Second Chances (32 page)

That Pierce would be careless of her security seemed odd. She hadn’t struck him as the careless type. Maybe Flynn had been there ahead of him though? That would fit. Flynn had probably already turned over every locked room in the complex; the street kid had guts, skills even, but not a lot of sense.

@—}–—}——

Mindy pushed her plate away with a sigh. The food was good, better than she had been lead to believe. Listening to Sandra Pierce sniping about it, anyone would have thought it was pigswill. Mindy finished up, aware of how hungry she had been. She glanced at her watch and frowned. She had been on the go since seven that morning, finishing up the tasks Pierce had given her. She snorted softly. Pierce treated her as little more than a skivvy these days, a glorified maid. She was an experienced PA, for God’s sake. First Pierce had assigned her to that little scumbag, Archer, who frankly treated her like she was some kind of bimbo and now she was in the middle of nowhere, cleaning Pierce’s bure…

“That was a sigh from the heart…” The oddly-accented English made Mindy look up to see a small woman in a chef’s white uniform, blond hair cut short as a soldier’s, peering at her through the serving hatch. “You are okay, Sweety?”

“I’m fine…” Mindy was a little unnerved by the woman’s stare, but her manner was kind. She reminded her of Tank Girl. “Just a little pissed off, but what’s new?” Mindy replied dispiritedly.

“Ah, Sweety, not good, not good. I’m Agnetha, by the way. You may call me Aggi if you like. The boys call me Bork…you know, like the Swedish Chef from the Muppets?” She laughed and shrugged one shoulder. “Before your time maybe…” Mindy realised her look must have been a little blank. Her accent was a tad strange to Mindy’s ears. Aggi spoke with a lilt, the emphasis on the wrong part of the words. Abruptly, the woman’s focus altered and she said something unintelligible.
Was that her own language?
She disappeared from view, emerging from the kitchen moments later with a tray. She proceeded to collect discarded plates and cups, swiping a wet cloth across the tables with gusto. “Ach, those men! Bad enough I’ve no help here, but why can’t they clean their own mess up? But then, they’re men. I should not expect miracles.” Mindy thoughtfully collected her plate and mug onto her tray and carried them to the hatch. She felt she would be letting the side down to do anything else.

“Tack.” Mindy glanced at her.
What was that?

“What did you say?”

“Tack… Sorry, I’m Swedish, I forget. Thank you,” she said. “It means thank you.”

“Oh.” Mindy smiled. “That’s okay. I guess we women should stick together.” Aggi smiled broadly.

“We should keep these men in their place,” she said with another grin, shaking her head in exasperation and waggling a dirty mug in the air for emphasis. “Military types know better, but we have civilian workers too. Not the same…” She shrugged, looking Mindy up and down. “You don’t look like a builder, Sweety, and you sure are not Military. How on earth do you fit in round here?”

“I’m…” Mindy paused.
What am I?
She was hard pressed to answer. “I work with Sandra Pierce…”

“Ouch, that hard-faced Tik…”

“Excuse me?”

“Why, Sweety, what did you do?”

“Er… I meant, what did you mean? Tik?”

Aggi laughed. “Oh, I believe the word means the female dog?” Mindy took a moment to process the meaning, then she laughed as well.

“Yes, Aggi, I believe you’re right with that assumption.” She frowned. “Look, I better get going or… the Tik will be back and breathing down my neck. She reached for her keys, finding they were not in her pocket where they ought to be. Then she realised in horror that she hadn’t locked the door of the bure on her way out. Damn it to hell and back, she had left her keys behind! Pierce would kill her if she got back and found out. “Sorry, Aggi, I really have to go…” and Mindy flew out the door as fast as her sandaled feet would go.

Aggi watched her go with a frown.
It looks like Pierce has her claws into this one too. Damn the woman.
Aggi had only met her once and once was one time too many in Aggi’s opinion. The woman was a Tik of the highest order, and one that Aggi would dearly love to see fall. Short of poisoning the woman’s chilli she wasn’t sure how that would happen, though. People like Pierce got away with murder. Gideon she could relate to. Gideon was military. So were his boys. They liked her. They were also smart enough to know that one did not piss off the only cook on the island too. Not everyone had the sense they were born with though.

Mindy ran out of the main building and took the path at a run. Pierce might already be there. Anxiety lent her speed and in no time she was in sight of the bure again.

@—}–—}——

It was a nice hut, cool and comfortable. Trust Pierce to get the best of the accommodation. It looked like some of the building had been recently patched. Not all of the furniture was standard either. The bed was broader than the others he had spotted at the resort so far, and swathed in a diaphanous mosquito net. The rest of the decor was typically ‘tourist tropical’–rush, cane and bamboo. The place showed no sign of habitation, though Pierce had been on the island nearly as long as himself.

Lyle pondered where best to position his cameras and microphones. He thought about both reception and concealment, carefully considering the optimum placement. He was hoping the interference Harry had been registering earlier wouldn’t affect these gadgets, since they were going to be hooked up to a different part of the system–his own private section. He had to cobble some of the stuff together, he’d swept a random selection of gear up as he’d left the security base room—he hated thinking of it as an ‘IT’ room—so he wasn’t sure exactly what he could accomplish right there and then. It would have to do for a while though, he doubted he would get such easy access to this particular bure again for some time.

More than once Lyle froze as voices drew close, but every time they faded; just people passing by, workers maybe. His nerves were on edge though and it ate into the concentration he needed to fix the tiny cameras and microphones. He would have to hope that the cameras would pick something up. They were fixed in one position; if anyone placed anything in front of them he would be blind. He put one in the main room, as high up as he could get it, pointing down. The other he placed to cover the door. It would be interesting to see the comings and goings and time-stamp them. He set the voice-activated microphones in the main room and the bedroom. He had a chance of getting more from them than from the cameras.

Job done,
Lyle thought, casting a final glance round the room. He pocketed the remains of the equipment he had brought with him, did a final check that he hadn’t left anything incriminating behind and stepped quickly to the door.

He reached to open it, intending to peer out to check that the coast—almost literally in this case—was clear, but as he did so, the handle flew out of his grasp. A flustered young woman with dark hair and a horrified expression stood there, framed by the doorway.

“Just who the fuck are you?” Mindy’s terror that Pierce had returned rapidly changed to anger. She knew the stranger who stood in Pierce’s bure had absolutely no business being there, although it didn’t occur to her to be scared of him. Pierce scared her, but few other people could. In fact Mindy hated Pierce for her ability to do exactly that.

If looks could kill,
Lyle thought,
this woman would have been guilty of murder.
She had an air of righteous indignation and Lyle knew he had to think on his feet before she started screaming the place down. He realised he had seen her before, she had been heading into the refectory as he had been leaving, no doubt late for her lunch. He remembered thinking she looked too neat to be part of the maintenance crews.

“Just what the hell are you doing here? Who are you?”

Lyle was stumped. He had no idea where the woman fitted into the Eidolon puzzle. He’d seen her hanging around Flynn a bit, and around Pierce. Did she know about their history? Did she have a clue who they were or was she out of the loop?

“Security. I was just making sure everything was okay here. The door was unlocked. I know Ms Pierce is off the island right now, so I thought I should check for intruders and then secure the premises.”

Lyle smiled as unconvincingly as he could manage, playing out the persona of a security specialist. “. . . And you are?”

“Amanda Masterson…I’m Sandra Pierce’s PA… but if you are security, how come you didn’t know that?” The man had rattled her, but she was unsure of her ground. She knew people had been brought in whom she had yet to meet but somehow this guy didn’t seem right.

Lyle pulled himself up to his full height of 5ft 10, looking the woman straight in the eyes, echoing the way his own bodyguard, Breslaw, had carried himself. With all the military present on the island right now he knew he wasn’t exactly right for a member of the security team, but that was what he was now all the same, and bugging Pierce’s hut was exactly the sort of thing he should be doing.

“I have a set of names, just haven’t had chance to meet everyone yet.” He pulled out his PDA and started pressing buttons, whilst making sure the woman couldn’t see the screen. “Ah yes, you check out. Thanks. Do you know when we can expect Ms. Pierce to return? They didn’t leave a schedule.” He did his best to sound really annoyed as he added the final sentence.

“Ms. Pierce—,” Mindy gave the Ms an audible capital, “—will be back when she’s done what she went out there to do.”

“She didn’t tell you either, huh? Law unto Herself.” Lyle checked his watch. “Better get on, got plenty to do today. You have a key for here, yes?”

“Of course…”

Lyle smiled, his eyebrow lifting slightly. “Better use it next time then, Ma’am. After all, you never know who might be snooping around.”

___________________________________________________

Late night/early morning, 27/28th Jan, Rapatoka

“What’s your prognosis, Doc? Are
you
going to survive?” Gideon’s quiet enquiry broke into the silence that had fallen as they finished clearing up.

Miles straightened and rubbed the back of his neck.

“You look wiped out.”

Miles flinched as a warm heavy hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed gently. “I’ll live,” His voice was a harsh rasp. He needed a drink. “Been there, done that, as they say.” He sighed, unwanted memories dredging up again. He shoved them ruthlessly away before they could drown him. He still had work to do. Abruptly, reaction set in and he started to shake. Gideon had an arm around him before his legs gave out, and he was guided to a bed.

“Sit down before you fall down and take a minute,” Gideon advised quietly. “Rag can carry on with the clean-up.”

“I’m fine,” Miles growled.

“Get some rest, or you’ll be no good to anyone. We can watch him for you.”

“To be perfectly frank, I’m still worried. We took what precautions we could, but performing surgery like that in conditions like this is far from ideal. I’ve left a drain in and given him antibiotics, but he’s not responding as he should. When his heart gave out….” Miles shuddered. “He ought to be airlifted out to a hospital on the mainland…”

“No can do,” Gideon insisted. “I wasn’t lying for Pierce’s benefit, you know?” He gestured toward the window. Rain was already pouring down outside and the wind was whipping through the trees again. “There really is another storm front on the way. This is just the leading edge. Everyone is battening down over on Mystery. I’ve left Garvey in charge over there and we’ll just have to ride it out here until Clarke can can make it back in the boat. That should be early tomorrow, always supposing the Met boys are right and it blows itself out by then, but while we’re stuck here, we might as well all get some rest.” Gideon glanced toward the kitchenette. “I could kill for a cuppa, though,” he said eagerly and then frowned. “On the downside,” he added thoughtfully, “it gives the White Witch time to throw her weight around, although hopefully she’ll be as pinned down in her bure by the storm as we are here…” On cue, a rumble of thunder reached their ears, and lightning flashed through the windows. “Thar she blows, Capt’n,” Gideon grinned.

Miles stared over at the still unconscious form of Gil on the bed. Between them, Rag and Miles had brought him back from the brink a couple of times. “From the sounds of things he fell a fair way. As far as I can tell, he isn’t bleeding internally, but a normally fit and healthy man shouldn’t have reacted like that. I was all ready to blame you, you know. Wondering if my trust was misplaced. For a while there I thought he must have reacted to the wrong blood group or some other factor, but that takes days to happen, not minutes. The trap must have been coated with something. I checked with Caroline, and all she could tell me was that the natives use toxins on their spears to kill fish quickly. They get them from one of the local cone shells. She didn’t think it would be strong enough to kill a man, though. After all, they have to eat the fish afterward….”

“Perhaps he had an allergic reaction?” Rag suggested, turning up with a tray on which three mugs steamed invitingly.