by H. M. Clarke
“Kaitlyn, how are you feeling?”
She turned her head at the sound of her name and saw George staring down at her.
“Fine. I’m fine. They got away then?”
“Who got away?”
“The two women.” Kaitlyn pushed herself up onto her elbows and looked around the ladies room; George hovered close by, his hands outstretched as if afraid she would collapse.
“Women?”
“Yes. They both pulled guns on me and gave me some message to give to the Old Man. Then it ended with shooting.
“We heard the shooting. Are you sure you are fine?” George raised a hand to her forehead and carefully pushed away a lock of brown hair. It felt funny, heavy.
Kaitlyn transferred her weight to one elbow and gingerly touched her forehead. Her hair was encrusted in blood but the wound was shallow and as she realized what it was, it abruptly began to hurt.
“I’m fine, George. Where are the others?” Kaitlyn pushed his hands away as she sat up. She was not going to faint again.
George was about to answer when John and Chris appeared at the door.
“Thank God you’re all right.” Kaitlyn’s heart jumped in her chest at the genuine relief in Chris’s voice, but it soon hurtled back to earth when John opened his mouth to say, “Yeah, otherwise Wheeler would literally have torn us to shreds.”
“Summerby.”
“Yes, George. I know. Only open my mouth if I have something constructive to say,” John said in a singsong voice. Chris grinned at John as if they were both sharing some in-joke.
“We’re secured the café and have called in both the police and the AFP-”
“Now, that’s going to be a fun pissing match to watch.”
Chris continued talking over John’s comment. “I’ve sent Mark back to the office to warn David. He’s also taken copies of the surveillance feed to analyze.”
“It won’t show anything-”
Kaitlyn cut through John’s response; she was not quite in the mood for his bullshit at the moment. “You never know. The surveillance footage might tell us who the two women who attacked me are.”
“Two women?”
Kaitlyn nearly froze up as Chris spoke to her. But it was obvious that he was speaking more to himself, his brow furrowed in thought.
“We better get you over to the hospital to get that wound looked at.” John’s hand was already in his coat pocket to fish around for his mobile phone.
“I don’t need an ambulance and I don’t need to go to a hospital,” Kaitlyn growled.
She vowed to herself that the next person to ask about her scratch is going to get a punch in the nose.
“I just want to get back to the office and see if I recognize anyone from the security footage.” Then Kaitlyn glared at John. “And John, if you tell anyone about my fainting you’ll have more to worry about than David tearing you to shreds.”
John held up his hands in protest. “I promise I won’t say a word. Not a single word.”
Kaitlyn glared at him. “You better not say anything at all about it, much less one word!”
“I promise. Cross my heart.” John drew the outline of a cross with his finger over his chest.
“Chris, wait here until SAPOL and the AFP arrive. You are now our liaison officer. John and I will take Kaitlyn back to the office.”
“Yes, George. You know that neither agency will be happy about their only witness being taken away from the scene.”
“If they need to talk to me, they can see me at the office.” Kaitlyn came slowly to her feet as she spoke, and she was glad of the minimal support that she needed from the hand basin. She slipped the Walther that was still in her hand into her coat pocket to keep for later investigation. “Let’s go. The quicker we leave, the less likely it is that we’ll run into either SAPOL or the AFP.”
◆◆◆
“Is that all they said?”
David Wheeler stalked back and forth across the conference room.
“Only the blonde really spoke. The red head was mostly silent.”
Kaitlyn sat at the end of the conference table, uncomfortable because of the fierce glare of the video conference screen. This was the first time Kaitlyn had seen or heard Ishmael Rothe ‘in person’. Apart from the curt greeting when the conference link was opened, the Director had not said a word; he just sat in silence and listened as Kaitlyn related what had happened in the cafe.
To Kaitlyn, everything seemed a blur from when the two women vanished in the ladies bathroom. She remembered the sounds of people screaming and shouting; the guys storming in and finding her crouched on the bathroom floor with the Walther still in her tight grip and the fumes of what remained of the black smoke curling into her nostrils. Then she fainted.
Kaitlyn still could not believe how calm she had felt—still felt. She had just been under fire! And she was secretly pleased that she gave as good as she got.
“Why send two of their most experienced people to deliver a nonsense message?” David stopped his stalking and turned to the screen. “And how did they know about Kaitlyn? She was only made an active agent this morning.”
Rothe’s image encompassed both of them as he looked out from the screen. “That might not have had anything to do with this.”
Kaitlyn’s head jerked back to the screen. Her intuition raised its head, and Kaitlyn suddenly realized that Rothe knew that there was another reason behind their choice of her.
“It wasn’t a nonsense message, and they delivered it this way to show that they are not afraid of us.” Rothe shifted in his chair. “Though it seems that Cassandra and Remy will be more careful next time they met you Kaitlyn.”
“You know those women?” Kaitlyn said in surprise before remembering to whom she was speaking to.
“They have crossed paths with The Order before,” David quickly replied. “Though… I hadn’t realized that the Sharda had them currently here in Adelaide.”
“David. Did Phillip see you this morning?”
Kaitlyn blinked in surprise. How did Rothe know that Phil was here? And The Sharda?
David shoulder muscles clenched up at the mention of Phil and Kaitlyn became all the more determined to try to make them get along better.
“Yes, he did.”
“Are you going to act on his information?”
David turned away from the glare of the video screen. Kaitlyn could not see his face, but she could feel his gaze on her.
“The Sharda attacked one of my people,” David finally said, turning back to look at Rothe. “We owe them in kind.”
CHAPTER
NINE
◆◆◆
A loud thud jolted Kaitlyn out of her thoughts. She turned to look at the box of donuts now sitting on her diary and then up into Mark’s sugar-powdered encrusted face.
“Something to keep us going through the viewing.”
“Thanks, Mark.”
Kaitlyn picked up the box and scooted over with Mark to sit at his desk. Mark had already set up the surveillance feed and as Kaitlyn scooped a banana iced donut from the box, he began to play the footage. He had started the footage several hours before they had arrived for lunch.
“You won’t find anything,” John said as he plucked a donut from the box.
“Hey, they’re ours!” Mark reached out and pulled the box away from John’s reach.
“Cut it, you two. I’m trying to watch this.”
John leaned close over her shoulder and squinted at the screen where the waitress was talking to several customers by the front counter.
“She’s cute. Maybe it is worth reviewing the footage.”
Kaitlyn jerked her elbow and was satisfied when John grunted at the impact. “Go and annoy someone else, John.” Kaitlyn turned back to watching the footage, waiting for John to move away. Instead, he cleared a space on Mark’s desk and sat down.
Kaitlyn paused the footage and glared at John, who gave her an innocent shrug of the shoulders.
“I’ve been given orders to only annoy you, Kate. And who are you to complain about that considering how wonderful and charming I am to be around?”
“David has asked you to nursemaid me?” Kaitlyn felt the heat rushing to her face as her anger began to rise. “He wants you to make sure I don’t do anything stupid, doesn’t he.”
“Dave hasn’t ordered me to do anything.” John let the grin on his face grow larger. “The Old Man has.”
Kaitlyn’s eyes widened in surprise and she quickly turned back to look at the monitor. There was nothing she could say to that. David, she could badger, but The Old Man? Kaitlyn shook her head. There was nothing she could do about it at the moment; she would have to suffer John’s bad puns until Ishmael Rothe tells him to stop. If John actually was telling her the truth that his orders came from Ishmael Rothe.
Kaitlyn sighed and clicked on the play button.
◆◆◆
Kaitlyn hated to admit that John looked to be right. She had seen nothing that could help them, and Kaitlyn was beginning to get the suspicion that looking at surveillance tapes was just used as an excuse to keep her occupied and out of trouble.
John and Mark were now sitting at John’s desk talking, letting her view and review the footage in peace.
Leaning back in her chair to stretch her back, Kaitlyn slid her fingers under her glasses to rub her eyes. “There is something going on here that I just don’t understand. And I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I. But there’s not a lot we can do about it though…” John turned to his computer as it chimed and tapped a few keys. “Phil just sent an E-mail through to Dave and The Old Man. We might learn more soon.”
Kaitlyn arched an eyebrow. “Phil is sending you information about this case?”
John gave her a grin and Mark’s face suddenly took on a guilty expression.
“I had Mark place a hack on his E-mail account to notify me about his messages.”
“You’re spying on your own brother!” Kaitlyn looked incredulously at both men. She could not believe it of them.
“Not spying exactly. I just don’t like surprises.”
“You know that I’ll have to tell Phil about this.” Kaitlyn could not hide the disappointment from her voice. John acted an idiot. She thought John was better than this.
“You can’t do that! He’ll kill me.” John jerked from his seat, his eyes glued to Kaitlyn.
“Phil does have a right to privacy John.”
“And for that you’d condemn me to death?”
“You could always turn into a small furry animal and hide.”
John slumped back into his chair. “I better get used to being a house mouse then. At least a cat will eat me quick.”
Mark sniggered and Kaitlyn turned on him. “You helped him Mark. I’ll be telling Phil that as well.”
Mark’s face drained white and John gave a short bark of laughter. “You’d dob on me?” The hurt in Mark’s voice surprised Kaitlyn, and she felt her gaze softening in automatic response.
“If you deactivate the software Mark, I won’t tell Phil.” She then turned back to John. “But I’ll still tell him about you.”
“Then I’ll tell Chris.”
“Tell him what, John?”
“That you’re wildly in love with him.”
“I am not wildly in love with him.” Kaitlyn tried to place as much derision in her comment as possible, but as she said it, a realization hit her. It might actually be true. Is a huge crush and love the same thing? And if it was more than that, what then? Magi are only attracted to the magical pull of other Magi, so that meant that the chances of anything happening between her and Chris were zero. It was something for her to think on later when she had the luxury of time.
“You could have fooled me.” John gave her one of his beaming smiles and relaxed in his chair.
I certainly fooled myself!
“Go ahead and tell him then, it’ll be no skin off my nose. And it won’t stop me telling Phil.”
“He’ll be back in his office in ten minutes. He’s been at the café.” John read from the next message that chimed on his machine.
He thinks that I won’t tell Phil. Kaitlyn frowned again. Being nurse maid-ed by John is going to get really annoying.
“I’ve got to go to the ladies.” Kaitlyn started to move towards the door when she heard John get up from his chair to follow. She turned back. “You are not going into the toilet with me, John.”
“Look what happened last time you went to the loo alone!”
“That was in a public space. Not here in the office. I want to do my business in peace.”
“Come on John, she won’t be long.” Mark tugged on Johns arm to sit back down.
“Oh, all right.” John plonked back down in his seat. “Just don’t you say anything to Phil.”
Kaitlyn smiled her gratitude to Mark, but she addressed her words to John. “Unless Phil hangs around the ladies toilet here, you have nothing to worry about.” She then hurried out of the door before John could change his mind. She would never tell Phil that John had been checking his mail, but she would tell him to ‘check’ on it without giving too much away. But she was hurt that Mark thought she would have done it.
Also, if he could do it to Phil, then he could do it to anyone, maybe even her. Kaitlyn made a mental note to check her security on her work and home computers later.
But it was not something to worry about now. It had made it easier for her to get out from under John’s gaze, and she had to make the most of it.
Kaitlyn slipped into the stairwell and started the descent down. She would have at least fifteen minutes—maybe twenty - before John would go to the ladies toilet to see what she was doing. And then a few minutes after that before he raised the alarm that she was missing. Kaitlyn was never going to find anything out about what the hell was going on if she was locked up in the office being babysat by tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum.
She was going to see Phil. His office was only a few blocks away on Currie Street. And Phil will not keep her wrapped in cotton wool; after all, she used to be his partner before transferring back to the Restricted Practitioners Unit.
Kaitlyn ran down the final four flights and darted out the side door into the alleyway. She had made it. She turned and started running down the street, trying to put a little distance between herself and the building. As she approached the corner someone came barreling around it and blocked her path. Unable to stop, Kaitlyn slammed straight into them.
Suddenly, strong arms wrapped about her and her face was crushed against a white business shirt covering a hard chest. Kaitlyn panicked.
They can’t have known I’d be here.
“Let me go!”
Kaitlyn tried to twist out of the forceful grip, and as she drew each panicked breath, she could smell the strong scent of spice and muskiness of the man who held tightly to her.
She stopped struggling and looked up into blue colored eyes.
“Hello Kaitlyn.”
She was in the arms of Richard Gisbourne.
CHAPTER
TEN
◆◆◆
“Richard?”
He eased his grip around her, moving his hands to rest on Kaitlyn’s shoulders. In turn, she used her hands to push away from him and put a little distance between herself and his firmly muscled chest.
Richard was wearing a navy silk tie that stood out against the crisp whiteness of his business shirt. It was her favorite color. It is odd what she noticed in moments like this. She tore her eyes from his tie and looked up into his sapphire blue eyes.
“You’re safe.”
She frowned in confusion. “Of course I’m safe.”
“I came as soon as I heard the news from Jenny.” His eyes focused hard on her treated head wound.
“You haven’t been in the office?” As the words left Kaitlyn’s mouth she realized that she had not seen him when George and John bought her back after the attack. The last time Kaitlyn reme
mbered seeing Richard was when he stormed into the conference room to talk to The Old Man.
Richard shook his head. “I had an appointment. What happened? I wasn’t given much detail.”
Kaitlyn was surprised at the concern she saw in his eyes, and his face was no longer stony and forbidding. Now it was soft, mobile and warm. She felt her face heat up as blood rushed to her cheeks and Kaitlyn realized that this was the first time she could remember ever being alone with Richard. And he had never looked as welcoming, as caring, as homely, as he did now. Kaitlyn knew she was attracted to him, but she felt an overwhelming attraction for Chris as well.
She drew a deep breath and stepped further back, making Richard release his grip on her shoulders. Damn it. I don’t have the time to worry about this shit right now!
“I’m going to see Phil Summerby Richard. Walk with me and I’ll fill you in on what happened at lunch.” Kaitlyn could not risk Richard telling the others where he had seen her. Also, strangely, she felt safer being with him.
His eyes widened in surprise, but then narrowed. Kaitlyn could sense he was suspicious, so she took his arm in her own and guided him away from the building.
“Fine. I’m coming.” His reluctant footsteps fell quickly into step with hers, and Kaitlyn felt better now that she was on her way again. The further she got out from under David’s protective wing, the better. He meant well, but she knew that if today’s events had happened to one of the others, he would not have hemmed them in as he did her. Plus, Daf would not like the fact that she is going to see Phil.
As they walked, the blocks to Currie Street Kaitlyn filled Richard in on what had happened, glossing over certain events concerning her, such as the fact that she was not supposed to be out of the office or who her two attackers actually were.
Kaitlyn had just finished speaking when Richard’s mobile phone rang. They were just walking around the corner of the Federal Building when he fished it out from his jacket pocket to answer it.