Blind Trust (14 page)

That reality stung. “But I weren’t meant to be there.”

Renee, I knew, felt my pain. She was trying to be gentle. “But you
still are institutionalized.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

I went to pull my hand away but she held on. “How will you explain
how you communicate with him, hmm?”

She had a point. If I wandered into an adoption place and said
Zack should stay with me ’cause I could read him, I’d be back in the
institution before I could finish the sentence.

“But I promised him.” Zack needed me to make sure he was okay.
What would happen to him? “He ain’t gonna be able to cope on his own.”

“And neither are you,” Renee said. She took my hand in both of
hers and traced a finger over the mark where the drip had been. “You’ve got to
know that. You don’t use technology, you’ve no bank account.” She looked up
into my eyes. “Do you even know how to use a card?”

I shook my head. What was the issue? I could work around it. I had
in Oppidum. “I got money though.”

“Yes, you do.” She sighed. “It’s all tied up by your mother. You
can’t access it unless she allows you to.”

My mother sucked, that much I was now sure of. I stared at the
buzzing bar. The locals here had made me more welcome than any place else
had.  

Renee was trying to get me to meet her eyes but I kept staring at
the patrons in the bar. Most of them had risked their lives today. They were
good people.

“Aeron, it’s to protect you.”

What was money anyway? I’d had none when I left the institution.
All I needed was a roof, warmth, and some way to feed myself. “I survived long
enough without protection.”

Renee squeezed my hand. I did meet her eyes this time. “Yes you
did.” She smiled. “But you don’t have to anymore.”

“So stay with me then.” I didn’t get why this was a problem.
Neither of us owed my mother nothing. She could find somebody else to do her
bidding. “Zack will get to live with us if you’re around.”

Renee leaned on her fist. The look on her face was that I had said
something naïve . . . again.

“They wouldn’t allow that either,” she said with a lost smile then
stared off into some dream world. “No matter how nice it would be.”

“Can’t I just bribe them or somethin’?”

Renee chuckled. “I’m not sure that’s the best—”

“Ladies,” Brad broke in.

I glared at him. He was way past drunk now, which made me wonder
how the heck he’d gotten that way so quickly.

“You coming to join me?” He stared at Renee who leaned backward, I
guess to avoid his toxic breath.

“We’re just leaving,” Renee said, flashing me a warning look.
“Come on, Aeron.”

I got to my feet but Brad put his hand on Renee’s arm.

“You know you want to.” His smile looked like he was a wolf at
dinner. I reached out ready to drag him away. His eyes widened. He yelped and
dropped to his knees. Renee was up on her feet and his wrist was at a painful
angle.

“I am just fine,
thank you
.” Her voice was more cutting
than I’d ever heard it. Even I flinched.

A couple of guys sniggered somewhere off to my left. Brad glared
up at us both. Drink clearly made him think more of his ego than his health. He
went to grab for her.

Smack
.

Our soda glasses toppled and rolled as Renee smashed his head into
the table. Ouch.

“One more attempt and I’ll aim lower,” she said so that only me
and him could hear.

Mark strode over. He went to step in, to protect Renee but I stood
in front.

“Just a misunderstanding,” I said, not knowing why I was
bothering. “We’re leaving.”

“Don’t bother coming back,” Brad snapped.

He shrugged off Mark as he tried to help him to his feet. Renee
was already dragging me through the bar. I couldn’t believe she’d just done
what I had wanted to . . . and publicly.

Everybody was looking at us as she pulled me through the crowd.
Most of them gave us a nod of approval as we bumped our way through. They
clearly liked Brad as much as we did.

The cold night air swept around us as we burst from the bar. Renee
pulled me down the sidewalk, sliding on the icy surface.

“You lost it?” I asked, not quite sure how to compute what had
just happened.

She turned, then stopped and leaned against the illuminated street
light–its bobble head casting a gentle orange glow over Renee’s face. She
looked as shocked as I felt.

“I think I have.” She bit her lip and stifled a giggle. “God,
Ursula would have my hide for that.”

I looked back at the bar and back to a grinning Renee. She’d
kicked his butt. I shook my head at her, unable to hide my smile. “Took you a
while to come out of that shell but boy, am I glad you’re back.”

Renee’s eyes twinkled with the washed orange glow and something
else, something like hope. 

“Come on,
Dimwit
,” she teased, punching my bicep. “Let’s
get you some food before you get grumpy.”

“Yes, ma’am!” I saluted.

She stopped and scowled. I tensed, thinking she was about to kick
my butt for daring to address her in that way in public. She put her hands on
her hips and narrowed her eyes.

Then she crinkled her nose, and her laughter rang out into the
bitter air.

“For that, you get to wash the dishes.”

Chapter 15

GETTING OUT OF bed the next morning was a challenge in itself. My
rib cage was purple, black, and some weird bluish color. I’m not one for bruising
so I guessed that I must have hit myself pretty hard on that cliff face. By the
time I’d managed to pull on my t-shirt and make my way down to breakfast both
Zack and Renee sat on the sofa reading a book.

The picture made me smile. The fire cricked and crackled away,
spraying light over the polished wood floor. Zack was curled up in the crook of
Renee’s arm as his blond head rested against her shoulder.

“Deep, deep into the forest he travelled, over mulch and mush and
all things brown; then behold he came upon the city, where the new king would
be crowned.”

Renee’s voice was soft but full of expression, her love of books
shining like the weak sunlight through the windows.

One of the first things I had ever seen about her was that
adoration and respect of the written word. It was almost like the religious
folk felt about their churches. I guess a reverence for something sacred to
their hearts.

I stood and listened to her, listened to her warm tones and felt
like I was back beside the river with her. She, like Nan, made me feel as safe
and content as a hazy summer day.

I stood there long enough for my left leg to protest my position
and I had to shift. The floorboard creaked and Renee turned to smile at me and
put her finger to her lips.

“He asleep?” I whispered back. I attempted to creep but every darn
piece of wood sang like a snitch. In the end, I gave up and walked to the
kitchen followed by Renee’s laughter.

“So what’s the plan for today?” I asked, looking out at the couple
of feet of fresh snowfall. “
After
I’ve shoveled the driveway.”

“All done,” Renee said, lying Zack down on the sofa and covering
him with a blanket. “I need to go into town and see if the sheriff has had any
luck contacting the local rescue teams.”

“You really think there’s anyone left alive?” I gazed at Zack and
Renee put her hands on my arms and steered me to sit at the breakfast bar.

“No.” She morphed into super chef and flitted around the kitchen.
“But the sooner they start the recovery process, the sooner the families of the
victims will know.”

Zack murmured in his sleep, looking cuter than a kitten. “What
will happen to him?”

“It’s best you don’t know.”

“Ain’t there nothin’ we can do?” I rubbed my side as it twinged.
“I mean being CIG gotta count for somethin’.”

“One step at a time.” Renee fired up the cooker. Her tools all set
out in military precision. “First, I have to try and contact Ursula.” She bit
her lip and glanced my way. “Not looking forward to that conversation.”

I cocked my head. “Thought she had your back.”

Renee nodded, her focus on the bacon she was pulling out of the
freezer. “She does but she’ll be frantic.” She sighed. “And when she gets
worried, she’s not the easiest of people to talk to.”

“Why is she so mean?” The sizzle sound made me smile as the bacon
hit the heat.

“She has her reasons.” Renee looked at me. “Aeron, being part of
the CIG leaves you with scars. We’ve lost people . . . a few people over the
years and without you . . .”

“What do you mean?”

She moved the bacon around in the pan and stared down at it. “The
unit has been in existence since
before
Lilia arrived.” She added some
kinda sauce. “You’ve seen the wall they built up in the CIG headquarters.”

“A wall you say?” I leaned on the countertop. “Lucky CIG, maybe
one day there’ll be
four
walls and a roof.”

Renee tutted at me, grabbed some eggs from the fridge, and cracked
them into a bowl. “It’s a memorial wall.”

“Oh.”

“Oh, exactly. It’s full of names . . .” She stopped, one egg
inches from the rim. “Including my father’s.”

“
He
was CIG?
The
famous Colonel Charles Black?”

Renee’s eyes glazed and I slid off my stool and walked to her. Her
memories were still raw.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I just meant that he was famous. I didn’t get
how he could be CIG too.”

“He was nineteen when he saved the president. Twenty-five when he
and his unit rescued all those hostages.” She waved me away to stop me fussing.
“I’m not sure when he joined CIG but I knew there was no other place I wanted
to be.”

“You ain’t gonna be up on that wall.” I didn’t care what nonsense
she’d been filled with. “I’d have seen that and you ain’t.”

“I knew what I signed up for. We all do.” She took a deep breath
and blew it out as if she wanted to push the sadness from her. “Without you,
more names will be on that wall that don’t need to be.” She poured the mix of
eggs and milk into the pan. “But I would take more names, including my own, to
make sure that yours never appears there.”

“You’d make a crappy protection officer if you didn’t.”

Her smile crinkled to top of her nose. “Let’s just hope
Franken-Frei feels the same way,” she said with a wink.

THE WALK INTO town made me almost feel like we were a family on
vacation. Zack was swinging between me and Renee as we hoisted him up and down.
His giggling filled the crisp air and the sun shimmered behind the haze of
puffy white clouds. It was as perfect as a morning could be, if not for the
fact we were headed for the sheriff’s office rather than the slopes.

We walked into the café and after Martha filled us with muffins
and coffee, not to mention a strawberry milkshake, Renee signaled to her pocket
and made the phone call hand signal.

“Sheriff?” I asked, wondering why the secrecy but Renee shook her
head.

“Oh, lovely, that man is having
fries
.” She stared at me
until I made the connection. I felt like her eyes would start shooting lasers
at me if I hadn’t got it. She got up and walked outside.

Zack looked up at me. His flashed thought powerful.
Renee had
fries in her hand and was munching away. “Better, Renee?” I asked.

I swallowed with difficulty. “You ain’t meant to call her that,” I
whispered, looking out the window to see if I could spot her. “If anybody asks
and you figure out how to speak . . . she’s Doc Llys.”

He cocked his head in a gesture of
“Why?”
and I tried to
figure how to explain it without nobody hearing us.

“Remember the hero thing?” I asked.

He smiled.
Renee stood in spandex with a cape flowing behind
her. Her hands were on her hips, her hair fluttered in the breeze.

My laugh bellowed out of me and I nearly choked on my tea. The few
folks still in the café cast curious glances our way.

I winced as my ribs jabbed at me, trying not to show Zack I was in
pain. “Well, you know how they got a different identity, to keep themselves
secret?”

He nodded.
Renee had found a telephone box. She stepped inside.
Whirring, flashing. She stepped out. She crept away wearing a long coat and the
thickest rimmed glasses I had ever seen.

“Just like that,” I confirmed. I made a mental note to tell Renee
of the picture. I only wished I could draw it. That would definitely cheer her
up. 

Zack gave a curt nod as if that settled the matter and the secret
was safe with him. I leaned onto my fist. Heck, I loved him.

YOU RUB YOUR sore hands over each other. Your breath billows out
fog-like with the persistent cold. Such a hellhole. A forsaken dump filled with
people who think they are happy. It’s pathetic and it jars you. It’s the kind
of place that she would love. Tess. You look up and down the crowded street.
Where had all these losers come from?

The hotel disgusted you. The people so pitifully joyful. It would
do for now, you need to find her, seek her out, and bring her back into your
clutches. She will understand. You’ll make her understand.

“Can I help you there?” The man has skin which bears marks of too
much time in the sun, his color unnatural, his teeth even more so.

“I’m looking for my wife,” you answer. She is no such thing but
people are more forthcoming when they feel you have a claim. “She was driving
through here the other day.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he answers. His concern is genuine and it only
makes you detest him more. “Do you have a picture . . . a description?”

“Yes.” You have so many pictures of her. Unfortunate that so many
are from afar now but there are a few, before she abandoned you. They will
serve to identify her to most.

He seems to know her the instant her face is revealed. You can see
in his eyes that he finds her attractive, that he appreciates her far too much.
Your sneer must show on your face as he clears his throat and points down the
street.

“You’ll find her down there,” he says. “Saw her a while back
heading that way.”

You look down the street. At least twenty or so people cross paths
on their morning routines. You smile and it makes the stranger hurry from you.
Perfect, just perfect.

RENEE LOOKED DOWN at the phone in her hands and frowned at the
screen. No calls, no messages, nothing. It was unlike Ursula not to contact
her. Most of the time she checked in daily, well, hourly lately. The fact that
they hadn’t shown up at the training center would have reached her by now.

The silence from CIG preyed on her mind. She’d checked her phone
each morning in this same spot which had the best link to the satellite. Normal
cell phones would be useless with the nearest cell tower down. She’d heard
people chatting about the repair crews being unable to get out to it because of
the weather and the avalanche warnings. She felt the guilt clawing at her
stomach that she hadn’t simply given her phone to the sheriff so that he could call
in help.

You’re an agent, not law enforcement,
she reminded
herself.

Renee glanced back at the café and met Aeron’s eyes through the
window. Maybe she’d been more reluctant than she cared to admit. It was
wonderful to be near Aeron again. It filled her heart with hope and God, had
she missed that feeling. Everything she wanted seemed to have fallen right into
her lap. This place, Aeron, even little Zack.

She’d asked Renee to stay. She’d asked her to forget everything
and live here with her.

The only thing that stopped you agreeing was that idiot.
Renee scowled at the
thought of him, then smiled at Aeron’s reaction.
If only . . .

The problem with this idyllic isolation was that Renee was
starting to forget just why they were stuck in the town. Aeron always managed
to do it to her, no matter how hard she tried to fend off whatever that was.
Somehow, Aeron always wriggled through a gap and got her opening up, got her
talking.
She gets me so tied up that I’m ready to tell her everything.

Renee glanced around the street.
Haven’t you learned yet how
dangerous that is?
She glared down at her phone.
Why isn’t she calling?

Her stomach tightened like a fist ready for impact and she pressed
call. The screen remained dormant. She pressed the key harder. The panic
prickled along her arms, making her shiver. Again nothing.

“Please work,” she asked it. “Please.”

She manually tapped in Ursula’s number and pressed call. Her heart
hammered. Her mouth so dry that her tongue felt twice its usual size.

Nothing.

She paced around in a circle. Her thoughts whirred, her stomach
with them. If her phone had broken, it could have been broken since when?

The realization hit her and she swore.

Since the night they were caught in the avalanche—it must have
been. That meant that nearly three days had passed and CIG didn’t know where
she was.

They would have checked her route. She hung her head and swore
again. No, they would have assumed that she took the lower road, the one Ursula
advised.

Why didn’t I listen to her?

Renee bit her lip, the dried skin rough against her tongue. There
would be a high alert status by now. Ursula would have made it top priority for
all law enforcement. She looked up at the café. Aeron peered at her through the
window with a question on her face. If they assumed Aeron was MIA too . . .

Renee looked at the sheriff’s office. She needed to talk to
Ursula, now.

The street was busy, she could feel it, hear it rather than see
it. At least she had her gun. If the past came hunting, then at least she still
had that. She touched her hand to the bulk of metal in her waistband, so
familiar. Aeron never asked why she had taken to sleeping with it under her
pillow.

When I get back. I’ll tell her. I’ll tell her everything.

She brushed past a woman who was clearly trying to get information
on someone named James. The tone of the woman’s voice said it was a secretive
inquiry, the hoarseness of her voice sung with heartbreak.