“What about weaponry?” His grin widened when she brightened. “Man, you look like any other woman would if I said free jewelry.”
“That was sexist,” she complained.
“Yeah, it was, wasn’t it? Guess I was thinking of my sister. She lights up like that when you say diamonds.”
Cait rolled her eyes. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. And if we’re going to saddle up and ride out, what are we packing? Rifles or a longbow? Staffs and swords at twenty paces?”
“Much better than that. I have tons of stuff. Plenty for you, me and every agent in the hall, too. I never come down without a full load.”
“Oooh, power tools.” He chuckled, his heart immeasurably lighter for their silent exchange. “You should hear yourself. Now you sound like a guy in a Home Depot.”
She laughed. It was the first full-out laugh he’d heard since they’d parted company yesterday. Despite the danger, he was full of energy, charged up with the need to do something. To act.
“I’m glad you’re here, Aiden.”
“Ditto, my gorgeous Cait, ditto.” He could look into her eyes for hours. His only wish was that her eyes would stay one color, not keep switching from brown to green in his Sight.
Some secrets still stood between them, but now he had her trust. She’d tell him when she told him.
He blocked a stupid urge to sigh, forcing a smile. “So,” he drawled, lisping slightly. “Do you have the stainless polished, darling? We need to set a nice…table…for our unwanted guest.”
“You’re a goofball.”
“Yeah. Made you smile, though, didn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Seriously, you said stainless would go through the critter’s hide, right?”
“Yeah, we need a restaurant supply place or a barbeque place.”
“Why?”
“Skewers. They’re made of stainless steel, usually. I have a weapon I can retrofit to use them.”
“Cool, can I watch? I love it when you use words like ammo and retrofit. Turns me on.”
“Yeah. C’mere,” she said, crooking a finger. In her eyes, in her smile, he saw a miracle.
Complete forgiveness.
He walked to her. She put her hands on his shoulders, rose on tiptoe to kiss him on the nose, the cheeks and the lips.
“Thank you.”
“For?”
“Being here. Backing me up. Putting it on the line.” She rested her head on his chest. He felt her frustration, her fear, and the determination to do the job anyway. “For caring.”
He circled her shoulders, drew her in, held her tight.
“My planet, too. My city. My job as well, when you come down to it.”
He rested his head on her hair, and they stood there, holding one another, listening to the phone ring and her PDA beep, signaling yet another message.
In the midst of the chaos, they were a circle of deep calm. Something inside him settled. As it had last night, things clicked into place. Inside, his heart told him Cait was The One for him. Knowing that internal voice, his heart-voice, was right, he still didn’t move. He acknowledged it, but only in the deep silence of that calm.
Soon, he told his heart. If we survive.
Aiden’s cell vibrated in his pocket.
Apparently they had stirred the hornet’s nest and the hornets—in the form of an angry cop—were massing an attack.
This time, Aiden gave in to the frustration, and let the sigh gust forth.
“I think duty is calling us both.”
“The call to serve is strong, bright, and clear. I answer the call.” She managed to translate the Sh’Aitan ST Creed into its English equivalent.
“Sounds like a quote.”
“A motto, sort of.”
“Hmmmm. Part of—”
“That long story, yeah.”
“Mmm-hmmm. So do I ask Tank to clear the canal?”
“Why would he help us? Why should we trust him?”
“Because he’s a good cop. And because I just handed him a murder conviction on a silver platter in a case he thought he’d never get to close.”
“That’s enough for a full closure of Canal Road, for the baiting on a Friday night? On Halloween? And the next morning too?”
“The timeframe does kind of suck on this one,” Aiden conceded with a laugh. “Tank really dislikes me for calling him with these things already, but he does benefit.” He took her hand and they went to the kitchen.
“How does that work exactly? Can you call visions or magic, like a séance, or does it just come?”
He laughed. “No, it doesn’t come to heel that way, like a dog. But sometimes, magic works to balance the scales. At least my magic does. I’ll get a precog, an insight that, in essence, pays for the information I’m seeking. Does that happen to you?”
“Sometimes.” She said it hesitantly, as if only now thinking about it in a new way. “Maybe sometimes. Yes.”
“Happens to me a lot,” Aiden said, and added, “So we ended up down by the terminus of the Whitehurst Freeway. Good thing you and I didn’t plan for a Ty-Op catch last night.”
A mental image of the Aurelian picking the officers off for dinner popped, unwanted, into her head. She shook off the unpleasant imagery. She didn’t want that to be Aiden either.
Taking a deep breath, she refocused on the mission parameters.
“Okay. So…this thing with shutting down the canal…It might work. If we bait tonight, get Halloween over with, on Saturday, Tank closes the canal access before dawn, we get in, get out and get one Ty-Op out of the way. Then the stupid thing won’t be hanging over my head like the sword of Damocles.”
“Ah, mythology. Sometimes wish I didn’t know how many of those stories were true.”
“Some of them are tr—never mind.” She refused to let her curiosity distract her. She suppressed a shudder. The thought that some of those stories might have a basis in fact? Freaky.
“What about the Aurelian.”
“We need to be prepared for it at any time.”
“Okay. Let’s go to the canal.”
“Now? At one in the morning? Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“What about…” She wiggled her fingers.
“Magic? It could be of some use here, especially since it’s near Halloween. For better or worse, the veil is thinner, and power rises. Even if, as some suspect, it’s just because magic workers and mundane people alike expect it to rise, it rises. I’ll be all right. I’m recharged.”
She looked at him. Cocked her head to one side as she assessed him, just as she would a probie joining her unit. Everything he was shone from him—strength, character, power. Did she forgive him? Absolutely. Trust him? Ditto.
Life and time were fleeting, she let go of her fear, her worries about Aiden, about breaking the rules. It was this or lose people, innocent lives.
She’d take Aiden. She’d take…hope.
And love.
Oh, shit.
The feelings registered and blasted through her like a hurricane. She was in love with him. A man who’d tried to fry her. Who had visions. Who fired off magic bullets like the Lone Ranger shot bad guys.
A man who made love like she was the only woman in the world. A man who’d helped her. A man who’d held her when she slept, made her feel alive and safe all at the same time.
“Cait?” Aiden looked worried. She needed to say something.
And not something stupid and mushy and crazy like I love you.
“I respect you too,” she managed to say, stumbling a little over the words. “Enough to be willing to tell you more than I’ve ever told anyone about…stuff.” Her gesture encompassed the life she led, the worldview that had shifted for them both.
What the devil was she going to do about the fact that she loved him? Tell him?
Hell, no.
But what if they died, catching the Opthoid, or were killed by the Aurelian? A much more likely po
ssibility.
Did it matter?
She couldn’t think about it right now. Couldn’t. She had a job to do and so did he.
“I’m glad. I hope we’ll find more than trust and respect, in spite of my stupidity,” Aiden was saying as she tuned into his words. “Then again, I’m a hopeless romantic.”
Had she missed something?
Oh, man, she really couldn’t think about that either.
“I’ll take that, and run with it.” It was the best she could come up with on short notice. “Let’s hit the trail. If we have to do a dry run of this, let’s get it over with.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Armed with as many weapons as she had that would work for him, and for her, flashlights, and their heaviest coats, they headed out.
Aiden drove this time, since he knew the streets better than she. He aimlessly meandered through a community, making sure they weren’t being followed.
Finally, they cruised down onto the Clara Barton Parkway and from there to Canal Road. Darkness softened the stone walls that lined the way, and made lurking shadows of the nearly leafless trees.
She wasn’t looking forward to walking the path in the dark. Not with the assassin gunning for her. And since he was with her, and had thrown that bolt, it was after Aiden too.
Despite the fact that they’d injured the Aurelian, it could still attack tonight. Since it wasn’t a sanctioned, it had to get rid of Cait. If she was dead, she couldn’t testify that it had killed, illegally and unpermitted, on a Rim Planet. Given that, it was remarkably stupid for them to be on-trail at nearly two in the morning, and she said so.
“This is stupid. We’re totally exposed.”
“Yeah, it is,” Aiden agreed, giving her no comfort. “But if you want to bait at dusk tomorrow, and catch by the next morning, we have to check timing and traffic now. We need tomorrow for gear and prep, so we don’t have much choice.”
“True. Doesn’t mean I like it.”
“Me either.” He pulled into a parking lot. “Let’s go.”
They parked and navigated the pitch-dark pathway leading to the towpath. A night bird called, its cry echoing over the water. Faint light glimmered across the Potomac from the large homes lining the Virginia side of the river. As they moved upstream, the lights from a few passing cars and from Georgetown’s campus offered more light.
“Your pinpoint is farther down the canal,” Cait said, noting the ease with which the passing cars could see the path. “So, we’ll bait upstream from here, just beyond the Chain Bridge but before the entrance to Georgetown. Less traffic.”
“Sounds like a plan. You can’t see the towpath from the road along that section.”
Warily, watching the path and the water, they walked to where they could mark the bait spot. They were making their way back to the car when she heard it. Felt it.
“We’re being watched.” She kept her voice low, and nonchalant. She also armed her weapons as she walked.
“I feel it,” he said, squeezing her hand. “But I don’t smell the Aurelian.”
“Yeah.”
“Tank said the Feds weren’t following us when we were down here before. Could be they decided to tonight”
She was focused on the watcher.
“What was that about, anyway,” he asked, “when they kept you so long? I forgot to ask.”
“They thought I was CIA,” she muttered, sniffing the air.
“Seriously?” Aiden laughed softly. “Feebs hunting spooks, who are actually hunting monsters. Film at eleven.”
“Yeah, you laugh. I thought my cover was blown,” she whispered, straining for any sound, any warning of the Aurelian. She’d smelled it the night before, and as Aiden pointed out, there was no scent, and there should be, with the wind in their direction.
“Could be a deer or a fox.”
“Ya think?” Her rejoinder dripped sarcasm.
“No,” he said with a smile, and she saw the faintest trickle of bright, blue light spring from the center of his chest. He muttered a low, rhyming, singsong chant. The light raveled itself into a spiral, then a ball, all within the shadow of his coat.
“What’s that?”
“Probe. Shhhh, I need to concentrate.”
She used her own senses to scan their back trail, but got the same response. Mild and watchful was all she got.
“Here goes nothing,” Aiden murmured, letting go of her hand long enough to twitch his fingers and say a quick word.
The blue light winked out. She could still see the ball, but only for a second. With a rolling bounce, it shot forward, then back over Aiden’s shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye she saw it skim the surface of the canal. If she hadn’t known to look for it, she wouldn’t have seen it. It created the merest hint of a tiny vee wake.
Suddenly, there was a snap, and a wet sort of a gasp, and a wild spate of splashing.
They both spun, and dropped into defensive postures. Aiden’s hands flared blue, and once again, she could see that hard, angular strength in his face. She had weapons in each hand and the laser bracelets on her wrists were keyed to voice command.
Braced, they waited for an attack.
Nothing happened.
“That couldn’t have been your Opthi-thingie, could it?” Aiden’s voice was terse, tense.
“No, that was a watcher, a sentient. Something or someone who knew what we are, or we wouldn’t have sensed it. The Opthoid, while sentient, would have felt the way it does when a dog looks at you.”
“And the Aurelian? Could it have been in the water to hide it’s smell?”
“It wouldn’t have gasped. Or watched. Or splashed. And we’d be fighting it right now.”
“Yeah. Whatever it was, it was in the water. Feds? Like before.”
“Maybe. But why would they be in the water?” Why run the risk of being stuck in the muck if your quarry moved landward? It didn’t make sense.
“Yeah, I don’t think so either.”
“We’re perfect targets. The Aurelian wouldn’t have hesitated.”
“Nice thought.”
“Exactly. Was it magic?”
“No. Something magical would have felt my probe coming and bolted. Let’s get out of here.”
They backed down the towpath, and as they got closer to the car, they picked up the pace until they were running. Locking the doors and blasting the heater as they pulled into traffic, Aiden turned to her with a grin. “Well, reconnaissance accomplished, and we’re still alive. That’s good.”
“Excellent, in fact.”
“I agree.”
“Okay. Call your cop. See if he’ll help.”
“Will do.”
“Meanwhile, I’m going to start dragging out weapons and hope the boys next door aren’t going to run any metal or radiation detection equipment along with their spy-ears and spy-eyes.”
“Sounds like a plan, especially since I doubt they’re awake at three a.m.”
There was no activity in the lobby when they returned, but now there were two guards on watch outside Three-A. They returned the hello Cait offered, but no more.
“I guess they’ve locked the barn after the horse is gone.”
“Maybe they’re worried about that guard leaving his post the other night. With four unsolveds involving senators, and a guard missing, I’d double the watch too.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Let’s make it happen,” he said, lifting his phone in explanation. He pushed redial, waited for Tank to answer.
Cait resolutely turned away, going for the cases she’d moved into the closet. Pulling three out, she plopped them on the bed. Inside the first insulated package were two more jewel-like bracelet sets, and a series of rods that screwed together into a crossbow sort of device. She assembled that and unpacked the short mortar.
It was a misnomer, of course. It wasn’t a mortar, exactly. Nor did it look like one, since that would be too Earth-like and this device’s origins were far removed from
her home planet. She set the pieces on the low dresser, laying them out in order, leaving spaces for the missing parts still packed in the third case.
From the doorway, Aiden spoke. “Tank is pissed that I didn’t answer his calls earlier. Then again, he’s usually pissed. But he’ll have a patrol and park police block the path late tomorrow afternoon and do a sweep after midnight. He says he’ll give us an all-clear, somewhere around five a.m. on November first, and keep everyone off the road and the path.”
“I’m cutting it close, dammit.” She cursed more colorfully in several other languages. She hadn’t realized she’d done it out loud until Aiden said something.
“Whew, that sounded nasty. What did you say?”
“Huh?”
“The rant. You were, I presume, cursing, but not in English. Didn’t sound, uh, terrestrial?”
She thought about it. Chagrined, she admitted that it hadn’t been. “Not English, or anything planetary. I learned it at boot camp. It’s from another Rim planet.”
“Rim planet?”
“Yeah,” she busied herself unpacking more pieces. It seemed foolish now, to keep things from him. “Anything not in the Alliance of Planets for Peace is a Rim planet. That’s an incredibly loose translation of the title, by the way. So anything not Alliance, not space-faring, is a Rim planet. They consider Rimmers a bare step up from skin-wearing barbarians, but if a Rim planet has a Slip Traveler, it’s usually close to acceptance and understanding the whole Alliance deal.” She smiled at him. “In a word, Rimmers-R-us.”
“So what did you say?”
“That the Aurelian did it doggie style with his ancestors and their wives.”
“Well, that’s telling him.”
“It’s a major insult, actually. They revere their ancestors.”
“Interesting. What’s that?” He pointed to the burnished pieces of the mortar.
“It’s like a mortar or a cannon. Maybe a closer equivalent would be a Howitzer. We’re going to load it with the skewers. It has a carry strap.” At his dubious glance, she added, “It’ll actually look pretty innocuous. But if you wanted to put any kind of handy-dandy, you-can’t-see-me-spell on it, like you did with the security camera, that would be great.”
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