Once Burned, Twice Spy

by Diane Henders

  “Yeah, you’d really like us to be sitting ducks, wouldn’t you?” he snapped. “You’re the one who threw the smoke bomb.”

  “Bullshit!” Hellhound barked at the same time as I retorted, “I did not!” I raised my voice above the murmuring that surrounded us and added, “It won’t take long to figure this out. This whole area is under constant surveillance from all angles. As soon as security gets here we’ll play back the records and find out what happened. And we’re locked in, so nobody’s going to escape until we figure this out.” I glared back at Grandin. “Holster your weapon.”

  He made no move to comply. “Take off your mask,” he countered. “Unless…” His eyes narrowed. “…maybe your bomb wasn’t just smoke. Maybe you poisoned us all.”

  “For chrissake!” I snatched off the mask, half relieved at being able to breathe freely; half afraid of what I might be inhaling. “I didn’t throw the fucking smoke bomb, and you really need to settle down and holster your weapon. We’re all allies here…”

  I trailed off. One of our supposed allies had thrown that smoke bomb. Shit.

  “Oh, don’t be so childish, Grandin.” Nora Taylor’s voice dripped contempt. “Put your weapon away. You’re a hazard to yourself and everyone around you.”

  She had barely finished speaking when the public address system crackled to life. “Occupants of area C-45, this is security. Lay down your weapons, kneel, and place both hands on your heads. Remain in that position until instructed to do otherwise.”

  “It’s a conspiracy!” Grandin shouted. “You smug bastards are stealing our technology right from under our noses!”

  Hellhound and I exchanged a glance. Then I knelt, laid my gun down in front of me, and put both hands on my head. He did the same. Murray and Melinda and Reggie were next, and soon everyone in the room was kneeling with their hands on their heads except Grandin. Even Dirk capitulated.

  “This is your last warning,” the loudspeaker blared. “Lay down your weapons, kneel and place both hands on your heads. Failure to comply will be considered an act of aggression and will be met with deadly force.”

  “In case you need to hear it in one syllable words, Grandin…” Ian said dryly from his kneeling position a few yards away, “…Drop it or they’ll shoot you.”

  To my relief, Grandin obeyed at last, muttering imprecations.

  “Just to be clear, Mitchell,” Melinda said as the door clicked open. “You’re absolutely certain that your bacteria were inert by the time the containment vessel was opened, right?”

  “Yes,” he replied, but his voice quavered.

  A dozen body-armoured men marched into the room, their faces mostly obscured by breathing masks. The fans sucked a powerful gust of air through the door along with them, and the last man slammed the door shut behind him. I heard the lock re-engage with a definitive clunk.

  “Everybody will need to go through a scan so we can find out who took the metallic powder,” Reggie said loudly, without removing his hands from his head. “That rebar would have been broken down into its elements; iron and whatever other metals were in the alloy. It’ll show up on a standard ferrous-metal scan.”

  “What about our classified technology in the lockup?” Nora asked as the armed men fanned rapidly through the room.

  “The weapons lockup fails closed during a security event,” one of the men replied as he strode by her. “Nobody can get into it until we’re at normal security levels. Even an authorized retinal scan won’t open it now.” He stopped in front of me. “Please stand slowly. Turn and put both hands on the wall, feet apart. If you make any sudden moves, I’m authorized to use deadly force.”

  The muzzle of his P90 looked very large so close to my face. My mouth went dry.

  “Um… What’s going on?” I croaked as I rose slowly, hands still on my head.

  “We saw you throw the smoke bomb,” he said. “Turn around and face the wall.”

  “I didn’t…” I began.

  “Found it and bagged it, sir!” At the front of the room, one of the men held up a clear plastic bag containing the small object I’d seen earlier.

  “I didn’t throw it,” I protested. The guard’s gun muzzle rose, and I turned and faced the wall as ordered, knees trembling. “It might have looked like that on camera, but my arm twitched because something jabbed it.”

  “Oh, sure,” Grandin gibed. “Your arm twitched. And you just happened to have breathing masks for your whole team.”

  “I had masks because I wanted to be ready for any kind of attack on the way here,” I argued as the guard searched me, his hands probing thoroughly but impersonally. “I had a bunch of other gear, too. And I know I got jabbed by something. Check my right arm near the shoulder. I bet there’s a mark. It still smarts.”

  The guard extracted my trank pistol from my ankle holster and Grandin eased closer, his gaze sharpening.

  “Back off,” I snapped. “That’s classified.”

  The guard whisked the weapon behind his back, away from Grandin’s line of sight. Another guard hurried over with an opaque black plastic bag, and the trank pistol went safely into it.

  “Check my right arm,” I insisted. “And if that smoke bomb came from my vicinity, check Grandin, too. He was standing right beside me.”

  My guard, apparently the commanding officer, jerked his chin at one of his subordinates and another guard advanced on Grandin.

  Grandin protested loudly, but his words turned to gibberish in my ears as my guard stepped back a couple of paces and raised his weapon to point at my chest.

  Hell. I really preferred to be on the other end of guns. The deadly abyss of the muzzle made my heart quiver and cower down behind the dubious shelter of my ribs.

  “Please remove your sweatshirt,” the guard said. “Slowly. No sudden moves.”

  With shaking hands, I eased the garment over my head and turned my right shoulder toward him. I raised my T-shirt sleeve and craned my neck, but the sore spot was at the back of my shoulder. I probed with a cautious fingertip, and my throat constricted when my finger came back bearing a small smear of blood. I hadn’t had time to think about it earlier, but now…

  Fear turned my blood to ice.

  I had been injected with something.

  But what?

  Chapter 14

  The guard took an abrupt step backward. “Dammit!” He keyed his headset and barked, “Quarantine area C-45!”

  The exhaust fans roared louder and my ears popped with the pressure change.

  “Do you have any more of those handy breathing masks?” Ian inquired lightly, but his voice was tight.

  I swallowed hard. “No. But you can have mine if you want.” I nodded toward the crumpled mask lying on the floor. “For all the good it’ll do now.”

  His lips tightened, but he nodded and turned to the commander. “We’ll need to see the security footage.”

  “I don’t have access to it at the moment,” the commander replied. “After we secure the area we’ll provide it.”

  At least he wasn’t pointing his gun right at me anymore, but he still held it at the ready. Behind his clear face shield, his gaze took in every movement in the room.

  “May we please get up now?” Nora inquired. “This is quite uncomfortable.” Her voice was calm but her soft wrinkled features were strained as she knelt on the hard concrete floor, her arms trembling with the effort of holding her hands on top of her head.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, not yet.” The commander jerked his chin at me. “On your knees, hands on your head. If you try anything, I’ll shoot.”

  I obeyed, my hands trembling almost as much as Nora’s.

  Grandin was still loudly protesting, and the commander raised his voice. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please!”

  Grandin kept complaining. “…a violation of my rights of diplomatic immunity and an act of aggression against the United States…”

  “MAY I HAVE EVERYONE’S ATTENTION, PLEASE!” Either the comm
ander had a promising career ahead of him as a hog-caller, or there was a bullhorn built into his headset. His shout effortlessly overrode Grandin’s voice and made me flinch.

  “We apologize for the inconvenience,” the commander went on at a more comfortable volume in the ensuing silence. “We’ll do our best to resolve this unfortunate situation as soon as possible, and your cooperation will streamline the process. For your own safety, we will be searching everyone and temporarily confiscating all personal items including weapons-”

  Grandin bellowed, “I’m carrying diplomatic archival material! You have to safeguard it! I demand my rights! THIS IS AN ACT OF WAR!”

  The commander’s weapon swung up and the lungful of air that Grandin had sucked in for his next yell escaped in a loud hiccup.

  “Shut. Up.” The commander’s words were quiet but very sincere.

  Grandin shut.

  “As I was saying…” the commander continued, “…we will inventory each item that we remove from your possession, and when you are satisfied that the inventory list is complete and accurate we will ask you to sign the inventory and you will receive a copy of it. If you are carrying any classified items or diplomatic archival material…”

  He shot Grandin a chilly look. “…please notify us and we will provide opaque sealable bags, in which you will place the items with your own hands. All items will be grouped and labelled with their owner’s name, and stored in that corner under armed guard.”

  The commander nodded toward the front of the room. “For security verification, this process will take place in full view of everyone. Once itemized and moved to the storage area, the stockpiles will not be touched by anyone, including our security personnel, for any reason. Your collective supervision is an important part of this process. If at any time you see or suspect tampering by anyone, including our security personnel, please call out immediately to draw everyone’s attention. As soon as your physical search is completed we’ll question everyone and process each of you through the ferrous-metal scanner, after which you’ll be allowed to move around freely inside this room until the situation is resolved. Thank you.”

  He addressed his troops. “Process them out. Start with Ms. Taylor.”

  She gave him a smile of gratitude, but I lost interest in her when the commander turned back to frown at me.

  “Get up,” he commanded.

  I stood, sucking in a breath as my knees wobbled.

  “Please move slowly to the scanner and step between the stanchions.” His tone was level. So was his weapon.

  I obeyed, moving cautiously. Please God, don’t let me trip over my own feet. It might be the last thing I ever did.

  Heart pounding, I stepped between the two panels that bracketed the door and stood still while one of the other armed men activated the scan. The commander kept his weapon trained in the vicinity of my feet, his eyes and hands steady. He wouldn’t shoot me by accident, but he sure as hell wouldn’t hesitate to shoot me if I gave him cause.

  My hands were cold and numb locked on top of my head. My breathing was shallow and too rapid, and clammy sweat chilled my body.

  Claustrophobic fear?

  Or some deadly poison infiltrating my bloodstream?

  Don’t think about it. Just breathe.

  Nice and slow and deep…

  “A small metallic object in her left front pocket,” the tech announced.

  “There’s a rivet in my jeans-” I began.

  “Like a small needle,” the tech interrupted.

  The commander’s P90 snapped up to point at the centre of my chest. “Empty your left front pocket,” he snapped.

  “But you just searched me…”

  “Do it now!”

  I eased my left hand down from my head, flexing my fingers in an attempt to get some feeling back into them.

  “Don’t try anything!”

  “I’m not; I just can’t feel my fingers…”

  Taking in his tense expression, I gave up on the explanation and cautiously probed my pocket. Just inside the top, my fingertips encountered a small unfamiliar shape.

  I swallowed hard, my throat constricting with fear. “I think…” My voice wavered and I cleared my throat. “I think I found the dart,” I croaked. “I felt somebody bump into me in the smoke, but I didn’t realize…”

  The commander was already barking orders into his headset, and a moment later one of the armed men appeared with tweezers and an evidence bag. I glimpsed something that looked like one of our classified tranquilizer darts before he whisked it away.

  “Hands on your head again. This way, please, Agent Kelly,” the commander said without inflection, indicating the back corner of the room.

  “Hey, where’re ya takin’ her?” Hellhound’s voice boomed out, making everyone turn to stare. Still on his knees with his hands on his head, he scowled at the commander. “This’s my ‘collective supervision’,” he growled. “Where the hell are ya takin’ her?”

  “Over to the corner of the room,” the commander replied. “Not out of anyone’s sight.”

  “Awright.” Hellhound fell silent, but his gaze tracked the commander’s every move.

  “Not all right!” Grandin snapped. “We have a right to hear all conversations. For all we know, all of you are colluding to get our-”

  “For Christ’s sake, give it up!” Reggie barked. “If we were going to steal your goddamn tech you’d never have a clue we were doing it. We’re not dumb enough to put on a fucking shit-show like this, and Kelly sure as hell wouldn’t throw a smoke bomb when she knows damn well the whole place is under surveillance.”

  Katie’s mouth dropped open and her eyes lit up. Apparently she was seeing the real Reggie for the first time, and she liked what she saw even more than his restrained scientist persona. Despite my increasing discomfort, my heart warmed with hope for Reggie.

  “Never mind, Dr. Chow; he makes a good point,” the commander replied calmly. “Agent Kelly, I have some questions for you. Please come to the centre of the room and answer loudly enough so everyone can hear.”

  Heart hammering, I moved to the spot he pointed out. I couldn’t seem to control my breathing, and I couldn’t feel my hands anymore. My shoulders tingled and ached.

  “May I lower my hands now?” I asked breathlessly.

  “No. Describe exactly what happened.”

  “I was standing there…” I nodded toward the section of wall I’d formerly occupied. “Watching Dr. Mitchell’s presentation. It was…” I drew in a breath and tried to let it out slowly, but it whooshed out and sucked in again despite my best efforts. “…everybody was upset by it.” I panted a couple more breaths. “He and Melinda… were arguing…”

  I gulped more thin air. Maybe the exhaust fans were malfunctioning. Not enough oxygen in the room…

  “Go on,” the commander prompted.

  “Um…” I tried to wiggle my fingers, but I couldn’t feel them. My shoulders were numb now, too. “I was just… standing there… watching… and then… something jabbed me. I saw the smoke bomb… flying across the room. Grabbed the masks.”

  I had to stop and pant again. My head felt as though it was floating off my shoulders. My arms were floating, too.

  “Grandin was beside me…” I sucked more of the inadequate air. “He was writing…” Inspiration seeped into my oxygen-deprived brain. “His pen…”

  My panting accelerated. Air. I needed air.

  “…must’ve been… dart gun…”

  The edges of the room darkened.

  “Gonna sit now,” I announced, and the floor rushed up to meet me.

  A short jumble of sound and sensation resolved into strong arms holding me, exuding the comforting scent of leather that always clung to Arnie’s clothes.

  “Okay, darlin’, you’re gonna be okay,” he murmured. “Just take it nice an’ easy. You’re gonna be okay.”

  Another warm hand cupped my belly. “Breathe into my hand,” Reggie’s voice urged. “You’re hype
rventilating. Come on, belly breathe. Nice and slow. In… two… three… four…”

  Fighting off the urge to just lie there until all the bullshit went away, I opened my eyes and dragged myself into sitting position.

  “Whoa, hang on there.” Arnie’s bulk warmed my back. “Don’t try an’ get up yet, darlin’. We dunno what’s in your system.”

  Another surge of fear shook me, but the dizziness seemed to have abated and I could feel my hands again. They were ice-cold, and I shivered and tucked them into my sweaty armpits.

  My team crouched around me, looking worried. The commander held his ground beside me with his weapon at the ready; but everybody else was eyeing me as though I was Typhoid Mary.

  Hell, maybe I was.

  “His pen,” I repeated firmly. “Get Grandin’s pen. I bet that’s how he shot me.”

  “She’s crazy!” Grandin snapped. “Her smoke bomb must have fried her brain. She obviously injected herself as a ruse.”

  I lurched upright. “I didn’t have a smoke bomb! If it came from where we were standing, you must have thrown it yourself.”

  “Enough.” The commander turned to Hellhound and Reggie. “Move away from her. Agent Kelly, you’ll need to be searched again.” He addressed his team with a nod at Hellhound and Reggie. “Search these two as well, immediately.”

  “Fuck, she was gonna pass out. We were just keepin’ her from smashin’ her face on the floor!” Hellhound protested. “We didn’t slip her anythin’.”

  The commander ignored him. “Up against the wall again,” he said to me. “You know the drill.”

  I rocked forward on unsteady legs and propped my hands against the wall while he searched me again. He was clinical and quick, but I was getting goddamn tired of having his hands on my body.

  The warmth of anger sustained me long enough to totter back to the scanner, but by the time the scan was complete I was breathing hard and fighting dizziness once more.

  “Let her sit down or she’s gonna hit the deck again,” Hellhound snapped as his captor herded him toward the vacated scanner.

  The commander relented. “Sit with your back against the wall. Hands flat on the floor. Don’t move.”