Reach For the Spy (2 page)

“Of course.” He frowned
at me in the shadows. “Where are you going with this?”

“What if it turns out
that it’s the right thing for you to kill me?”

He jerked back. “That’s
ridiculous.”

“Is it? Think it
through. Right now, I’m both incredibly valuable and incredibly
dangerous. I can crack any data encryption, and I’m working for our
government. Valuable. But I’m a civilian and Stemp doesn’t trust
me. As soon as he finds another way to break the encryption, I’ll
stop being valuable, and then all that’s left is the danger that
our enemies will scoop me up. He can’t afford the risk.”

“You’d never turn
traitor,” he said with certainty. “I’ve seen the sacrifices you’ve
made.”

“Thanks for the vote of
confidence. But I know what groups like Fuzzy Bunny will do to get
what they want. As long as I’m alive, there’s the risk that I’ll be
captured.” I looked him square in the eyes. “I’m no hero. I don’t
have any illusions about how long I’d withstand torture. So killing
me might be the right thing for everybody, including me. Would you
refuse that order?”

He sat silently,
frowning. Finally, he said, “That’s what you meant. When you said
Stemp would be doing you a favour if he killed you.”

“Yeah, something like
that.” I changed the subject. “So is Stemp actually evil, or is he
just an asshole?”

“He’s a ruthless
bastard,” Kane said slowly. “I can’t always agree with his methods,
but nobody can argue with his results. Since he took over as
civilian director two years ago, we’ve had major improvements in
our operations. You shouldn’t have threatened him.”

“That wasn’t a threat.
It was a sincere promise. If he does anything to harm anybody I
care about, I will utterly destroy him. Or die trying.”

He laughed suddenly.
“Aydan, you’re crazy.”

I grinned at him.
“You’re just discovering that now? What made you come to that
conclusion after all this time?”

“Even when you can’t
possibly win, you fight anyway. Stemp has people and resources you
can’t even imagine. And you’re relying on your nose to sniff out
bugs.”

I raised a shoulder and
gave him a half-smile. “I learned long ago that being willing to
fight is sometimes enough to prevent the fight in the first place.
Sometimes you win, just because anybody in their right mind would
know that you can’t possibly win.”

He sobered. “Aydan, you
can’t possibly win this one.”

“Ah. Victory will be
mine, then. So why are you here? You thought it’d be nice to pop by
and get your brains bashed in? You know damn well I keep a crowbar
under my pillow. What the hell were you thinking?”

His lips twisted wryly.
“Yes, I knew about the crowbar. But I thought you were asleep. No
woman would intentionally throw off the sheets and lie there naked
if she thought there was an intruder in the house.”

“It worked, didn’t it?”
I smirked at him. “Someday that ‘most women’ stereotype is going to
jump up and bite you. Or crush your skull with a crowbar. You knew
I was armed and dangerous, and you still turned your back on me
because of your preconceptions.”

“I was trying to be a
gentleman.”

“And it nearly got you
killed.”

“What if I’d been a
murderer or a rapist? What if I hadn’t turned my back? Where’s your
clever strategy then?”

I shrugged. “Tell me
you noticed when I reached under the pillow. You didn’t, did you?
Because you weren’t looking at my hand.”

He shifted on the bed.
“True,” he admitted reluctantly.

“So it didn’t really
matter to me whether you turned away or not. Either way, I got a
weapon into my hand without you noticing. I might not have won the
fight, but at least I had a chance.”

“And you’d fight even
if you couldn’t win.”

I patted him on the
shoulder. “Now you’re getting it. So why are you here? We’re
wasting our hour.”

Kane blew out a breath
of frustration, or maybe resignation. “I wanted to make sure you
knew about the bugs and cameras. And I didn’t want to leave things
the way we left them last week.”

“Cameras? Shit! Please
tell me he’s set up a perimeter outside.”

“Yes.”

“But not inside
anywhere?”

“No.”

I let out the breath
I’d been holding. “Good. I’ve been kind of creeped out about
getting naked ever since I found the bugs. I figured cameras
wouldn’t be far behind. I went over this place with a fine-toothed
comb, but I was afraid I’d missed something.”

“Don’t worry. So far,
the only cameras are outside. If that changes, I’ll let you
know.”

“Thanks. Where are
they?”

“There’s complete
coverage of the exterior of your house, and about a twenty-five
foot radius around it. One camera in the eaves of your garage, one
in the tree at the back, one on the shed, and another on the back
fence.”

“Any blind spots?”

“No.”

“So how did you get
in?”

“Webb looped a
thirty-second segment for the front door camera, one segment at the
beginning of the hour, and one at the end so I can get out
again.”

I sighed. “I really
wish you hadn’t involved Spider. You know Stemp intimidates him.
And he’s just a kid. He’s just starting his career. I’d hate to see
that jeopardized because of me.”

“Aydan,” Kane said.
“He’s twenty-six. He’s old enough to make his own decisions. And
he’s the one who came up with the idea of looping the cameras and
audio. He was furious that Stemp treated you that way after all
you’d done for us.”

“Oh.” I thought about
that for a moment. “Did I mention I really appreciate you risking
your life and your career to come here and warn me?”

“No.”

“Sorry.” I took his
hand and squeezed it. “I really appreciate you coming here. Thanks.
And I’m really sorry about bashing you in the head.” I stood up and
pulled him with me. “Come on.”

He hung back warily.
“Where are we going?”

“Into the closet.”

“Because...?”

“Come on!” I tugged him
toward the walk-in closet. “Because I can turn on the light in
there without it being visible from outside. I need to look at your
head.”

“I told you, it’s
fine.”

“Good. Then there’s no
reason to hide it from me.” I pulled him inside the closet and
reached past him to close the door and flip the light switch.

We blinked and squinted
at each other in the sudden light. “Now, let me see.” I reached up
to the bloodied washcloth he still held against his head and gently
pulled his hand away.

Even on my tiptoes, my
five-foot-ten height wasn’t enough to give me a clear view. “Get
down here to my level,” I commanded. “I can’t see the top of your
head when you’re six inches taller than me.”

He blew out an
impatient sigh and stooped. I winced at the ugly wound on his
scalp. “That’s got to hurt.”

He shrugged. “I’m still
standing. Do I need stitches?”

“No, I don’t think so.
The bleeding’s almost stopped. I’ll go and get some peroxide. Lucky
you’ve got thick hair. I don’t think it’ll be visible once it’s
cleaned up.”

“I told you it was
fine. It just glanced off.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I turned
off the light and stumbled to the bathroom in the dark. I grabbed
the peroxide bottle and gauze by feel and fumbled back into the
closet.

The cleanup complete, I
wrapped the blood-stained, peroxide-soaked gauze in the
washcloth.

“I’ll take that.” He
held out his hand. “Just in case,” he answered my unasked question.
“You don’t want anything around here that might be hard to
explain.”

“Guess so.” I handed it
to him. “Thanks.” I flipped off the light again, and we shuffled
back to sit on the bed, waiting for our eyes to adjust.

“Where’s the crowbar?”
Kane asked.

“Why, are you afraid
I’ll hit you again?”

“No. We need to clean
it.”

I chuckled. “And this
is why you’re good at what you do. Details.” I rummaged in the
sheets until my hand connected with the crowbar. “Here you go.”

My eyes still hadn’t
adjusted, and I heard rather than saw him wipe down the crowbar. I
spoke into the darkness. “So what should I expect tomorrow? I’ve
never been a government asset before. Will Stemp have me monitored
every minute I’m at Sirius Dynamics, too?”

His voice was wry. “I’m
not exactly sure what you should expect. Being given an asset and
told I’m a handler is new to me, too. I think it’s a safe bet that
Stemp will watch and record your every move. And mine. That’s why I
wanted to talk to you tonight.”

I peered at him in the
dimness. “Couldn’t we have just gone for coffee or something,
instead of the whole cloak and dagger thing?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged.
“Or maybe not. I won’t really know until I see how things are set
up tomorrow. I don’t know how much control Stemp is going to exert,
and I couldn’t take a chance that you might say or do something
without realizing that you were being watched.”

He paused, then
continued, “I really wish you hadn’t lost your temper. You forced
his hand. If you’d just gone along with it, I might have been able
to do some damage control.”

“He threatened me,” I
snapped. “That was stupid. If he’d been smart, he would have talked
to you first. He could have averted the whole fiasco. Maybe he’s
been doing great things for your department, but he’s a shitty
people manager.”

Kane sighed. “He’s good
at what he does, but you’re right, General Briggs is a better
leader. Briggs would never have taken such a heavy-handed approach,
but it’s not his jurisdiction.”

“But why do you have to
listen to Stemp at all? Briggs is your direct superior, isn’t
he?”

“Yes, and no. Stemp is
the director of our INSET team, and my cover is as an RCMP officer
with INSET. So I have to walk a fine line.”

I sighed. “Bloody
politics.”

“Yes,” he agreed with
feeling.

“So do you think maybe
we can work out a better way to communicate?” I asked. “Maybe one
that doesn’t involve panic on my part and personal injury for you?
Because I’d really hate to have to explain to Stemp why I murdered
you in my bedroom in the middle of the night.”

He laughed. “That’s a
conversation I’d like to listen in on.”

“Except you’d be
dead.”

“Well, there is that.”
I could still see the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Best to keep it simple,” he said, sobering. “If I need to talk to
you, I’ll hand you a black pen at some point during the day. If you
need me to come here, you can give me a black pen. Then you can
expect me that night. If it’s urgent, use a red pen, and I’ll
figure out a way that we can meet sooner. You’ll just have to stay
alert for my signal.”

“Okay, that works.”

He checked the
illuminated display on his watch. “I have ten minutes left before I
have to leave. Do you have any other questions?”

“No, I don’t
think...”

A sudden sharp report
split the silence of the night, and Kane pitched forward on top of
me, the weight of his body pinning me to the bed.

Kane’s gun was already
in his hand. He twisted around to search for the source of the
sound as he sprawled across me, protecting me with his body.

“It’s okay!” I freed
one arm from under him with difficulty and gently covered his gun
hand. “It’s just the stupid roller blind. It fell off its
mountings. It did that once before when the breeze got up and I had
the window open.”

I felt the tension
leave him, and he drew in a deep breath as he stowed his gun again.
“Get that damn thing fixed!”

“Roger that,” I agreed.
“Better still, as of this moment, it’s garbage.”

My heart was still
pounding from the shock, but the feel of his muscular body on top
of me wasn’t doing anything to slow it down, either. Bedroom,
moonlight, an incredibly hot guy, and we were already
horizontal.

Jeez, somebody up there
really hated me.

He gazed down at me for
a long moment from inches away, his grey eyes completely black in
the dim light.

Then we both sighed,
and he rolled off me and sat up. We caught each other’s eyes and
looked away quickly.

I forced a casual tone.
“Guess I’ll go and get a snack.” I rolled off the bed and headed
for the kitchen. “Do you want anything?” I asked over my shoulder
as he trailed me out of the bedroom.

“Yes, but I can’t have
it.”

I glanced back at him,
surprised at the uncharacteristic double entendre. He continued
without missing a beat, “I’ve only got a few minutes before I have
to go.”

“Right.” I pulled the
cereal box out of the cupboard in the dark and reached for the
fridge door.

His hand closed around
my wrist. “Don’t. The light will be visible from outside, and I
don’t want any hint of activity on the cameras.”

“Hmmph,” I agreed. I
turned back toward the table and felt him stiffen as I brushed
against him.

I gazed up at him and
steadfastly resisted the urge to pull him down into a kiss. I’d
already done that last week. Then, he’d turned me down to protect
me. Now, I had to hold back to protect him, too.

I realized he was still
holding my wrist and we were gazing into each other’s eyes again.
Shit.

I pulled away and
stuffed a handful of the dry cereal into my mouth as I sat down at
the table. Stay occupied, keep the mouth busy.

He stood silently at
the end of the table, watching me crunch my cereal. In a couple of
minutes, he checked his watch again and sighed. “See you tomorrow.
Lock the door behind me. And turn on your security system again. I
disabled it when I came through.”

“Okay.” I followed him
to the door and locked up behind him.

I tossed and turned for
the rest of the night, and got up feeling tired and edgy at six
o’clock. My mood was only marginally improved by a shower and
breakfast, and I shuffled irritably to my desk to do some of the
entries for one of my bookkeeping clients.