasons for hiding your emotions. But
if you keep hiding how much this is bothering you, Stemp will never
budge. And we both know your problems in the network are getting
worse, not better.”

“I won’t go whining to
him.”

“Aydan!” He blew out a
frustrated breath. “For once in your life, will you just...”

“Just what?” I spun to
face him. “Just show weakness to the one person who’s most likely
to exploit it? I don’t think so. Come on.” I turned and started
walking back toward Sirius.

He paced beside me in
silence for a block or so. Then he turned to me again. “Aydan?”

“Yeah.”

“Just... let yourself
bend a little. So you don’t break.”

I sighed. “I’ll try.
Thanks for being concerned.”

Buried in the lab
again, I blew out a long breath, trying to ease my shoulders down
from around my ears.

I regarded Spider’s
pale, worried face with remorse. “Spider, I’m so sorry about
yesterday. It was just a sim, remember. No different than the
movies you watch all the time.”

He gulped. “I know. It
was just so... sudden. And so real. But... I think what bothered me
most was that it came from you. That it’s inside your head.” He
shuddered, his eyes darkening.

I squeezed his hand.
“Hey, Spider, don’t forget, you’ve got awful-looking things inside
your head, too. You watch all those slasher movies. All that
stuff’s inside your head. If it suddenly came out in a sim, it
would shock everybody else, but you’d know where it came from.
You’d know it wasn’t real.”

His shoulders eased a
fraction as his face cleared. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks,
Aydan.”

I patted his hand. “No
problem. It’s just context, that’s all.” I changed the subject. “Am
I looking for anything specific today?”

“No, back to the
regular files today.” He surveyed my trembling hands. “Aydan,” he
said hesitantly. “Are you sure you should be doing this? Maybe you
should take the day off.” He shot Kane a questioning glance.
“Shouldn’t she?”

Kane scowled. “If you
can convince her, you’re a better man than I am.”

“Aydan...” Spider
entreated.

“How about if we
compromise. I’ll make it a short day.”

“Okay,” he agreed.

I closed my eyes and
drifted into the void. All was inky darkness. With an effort of
will, I resisted the urge to give in to fear and step back out the
portal.

“Hey, Spider, what’s
going on?” I asked, holding my voice determinedly steady.

“I don’t know,” his
puzzled voice came back. “Nothing’s changed in the network.”

I waved my arms blindly
and stifled a small shriek when I touched something warm. I jumped
away, flailing my arms. More things touched me in the dark. I bit
down on rising whimpers.

The darkness was as
thick as used motor oil. As the thought occurred to me, my breath
stopped and acrid suffocating pressure filled my nose and mouth.
Unable to speak, I churned desperately through the blackness with
the last oxygen in my lungs.

I couldn’t see the
portal.

I circled wildly, lungs
bursting while I swung my arms, hoping to make contact.

I couldn’t escape.

Trapped!

Strangling...

“Aydan!
Aydan
!
What’s happening?”

Blackness filled me as
I collapsed, my body heaving with the effort to inhale.

No air.

My hammering heart
slowed. I floated weightlessly as the last beats faded.

Kane’s lips pressed
hard against mine. Then he started crushing his fist into my chest.
My eyes snapped into focus. “Ow!”

“Aydan!” Kane’s tense
face loomed over me as he pressed his fingers against the pulse in
my neck.

“What? Ow,” I whimpered
as my breath lifted my bruised chest.

“Thank God.” He brushed
my face with his fingertips, his touch feather-light. “I’m sorry,”
he murmured inexplicably.

I shook my head, trying
to comprehend what was happening. I was lying on the floor of the
lab again. That was getting old. I tried to sit up, but Kane gently
restrained me.