Spy High (19 page)

Aurora was really a lovely girl, I told
myself resolutely. All breathless sincerity, long silky hair, and
fresh glowing skin.

And a voice like a fucking
jackhammer.

I resisted the urge to flinch and cover
my suffering ears as her exposition on the Earth Spirit reached a
jubilant crescendo.

“And you know what the best part is,
Storm? The best part is that the Earth Spirit is always here, and
everywhere around us! As long as we’re here on the commune, we’re
always protected by the Earth Spirit! Isn’t that just the best
thing ever?”

“Um, yeah…”

“And it’s real protection, too, not
just some abstract idea!” She leaned forward earnestly and I
couldn’t help scooting my chair backward. She raised her voice to
compensate. “This is a true story! It happened just a couple of
years ago. A little boy wandered off into the woods and his parents
didn’t realize he was gone until much later. It was windy and
raining and he was only four years old, so he could have easily
died of exposure. And guess what?” She gazed at me, her eyes
alight.

“What?” My voice cracked with what I
hoped she’d interpret as excitement.

“Moonbeam and Karma called to the Earth
Spirit, and the Earth Spirit told them exactly where to start
looking. The little boy had fallen into a hole under a log in the
middle of the forest and we never would have found him otherwise,
but we formed a search line where the Earth Spirit said and we
found him fifteen minutes later!” Aurora’s voice rose again in
impassioned fervor.

My chair was wedged against the wall.
Nowhere to go. “Wow,” I croaked.

“And I know it might seem like some
weird religion, but it’s not a religion at all! The Earth Spirit
isn’t a god to be worshipped. You can follow any religion you want
and still have the love and protection of the Earth Spirit. All you
have to do is open your heart and you can feel it and practically
see
it all around you!” Aurora flung out her arms, her
pretty features alight with rapture, her voice flaying my eardrums.
“Can’t you feel it, Storm?”

“Uh…”

She opened her mouth for a fresh
assault and I flung up a hand in self-defence. “Wow, Aurora,
thanks,” I babbled. “That was really, um… inspiring. But you know
what? I think I really need to go and commune quietly with the
Earth Spirit by myself now.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea, Storm! The
Earth Spirit is always honoured by your silence and attention!”

I rose and sidled away. “Yeah, I love
silence. Really love it. So, um, see you.”

I didn’t quite turn tail and run, but
it would have been dangerous to step in front of me. Ears ringing,
I scurried outside and made a beeline for my tent.

Falling onto my cot, I clasped my
aching head and closed my eyes, soaking up the soft woodland
sounds. After several minutes of grateful immobility, I sat up at
last.

God, what a nerve-shattering
experience. Utterly pointless, too. Not only did I get separated
from Moonbeam and Karma, but they also managed to avoid my question
about their roles in the Calling ritual.

I blew out a breath of irritation and
pulled out my tracking device. When I powered it on, my shoulders
sagged with relief at the sight of the red dot and GPS coordinate
display. The relative location indicated that Orion was northeast
of me by about a quarter mile, so that would place him in the
vicinity of the garage.

Hmm.

Now would be a perfect time to search
his tent.

My pulse accelerated at the thought.
Theoretically I’d be perfectly safe. I knew where Orion was, and
ours were the only two tents along the path so nobody else was
likely to come along and catch me.

But if Orion somehow found out I’d been
snooping, he might get a little more assertive with those hand
restraints…

Before I could conjure up any more
frightening scenarios, I sucked in a breath, stuck the tracker in
my pocket, and strode out of my tent.

Look decisive. Look like you have every
right to be there. Do not look furtive.

Despite my mental admonitions I
couldn’t help peering guiltily around to check for witnesses before
I ducked into Orion’s tent.

I halted just inside, my heart
hammering as though I’d run a mile. Everything was still as tidy as
my camera had shown it the previous night, and I slipped out of my
boots and placed them where Orion’s had been to keep from tracking
telltale dirt across his floor.

Padding around in my sock feet with the
tracker clutched in my hand, I began a systematic search.

It didn’t take long. Orion had about as
many clothes as I did. A few neatly-folded T-shirts, a couple of
pairs of jeans, some wool socks, and boxer briefs in various
colours were tucked into the same wood-crate shelving as mine. A
couple of jackets had nothing in their pockets but gloves. I found
no hand restraints. No phone or laptop or electronic equipment
whatsoever. A duffel bag under his cot held towels. A sparse
selection of toiletries and a washcloth completed my discoveries.
Five minutes later I was back in my own tent, gulping air and
shaking like a leaf.

My very first clandestine search ever.
Now I was a real spy.

I snorted. I’d found nothing
incriminating or even interesting. There had been practically no
risk, and I was on the verge of a heart attack anyway. Jane Bond
would have laughed in my face.

Well, to hell with Jane Bond. For the
past year I’d been backed into a corner again and again and forced
to react. This time I’d taken the initiative. That was something to
be proud of.

After some more bracing self-talk and a
few deep calming breaths, I focused on my next objective:
Skidmark’s bench.

Guilt twisted my guts. Skidmark.
Survivor of a war nobody wanted to acknowledge, fighting the demons
of post-traumatic stress long before there was any help or even
understanding available. And I had shattered his
carefully-constructed safety zone.

And one of the commune’s vehicles was
wrecked because of my shitty attitude, too. I felt like the lowest
form of scum.

Hauling myself to my feet, I scooped up
the binoculars and bird book. I’d visit Skidmark first, apologize,
and see when he wanted to tackle the truck overhaul. After that I
could carry on with my plans for the day.

My feet dragged while I climbed the
hill to the garage. I wouldn’t blame Skidmark if he was furious
with me. He’d tried to protect his peace of mind by locking the
garage and I’d broken in like a lousy criminal, shouted abuse at
him, and stolen his car. The previous day’s triumph tasted of
bitter shame now.

When I rounded the corner into the
clearing, my heart sank even farther at the sight of Ratboy’s
glowering face. Before I had trudged halfway across the gravel he
was in full cry. “I need that truck, damn you to a thousand hells!
This is all your fault! Filthy stupid whore! You will fix the truck
immediately…”

I tuned out his insults and headed for
the garage. Skidmark was nowhere to be seen so I shouted his name,
then turned to find myself unpleasantly face-to-face with
Ratboy.

My disregard obviously hadn’t improved
his humour. His face was contorted with fury as he bellowed
invective at me from close range.

“Fuck
off
, you little prick!” I
snapped, and detoured around him.

I didn’t quite make it.

He spat in my face.

The wet shock shattered the fragile
barrier between reason and rage. My body coiled and released with
mindless efficiency and the crack of my palm against his cheek
sounded like a rifle shot. His head snapped sideways and he reeled
back a step. Then his face darkened and his hands clenched into
fists.

“Hey, Storm! Where are you?” Orion
poked his head around the corner of the garage. “Oh, there you
are.”

Ratboy froze in mid-step toward me. He
thrust his face close to mine and snarled, “You will pay!” Then he
turned and stalked away, jostling Orion as he pushed past.

“What’s going on here?” Orion
demanded.

I shrugged, trying to hide how much I
was trembling. “Ratboy had a bit of a tantrum over the truck.” I
scrubbed my sleeve across my cheek, barely suppressing my gag
reflex at the slimy wetness.

“Stay here.” Orion turned and jogged
after Ratboy, who was already halfway to the bend in the road.

At the sound of his footsteps Ratboy
spun, his fists rising, but he relaxed when he recognized Orion.
When Orion reached him they spoke for a few moments, Ratboy’s hands
slashing the air angrily while Orion made conciliatory gestures.
Then Ratboy turned his back and strode off despite Orion’s
entreaties, and after trailing him for a few paces Orion let his
arms fall to his sides in defeat.

Alerted by a familiar whiff of body
odour and marijuana, I turned to see Skidmark approaching from
behind the garage, reefer in hand. He ambled over to stand beside
me. “Man, that is one uptight dude,” he mumbled. “What’d you do
this time?”

“Apparently I forced him to wreck the
truck. All my fault.”

Skidmark wheezed amusement. “Damn girl
mechanics.”

Orion strode up, frowning. “You
shouldn’t have hit him, Storm. The Earth Spirit wants us to live in
tolerance and harmony.”

Jerk.

I stared at him for a moment, fighting
the urge to tell him exactly what he and the Earth Spirit could do
with their tolerance and harmony. Since I couldn’t summon a civil
response I drew a deep breath and turned to Skidmark instead. “I’m
sorry about the truck. I should have stuck around to make sure
Ratboy did it right. When can I help you repair it?”

Skidmark sucked a lungful of smoke. “No
sweat,” he mumbled after a moment, smoke wisping out along with his
words. “This afternoon.”

“I’ll be here.” I picked up the bird
book I had dropped in the attack, shaking small stones out of it
and smoothing the bent pages. Tucking it under my arm, I indicated
the binoculars around my neck. “Well, if you don’t need me until
later I’m going to go and do some birdwatching.”

Skidmark nodded without interest and
drifted toward the garage, trailing a streamer of smoke like an
underpowered locomotive. Orion stood in awkward silence for a
moment, then smiled and said, “Enjoy your birdwatching. See you
later.”

I nodded and headed for the bench.

Sinking onto it, I eased out a long,
slow breath. Then drew in another. In. Out. Nice and slow.
Calm.

After a few minutes of belly breathing,
I thought I might be able to hold the binoculars steady enough to
see something besides a wildly-vibrating blur. Focusing on the
renters’ camp, I pressed the image stabilization button and studied
the layout across the river.

The trees were so thick I couldn’t see
much more than I had with my naked eyes. The field I had thought of
as a firing range turned out to be some kind of obstacle course.
The well-trodden areas contained various types of walls and
barriers and a couple of mannequins dressed in combat fatigues.

I spotted some tents whose locations
I’d guessed based on the heat signatures the previous night, but
the main tent was featureless and the rest of the encampment was
hidden by trees.

I lowered the binoculars with a sigh.
That wasn’t helpful.

“See anything interesting?”

Orion’s voice made me start violently
and corkscrew around on the bench.

“Goddammit!” I clutched my chest in an
attempt to keep my heart from jumping out. “Stop sneaking up on me
like that!”

“Sorry.” He smiled and came over to sit
on the other end of the bench. “You were a million miles away.”

“Yeah, I guess I was.” Wondering how
long he’d been standing there, I decided to play it safe. “I was
just sitting here trying to calm down.” I gave him a wry grimace
and hefted the binoculars. “I figured when I’d stopped shaking
enough to focus on something big like that tent over there, I might
have half a chance of holding the focus on a bird.”

Orion nodded. “I’m sorry, I should have
asked if you were all right. I didn’t mean to sound critical
before.”

“I’m fine.” My words came out sounding
a little more clipped than I’d intended.

“That’s good.” He hesitated as if
searching for a topic of conversation. “Those are nice binoculars,”
he said after a moment. “May I try them?”

“Sure.” I unslung them from around my
neck and handed them over.

Peering through them, he focused on the
renters’ tent as I had done. “Nice,” he said as he lowered them.
“Those image stabilizers make all the difference, don’t they?”

“Yeah.”

He passed them over, and I stood and
added, “Well, I think I’m ready to ramble. See you later.”

He rose hurriedly. “Storm, wait.” When
I eyed him, he shuffled his feet, looking uncomfortable. “I just…
be careful, okay? I didn’t like that crack Ratboy made about making
you pay. Maybe you should just lie low for a while.”

A little late for the ‘concerned’ act,
buddy. Maybe you should have tried it earlier instead of sucking up
to Ratboy.

I shrugged. “I’ll be out in the woods
where nobody can find me. The only places I’ve ever run into him
are up here at the garage and once at the kitchen. I should be
pretty safe.”

He let out a breath. “Okay. Be
careful.”

I nodded and strode down the path, my
back tingling with the knowledge that his gaze was following
me.

The gravel crunched under my boots,
increasing my unease. Last night I’d heard Skidmark coming long
before he got within visual range. I would have heard Orion today
if he’d been using the path, or even if he’d been walking casually
through the undergrowth.

So he had deliberately sneaked up on
me.

A shiver coiled down my spine and I
quickened my pace.