Spy High (32 page)

I sucked in a breath. Maybe if I
seduced him he’d forget the question…

Something in his expression told me he
wouldn’t and he’d be hurt if I tried.

I dismounted and plopped down to sit
tailor-fashion on the mattress beside him.

Just be honest. How hard could that
be?

I met his eyes with a sigh. “You’re
right, I was upset, but…” I held up a hand to stop him from
speaking. “…not because I wanted to marry you myself. It was just
that you’d been going on about how much you wanted me and then as
soon as your old girlfriend showed up I was nothing but chopped
liver. As though everything you’d said had been lies…” I trailed
off and addressed the mattress instead. “And when you begged me not
to spoil it for you, that… It was like you didn’t believe I was a
good enough friend to be happy for you. Like even our friendship
was a lie.”

I summoned every ounce of my courage.
“That… hurt,” I whispered.

“I’m sorry.” He took my hand, caressing
the back of it. “I didn’t want to hurt you. Holding onto my cover
that day was the hardest…” He trailed off, the fresh and brittle
pain twisting his face again. “Almost the hardest thing I’ve ever
done.”

“It’s okay,” I said hurriedly. “You
don’t need to apologize. It was okay as soon as I realized it was
only part of your cover.” I gave him a grin, going for the joke.
“Mind you, it helped that you killed her a few hours later.”

The strain melted from his face and he
chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I don’t think it’s a
sustainable strategy for the long term.”

“Mm. Probably not.”

Kane tucked his arms behind his head
and let out a breath. “All right. Thank you. That’s all I wanted to
know.”

“That’s all?” I eyed him warily.

“Yes, you can relax now.” The corner of
his mouth quirked up. “I’ve seen you look less terrified under live
fire.”

I gave him a tentative smile.
“Actually, I prefer live fire.”

He sighed. “That’s not funny.”

“I’m not joking.”

“You’re not, are you?” He frowned at
me. “For heaven’s sake, Aydan; a firing squad over a simple
personal question?”

“I didn’t say ‘firing squad’; I said
‘live fire’,” I grumbled. “Under live fire you still have a chance
of surviving. I’d probably pick the relationship question over an
actual firing squad.”

“Probably?”

I picked up the tub of face cream and
studied it. Almost empty. I moved some folds of the blanket aside,
looking for the lid. “Bullet wounds heal,” I mumbled at the
mattress. “Or they kill you. Either way, it’s good.”

Kane’s voice softened. “I didn’t mean
to sound critical. I know how your emotions were used to hurt you
in the past. Thank you for trusting me enough to answer my
question.”

“You’re welcome,” I muttered, still
searching for the elusive lid.

“Wait.” The note of incredulous
amusement in his tone made me stop rummaging among the blankets to
look at him. He reached over to take the small gold-trimmed jar
from my hand. “You used Christian Dior face cream on my back?”

“Yeah. So?”

He laughed. “So I assume you didn’t buy
it for yourself. This little jar probably cost over a hundred
dollars.”

“Oh, shit.” I gulped down my chagrin.
“Don’t tell Nichele. I thought it was just a little
stocking-stuffer and the beer was my real present.”

“The beer?”

I nodded. “A dozen different bottles of
craft beer from micro-breweries around Calgary. They were
great.”

He pulled a solemn face but his eyes
sparkled with wicked humour. “I’ll keep your secret, but it’ll cost
you.” He rolled the little tub between his fingers and the
wickedness spilled over into a grin that warmed places I’d been
trying to ignore for the past hour.

“I’ve been having a lot of tension in
my chest lately,” he rumbled. “You could pay your debt by massaging
it for me.” He patted his hips, framing a breathtaking denim-clad
package. “You can sit right here.”

Apparently the afternoon’s debacle with
Hellhound and Orion wasn’t going to be an issue, at least not
tonight. Behind Kane’s sexy smile I could sense his need to put
aside the horror of his mission, if only for a little while.

“Hmm. Blackmail.” I grinned and swung
astride his ankles, leaning forward to place a hand on either side
of his legs. “You do realize blackmail is illegal and now you’re
under arrest. I’ll have to strip-search you…”

I dragged a slow fingernail up the
inner seam of his jeans.

“…to make sure you don’t have any…”

Higher, watching the hunger flare in
his eyes.

“…dangerous weapons,” I breathed as my
fingertip glided over the denim-sheathed weapon in question.

“Ah…” His syllable floated out on a
gasp and he tucked his arms behind his head again as if to prevent
himself from reaching for me. Muscles rippled in his chest and abs.
“Good idea…” He sounded distinctly breathless. “You can’t be too
careful…”

“Especially with a…” I bent down to
brush my lips over his stomach as I undid his button. “…hardened
criminal…” My fingertips drifted lower and discovered exactly how
hardened he was. “…like yourself…” I eased his zipper down.

His reply was an inarticulate rumble.
His eyes blazed, his gaze riveted on my mouth while I kissed my way
unhurriedly down the valley between his washboard abs toward the
landing strip of hair below his navel.

I had almost reached my goal when a low
urgent voice from outside the tent flap startled me out of my
absorption.

“Hey, Aydan! Cap! Are ya decent in
there?”

I sat up and frowned at my wristwatch.
Two hours on the dot.

“Trying not to be,” Kane growled. “Can
you give us a little longer?”

“Sorry, Cap.” Hellhound really did
sound sorry, but there was a tense note in his voice that made the
back of my neck prickle. “We gotta talk.”

Kane must have heard it, too. He did up
his jeans and snapped, “Come in.”

Hellhound slipped through the tent flap
and secured it behind him. The look on his face made my prickle of
apprehension turn into a chill.

“What? What is it?” I demanded.

He crossed the tent in a couple of
strides and we leaned close to hear him mutter, “The bridge. It’s
got explosive charges under it. The whole thing’s rigged to
blow.”

“
What?
” I stared at Hellhound.
“Why would anybody want to blow up the bridge?”

“I dunno, but the way those charges are
placed, they ain’t messin’ around. An’ it’s a professional job.
Nobody’d spot ‘em unless they knew what they were lookin’ for. By
the cobwebs on ‘em I’d say they been in place for a while so I gave
ya the two hours I promised, but I didn’t wanna wait any
longer.”

Kane pulled on his T-shirt with sharp
movements, all the good work of my massage lost in the renewed
tension of his shoulders. “There are only two reasons to blow a
bridge,” he said. “To destroy something on it, or to cut off a
position for tactical reasons.”

“Nothin’ on it,” Hellhound pointed
out.

“And nobody from the commune ever goes
across it,” I added. “Except Orion, but I can’t see somebody
blowing up that huge bridge just to get rid of him. If there are
thirty guys with bayonets over there, it would be easy enough to
take care of one man without attracting attention with an explosion
that size.”

“So it has to be a tactical objective.”
Kane frowned at me. “What’s on the renters’ side of that
bridge?”

“Nothing. No other access, no exit. I
checked the satellite map online when I was at the internet café.
That chunk of land has rivers on two sides and mountainous terrain
on the rest. It might as well be an island. The only road to
civilization goes over that bridge and through the commune to Port
Renfrew. It would be stupid for the renters to cut themselves
off.”

“Unless they were lookin’ for a place
to dig in,” Hellhound said slowly. “It’d be a fuckin’ nightmare to
try an’ take ‘em out once the bridge was gone. Hell, even with the
bridge there. No good fightin’ through a choke point like
that.”

“Access only by air; heavy forest cover
and rugged terrain,” Kane agreed. “So what are they hiding or
protecting over there? Why would they want to cut themselves off
from everybody else?”

“Maybe they’re just one of those nutso
doomsday cults,” I offered. “Maybe they’re getting ready to protect
themselves from the zombie apocalypse.”

Hellhound snorted. “Too fuckin’ late
for that. World’s full a’ dumbfuck zombies already.”

I blew out a breath between my teeth.
“Well, maybe Stemp can get the analysts to dig for some information
on who that group is or what they might be planning. And I’ll need
to report the explosives, too, and see what he wants to do.” I eyed
Hellhound. “What do you think it would take to disable them?”

Hellhound shrugged. “Explosives ain’t
really my best thing, but I’ve done a bit. I could prob’ly disable
‘em but I’d hafta get closer to see for sure.”

Kane frowned at him. “Speaking of
seeing, how did you spot them in the first place if they’re
concealed? It’s dark out.”

“Yeah.” Hellhound patted his
ever-present backpack. “I got some gear with me. Caught ‘em with my
night-vision scope.”

I drew a breath of relief. “Good,
you’ve got night-vision. What else have you got?”

“Thermographic, too, in a headset. My
rifle an’ scope. Sidearm. Climbin’ gear. Survival gear. Camo. An’ I
got the bike stashed out by the road.”

“You’re brilliant.” I shot him an
admiring glance before turning to Kane. “John, I didn’t even think
to ask, how did you get here?”

He raised an eyebrow at Hellhound.
“Great minds think alike, apparently. I rented a superbike and
stashed it a few miles up the road.”

I laughed despite the tension gathering
in my shoulders. “Fabulous. I suppose you’re fully geared up,
too.”

“Yes, but I don’t have it with me. I
made a separate cache out in the woods, away from the bike.” Kane
gave me a wry grimace. “I didn’t realize the situation was heating
up here. Stupid. I should have been prepared.”

“Not stupid at all.” I reached over to
squeeze his hand, knowing he’d been focused on what he believed to
be a safe haven after his devastating mission. “You didn’t know
what you were walking into so it made sense to leave behind
anything that might compromise your cover.”

He shrugged. “Be that as it may. I have
my Sig with me, of course, but that’s it.” He scrubbed both hands
over his face before eyeing me tiredly. “I suppose you’ll be
checking in with Stemp soon.”

“Yes.” I hesitated. “I don’t have to
tell him you’re here if you don’t want me to.”

“It’s all right.” Kane’s words were
flat with resignation. “I’ll hike out and pick up my gear, and
while I’m out there I’ll call in my report. I’ll tell Stemp I’m
staying here until the situation is resolved or until he gets a
team out here to support you, whichever comes first.”

“Thank you. I’m really glad you’re
here.”

Kane looked slightly surprised, and I
wondered if he had thought I didn’t want him here. Or maybe he
thought I’d feel threatened professionally if he attached himself
to my mission without asking. Little did he know how abjectly
grateful I was for both his and Hellhound’s presence.

“Are you geared up, too?” Kane
asked.

“Yes, I have night-vision and
thermographic, my Glock and a trank pistol, a tracking unit for
Orion…” My words faded into a burst of adrenaline. I hadn’t checked
on Orion for two whole hours. Jesus, I was such a shitty agent.

I whipped the tracking unit out of my
jacket pocket and released my tension in a slow breath. “He’s over
in the renters’ camp again.” I tucked the tracker back in my pocket
and went on, “…a night-vision remote webcam, binoculars, and a
bunch of secured phones. Oh, and hand restraints and a couple of
spare mags for the trank gun and my Glock, and a bunch of extra
ammo for both.”

“All right. How do you want to
proceed?” Kane asked.

Shit, he was asking me? What the hell
did I know?

“Um, I need to talk to Stemp first,” I
said. I glanced at my watch. “It’s late enough now that we can move
around fairly safely. Most of the members will be in bed. Nichele’s
presentation was supposed to last until nine-thirty…” I trailed off
again as cold fear gripped my throat. “Arnie, did you happen to go
by the main building?”

“Yeah, I checked to make sure she was
doin’ her talk in there around eight-thirty,” he confirmed. “An’ I
didn’t see anybody around that looked like your Ratboy.”

I sent quiet but fervent thanks
skyward. “Okay, good,” I said out loud. “So she should be safely
holed up in the kitchen for the night by now and everybody else
should be in their tents. I’ll walk my east loop to check in with
Stemp, and then I’ll need to swing by and check on Moonbeam and
Karma. John, do you need night-vision to find your cache?”

“No, I noted the GPS coordinates.”

I managed not to grimace. Of course he
had.

Hellhound spoke into the momentary
silence. “While you guys’re doin’ that I’m gonna go have a closer
look at those explosives, an’ then scout for places where I can get
a clear shot at the bridge an’ around the main buildin’ just in
case those assholes decide to move. Don’t like havin’ all these
civilians undefended.”

“Okay, but don’t go near the bridge,” I
cautioned. “If you can’t see what you need with your scope, just
wait until I have orders from Stemp. Remember Orion has night
vision and he’ll likely be coming back across that bridge sometime
tonight.”

“Don’t worry, darlin’, he ain’t gonna
see me.”

“Okay…” I hesitated, wondering what I
was forgetting.

“How many secured phones did you say
you had?” Kane asked.