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Glock in my ankle holster, but nowhere to hide Ratboy’s body. Oh, and shooting him would blow my cover. Technicalities.

  Skidmark might come if I yelled for help, but I wouldn’t want to count on that…

  “You,” Ratboy ground out.

  His conversational gambit wasn’t followed by ‘whore’, so I waited.

  Apparently he was attempting reasonable behaviour. “Is the truck running?” he inquired tightly.

  “No, Skidmark took the spark plugs out of it.” I gestured cautiously with my greasy handful.

  “You will put them back in now.”

  It wasn’t a request.

  I got a stranglehold on my temper and kept my voice even. “I don’t have time just now. You go ahead.” I proffered the rag in his direction.

  His face went crimson. “You stupid wh-” He drew a breath, glowering. “How?”

  I laid the rag and ratchet on the ground. “Eight wires. Eight plugs. Figure it out,” I snapped. “And don’t mix up the wires.”

  I turned back toward the car, ears open for the scuffle of gravel that would indicate an incoming attack. Instead, I heard the clink of ceramic and an exclamation that was probably a curse.

  “Be careful, they’re hot,” I added.

  I ignored the resulting torrent of incomprehensible invective and kept a close eye on him while I retrieved my backpack from the car, but he seemed to have decided to tackle the job instead of tackling me. When I left he was bent over the truck engine and the busy metallic chirping of the ratchet indicated he’d figured out where the spark plugs went.

  Halfway down the road to the commune, I hesitated. I likely should have emphasized the importance of the firing ord-

  A thunderous backfire made me wince.

  Yep, should’ve explained the firing order. Probably not a good time to bring it up now.

  I hiked on at a brisk pace, flinching when more backfires exploded behind me.

  Come on, dumbfuck, don’t keep torturing that poor engine. Surely by now you’ve figured out something’s wrong.

  Apparently he was a slow learner. The sound of backfires followed me all the way to my tent. At last they ceased, replaced by the sound of distant shouting.

  I dropped my backpack on my cot, assumed my best innocent expression, and headed for the main building.

  Chapter 14

  I didn’t dawdle in the kitchen. I had a feeling Ratboy might be a little cranky and I wasn’t in the mood to find out for sure.

  Moonbeam and Karma were eating at a table in the corner, and I exhaled relief at the sight of them as I slapped together a couple of sandwiches. Orion strode in just as I was packing up, and I offered him a noncommittal wave and headed for the door. When I glanced back, he was joining Moonbeam and Karma.

  That didn’t exactly reassure me.

  But who knew, maybe he was just one of those people who couldn’t bear to be alone. If he wasn’t shadowing me, he’d latch onto them instead.

  I really hoped it was that harmless. But I didn’t believe it.

  Casting a wary glance around me as I left the building, I took the winding path toward the garden. As soon as I was concealed from the building by a couple of bends, I stepped off the path and struck out through the forest toward higher ground.

  When I discovered a vantage point that gave me a view of the main building, I found a moderately dry stump and hunkered down on it to wait. Munching my sandwiches, I watched the commune members coming and going from their supper until at last Karma and Moonbeam came out, Orion trailing them like a faithful puppy.

  Or a hungry predator.

  I pulled my jacket tighter around me to still my sudden shiver.

  When they moved out of sight I rose and charted a parallel course, moving through the forest as quietly as possible and staying out of sight. I glimpsed them again at the fork in the path, where Moonbeam and Karma headed for their tent while Orion continued on alone.

  Perfect.

  I withdrew to watch as Moonbeam and Karma disappeared inside their tent. When they didn’t reappear after several minutes, I found a fallen log and made myself as comfortable as its moist surface would allow. Keeping half an eye on the tent, I let my mind drift while I idly whittled a stick I’d picked up.

  As soon as I could start using my new equipment, my surveillance would be much easier. I’d have to make a cache closer to my tent, though. Hiking a couple of miles every time I needed something wasn’t practical.

  And I needed to figure out how to get the tracer onto Orion. And where exactly I could place it.

  I knifed a vicious gouge in the stick. Dammit, if I hadn’t chickened out this morning, I could have had full access to him. Lots of excuses to touch him and plant the tracing device at the same time. Or I could have given him some fond little handmade gift and asked him to carry it with him and think of me.

  Instead I’d driven him away, and it would be pretty implausible to cozy up to him now.

  I gouged off a few more chunks of wood, taking satisfaction in the razor-sharpness of my knife.

  But would it truly be implausible to cozy up? Could I claim I’d had time to think and I’d changed my mind?

  Orion had that slightly cocky air. He’d probably believe I found him irresistible. But if I went that route, I’d have to find a way to discourage him from following me around. He was persistent enough as it was. After we did the horizontal mambo he’d be damn near unshakeable.

  Unless I turned out to be such a disappointment in bed that he didn’t want anything more to do with me…

  I sighed and turned up the collar of my jacket against the chilly breeze that always seemed to spring up around twilight.

  I probably couldn’t just lie there like a blow-up doll. If he was any good at all, my body would give me away. A hot tingle from my perfidious body reminded me exactly how good his lips had felt.

  Nope, ‘unresponsive’ wasn’t going to work.

  I sliced off some more wood shavings.

  Okay, ignore ‘how’ for now and concentrate on ‘where’.

  Where could I place the tracing device so it would stay on him at all times? Sticking it onto an article of clothing would only work as long as he didn’t change clothes. If I stuck it to his wristwatch he might notice it. The device was tiny but not invisible, and wristwatches tended to get looked at a lot.

  I whittled the end of my stick into a point, then rounded it off, squinting in the fading daylight.

  What did he take everywhere with him, but wouldn’t examine too closely?

  I carved a notch in the stick, rounding it into a bead before beginning another notch farther down the stick while I pondered.

  Then I bolted upright, stifling a triumphant cry. Wooden beads. Of course. He never let the Earth Spirit’s bracelet leave his wrist.

  My shoulders slumped as the corollary occurred to me. He never let the Earth Spirit’s bracelet leave his wrist. So how the hell could I plant the transmitter on it?

  I considered and discarded several other ideas including slipping the transmitter into a sandwich and letting him eat it, but that seemed unnecessarily risky. Who knew if the electronics could withstand stomach acid? And it would be bad if he bit down on it, or if it poisoned him.

  And it would only work for a day or two. After that I’d be monitoring the latrine. A grin sneaked onto my lips. This too shall pass…

  I sobered. No; the bracelet was still the best option I had so far.

  Hauling myself to my feet with a sigh, I straightened my aching back slowly after my long immobility in the damp chill. First I’d look at the actual transmitter and see if I got any brilliant ideas. I couldn’t tag him tonight anyway; it would be too late by the time I finished up and got back to my tent.

  Another damn late night.

  I stretched and rubbed my cold damp butt before hunkering down again. Three hours to kill, and then I’d make my move. Until then, this was the best place for me. I didn’t want to encounter Orion until I’d decided whether to seduce
him, and as long as Moonbeam and Karma stayed in their tent I’d guard them. Hard on my body, but easier on my nerves.

  By the time ten P.M. rolled around, the moon was nowhere to be seen under thick cloud cover and my imagination had conjured so many cougars from the quiet sounds of the pitch-black forest that it had taken all the self-control I possessed to keep from fleeing pell-mell to the warm glow of Moonbeam and Karma’s tent. Shivering, I coaxed my knees to unlock from their bent position.

  I stuffed my icy fingers into my armpits for a few moments of warmth before withdrawing my little LED flashlight from my waist pouch. Time to pick up my equipment.

  A quick flash of my light on the ground ahead; a couple of steps; wait; listen. Then do it again. And again. Moving with agonizing slowness, I worked my way around the encampment, freezing every time I heard a voice.

  At last I made it to the road but the darkness was so profound my tiny light barely reached beyond my feet. I sighed and rotated my shoulders, trying to release the knots of cold and tension. I didn’t dare leave my light on. A few small flashes of light might be dismissed as fireflies, but I didn’t want curious eyes tracking a moving light source down the road.

  When I thought I might be getting close to my cache at last, I dared to shine my light more frequently.

  Nothing looked familiar in the blackness. Where the hell was my jutting rock? Had I passed it? How much farther should I walk before doubling back to try again?

  But distances always seemed farther in the dark. I probably wasn’t there yet.

  Shit, why didn’t I at least have a phone with a GPS? I could have just memorized the coordinates this afternoon and then walked directly back…

  Stealthy rustling made me whirl to peer blindly behind me, my heart pounding, my tiny light devoured by the night. Resting my hand on my knife hilt, I clenched my teeth and walked on. Why the hell hadn’t I taken my shoulder holster out of the box before I stowed it? I didn’t dare carry my gun drawn in case someone with night vision was watching me…

  Okay, I really wished I hadn’t thought of that. Now my back crawled with the expectation of bullets as well as teeth and claws.

  Abandoning caution, I kept my light on, its feeble glow barely illuminating the roadside.

  Shit, what if its light didn’t reach the rock? Was I doomed to shuffle along this godforsaken road until dawn?

  I was about to turn back and try another pass when my light slid over the welcome contours of the rock at last. Gulping down a sob of relief, I took my twenty paces and dropped to my knees beside the fallen log.

  My jaw cracked with the release of strained muscles when I opened my mouth to grip my flashlight between my teeth. After a quick re-reading of Spider’s instructions, I selected the thermographic/night vision headset and secured it around my head.

  The details of the forest sprang into visibility and relief turned my knees to jelly. I slumped down to sit trembling on the log despite its icy wetness. Thank God, at last a respite from the horrible sense of blind helplessness.

  Flipping the headset switch, I briefly altered the view to thermal-only and drew my first full breath in what seemed like days. No large heat sources prowling in my vicinity. Thank God.

  Switching back to night vision, I leaned my elbows on my knees and let my head hang, easing out my tension in long shaky breaths.

  When my heart finally eased its pounding, I drew a few more slow calming breaths before scanning around me one more time. The forest remained reassuringly unpopulated, and I repacked the box and tucked it under my arm before stepping out to the edge of the road.

  My return trip seemed ridiculously short by comparison, the headset showing everything so clearly I felt as though I was walking in murky green-tinted daylight. I flipped occasionally to full-thermal mode, scanning around me and in the direction of Skidmark’s bench, but no warm bodies showed themselves.

  Inside the commune the occupied tents glowed in my viewer, and I circled confidently around the encampment to approach Orion’s and my tents from behind. Both were cold and dark, and I stopped several yards away and lowered the box to the ground to stand thinking.

  Where the hell could I stash the box? I hadn’t considered the difficulty of creating a concealed cache until now.

  If I was out in the middle of the woods I could simply dig a hole, drag a log over it, and walk away. But people wandered everywhere in the commune, not necessarily sticking to the paths. And with no corporate rat-race to preoccupy their minds, they tended to be observant. I’d be hooped if someone noticed disturbed vegetation and started investigating.

  Hands on hips, I scowled around me. Rocks, trees, moss, and ferns.

  Shit.

  Okay, I could either put it so far away that nobody was likely to stumble on it, or keep it so close that nobody would invade my privacy.

  Leaving it far away was just asking for trouble. If I needed this stuff, I was likely to need it in a hurry.

  It would have been nice to bury it inside my tent, but the raised wooden floor prevented that.

  Double-shit.

  I paced in widening circles, searching for a place where I could easily conceal the signs of my digging.

  No good options presented themselves, and I swore quietly. The fallen logs were either too big to move or too small to hide a hole. The open areas would show footprints and freshly-disturbed dirt, and the mossy areas would reveal the disturbance in a few days when the moss died after being uprooted.

  Dammit.

  I zigzagged back and forth all the way to the edge of the pond without finding an appropriate spot for a cache. The frogs fell silent as I approached and I trudged over to stand staring out over the dark water. After a few minutes of deep and futile thought I sighed and sank down on my favourite rock by the water’s edge, clutching the box with mounting anxiety.

  What the hell was I going to do? If I got caught with this stuff, my cover would be completely blown. If Orion caught me with it there was a good chance I wouldn’t survive the encounter, and if anybody else saw it I’d be in deep shit for revealing classified technology.

  A silvery vee disturbed the surface of the water, and the enhanced vision of my headset revealed a beaver gliding through the water on some nocturnal errand.

  I sighed, the peaceful scene doing nothing to soothe my tension. Where could I…

  Wait a minute.

  The box was fully waterproof.

  I scrambled down from the rock, my heart pounding with hope. Hurrying back the way I’d come, I flipped to thermal vision momentarily and drew a breath of relief when no heat signature showed in Orion’s tent.

  Thank you, technology.

  Inside my own tent, I took the webcam and tracking system out of the box and tucked them into one of the big flap pockets of my jacket, then frowned at the rest of the gear. What else would I need?

  More to the point, what could I keep hidden on my body at all times?

  A couple more secured phones went into my pocket. Then I closed the box, making sure the lid was firmly seated on its rubber gasket, and exchanged my hiking boots for high-topped rubber ones before plodding back to the pond. After only a few minutes of searching I discovered the perfect hiding place: a fallen tree beside an overhanging rock.

  Cringing at the icy contact of the water and the instinctive fear of putting my hands in a dark recess, I fought the buoyancy of the plastic box, forcing it down and under the rock and tree.

  When I was sure it was firmly wedged, I rose and surveyed my hiding place. It seemed completely hidden now, but I was viewing it in the dark with night vision. Who knew what would be visible in broad daylight?

  Still, it was the best I could do. And other people rarely came here. There was a much nicer view of the river on the other side of the commune.

  I let out a breath and glanced at my watch. Ten minutes to midnight. Finally my day was done. I moved cautiously back toward my tent, trying not to step on any twigs and scanning frequently for heat signatures as I
drew nearer. After all my caution, it would really suck if Orion caught me walking around wearing my night-vision headset.

  There was no sign of him, though, and his tent was cold and dark.

  Made it. Home free.

  I ducked into my tent and had just removed my boots when a sudden thought made me straighten with alarm.

  Orion was gone and it was the middle of the night. Where was he, and what was he doing?

  Maybe he was sharing someone else’s bed.

  Or maybe he had night vision equipment, too, and he’d simply been waiting for me to abandon my post at Moonbeam and Karma’s tent before making his move.

  Shit, shit, shit!

  I stuffed my feet into my hiking boots and ran.

  Chapter 15

  Heart pounding, I blessed my night-vision headset despite its thumping against my forehead while I dashed along the winding trail.

  Near the turnoff to Moonbeam and Karma’s tent, I abandoned the path to hurry through the intervening forest, panting through my mouth and trying to balance maximum speed against minimum noise.

  As I approached, a steadily-mounting sound slowed my feet. What the hell was that?

  A moment later I identified it.

  Snoring.

  I crept closer until my thermal imaging showed the warm glow of an occupied tent. Even at that distance, Karma’s raucous snores rattled the forest, and a giggle of giddy relief escaped me.

  Thank God.

  And omigod, what a racket. No wonder their tent was so far from the rest of the commune.

  I drew a long breath and let it out slowly as I faded back toward the path, a euphoric grin on my lips. My charges were safe.

  And moving through the dark forest was so easy with night vision. I felt great. Wide awake. Competent. Practically invincible. Look out, Jane Bond. Aydan Kelly will kick your skinny little ass.

  I knew it was only an adrenaline reaction, but what the hell; I might as well take advantage of it. Until it burned out of my system I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.

  I turned toward Skidmark’s hill. Time to check the layout of the renters’ encampment.