Spy, Spy Away

by Diane Henders

  I clamped down on my smile. “I don’t think you’ll learn much ass-kicking in five sessions. And… um… do you think it would be… um, safe for you?”

  Lola straightened indignantly. “I’m only seventy-three! I go to the gym three times a week, and I’m in damn good shape. And besides, weight-bearing exercise is good for preventing osteoporosis. Come with me. It’ll be good for both of us.”

  I capitulated before I had to lie to her any more. “Okay, you talked me into it. Sign us up.” I turned away to make for the office before she could think up any other brilliant ideas. “I’m going to get at that bookkeeping.”

  My hands trembled when I signed for my fob at the security wicket of Sirius Dynamics a couple of hours later. Clipping the fob on my waistband, I squared my shoulders and strode down the corridor, projecting confidence for all I was worth.

  So Hibbert and Fuzzy Bunny were still on my trail. So what. Stemp would probably just tell me to ignore their advances, same as last time. It didn’t mean I was going into danger again. I’d be fine. Nothing to worry about.

  I repeated my mantra while I climbed the stairs and headed for my second-floor office.

  Fine. I’d be fine. I wasn’t in any danger…

  When I turned the corner into my office, a burst of adrenaline jerked my hand toward my holster.

  Chapter 2

  An instant later, I recognized the stocky bearded man lounging on my couch, feet propped on my coffee table.

  “Carl!” Relief weakened my knees and I blew out a shaky breath as Germain rose, smiling. I hurried over to give him a quick hug. “You scared the shit out of me, but it’s good to see you!”

  He returned my squeeze. “Good to see you, too. You look great.”

  “Thanks.” I grinned as I stepped back. “You look thoroughly disreputable.”

  That wasn’t exactly true. He looked dangerously sexy, his black hair grown out into unruly curls that accented his black brows and keen brown eyes, his muscular frame displayed to advantage in a snug black T-shirt and cargo pants.

  He rasped a hand over his whiskered chin, the laugh lines crinkling around his eyes. “I just wrapped up an undercover op. Shave and a haircut are the first things on my list.”

  “What are you doing here? I thought you were assigned to Calgary.” I nodded toward the couch. “Sit, get comfortable.”

  He sank into the chair instead. “I was supposed to be heading back to Calgary, but Stemp caught me right after my debriefing and asked me to meet you here at three-thirty. That’s all I know so far.” He glanced at his watch. “We’ve got a few minutes. Can you update me a bit while we’re waiting?”

  I slouched onto the couch, stretching out my legs. “What do you know so far?”

  “My last update was back in July.”

  “Okay…” I cast my mind back to the summer. “God, so much has happened since then. Spider is still on the team. Smith turned out to be a spy named Kasper Doytchevsky, and he’s dead now…”

  I declined to elaborate at the sight of Germain’s raised eyebrows, still feeling the kick of the gun in my hand, seeing the blood and shattered bone…

  “There’s a mission report on that,” I said firmly. “You can read it later. You never met Sam Kraus, did you?”

  “No.”

  I sighed. “There’s another mission report on that. The short version is that Sam is the owner of the civilian research branch of Sirius Dynamics, and also the guy who developed the micro-miniaturized network key that gets me invisibly into the brainwave-driven virtual reality network. Problem was, he didn’t invent it for the good of the country. He was going to use me to hack and decrypt digital information so he could sell it, but I caught him at it.”

  Germain grinned. “Sounds like you’ve been busy. I presume he’s in custody now?”

  “Yes.” I grimaced. “But he cut a deal with Stemp a couple of months ago. He’s been back on my project under heavy supervision ever since. Dr. Honey Travers is supervising Sam’s work. You might meet her today; I’m not sure if she’ll be sitting in. Oh, and she prefers to be called Jack.”

  Germain leaned back in the chair to cross his feet on the coffee table again. “Masculine sort?”

  I chuckled, anticipating his reaction when he saw her. “Not exactly. And of course, John is still on my project.”

  “How’s he doing? I heard he got shot a couple of months ago, but I couldn’t call him while I was undercover.”

  “He’s fine. As far as I know. He’s not limping anymore, anyway.”

  I squirmed, searching for another topic of conversation. For the past couple of months, I had successfully avoided John Kane except for our necessary contact at work. He had responded by treating me with the same friendly professionalism he offered everyone, making no attempt to contact me outside of work or converse about anything other than our daily duties. So that was good.

  Just fine.

  Excellent…

  I drew in a breath of relief when Spider’s beanpole figure appeared in the doorway. His youthful face lit up.

  “Carl!” He bounded in, shooting out a skinny arm to pump Germain’s hand. “Wow, awesome! Long time, no see! How are you?”

  “Webb.” Germain chuckled and returned the handshake along with an affectionate slap on Spider’s bony shoulder. “Good to see you again. I’m fine. You?”

  “Great! Are you here to do Kane’s requalification?”

  “Yes, I was supposed to do that later in the week, but Stemp asked me to sit on in this briefing as well.”

  “Um… requalification?” I frowned at the two men.

  “Yeah.” Spider turned to face me. “You know, the annual testing and requalification for agents. Kane was due in January but he has to requalify after his injury anyway, so Stemp moved it up. He’d probably have done it sooner, but Germain wasn’t available.” He frowned. “I’m surprised you haven’t had to do yours yet.”

  Apprehension tightened my throat. “Um… what exactly would that involve?”

  Germain frowned. “And why would she have to?”

  Spider turned to Germain, his smile lighting up the room. “Didn’t she tell you? Aydan’s been promoted to agent!”

  Germain’s white grin split his dark whiskers. “That’s great news! Congratulations, Aydan!”

  “Um, thanks…” I shot a pleading look at Spider. “So about this testing…”

  “Well, look what the cat dragged in!” Kane’s deep baritone interrupted me as he strode in.

  “If it isn’t the feeble old fart himself! Hope you’re ready to get your ass kicked.” Germain gripped Kane’s extended hand and the two thumped each other on the shoulder, grinning and jostling in a friendly trial of strength.

  Kane towered nearly six inches taller than Germain, but the breadth of their powerful shoulders was an even match, making Germain look like a square wall of muscle next to Kane’s magnificently proportioned build. I dragged my gaze away from the tasty spectacle as Charles Stemp arrived, swinging the door shut behind him.

  Not that I intended to start calling him Charles. Hell, it had only been two months since I’d stopped mentally addressing him as ‘Dickhead’.

  He directed a piercing gaze toward me and I hurriedly rerouted my thoughts. God, I’d swear those snake-like eyes could see right through my skull.

  “Will Sam and Jack be joining us?” I blurted.

  “Later.” He eyed the four of us with his customary absence of expression. “This briefing is strictly need-to-know. Ms. Kelly has informed me that Paul Hibbert, whom we believe to be one of Fuzzy Bunny’s business brokers, has contacted her hoping to obtain a copy of the Sirius Dynamics internal phone listing. This has the earmarks of recruitment, which could prove extremely advantageous to us in infiltrating their organization. I had hoped to set up something of the sort in the new year. This timing forces our hand somewhat, but the opportunity is too good to pass up.” Stemp’s dispassionate scrutiny stripped me to the bone. “Ms. Kelly, Dr. Rawling infor
ms me that he is satisfied with your progress.”

  I said nothing, my voice throttled by the icy lump of fear expanding in my chest.

  Stemp’s gaze snapped to Kane. “And you claim to be back to optimum fitness. Are you mission-ready?”

  Kane’s expression remained composed as usual, but his grey eyes kindled with predatory fire. “Absolutely.”

  “Good.” Stemp’s nod took in Kane, Germain, and me. “Kane, Ms. Kelly, you’ll both complete your standard physical qualification tomorrow morning at zero nine hundred, followed by your firearms qualification. Kane, Germain will conduct your advanced weapons and hand-to-hand combat qualifications after that. Ms. Kelly, tomorrow you’ll inform Hibbert that you’ll provide the phone list.”

  Paralyzed, I sat trying to breathe while he continued. “Thanks to Ms. Kelly’s research over the past several months, we’re closer to a comprehensive picture of the extent of Fuzzy Bunny’s operations. We’ve successfully terminated a few espionage and arms deals, but we haven’t had sufficient evidence to show involvement of any of their major players.” He raised a philosophical shoulder. “Every bit helps. If we can insert an agent, we’ll be that much closer.”

  His tone darkened. “Meanwhile, some of the intel we gained during those ops indicates they have either developed or procured a new weapon which is rumoured to be silent and capable of causing instant death without a visible wound. It’s unclear whether it’s for mass military deployment or close-quarters use. We don’t have any other details.”

  A sick silence ensued.

  “So if they are in fact recruiting Ms. Kelly, it may give us a timely tactical advantage,” Stemp concluded. “I’ll provide all of you with mission reports and analysis of everything to date. Be prepared to meet tomorrow at thirteen-hundred for strategic planning.”

  He turned his impassive gaze on me. “Depending on how quickly their recruitment proceeds, you may end up devoting considerable time to undercover field work rather than the network surveillance you’ve been doing to date. With that in mind, I’ve had Drs. Kraus and Travers recreate Tammy Mellor’s network key, and I have recruited Ms. Mellor to replace you.”

  “But…”

  Stemp’s voice drowned out my dry croak as he turned to speak to Germain. “I’ll provide reports so you can get full detail, but here are the high points. The network key that Ms. Kelly uses to decrypt files and hack networks was one of eight in the world, created by a group of scientists calling themselves the Knights of Sirius. Dr. Kraus is the last surviving member of that group. The keys are specially encoded to the brainwave patterns of the woman using the key and to a counterpart of the key used by another person who controls her mind while she’s in the network. That made it possible for the Knights to acquire and decrypt data without the key-holder’s knowledge.”

  My heart tried to batter its way through my ribs. Shit, I had bumbled through my first assignment as an agent through sheer dumb luck, but sending me undercover to look for a goddamn death ray was like expecting a first-grader to write the sequel to ‘War and Peace’.

  I would inevitably fail, dooming myself and my entire team to torture and slow, horrible death…

  Germain interrupted my spiralling thoughts. “Wait, so somebody has been controlling Aydan’s mind in the network all this time?”

  “No, Ms. Kelly can’t be controlled inside the network.” Stemp shot me a grim smile. “It proved fatal to the man who tried.”

  Hot acid surged into my already-queasy stomach. Bert Cartwright, another one of the lives I’d taken. Eight dead at my hands in less than a year. The body count was burned into my brain.

  God help me.

  Stemp was still talking, his words floating at the edges of my mind. “Ms. Mellor is one of the eight women, but she is unaware of any of this since she has never entered the network without being under mind control. She will believe she is simply acting as a super-user to power our virtual reality simulations. I’ll assign someone with the appropriate security clearance to control her.”

  Spider’s uncertain voice pulled my attention back to the conversation at hand. “But… we’d control her mind? Without telling her?”

  “Of course.” Stemp didn’t let impatience creep into his voice, but his impassive expression became, if possible, even more deadpan.

  “But…” Spider’s face scrunched into consternation. “But what about her rights? If we just… hijack her mind without her permission, then we’re just using her like… like... We’re no better than the Knights.”

  “That’s not a relevant comparison,” Stemp said smoothly. “We are protecting national security, our agents and clandestine operations, and Ms. Mellor at the same time. As long as she is unaware of the true nature of our department, she can live freely without any of the restrictions and dangers Ms. Kelly faces. This is the best possible solution.”

  Spider subsided, looking unconvinced, and I didn’t bother to point out that poor Tammy Mellor would be at exactly the same risk of abduction, torture, and death as I was; the only difference would be that if she got captured, she couldn’t tell what she didn’t know. Stemp was covering everyone’s ass but hers.

  Old habits die hard. My brain automatically added ‘dickhead’ before I could stop it.

  Settle down.

  Stemp’s job was to make the difficult decisions. He had undoubtedly weighed national security and the safety of dozens of personnel against the questionable morality of the situation, and I had to agree that logic was on his side.

  But I didn’t have to like it, dammit.

  “What makes you think she’ll agree to work for you at all?” I asked.

  Stemp turned his expressionless gaze on me. “Ms. Mellor was devastated when her Knight died. As you said yourself, he was her whole world. In the past two months, I have provided her with counselling sessions, moved her into a furnished apartment, and arranged for a temporary caregiver until she was able to orient herself in her new surroundings. I also sent a couple of agents to befriend her and provide subtle influence if necessary.” His reptilian features betrayed none of the smugness he must be feeling. “Needless to say, Ms. Mellor is extremely grateful and eager to help us in any way she can.”

  Revulsion twisted my guts. “You used her! Took advantage of a blind, helpless, socially isolated woman and manipulated her like… like…”

  Like he’d manipulated me.

  Rage half-strangled my words. “You fucking dickhead!”

  His expressionless façade didn’t alter. “In my office, Ms. Kelly. Now.”

  Chapter 3

  I marched down the hall ahead of Stemp, trying to hold onto my anger. Bastard. Using and manipulating a helpless blind woman…

  Uncomfortable logic prodded my conscience. Tammy Mellor was utterly alone in the world, thanks to the family who had given her up to Sirius Dynamics at age eight, nearly forty years ago. Stemp had provided her with therapy, housing, transitional care, social contact, and a job. Sure, he had an ulterior motive, but he could just as easily have provided none of those things and forced her to work for him anyway.

  Goddammit…

  His office door clicked closed behind me, and I blew out a sigh as he strode past me to take a seat behind his desk.

  I spoke before he could. “I’m sorry. I was out of line. You did the best you could for Tammy. I’ll apologize in front of the others, too.”

  “That won’t be necessary.” He inclined his head toward the guest chair. “Please sit.”

  I sank into the chair, bracing myself for a lecture.

  I tensed when he reached into his desk drawer, but relaxed again when he extracted a bug detector and laid it between us on the desk, its indicator light glowing reassuring green. He steepled his fingers and studied me over top of them. The silence lengthened.

  Just when my nerves were about to snap, he spoke. “What was the real purpose for your outburst?”

  “Um…”

  I eyed him in confusion. What the hell was he asking
?

  He leaned back in his chair, holding me with his flat amber gaze. “Except for those times when you believed I’d harmed one of your friends, the only time you have publicly insulted me is when you need to speak to me urgently and privately. Is that the case, or do I need to remind you of our policies regarding respectful communication?”

  I couldn’t suppress a sigh. “You don’t need to remind me.”

  God, nothing like hurling names as if I was in second grade. Grow up already. Before I’d gotten snared in this godawful spy’s life, I’d have bitten off my tongue before I’d have insulted a co-worker, let alone the director of the department.

  “So…?” Stemp eyed me with thinly disguised impatience.

  With trembling fingertips, I massaged the incipient headache tightening around my temples. “I can’t do this.”

  “Do what?”

  “This mission. Pretending to work with Fuzzy Bunny. I can’t do it.”

  “Why not?”

  My fear burst out in its usual angry disguise. “Because I’m a fucking dumb civilian bookkeeper, not a spy! I don’t have a fucking clue what to do, they’ll spot me right away and then they’ll torture all the classified information out of me, and everybody else will be in danger because of me! I can’t do this! I won’t even pass your qualification tests!”

  His silence expanded to fill the room. I clenched my fists around the arms of the chair, my heart pounding in my ears.

  At last he spoke. “I notice you said you ‘won’t pass’, not you ‘can’t pass’.”

  “I can’t, for shit’s sake! I’m just a bookkeeper.”

  He blew out a short breath. “Ms. Kelly, we both know that’s not true.”

  I resisted the urge to batter my brains out on his desk. “It’s true, for fucksakes! Hook me up to the lie detector and you can see for yourself.”

  He slumped lower in his chair, massaging his temples as if his head hurt, too. “I get the point. I know you can’t compromise your cover.” He eyed me wearily. “Can’t you just squeak by with a passing score? Everyone knows you work out frequently and you’re a good shot. It would be plausible. There’s no need to actually fail the tests.”