“That’s right, you did catch her,” the commander said in a tone of enlightenment. “You were right there. And Dr. Chow was, too…” He shot a hard-eyed look across the room to where Reggie and Katie stood close together, oblivious to everyone else.
Katie was leaning toward Reggie, and I drew a breath of relief. She must have gotten over the shock of his passionate public declaration. And if I had correctly interpreted her Aussie slang at the party and her current body language, she was interested in reciprocating.
But Reggie’s posture was stiff and remote. Dammit, what was wrong with him?
“…collusion,” the commander finished, jerking my attention back to him.
Shit, what had I missed? Why wouldn’t my brain focus?
“Fuck that!” Hellhound barked. “Ya searched us right afterward, an’ ya didn’t find fuck-all. So you’re sayin’ ya fucked up the search, is that it?”
“I’m saying that a clever agent might fake an episode of lightheadedness as a diversion-”
“She got shot up with fuckin’ ketamine an’ your own doc found it in her blood! She was fuckin’ unconscious!” Hellhound glowered at the commander. “She wasn’t fuckin’ fakin’ anythin’!”
The commander’s voice was icy. “I didn’t say she wasn’t injected with ketamine. I’m saying she could have injected herself as a diversion.”
Hellhound lunged to his feet, but the commander’s weapon snapped up with lethal speed, his finger hovering near the trigger.
“Don’t do anything rash,” the commander advised softly. “And don’t be so sure she’s innocent. She’s been putting on a good act to misdirect us, but remember…” He spared a contemptuous glance at me. “She had the dart in her own pocket.”
Chapter 18
I stared up at the commander’s angry face and poised machine gun, feeling horribly vulnerable lying on the gurney with only a sheet for protection.
And shit, I really did only have the sheet for protection. Realization finally penetrated my drugged haze. I wore nothing but a hospital gown.
And I was lying here in a room with thirty other people, and…
…had they stripped me naked in front of everybody?
My mouth opened and closed as I clutched the sheet to my chin, unable to speak.
I was practically naked in public. I had been naked in public. With people watching. Doing things to me while I was unconscious and helpless.
And worse, somebody was framing me.
I was going to jail.
Trapped…
My pulse bounded up, the rapid beeping of the heart monitor betraying my terror for all to see.
“Aydan? Aydan, what’s happenin’? Say somethin’, darlin’!” Arnie’s urgent voice penetrated my panic. “Aydan!”
“I’m…” My voice came out a ghostly wisp of itself. I tried to say ‘I’m okay’ but the lie wouldn’t come. I was not okay. Not even close.
And my brain still wasn’t working right. I should be standing up and shouting. Doing something. Proving I was innocent…
“Aydan, tell me what’s happening.” Dr. Roth’s firm voice held an edge of concern. “Are you seeing or feeling anything unusual? Pain? Disorientation?”
My throat tightened and sparkles darkened the edges of my vision.
“Aydan, listen to me. You’re hyperventilating. Try to slow your breathing. Breathe with me. In… two… three…”
Panic attack. That’s all this was. I wasn’t dying of some horrible unknown disease.
Probably not, anyway.
Shut up. It’s just a panic attack.
I could deal with panic attacks.
I could, dammit.
But my brain wouldn’t cooperate…
“Help,” I wheezed, the gurney vibrating with my tremors.
Bodies bustled in my peripheral vision and meaningless words buffeted me. “…no apparent cause… blood pressure one-sixty over ninety-four… hallucination…?”
Warmth engulfed my icy hand and Arnie’s soft gravelly voice spoke beside my ear. “Don’t worry, darlin’, I got ya. Whatever you’re seein’ right now, it ain’t real. You’re safe here with me, an’ you’re gonna be okay. I got your back, darlin’; I won’t let anythin’ get ya…”
His words blurred into a singsong croon as he repeated the reassurances over and over; and I slowly allowed myself to believe them.
Gradually I regained control of my breathing. Long slow belly breaths, like ocean waves rolling in…
“That’s better. You’re doin’ fine, darlin’,” Arnie encouraged. “Nice an’ easy. Just take it easy…”
“Can you talk now, Aydan?” Dr. Roth asked. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m… okay.” This time I managed the lie.
“Did you feel or perceive anything unusual?” she asked. “Your heart rate and respiration and blood pressure all spiked for no reason that we could see. Was there some precipitating event?”
Yeah, being accused of treason and international terrorism will do that.
“I, um…” I began, but the commander’s coldly suspicious gaze dried the words in my mouth. “I… guess… I was hallucinating,” I croaked. “I thought I saw…”
No inspiration occurred to me.
“Um…”
I sighed and closed my eyes. Too hard to think.
“Aydan, try to stay awake.” Dr. Roth’s cool gloved hand patted my cheek. “The drug should be out of your system soon, but it may cause some memory loss. We need you to answer some more questions now.”
Overcoming the urge to just pretend unconsciousness, I opened my eyes again. “Okay. But… will I remember this?”
Her forehead wrinkled behind her face shield. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
I glanced at the steady red light glowing on the commander’s headset. “But you’re recording it, right?”
“Yes.”
I let out a breath. “Good. It’s really creeping me out that I can’t remember…”
That I’d been stripped naked in front of thirty people…
“Aydan, your heart rate is climbing again. Slow your breathing. Try to stay calm.”
“You’re okay, darlin’,” Arnie added. “I got your back.”
His words calmed me. He always had my back. And his photographic memory would replay everything for me later. I might not remember enough to save myself from incarceration, but he would remember it for me.
“I’m okay,” I said with more conviction. “What are your questions?”
“What can you tell us about the dart?” Dr. Roth asked.
“They found it in my pocket? Which pocket?”
“The one you put it in after you injected yourself,” the commander growled.
“I didn’t! I told you…”
My memories wavered precariously. Had I told them?
Maybe I hadn’t.
“I didn’t inject myself,” I insisted. “I got shot in the shoulder. I never saw a dart, but I sure as hell felt it. How could it have gotten into my pocket?” I frowned as a thought oozed into my mind. “Did you find it when you searched me?” Another wave of uncertainty shook me. “You did search me, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, he searched ya,” Hellhound confirmed. “But he didn’t find it on ya. The scanner caught it.”
Sudden cold fear made me shiver. Maybe the commander himself had framed me. It would have been so easy for him to tuck a dart into my pocket…
“Aydan, stay calm,” Dr. Roth warned. “Control your breathing.”
I gulped and did my best to obey but my mind galloped ahead, driving my pulse into rapid drumming.
It was the commander, dammit. He could have picked up his accomplice’s dart when he came in and then put it into my pocket while he pretended to search me…
As though reading my mind, Hellhound glared at the commander. “Seems to me you’re the one that had his hands in Aydan’s pockets,” he grated. “Maybe ya put the dart there yourself.”
“No, of course not,�
� the commander replied. “There were no fingerprints on the dart, and I’m not wearing gloves. I couldn’t have put it in her pocket without getting my own fingerprints on it.”
“No fingerprints?” Hellhound demanded. “Then Aydan couldn’t’a put it in her own pocket, either. She never had gloves on. So somebody else planted it on her. Remember, she said somebody’d bumped into her in the smoke.” He turned to me. “Right, darlin’?”
“Uh… I don’t remember saying that, but… yeah, I think… people bumped into me in the smoke, I’m pretty sure.”
While I spoke, Dr. Roth had been frowning into space. “Aydan,” she said. “Would you please roll onto your left side so we can see the injection site?”
I did as she bade, and her cool fingers gently lifted the sleeve of my gown.
“I really don’t think Aydan would have been capable of injecting herself here,” Dr. Roth said. “In the first place, she’s right-handed, so it would be more natural for her to inject her left arm, not her right. But also… Aydan, would you please point out the injection site to us?”
“Um…” I craned my neck, but I couldn’t see behind my shoulder. “Here…?” I reached around, probing cautiously for the sore spot. “No…” I found the spot. “…here.”
“You see?” Dr. Roth said triumphantly. “She can barely reach the site with her fingertips. It would have been extremely difficult for her to accomplish the injection herself.”
The commander scowled. “But not impossible.”
“Not impossible,” Dr. Roth agreed. “But she certainly couldn’t have accomplished it covertly. And I didn’t see anything in the security footage that looked as though she’d wrapped her arm around herself to do it.”
The commander looked like a man suffering a severe toothache. “She could have done it under the cover of the smoke,” he argued. Then he raised his head as though listening, and his face cleared. “Director Stemp is assuming command,” he said with obvious relief. “We’re still under quarantine, so we’ll videoconference him. I’ll get everything set up.” He toggled his mike, apparently addressing his entire team. “Stay alert. Watch for… everything.” His words came out on a weary breath. “The attacker could be anybody.”
He strode off, and I gazed up at Dr. Roth, rubbing the ache in the middle of my forehead. “So, the dart…?” I asked.
“It was in your pocket,” she repeated patiently.
A small flare of satisfaction warmed me. “I remembered that this time. But if you have the dart, then you should be able to test it to see whether, um…” My throat went dry, and I cleared it and went on, “…there was… anything in it besides, um…” The name of the drug wouldn’t come to my mind. “…whatever it was that knocked me out,” I finished.
“Ketamine,” Dr. Roth supplied. “Yes, you’re right. The dart is in the lab now. The ketamine was easy to identify with a standard drug screening, but they’re checking the dart for other possibilities. The last I heard they hadn’t found anything, but I’ll check again. I don’t want to go through the decontamination procedure unnecessarily, so…” She patted her breathing mask. “I’ll stay in here as long as my air supply lasts.” She rose. “You seem to be stabilizing, but don’t be too concerned if you still have a few episodes of memory loss or hallucinations. I’ll be in one of the offices if you need me.”
When she was out of earshot I clutched Hellhound’s hand. “I’m naked. How did I get naked? What happened? Who… saw me?”
He squeezed my hand, gentle reassurance from a grip strong enough to crush my bones. “It’s okay, darlin’, I held up a sheet so nobody saw anythin’ ’cept the medics.” He grinned. “An’ me; but I’ve seen it before.” He lowered his voice to a sexy growl. “An’ I’m hopin’ I’ll see it again real soon.”
I relaxed with a long breath. “Wait ’til we don’t have an audience.”
He gave me a devilish wink. “Aw, come on, darlin’, get your kink on. Don’t ya have any audience fantasies?”
“Um, no. Audiences have an extremely high pucker-factor for me. I’d dry up like-”
“A dead dingo’s donger?” he inquired, straight-faced.
“What?” The word burst out of me on a gust of laughter.
Hellhound chuckled. “It’s an Aussie thing. I heard their weapons director say it, an’ now it’s my new favourite sayin’.”
“Okay, now it’s mine, too.”
We snickered companionably for a few moments, but I sobered fast.
“Tell me exactly what happened, in order,” I demanded. “Don’t leave anything out. And keep telling me over and over until I can remember it for myself.”
“Okay, darlin’.” He settled back in his chair and stared straight ahead with the unfocused gaze that told me he was accessing his phenomenal memory banks. “Ya remember right up to where ya got shot, right?”
“Yes. Actually, up to where we got to the door and the smoke cleared. The drug must have taken a little while to kick in.”
“Makes sense. Okay, here goes…” He methodically described every detail, finishing with, “…an’ after they finished the body cavity search, that was about it. Ya were screamin’ an’ hallucinatin’, but ya didn’t blab anythin’.”
I drew a breath of relief. “Good…” Then his second-last sentence registered and I bolted upright. “Wait, what?” My voice rose to a squawk. “They looked up my ass?”
“Yeah, they looked everywhere.” He gave me a sympathetic grimace. “They didn’t find anythin’, but I thought you’d wanna know.”
“Oh, God.” I flopped back onto the pillow, fighting the urge to pull the sheet over my head and die of sheer humiliation. “No. I really, really didn’t want to know.”
Arnie looked stricken. “Sorry, darlin’, I thought…” he began.
“No, no, it’s okay!” I hurriedly squeezed his hand. “You’re right, I’m glad you told me. It’s just… oh, God, I just…” I shuddered.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, his brow furrowed with concern.
“Don’t be sorry. It’s okay,” I said firmly. “You did exactly the right thing by telling me. Thank you. It’s just… it really creeps me out knowing that those things happened to me and I don’t remember anything at all.” I squeezed his hand tighter. “Thank you for staying with me and watching out for me.”
“No problem.” He patted my hand, but he still looked worried.
I changed the subject. “So let me see if I’ve got everything straight.” I repeated the timeline back to him.
“Good job, darlin’, ya got it all,” he said when I was finished.
“Good. Would you please ask me to repeat it again in ten minutes? And if I don’t remember everything then, tell me again; and keep asking me about it every ten minutes until I can get it right every time?”
“I will. You’re gonna be okay. You’re already rememberin’ better than ya did in the last ten minutes. An’ the ten minutes before that.”
“Thanks, Arnie.”
He raised my hand to his lips and brushed a whiskery kiss across my knuckles. “You’re welcome.”
Ten minutes later he asked me to repeat the timeline, and I managed it with only minor prompting. Just as I was finishing my recitation, Dr. Roth reappeared along with the other doctor who had been attending me.
“How are you feeling?” Dr. Roth asked.
“Better.” I sat up and turned my head from side to side. “No more hallucinations, and I’m not so dizzy now.”
“Good. Director Stemp is waiting for you on video in the conference room. Would you like to get dressed?”
“Oh hell yes!”
When I emerged fully dressed from behind the sheet that Hellhound had held up as a makeshift privacy screen, a smattering of applause greeted me.
Reggie and Katie and Murray and Melinda were clapping, but everyone else cast suspicious glances my way.
As I slowly crossed the bullpen clinging to Hellhound’s arm, the group withdrew from my path. Ordinarily I might ha
ve cringed from their scrutiny as I navigated the gauntlet of narrowed eyes; but I was too busy watching my feet, which had a disturbing tendency to stray.
“Okay, darlin’?” Hellhound asked as I stumbled again.
“Yeah.” I tightened my grip on his arm. “But my feet won’t go where I want them to.”
“You’re doin’ fine,” he encouraged. “We’re almost there.”
A few paces later I sank gratefully into a chair at the conference table, but my gratitude was short-lived when I caught sight of the video screen.
Stemp was there. But…
So was Greg Holt.
Shit.
Chapter 19
My heart sank at the sight of Holt’s craggy features and sardonic grin taking up half the videoconference screen.
“Hey, Kelly,” he needled. “How’s the international terrorism game these days?”
If my brain had been working at its usual capacity I might have managed a snappy retort or at least some righteous indignation, but I had neither. I stared at Holt in silence while my insides chilled.
Of course Stemp had brought another agent with him. As far as he knew, I was compromised. Holt would be here to replace me, and to arrest me if necessary. Or worse.
The prospect of life imprisonment was terrifying enough, but since I carried Stemp’s most critical personal secret in addition to the nation’s classified knowledge…
I swallowed hard and searched Stemp’s impassive expression on the video screen. If he decided I couldn’t be trusted, I wouldn’t live to see the end of the day.
“Agent Kelly,” he greeted me without inflection.
“Hi,” I croaked.
“How are you feeling?”
“Shitty.” The truth escaped before I could disguise it with a lie that would make me sound a little less pathetic.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
He didn’t look sorry. He looked scary. His reptilian features were utterly immobile; his unnerving amber eyes as hard as stones.
“I didn’t do it!” I burst out. “I was just standing there, and then something jabbed me in the arm and the smoke bomb flew out…”
Once Burned, Twice Spy Page 14
