The Spy Is Cast Read online

  Germain took a quick step back from my clenched fists, his own hands rising defensively. “Aydan! It’s okay!”

  I blinked and focused slowly as my brain woke up. “Wha…?”

  “It’s okay,” he repeated. “Kane’s got a new location for us. We need to get on the road.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” I straightened out of my crouch and rubbed my face groggily. “God, I hate sleeping in a hot place in the middle of the day. My brain doesn’t want to start working when I wake up.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with your reflexes, though. Do you always wake up combat-ready?”

  “No. I was dreaming,” I said sheepishly. “Sorry, the only time you ever see me is when I’m totally messed up. I’m usually quite sane and normal.”

  He laughed as we made our way to the front of the RV. “Define normal.”

  “Good point.”

  We buckled in, and I turned to him as we pulled out of the lot. “So what’s the plan?”

  “Kane’s booked us into a campground for the night. It’s not an ideal solution, but we need to get set up so we can relieve Hellhound and regroup.”

  “Campground? As in, a camping spot with a firepit?”

  “I assume so.”

  I grinned. “Then we need to stop at a grocery store. We’re eating steak tonight.”

  He returned my grin. “I like the way you think. It was time to restock the cupboards anyway.”

  After a short side trip for provisions, we hit the highway. The air conditioning helped, but the sun burned in on my black-clad legs, and my eyes tried to close again of their own volition. I fought sleep for several miles before I finally reached into my backpack for a cereal bar to keep me awake.

  As I munched, a thought hit me. “Hey, Carl, which campground are we in?”

  “Beaver Flats.”

  “So we’ll be going right by Harchman’s.”

  “Yes.”

  “We can do some quick recon on the way by, then.”

  He shot me a cautious look. “Maybe. What did you have in mind?”

  “I want to check the network. Having the RV is perfect. You can just pull over by the side of the road where I showed you on the map. I can access the network in cushy comfort. And if we have to leave fast, you can just drive away and let me scream my head off. Nobody will ever know.”

  He thought it over. “That’s a good idea. Tell me where you want to stop.”

  As we approached Harchman’s, I pointed out a spot at the side of the road. “Right there.”

  Germain pulled over and activated the flashers, and I closed my eyes to concentrate. I started violently at his touch on my arm.

  “Maybe you’d better lie on the bed. Just in case.”

  “Oh. Good idea.” I stepped back into the RV and flopped down on the pull-out bed. “Except I might fall asleep.”

  He grinned. “If you start snoring, I’ll throw a pillow at you. I’m not coming within punching range, though.”

  I grimaced embarrassment. “That might be smart.” I closed my eyes and drifted into the network void.

  I immediately began my usual routine, rapidly checking each room. At the security room sim, I jerked to a halt.

  It was occupied once more, but not by Harchman. This time, his wife Maria sat at the desk of the security console. I drifted silently into the room behind her and floated. Watching over her shoulder, I scanned the security camera feeds. Why would she be monitoring these?

  Her fists clenched when Harchman appeared in one of the displays. Apparently he’d discovered another female guest who wanted a house tour. Maria and I observed the action while he guided his latest conquest through the house. She was short, blonde, and cute, and she responded enthusiastically to his groping.

  Maria toggled the cameras’ views to track his progress. Harchman ushered the blonde into the real security room and, as he had done with me, grabbed her ass and ground against her. She reacted with apparent delight, and they went into a prolonged clinch.

  Maria lunged to her feet and left the sim at a run.

  Afraid my presence would keep the sim alive and betray me, I shot out of the sim immediately behind her. She dashed through the portal without a backward glance, and I heaved a silent sigh of relief before peeking back into the room.

  The sim was still running. Excellent. I seeped back through the wall and hovered, watching the monitors again. I was afraid to interact with the controls but Maria had left the view of the security room up, and I wanted to see what would happen.

  Within seconds, she appeared in the doorway of the real security room. Harchman and his blonde gave a guilty start as she apparently yelled at them. Words were exchanged, and then they left. Too bad there was no audio feed. Then again, I had a pretty good idea what she was saying.

  Maria glowered down the corridor at their receding backs. Then she turned and sat down at the real security console, again manipulating the cameras. The camera views in the simulation updated along with her changes, so I lost sight of her while she panned through other views.

  Apparently she was only spying on her husband, and I quickly lost interest. Germain would wonder what was taking me, and I still had the rest of the network to check.

  I slipped out of the sim and worked my way up and down the virtual corridors, peeking in each room in turn. Faint sounds drifted to my ears from up ahead, and my stomach clenched in sick anticipation. I dragged myself toward the room in question and took a moment to gather my composure before I peeked in.

  I froze in pure shock at the scene in the room.

  Then I clapped my hand over my gaping mouth, not sure if I was going to be able to hold back my shout of inappropriate laughter.

  A tubby, balding man sprawled naked on a sumptuously made-up bed, smiling beatifically while a soundtrack of meditative flutes played in the background. His body hair had obviously decided to compensate for the follicular failure on his head. From the neck down, the resemblance to a silverback gorilla was striking, although he’d apparently shaved the backs of his hands. The thick black hair ended in a sharp line at his wrists, like a fur suit.

  All of which would have been startling enough without the three beautiful naked women who were actively and enthusiastically engaged in keeping the smile on his face. Their Barbie-doll-like proportions were straight out of a porn animation. The two blondes kissed and fondled the man and each other while the brunette rode him as if she was going for the gold buckle at the rodeo, her ridiculously huge breasts bouncing and jiggling like inflatable Jello.

  I backed away, gnawing on my knuckles in an attempt to maintain control. After a few moments, I sobered and peeked in again to memorize the man’s face. I didn’t bother with his companions. There was no way they existed in real life. They wouldn’t even be capable of standing upright.

  Down the hallway, I continued reluctantly with my room checks. Porn was better than violence, but I really didn’t want to see either one. Particularly if the porn featured fat men in gorilla suits.

  All was clean and quiet, and I heaved a silent sigh of relief and stepped out of the portal.

  Chapter 27

  I jerked into a ball, holding my head and groaning through clenched teeth as the pain hit. I breathed deeply and tried to relax through it. After a couple of hissing breaths, I uncurled and massaged my temples as I squinted my eyes open to see Germain’s concerned face.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, fine.” I rolled stiffly off the bed and crept into the passenger seat again. “Grossed out, but fine. There’s no sign of any prisoners, but some fat little hairy guy is doing porn, and Maria is using the security sim to spy on Harchman. He has a new blonde toy, so maybe he’ll give me a rest for a while.”

  Germain let that pass without comment as he pulled back onto the highway. A short time later, we arrived at the Beaver Flats turnoff, and we drove up the narrow twisting campground laneways, looking for the number Kane had provided.

  Near the end of the campground, Kane
stood up from his seat at the picnic table as we came around a curve. It was a long narrow site, and it offered a screen of trees on one side. On the other side, visible through low shrubbery, a couple of men lounged beside the neighbouring campfire among an impressive array of empty beer cans.

  Germain drove past the entrance, and expertly backed the large RV and cargo trailer into the site.

  “Wow, you’ve done this a time or two before,” I congratulated him.

  “I have a Class 1 license,” he said off-handedly. “This is a pretty small rig by comparison.”

  “I guess,” I agreed. “I’m still impressed, though.”

  He shot me a grin, and we got out of the RV. The men in the next site fixed us with vacant stares. Kane came over and spoke in a low voice.

  “Too bad about the neighbours, but this is the best site I could get today. We’ll move on tomorrow. Let’s go inside.”

  Once we were seated inside, Kane blew out an irritable breath. “No word from Webb yet about the electronic device. At least if it’s a tracker, they’ll think I’m far away. I stopped in to see Hellhound on the way by. He’s still set up, no movement so far, but that was a couple of hours ago. You’ll need to relieve him soon, Germain.”

  Germain nodded. “I can head out right now.”

  “Take Aydan with you,” Kane said. “I want to know if there’s anything going on in the network.”

  “Already done,” I told him. “We checked it on the way here. No prisoners, and Maria is using the security room sim to spy on her husband.” I didn’t bother to mention the Barbie-doll-and-gorilla porn. The less said about that, the better.

  “The monitoring works really well,” I continued. “There must be some kind of two-way link between the sim and the control system, because she could alter the camera views from within the sim.”

  “That could turn out to be very useful,” Kane mused.

  “Yeah. And the sim stayed active even after she’d left. So I should be able to pop in any time I want.”

  “I don’t think you should take a chance on manipulating the camera controls from there, though,” Kane cautioned.

  “That’s what I thought, too,” I agreed. “If there’s a two-way link, that kind of activity would be really easy to spot. I wonder who wins, if there’s somebody trying to work the controls both in the sim and in reality.”

  “Good question. You should talk this over with Webb,” Kane said. “In the mean time, though, we really need you to tackle that database again. We’ve lost nearly the whole day.”

  “Right,” I agreed.

  I was sliding out of the bench to collect the laptop when Germain reached out a restraining hand. “First you have to eat. We don’t want to have to pick you up off the ground again.”

  I ignored the involuntary growl of my stomach. “I’ll look at the database for a while and then get supper.”

  “No,” Kane said firmly. “Eat first.”

  I gave in. “Okay. I’ll get the fire going.”

  Kane frowned. “What for?”

  “We’ve got a firepit, and we’ve got steaks.”

  Kane’s face lit up, and Germain’s fell.

  “Damn,” Germain said with feeling. “I wish I didn’t have to leave right away.” He sighed and pulled a can of beans out of the cupboard.

  “I’ll cook yours anyway, and you can just heat it up when you get back,” I comforted him. “How do you like it cooked?”

  “Medium-rare,” he said, brightening. “I’ll look forward to that.” He stuck his bowl into the microwave, and I went out to light the fire.

  Kane followed me out. “Do you have enough wood?”

  “Probably,” I told him, surveying the small stack. “But I hope you have an axe.”

  He reached into one of the external cargo holds and handed me one.

  “Thanks.” I split some kindling and stacked it into the firepit. “Matches?”

  “In the RV,” he said. “If you’re going to be occupied here for a while, I’m going to go in and have a shower. Hopefully without incident this time.”

  “Go ahead. I’m going to do some potatoes, too, so it’ll be about forty-five minutes before supper’s ready.”

  “You don’t have to cook for us,” he said seriously.

  I shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’m going to cook for myself anyway. It’s no trouble to throw on a bit more food while I’m at it.”

  “All right, if you’re sure you don’t mind.” He turned, and I followed him into the RV. He and Germain hashed out the details of the night’s watches while I collected matches and cooking utensils.

  I had the fire going by the time Germain emerged. He unloaded his bike from the cargo trailer and waved as he rode away.

  I laid the foil-wrapped potatoes on the grill and sat back to watch them. Unfortunately, the firepit was on the same side as the neighbours. I needed to turn the potatoes every few minutes, so I kept my back to the men and ignored their drunken scrutiny as best I could.

  About ten minutes later I was turning the potatoes over again when the shorter man hailed me from across the clearing. “Hey! Wanna come over and have a beer?”

  “No, thanks,” I replied, trying to sound pleasant but dismissive.

  “Stuck-up bitch.”

  I didn’t bother to respond to that. Instead, I went into the RV to get the steaks. I took my time going back out, but the potatoes needed to be turned again.

  I carried the steaks out with me and tended to the potatoes, then opened the packages of steak and laid them out on a plate.

  “Hey!”

  I ignored him.

  “Hey! How do you like this meat?”

  I made the mistake of glancing up. He was exposing himself.

  I snickered before I could stop myself and looked away quickly, hoping he hadn’t seen my smirk. I’ve never understood why guys do that. It just seems like begging for ridicule.

  “Hey! What’re you laughing at?”

  Now there was an opening line if I’d ever heard one. Biting my tongue furiously to avoid making the obvious insulting rejoinder, I kept my eyes on the potatoes and tried not to snicker again.

  I stiffened at the sound of footsteps crashing through the undergrowth toward me. Shit. This is why I hate public campgrounds.

  Without looking up, I stepped casually closer to the RV and the axe. These two likely didn’t pose much of a threat, particularly since Kane was probably just about finished his shower by now. He’d make short work of them. But maybe a bit of assertiveness would convince them to give it up without a confrontation.

  I looked up and met their eyes as the two men approached. “I didn’t ask you to join me. Go back to your own campsite.”

  “Come on, George,” the taller man said. “Let’s go have another beer.”

  George eyed me blearily. His dick was still hanging out of his pants, apparently forgotten. Nice.

  “I wan’ you to come an’ have a beer with me,” he repeated.

  “No. I’m busy cooking. Go away.” I reached over and turned the potatoes again.

  His friend took him by the arm. “Come on, George, buddy, let’s go,” he said, trying to steer the smaller man back the way they’d come.

  George jerked his arm free and took an aggressive step toward me. “I gotta teach this cunt some manners,” he slurred. “Hey, cunt, suck this.” He waved his flaccid penis at me.

  My temper flared. I don’t like being threatened. And being called a cunt just spoils my day.

  “The only way I could suck something that small would be if I had a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass,” I snarled. I picked up the axe and swung the handle into my palm with a smack as I took a step toward him. “Now fuck off. Or lose what little you’ve got.”

  At the edge of my hearing I had registered the rumble of an approaching engine, but I’d been too focused on my unwelcome visitors to pay attention until Hellhound rode into the campsite on his Harley.

  He took in the scene and came off h
is bike fast as the two men half-turned toward the source of the noise. George’s buddy blanched.

  I had always assumed Hellhound’s nickname was just wordplay on his last name. I’d grown accustomed to his gentleness toward me, and the more or less constant twinkle of humour in his eyes. I’d forgotten exactly how scary he’d looked the first time I’d met him.

  I was suddenly reminded. He was a fearsome sight, striding toward us in his leathers. His ugly, scowling face was hard as granite as he shoved his solid bulk between the two men and me. George blinked owlishly, and a fine sheen of sweat appeared on the other man’s face as he backed away slowly.

  “What the fuck?” Hellhound ground out, glowering dangerously at the two men.

  “We were just leaving,” the second man stammered. “My buddy was just joking around, weren’t you, George?” George staggered uncertainly, obviously trying to decide whether to back down or keep being a moron.

  Hellhound took a step toward them, his shoulders swelling. “My ol’ lady ain’t laughin’.”

  George’s fists clenched, and I could see he was about to do something truly stupid. If this came to a fight, I was certain Hellhound would win. And he’d likely end up getting arrested and convicted for assault. I doubted the courts would be kind to a large, ugly biker who’d beaten the crap out of some little drunk idiot. No matter how richly the little drunk idiot deserved it.

  I stepped quickly to Hellhound’s side and clung to his arm. “Baby, don’t forget what your parole officer said. If you kill two more guys, they’ll declare you a dangerous offender. I don’t want you to go to jail again.”

  The taller man’s face contorted with fear. He grabbed George by the arm and began to drag him bodily away. George mouthed off a bit more and Hellhound took another step closer, apparently oblivious to my grip.

  He fixed the two men in a basilisk glare. “Ya were just leavin’, weren’t ya. Leavin’ the entire fuckin’ campground. For good. Weren’t ya.”

  The taller man nodded vigorously, his prominent Adam’s apple bobbing as he gulped. “Yeah, we’ve gotta go. We’re going right now.” He finally managed to dislodge George and haul him back to their campsite. They packed their gear under Hellhound’s deadly gaze and gravel sprayed from their tires as they sped away. I pulled out my phone and dialled.