Friends In Spy Places

by Diane Henders

  “Holt is not required to undergo post-incident evaluation. He experienced no violence or fatalities.” Stemp’s disturbing amber gaze dissected me. “You did.”

  “It wasn’t a big deal…” I trailed off in the face of his implacable expression and sighed. “Okay, I’ll go and do my report.”

  “And make your appointment with Dr. Rawling,” Stemp prompted. “And, after you obtain your psych clearance, visit your mother.”

  Gritting my teeth, I nodded. “Yes, I’ll see Dr. Rawling and visit my…” I hissed out a breath. “Can we please just call her Nora? Every time I hear the word ‘mother’ I want to punch somebody. And I won’t call her Nola Kelly, either. She chose ‘Nora Taylor’ thirty years ago, so she can have it.”

  “Very well. Nora it is,” Stemp agreed. “And you should discuss your conflicted feelings about her with Dr. Rawling.”

  “Not until I’ve finished my investigation. When I know what really happened, I’ll know how I really feel.” Silently congratulating myself on a clever evasion, I eased a step toward the door. “Well, I’d better get to work on that report.”

  “One more thing.” Stemp’s voice halted me.

  God, now what?

  He went on, “I received a call from the Silverside Hospital as I was leaving the security desk, which was why I was delayed. Agent Rand wants to see you.”

  “He’s still in the hospital?”

  “Yes. He didn’t divulge why he wanted you to come, but he said it was a professional matter.” Humour glinted in Stemp’s eyes. “Although with the amorous Agent Rand, the distinction between professional and personal may be subtle if not completely nonexistent.”

  I grinned. “True. I don’t think Ian even has a purely professional mode; but if his concussion is bad enough to keep him in the hospital, he’s probably not feeling very frisky.”

  Stemp nodded. “One last thing. My parents have vacated your home and will be staying with me for the remainder of their visit. They asked me to convey their thanks to you, along with this.” He handed over the chunky wristwatch that doubled as the monitoring receiver for my farm’s security system.

  “Thanks.” I strapped it onto my wrist.

  “They also hoped that you might have time for a social visit later. However, they do understand how busy you are…” He trailed off as though hoping I’d agree that I was much too busy to subject us both to any awkward social interaction.

  “I’d love to,” I said sincerely. “I’ll call your mom and set something up after I’ve talked to Ian and, um… Nora.”

  “Very well,” Stemp said. I was trying to decide whether he was pleased or annoyed when he added, “Dismissed.”

  In my office, I slumped in front of my computer and poked at the keys for a few minutes but my eyes kept falling closed. After my third head-bob, I abandoned the half-finished report.

  It would keep. There was nothing that I hadn’t already reported verbally; and Ian was waiting. Maybe he had some important intel that I could use as an excuse to postpone my visit to Dr. Rawling.

  Or maybe I should go and see Rawling right away. Get it over with, get my psych clearance, and see Nora right afterward. The sooner I finished investigating her, the sooner I’d know whether she was really my loving mother who had sacrificed everything for me, or just a cold-hearted lying cheating bitch who also happened to be my mother.

  My stomach twisted.

  Right. Ian first, then. I logged off the computer and headed for the door.

  At the hospital, I cleared the retinal scan and let myself into the secured wing. As I strolled down the hall, an elfin brunette clad in pink scrubs waved to me from behind the nurse’s station.

  “Hey, Aydan, it’s great to see you!” she chirped with a sparkling smile.

  “Hi, Linda.” I eyed her perkiness with envy. “You look a lot more wide awake than your other half.”

  She giggled. “Uh-oh. Did you go by the house and wake him up?”

  “No, we got called to a nine o’clock meeting. He could barely keep his eyes open.”

  “Ohmigosh, poor Spider.” Her amused smile belied her words. “Last night was his once-a-month World of Warcraft marathon with the guys. He was just crawling into the house when I was leaving for my shift.”

  I chuckled. “Stemp sent out the meeting request at six AM. Spider must have figured it wasn’t worth going to bed.”

  Linda shook her head, her eyes soft. “No, he never comes home on World of Warcraft nights until he knows I’ll be out of bed and he won’t disturb me. He’s such a sweetie.”

  Her glow of happiness put a smile on my face. “He really is,” I agreed. “Anyhow, I know you’re busy. I’m just here to see Ian.”

  “Oh, sure. He’s two doors down.” She pointed, lowering her voice to a confidential murmur. “He’s been very restless. Maybe it would help if you sat with him a while.” Her brow furrowed. “I feel sorry for him, suffering and alone here in a strange country.”

  I grinned. “Don’t feel too sorry for him. Canada isn’t that strange compared to the UK, and he’s an expert at manipulating other people’s feelings. He’ll be milking it for all he’s worth with you.”

  Her brows drew together. “Aydan, he’s in pain! The poor man has thirty-one stitches in his scalp, and a terrible concussion.”

  Holding up a conciliatory hand, I backed away. “Okay, okay, I’ll be nice to him.” Her indignant nod of approval made me smile and add, “This is why you’re such a good nurse.”

  Her cheeks went pink as she beamed at me. “Thanks!” A soft chime sounded and she added, “Oh, gotta go!”

  She hurried off toward another room, and I headed for the half-open door she had indicated earlier.

  When I poked my head into the room, Ian’s gaze snapped to me. Even in the dimness of the curtained room, I was struck anew by his attractiveness as he lay on his side facing the door. Green eyes rimmed with thick dark lashes, chiselled features, broad shoulders and muscular physique…

  “Storm,” he murmured. “You came. Thank you.”

  “I thought we agreed you weren’t going to call me that,” I chided as I slipped into the room and shut the door behind me.

  He made a mute ‘what does it matter?’ gesture and let his hand drop back to the bed as though it had taken all his strength to raise it.

  Approaching the bed, I studied him with concern. Despite the handsomeness that had momentarily distracted me, his face was unusually pale. Hard lines of pain crimped his mouth, and his beautiful eyes were dark-shadowed.

  “You look like hell,” I said.

  “I feel like hell.” He eased his head cautiously on the pillow. “I’m glad you’re here. I can’t…” He squeezed his eyes closed. “I can’t… rest here, never knowing who’s going to come through that door. They’ve taken my weapon and I feel…” He opened those gorgeous green eyes again, sucking my heart in. “…helpless. Naked.”

  Fighting the urge to put my arms around him and comfort him, I leaned close and whispered, “Bad news. You are naked.” As his eyes widened, I added, “Under your gown and blanket.”

  “Oh, very funny,” he grumbled, but a smile twitched his mouth. He sobered. “Seriously, though… would you please sit…” He cocked a thumb behind him. “Over there? I’ve been lying on this side for hours because I can’t bear to turn my back to the door, and my shoulder feels as though it’s been worked over by a gang of dockers. If you’ll watch the door for me, I can turn over for a while.”

  My heart clenched with sympathy. “Of course.”

  As I rounded the bed and pulled up a chair facing the door, Ian closed his eyes and eased onto his back, moving his head in small increments. At last he completed the rotation onto his right side with his back to the door, and a half-sigh-half-moan escaped him as his body settled. His eyes stayed closed.

  “So much better,” he murmured. “Just a moment ’til the vertigo subsides…” Soon his eyes opened and he inquired anxiously, “You’re armed, aren’t you?�
��

  “Yes, but you’re safe here in the secured wing. Nobody can get to you in here.”

  “I’ve heard that before.” He gave me a pained smile, his pale face vulnerable against the white pillowcase. “You’ll excuse me if I don’t find it as comforting as you might hope.”

  “I know what you mean. I’d feel the same if I were you.” Ignoring the cynical suspicion that he was only playing me, I reached over and stroked his arm. “Just relax. I’ve got your back.”

  “Oh, that’s heavenly. Thank you.” His eyelids sank closed again. As I withdrew my hand, he added, “Please don’t stop.”

  Okay, he was definitely playing me.

  But despite that knowledge, I shuffled my chair a bit closer and stroked his arm some more. I’d seen the patchwork of stitches on the back of his head, and if his concussion was severe enough to keep him hospitalized, he must have a terrible headache. And with the vertigo he’d already mentioned, he was surely suffering nausea. All because he’d helped Holt save my ass.

  Ian’s breathing slowed and deepened, his body relaxing while my palm made gentle passes up and down his arm. His skin was hot under my hand, and I wondered if he had a fever. That would be bad.

  “Storm…” he whispered.

  Unsure whether he was awake or asleep, I leaned in and murmured, “It’s okay, I’m here. You’re safe.”

  The arm I had been stroking hooked around my neck, drawing my face down to his as his eyes popped open.

  “You faker!” I growled. “I knew you were playing me!”

  As I tried to sit up, his arm tightened. “Please,” he whispered urgently.

  I froze, studying him. This wasn’t his usual lighthearted flirting.

  Letting him draw my lips close to his, I whispered, “What?”

  “Is this room bugged?”

  “It shouldn’t be, but I can double-check.” I unzipped my waist pouch and pressed the activation button on the bug detector I always carried. “All clear,” I announced when the green light shone.

  “Good.” He closed his eyes again, apparently fighting another wave of pain and vertigo. “I didn’t tell you everything before… about Nora Taylor,” he whispered. “She could be dangerous. And if she knows I’m suspicious of her, she might try to bump me off.”

  Cold fear doused my heart.

  A moment later the soft click of his door jerked me upright, my Glock already in my hand.

  Chapter 4

  “Is… everything okay…?” Linda stared wide-eyed from the doorway, frozen with a tray of pills in her hand.

  I let out a breath and holstered my weapon. “Fine. Sorry.”

  “What’s going on?” She moved cautiously into the room. “Ian, are you all right?”

  “Fine,” he mumbled. “We were just snogging. You took us by surprise.”

  “Oh…” Colour suffused her face. “I just… brought your pain and nausea medication… I didn’t mean to…” She gave me flustered glance before pulling herself together and approaching the bed. “I’ll give you some privacy in a minute,” she said firmly. “But I need to check your vital signs now.”

  After recording his temperature, pulse rate, and blood pressure, Linda handed over his medication. As she turned toward the door I stopped her and spoke quietly. “Don’t let anybody come into Ian’s room without clearing them with me first, okay?”

  She stepped back, eyes widening. “Is he in danger? Is that why you had your gun drawn?”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out the hard way. How well do you know the staff here?”

  “Really well. We’ve all worked here for years.”

  “Including the cleaning people and support staff?” I probed. “Delivery people? Food services?”

  Linda frowned. “Nobody gets in here unless they have a security clearance. We prepare the food and drink ourselves to make sure nobody tampers with it. Support staff and delivery people are always escorted by a security guard, and the guard stays with them every second they’re inside the security perimeter. Even the cleaners are watched by a guard the whole time they’re here. I literally know every person who has access to this area. It’s part of my job.”

  “Did you hear that, Ian?” I asked. “You’re safe here.”

  A noncommittal mumble came from the bed, and I turned back to Linda. “Still, I don’t want anyone but Stemp or Holt in here without my permission. And I mean nobody else, not even if they have a security clearance. Can you do that?”

  “Yes, I’ll put a note in the system.”

  “And can you give Ian’s gun back to him?”

  Linda’s brow furrowed. “Not without authorization from Director Stemp or General Briggs. But if you’re worried, we could put a guard outside his door.”

  “Yes, let’s do that. Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” She hurried out, still frowning.

  I closed the door behind her and rounded the bed to face Ian again, fists on hips. “Snogging?” I demanded.

  “Of course.” He gave me a passionate look from under suggestively drooping eyelids. “And who could blame you for mixing a little pleasure with business? I’m irresistible.”

  Dropping into the chair, I snorted. “Don’t flatter yourself, pretty-boy.”

  “You’re a cruel woman. I’m crushed.” He gave me a ghost of his usual grin before sobering and reaching out a beseeching hand. “Won’t you please come closer so I don’t have to crane my neck to see you?” As I hitched my chair toward the bed he gestured me closer still.

  When I leaned in, he snagged my neck and drew me down until we were face to face again. “I’m sorry if my cover story gets you in trouble,” he whispered. “But even though there may not be an electronic bug, I don’t want to take a chance that someone might be using a passive listening system.”

  “Okay, but I can’t twist over the chair arm like this. I’ll be crippled in ten seconds or less.” Slipping out from under his embrace, I straightened from my awkward position with a breath of relief.

  A quick survey of the situation convinced me that hospital beds are not designed for the sharing of confidences. My options were to kneel on the hard floor beside the bed, lean over from the chair and risk walking like Quasimodo for the rest of my life, or…

  “Move over, Mr. Irresistible,” I said.

  Smiling, Ian scooted backward with an alacrity that made me suspect his earlier suffering-hero performance. As I stretched out cautiously on the narrow bed facing him, he tucked his arm over my waist and pulled our hips into contact.

  “That had better be your Walther PPK in your pocket,” I warned.

  His smiling lips were nearly on mine. “I already told you they confiscated it. But I do happen to have a particularly large… gun.”

  “Uh-huh.” I shifted backward, hovering my butt precariously over the edge of the bed. “And I’ve heard you’ll shoot anything that moves, so I’m sure you’ll understand if I keep my distance. What did you want to talk about?”

  “I’m deeply wounded by your mistrust.” He gave me a look that was probably supposed to be beseeching; or maybe seductive. It was hard to tell when our faces were so close together that all I could see was a cross-eyed blur.

  “My heart pumps purple piss for you.” I eased a bit farther away, then had to clutch ignominiously at him when I almost fell off the bed.

  “See? Irresistible,” Ian said with satisfaction as he pulled me close again.

  “You wish, Rand,” I growled, trying to ignore the firm pressure of his body against mine. And the way his fingertips were tracing small exquisite circles on my lower back.

  And his minty-fresh breath. And the hint of spicy aftershave wafting off his smoothly-shaven cheek…

  Bedridden and barely able to move, my ass. The bastard had been well enough to shave and brush his teeth. He’d been playing me all along.

  Unsurprised, I added, “You have three seconds to give me some intel that will keep me from twisting Walther and the boys into a half-h
itch.”

  “Storm, how could you even-”

  “Three,” I interrupted. “Two.”

  “All right.” Ian sighed and lowered his voice to a ghost of a whisper again. “You recall that I said Nora Taylor has been employed with MI5 since 1983…” He hesitated with a wry quirk of his lips. “…which I now know was about a year and half after she faked her death in a fiery car crash so that she could leave Canada without anyone knowing.”

  “Don’t remind me,” I muttered.

  “Anyway, I told you her employment records were complete and unremarkable, which was true.”

  “But…?” I prompted.

  “But there’s something that’s been nagging at me. Not enough to make accusations; but just… a feeling. You know how you get a hunch sometimes for no apparent reason?”

  I was far too comfortable in the warmth of his arms. His fingertips were still making those soft circles on my back. My eyelids dipped, my body melting against him.

  Shaking myself awake, I snapped, “Yeah, I know what you mean. Stop stalling and tell me what you suspect.”

  “But you’re exhausted,” Ian soothed, brushing a kiss over my lips as his hand curled around the back of my neck to coax me closer. “Just relax and have a lovely little rest, nice and safe here with-”

  “Three!” I snapped. “Two!”

  “Oh, fine.” He sighed and eased himself into a more comfortable position, his hand resting on my shoulder, fingertips skimming the side of my neck in the lightest of caresses.

  I considered pulling away again, but he lowered his voice to a whisper, making me strain to hear him.

  “When I checked MI5’s records, I discovered that there had been a confidential investigation into Nora last year, at the behest of your Department. Since they provided only sketchy details as to their concerns, we provided a rather noncommittal clearance in return. Would you care to tell me the real reason for that investigation?”

  “Um…” I pondered for a moment. What could I tell him that wasn’t classified? “Her husband was involved in espionage and treason.”