He laughed. “That didn’t end well for me last time. I’ll take you at your word.”
I straightened and turned again, and Ian leaned against the Saturn beside me, looking perfectly comfortable despite the frigid wind that was making my teeth rattle and my knees knock.
Or maybe that was only fear.
“Why are you investigating Nora?” Ian asked. “And give me the whole story this time. If you don’t…” He nodded toward the drooping occupants of the car, his beautiful eyes as hard as emeralds. “…I’ll make sure all three of them go to prison for kidnapping. But if you tell me everything, maybe we can work something out.”
Dammit, what could I tell him? I couldn’t betray my country’s classified information, not even to save my friends.
But Ian was an MI6 agent. An ally. Maybe it would be okay.
Or maybe he was an enemy.
How could I know?
Stall.
“Well, it’s a long story and a lot of it’s classified,” I began.
“Wait there!”
Ian’s sudden shout made me twitch violently, but then I realized he was looking past me toward the road.
I spun to follow his gaze and my stomach plunged at the sight of the occupants of the other car approaching fast.
It wasn’t Holt after all.
It was Grandin and Dirk.
Shit, shit, shit!
Chapter 46
Grandin and Dirk momentarily slowed at Ian’s shout, but then hurried forward again.
“Bollocks!” Ian muttered without moving his lips. “Play along, Storm. Trust me.”
“What…?” I began, but Ian had already moved several paces forward, all his attention on the other two.
As they strode past him toward me, Ian said, “I told you I needed a few minutes. I’m not finished.”
“Time’s up,” Grandin snapped. His hand arced upward.
I hesitated an instant too long. Pain stung the side of my neck, and I jerked away to see Grandin smirking as he pocketed a spent dart.
“That was uncalled-for,” Ian objected, frowning. “She wasn’t going to cause any trouble.”
I pressed my hand to the stinging spot on my neck and my fingertips came away bearing a small smear of blood.
Tranked.
Any second now the world would turn black…
It didn’t.
“Was that…?” Ian began as the first waves of vertigo rippled through my vision.
“Just a little Vitamin K,” Grandin said. “She’ll be fine. Thanks, Rand.” He and Dirk each grabbed one of my arms and dragged me toward their car.
I lashed out with frantic kicks, but already my legs were turning to rubber. Dammit, the dart must have hit a vein. The drug was working much faster than it had before.
“Ian! Help!” My unwieldy tongue barely managed the words.
“Grandin!” Ian shouted as they dragged me away.
Thank God. He had weapons. He would save me…
“Remember, you owe me!” Ian yelled behind us.
What?
Ian’s words looped through my fuzzy brain, echoes fading into horror. Grandin owed him. Ian had set me up…
“Here’s what I owe you!” Grandin yelled back. He let go of me and spun.
Gun.
No…
I tried to strike his hand, but my arm flailed uselessly through empty space. Depth perception gone…
The explosion of the gunshot was like a physical blow.
Ian’s body jerked backward, slamming into the Saturn before dropping to the snow with the boneless finality of death. A streak of fresh crimson marred the Saturn’s gold side.
Time tumbled into chaos. Impossibly slow, yet too fast for me to comprehend.
I was screaming. Wordless cries, my mouth sundered from my brain. Already the drug was taking over, my extremities tingling and burning.
“What the hell?” Dirk let go of me and snatched his own gun from his holster, the weapon swinging toward Grandin.
My knees buckled and I fell.
Barely able to feel my fingers, I dug into my pocket. Poor treacherous Ian hadn’t searched me. I still had a secured phone…
Grandin’s pistol spoke the only explanation Dirk would ever get.
The first shot spun him around and slapped him to the ground. The second blew off the top of his head, blood spraying across the white snow. Scarlet droplets danced in my blurring vision.
I couldn’t stop screaming.
My fingers wouldn’t work.
I mashed my hand on the phone’s keypad over and over.
Please hit the speed dial button, please, please…
Grandin swooped down on me. His nose was an eagle’s beak slicing the air, ready to tear me to ribbons…
Ridiculously loud in the slow silence swelling between my ears, I heard the phone’s first ring.
Saved.
Stemp would know something was wrong. He would trace the phone and send a team…
Ring.
Ring.
Grandin yanked the phone out of my limp hand and disconnected, glaring down at me. “Nice try,” he snapped, then grabbed my hand and pressed my useless fingers around the butt of his gun and onto the trigger. Carefully retrieving one of the ejected brasses from the snow with his gloved hand, he pressed my finger onto one of them, too.
“You’re such a dangerous criminal, murdering these good agents,” he said conversationally. “It’s going to look even worse for you when you injure me and escape my custody, but at least I’ll get to come home a hero.” He tossed a contemptuous nod at the two bodies leaking red into the snow. “Not like these poor schmucks. Walk.”
“Wha…” I mumbled as he yanked me to my feet. I toppled helplessly toward him and he slung my arm over his shoulders and dragged me toward his car. “Esktrdite?” I slurred. “Why…?”
He laughed. “Forget extradition. I found a better market for you, Arlene Widdenback.”
Suddenly we were only a few feet from the car.
I must be walking.
Maybe flying. I couldn’t feel my arms or legs.
My head floated, a helpless balloon filled with only one thought.
Stemp wasn’t there.
Only Dermott.
Dermott, who never answered until the fourth or fifth ring.
The car opened its gaping maw and swallowed me.
They had me.
Even as I struggled up through choking blackness, I knew it. Words buffeted me but I couldn’t make them stick together. When I opened my eyes, nightmare figures jousted above me. Spears plunged through my body to emerge dripping with gore.
Unable to move, unable to feel, I could only scream in imagined agony. Beside me, Kane and Hellhound sat chained to chairs. Their lips moved in incomprehensible words of anger or fear.
A glittering blade sliced down, beheading them both. Their bodies twitched and jerked, blood drenching their clothes and filling the room ankle deep, then knee deep, then higher. A tidal wave of blood lapped around me, submerging my body, running into my nose and mouth until I choked and drowned in the metallic taste of my own screams.
Then the blood was gone. Kane and Hellhound stood on either side of my bed, smiling and stroking my face. Their hands slid down my body to plunge into my belly. Grinning, they raised slippery loops of my intestines above their heads in a gruesome tug-of-war…
At last the words began to make sense and my eyelids responded to my desperate attempts to shut out the horrible sights that surrounded me.
“It’s okay, darlin’, everythin’s okay. You’re safe. Kane an’ me, we got your back. Nobody’s gonna hurt ya. It’s okay…”
Arnie couldn’t be here. I had been captured. It was just another hallucination. I squeezed my eyelids more tightly, clinging to my last merciful moments of delirium before I had to face the horrible reality.
Where was I?
Had Grandin already turned me over to his buyer?
What barbaric torture would I suffer when they r
ealized I was conscious?
I lay still, pretending with all my might that the steady reassurance of Arnie’s voice was real.
When his screams of agony began, I didn’t open my eyes.
“Hey, Aydan.” A gentle hand stroked my hair. “Talk to me, darlin’. How ya doin’?”
Afraid to think, afraid to move, I kept my eyes closed.
“Come on, darlin’, talk to me,” Arnie persisted. “It’s okay, you’re safe here at the Silverside hospital. Ya got shot up with ketamine again but you’re gonna be okay. It oughta be mostly outta your system by now. Are ya feelin’ better?”
I knew how this would end.
I lay still, waiting for his screams to start.
“Thought ya said she oughta be comin’ around,” Arnie said, sounding worried.
Cool fingers closed on my wrist. “She should soon.”
“She hasn’t screamed for nearly half an hour,” Arnie persisted. “Why ain’t she wakin’ up? Last time she was awake even while she was goin’ through the last of the hallucinatin’.”
“She has been conscious for at least an hour.” The voice belonging to the cool fingers sounded like Dr. Roth. “She may be reacting to trauma by withdrawing. Keep talking to her. I’m sure she can hear you.”
Kane’s strong baritone joined the conversation. “Do you think she might have lasting problems?”
“From the drug? It’s unlikely. From the emotional trauma…” Dr. Roth didn’t finish the sentence. “Just keep reassuring her,” she said instead. “I’ll be back to check on her again soon.”
Warm hands closed around mine, Arnie’s strong fingers on my right and Kane’s broad palm on my left.
“Hey, darlin’, don’t worry, you’re safe,” Arnie began again. “Kane an’ me, we’re both here watchin’ your back.”
“Everything’s all right,” Kane joined in. “You’re here at the Silverside Hospital and you’re safe…”
There were no more screams. John’s and Arnie’s voices alternated reassurances, my hands warm in theirs. The squeak of passing rubber-soled shoes, the steady beeping of monitors, and announcements on a public address system created a soundscape of familiar hospital noises in the background.
Was I safe?
Or was this only a cruel hallucination?
At last my aching bladder left me no choice. I had to admit I was conscious, or wet the bed.
I opened my eyes.
“Hey, darlin’,” Arnie said softly. “D’ya know where ya are?” He and Kane both leaned forward, their gazes locked on my face.
I surveyed my surroundings. It looked exactly like the secured wing of the Silverside Hospital, right down to two burly black-clad armed guards standing in the corner of my cubicle.
But I could be wrong…
“I… I’m hallucinating,” I croaked. “I’m not really here. Grandin took me…”
“Holt arrested Grandin and retrieved you,” Kane said. “This really is the Silverside Hospital. You’re not hallucinating.”
“Really…?” I studied their faces, waiting for them to rip my guts out all over again.
They just smiled and squeezed my hands, one on each side.
“Really, darlin’,” Arnie said. “You’re really here. You’re really safe.”
Necessity took over. “I really need to pee,” I squeaked, afraid to take a full breath in case my bladder overflowed.
Hellhound laughed. “C’mon then, darlin’. The can’s right across the hall. Ya need a hand?” He helped me sit up and swing my legs over the edge of the bed.
Dr. Roth hurried in, then stopped with a smile. “That’s better. How are you feeling?”
“Need to pee…” I gritted.
She laughed and stepped aside as I stood up. With the aid of Arnie’s strong shoulder I staggered into the bathroom. He withdrew, closing the door behind him, and I dropped onto the toilet practically keening with relief.
At last I dragged myself to my feet and propped myself against the sink to wash my hands, then emerged cautiously.
One of the guards was stationed in the hallway beside the bathroom door, eyeing Hellhound and me with equal intensity. Clutching the inadequate hospital gown closed over my ass, I accepted Hellhound’s arm and wobbled back to my bed.
“Better?” he inquired as I lay back with a sigh.
“So much better,” I assured him. “Good God, I thought I was going to keep peeing until I shrivelled up and fell in…” Suddenly remembering Kane’s presence, I muttered, “Sorry, too much information” as heat climbed my cheeks.
Kane chuckled. “You don’t need to apologize. I’ve known you for a long time. I would only be shocked if you actually managed to shock me.”
I grinned. “Damn, I’ll have to try harder.”
One of the guards pressed his fingertips to his earpiece, listening intently, and my smile slipped away.
Grandin’s unknown buyer might not have me, but I still wasn’t free; or even safe. The programming in my brain could still decree my death sentence. And Kane and Hellhound were still guilty of kidnapping, and maybe treason.
“What happened?” I asked.
Hellhound began, “They cleaned up the site an’ flew us all here in the Griffon-” but the second guard snapped, “No talking!”
“I ain’t givin’ away anythin’,” Hellhound protested. “Everybody’s done their statements already, an’-”
“You were only allowed to sit with Agent Kelly as long as you didn’t discuss the case.” The guard gave him a flat stare. “Until she completes her report under the lie detector and Command decides what charges will be laid, you are all detainees. Will I need to separate you?”
Hellhound gave him a look that would have made any sane man fall to his knees and beg for mercy. “No,” he grated.
The first guard said, “Yes, sir” into the handset clipped to his chest, then fixed us with a hard gaze as his hand dipped casually to rest on his machine gun. “Command wants to see you now,” he said.
Chapter 47
Kane turned to face the armed guard, his posture stiffening. “Tell Command they’ll just have to wait until the doctor clears Aydan,” he said.
“She’s cleared. Command just got word,” the guard replied impassively, but his calm tone was belied by the tension in his posture.
Hellhound turned, too, to stand shoulder to shoulder with Kane. The guards were big men, but they seemed to shrink by comparison.
“Who the hell cleared her?” Hellhound growled. “’Cause I ain’t seen the doc-” He broke off as Dr. Roth slipped into the cubicle. “Hey, Doc,” he said. “Did ya clear Aydan to go to a briefin’ with Command?”
She took in the strained atmosphere with a glance, and laid a calming hand on Hellhound’s arm. “Yes, I did. The drug should be almost completely out of her system by now. She may still have a few minor visual disturbances or memory problems, and if she’s feeling shaky she can use a wheelchair; but there’s no reason to keep her here. She has been conscious for quite some time. Physically, she’s just as healthy as any other patient who has recently recovered from anaesthesia.”
She stepped sideways to make eye contact with me. “Aydan, you should be fine. Technically you’re considered to be impaired for the next twenty-four hours, so no driving, no operating heavy equipment, no signing contracts or making major decisions; the usual. And of course, if you have any unexpected reactions, come straight to Emergency.”
I nodded, my heart sinking. Trying to convince Command of my innocence didn’t seem like something I should attempt while legally impaired; but apparently I wasn’t going to be offered a choice.
How the hell could I prove I hadn’t killed Dirk and Ian? Grandin had almost certainly accused me by now; and with no witnesses and my fingerprints all over the murder weapon…
I swallowed hard and tried not to think about it.
By the time I had quivered into my clothes and signed all the necessary paperwork under Kane’s supervision, Hellhound had c
ommandeered a snack and a wheelchair for me. Flanked by the two guards, he wheeled me toward the door with Kane pacing beside us while I gobbled a hospital-issue egg salad sandwich and orange juice.
A windowless black van waited at the hospital entrance, and I reluctantly parted with the wheelchair to clamber unsteadily into the back. The guards shackled us to the benches, and one of them took a seat in the back with us while the other slammed and locked the doors.
Fighting claustrophobia, I breathed slowly and deeply.
Please don’t let me go to prison.
Kane and Hellhound watched me worriedly, and I closed my eyes to shut them out. Guilt burned in my chest.
I shouldn’t have listened to Skidmark. I should have told him to stay in Silverside, and I should never have called Kane. If he went to prison now, Alicia would make sure he never saw Daniel again.
“Ya okay, darlin’?” Hellhound asked softly.
Unable to trust my voice, I nodded without opening my eyes.
The short trip to Sirius felt interminable.
At last we disembarked, to be herded through the deserted lobby and into the secured area’s time-delayed entry.
Four big men and me.
The heavy door thumped closed behind us and my breath accelerated to shallow panting. No air.
No space.
No freedom, ever again…
“Would you mind stepping back against the walls?” Kane asked politely. “Aydan needs some space.”
The guards eyed me with suspicion.
“Space for what?” one demanded.
“Just space,” Hellhound growled.
The first man shrugged and stepped back a pace while the other turned away to place his eye at the level of the retinal scanner. The cramped chamber didn’t allow anything more, but even those few inches were better than nothing. I gave Kane a grateful look but kept silent, afraid my voice would betray me if I spoke.
When the second door opened thirty seconds later to reveal the featureless concrete stairway that always made me feel as though I was being buried alive, I tucked my hand into the crook of Kane’s elbow and squeezed my eyes shut.
Once Burned, Twice Spy Page 37
