“Tell us about our granddaughter,” Moonbeam burst out.
I sank my head into my hands. “You can’t mention her. Ever. To anyone. Not even to Stemp… um, Cosmic River Stone. I shouldn’t have said anything at all, and if something happens to her because of this I’ll never forgive myself.”
“But… why?” Moonbeam sounded bereft.
“I can’t even tell you that. The less you know, the better.”
“Please. Tell us something. Anything.” Her desperate entreaty wrung my heart. “Anna,” she begged. “You said her name was Anna…”
“It was. It’s not now.”
Karma spoke up. “So her name was changed. Is she in a witness protection program?”
I dragged my head out of my hands to meet their eyes squarely. “Do you honestly want me to jeopardize your granddaughter’s life just to satisfy your curiosity?”
They blanched, their hands finding each other to clasp tightly.
“No,” Moonbeam whispered. “But… just one question… I have to know. Is she your daughter?”
“No.”
She studied me, eyes unfocused in her aura-reading expression. Then her shoulders slumped.
“I see truth in your aura,” she murmured. “I had so hoped…” She drew a deep breath. “Do you think we’ll ever meet her?”
“I think if it’s humanly possible, your son will find a way to make that happen.”
She let out her breath, some of the sadness easing from her face. “Thank you. You may consider this conversation forgotten. So you and Cosmic River Stone are not-”
“No,” I said. “Absolutely not. Never have; never will.”
“But you respect him. And he obviously has high regard for you…” Moonbeam frowned. “So how do you know what Cosmic River Stone has in his bedroom?”
“Dearest.” Karma laid a hand on her shoulder. “Perhaps it’s best to leave well enough alone.”
I shifted uncomfortably. They were getting too close to the truth. I wasn’t sure what the repercussions might be, but if Stemp had concealed his true career from his parents, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t thank me for giving them enough clues to figure it out.
Time to shore up this thin ice.
“It’s all right,” I said. “I can tell you that.”
Now I needed to choose my facts carefully. All true, but…
“My cover identity is a bookkeeper at the same office as Ste… Cosm…” I began. “Sorry, I’m just going to call him Stemp. It’s what I’m used to.” Karma nodded encouragingly and I continued, “So we work together sometimes. And you’re right, I do respect him. He’s very good at his job.” I studied them carefully, not wanting to miss any nuance of reaction. “Do you remember getting a telephone call from the police a few months ago?”
“Yes. Dermott, I believe the officer’s name was.” Karma paused his suturing to frown at me. “He was trying to find Cosmic River Stone. We researched Dermott and he checked out. When we asked Cosmic River Stone about it later he deflected our questions. Were you involved in that?”
“Yes.” I projected my very best honesty. “It was an internal investigation and your son was under suspicion. I believed he was innocent but the police insisted on searching his house while he was out of town. I got the key from his neighbour, and I cleaned up a bit after the search. That’s why I know what’s in his bedroom.”
“Oh.” Moonbeam sighed and slumped against the blankets. “Well, thank you for taking his side. No wonder you mean so much to him.”
Karma cocked an ear at a distant rumble. “There goes the truck. Let’s wrap this up.”
“Agreed,” Moonbeam said. “So, Storm Cloud Dancer, will you stay here permanently?”
Chapter 39
“Will I what?” I stared at Moonbeam.
Beside her, Karma paused his suturing again to repeat, “We want you to stay. Permanently. Take over from us.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re not getting any younger,” Skidmark put in.
“Our members are our surrogate children,” Moonbeam added. “We want to be sure they are protected and their way of life is preserved even after we’re gone.”
I scrubbed my hands over my face.
Too tired. Not grasping the concept.
“Let me get this straight,” I said slowly. “You want me to stay here. Pretend the Earth Spirit is real. Live out in the middle of Bumfuck Nowhere in a tent in the rain with no hot showers or electricity for the rest of my life, on the off-chance that some terrorist group might just happen to rent the land across the river.”
Moonbeam’s face fell. “Well… I suppose when you put it like that…”
Skidmark blew out a breath and sank down to sit on the mattress by her feet. “That’s what Rand said, too, when we asked him.” He shrugged. “But he was a city boy. Never comfortable in the outdoors the way you are. We were hoping…” He trailed off.
“We had originally planned for Cosmic River Stone to take over the commune when he reached adulthood,” Karma said. “We taught him everything we knew. Made sure he had the optimum education for a career in covert operations. He had the intellect, the temperament… he would have been a perfect fit. We were going to send him for advanced training and reveal the operation to him when he was ready, but…” Karma’s shoulders slumped.
“Now he’s wasting all that in a civilian management job,” Skidmark said bitterly, but I barely heard him.
Shit, I’d been right. Stemp really had been born to be a spy.
I shook myself back to the present. “I’m sorry that didn’t work out for you. But we’re short on time and I have some more questions. Why didn’t those nutcases just run back to their truck and drive away when they realized we were picking them off? And if you knew they were that much of a threat, why didn’t you just blow the bridge and let JTF2 come in and clean them up?” I made fists in my hair and tugged, trying to release the knotted muscles in my neck. “And if Orion’s not going to mention you in his reports, he’ll have to mention John and Arnie and me. There’s no way anybody will believe he took out sixteen guys using hand-to-hand combat and three different types of firearms, so how can you promise he won’t reveal our involvement?”
“When we first began researching you, Orion Moonjava agreed not to mention you in any official channels,” Moonbeam assured me. “We assumed if you hadn’t initiated contact with him you weren’t aware of his operation, and we couldn’t imagine that you were undertaking any other sort of covert operation. The scope for that sort of activity is rather limited around here. So we decided that you were either in hiding, or else recovering as per your story. We researched your Dr. Rawling and discovered he specializes in PTSD, so your night terrors and regular contact with him supported the latter. Orion Moonjava will likely have to report that he had outside help, but your identity won’t be revealed, nor that of Kane and Helmand.”
“And to answer your first question, the groups were in radio contact,” Skidmark added. “When the first truck got stopped at the roadblock they radioed their buddies here. They knew they were trapped so they tried to do as much damage as possible. Die a heroic death in combat.” Skidmark looked as though he wanted to spit on the floor. “Scum.”
“And we didn’t blow the bridge because we expected them to leave together,” Moonbeam finished. “Which I believe they would have done if not for Ratboy’s absence.”
“That asshole,” I snarled. Now I wanted to spit, too.
“Well…” Skidmark rose tiredly. “Guess we’re done here. In a couple of hours JTF2 will have everything cleaned up at the roadblock and by morning there won’t be a sign that anything happened. Come on, Storm. You can pick up your gear from the control room.”
I eyed his drawn face. “It’s okay, I’ll just let myself in and get it. You’ve had enough activity for one night.”
He snorted. “All I did was walk down here from the garage. And you can’t get back into the control room. I’ve already relocated the ke
ypad and changed the code. If Helmand starts poking around there, all he’ll find is a keypad that lets him into a little storage closet under that brush pile. We’ll access the control room from a different door now.”
I must have looked incredulous, because Moonbeam smiled. “Remember, dear, we’ve been here for over forty years. We have to have backup plans in case our members find our access doors. The official story is that we maintain locked storage areas so our members can store any valuables they may want to protect.”
I shook my head slowly. “You’re amazing.”
“Thank you, dear.” She smiled. “Now go and get your gear. Soon you’ll need to debrief with your men.”
My heart clutched at the thought. Please let them be okay…
Cold rain was pelting down when we emerged from the tent, and I swore and dragged my night vision headset on before pulling up my hood.
Skidmark eyed the sky with approval. “Good. That’ll clean up the blood in the woods.”
I sighed and limped after him.
Climbing the hill to the garage our paces were evenly matched. I limped; he panted and wheezed while his lungs laboured to keep up with the exertion.
When we reached the garage, he gasped, “Wait here,” and plodded off into the darkness behind it.
Leaning against the building under the relative shelter of the eaves, I drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm my skittering heart.
I still expected gunshots and muzzle flashes. Every time the wind rustled in the undergrowth my muscles tensed.
And my worry for Kane and Hellhound pulsed through my heart like aching poison. Kane was probably all right. He had checked in with Orion’s radio, and somebody had to be driving the truck. Orion couldn’t drive with a broken leg, and Kane wouldn’t leave unless the bodies had been collected. He must have been in good enough shape to be capable of that.
But I’d seen him push through and disregard injuries before. He’d finish the mission as long as he was conscious and capable of forcing himself to move.
But Hellhound…
What if he’d been injured? Or even killed? Kane had no way of finding or contacting me. He’d finish the mission regardless, putting duty ahead of his personal feelings as he always did.
What if ‘I love you’ had been Arnie’s last words to me? I hadn’t even told him I loved him in return…
A twig snapped and my hand flew to my gun.
“Stand down,” Skidmark said hurriedly as he emerged from the woods. “It’s just me. Here.” He held out my backpack and waist pouch. “They’re just like you left them. I didn’t look inside.”
“Thanks.” I accepted the waist pouch and strapped it on, then reached for the backpack. “I wasn’t worried.”
Mainly because I had all my classified gear in my pockets, but he didn’t need to know that.
I frowned at the object in his other hand. “What the hell are you going to do with that?”
He hefted the metal detector tiredly. “Pick up the cartridges. Don’t want the members finding them. Where did you engage?”
I described the approximate locations where I’d seen muzzle flashes and where I thought Hellhound’s position might have been. Then I added, “But what if one of the members catches you? It’s going to be pretty damn hard to explain why you’re out in the middle of the night…” I paused and checked my watch. “Hell, ‘way too early morning, with a metal detector.”
He shrugged. “Nobody’ll ask. I’m a wasted stoner. I stink, I’m old and ugly, and I piss off anybody who comes near me. If I want to wander around in the dark and rain with a metal detector, nobody’s going to give a shit.”
For an instant I glimpsed a proud lonely man who had spent his life protecting people who gave him nothing but hostility in return.
He lifted his chin, his level gaze rejecting any sympathy.
I hid the contraction of my heart in a grin and planted my hands on my hips. “I know you’re angling for a pity fuck. Nice try, but it won’t work.”
He let out a whoop of laughter and staggered over to prop himself against the garage while he coughed and wheezed. “Girlie,” he gasped at last, “Any time you want to come back, you’re welcome here. I’ll even share my beer.”
“I might take you up on that. You know, I just realized that was one of the things that was subliminally bothering me about you. I didn’t see an icebox up here and I couldn’t figure out how you kept your beer cold.” He laughed, and I added, “Well, that and the fact that you seemed to go from stoned to sober in seconds flat.”
He grunted. “I’m out of practice. Not used to holding my cover longer than it usually takes to piss people off.”
I hesitated, then inclined my head in the direction of the garage and the half-stripped truck. “So… sabotaging the vehicles… is that post-traumatic stress? There’s help available, if you want it.”
“Thanks, but no. Just making it harder for the terrorists. We knew they’d need the truck to bring in their weapons so the longer we stalled them the better. And it kept you where we could see you.” He gave me a not-too-intimidating scowl. “Trying to protect you was a pain in the ass. Wish we’d known for sure you were an agent.”
I grimaced. “Sorry about that. But I’m glad you’re not suffering.”
“Nah.” He gave me a shrewd once-over. “So what’s your story? Why were you really here?”
“Uh…” My tired brain refused to disgorge any useful lies. “I really was just, um… recovering,” I said lamely.
“Uh-huh.” Skidmark surveyed me, eyes narrowed. “I bet your last op went south,” he said after a long moment. “You went a little too far questioning some dirtbag and things got messy so they put you on admin leave until they could decide what to do with you. And if Rand says anything about how you manhandled him, it’s gonna look even worse. You facing disciplinary action?”
“No,” I muttered. “Just admin leave.”
His gold tooth glinted in a grin. “Huh. Your boys covered it up for you, didn’t they?” When I stared at him, he added, “Yeah, I caught that part where you said ‘no cleanup this time’ when you were telling them about questioning Rand.” The smile disappeared into his beard as he studied me. “Girlie, don’t look so sick. Sometimes we gotta do what’s gotta be done. If we end up in hell for it, well...” He shrugged and extended his hand, his eyes solemn. “Proud to serve with you.”
I accepted his handshake and choked, “Thanks.” I cleared my throat and added, “Proud to serve with you, too.” I nodded at the metal detector. “Let me know if you want help.”
“Nope, just keep Kane and Helmand busy for the rest of the night.” He leered. “You can do that, right? Can I come by and watch later?”
I grinned and shook my head at him. “Get out of here, you old pervert.”
He wheezed laughter and headed for the road.
As soon as he was out of sight I pressed closer to the building to stay out of the rain and unearthed a secured phone from the bottom of my pack. Stemp answered on the first ring as usual.
Holding back my need to rip a strip off him, I kept my tone dispassionate. “We had a problem here tonight. It turned out the renters were a terrorist group that planned to attack the Parliament buildings in Victoria tomorrow morning. Orion was an undercover MI6 agent named Ian Rand, working with a Five Eyes operation to monitor the terrorists here.”
I paused, but he admitted nothing. Bastard.
“We killed half the terrorists,” I continued. “JTF2 cleaned up the other half at a roadblock outside the commune. No civilian casualties, but your mom cut her arm on a piece of broken glass. Not life-threatening. The bodies have been removed and everything’s cleaned up. None of the members realized anything was happening. Rand won’t disclose our identities to Five Eyes. I haven’t had time to debrief with Kane and Hellhound yet.”
“Very well.” His crisp response held an undertone of tension. “Is that all?”
I rolled my eyes. Gee, what
a surprise. The secret code.
“Yes.” I hung up and delved into my pack for the laptop.
When it booted, the tiny square was already blinking at the bottom of the screen. I activated the text window and the cursor zipped across it immediately.
“How is my mother?”
“Fine. It was a bad cut and she lost some blood, but it’s sutured and she should be okay.” My outrage spilled over and I added, “You knew about the Five Eyes operation!”
The cursor blinked for a moment before spitting out its response. “Unofficially. But that knowledge didn’t negate the validity of your mission. I was genuinely concerned about reprisals against my parents as a result of my cover breach in our last mission.”
Fingers shaking with anger, I typed, “Why the hell didn’t you tell me? How dare you saddle me with the responsibility for your parents’ lives without giving me the whole story? Who the fuck do you think you are, playing God-”
I stopped and drew a deep breath. Then I let it out slowly and deleted the last two sentences before pressing the Enter key to send the first.
The cursor scurried across the screen. “I apologize. Five Eyes doesn’t share information with our department unless they need our help locally, but I secretly monitor the system for anything that may affect my loved ones. I couldn’t request official support without admitting my unauthorized knowledge, and I didn’t disclose it to you because Rand was so certain he could pull it off without affecting the commune members.”
The cursor blinked briefly on the next line before scurrying across the screen to add, “Please believe that I would have informed you regardless of the consequences to myself if I’d had any reason to believe this would affect your safety or that of my parents. I am truly sorry it did, and I am profoundly grateful to you for protecting Mother and Father. If I could have been there in your place, I would have.”
I stewed over that for a moment before typing, “Aren’t there going to be questions about you sending me classified equipment?”
“No one knows, and the courier won’t say anything. He owed me a favour.”
Spy High Page 32