Silence.
“Yeah.”
“And then maybe you two can—”
Edie flinched at the loud sound of a metal chair being pushed back against the deck boards.
“Can you stay for an hour? I need a run.”
“Kenny…”
“I need this. Will you stay with her?”
“Yes. Go.”
Edie kept her eyes closed as Skye opened the patio door and stepped quietly inside. She felt Skye stop by the back of the sofa and place a soft blanket over her. Edie nestled into the comfort, in that moment simply grateful Skye had somehow known exactly what she needed.
Chapter Eight
“Don’t you have to glue it or tape it or something? That’s what they do on TV.”
Edie’s attempt at humour betrayed her nerves. She was sitting in an office in the OPP headquarters just outside downtown Ottawa. Skye stood stiffly by the door. JC had just handed Edie a set of regular-looking ear buds that were supposedly mic and transceiver. She would wear it to meet with Faina in two hours.
JC snorted. “We’ll sit and chat someday about all the way media gets police work wrong. Right now I need you to focus.”
It was a lot to ask. The fog from yesterday lingered in Edie’s head, not heavy or thick, just present enough that she was aware of it. And irritated by it.
“Okay.”
“This is going to attach to your phone, which will act as Bluetooth so we hear the conversation in real time but also will record it for evidence. You don’t need to do anything, just stick it in your pocket with the ear buds around your shoulders. Got it?”
“Got it,” Edie confirmed.
“All right. Skye and Bart have arranged to have one of their guys inside the laundromat.” JC looked at her watch. “He should be there in an hour. Skye, do you want to describe Sasha for Edie?”
“Tall, thin, brown hair. Right now he’s got a beard and a man bun. He’ll be wearing a plaid shirt.”
“Going for the hipster look, is he?” JC said.
“His last assignment had him in a lot of coffee shops. Sash is good at blending in.”
“Try not to make eye contact with him but don’t worry about it if you do,” JC said to Edie. “I’ll be at the side alley entrance. Questions?”
Yes, so many questions.
“What have I done exactly to warrant all this attention? Security and wire taps and secret meets. What have I done?”
JC and Skye stared at her. Apparently neither knew what to say.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Skye said. “Hopefully we get some answers today.”
Edie rubbed at her forehead, then looked up. “Okay. Fine. But what the hell am I actually doing when I go in today?”
JC grinned. In any other circumstance, Edie would be flirting with the bright, easygoing cop. She was gorgeous and strong, she loved her kids, she was dedicated and caring. But it was the sharply edged, difficult to get to know, glowering, awkward, painfully intelligent, sweet and fiercely loyal ex-soldier who stood stiffly and silently by the door that had captured and held Edie’s attention.
“Wherever you are, it looks wonderful. But I need you back for this.”
Edie blushed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. Since Skye is going to be the one inside with you, I’m going to let her tell you the plan for this meet.”
Skye pushed off from the door and sat across from Edie. She grabbed a pad of paper and sketched a quick floor plan. Her green-yellow eyes were focused. Action sat well on Skye Kenny.
“We’ll walk in to the laundromat together at eleven. You’ll be carrying a basket of laundry.”
“Because you need your hands free,” Edie said.
“Yes. There’s a row of washers on your left, here. Find one and put your basket down. Don’t go past this counter. We should have word from Sasha if Faina is there before we head in. We’re just going to have to wait and see what Faina has planned and react the best way we can.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Edie said.
Skye grimaced. “I know. I’m sorry.” She indicated the floor plan with her pen. “JC will have the back, Sasha will be on the far side by the dryers, and I can get you out the front. I have no intention of allowing them to box you in.”
Edie considered the hastily drawn floor plan. She re-listened to Skye’s words. She had already noticed the light jacket Skye had pulled on over her back holster.
“You expect an ambush,” Edie said.
“We are treating it as an ambush because Faina is an unknown quantity. We are prepared to extricate you at any moment. The plan is to get the information we can, possibly set up for another meet if we need to, and get the hell out of there.”
Edie took a breath and held it. She let it out slowly. She turned to JC. “What information do you need? Specifically. What should I ask, if I get a chance?”
Skye and JC exchanged a quick look.
“Kenny and I discussed that last night,” JC responded. “You’re good at getting information. You’re trained in getting information. And you know as much or more than we do about this whole situation. Go with your gut. We trust you.”
An icy anxiety cramped Edie’s stomach and shot up through her chest. Instinct had been her life’s motto, her touchstone, her compass as she navigated the wide world of people, cultures, jobs, and relationships. But the compass had been knocked off course, the needle sometimes wavered, and Edie did not trust it to always find due north. She looked at Skye and JC. Skye’s gaze was fierce and intense. JC looked confident. They trusted Edie.
“I’m in. I’ve got this.”
“Then let’s go.”
* * *
Edie gripped the laundry basket full of clothes tightly to her chest as Skye opened the door of the LaundroCat. The sound of washers and dryers droned as terrible pop music streamed through speakers in the corner. The far right wall was glassed-in, evidence of the new North American craze of combining cat rescue with cafés and bars and bookstores.
She caught sight of a few people sitting in mismatched chairs as lithe feline forms leapt or slept on an elaborate, carpeted cat jungle. Edie swept her gaze through the whole place, hoping she looked casual. They knew from Sasha, presumably the guy sitting on a bench hunched over his phone in the far corner, that Faina had not been spotted inside. Other than a tired-looking older man slowly folding clothes in the centre of the shop, the place was empty.
Beside her, Skye had opened one of the washing machines. Edie blinked and put down the basket. The door opened behind her, and she saw Skye stiffen. Faina wore dark sunglasses over her eyes, and her hair had been cut dramatically short. New bruises showed under her collar. She approached Skye and Edie quickly. Skye kept herself between them, her hands loose at her sides.
“Alley entrance. I only have a few minutes. Please.”
Faina didn’t wait for an answer, she just kept walking back through the laundromat until she disappeared. Skye tracked her movement, even as she texted out a message, presumably to JC.
“We’ll go around,” Skye said tersely.
Edie slammed the door of the washing machine and followed Skye back out onto the street.
“JC has eyes on Faina,” Skye said, reading her phone and scanning the area. “She seems to be alone. Let’s go. Stay behind me.”
Faina was propping open a door halfway down the open alley. She had her head turned away, ostensibly trying to get a read on JC, who stood alert but impassive at the far end. Faina turned as Skye and Edie approached. She clenched her sunglasses in one hand, showing the reddish-purple bruise that had swollen one eye completely shut.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Edie breathed out.
Skye walked directly up to Faina and peered into the half-open door. Then she signaled to JC at the end of the alley, who gave her a quick nod.
“Go ahead,” Skye said, but only took a partial step back to allow Edie to come face-to-face with Faina.
“I only have a few
minutes. I’ll tell you what I know, but it is not very much. They want something you have. Some kind of information you were given or have hidden. I don’t understand. They keep using the word udalit. Take. I didn’t know I was helping them hurt you. I didn’t know, Edie. I’m guarded. He’ll be back in not many more minutes.”
Faina was breathless, her fear palpable. She looked over her shoulder every few seconds.
“Who, Faina?”
“My brother and sister. Alex is here. He goes by Alex Rada now. He wants to bring you in, I think. He says he’s done with this phase. They know you are gone. They think it is my fault.” Faina swallowed and touched the bruise on her neck. “It is my fault. I didn’t know.”
“Are you being held against your will?” Skye said.
Faina regarded Skye silently. Then she looked at Edie. “This one. She is your—”
“Security,” Edie finished. “Skye. She’s here to help.”
“The soldier. They know of you. You have them worried.”
“Faina, are you being held against your will?” Edie repeated Skye’s question.
Faina focused her pained brown eyes back on Edie. “Yes. For two years now. I am never without a guard. I have no access to a phone or computer. They told me to befriend you, but I didn’t know they wanted to hurt you. I’m sorry.”
Skye looked down the alley again, silently conferring with JC, who could hear the conversation through the ear buds around Edie’s neck. JC gave a curt nod of her head, some kind of signal for Skye.
“You can come with us,” Skye said to Faina. “We may be able to offer police protection in exchange for information. Even protective custody would be safer than this.”
Faina shook her head. “No. I will clean up my mess first. I got Edie into this. I will get her out. I cannot contact you again, but I am here once a week. Max, my guard, has gotten his girlfriend pregnant. She works in a store around the corner. He leaves me here and goes and fights with her.”
Faina was starting to babble. Her understanding, calm, and reserved friend was babbling. She was being held prisoner. She had a black eye. Edie peered closer. So many bruises. Had she always had them? Edie felt sick.
“Just come with me,” Edie said to Faina. “Right now. We’ll work it out.”
Faina looked like she was fighting tears. She blinked and shook her head. “I only have a minute. You should go. Do not go back out the front. Come back Wednesday. This time. I will have more.”
Before Skye or Edie could say or do anything more to convince the woman to come with them, Faina had stepped back through the door and let it shut. Edie could only stare at the blank door, wondering what had just happened. Skye took Edie gently but firmly by the upper arm.
“Let’s go.”
Skye directed Edie silently down the street, into JC’s car. She sat in the backseat while JC talked and Skye argued about clues, leads, and the bigger picture just beginning to form. But all Edie could see were the bruises on Faina’s neck, the blood of her swollen eye, the chipped paint of the grey metal door as it closed it between them. Who is Faina really?
“I believe her,” Edie said out loud. Conversation in the front seat stopped.
“Faina?” JC said.
“Yes. I believe her when she said she didn’t know what was going on. And I believe that she’s on our side now. My side.”
“There are a lot of holes in her story, Edie,” JC said carefully.
“I know. And I know you can’t trust her. I just wanted you to know that I believe her. And any of my actions going forward will be based on that premise. I just thought you two should know.”
JC and Skye exchanged a glance but said nothing.
By the time they arrived at headquarters, Edie had become big news. They were swarmed with suits and uniforms the second they entered the building. JC stepped confidently into the fray, and once again Edie found Skye steering her by putting her hand on Edie’s lower back.
“Come on, we’ll let Constable Caldwell handle this.”
No one seemed to notice Skye was secreting Edie away, though she saw JC give a quick, appreciative nod in Skye’s direction before squaring her shoulders, lifting her chin, and shouting over the noise for quiet.
The hallways were nearly empty and Skye navigated them quickly toward the tiny, empty office they’d used earlier. Edie sat in a barely comfortable office chair, grateful when Skye closed the door and the noise outside decreased to a distant hum.
“Okay?” Skye said. She paced around the office with jerky movements, long strides cut off by the small space. Edie wanted to stand and run her hands up and down Skye’s arms, to hold her in place until some of the excess energy left her body.
“I’m okay.” She was. The fog had lifted at some point, and she could not be more grateful for the timing. “What’s happening out there? I thought JC said no one was really interested in this.”
“Someone must have found something of interest. If what is happening to you becomes connected to a bigger case, everyone is going to want a piece of it.”
“Great,” Edie said. “I wish I knew why I was suddenly so important. But I guess JC did warn us.”
“She did. She knows what she’s doing.”
“I trust her,” Edie said. “And you.”
“And Faina.”
“And Faina,” Edie agreed calmly.
“You know that doesn’t make sense, right?” Skye sounded almost angry.
“It doesn’t make sense to you, Skye. I’m going with my gut on this.”
Skye opened her mouth to protest, but JC entered the office.
“Hey. How’s everyone doing in here?” JC’s voice was strained, the stress making her question sound more rote than interested.
“We’re fine. What’s happening?” Skye said.
“Immigration is what’s happening,” JC said and threw herself into a chair. “Border security and RCMP combined forces is what’s happening.”
“And what do they want?”
“Control over this investigation. They want to exploit Faina’s obviously dangerous situation. They want to dig up Edie’s past and strip her for whatever information she has.”
Edie froze and Skye stalked toward JC. The cop immediately stood and put her hands up in a conciliatory gesture.
“I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
Skye stopped just in front of JC. Edie could feel the palpable tension, the waves of anger emanating from Skye’s tightly coiled body, the stress and power evident in JC’s wide stance as she faced her friend and fire buddy.
“That’s not going to happen,” Skye said darkly.
“You’re right,” JC said. “It’s not going to happen because you and I are not going to let it happen. Okay?”
Skye didn’t answer, but she did step back and resume her pacing. Edie waved a hand.
“I’m over here, if anyone’s wondering. You know, the centre of this shit storm.”
JC rubbed a hand over her eyes, then sat again. “I’m really sorry, Edie. Let me tell you what’s going on. There are four division heads out there who want to talk to you. The name Alex Rada, Faina’s half brother, has raised numerous red flags, including illegal arms trading. The other issue is that Faina places Rada in Ottawa when border patrol is saying he has never been to Canada.”
“What about the information Faina mentioned,” Skye said. “That Edie supposedly has. Anyone have any idea what she was talking about?”
JC shook her head. “No, and that’s where things are about to get dicey. Everyone wants to know what you know or what you have. There’s already a team heading to your apartment to strip it. Your computer and phone have been searched, but you need to be prepared for a deeper background check. Family, friends, and neighbours will be interviewed. Your boss will be asked questions about your contacts, your work will be scrutinized. I’ve already heard theories about your connections in Afghanistan as well as some idiot questioning whether or not you knew Yaz K
halid, the impaired driver who hit you a year ago.”
“For fuck’s sake, Caldwell!” Skye nearly exploded from her spot near the door. The sound made Edie jump, but JC never took her eyes off Edie.
“I don’t know what’s happening here, Edie. I really don’t. I’ll tell you what I do know. This is going to suck. This will feel like an invasion. But I promise you that Skye and I will be here to protect you from the worst parts of it. I promise you that you can handle this. And I promise you that we will get your life back.”
“I trust you. But I want to be clear that I won’t leave Skye,” Edie said to JC, then turned to Skye. “If you’ll still have me. As a client, I mean.”
“I’ll see you through this, Edie.” Skye’s eyes sparked with tension and heat. The combination made Edie’s heart rocket around in her chest.
“Thank you,” Edie replied quietly before turning back to JC. But the cop was still looking at her friend. She didn’t seem very happy.
“This is going to be a problem,” JC said to Skye.
Skye sat in the chair next to Edie.
“No, it’s not. My presence is simply a fact that the department heads will have to accept. I will be in on any interviews with Edie, I will continue to secure her at the safe house, and I will be read in on any of the meets or missions that involve Edie.”
JC clenched her jaw, the only real sign that Edie could determine that JC was unhappy. “You’re overstepping.”
Skye shrugged. “Call it what you want. I’m not going anywhere.”
Silence. Edie considered speaking up, but she got the sense these two needed to stake their territory.
“You’re such a fucking pain in the ass,” JC said. “You’re lucky the RCMP still owes you for that incident with the princess from a few years ago. That’s the only reason you’re not being tossed on your ass right now.”
Skye grinned. Edie relaxed.
“Okay, enough of this. Edie, I’m going to get Superintendent Donaldson. He’s the liaison with the RCMP’s combined forces, and he’s going to ask you questions about Faina and any connections you have to Russian military, arms deals, and the illegal arms trade.” When Edie began to protest, JC cut her off. “I know. The prevailing theory right now is that you know something that you don’t know.” Edie couldn’t exactly argue with that. “Just answer the questions the best you can.” JC leaned forward and whispered, “And just try to pretend these guys aren’t a bunch of douche bags, okay?”
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