Reach For the Spy (10 page)

I looked at my watch.
“Guess I’d better get over to the Greenhorn.”

“Are you sure you’re
all right? Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?”

“I don’t want to skip
Jeff and Donna’s work. And I need to get back into that sim this
afternoon. I swear that pile of files is breeding and
multiplying.”

Kane eyed me seriously.
“Don’t push it. We need you for the long haul. Don’t burn out in
the beginning.”

The thought of the long
haul sent a cold chill down my spine as my stomach clenched. I
pushed away the dark cloud of dread and straightened up. “I’ll be
fine. See you this afternoon. And thanks again.”

I got out and headed
for my car.

The Greenhorn was
pleasantly quiet and predictable. My huge expenditure of energy had
left me so drained that even moving the mouse was an effort. I kept
my eyes open with difficulty, and made a mental promise to recheck
all my entries when I came back the following week.

I ate, barely tasting
my lunch, and dragged myself back out to my car. By the time I
parked at Sirius Dynamics, I had to bite back the whine that
threatened to escape.

I shook my head
vigorously and briskly patted my cheeks, trying to awaken some
initiative.

Apparently initiative
was heavily drugged and refusing to answer the door. Or maybe it
had packed up and headed out for a quick vacation in Rio. I
compromised and awakened dumb stubbornness instead.

Down in the lab, I
clasped my hands together so the tremor wouldn’t be so noticeable
and turned to Kane. “Any emergencies today?”

“No, you can go back to
the files from Harchman’s. I’ll stay here until two, and then Webb
will take over with you for the rest of the afternoon.”

“Okay. Signal me when
you do the shift change. I’ll be ready for a break by then.”

I propped myself up in
the chair again and stepped into the network.

Bill Harks lunged at
me, his face contorted with rage.

I let out a shriek and
leaped backward through the network portal.

Uncontrollable screams
wrenched from me as my body convulsed, flailing in a desperate
attempt to escape the torture. Fire burned my skin and boiled
inside my veins. A maelstrom of colours churned around me as I
fell. Nausea ripped through my gut. The endless screams lacerated
my throat.

An eternity later, the
suffering began to abate. The swirling colours faded and my screams
trailed off into raw whimpering. As awareness returned, I silenced
myself and concentrated on opening my eyes.

Kane’s voice called my
name again and again, and I finally summoned up the strength for a
hoarse whisper. “I’m okay.”

I felt a cessation of
tension, and realized he was holding my tightly curled body while
he alternately stroked my hair and massaged my head and neck.

One by one, I relaxed
my clenched muscles until I was sprawled on the floor. I had
managed to squint one eye partway open, and I finally achieved both
eyes simultaneously as he rubbed the pain away from my temples.

I groaned and tried to
sit up. His strong arm supported me, and I managed a semi-vertical
position slumped against his broad chest.

“Aydan, what happened?”
he demanded. “Did you get kicked out of the network?”

I breathed deeply for a
few seconds while I tried to force my brain to formulate an answer.
It reluctantly began to function again and I sat up a little
straighter and rubbed my hands over my aching face.

“No, I didn’t get
kicked out,” I croaked. “I was just stupid. I came through the
portal too fast again.”

He peered down at me.
“Why? You just went in. It was literally seconds before you started
screaming. What happened?”

“I wasn’t paying
attention to where my thoughts were going. All of a sudden, Bill
Harks was there, and I forgot it was a sim and jumped back through
the portal. I just wasn’t thinking. My fault.”

He held me close and
stroked my hair wordlessly for a few moments. Then he stood,
lifting me to my feet. “Come on. You’re done for the day.”

I rolled my sore
shoulders and cracked my neck. “I’m okay now. I’ll just be more
careful with my thoughts this time.”

He pried the network
key’s small box out of my hand and put it in the drawer. “I’m your
handler. And I say you’re done for the day.” He ushered me firmly
out the door and up the stairs.

In the lobby, he stood
beside me while I turned in my security fob, and then walked with
me out into the hot sun. At my car, he gazed down at me sternly.
“Go home. Have a nap. Work in your garden. Play some music.
Anything you want as long as you aren’t overtaxing yourself. That’s
an order.”

I slithered weakly into
the driver’s seat. “Roger that.” I looked up at his concerned face.
“Thanks. See you tomorrow.”

“Not until three
o’clock,” he warned. “And then, only for a couple of hours.”

“Okay.”

I drove home, feeling
as though I’d been beaten from head to toe with a baseball bat, and
did my best to follow his orders for the rest of the day.

I had another crummy
sleep. I squinted apathetically at the hag in the bathroom mirror
before groaning my way to the breakfast table.

After breakfast, I
shambled down the hall and contemplated my desk.

“Fuck it.” I spoke
aloud before remembering I was bugged.

Well, tough. If you
listen in where you’re not wanted, you’re bound to hear something
you don’t like. I snickered. Hope my audience had appreciated that
resounding fart I’d let go earlier.

That was enough to
boost my spirits a bit. I hadn’t remembered the bugs at the time,
but it was still nice to know somebody else was suffering, too.

Feeling a little more
cheerful, I went out onto the back porch and grabbed a folding
chair as I headed out of camera range. I set up the chair in a
sheltered corner of the yard and slouched into it, stretching my
legs out in the early sun. Listening to the quiet of the country
morning, I let my mind clear.

I jerked awake with an
aborted snore. Slowly and carefully, I straightened my stiff neck
enough to look at my watch. God, ten-thirty. I had just enough time
to get changed and get to Blue Eddy’s by eleven.

I levered myself out of
the chair and hobbled around for a few minutes, trying to shake out
the pins and needles in my legs before making for the house as
briskly as I could manage.

When I let myself in
the back door at Blue Eddy’s, the piano was disappointingly silent.
I felt my shoulders sag. I really could have used some happy music
this morning.

I dragged down the hall
and into the office to start on the week’s entries. About twenty
minutes later, Eddy poked his head around the door frame.

“Oh, you’re here. I
didn’t hear you come in.”

I glanced up from my
work. “Never trust a sneaky bookkeeper,” I joked.

He laughed, but sobered
quickly. “Aydan, are you feeling all right?” He hesitated. “I heard
you had a bit of a problem over at the hotel.”

I shrugged. Small town.
Probably everybody knew by now.

“Yeah. I’m glad you
warned me about Harks earlier.”

He stepped into the
room and perched on the edge of the desk. “I didn’t actually expect
you this morning. Are you really okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

His mouth quirked up,
but his eyes were serious. “Word has it that Bill was down for the
count.”

I sighed. I really
didn’t want to talk about it. As if reading my mind, Eddy
straightened. “I know you probably don’t want to talk about this,
but I wanted to give you another heads-up. This isn’t the first
time rumours have gone around about Bill assaulting a woman, but
nothing ever sticks. The women always seem to change their minds
about pressing charges, and it all gets swept under the table. And
none of them ever did a number on him like you did. You should
watch your back.”

I gazed up at him
wearily. “Jesus, Eddy, this is one of the things I hate about small
towns. Everybody knows who the bad apples are, and nothing ever
gets done about it.”

“I know.” He sighed.
“Just... be careful, okay?”

“I will. Thanks,
Eddy.”

He turned to go, and I
sank my head into my hands.

“Aydan?”

I jerked my head up,
startled. He was hovering in the doorway, and his eyes were kind.
“Remember, you have friends here. You’re not alone.”

I cleared the sudden
huskiness from my throat. “Thanks, Eddy.”

He nodded and vanished,
and a few minutes later, the sound of the piano made me smile.

I enjoyed another
delicious free meal that had been mysteriously ordered and declined
by a customer, and made my way to Up & Coming feeling comforted
by Eddy’s care and friendship.

Some off-colour banter
with Lola heartened me almost as much as her flagrant approval of
what she referred to as ‘a good dose of whup-ass’ for Bill Harks. I
arrived at Sirius Dynamics feeling almost human again.

I grudgingly approached
the secured door, and gave myself a determined attitude adjustment
while I waited for the time delay. I only had to control my
thoughts for a few moments until I got into the simulated file room
and began my decryptions. Once I was absorbed in the documents,
time would pass easily.

I squared my shoulders
and marched down to Spider’s lab. My hands were hardly shaking at
all.

A couple of hours
later, my positive attitude was somewhat frayed around the edges as
I held my skull together with both hands and swore. I straightened
slowly. Two sets of eyes regarded me uneasily.

“I’m fine.” I answered
the unasked question.

“Good,” Kane said with
obvious relief. “That’s it for today then. Get out of here.”

“I could probably do
another stint. It was a pretty short day today.”

“No.” He plucked the
network key out of my hand and passed it to Spider, who secured it
in his desk drawer as if afraid I’d arm-wrestle him for it.

“Okay. You don’t have
to tell me twice.” I rose with relief and headed for the door. “See
you tomorrow morning. Nine o’clock?”

Both men nodded, and I
scooted for the stairs. I made it through the time delay with more
ease than usual, and patted myself on the back for my progress.

Then I drove home and
sat on my hillside for a long, long time.

Nine o’clock came far
too early the next morning. I glowered up at the Sirius Dynamics
building as I dragged my reluctant feet up the stairs.

It was another
beautiful, sunny day. A sprinkle of rain overnight had washed the
sky to a clear translucent blue, and the scent of grass and flowers
filled the air. Birds twittered a carefree symphony. Little
bastards.

Inside Spider’s lab,
the fluorescent lights glared and the flat scent of filtered air
filled my nose. It could have been morning, afternoon, or midnight.
No sense of time passing. Like a prison.

“Are you okay?” Spider
eyed my trembling hands as he passed me the network key.

“Fine.” I flopped into
my chair and closed my eyes to step into the network. Even the
white void seemed confining. I skipped the corridor simulation
entirely and folded sim-space to step directly into the file
room.

When noon finally
rolled around, I pried myself out of my chair and stumbled for the
door, still trying to massage away the pain of exiting the
network.

“Aydan, wait!”

“What, Spider?” I did
my best not to snarl as I turned to face him.

“You have to leave the
network key here.”

“Oh. Right.” I tossed
him the box. “See you after lunch.”

He fumbled the catch,
frantically juggling the tiny cube. It bounced off his hands and
skittered across the desk as he swatted at it.

A shock of fear
galvanized me when it popped open, and I pounced for it at the same
time as Spider. Our four hands locked over top of the small object,
and we stared into each other’s wide eyes from close range.

“Shit,” I breathed.
“Shit, shit, shit.”

I carefully removed my
hand from the top of the pile, scrutinizing the palm to make sure
nothing was stuck to it. Spider did the same, and then I repeated
the motion with my other hand.

White-faced, he lifted
his hand from the desk, and our breath whooshed out simultaneously
when we spotted the tiny circuitry stuck to his thumb. With shaking
hands, he poised it over the box and dropped it back in, closing
the lid securely.

I sank to the floor,
clutching my chest. “Jesus, Spider, I’m sorry! I wasn’t thinking.
Jesus, son of a bitch.” I sucked a few deep breaths. My hands shook
violently.

Spider collapsed back
in his chair and did some deep breathing of his own. “That was
close.”

“If I’d lost that, we’d
be completely fucked. Jesus.”

He hauled himself out
of the chair. “We didn’t lose it. It’s okay. Come on, let’s get out
of here. I think we both need a break.” He reached down to give me
a hand up, and I tottered down the hallway beside him, my heart
still pounding.

When we stepped out of
the time-delayed door into the lobby, we came face to face with
Stemp. He regarded our ashen faces and my pronounced trembling with
his usual expressionless demeanor.

“Is everything all
right?”

“Fine,” we chorused. We
looked at each other and then looked away again hurriedly.

Stemp’s eyes bored into
us, and I turned away to hand in my security fob. “I’m going to the
Melted Spoon, Spider, want to come?”

“Okay,” he said
faintly, and we made a hasty exit.

A savoury grilled
panini and a cup of herbal tea later, I gazed wistfully around us
while we walked back to Sirius. The early freshness of the air had
gone, and the sun burned down. Another scorcher of a day. Too bad I
wouldn’t get to enjoy it.