Spy High (20 page)

When I was a good distance away from
the garage, I abandoned the path and struck out into the woods.
Safely concealed, I peeked into my pocket to check the tracker.
Orion’s red dot showed he was still in the vicinity of the
garage.

Why would he keep hanging around there?
He hadn’t given any indication that he had any interest in
vehicles, and the garage certainly wasn’t the most attractive part
of the commune, nor its social hub. The only other people who
seemed to spend any time there were Skidmark and me.

And Ratboy.

I unslung my binoculars and scanned the
trees for the benefit of anybody who might be watching me.

Dammit, Orion and Ratboy were
definitely much closer friends than Orion was admitting. So if
Orion was a threat to Moonbeam and Karma, Ratboy might be, too,
along with who-knew-how-many of their cronies from across the
river. Casting my mind back to the previous night, I visualized the
rows of coloured glows I’d seen through the night vision
goggles.

At least five rows, with probably six
or seven people in them. So around thirty new suspects to worry
about.

I gulped. If they were enemies, I was
in deep shit.

Realizing I’d been standing staring
through the binoculars at nothing, I replaced them around my neck
and wandered on, trying to look casual.

Maybe tagging Orion hadn’t been such a
great idea after all. Maybe I should have tagged Moonbeam and Karma
instead so I’d know where to find them at all times.

But that would be practically
impossible. They weren’t nearly as predictable as Orion with their
footwear, and I couldn’t think of any other place to put the
tracer.

I let out a sigh and kept walking,
stopping frequently to peer through the binoculars.

By the time I got back to the commune’s
encampment I had mentally mapped several new routes to follow while
making my clandestine reports to Stemp, and my stomach was
growling.

Plodding toward the kitchen, I flinched
at the sound of Aurora’s voice behind me.

“Hey, Storm, did you enjoy your
meditation?”

I turned and summoned the best smile I
could manage under the circumstances. “I did, thanks.” I held up my
binoculars. “I saw some birds, too.”

“Oh, really? I love bird-watching! What
did you see?”

“Um…” I racked my brain for something
plausible. “I’m just getting started with birding. I saw, um… some
robins and chickadees?”

“Oh, yes, we have chestnut-backed
chickadees here, they’re so cute! What else?”

“Some… um… little brown birds…”

Aurora brightened. “Did they have
creamy yellow around the tips of their wings?”

“Yes,” I lied cautiously.

“Oh, those will be the pine siskins.
Did you go down to the river? I’ve seen an American Dipper there in
the shallows several times. And you must have seen the juncos
foraging on the ground, they’re all over.”

“Um, yeah, they’re the ones with…” I
hesitated, hoping she’d fill in the particulars.

“Black heads and brown bodies, yes!”
She smiled so brightly I could almost forgive her strident voice.
“And the woods are full of red-breasted nuthatches, too; you must
have seen some.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, making a mental note
to look up nuthatches in the bird book.

“Oh, that’s so exciting. I love it when
the Earth Spirit shares its little creatures with us, don’t you?” I
flinched in spite of myself as her voice rose in enthusiasm.

“Uh, yeah.” I turned away, trying to
look nonchalant. “Well, I guess I’d better-”

“Oh, wait, Storm, there was a phone
message for you.” I turned back reluctantly as she continued, “A
Nichele Brown called. I couldn’t find you so I wrote her number
down and left the message for you on the bulletin board by the
phone.”

“Okay, thanks.” I backed away. “I’d
better go and check it right away. It might be urgent.”

“I think it might be.” Aurora’s big
blue eyes were wide. “I saw three other messages for you up there,
too, all with her name and number on them.”

“Oh.” My heart lurched. “That doesn’t
sound good. I’ll go call her right now. Talk to you later.” I
turned to hurry away, throwing a ‘thanks’ over my shoulder.

By the time I got to the phone in the
main building, my pulse was racing from more than just my brisk
walk. Nichele wouldn’t call me four times in a row unless something
was really wrong.

I swallowed hard. Oh, God, don’t let it
be Dave. Visions of his highway tractor crumpled somewhere beside
the road made my mouth go dry. With all the miles he covered, he
was bound to be involved in an accident sooner or later even though
he was the best driver I knew. It was just the law of averages.

Preoccupied with my frightening
thoughts, I had dialled Nichele’s number from memory and my blood
pressure increased while the phone rang and rang on the other end.
When her answering machine kicked in, I hung up the receiver, more
worried than ever.

Then I realized it was a weekday and
drew a deep breath. Stupid. Of course she’d be at work. I unpinned
the messages from the board and checked the phone number.

Shit, that wasn’t Nichele’s work
number. And it wasn’t her cell phone, either.

Jaw clenched, I dialled the unfamiliar
number and waited. After only a couple of rings, Dave’s cheerful
voice made my knees weaken with relief.

“Dave’s Trucking, Dave speaking.”

I managed to keep the tremor out of my
voice. “Hi, Dave, it’s Aydan. How are you?”

His reply held a note of tension.
“Okay, I hope. Hang on a sec.” The phone made a hollow sound as
though he’d placed a hand over its speaker and his voice was
muffled when he spoke again, obviously not to me. “Honey, it’s the
dispatcher. Just gotta go check, um… something. Sit tight. Be right
back.”

There was a pause followed by the sound
of wind whistling over the speaker as he apparently stepped
outside. “Aydan, shi… crap, finally!” he said in hushed tones.
“Nichele left four messages for you; didn’t you get them?”

“I just did.” My belly knotted. “What’s
wrong?”

“Well, nothing, I hope, but…”

“Just tell me, Dave! What the hell’s
going on?”

“Think I might’ve screwed up big,
Aydan.” I heard him take a deep breath. “I asked Nichele to marry
me.”

“Oh, shit!” The words popped out before
I could stop them.

He groaned. “It’s bad, isn’t it? Shi…
crap, knew I should’ve talked to you first…”

I backpedalled hurriedly, grasping at
straws. “Maybe not, Dave. Was that her you were just talking to? Is
she with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay… well, it’s not really, really
bad, then. If it was really, really bad she’d have dumped you on
the spot.”

“Oh, shit!” His words came out in a
groan, his despair evidenced by his failure to correct ‘shit’ to
‘crap’ for my sensitive ears.

“No, don’t panic, Dave. You’re on the
road together, right? So that’s good. She’s with you and she’s
still talking to you. Where are you?”

“That’s the bad part.” He sounded
defeated. “We’re in Victoria. As soon as she found out I had a
delivery out here, she said she’d come with me and I could take her
up to visit you. You oughta see the size of her suitcase. Looks
like she’s leaving for good.”

“She’s coming
here
? Shit! Dave,
I’ve got, um… some stuff happening here. It’s really not a good
time for a visit.”

His voice dropped to a whisper. “You
mean, like…” he paused significantly. “…
stuff?
Is it
dangerous?”

“I hope not. But can’t you talk her out
of it?”

“Tried. You know what she’s like.”
Worry vibrated in his voice. “Didn’t want to fight her too hard in
case I pushed her away. Well, further away.”

I sighed. I knew all too well what she
was like. If she had made up her mind to visit me, nothing would
stop her. And I couldn’t turn her away without blowing my
cover.

Another big sigh escaped as I succumbed
to the inevitable. “Okay, Dave. Don’t worry, she always takes a
giant suitcase even if she’s just going overnight, and she loves
her swanky condo in Calgary far too much to leave it. If she rode
with you, it’s a good sign, and I guarantee she won’t want to stay
here for long. If you can just hold out for a few days, she’ll be
begging for a ride home. Are you going to be in Victoria for a
while?”

“Got another load going back to Calgary
later today, but I’ll tell ‘em I’ve got engine trouble and they’ll
have to get somebody else.”

“No, hang on, let’s think about this.”
I thought for a moment. “What about after that? Where are you going
to be?”

“Back in Victoria the day after
tomorrow.”

“Okay, how about this, then? Drop her
off here and head out as usual. Just pretend everything’s fine.
It’ll take a few days for her to admit she hates it here. By then
you’ll be back and she can ride home with you, but she won’t feel
pressured with you hanging around waiting for her. What do you
think?”

Dave’s voice sounded stronger. “I’ll do
it. Thanks, Aydan. How do I get to the commune?”

I gave him directions and hung up, my
mind racing. Shit, now I’d have to go to Moonbeam and Karma and
tell them I’d lied about an audit and ask them to support my
story.

What if they wouldn’t? They were so big
on honesty; what if they told Nichele I was there to recover from
some mysterious trauma? Nichele would freak-the-fuck-out and badger
me until I told her something plausible.

And what if I had another run-in with
Ratboy? He’d sounded pretty serious about revenge. If he attacked
me I couldn’t pull my gun with Nichele watching.

I groaned aloud as another thought
occurred to me. Where would she sleep? Would she have to bunk with
me? And if she did, how would I hide my concealed weapons when I
was getting undressed for bed? And how could I sneak away to report
to Stemp or keep up my surveillance on Orion and Moonbeam and
Karma?

Shit, shit, shit!

Maybe I should phone Dave back and tell
him I’d changed my mind and Nichele couldn’t stay here after all. I
could say… what?

Wild ideas rocketed through my brain.
Some kind of contagious disease? A toxic spill that closed the
road? No extra tents? A prohibition by the Earth Spirit?

Lame. And completely implausible.

I turned to thump my forehead against
the wall.

“Storm Cloud Dancer, whatever is
wrong?”

I turned to meet Moonbeam’s worried
gaze and groaned. “I’m an idiot, that’s what.”

“Merciful Spirit, dear, you’re
certainly not an idiot.” Moonbeam took me gently by the arm and led
me over to sit on the bench by the phone. She perched beside me and
took my hand in both of hers, smoothing it with her fingertips in a
soothing gesture. “Now please tell me what’s wrong.”

I hung my head. “You know how I lied to
my friend Nichele about you and Karma… sorry, I mean, Karma Wolf
Song, being my aunt and uncle?”

She nodded, her brow furrowing.

“Well…” I drew a deep breath and poured
out my story. “That wasn’t all I lied to her about. I told her I
was helping you with the commune’s books while you went through an
audit and I used that as an excuse for why I couldn’t come home. I
didn’t want her to worry about why I’m really here. And now she’s
coming to visit me. She’ll be here in a couple of hours. I don’t
want to tell her the truth, and I don’t want to share my tent with
her.”

I studied my toes while Moonbeam sat in
silence. “Oh, dear,” she said at last. “That does put you in a
spot, doesn’t it? Why don’t you just tell her the truth?”

“I can’t!”

“Of course you can.” She placed firm
fingertips under my chin and forced me to meet her eyes.
“Recovering from a trauma is nothing to be ashamed of. And if she’s
a good friend, she would be terribly hurt if you didn’t trust her
with the truth.”

“I know, but…” I stared helplessly at
Moonbeam, groping for a reason that didn’t include ‘I’m an
undercover agent and she can’t know’. “…but if I told her, she’d
feel terrible, too,” I finished. “And I can’t bear other people’s
pity. If I told her, she’d never look at me again without feeling
sorry for me. I just can’t do it.”

Moonbeam held my gaze for a moment
before letting out a sigh. “I truly believe that is the wrong
decision. Your fear is preventing you from realizing the joy of
being completely loved and accepted in all your glorious
imperfection.”

“Please,” I whispered. “Please don’t
tell my secrets.”

“Oh, my dear.” She drew me into a hug,
her slim arms strong around me. “Your secrets are yours alone.
We’ll play along while your friend is here. And we keep a spare
tent available for visitors. Your friend can stay there. What is
her full name, and how long do you think she’ll be staying?”

Relief turned my spine to jelly and I
slumped, letting out a long sigh. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I
don’t know how long she’ll stay but I doubt it’ll be more than a
few days. And her name is Nichele Brown.”

“All right, don’t worry about a thing,
Storm Cloud Dancer. Just enjoy visiting with your friend. But,
dear…” She rose, her eyes troubled. “Please talk to your counselor
about this. You need to learn to trust. You deserve the happiness
and fulfilment of knowing you’re loved for who you truly are.”

Guilt heated my cheeks and I dropped my
gaze to my toes. “Thank you. I will.”

At two o’clock, Dave’s big highway
tractor growled into the field beside the road. As soon as it
pulled to a stop Nichele bounced down from the cab wearing her
usual exuberant grin, but I could see lines of strain around her
eyes.

“Aydan! It’s so great to see you,
girl!” She flung her arms around me in her customary bear hug.

“Great to see you, too!” I returned the
hug, grinning in spite of my worry. Dave clambered down from the
cab carrying Nichele’s giant suitcase, and as he set it down and
straightened I went over to collect a hug from him as well.