Spy High (25 page)

“You can’t go back to bed like that.”
She frowned at me for a moment before her face cleared. “I’ll get
you fixed up. Come on.”

It took all my willpower not to groan
out loud, but I let her lead me back to the kitchen. I watched
dully while she dragged a chair over beside one of the stoves and
tossed a few sticks of wood on top of the glowing coals.

Then she pulled a blanket off the bed
she’d made for herself beside the stove and held it up in front of
me, stretching her arms wide.

“Strip,” she commanded.

“Nichele…”

“Shut up and strip. I’ll hold up the
blanket and nobody will see you in the corner here.” She glowered
at me with all the authority of a tiny general.

Realizing protests were futile, I opted
for damage control. “I have to pee first.”

“Fine. Go and pee and then come right
back.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I retreated, shivering my
way out to the latrine and cursing steadily while I peed and, more
importantly, removed my Glock and ankle holster and stowed them in
my already-distended jacket pockets.

The pocket flaps barely closed and the
jacket hung like a lead weight from my shoulders, swinging
ponderously under its burden of classified technology and concealed
weapons. Muttering, I took it off and draped it over my arm before
re-entering the kitchen.

Nichele looked up from the steaming
bucket she’d placed in front of the chair. “Good, now strip.”

She held up the blanket again, and I
carefully balled up my jacket around its cargo and laid it in the
corner before stripping down to underwear and goosebumps.

Nichele wrapped the blanket around me.
“Sit.” She pointed to the chair. “And put your feet in that
bucket.”

I obeyed, then yelped and jerked my
feet out of the scalding water.

“It’s not that hot, it’s just that your
feet are that cold,” Nichele reassured me. “Now get in there.”

After a few more tentative dips I
managed to keep my feet submerged, and she briskly towelled my hair
before wrapping the towel around my head. “Better. Here, drink
this.” She handed me a mug of hot chocolate and added, “Stay put.
I’ll be right back.”

Already feeling the warmth of the
woodstove at my back and the heat rising through my feet, I nodded
gratefully and sipped while she hurried out the door, flashlight in
hand.

In a few minutes she was back bearing
an object I couldn’t identify at first. When she drew closer, I
shot her a wary look. “What are you planning to do with that, give
me a makeover? You know there’s no electricity, right?”

“I know, silly.” Nichele brandished her
curling iron. “It’s butane. It doesn’t need electricity. And if you
go to bed with all that long hair soaking wet, you’ll be frozen
again in minutes. This isn’t as good as a blow dryer, but it’ll dry
your hair, so shut up and sit still.”

I let her work on me in silence for
several minutes, sipping the last of the hot chocolate while she
wound locks of my hair around the barrel of the curling iron. Wisps
of steam drifted around my head.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I
said at last.

She giggled. “Hell, yeah, girl. If I
thought I could get away with it I’d give you a facial, too. And
wax your brows, and…”

“Don’t even think about it. This is
embarrassing enough.” I cast a dark look at a couple of the commune
members who were eyeing us with bemusement.

They mercifully vacated the kitchen,
leaving us alone in the circle of light from our lantern, and
Nichele carried on with her comb and curling iron.

At last she stepped back. “There.” She
applied a round brush to my new ringlets with expert twists of her
wrist. “Oh-em-gee, Aydan, you have such beautiful hair. Why don’t
you spend a little time on it? I’d kill to have hair like
yours.”

“Your hair always looks beautiful,” I
objected.

“Yeah, because I spend an hour on it
every morning,” she retorted.

I appropriated the towel and extricated
my feet from the bucket. “Well, take a picture, because this’ll
never happen again.” I dried my feet and straightened just in time
to face a blinding flash of light. “
Jesus!
” I yelped. “What
the hell…”

“So I took a picture.” Nichele hefted
her phone, looking at me as if I’d lost my mind. “What did you
expect?”

“Give me that!” I made a grab for the
phone, but she danced out of reach, grinning.

“Nope. Blackmail photos.”

“Okay, fine. I guess I owe you.” I
stretched, easing the knots out of my shoulders. “I feel so much
better. Thanks.” I eyed my wet clothes with distaste. “Maybe I’ll
just wear this blanket back to my tent.”

“You should,” she said seriously.
“Drape your clothes over the stove and they’ll be dry by
morning.”

I let out a breath. “You’re one smart
cookie, you know?”

“I know.” She gave me a smug smile.
“Leave your clothes here and get going. I’ll put them on the stove
and take them off when they’re dry. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” I stuffed my feet back
into my hiking boots and scooped up my jacket. “Thanks, Nichele.
You’re the best.”

Back at my tent I took exactly enough
time to transfer my gear to a dry jacket and tuck my gun into its
bedside niche before tumbling onto my cot, still wrapped in the
blanket.

When I opened my eyes again, my tent
was bright and the damn birds were singing at the tops of their
lungs. I squinted at my watch and groaned. Less than five hours of
sleep. Again.

Maybe I could just turn over and grab a
few more zees…

No. Three lives might depend on me.

I dragged myself resolutely out of bed
and checked Orion’s tracker. Up by the garage again. What the hell
was he doing there? I’d never seen him pick up a tool, and Skidmark
certainly wasn’t a big attraction.

But maybe he was meeting Ratboy.

I sank down to sit on the edge of my
cot, frowning. Why did Ratboy spend so much time at the garage? He
obviously had no automotive skills, and he and Skidmark didn’t get
along. And it wouldn’t make sense for him to be meeting Orion
there. If Orion was going over to the renters’ land every night,
surely they could do all the talking they needed then.

I blew out a breath and rose. Whatever.
At least Orion was far away from the people I cared about, assuming
Moonbeam and Karma were still in their tent or at breakfast.

I threw on some clothes and dragged a
brush through my hair. The humidity had turned the previous night’s
ringlets into a dense frizzy mat, and I expended several minutes
and some of my best swearwords untangling it. Then I checked
Orion’s tracker one more time to make sure he was still at the
garage, and hurried off to the main building.

When I strode into the kitchen Nichele
broke off her animated conversation to wave a cheerful good-morning
from the table she was sharing with Moonbeam, Karma, and Aurora. I
returned the salute with a smile. All present and accounted for.
What a relief.

Grabbing some fruit, yogurt, and
granola, I headed for their table and slid into the chair beside
Nichele.

“Good morning, Ay… I mean Storm,” she
said. “Guess what? Uncle Karma was just telling me about their
school, and I’m going to do a seminar on stock market investing
tonight.” She shot a bright-eyed smile at Karma. “This is going to
be so much fun! And we’ll have the electricity turned on, too, so I
can show everybody the online stuff!”

Her enthusiasm brought a smile to my
face as always. “That’s great,” I agreed. “What age of kids will
you be teaching?”

“Not kids.” Nichele took a quick sip of
her coffee before continuing, “Well, the older students if they
want to come. But it’s for everybody. They’re so progressive here!
Nothing at all like the backwoods attitudes I expected!” She shot a
contrite glance at Moonbeam and Karma. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be
insulting, but with you being out here with no electricity I
thought… well, you know.”

Moonbeam gave her usual luminous smile.
“Of course, dear, no offense taken. And we are looking forward to
your talk tonight. We do try to offer our members the best
educational opportunities whenever we have experts available. Storm
Cloud Dancer gave us a wonderful bookkeeping seminar a couple of
months ago.”

“That’s so cool!” Nichele’s eyes
sparkled. She turned to me. “Oh, by the way, your clothes are all
dry, they’re folded up beside the stove…” Without pausing for
breath she transferred her smile to Aurora. “And I can hardly wait
to talk to you some more about the Earth Spirit today; yesterday
was so much fun…”

The two of them chattered busily, and I
eased out a breath and applied myself to my breakfast. Nichele was
in the thick of things as usual, making new friends and gobbling up
new experiences with gusto. At least she’d have plenty of
activities to keep her distracted and in the safety of a group. One
less thing to worry about.

Karma and Moonbeam finished their
breakfast and rose, and I gulped my last mouthful and stood,
too.

“I’ve got some things to do this
morning, so I’ll catch you later, okay?” I said to Nichele, and
received a nod and smile in return before she dove back into
conversation with Aurora.

Turning to Moonbeam as we moved toward
the door, I lowered my voice. “I’m sorry to keep springing people
on you, but another friend is coming to visit me today.”

“Oh.” A hint of something coloured the
word. It sounded almost like annoyance, but it was gone in a flash,
hidden by gentle concern. “Oh, dear. I’m terribly sorry, but we’re
out of spare tents.”

“That’s okay, he’ll sleep with me.”

“Oh.”

This time her intonation was easier to
read.

Disappointment.

“I’m honestly not in a relationship
with Cosmic River Stone,” I said gently. “I’m sorry if you’re
disappointed.”

Moonbeam sighed. “I have to admit I am
disappointed, dear. I would have loved to have had you for a
daughter-in-law.”

“Oh.” I swallowed the lump in my
throat. “Well, thanks. I would’ve loved to have you for a
mother-in-law.”

“Thank you, dear.” She gave me a quick
hug before pulling away with a smile. “Now, tell me about your
young man. What is his name, and will we be keeping up our pretense
as your aunt and uncle?”

“No, it’s okay. Arnie knows why I’m
here. Oh, and that’s his name, Arnold Helmand. But everybody calls
him Hellhound.”

“Oh… That doesn’t sound auspicious… but
the numbers tell the tale…” Her eyes unfocused and she hesitated
for a moment as though performing some mental calculation before
her gaze sharpened again. “He must be quite creative and
intuitive.”

I managed not to let my mouth drop
open. “Uh… yeah. He’s a really talented musician, and he… um,
probably understands me better than anybody I know.”

Moonbeam’s face relaxed into a smile.
“He sounds like a wonderful person. And I’m so glad you feel safe
enough with him to tell him the truth. I’m sure you’ll be very
happy together. Are you planning a wedding?”

“God, no!”

Moonbeam and Karma looked taken aback
by my expression of horror, and I fumbled to explain. “Neither of
us wants any kind of commitment. We’re just friends with benefits,
and that’s how we both want it to stay.”

“Oh.” Moonbeam brightened. “So there
would still be room in your life for a serious relationship.”

“Um… in theory, yeah, but…”

She gave me a whimsical smile. “Don’t
worry, dear, I won’t press. But a mother never gives up hope, you
know.”

“Uh, I think in this case maybe you
should,” I mumbled.

She patted my hand, unabashed. “We’ll
look forward to meeting your Hellhound. Is the station wagon
running? How will you pick him up?”

“No, he said he’d get here on his own.
When I told him vehicles weren’t allowed on the commune he said
he’d walk here.”

Moonbeam’s brow furrowed. “He does
realize it’s twelve miles from Port Renfrew, doesn’t he?”

“I told him.” I shrugged. “He’s in
really good shape. And he said he was looking forward to getting
some exercise in our nice weather after all the snow they’ve had in
Calgary.”

“Very well, dear. Oh, and you may want
to take a larger mattress from the supply room. Your cot is
unlikely to be comfortable for two.”

“Right, thanks.” They began to move
off, and I tried to keep my tone casual as I added, “So what’s on
your agenda for today?” They looked slightly bemused by the non
sequitur, and I added in a burst of inspiration, “I’d like to bring
Arnie to meet you later and I was wondering when would be a good
time. He thought he’d be here around noon.”

They exchanged a glance, and Karma
smiled and replied, “The Earth Spirit has requested our service
today. We’ll likely be unavailable most of the day, but we’ll look
forward to meeting him at our evening meal.”

“Oh. Okay, see you later, then.”

They turned away, leaving me to worry
about what ‘unavailable’ really meant.

I wandered over to collect my clothes
from beside the woodstove, deep in thought. What did ‘the Earth
Spirit requested their service’ mean? No wonder Stemp had lost
patience with the mysterious dogma.

I didn’t know whether to be reassured
or worried. On one hand it meant I needn’t panic if I couldn’t find
Moonbeam and Karma, but on the other hand, all kinds of bad things
could happen to them and I wouldn’t know until suppertime.

And what did they mean by
‘unavailable’? It wasn’t like they were going to take their phone
off the hook or refuse to answer email. They lived in a tent with
no technology at all. Did they mean ‘in their tent but not
responding to visitors’, or ‘at some mysterious undisclosed
location’?

I realized I was beginning to draw odd
looks while I stood scowling at the stove, so I abandoned the
kitchen and headed for the supply room.