Spy Now, Pay Later

by Diane Henders

  Silence hummed on the line for a few moments before Stemp spoke again. “I’ll escalate it up the chain of command. Call back in twenty minutes.”

  “I won’t be able to. The meeting is in forty minutes if you can deliver the weapon.”

  Stemp didn’t hesitate. “Where?”

  “Drumheller. I don’t know exactly where yet. If I tell them the weapon is being delivered, I’ll be able to provide directions.”

  “Wait for my call.” A dial tone hummed out of the laptop as Stemp hung up.

  Spider eyed Holt and me anxiously. “What do you think?”

  I slouched in my chair, frowning. “No surprises there. Stemp obviously managed to get permission to take the weapon to Kane, and then he took it and left.”

  And neither of them came back.

  Nearly twelve hours in enemy hands…

  I pushed away the cold fear tightening my throat. Just figure this out.

  “Stemp was wearing a disguise…” I thought out loud, tugging a lock of hair. “Why do you suppose he concealed his face on the security cameras? If the chain of command knew he was taking the weapon, why would he go to all the trouble of putting on his disguise and hiding his face? Why wouldn’t he just go and get the weapon and… oh, never mind.” I grimaced. “It was late at night. He would have been at home, not at the office. Okay, so he put on his disguise at home. So he must have been wearing it when he signed for his security fob, right?”

  “Right.” Spider started clicking keys again. A moment later, his shoulders slumped. “Nope. Here he is, signing in at eleven o’clock.” He swivelled the laptop around so we could see Stemp in the security footage, wearing immaculately pressed casual pants and a polo shirt while he signed for his fob and entered the secured area.

  It seemed odd to see him out of his usual uniform of quiet suit and tie, but then again, it would be a little silly for him to get dressed up in a suit and tie at eleven o’clock at night…

  “Wait, back it up, Spider.” I peered at the screen. “Those aren’t the clothes he was wearing when he went into the secured lab. They must be in that bag he’s carrying.”

  Holt grunted. “Makes sense. He’d need a bag to carry the weapon out anyway. He’d have his disguise in there, too.”

  I sat up straight. “And his laptop. So he goes down to the secured area, changes into his disguise, logs into the security database and adds George Harrison, uses that ID to access the lab and take the weapon, then takes off the disguise, puts everything into the bag, and leaves. What was he wearing when he signed out?”

  Spider clicked a few more keys, watching his screen. At last he spoke. “You’re right. I can track him going into the men’s room in the secured area and coming out disguised. At least I’m pretty sure it’s him, but he’s still hiding his face from the cameras. Then he goes to the lab, then back into the men’s room, and then comes out looking the same as when he arrived.” Spider turned the laptop again to display Stemp signing out.

  “So why would he bother?” I frowned at Holt and Spider. “Why go to all the trouble of disguising himself to get into the lab? The chain of command knew he was taking the weapon. He had to know we’d be able to track him on the security cameras, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out he’s the only one going in and out of the men’s room at eleven o’clock at night.”

  Their blank expressions didn’t help. I hissed out a breath between my teeth. “Okay, do you have Stemp’s call to Dermott?”

  “Yes.” Spider clicked a few more keys and a moment later Stemp’s dispassionate voice spoke from the laptop.

  “It’s Stemp. A personal emergency has arisen and I need to leave immediately. Please take over.”

  Dermott’s grunt could have been satisfaction or annoyance. A moment later the call ended.

  I slouched in my chair. “Well, that was short and sweet.”

  “And useless,” Holt grumbled.

  Sudden realization made me sit up again. “Maybe not completely useless. I thought Dermott said he’d reported a ‘family’ emergency. He didn’t. He said ‘personal’ emergency.”

  “Same shit, different pile,” Holt drawled. “Still doesn’t tell us anything.”

  “Well, no…” I subsided. “But at least he didn’t lie about a family emergency…”

  Holt sneered. “Oh, well, that makes it all better. He only stole a deadly top-secret weapon. Guess we better cut him some slack. After all, he’s not a liar.”

  “Shut up,” I mumbled.

  He added a scowl to his sneer. “So, oh mighty leader, what’s the plan?”

  Irritation straightened my spine and I locked eyes with him. “The plan is, we go over Stemp’s and Kane’s mission reports with a fine-toothed comb. Spider, do you have any way of accessing Kane’s cellphone records to see where he called Stemp from last night? I assume he must have called with a meeting location-”

  “Or they set this up in advance and just fucked off with the weapon,” Holt interrupted.

  I raised my voice and kept talking over him. “…and it might help if we know where that was.”

  “I should be able to,” Spider said.

  “Good. Anything you can get would be great.” I stood, doing my best decisive-leader imitation. “Let’s split up and start reading mission reports. Meet back here at two o’clock. I’m looking for any commonalities between the reports, any names or descriptions mentioned, everything we know about Dawn White and Stemp’s George Harrison alias; anything at all that raises a flag.”

  “That’s only a couple of hours,” Holt protested.

  “And that’s two hours too long, so get on it,” I snapped, and strode out.

  Too rattled to risk human interaction, I took refuge in a cubicle in the women’s washroom. Lowering myself onto the toilet seat, I wrapped both arms around my trembling body and closed my eyes, memories of torture and captivity turning my guts to water. A couple of ragged breaths escaped me and I clamped down on control before they could turn into sobs.

  Missing for twelve hours already. Twelve hours of unspeakable suffering…

  I swallowed a whimper and jerked my spine straight. I couldn’t help anybody if I was an emotional mess.

  And anyway, maybe they hadn’t been captured. Kane was the best agent in the service, and Stemp had been a top agent, too. Together they’d be damn hard to overcome. And Stemp had sounded fine when he spoke to Dermott after the meeting.

  But then, he never betrayed any emotion…

  I vacated the cubicle and tottered to the sink to wash my hands. Glaring at my strained face in the mirror, I squared my shoulders. Time to suck it up and be the agent everybody thought I was. Too bad if I didn’t know what I was doing. I had Holt’s experience to draw from, and I’d just have to figure the rest out.

  Chapter 32

  Sinking into my desk chair, I checked my phone messages just in case there was a call from Kane. Think positive thoughts. Maybe he was just staying deep undercover. If he didn’t trust his informant, he wouldn’t take a chance on reporting to Dermott.

  My voicemail was empty, and I shook my head at my own foolish hope. If he was deep undercover he wouldn’t call me, either. He’d made it very clear he didn’t want me involved when he’d kicked me out of his house last night.

  But he might have called someone else. Like his brother-in-arms…

  I punched in the number and waited, barely breathing while it rang at the other end. I drew a short hiccupping breath at the sound of Hellhound’s cheerful gravelly voice.

  “Hey, darlin’. Hope you’re callin’ to say you’re comin’ down for a little R an’ R.”

  “Um, no…” My voice came out sounding small and lost.

  Tension knifed into his rasp. “What’s wrong?”

  “I… nothing, I hope… have you heard from John?”

  “Not since he left on Boxin’ Day. What’s wrong?” he repeated.

  Conscious of our unsecured connection, I made my tone light. “I was just ex
pecting to see him today and he didn’t show. Let me know if he calls you, okay?”

  “Okay…” He hesitated. “Hey, listen, darlin’, I was thinkin’ of comin’ up for the Thursday jam at Blue Eddy’s tonight. Ya feel like some company?”

  “Um…”

  It was my turn to hesitate while I read between the lines. Did I want his help?

  Hell, yes. But did I want to risk involving him in something this dangerous?

  “It’s okay if ya ain’t in the mood.” Hellhound spoke into the lengthening silence. “I’ll be stayin’ at the hotel, an’ I’ll be at Eddy’s around eight as usual. Gimme a call if ya wanna see me.”

  “Of course I want to see you,” I assured him. “I’m just a little busy right now…”

  “That’s okay, darlin’, I’m gonna be there anyway, so I’ll see ya if I see ya. ‘Bye now.”

  He hung up, leaving me to draw a breath of relief mixed with worry. He’d come. He was probably getting ready to leave right now, judging by the undertone of urgency in his voice.

  If only I knew whether that was good or bad.

  Well, I couldn’t change it. I put my worry aside and opened the first mission report.

  An hour later I leaned back to massage my aching neck, frowning into infinity while I shuffled the pieces of my mental jigsaw puzzle.

  “Aydan?” Spider’s voice yanked me back inside the four walls of my office with a start.

  “Uh. Sorry, Spider, what?”

  “I said, did you get lunch? It’s after noon.”

  For the first time, I spared enough mental capacity to note the weakness in my limbs and my growling stomach. “Uh, no, I guess not…”

  “That’s what I thought.” He came in and handed me a small carton of orange juice and a couple of the cereal bars from my stash in the lunchroom. “You’d better eat these.”

  “Thanks, Spider, you’re the best.” I tore off the wrapper, taking a too-large bite of cereal bar. “How is your analysis going?” I mumbled around the mouthful.

  “Pretty well. It took me a while, but I just finished tracing the records for the secured burner phones. I found an incoming call on Kane’s phone last night just before eleven. That must have been when Stemp called to say he could bring the weapon. And then there was an outbound call at eleven-thirty. That would be when Kane called Stemp to give him directions. I pulled the tower and GPS coordinates, and the call came from an automotive shop in the light industrial area south of the highway in Drumheller. Then I pulled satellite imaging data so I have the layout of the place.”

  The lump of half-chewed cereal went down my throat in a single painful gulp as my mind filled with the thought of Kane tied up helpless in a frigid abandoned building. Or lying injured and alone, slowly succumbing to shock and hypothermia…

  “We need to get out there! Good work, Spider, you’re friggin’ brilliant!” I snatched up the phone and punched Holt’s extension. He answered on the first ring, and I blurted, “Spider found out where they met last night. Let’s move!”

  “Meet you at Stores.” The line went dead in my ear.

  Sparing an instant of gratitude for Holt despite his unpredictable temper, I sprang up. “Spider, can you print us off a map and a layout of the area and meet us down at Stores?”

  “Okay.”

  His response faded behind me as I jogged down the hall.

  At Stores, I requisitioned a bulletproof vest and a tranquilizer pistol.

  After a moment’s thought, I doubled the order. Holt had done the same for me in the morning. That must be the proper procedure.

  I was fumbling with the trank gun’s shoulder holster and feeling thoroughly inept when Holt arrived.

  He indicated my armament with a nod. “What are you expecting?” He shrugged into the other holster while he spoke, looking every inch the rock-jawed, steely-eyed action hero.

  “I don’t know. I figured we’d take everything with us and sort it out when we get there…”

  I trailed off as Spider hurried up clutching a sheaf of papers. “Here you go,” he panted. “A road map; the exterior layout; and I grabbed the building permit drawings for an interior layout.”

  “Spider, you’re amazing! Thank you!” I turned to Holt. “Ready?”

  “Let’s do it.”

  When we left the building, I glanced over at Holt. “Will you drive?”

  “Sure.” He led the way to his car. “But I figured you’d want to. Seeing as you’re in charge and everything.”

  I ignored the dig. “I can if you want, but my car window got broken last night, so it’d be a chilly drive.”

  “Shit, Kelly.” We slid into his car and he gave me a sidelong glance as he put it into gear. “You’re just living the life, aren’t you? Busted knee, trashed house, busted car window…”

  “You have no idea,” I growled. “Throw in some rotten dog shit, get smacked around by some asshole twice your size, and stand naked in the snow for a while, and that about sums up my fun from last night.”

  “Shit, no wonder you need the anger management class.”

  I didn’t reply, and after a moment he asked, “So what’s the plan?”

  He seemed to have dropped his challenging attitude, and a little of the tension eased from my shoulders.

  “We’d better give it a drive-by and scope it out. It’s a weekday afternoon, so hopefully there will be some other traffic and we can blend in. After that we can come up with a plan.”

  Holt grunted what I hoped was approval.

  “Unless you have another idea,” I added. “I’m counting on you to speak up if you do.”

  He glanced over, looking surprised. “No,” he said after a moment. “That’s what I’d do, too.”

  “Okay, good.”

  We lapsed into silence for the rest of the twenty-minute trip. By the time the flat snowy fields gave way to the rough coulees of Drumheller’s Badlands, I had imagined and banished dozens of increasingly horrific scenes that might confront us at the automotive shop. My stomach writhed into a queasy coil of nerves, hunger, and fatigue.

  Holt spoke for the first time as we turned onto the main highway north of town. “Okay, give me directions from here.”

  “Just keep heading south until you hit the intersection with the main highway, then turn west.” I was glad my voice didn’t betray my fear. I guided him to the industrial area and my guts tightened as he followed my directions. Moments later we cruised past the small automotive shop.

  I slumped in my seat. “Shit!”

  “Do you mind not doing that?” Holt aimed a pointed glance at my hand, which was alternately rolling and crushing my shoulder belt.

  “Sorry.” I let go of the wrinkled seatbelt. “Damn. How the hell are we going to search the place? Guys working in both bays, customers waiting in the office…”

  Holt shrugged. “Your op.”

  I was really beginning to hate those words.

  “Where do you want me to go?” he added.

  “Um.” My brain refused to disgorge any useful ideas. “Just head back downtown.”

  Holt turned east. “Where downtown?”

  I clamped down on the urge to yell, ‘Shut up and let me think’, and contented myself with a terse, “Anywhere. Just drive.”

  At least Kane and Stemp probably weren’t lying injured in there. Some employee would have found them by now if they were. But the bustle of regular work activity had probably destroyed any clues we might have found, too. And how the hell could we get in to search the place?

  Kane’s informant had set up the meeting after the shop was closed, so that meant either an employee or the owner was likely to have been involved. Bad idea to walk in there claiming to be police officers. If Stemp’s and Kane’s covers weren’t already blown, that would do it.

  And pleading car trouble would get Holt’s car into one of the bays, but it wouldn’t get us access to the office or back areas…

  Deep in thought, I blinked when Holt stopped the car outside a sa
ndwich shop several minutes later.

  “I missed lunch,” he said. “You want anything?”

  My stomach let out an embarrassingly loud growl, and I clapped a hand over it and gave him a sheepish smile. “I have one vote for ‘yes’.”

  He grinned, and I hauled myself out of the car to follow him into the tiny restaurant.

  I was down to the last few bites of my sandwich when the idea struck me. I jerked up from my dispirited slouch. “Rats!”

  Holt frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I mean, rats!” He eyed me warily, and I hastened to explain. “We can pretend to be rat patrol.”

  “Say what?” His wariness morphed into an ‘are-you-crazy’ scowl as he edged back in his seat.

  “Rat patrol!” When he didn’t look enlightened I asked, “You’re not from around here, are you?”

  “Hell, no. I got transferred to this godforsaken hole from Toronto.”

  “That explains a lot.” I gobbled the last of my sandwich and elaborated. “Alberta is a rat-free province. Well, officially, anyway. Norway rats are pretty much everywhere in Canada but not in Alberta, because they can’t get through the unpopulated areas in the west, south, or north. So their only access point is a short piece of the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. And the border is patrolled by-”

  Holt burst out laughing. “Rat patrol! You’re shitting me!”

  “I shit you not. We’re not in the official patrol zone here, but all reports of rats are checked out no matter where they are in the province. We just have to say somebody reported seeing a rat and we’ll be able to get in anywhere we want to go.”

  “Now I’ve heard everything.” Holt rose, crumpling his empty sandwich wrapper, and I followed suit.

  Out on the sidewalk, I surveyed him, frowning.

  “What?” he demanded.

  I indicated his smart overcoat and neatly creased slacks over expensive-looking leather boots. “You won’t pass for rat patrol.”

  He grimaced. “Like you said, ten seconds notice. Not my usual choice of wardrobe for active service.”

  “I think we can still make it work.” I flashed him a grin. “Wait in the car. I’m going shopping.”