The Spy Is Cast

by Diane Henders

  “Thanks.” I left it at that.

  I felt him watching me. “Don’t you ever let your guard down?”

  I shrugged. “Do you?”

  “Mmm.” He gave me a crooked smile and we walked the rest of the way in silence.

  Back at the camp, I went straight into the RV and began scrolling data. When a bowl of chili appeared at my elbow, I rubbed my tired eyes and gave Kane a grateful smile. “Thanks.” I slouched back in the bench seat with a sigh and started spooning in chili.

  He slid in across from me. “How’s it going?”

  “Really damn slow. I’m only looking for the blond prisoner, but he doesn’t have any distinguishing marks at all, so it’s taking forever to look through all the possibilities. I’ve restricted the search to people who live in Calgary and surrounding area, but there are still tons of young blue-eyed blond guys. I’m so tired, I don’t know if I’d even recognize him if I found him anyway.”

  He grimaced. “Welcome to the glamour of spy work.”

  “This is a huge waste of time! I don’t see why we’re doing this at all!” I rolled my aching shoulders, trying to ease the tension. “That poor guy is suffering…” I gulped as a spoonful of chili made a concerted effort to come up at the memory. A couple of hard swallows later, I continued, “… and he’s running out of time. Can’t we go over there tonight?”

  Kane eyed me with sympathy. “I know how hard it is to wait, but the gas company made the appointment for eight o’clock tomorrow morning. We can’t afford to blow our cover by rushing in.”

  “Why didn’t you get them to pretend they found a gas leak so we could go in right away?” I demanded.

  “Aydan, how would the gas company know there’s a leak?” Kane asked patiently. “It’s a private estate miles out of town. They wouldn’t be just passing through to notice something like that. I’m sorry, I feel the same as you, but that’s just the way this work goes sometimes.”

  Some time later, sounds from outside made me jerk my head up. I peeked cautiously out the window and relaxed when I identified their source. Rationalizing that it was time for a break anyway, I hovered a safe distance away from the window so I could enjoy the show outside without getting caught.

  Kane and Germain were both stripped down to shorts, sparring in the mellow light of the evening sun. I gawked unabashedly, appreciating their obvious skill almost as much as their sweat-sheened muscles. Kane might be off-limits, but I could still enjoy the view. And Germain was definitely easy on the eyes, too. At least I’d get some compensation for this rotten job.

  By the time I surfaced from the database a second time, the shadows had accumulated in the corners of the RV and the windows were dark squares. Kane and Germain had come in to escape the mosquitoes, and they looked up from their quiet card game as I straightened slowly, groaning.

  “Still no luck?” Germain asked.

  “No. I finished looking through the locals hours ago, and now I’m looking at guys from all of western Canada. I still haven’t found him.”

  “Let it go, then,” Kane advised. “You’re probably too tired now anyway. Get some sleep. Germain and I will cover the watches tonight.”

  “I’ll take a watch,” I protested. “You guys need rest, too.”

  After a short argument, Kane conceded, and I drew the last watch.

  I might as well have stayed up all night. I tossed and turned, and it was a relief when I finally left the bed to spell off Germain.

  My shift dragged on interminably, and by the time the men awoke in the morning, butterflies were performing tight-formation aerobatics in my stomach. I knew our plan was sound, in theory. But I wasn’t looking forward to the execution of it.

  Chapter 38

  “All right,” Kane summarized as I finished my breakfast. “We’ll have exactly two hours if all goes well. If anything goes wrong, we’ll signal an abort and regroup at base camp. Aydan will go in to view active sims and read documents only.” He gave me a severe look, and I nodded, suitably chastened.

  Germain looked at his watch. “Time to go. Let’s do it.”

  I balanced awkwardly inside the cardboard box as the van slowed and cornered. We stopped, and I heard the murmur of voices at the gatehouse. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief when forward motion resumed.

  I hunkered down in my box while the van wound around several curves. Then movement halted and the engine stopped. I heard Germain get out of the driver’s seat. A few seconds later, the rear doors clicked open.

  “All clear,” he muttered. I heard him pick up his toolbox, and then the back doors slammed. His cheery whistle receded from the van, and Kane and I uncurled from our boxes, stretching.

  “Are you all right?” Kane inquired, indicating the box I’d just vacated.

  I pushed the box aside. “Yeah, I’m fine. I knew I could get out of the box any time, so it didn’t bother me. If I’d been trapped in there, it would’ve been a whole different story.”

  Kane eyed me dubiously in the dimness. “Are you sure about this?”

  I lay down on the floor before I could change my mind. “Let’s just do it.”

  He knelt at my feet and gently tied my ankles together. I breathed slowly and deeply, staying calm. I tensed when he took my hands in his, and he clasped them between his palms.

  “Aydan, this is stupid,” he said softly. “You don’t have to do this. You’re shaking like a leaf.”

  “Just do it,” I ground out.

  He reluctantly reached for the tie. As it snugged around my wrists, I squeaked, “Stop!”

  His knife was instantly in his hand, reaching to cut the tie, but I pulled my wrists away. “No, it’s okay.” I took a deep breath. “I can do this. Just… just… if you could reach into the front pocket of my waist pouch and give me my folding knife to hold. That would help.”

  He unzipped the pocket and placed the sturdy knife in my hand. I clutched it like a lifeline and took another deep breath. “Okay, I’m going in.”

  I concentrated and stepped into the white void of the network, where I swung my invisible arms wildly, trying to shake off the claustrophobia. After a few deep breaths, I calmed down enough to think rationally. I was safe. Kane would protect me. He would cut me loose at the first sign of trouble. And I had my knife. Just in case. I breathed some more before heading for the file repository.

  I located and opened the file that had caught my attention the previous day. Sure enough, it contained a list of names and dollar amounts. Damn, I could use Hellhound’s photographic memory now. I tried to memorize the names, but they wouldn’t stay in my head.

  I blew out an irritated breath. Then an idea struck me, and I read off the first few names, repeating them to myself while I closed the file and stepped carefully out the portal.

  I tried to jerk my hands over my aching head, but they wouldn’t move. I hissed wordlessly through clenched teeth until the pain receded enough for me to open my eyes. Kane held my bound wrists as he stared down at me in concern.

  “It’s okay,” I whispered. “Got some names for you. They won’t stay in my brain. Have to write them down.”

  He quickly let go of my hands and extracted a notebook and pen from the clutter in the back of the van. “Shoot.”

  I recited the names, and then ducked back into the network for the next batch.

  I struggled against heavy weight. Pain drilled through my eye sockets while I fought to escape. Inarticulate cries strangled in my throat. When I finally pried my eyes open, Kane lay half on top of me, pinning my arms with his weight while he held my head in an iron grip, his hand pressed over my mouth.

  I blinked painfully, and his grip loosened.

  “Aydan, you have to stop now! You were trying to batter your brains out on the floor. And you’re getting louder every time.”

  “Rella Industries,” I croaked. “Sumner, Brian; Telemetrix Solutions; Tatum, Gerald; Verge Systems; Wexner, Ralph; Williams, Alex.”

  He scribbled down the names while I pan
ted and tried not to whimper. I pawed at my head with my bound hands, trying to rub away the pain. Kane laid aside the notebook to lift my head and shoulders into his lap. His strong, warm hands firmly massaged my temples and the back of my head and neck. I couldn’t suppress a pathetic moan as my muscles relaxed.

  “How much time have we got left?” I whispered.

  He cradled my head in one large hand while he checked his watch. “An hour and a quarter.”

  “Good. That was only the first file. I’ve got a long way to go.”

  “Take a break,” he urged. “It’s getting worse every time you come out. Even with you tied up and me holding you down, you’re still shaking the whole van. And that’s just your normal exit. I don’t know what would happen if you actually got kicked out of the network.”

  “It’s only bad because I’m going in and out so often. I hope I won’t have to come out so frequently once I get into the rest of the files,” I reassured him. “That list was just too good to pass up.”

  “All right,” he agreed doubtfully. “But I’m going to shut this down if it gets any worse. You could be damaging your brain doing this, for all we know. And you’ll definitely damage your brain if you keep banging your head against the floor. Try to stop doing that.”

  “Good advice,” I agreed wryly. “Thanks for that.”

  He blew out a frustrated breath. “You know what I meant.”

  “Yeah.” I sighed. “I’m going back in.”

  I stepped into the void again. Back in the file repository, I discovered that the files tended to be grouped in clumps around specific dates. I skimmed through the most recent ones first. My excitement built as I read. Fuzzy Bunny ran a tight ship, indeed. And a well-documented one. I froze as an idea hit me.

  Dropping the current records, I went back in time to the previous cluster of records, around March. My mouth fell open at the records of their secret tests of the brainwave-driven network. Coldness crawled down my backbone when I read the detailed information about me. Thank God, the file that contained my information still said ‘Deceased’.

  I eyed the other clusters of files, dating back sporadically several years. My pulse raced. This was gold. My God, if Kane had this information…

  A new thought struck me. Who else had this information? They had to be sharing files internally, if the Silverside operation was documented on these servers. Where else was it stored?

  I hovered in the file repository while my brain grudgingly unearthed my outdated computer knowledge. Did they have backups? How were they synchronizing data?

  Without conscious thought, I burrowed into the operating systems, watching services running and snooping on automated tasks. I caught my breath when I ran across the synchronization routine. It was scheduled to run every night at one A.M., but it could be manually activated as well.

  I stretched my insubstantial body down the virtual data tunnels used by the sync routine. The data was being synchronized at six other sites. I snapped back into myself, trembling with excitement. At least six other servers. And I could get to them all.

  Triumph filled me when I realized I could give Spider the IP addresses. His uber-geek skills would let him pinpoint the locations of the data centres. This could deal a deadly blow to Fuzzy Bunny.

  I was about to step back out the portal and deliver the good news to Kane when a newly-created file caught my eye. It had appeared in the system within the last several minutes, and it was still being edited by the user.

  I surveyed it cautiously. Maybe I could overcome the file locking and peek at a read-only copy. Ever so carefully, I opened the file.

  Panic drove through me.

  My heart tried to pound its way out of my chest as I dove back into the services and destroyed the synchronization routine. There was a chance nobody would notice until the next morning when they discovered that it hadn’t run. Unless they tried a manual sync…

  Adrenaline burned my veins as I flew back to the sim rooms, hoping against desperate hope that I was wrong. My heart stopped when I peeked into an occupied room.

  Somebody whimpered, “No, no, no,” as I jerked to a halt outside the portal to carefully step through.

  It sounded a lot like me.

  Chapter 39

  Back into my pain-wracked body. Terror intensified the agony. I fought impotently against the crushing weight. Screams and curses choked behind my clenched teeth. I failed utterly to control the impulse to beat my raging headache against the nearest hard surface.

  I gradually became conscious of Kane sprawling completely on top of me. His legs pinned mine to the floor while his elbows dug into my shoulders, his hands clenched around my head and bruising my lips. Involuntary tears streamed into my hair from under my screwed-shut eyelids.

  I tasted blood. My eyes wouldn’t open fully despite my best efforts. Kane’s weight suddenly lifted, accompanied by a cacophony of noise. Barely in control, I jerked into a ball, gulping air. I realized I was still sobbing, “No, no,” like a broken record.

  Hands on my shoulders, and an urgent male voice. “Ma’am, it’s okay. You’re safe now.”

  Oh, no. Not again.

  I let out a wail of despair and let the sobs rack my body as I squinted between my eyelashes, adrenaline pumping while I tried to figure out what was happening.

  A uniformed security guard knelt beside me. I heard scuffling and a couple of heavy thuds from outside the rear doors, and then Germain spoke.

  “You might not want to rough him up too much. Cops might wonder.”

  An angry male voice responded. “So there was a struggle when we apprehended him. So what.” There was another thud and a grunt that sounded like Kane. “We caught this asshole yesterday and he must’ve gotten away from the police. Did you see what he did to that poor woman?”

  “No.” Germain’s broad shoulders blocked the light as he looked in the open door. “My God!”

  He stepped up into the van and pushed the guard away. “I have first aid training. Let me look at her. And cut her loose, for God’s sake.” He gently lifted the tear-matted hair away from my face.

  “Ma’am, are you all right?” he asked. “Can you speak?”

  I opened my eyes and let one eyelid drop in a wink while I sobbed and trembled. The corner of Germain’s mouth quirked in an almost imperceptible response.

  “I think she’s okay,” Germain called. “Just hysterical. And it looks like she might have had a nosebleed.”

  “Maybe.” The voice outside the door registered satisfaction. “But maybe it’s his blood. She bit him pretty good.”

  Oops. I was going to owe Kane for that one. Assuming we got out of this in one piece.

  “Police are on the way,” continued the disembodied voice.

  “Good,” Germain said. He sat cross-legged on the floor beside me and took my hand. “I don’t know anything about being a security guard, but I can sit with her until she’s calmer,” he said to the guard. “I’ll let you do your job and watch that lowlife outside.”

  “Thanks.” The guard stepped out of the van and more scuffling ensued, but it didn’t sound as though Kane was being seriously injured.

  I quickly stuffed my knife back into my waist pouch as Germain leaned close and whispered, “What happened? Did you get kicked out of the network again?”

  “No. Carl, listen, you have to get out of here ASAP and go to Plan B.”

  He frowned down at me. “That’s only to be implemented if you’re captured.”

  “I’m staying. Tell Stemp I’m captured. Please!” I bit off my explanation as the young guard stepped into the van again.

  “We can bring her out now,” the guard said. “We’ve brought a car around, and we’ll take her up to the house where we can take better care of her until the ambulance arrives.”

  Germain nodded, still frowning at me. “Okay. I’ll help you.”

  I struggled theatrically to sit up. “I… I’m okay, I think,” I stammered as pathetically as I could manage. “I
don’t need an ambulance. I was just… so scared…”

  “That’s okay. Just take it slowly,” the young guard comforted as he and Germain helped me to my feet. I leaned heavily on them and tottered out into the sunlight.

  I sank down to sit at the end of the van. “I just… need a minute,” I breathed, and slumped against Germain while I surveyed the situation. Kane was spread-eagled face down on the asphalt, but the only visible damage was the bite mark on his hand. That didn’t look too serious. At least I hadn’t taken a chunk out.

  I drew in a trembling breath. If we were very, very lucky, the police might arrive before the guards decided to take Kane up to the house. I was intensely aware of the passage of time. I wasn’t faking my unsteady breathing and shaking body. I needed Germain to get out of there, fast. And I desperately needed to get into the network again.

  I stood carefully, and the two men ushered me to the waiting car. I sank into the seat and turned to Germain. “Thank you for all your help. I’m sorry if I made you late for your next appointment. He just… he just dragged me in there…” I faked another sob.

  “Ma’am, it’s no trouble at all. I hope you’ll be okay.” He straightened. “I have to get going, I’m late,” he said to the guard. “Here’s my card, in case the police need to talk to me.”

  The guard thanked him and took the proffered card. I breathed a silent sigh of relief when Germain’s van disappeared down the driveway. One safe. Two to go.

  Chapter 40

  As the car wound up the driveway toward the house, I turned to the young guard. “Please… please don’t bring him up to the house. I… don’t think I can stand to be in the same room with him.”

  “We’ll keep him down there,” he reassured me. “But you need to stay and talk to the police this time.”

  “I’m sorry,” I sniffled. “It was such a stupid mistake, but I was so… so scared, I just wanted to get away. And then he found me again…”