Once Burned, Twice Spy

by Diane Henders

“Good plan. Easier’n cleanin’ puke off your parka.” His fingers stilled on my neck. “There they are.”

  I sat up in time to see the tail end of the brown half-ton disappearing around the next row of vehicles. “Did they see us?”

  “Think so. Give ’em a minute an’ see if they park.”

  “I hope they can get close. Skidmark’s having a hard time breathing in the cold. We should walk to the truck.”

  “Sit tight, darlin’,” Hellhound advised. “Four people in this little car are gonna look funny enough. Four of us tryin’ to cram into a half-ton cab’d attract too much attention. ’Specially if we hadta drive somewhere. The cops’d pull us over, an’ it’d blow the whole thing.”

  We watched as the half-ton circled the lot, patiently inching along the rows.

  At last they found a spot. The two of them trudged over, Kane shortening his strides to accommodate Skidmark’s slow progress. When they got into the back seat Skidmark’s breathing was rapid, but not the uncontrolled gasping of earlier in the day. His medication must be working. Thank God.

  Hellhound twisted in the seat to eyeball him. “Well, ya ol’ fuck, ya sure as hell had me fooled.”

  Skidmark grinned. “Thanks, bro. I felt kind of bad about it at the time.” His grin widened. “But not that bad, since you threatened to shove a joint down my throat.”

  “Shoulda done it, too,” Hellhound grumbled, but a smile lurked in his beard.

  “Has Aydan brought you up to speed?” Kane asked Hellhound.

  “Yeah. So we’re gonna snatch the fuckin’ bitch of a mother.” Hellhound bared his teeth in something that was definitely not a smile. “Lookin’ forward to that. I got a few things to say to her.”

  Skidmark widened his eyes at me. “Christ, you’re not going to let Frankendude near her, are you? You’ll scare the poor woman to death before she can answer any questions.”

  “Fuck off with the insults, old man,” I snapped.

  “Ah.” Skidmark smiled and nodded as though I’d uttered something profoundly enlightening. “So you’re still sweet on Frankendude, too.”

  “Skidmark…” I clenched my fists and took a deep calming breath. “You can play nicely with the rest of the team, or you can get out of this car and start walking back to Silverside right now. Your choice.”

  “I only have to take a cab to where I left your car. After that I can drive myself,” he pointed out reasonably.

  “Nnngh!” I clenched a handful of my kerchief to prevent myself from reaching between the seats and throttling him.

  “Relax, darlin’.” Hellhound’s palm made gentle circles on my back. “The ol’ goat’s just stirrin’ the pot like he always does.”

  “He’s right,” Skidmark agreed, looking repentant. “Sorry, Storm.” He inclined his chin at Hellhound. “Sorry, bro. I’ve been playing this role so damn long I don’t even remember anymore where the act ends and the real me starts.”

  “No problem,” Hellhound replied. “So… how are we gonna grab the bitch?”

  It was a short discussion with only one logical solution. Despite my efforts to deter my co-conspirators, they developed a plan that left me clutching my head in despair.

  “I don’t like it,” I said for approximately the fifth time. “You’re all going to end up in prison.”

  “I won’t,” Skidmark replied confidently. “I’m Brenton Carlisle. I’ll play innocent. If we get caught, I’ll just tell them I was taking a nice lady to lunch when we got carjacked.”

  “And how will you explain the portrait of me in your sketchbook?” I demanded. “And the bug detector? And the fact that Ian will recognize you as soon as he looks closely at you?”

  “I’ll bet you fifty bucks Rand won’t blow my cover even if he does recognize me. When a guy like that makes a promise, he keeps it.” Skidmark raised a significant eyebrow. “The bug detector will probably get lost in the struggle; and as for the portrait, well, I was just coming in the back door of the hotel when I spotted this striking redhead running away. The way she moved…” He cast his gaze heavenwards with a rapturous sigh. “Like a hunting panther. Such power. Such grace. I just had to capture it.”

  My face went hot. “You’re so full of shit, old man.”

  He grinned. “I’m not kidding. You really do move like that. Just like Moonbeam, sexy as hell. But more importantly, it’ll take me off the hot seat while they run around trying to figure out how you managed to hang around the hotel without them seeing you.”

  “O… kay…” I said slowly. “That might work. Maybe. But John and Arnie are screwed no matter what.”

  Kane shrugged. “I’m willing to take the chance.”

  “Me, too,” Hellhound agreed.

  Lacking the space to wave my arms in the small car, I settled for a loud growl. “Don’t you get it?” I demanded. “You’re not taking a chance at all! You’re absolutely, one-hundred-percent guaranteed to get arrested! There is no situation where you come out of this without getting charged with kidnapping at best, and treason at worst!”

  “Sure there is,” Hellhound argued. “If the plan works, we’re golden. We get our answers an’ drop the bitch off with a cell phone so she can call Rand to pick her up. If she wants to talk to ya as bad as ya say, she’ll be grateful. She won’t rat us out.”

  “I wish you’d stop calling her ‘the bitch’,” I mumbled. “She might be my mother.”

  “Sorry, darlin’.” Hellhound reached over to squeeze my hand, but he and Kane exchanged a worried look.

  “What?” I asked.

  They eyed each other in silence for a moment. Then Hellhound nodded as though they’d reached an unspoken agreement.

  “We’re still concerned that you may be compromised,” Kane said. “It’s understandable that you want to give her the benefit of the doubt, but it’s also worrisome. If you’ve been programmed to believe her even in the face of logic and evidence to the contrary, then this mission is doomed to failure from the start.”

  “Exactly my point,” I snapped. “It’s a dumb idea. Let’s call the whole thing off. You guys go to the police and report everything. I’ll get to Nora some other way or I’ll fail on my own, but at least you won’t go down with me.”

  The three men exchanged another glance. “Good enough for me,” Skidmark said.

  “Me, too,” Hellhound seconded.

  Kane blew out a short breath. “All right. It’s agreed.”

  I slumped, my guts hollowing with a mixture of relief and desolation. I held my voice steady. “Thank you. Just give me half an hour’s head start, and-”

  Hellhound chuckled. “Ya ain’t gettin’ it, darlin’. We just agreed that we’re in, not out.”

  “What?” I stared at them, consternation fighting hope. “But you said…”

  “I said it’s good enough for me,” Skidmark said. “What I meant was, if you’re dead set against it, we know we’re not playing into any of your programming.” He shrugged. “It still might not work, but I’m in. Give me the bug detector and then you can drop me at the Palliser so I can check in for the night.”

  “No!” I began, my voice rising.

  Kane interrupted before I could get started. “Skidmark, can you do portraits from a description?”

  “I can try.”

  “Good.” Kane turned to Hellhound. “Let’s trade places. Work with Skidmark to create sketches of Grandin, Dirk, and Nora. Both he and I need to know what they look like.”

  Skidmark extracted his sketchpad and pastels, and Hellhound got out to take Kane’s place in the back seat while Kane slid in beside me. The resulting blast of arctic air made me turn the heater up to maximum.

  Eyeing the frost building up on the insides of the windows, I cranked up the fan to top speed as well.

  “Lucky there are so many cars in this parking lot,” I said over the roar of rushing air. “The way we’re steaming up this car, I’m half-expecting some outraged parent to knock on the glass and tell us to stop making out in public.
”

  “Hell with that,” Hellhound retorted. “You an’ Kane can get it on if ya want, but I wouldn’t touch this ol’ goat with a ten-foot pole.”

  “You only wish you had a ten-foot pole,” Skidmark gibed.

  Hellhound grinned. “I ain’t had any complaints about my pole yet.”

  After a few more good-natured barbs, they settled down to work. As soon as they were fully absorbed by widths of jaws and lengths of noses, I lowered my voice and went to work on Kane.

  “John, I can’t let you do this.”

  He gave me his stony cop face. “We’ve already had this conversation. You can’t stop me.” As I opened my mouth to try another gambit, he added, “And it’s my duty.”

  Mouth still open, I gaped at him.

  “How do you figure that?” I demanded after I’d gotten my voice working again. “The way I see it, it’s your duty to turn me in, not help me create yet another international incident by kidnapping the UK’s Director of Weapons Research.”

  Kane squared his shoulders. “My duty is to my country. If Nora’s story is true, then she would be subject to prosecution as a Canadian citizen for falsifying her death and for knowingly allowing you to be programmed. And my last orders before I resigned my commission were to safeguard you at any cost. In my professional opinion, Nora is a threat to the national security of both Canada and the United Kingdom, and the extradition order is a frame job. My duty is clear: To protect you and aid your investigation any way I can.”

  Jaw dangling, I stared at him. “That…” I had to stop and shake my head before I could continue. “That is… the biggest… steamiest… heap of horseshit I’ve ever heard.”

  The sexy laugh lines crinkled around his eyes. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. And you’re insane. There’s no way that will fly.”

  “Why wouldn’t it?” Kane countered. “It’s completely true; and your last orders before you went off-grid were to investigate Nora. We’re both just following orders.”

  “That will hold up for about two seconds under the lie detector.”

  Kane frowned. “I’m prepared to take a lie detector test right now. I’m fully convinced that I’m doing the right thing.”

  A loud rap on my window made us all jump.

  Chapter 39

  Kane moved so fast it seemed as though the trank pistol had appeared in his hand by magic. Tucking it down alongside his thigh, he nodded at me.

  Heart hammering, I powered down the window.

  A middle-aged man leaned down. “Hi.” He flicked a curious gaze over the four of us, but didn’t waste time with questions. “I just wanted to let you know that your driver’s side rear tire looks soft.” He eyed Hellhound’s bulk in the back seat dubiously. “But maybe it’s just the weight making it look that way,” he added. “Anyway, I thought you should know.”

  I summoned my best smile. “Thanks. I’ll get it checked at the next service station. Merry Christmas.”

  “Thanks, same to you.” He straightened and strode away.

  I powered up the window and fell back in the seat. “Christ, he scared the hell out of me.”

  “Me, too. We’re dangerously blind and deaf with these windows frosted over and the fan blowing.” Kane handed over the trank pistol. “You’d better take this. And we should get moving. I don’t like attracting that kind of attention.”

  I holstered the pistol at my ankle and turned to the pair in the back seat. “How’s it going?”

  “Done.” Skidmark held up three sketches.

  “Wow.” I studied them with awe. “They’re amazing. And I can’t believe you did them so fast.”

  “Hellhound’s got an excellent eye,” Skidmark said. “It was like doing a paint-by-number.”

  “That’s his photographic memory.” I gave Hellhound a smile.

  “We’d better get out of here,” Kane urged.

  “I gotta grab some shit from one a’ my caches,” Hellhound said. “How ’bout if I take the truck an’ drop Skidmark at the Palliser? Then I’ll pick up my shit an’ meet ya at Aydan’s motel room.”

  “Perfect.” Kane handed over the truck keys.

  After a brief flurry of exchanging burner phones and numbers, Hellhound and Skidmark departed. I reversed the car out of the slot and wended my way to the exit.

  When we turned onto Macleod Trail, Kane seemed absorbed in his own thoughts so I drove in silence.

  Was he angry at me? He certainly had good reason. He had trusted me and responded to my summons, only to discover that I had betrayed him in the worst possible way. Now he couldn’t go home to his son tonight; and worse, he might lose precious years of Daniel’s childhood while he rotted in prison.

  Dammit, I should never have let Skidmark talk me into calling him. I should have just called Stemp and… shit, no; Stemp wasn’t in charge anymore. I should have called Dermott, and turned myself in.

  I sighed. Maybe I should just end this right now. I could pretend I’d never talked to Kane and Hellhound at all; just call Dermott as though I didn’t know there was a warrant out for me. He’d send Holt to arrest me instantly.

  Well, assuming Dermott bothered to pick up the phone when I called. I grimaced at the memory of his lackadaisical response to check-ins. That kind of carelessness was a danger to all the agents. At least if I turned myself in along with the network key and generator, Stemp would probably be reinstated as Director. I might end up dead, but it would be better for everybody else…

  “What’s on your mind?” Kane’s voice made me start guiltily.

  “Um… just thinking.”

  “Unpleasant thoughts, if I’m reading your expression correctly.”

  “I haven’t had any other kind lately.”

  He grunted. “Understandable.”

  “I’m sorry,” I blurted. “I know you must be really pissed off at me, and I don’t blame you. Calling you was stupid and selfish. I promise I’ll do my best to get you out of this so you can go back to the life you deserve.”

  He jerked around to face me, and I managed to dampen my flinch down to a tiny twitch as I steeled myself for his rage.

  It didn’t come.

  “Of course I’m not angry with you.” He sounded surprised. “Contacting me was your only viable option. Why would I be angry?”

  “Because I’ve taken you away from the most important person in your life; and if you go to prison because of this, Daniel could be grown up before you get out. You’ll miss his entire childhood. I’m as bad as Alicia, depriving you of your son through my own selfishness.”

  After a short silence, Kane spoke slowly. “Aydan… there are so many things wrong with what you just said, I don’t even know where to start.”

  “Well, start at the top of the list,” I said grimly, my heart shrivelling. God, was I destined to fuck up everything?

  Kane let out a long breath. “In the first place, the thought of comparing you to Alicia is so ridiculous it’s laughable. Alicia is…” He made a frustrated gesture. “I don’t know what to say. She’s a good mother. She has poured countless hours into studying the latest parenting techniques; and she will always do what she believes is right for Daniel, no matter the cost to herself or… to others. He truly is the most important person in the world to her.”

  I shifted my suddenly-sweaty grip on the steering wheel. The thought of being that dedicated; that consumed by another human being…

  My heart rattled up near my throat, attempting to leap out and flee from this conversation, from this car, from the terrifying bonds of love and dependence…

  “Aydan…? Are you all right?”

  “Fine,” I croaked. “Sorry; I w-was just… Never mind. Go on, I’m listening.”

  “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  When I glanced over, he was studying me and frowning. I forced a feeble chuckle and returned my gaze to the road. “I’m fine. Just a jab of stomach pain. That burger I had for supper wasn’t my friend. I’m glad Alicia is such a g
ood mom. Daniel needs that. And I know you’re a great dad, too. He’s a lucky boy.”

  “I’m not a great dad.” Kane sucked in a short breath as though fighting to suppress words that were being wrenched from him against his will. “I’m… struggling,” he said raggedly. “Barely… finding my feet in this new role. It’s so important to me; Daniel is so important to me; and yet it’s all so…” He hesitated, his fists clenching. “So… foreign to my nature.”

  He sagged in his seat with a sigh. “There, I’ve finally said it out loud. I’ve been trying to overcome everything I’ve been; everything I’ve done for the past thirty-two years; to become an entirely new person who’s worthy of helping a child grow up. And I can’t do it, Aydan. Alicia… is still capable of that untainted devotion. Don’t get me wrong; she’s suffered her share of the pain life throws at everybody, but… she doesn’t have this… darkness… inside.”

  “And that’s okay,” I said gently. “That’s why kids have two parents. You’re supposed to be different. To offer different strengths. Different perspectives.”

  Kane let out a half-laugh. “I wish I could believe that. But I don’t want to get sidetracked here. The point I was trying to make is that Alicia is a good mother, but that’s all she is.”

  “I thought she was a freelance graphic designer,” I argued. “She must have busted her ass to work from home while Daniel was a baby.”

  “That’s not what I meant. She has some good qualities; but she isn’t brave. She isn’t selfless. She has no discernible sense of humour. She’s a couch potato who won’t lift a finger to do anything beyond the basics of cleanliness and nutrition. She’s just a petty, selfish woman who by some God-given miracle has managed not to pass those qualities on to our son. Yet.”

  I stopped at a red light and turned to stare at him. “I’ve never heard you say anything so harsh about anybody, ever.”

  His flush was visible even in the dimness of the streetlights. “I’m sorry. That was inappropriate and unfair. I truly admire her for managing single parenting so well…”

  “While she was hiding Daniel from you,” I said flatly.