Never Say Spy (25 page)

When we parked in the deserted parking lot I could hardly believe what had taken place the previous night.  The wall facing the parking lot looked freshly painted.  There were no visible bullet holes, and the lot itself was swept fresh and clean.  When we approached the newly painted steel door, I noticed some long gouges in the asphalt paving, but nobody would ever identify them as marks from bullets.

Germain stepped forward and banged on the steel door.  “It’s Germain,” he called.  The door was swung open by a large man with a submachine gun slung from his shoulder.  He nodded us inside wordlessly.

I looked up at Kane.  “You’ll have to lead the way.  I was upside down for this trip.”

“Doesn’t look like the cleanup crew has made it this far yet.”  Kane nodded toward the floor.  “We can follow the same trail I did last night.”

I regarded the intermittent rust-coloured splashes leading down the hallway.  “How clever of me to leave you a trail of breadcrumbs.”

We followed the droplets down a series of twisting corridors, and I thanked my lucky stars all over again that Kane had arrived when he did.  I never would have found my way out, even if I’d somehow managed to escape my bonds.

Finally, the trail led into the room where I’d been held.  The stained chair still lay on its side beside a small puddle of dried blood.  Wheeler’s face hardened as he took in the smears and spatters on the floor and the rusty smudges on the knife that still lay on the table.

I patted him on the shoulder.  “It’s okay.  Never underestimate the dramatic effect of a simple nosebleed.”

“What do you want to do here?” Kane asked.

“I want to work back from where I accessed the network,” I said, moving to where I’d been when it had worked the first time.

“About here, I think,” I muttered, concentrating on a white void.  Sure enough, it materialized around me, and I nodded satisfaction.  I braced myself and stepped out through the portal.

“Agh!”  I clutched my head and clenched my teeth, eyes squeezed shut while I rode out the pain.

When awareness returned, I realized Kane was holding me tightly against him.  All that hot hard muscle felt very nice indeed, but it was definitely unexpected.  I peered up at him, puzzled.

“I take it you accessed the network,” he said as he set me back on my feet.  I gave my head a little shake to settle my brain, realizing Germain and Wheeler were watching me with alarm.

“Right.  Sit down before you access the network,” I said dryly.  “Thanks for catching me.”  He nodded, the corner of his mouth crooked up, but his eyes were grave.

I righted the chair approximately where it had been the previous night and sat in it, placing my arms on the armrests with a faint shudder.

Kane’s voice came from behind me.  “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do.”  I willed myself into the void and stood pondering.  Last night I couldn’t get in.  I was in the same physical location now, and it worked fine.  I sighed and stepped out, hugging my head and groaning involuntarily.  I breathed slowly through my teeth for a few moments before straightening.

“Shit.  That worked fine.  Maybe I was just too scared last night.  Or maybe it was the last of the stun gun effect.”

I stood and circled the room again.  What had changed since last night, other than the fear?  I wandered to the door, mumbling to myself.

“Okay, carried in the door and dropped... here.”  I stood over the smeared mark where I’d landed.  “Dragged into the chair.”  I walked over to the chair again.  “It doesn’t make sense.”

The men stood patiently watching me while I paced and muttered.  I sat in the chair again, accessing the network without difficulty.  Stepping out, I tried to control a cry of pain that escaped anyway.  I rubbed my temples, breathing my way through.  Each time, it hurt a bit more.

I stumbled out of the chair.  “Are you okay?” Germain asked, his brow furrowed.  “Why are you hurting so much?”

“It’s just my freaky way of accessing the network.  I don’t know why everybody else can just breeze in and out while I get spikes hammered through my brain each time.”

I walked back to the doorway to retrace the route again.  “Dropped... here.  Dragged...  What else is different, dammit?”  I froze in sudden thought.  “Hey, wait a minute.”

I walked across the room and took off my waist pouch, placing it on the table.  “They took off my waist pouch after they dropped me,” I explained, and moved back to my seat in the chair.  I willed the void.  Nothing happened.

“Aha!”  I bounced up, momentarily forgetting my bruises.  “Unngh.”  I folded over my aching gut and breathed deeply for a moment.  “Shit.”  I unbent more carefully and made my way over to the table, reaching for my waist pouch.  “Come to Mommy.”

I took it and sat down in the chair again.  The network sprang into being around me the moment I made the attempt.  “Ha!  Gotcha!”

I stepped out again, grinning.

“Aaaagh!”  I doubled over, hissing the obscenities that forced their way past my clenched teeth despite my best efforts.  The pain went on longer than before, and I straightened slowly, hands braced on my knees.

Kane squatted in front of me, looking into my face with concern.  “Aydan, your nose is bleeding again.  I think you should stop.”

I scrounged in my pouch for a tissue and swiped the trickle away.  “Don’t worry, it’s just my brain liquefying.  I’ve almost got it.  We’re almost there.”

I dabbed at my nose as I struggled out of the chair and carried my pouch over to the table again.  There, I unpacked, laying each item methodically on the table.  The three men hovered behind me, watching with apparent fascination.

“What the heck have you got in there?” Germain teased as the pile grew.

“The usual wallet and change purse.  Couple of jackknives.  Measuring tape.  Scissors.  Reading glasses.  Sunglasses.  Ear plugs.”  I named the items off as I took them out.  “Dental floss.  Keys.  Flashlight.  Cough drops.  Aspirin.  Chequebook.  Tissues...”

“What, no screwdrivers or power tools?” Germain prodded.

“I have Phillips and common screwdrivers.  No Robertson or Torx,” I replied absently, still unpacking while he laughed.

I dabbed at my nose again, but the bleeding seemed to have stopped, so I stuffed the tissue into my pocket.

When the pouch was completely empty, I carried it back to the chair and sat down.  “Okay, let’s do this systematically.  I’ll start with the empty pouch.”

Kane frowned.  “I searched it.  Smith and Sandler searched it.  You swore you didn’t have anything.”

I returned his frown.  “We missed something.  We all must’ve missed something.”

I concentrated.  No go.

“It’s not the pouch.”  I tossed it to Germain, still standing by the table.  “Give me something else.”

One item at a time, I went through the contents of my pouch.  I sighed and lobbed my measuring tape back to Germain.  “Nope.”

He tossed me my keys.  “At least it doesn’t hurt to try.”

I smiled at him.  “Literally.  Thank goodness.”  I concentrated again.

And finally stepped into the network.  Startled, I stared at the bundle of keys in my hand.  The janitor’s set.  No way.  I knew what each one of those keys was for.  I’d had them for ages.

One by one, I flipped through them, identifying each.  I came to the last one and frowned.  All present and accounted for.  The only things left were my ancient keychain disc and the amethyst pendant that decorated the key ring.

My breath caught as I held the amethyst up to the light.  It was the newest item on my key ring.  I’d found it in my back yard several months ago and put it on my keychain.

That had to be it!

I did a quick, elated dance.  I’d found it!  This had to be the key!  I did a final spin, enjoying my pain-free virtual body, and leaped for the portal.  Kane was going to be so happy to find out.  I was going to be safe again...

Too late, I remembered.  Speed kills.  I crashed through the portal into agony.

I shrieked and fell forever.  Deafening noise, flashing lights.  I felt screams coming from my throat and was powerless to stop them.  Pain hammered my head and body while I thrashed helplessly.  Gradually, my wordless wailing resolved into heartfelt swearing while I exercised my considerable vocabulary once again.

I embraced my skull, rocking on the floor.  Firm hands held my shoulders.

A male voice spoke urgently above me.  “Ma’am.  Ma’am.  You’re okay now.  You’re safe.”

I slowly uncurled and let my swearing run down.  Cracking open one eye, I saw uniformed legs and booted feet.

“Ow,” I croaked.  “Fuck.”

I pried open my other eye to squint up at the ring of men surrounding me, their expressions varying from grim to shocked to amused.  Clearly I’d played to an appreciative audience again.

I choked, swiping blood away from my nose.  That was really getting old.  When I tried to sit up, my stomach muscles screamed their disapproval and I fell back again with a grunt.

“Ma’am, just lie still.  You’re injured.  The medic’s on his way.”  The man at my head tried to get me to lie back.

“No, I’m fine.”  I struggled to sit up.  “Where are the men who were with me?”

“Ma’am, don’t worry about them.  They won’t bother you again,” he assured me.

I peered through a forest of legs to see the three motionless bodies sprawled face down on the floor.

“No-no-no-no-no,” I gibbered as I struggled to my hands and knees, ignoring the pain.  I scrambled toward the bodies, shoving my way past the legs of the standing men.

“Kane!  Germain!  Wheeler!” I floundered over, slithering to halt on my knees between Kane and Germain.  My heart stopped at the sight of the blood caking Kane’s dark hair.  “John!  Oh no...”  I reached for him, hands shaking.

Kane’s calm voice came out slightly muffled by the floor.  “Aydan, please tell the nice men with the guns that we’re your team.”

I gasped relief, hyperventilating for a few breaths before I turned back to glare ferociously up at the cluster of standing men.  “This is my team.  You attacked my
team
!”

There was a general shuffling of booted feet and mumbling of apologies as Kane, Germain, and Wheeler rolled over and sat up.  I gave them each an anxious once-over, but Kane’s bloodied head seemed to be the only injury.  When I crawled behind him to look at it more closely, I could see the bleeding was almost stopped.  I was willing to bet it hurt like a bitch, though.

As the three men got to their feet, there was a disturbance in the group of armed men.  The medic pushed through, immediately targeting me where I sat on the floor.  My heart was still pounding, and I wasn’t sure my trembling legs would hold me.  My head ached fiercely, throbbing in time to my protesting muscles.

He knelt in front of me.  “What happened here?”

“Nothing.  I just had a nosebleed.”

He eyed me suspiciously, taking in my bruised wrists and my hunched-over posture.

“I was in a bit of a scrap last night,” I explained.  “I got checked out at the hospital then, and I’m fine.”

I could see he wasn’t going to take my word for it, so I reached a hand up to Kane.  He clasped it and pulled me to my feet.  I clenched my teeth to bite back an involuntary groan and stood up as straight as I could, crossing my arms and lifting my chin.  The medic rose slowly, watching me.

I looked him in the eye.  “If you want to do something, you could look at his head,” I nodded in Kane’s direction.

The medic held me in his gaze for another couple of seconds.  “Your nose is still bleeding,” he said finally, and handed me a gauze pad.  I took it and dabbed at the mess while Kane stooped tolerantly for examination.

Another disturbance in the crowd signalled the arrival of a uniformed man who was apparently a ranking officer, judging by the way the rest of the men straightened up.  He came directly toward us, frowning as he took us in.  “Germain?  What the hell?”

“Just a misunderstanding,” Germain assured him.

The commander turned to the nearest armed man.  “What happened?” he snapped.

The man stiffened.  “We heard screaming.  We ran into the room, and they were struggling.”  He indicated Kane and me.  “She was screaming and fighting, and there was blood all over her face.  These other two were just standing there watching.  I gave the big guy a gun butt to the head and put them all down on the floor until we could sort it out.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, stepping forward.  “I was having a seizure, and I must have banged my nose.”

The medic stared at me with obvious disbelief.  “I’ve never heard of anybody screaming while they have a seizure.”

“I was disoriented when I started to recover,” I extemporized hastily.  “I didn’t know where I was, and I panicked.”

Doubtful looks greeted this revelation.

Kane stepped up beside me.  “No harm done.  We’re almost finished here anyway.  You can all go back to what you were doing.”

“Thank you for trying to help,” I added.