Deep breath.
“If you read our mission reports from last summer, you’ll find that Kane did break into my house when he was hiding after he’d been supposedly killed. We discussed strategy…”
… which had involved some begging on my part that sounded suspiciously like ‘Oh God, John, harder’…
Focusing my full attention on my audience, I summoned up all my bravado and continued. “…and at the time I begged him to let me tell his father that he was still alive.”
Which was also true, fortunately.
“I was bruised and, um…”
Dammit, it was none of their business. I didn’t admit to anybody that I cried. Ever.
Arnie’s gentle words came back to me. He didn’t think less of me. I drew myself up. Normal people wouldn’t use my emotions to attack me.
And fuck them if they did.
I met their eyes defiantly. “The mission reports will confirm that I’d been severely beaten twice in a short period of time. Watching Kane apparently killed and then attending his funeral was very difficult. I was bruised, and crying in bed.”
No visible reaction from my audience. I concluded with relief, “We agreed that Kane would hide in the woods on my farm. We had a briefing there and went our separate ways. As I’ve already noted, I had been badly beaten. I could barely walk.”
Both of which were true, though not related. My wobbly knees at the time had more to do with the activities included in our so-called briefing. More like a ‘de-briefing’…
I yanked my attention back to the room. No questions yet, thank God.
“So now you understand the depth of Doytchevsky’s hatred for the Knights and for Kane. He wanted to damage Kane’s reputation and make him suffer. Since we conveniently provided him with a kiss to photograph, he seized the opportunity to file the bogus sexual harassment charge in my name. Which played right into our hands.”
This time Stemp gave me an almost-imperceptible nod.
Almost there. I clasped my shaking hands in front of me and drew another deep, painful breath. “So the two pieces of so-called evidence against Kane were both fabricated by Doytchevsky. I’ve never filed a rape charge against Kane, I’ve never accused him of any improper behaviour, and I have no reason to.”
I couldn’t read Brinder or Talbot. Were they sufficiently convinced? I met Stemp’s eyes. Should I or shouldn’t I?
Go for broke.
I faced the officers. “I realize this isn’t a trial, but since the lie detector is what made you suspect Kane, I’d like to use it to clear him instead.”
My pulse thumped in my throat as Stemp rose to hand over Jack’s small case. I laid it out on the floor beside Kane and secured the band around his head, firmly resisting the urge to let my fingertips drift over his hair in reassurance. He stared straight ahead, his cop face unreadable.
I drew a deep breath. “Please answer yes or no. Have you ever raped me?”
“No.” Green light. True.
“Have you ever sexually harassed me?”
“No.”
I swallowed a surge of relief when the green light flashed. That had been a dangerous question. I had been afraid he might actually believe he had.
I turned back to him with renewed confidence. “In fact, have you repeatedly initiated conversations with me to make sure that neither you nor any members of your team have acted in ways that might make me feel harassed or intimidated?”
“Yes.” Green light.
“So Doytchevsky’s fabrications are completely groundless and false.”
“Yes.”
The beautiful green light shone once more, and I quickly removed the band of electrodes from Kane’s forehead.
I turned to the officers. “Now I’m going to ask Kane to face his so-called accuser.” I fumbled with the headband, trying to secure it around my own forehead.
“If I may?” At Briggs’s nod of assent, Kane rose to fasten the band.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Kane indicated the chair. “You look as though you need to.”
I realized my hand tremors had spread to my legs and clammy sweat was collecting on my forehead.
“Not as much as you. Nobody shot me.”
“It’s fine. Please.” He gestured, and I sank gratefully onto the chair. If there was any sympathy to be had, I was going for it.
Kane surveyed me dispassionately for a moment. “I’ll keep this short,” he said. “Have I ever raped you?”
“No.”
“Have I ever done anything to make you feel harassed or intimidated?”
“No.”
“Did you file a sexual harassment complaint against me?”
“No.”
There might have been a softening at the corners of his mouth. “So all accusations of rape and sexual harassment are completely groundless and false?”
“Yes.”
Green light all the way.
“Thank you, those are my only questions.”
He removed the electrodes from my head with as much alacrity as I’d removed them from his. I had a feeling we were both thinking the same thing.
Please don’t ask us any direct questions about sexual contact…
General Briggs rose. “Thank you, Agent Kelly. Captain Kane, you are dismissed.” He nodded at the guard. “Take him away.”
Kane stiffened into another magnificent salute before striding out ahead of the guard, straight-backed.
When the door closed behind the guard, Briggs spoke again. “I’m satisfied that no charges are warranted in this case. Are we agreed?”
Both Stemp and the roly-poly Brinder nodded.
Talbot spoke in a nasal twang far too similar to Doytchevsky’s voice.
“No.”
Chapter 43
The oxygen vanished from the room. I tried fruitlessly to draw a breath, my heart thundering in my ears. The thin colonel’s drawl continued.
“I’m satisfied there has been no sexual misconduct. But Kane blatantly disobeyed a direct order. He has to answer to that charge in a court-martial.”
Brinder spoke in a deep basso voice completely at odds with his prissy little mouth. “Come on, Talbot, there were extenuating circumstances. The accusation was false, and all parties knew it. There was no reason for him to stay away from her. And it wasn’t public insubordination. If we drop it here, nobody outside this room will ever know about it.”
I managed to suck in some air at last. A distant humming floated between my ears.
“That’s not the point.” Talbot’s voice drilled an ugly hole in the silence of the room. “The point is that regulations exist for a reason. Arbitrarily ignoring them is a step down the road toward chaos and anarchy.”
Chaos and anarchy? You pompous, self-important prick…
I jerked forward, my fists clenching. I was just opening my mouth when Stemp rose, quelling me with a glance.
His bland tones neutralized the poisonous atmosphere. “Perhaps I can clarify the situation. Kane was under orders to follow Kelly. Those orders were standing at the time the harassment complaint was filed. Kelly immediately informed me that the complaint was fake and that Doytchevsky was a potential threat to our security and to Kane.”
He swept the others with his emotionless gaze and continued, “I decided to trap Doytchevsky instead of immediately reporting the falsified complaint. I filed a full time-stamped report at that time, but redacted it until such time as I could determine the extent of the security breach surrounding Doytchevsky. Therefore, though the rest of the chain of command was unaware of it, Kane’s standing orders to follow Kelly rendered the orders of the suspension invalid.”
I followed the convoluted logic trail, holding my breath. I wasn’t sure it all followed, but he had delivered the final sentence with such calm conviction I hoped Talbot would just cave.
“There are no grounds for court-martial,” Stemp said quietly. “I recommend that all references to this matter be expunged from Kane’s record and tra
nsferred instead to a mission report, which is where they belong.” He resumed his seat.
The sour lines deepened on Talbot’s face. “Of course you recommend that. You’re just a civilian. You don’t understand the importance of military discipline.”
“Christ, Talbot, get the stick out of your ass.” Brinder spoke with tolerant humour, but Talbot’s sallow cheeks flushed to an unhealthy hue nevertheless. Before he could respond, Brinder added, “Stop tripping over your army hard-on and think for a minute.” He shot me a cursory glance. “Sorry for the language.”
I managed a jerky gesture of pardon, and he turned back to Talbot. “What good does it do to make an example of Kane over a technicality like this? We lose our best agent, and that won’t do any damn good for your precious morale.”
Talbot stiffened. “If everyone blatantly disregarded orders that inconvenienced them, our fighting forces would be reduced to the equivalent of a troop of monkeys with sharpened sticks. We’d be the laughingstock of-”
“Yeah, the world, I know.” Brinder leaned back in his chair. “And if everybody blindly obeyed without challenging inappropriate orders, we’d have Nazi Germany all over again. Just let it go.”
Silence made the air too thick to breathe.
“Fine,” Talbot snapped at last. “It’s against my better judgement but-”
“So we have a unanimous agreement,” General Briggs interrupted.
Two firm nods and one reluctant one made me suck in a tentative breath.
Briggs lifted the phone. “Please bring Captain Kane back to the meeting room.”
Several minutes of delay did nothing for my nerves. What if Talbot changed his mind? Could he even do that now that he’d agreed?
A rap on the door made me jump.
“Come in.”
The guard reappeared, followed by Kane. He saluted before stiffening to attention, his grey gaze locked on an unseen horizon.
General Briggs rose. “Captain Kane, we have concluded our discussion and come to a decision. We agree unanimously that no charges of any kind are warranted. You are restored to active service effective immediately. All entries pertaining to these events will be expunged from your record and transferred instead to your mission reports.”
He smiled. “Congratulations, Captain Kane. Consider yourself on medical leave for the rest of the week. Report for light duty Monday morning as usual. You are dismissed.”
“Thank you, sir.” Kane’s face betrayed no emotion whatsoever as he saluted and marched out.
I slumped in my chair, my bones melting into jelly.
Over.
It was over.
“Agent Kelly?” General Briggs extended his hand. “Thank you for your testimony. And for your good work on this mission.”
I dragged myself out of my stupor to shake his hand. “You’re welcome,” my mouth said automatically.
The men filed out. Stemp paused in the doorway to survey me. “Kelly?”
“Uh. I’m just…” I drew a deep, quavering breath. “I’m just going to sit for a minute.”
He appraised me for a moment. “Take your time. When you’re ready, go home. I’m placing you on medical leave until Monday as well.” I managed a faint nod and he mercifully left without further comment.
I sagged in the chair, staring at the wall and schooling myself into slow, deep yoga breaths. Everyone safe. Doytchevsky dead. Kane reinstated.
Thank God.
A sound from the doorway made me snap around, my nerves still raw. The resulting jab of pain jerked a grunt out of me.
Kane stepped into the room, eyeing me with concern. “Are you all right?”
“Fine.” I clamped down on the urge to leap up and fling my arms around him. “You?”
“Fine.” He half-reached a hand toward me before letting it drop to his side again. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
So much to say.
We regarded each other in silence for a moment before I pulled myself together. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Stemp gave me the rest of the week off, too, and Arnie’s waiting down in the lobby.”
His limp was considerably more pronounced when we walked down the hallway toward the stairs.
I glanced up at his set face. “Let’s take the elevator.”
“It’s all right. It’s sutured. It’s better if I keep moving. I don’t want to lose strength in the surrounding muscles.”
I clenched my fists to keep from reaching for his hand. “I’m so sorry. For everything.”
“It’s all right.”
He descended the stairs slowly, his knuckles whitening on the handrail. I hovered anxiously beside him. No way to help. No way to make it better. He kept his gaze focused to the front, whether in pain or anger I couldn’t tell.
When we emerged into the lobby, Arnie sprang up from one of the chairs, his worried gaze richocheting between Kane and me.
I didn’t keep him in suspense. “It’s over. He’s free. And he’s on leave until Monday.”
A grin split Hellhound’s face and he let out a whoop. “Right on!” He pulled Kane into a rough embrace and pounded him on the back. “Right-fuckin’-on!”
Kane pulled away, grinning. “Don’t make me disgrace the uniform by hugging a hairy ugly bastard like you.”
Hellhound bellowed a laugh. “Ya fuckin’ snotty officers are all the same. C’mon, I’ll take ya home to change an’ then I’m buyin’ at Eddy’s.”
“Deal.” Kane turned his smile on me. “Coming?”
Relief melted my tension. He wasn’t mad.
I shot him a theatrically incredulous look. “Are you kidding? Arnie’s driving, and he’s buying? Hell, yeah, I’m coming!”
Happily ensconced at our usual table with my back to the wall, I took a deep swallow of ice-cold beer. Beside me, Kane eased out a long breath and carefully extended his leg before drawing from his pint glass with appreciation.
Across the table, Hellhound sat at a slight diagonal to the room, casting uneasy glances over his shoulder.
I took pity on him. “Come and sit beside me.” I shuffled my chair closer to Kane. “There’s room here.”
“Thanks, darlin’.” Hellhound rose with obvious relief and pulled his chair around beside me before sinking into it with a satisfied sigh. “That’s better.” He shot a glance at Kane and me. “We look like fuckin’ idiots lined up against the wall like this.”
“Yeah, but we’re happy idiots.” I raised my bottle. “Here’s to being dumb and happy.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Hellhound clinked his bottle against mine, and Kane reached over from the other side, smiling, to complete the toast with his glass.
We sipped companionably for a while, letting the excellent blues music wrap around us. Then Hellhound placed his half-empty bottle on the table, leaning forward to survey Kane and me with his shrewd gaze.
“I gotta take a dump,” he announced, and rose. “Gonna be a while.”
We watched his bulky figure stride toward the men’s room, and Kane raised an amused eyebrow. “Subtle as a brick.”
I grinned. “Yep, that’s why we love him.”
We met each other’s eyes and looked away hurriedly. An awkward silence hung between us for a few moments before we spoke at the same time.
“I’m really sorry, John-”
“Aydan, I’m sorry-”
Pause.
We tried again.
“You don’t need to-”
“It wasn’t your-”
Kane shook his head ruefully. “You first.”
I reached for his hand, but stopped myself. Even the smallest public display of affection was too dangerous. I wouldn’t risk that again.
“John, I’m sorry I put you through this. It was all my fault.”
He shook his head, raising a hand in protest, but I overrode him. “The harassment complaint, the way I froze at the pottery shop and got you captured and…” My throat closed with the memory of how close a call it
had been. My voice came out in a quaver. “…and got you shot and damn near court-martialled; I nearly cost you everything and I’m so, so sorry-”
“Aydan, no! None of this was your fault. It was my fault for…” His gaze flicked over the room and he lowered his voice. “…for what I did in Vegas. I was careless and you paid the price.” His hand moved toward mine before retreating to clench around his glass. “When I saw that video Doytchevsky made, I…” He fell silent, his powerful hands flexing on the glass until I feared it would shatter in his grasp.
“But it was all fake,” I said in my most reassuring tones. “No big deal.”
“But it could just as easily have been real.”
I swallowed some beer, groping for a reply. “John…” I returned my bottle to the table a little more firmly than necessary. “It wasn’t your fault. It’s just my stupid job and my stupid life and there’s nothing you or anybody else can do about it.”
“Aydan…”
I turned to face him. “Look, just let it go. Walk away while you still can. I told you I’ll only end up hurting you, and this was the proof. You nearly lost everything. Your career, your pension, your good name…” I gulped. “Your life...”
“Aydan, you know I’m not the kind of guy who plays it safe. I’d do it again in a heartbeat if I knew I was the only one who’d suffer for it.”
“No!” The word wrenched out of me before I could stop it. He flinched as if I’d slapped him, and my heart twisted. “John, it would kill me to know you were suffering because of me. Don’t do that to me. Please.”
“Stop panicking.” His hand closed briefly around mine, warm and reassuring. “I didn’t say that because I expect anything from you. I’m not asking you to change.”
He released my hand, but his grey gaze held me like an embrace. “I said it because I want you to know that if the worst had happened, or if it does happen in the future, it’s worth it to me. And I don’t ever want you to think otherwise.”
“Oh. Um.” I hid my sudden self-consciousness in a gulp of beer. “Thanks.”
The laugh lines crinkled around his eyes as he leaned back in his chair. “You’re welcome.”
A Spy For a Spy Page 32
