Spy High (43 page)

“Very well.” His crisp response held an
undertone of tension. “Is that all?”

I rolled my eyes. Gee, what a surprise.
The secret code.

“Yes.” I hung up and delved into my
pack for the laptop.

When it booted, the tiny square was
already blinking at the bottom of the screen. I activated the text
window and the cursor zipped across it immediately.

“How is my mother?”

“Fine. It was a bad cut and she lost
some blood, but it’s sutured and she should be okay.” My outrage
spilled over and I added, “You knew about the Five Eyes
operation!”

The cursor blinked for a moment before
spitting out its response. “Unofficially. But that knowledge didn’t
negate the validity of your mission. I was genuinely concerned
about reprisals against my parents as a result of my cover breach
in our last mission.”

Fingers shaking with anger, I typed,
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me? How dare you saddle me with the
responsibility for your parents’ lives without giving me the whole
story? Who the fuck do you think you are, playing God-”

I stopped and drew a deep breath. Then
I let it out slowly and deleted the last two sentences before
pressing the Enter key to send the first.

The cursor scurried across the screen.
“I apologize. Five Eyes doesn’t share information with our
department unless they need our help locally, but I secretly
monitor the system for anything that may affect my loved ones. I
couldn’t request official support without admitting my unauthorized
knowledge, and I didn’t disclose it to you because Rand was so
certain he could pull it off without affecting the commune
members.”

The cursor blinked briefly on the next
line before scurrying across the screen to add, “Please believe
that I would have informed you regardless of the consequences to
myself if I’d had any reason to believe this would affect your
safety or that of my parents. I am truly sorry it did, and I am
profoundly grateful to you for protecting Mother and Father. If I
could have been there in your place, I would have.”

I stewed over that for a moment before
typing, “Aren’t there going to be questions about you sending me
classified equipment?”

“No one knows, and the courier won’t
say anything. He owed me a favour.”

Another deep breath dissipated the last
of my irritation, leaving nothing but aching fatigue. No point in
being pissed off at Stemp. Ruthless manipulation was simply what he
did. And I’d been known to get pretty ruthless when protecting the
people I cared about, too. I couldn’t blame him for that.

I exhaled slowly and typed, “Okay. I
won’t mention your knowledge.”

The cursor moved again. “Thank you. Do
my parents know about the terrorists?”

I hesitated. If Kane or Hellhound
reported, they might mention Moonbeam and Karma had been
‘kidnapped’ by Orion. But Moonbeam and Karma likely wouldn’t
mention it to Stemp, their civilian son.

I blew out a sigh. Cover as many asses
as possible.

I typed, “Yes, they were briefly
kidnapped. I got them back uninjured but I had to tell them about
the terrorists. They might not mention it to you because they won’t
want to worry you.”

“Are you sure my mother is all right?
She’s very delicate.”

I snorted laughter. Yeah. Delicate like
a fine steel blade.

“I’m positive,” I typed. My fingers
hovered over the keyboard. I should warn him. But he might kill me
for it…

I clenched my teeth. It didn’t matter.
A child’s life was more important.

My fingers moved across the keyboard
almost of their own volition. “Your mom tricked me. She pretended
to be seriously injured and losing consciousness. I told her she
had a granddaughter named Anna to give her something to live for.
I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have fallen for it. I told them never to
mention her, and I think they’ll comply. The name was the only
detail I gave them.”

The cursor blinked in place after I hit
the Enter key, and I imagined Stemp dialling the number for a
professional hit man. Or coming to hunt me down himself.

After a few moments the cursor moved
again. “It’s all right. That’s not enough information to be
dangerous. And my parents are masters of manipulation. You never
had a chance.”

I imagined his wintry smile as I read
the last words, and sympathy twisted my heart in spite of myself.
Poor Stemp. Brought up to be devious and suspicious. Tearing
himself loose from his family and a pseudo-religion drummed into
him since childhood. Believing his parents to be naïve and deluded
at best; heartless manipulators at worst…

I swallowed hard and typed, “Thank you.
That’s all for now.”

The text box vanished and I stowed the
laptop back in my pack and shouldered it wearily.

Limping down the hill, I fought the
undertow of worry. Surely Kane should be back soon with the
truck.

What if something had happened at the
roadblock? What if Skidmark had been wrong about all the terrorists
being subdued there?

Or worse, what if Hellhound had been
terribly injured and Kane was on the way to the hospital with him,
unable to contact me?

My stomach twisted in knots of
nauseated exhaustion.

I drew in a deep breath and let it out
slowly. Stay calm. Go back to the tent and wait. If it was an
emergency, Kane would call the commune’s main line. If not, he’d
come back to my tent when he was done…

A flash from the direction of the gate
made my heart lurch into rapid drumming.

Headlights.

I hurried along the road.

No. Only one headlight.

I drew my gun and faded into the trees
at the side of the road.

The headlight drew closer, silver
daggers of rain slashing through its bright beam. I caught the
distinctive throaty whine of a hyperbike and realization
dawned.

Kane.

I dashed out to the road and the
headlight bobbled and swung sideways as Kane slammed on the brakes,
skidding in the wet gravel.

He grabbed for his shoulder holster and
I threw my hands up where he could see them, suddenly realizing
that jumping out of the darkness at a guy suffering from battle
fatigue was a really bad idea.

“It’s Aydan!” I shouted. “Don’t shoot!
I’m an idiot, sorry.”

He dropped his hand back to the
handlebar. “It’s all right. You can put your hands down now.”

“Thanks.” I wobbled over to the bike,
my heart still hammering.

He wore no helmet, and I wondered
whether he’d had to leave in a hurry or had simply been too
exhausted to care. The rain plastered his hair to his head and even
in my night vision his face was white with bone-deep fatigue.

“Thank God you’re all right.” He pulled
me to him without dismounting, nearly crushing me in his embrace.
“I was hoping it was just a radio malfunction when I didn’t get a
reply.”

“It was. I could hear you but you
didn’t seem to be able to hear me,” I lied. “I tried to phone you
but I’d broken both my phones. I’m glad you’re all right, too.” I
clung to him for a moment before pulling away to survey him
worriedly. “You are all right, aren’t you?”

He hesitated before replying, “Yes. As
all right as I’m going to be for a while.”

Coldness that had nothing to do with
rain crept down my back. “John, where’s Arnie?”

He just looked at me, his eyes dark,
his face etched with lines of pain and exhaustion.

“John!” My hand clenched on his wrist,
a skeletal claw whitening over tendons taut as cables. “John,
where’s Arnie?
”

Kane’s gaze searched my face like a
child seeking refuge from a storm. “I don’t know,” he said.

“
What do you mean you don’t
know?
” My voice came out shrill and panicky.

Kane blinked and shook his head as
though fighting to stay awake. “I don’t know where he is,” he
repeated. “I assumed he’d be back at your tent by now. We loaded up
the bodies and Orion said it was safe to approach the roadblock.
Hellhound said something about looking for a cat and stayed behind
here while I took Orion with me and dropped off the truck with the
troops at the roadblock. They’ll finish the cleanup and make sure
Orion gets to the hospital. But I thought Hellhound would be at
your tent by now.”

“Oh…” I drew a breath, trying to calm
my trembling. “Right, he was worried about Peaches. And I haven’t
been back to my tent. He’s probably there.”

“Well, mount up, then.” Kane nodded at
the seat behind him. “I’m done walking tonight. The commune members
can just live with an unauthorized vehicle.”

I slung my leg over the seat and
wrapped my arms around him. As he guided the motorcycle expertly
along the twisting path, I craned my neck to peer over his shoulder
and switched to thermal-only.

My tent was dark and cold.

I slid off the bike, my breath catching
in my throat. “John, where is he?” I cried as though Kane would
somehow have acquired that knowledge in the past thirty
seconds.

“I don’t know, Aydan; did you try
calling him?” he replied patiently.

“I can’t, I fell on my phones and broke
them and I don’t have the numbers for his burner phones…” My voice
climbed toward hysteria. I sucked in a breath and shoved my
emotions back. “Sorry,” I added, forcing myself back under control.
“I’m not thinking straight. Too tired, too much adrenaline. Will
you call him, please?”

Kane nodded and reached into his
pocket. “Let’s get out of the rain,” he said, and herded me into my
tent.

He pressed the speed dial and held the
phone out so I could hear the ringing on the other end.

It rang over and over.

Kane laid a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t
panic. I’ll try his other one.”

He pressed the second speed dial button
and turned the phone again so we could both listen.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring…

“Come on, Arnie, pick up!” I
begged.

After twelve rings, Kane disconnected
and we stared at each other in silence. A band of fear wound around
my throat, coiling down to tighten my lungs and constrict my
heart.

“What if Orion counted wrong?” My voice
came out in a choked whisper. “What if there was another
terrorist?”

“An MI6 agent wouldn’t make a mistake
like that,” Kane said, but he didn’t sound certain. He scrubbed his
hands over his face. “All right, don’t panic. We’ll go to the
bridge and start a search grid. That’s where I saw him last.”

“No, we don’t have time for that! He
could be anywhere; if he’s hurt-”

“Aydan, we don’t have a choice…”

“Yes, we do!” I snapped. “Stay here in
case he comes back. I’m going to ask Moonbeam to consult the Earth
Spirit.”

“Aydan…” Kane’s hands closed gently
around my shoulders. “You’re not thinking straight. There’s no such
thing as the Earth Spirit.”

I shook myself loose. “I know that. But
Moonbeam found a little lost boy once. Maybe she can find Arnie,
too.”

Kane’s face softened, and I knew he’d
indulge me. “All right,” he said gently. “I’ll start the search
grid and you go and ask Moonbeam. Then you can join me in the
search while she does… whatever she does. Take some phones so we
can stay in contact.”

I suddenly remembered Skidmark was out
in the rain picking up brasses and thinking the danger was
past.

Oh God, if there was another terrorist
on the loose…

“I saw Skidmark wandering around
earlier,” I said, holding my voice steady with all my might. “Watch
out for him, okay?”

“I will.” He held me in his arms for a
moment, stroking my hair. “We’ll find Hellhound, Aydan. He’s all
right. Think good thoughts.”

Heart pounding, I managed to return his
embrace despite the sense of time ticking away. Then I pulled back
and reached up to kiss him once, hard.

“Be safe,” I admonished, and ducked out
the tent flap to run for Moonbeam and Karma’s tent.

As I dashed up their path, I realized I
couldn’t hear Karma snoring. My panting accelerated into little
keening whimpers.

What if they were lying dead in there?
What if the terrorist was going silently from tent to tent
massacring the members in their sleep?

I flipped to thermal only and the sight
of two heat signatures weakened my knees. Either alive or freshly
dead…

My scratch at the tent flap was more
like a frantic raking, and I hissed, “It’s Aydan. Are you
there?”

“Yes, of course.” Karma’s reassuring
bass made me catch my breath in a sob of relief. “Come in. What’s
the matter?”

I shoved through the tent flap just as
he lit a candle. Moonbeam’s eyes widened at the sight of my
face.

“What is it?” she demanded.

“We’ve lost Arnie…” At the horror in
their faces, I clarified, “I mean, we can’t find him. He said he
was going to look for Peaches right before John left with the truck
and now we can’t raise him on the phone. Could Orion have been
wrong about the number of terrorists?”

“No,” Karma said firmly. “And even if
he was, Skidmark would have known the correct number. Remember,
there are surveillance cameras on the bridge and along the road. He
would have done a count as they deployed.”

“Thank God. I need to go back to the
control room and look at your tracking screen, then.”

“No need, dear,” Moonbeam said, and
reached under the mattress to withdraw a slim computer tablet. “We
have a remote connection here.”

“Oh…” I dropped to my knees beside the
mattress, partly to look at the screen and partly because my legs
wouldn’t hold me any longer. She worked rapidly for a few moments,
and comprehension dawned. “So that’s what Orion was doing in your
tent the night of the Calling,” I said. “He was looking me up on
the tracker.”

“Gold star, dear,” Moonbeam murmured
absently. “…here.” She turned the screen toward me and jabbed a
finger at the motionless dot east of the main building. “That’s
Blessed Soul Dream’s bracelet.”