The Company of Darkness (23 page)

“Show me how you met.  Take me back to the beginning.”

In the back of her mind Cady knew she wasn’t supposed to be talking about this, not to anyone, but the girl took her hand and smiled, and she knew everything would be alright.  The air around them shimmered and danced, obscuring the sun until they stood in the nightclub, Inferno, the music throbbing all around them. 

“Hi, I don’t think I’ve seen you in here before,” Cady approached, smiling past the inner cringe at the lamest pick up line ever.

“No, thank you.”

Not what she’d expected to hear.  “I wasn’t offering anything.”  A furrow appeared on her brow, he hadn’t even looked at her. 

“It’s just a general no, thank you.”  He offered the barest of smiles before returning his eyes to the crowd.  “I’m not here to pick up girls.”

“He’s cute,” the girl said, dimpling into a smile.

“You should see him with his shirt off,” Cady grinned back, turning her attention back to the way she’d practically pumped Ethan for information.  The scene blurred and shifted without her control, like someone pushed the fast forward button on her life, and it didn’t stop again until she stood inside the dark alley with Claudio holding her hostage.  Cady didn’t want to watch that scene, but the girl seemed interested.  Very interested. 

They stopped and started, taking a tour of the past few weeks hitting all the highlights of her time with Ethan, and more importantly any interaction with Ash.  Sometimes the girl asked her to go back and see those scenes again, and Cady obeyed, even though they creeped her out.  Every time they got too scary, when it felt like Ash might win this time, the girl squeezed her hand and they materialized in the park, under a tree.  There she’d ask Cady a few questions, usually about her childhood or her favorite movie, or something innocuous about her brother to distract her until it was time to go back and visit the past again. 

After she’d taken her through the strange montage of scenes, Cady wanted to keep going, to look into the future, but the girl only shook her head.  She seemed almost sad to ask Cady to go back to the dreams, the ones with her dream lover in slower, more painstaking detail.  Cady didn’t want to, but with the girl holding her hand, she wasn’t afraid anymore.  After all, Ash was bound, he couldn’t hurt her anymore, could he?

“We don’t know, but that’s what we’re going to find out,” the girl smiled, squeezing her hand when it was over and leaving Cady alone in the park. 

“Shaw’s been compromised.  Should we send the cleaner?” 

Cady heard the voice in her head, even though there wasn’t anyone else around.  Nothing but sun and the warm breeze on her skin and the tickle of grass beneath her.  It sounded like Rikard, which was stupid.  Anyone who knew Ethan knew he was a clean freak.  He didn’t need a cleaner. 

“No, he’s too valuable,” Alma said in her soft, feminine drawl.  “Bring him in, we’ll do this the old fashioned way.”

Cady startled awake, the crick in her neck telling her she’d been in that position for a long time, but not much about how she’d gotten there.  She lay on a hard leather sofa, her head propped at an awkward angle.  The electrodes were gone from her head and chest, but she could feel a slightly sticky residue, so she hadn’t dreamed that all up.  That, and the fact that her regular clothes were gone and now she wore a thin cotton, sleeveless dress that buttoned up the middle.

She was in an office or study, all done in a knotty pine from ceiling to floor, somewhat more rustic than she’d been expecting.  The view through the yellow ruffled curtains was the more of the same.  Sun dappled branches swayed lightly in the breeze, the birdsong audible even through the closed window.  Alma sat behind a desk, chewing on the cap of a pen caught between her teeth, a folded newspaper tucked in her other hand.  

“You know, they say you should be bold and do these things in pen as a sign of confidence, but I’m afraid it just ends up making me look like a fool,” she muttered, tossing down the paper in disgust, a half filled crossword puzzle visible on the page. 

“How long…?”  Cady cleared her throat when the words came out with barely a sound. 

“Were you out for?  About ten hours, give or take.  We went ahead and cleaned you up, like I said.  Don’t worry, it was just us girls,” she winked.  “You want a drink?  I’m having a drink.”  Alma poured them each a cup of fragrant coffee from a pot tucked into the corner of the room, adding a shot of something dark and amber to one of them.  “I don’t recommend anything stronger’n a cup of Joe for you though.”  She set the regular coffee in front of the empty space across the desk. 

Cady pushed herself up to a seated position, swallowing back the taste of bile in the back of her throat.  “If you think I’m drinking anything you give me, you’re nuts, lady.”

“You can call me Alma,” she said mildly, blowing across the top of her cup.

“Okay,
Alma
, I want to go home.”  Cady’s head pounded and her teeth felt like they were wrapped in tiny fuzzy sweaters, but she rose to her feet without keeling over, so that was a step in the right direction.  “You can’t keep me here against my will.”

Alma’s lips curved into an amused smile.  “Sweetie, you don’t know me near well enough to tell me what I can and can’t do.”

“I’d say the same to you,” Cady retorted, her eyes spitting fire, but Alma took the surly tone in stride. 

“You know something, I like you, Cady.  You got something my gran used to call gumption.  We can use a smidgen of that around here.” 

“Where is here, exactly?”  All she could see out the window was more of the wooded landscape, the ground liberally covered with pine needles. 

“Well now, that’s something you don’t get to find out if you’re ready to leave.”  Alma set down the cup and gave her a direct stare.  “You want to go?  Be my guest.  I can have Rikard stuff you in the back of a van and drop you off on your doorstep before supper.  But I don’t think you’ll find the answers you’re looking for there.”

Somehow Cady didn’t believe it would be that easy.  “What makes you think I’m looking for any answers?”

“Aren’t you?”  Her lips tilted into a half smile.  “You can’t con a con, Cady.  I can see that fire’s already been lit.  You ready to let it go out?  I send you on back home, none of this goes with you.  You won’t remember nothing about demons and magic and you sure as shit won’t remember Ethan any more.  You ready to give that all up?”

That was what he’d told her, the worst they’d do was tamper with her memories.  Faced with that very real possibility, Cady wasn’t so sure ignorance was bliss.  “Okay, let’s say I stick around for a while.  I’m still fuzzy on what you want from me.”

“Not a single thing you don’t want to give.  This isn’t a prison, Cady, we’re a collective, all working for the common good.  Now I’ll admit, some of the things Rikard’s told me about you had me a mite worried, but now that I’ve met you, I can see we’re not going to have any problems,” she said, her chin coming up with confidence.

“Sounds like you’re a pretty shitty psychic then, because I’m not the obliging type.”

“I’m not a psychic at all, but I do know what makes people tick.”  Alma rose from her chair, coming around the desk to sit on the edge, closer to Cady.  “Wouldn’t you like to know why Subject Q wasn’t able to peel your panties with a single look?  Wouldn’t you like to know how it is you’re able to talk to him and why he’s got such a hold over your man?”

Prepared for a lecture on patriotism or cooperating with whatever the Company line was, that was the last thing she’d expected her to say.  Did they really know the answers to those questions?  “Can you fix it?  Can you make Ash go away?”

“Putting away dangerous subjects is what we do best.  But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, darlin’.  Have you thought about it?  How much knowledge an organization like ours has accumulated over the years?”

“Are you offering me a job?” 

“I’m offering you an opportunity.  I know it’s been real difficult for you since your Pa died.  I know things ain’t turned out how you imagined since your Mama screwed you over.”

“How do you know anything about that?”

“The dreamer told me,” Alma said with an easy smile.  “She told me all sorts of things about you.  About how you missed out on going to college.  You know, we might be able to do something about that.  We’ve got pull with some of the best schools money can buy.”

The woman might’ve found the one thing that could keep Cady from walking out the door, but there was still a question that needed answering before she could even begin to consider it.  “What about Ethan?  He’s going to be worried about me when he finds out you’ve taken me.  Is he in trouble?”

“Would you like to see him?”

“Ethan’s here?” she blinked.

“Of course.  We sent for him lickety split, as soon as we learned of your connection to him.”

“My connection?”  Did she mean her connection to Ash, or the fact that she loved him?  Cady was still vague on how much they did and didn’t know about her past.  The dream thing with the girl felt hazy and surreal. 

“Don’t look so scared, sweetie.  We’re not completely unsympathetic to such things.  He’s an eyeful, ain’t he?” she winked. 

Not about to start dishing on Ethan’s hotness, Cady took a step closer to the door.  “Can I see him now?”

“Sure thing.”  Alma pushed a button on the desk phone and a red light went on.  “I do enjoy a reunion,” she drawled.  The door opened less than a minute later, and Ethan stepped in, his gaze quickly scanning the room, taking in the scene, but he didn’t say anything. 

Unable to keep still despite his caution, Cady ran up to him, throwing her arms around his neck in relief.  “Ethan!  I’m so glad to see you.  I didn’t say a word, I swear, but they somehow know everything...”

“It’s okay.”  He cut off her apology, hugging her back stiffly, his eyes fixed on Alma.  When Cady pulled back, he wrapped a protective arm around her waist, putting his body between her and Alma. 

Cady noticed the move, and her anxiety levels shot up again, no longer lulled by Alma’s pitch.  “I’m sorry,” she said softly.

“It’s not your fault.”  His eyes softened for a moment as he darted a look back to her, his arm tightening around her waist before he scowled.  “Just shut it,” he whispered.

“Huh?” Cady blinked, but he waved it away. 

“Nothing.”  His attention turned back to Alma, the distrust returning to his gaze.  “Did you get what you need?  Is she free to go?”

“So protective,” Alma sighed, picking up her spiked coffee.  “Ah, to be young and in love.  Did you have a nice drive, Agent Shaw?”

He only hesitated for a moment over the rapid subject change.  “It was fine, thank you, ma’am.”

“What about your… passenger?  He didn’t make things too difficult, I trust?”

Ethan’s eyes narrowed, but his tone remained mild.  “I have things well under control.”

“Do you,” she said evenly.  “Well now, are you ready to see your accommodations?”

“Accommodations?”  Cady’s brows rose in surprise.  She figured she’d either be shown the door after playing hide and seek with her memories or she’d be brought back to the holding room until she promised to drink the Kool-Aid. 

“Of course.  You’ll be in bungalow three, I trust you can find that on your own.  It’s not locked, we don’t have much need for locks around here,” Alma added with a pointed look to Ethan.  “Take some time to settle in.  Supper is at six here in the main house.”

Bungalow three – she made it sound like summer camp.  “Ah… okay, thanks.  Ethan, do you know the way?”

“I do,” he said, almost pulling her arm out of the socket in his haste to get her out of there.   

“Take care of our girl,” Alma called after them.

Ethan led her through an outer office and out into the hallway.  The uneven walls were painted an off-white, chipped and nicked in places to reveal gray stone beneath.  Tall ceilings, at least ten feet high with a thick wooden beam running the length of it.

“Are we leaving?” she asked in a low voice.

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

Ethan laid a finger across his lips, and she realized he meant they shouldn’t talk yet, not that they weren’t leaving yet.  She didn’t see anyone around, but trusted his judgment in the matter.  He took her past a warren of rooms and into a great room, dominated by a huge stone fireplace, the beams twenty feet above as big as tree trunks.  It reminded her of a ski lodge, or maybe an old fashioned hotel, though none of the rooms she’d seen looked anything like hotel rooms. 

Once they got through the big double doors, she saw they were out in the woods, tucked away from civilization with a narrow dirt road leading away from the main building.  A series of small cottages, or bungalows as Alma called them, dotted the landscape, nestled between the trees. 

“What is this place?” she asked softly, not sure if they were allowed to talk yet. 

“It’s an old hippy commune from the seventies.  They raised bees or goats or something, I can’t remember.  It’s a pretty big spread, about a fifty acre parcel including a lake to the east.” 

Cady’s brows came up in surprise.  “Really?  I don’t remember anything like that around San Francisco.”

“That’s because we’re in southern Oregon near Ashland.  About twenty-five miles east of I-5.”

She stopped in her tracks.  “Are you telling me Rikard drove me all the way to another state?”

Ethan placed a hand under her elbow, pulling her along as his gaze darted back to the main house.  “Come on, let’s keep moving.  We can talk more about it later.” 

The bungalows were small cabins with mossy roofs, the doors and window frames painted a chipped brick red.  The one with a the number three affixed to the door opened to a small living room that looked like the décor hadn’t changed much since the seventies.  A small couch and a single chair sat across from a tiny wood stove tucked into the corner, across from that a kitchenette with an upright fridge, a sink, and a two burner electric stove.  There was a single bedroom in the back and a small bathroom across the hall. 

“Home sweet…” Cady’s words were cut off as Ethan’s mouth closed over hers.  Recovering quickly from the surprise, she kissed him back with everything she had, her stomach doing happy flip flops as he held her tight.  She’d almost started to think he wasn’t glad to see her there and would push her into getting her memory wiped, but that was as far as her brain processed under the heat of his kiss.  

He only let go of her to pull at the buttons of her dress and she reached for the bottom of his shirt, only to blink at the sudden change when he pushed her away almost angrily. 

“Wha… I don’t understand.”  Her brow crumpled in puzzlement.  “Did I do something wrong?”  Had he not wanted her to reciprocate?

“No, you’re fine,” he said shortly, rubbing at the back of his neck. 

“Then what?”

Ethan put his fingers to his lips again, making a circuit around the small cabin, turning on all the lights.  Then he began a meticulous search while she watched, utterly clueless until he waved her over to point out a tiny electronic gizmo stuck to the underside of the chair.  Another behind the light fixture in the kitchen and one in the bedroom attached to the ancient curtain rod. 

“We’re being bugged?” she mouthed, her jaw dropping, and he nodded, pulling open the closet door. 

“There are some clothes in here, nothing fancy.  Why don’t you get changed and we’ll go for a run.”

“I usually only run when chased.”  Besides, she still felt out of it from the cocktail they’d shot her up with.

“A walk then?” 

He looked so urgent about it, Cady nodded, selecting a plain pink t-shirt and a pair of denim shorts.  “What’s going on?” she asked as they stepped outside.

“Not yet.”  Ethan led them away from the main compound to a seldom used path, nearly grown over with ground cover.  It widened up a bit after they’d been walking for a few minutes, enough for them to walk comfortably side by side.  When they reached what he deemed to be a minimum safe distance he spoke.  “Tell me exactly what happened since we last talked.”