Tell Me No Spies (18 page)

“Oh… Hellhound… Oh,
baby…”

I moaned, giving it
all I had. It wasn’t much of a stretch. He was making it very easy
to be convincing.

Heat radiated through
my jeans as his denim-clad thigh rubbed slowly between my legs.
When his teeth and tongue found the magic spot near my collarbone,
my hips automatically matched his rhythm, and I sucked in a
shivering breath. “
Oh
… God,
yes
…”

Kane rocketed to his
feet. “
Enough, goddammit!
” His enraged shout was all but
drowned out by the thunderous pounding on the door.

“Police! Open up!”

Kane uttered a word
I’d never heard him use before as he yanked his jacket over his
concealed holster and paced rapidly to the door. “I’m a police
officer. I’m going to open the door now,” he called.

Arnie and I froze,
watching.

Kane swung the door
open. “What-”

His body collapsed to
the floor.

Dave stood in the
doorway. His face flushed scarlet when he took in our explicit
position.

Hellhound snatched his
hand from under my shirt and rolled off the bed, looking horrified
as he tried to reach Kane without yanking both our arms out of
their sockets.

“John!” He threw a
wild glare at Dave. “What the fuck did ya do?”

“Stun gun. Sorry,”
Dave muttered. “Thought you needed help…”

“We do!”

Dave brightened at my
response, and he stepped in and swung the door shut behind him.

“Make sure he’s
breathing,” Hellhound urged.

Dave knelt stiffly
beside Kane’s crumpled body. “He’s fine.”

“What the hell d’ya
think you’re doin’?” Hellhound demanded. “Ya just assaulted a
fuckin’ police officer!”

Dave snorted. “He’s no
cop. Didn’t follow proper procedure.”

He started to rifle
through Kane’s pockets. I suppressed a shudder when the bad
memories replayed, and I watched Kane’s chest rise and fall for
reassurance. Not dead. God, would I ever forget that awful day?

“Here.” Dave dragged
himself upright, grimacing, and limped to the bed holding a
key.

Hellhound was still
growling. “This ain’t the fuckin’ movies, and you ain’t Bruce
Fuckin’ Willis. We’re in deep shit now, thanks to you.”

Dave shot him a scowl
and plied the key. “Like you weren’t in deep shit before. Uh, I
mean, deep trouble. Sorry, Aydan.”

Seconds later, we were
free. Arnie and I knelt beside Kane, eyeing each other
uncertainly.

“Maybe we should put
him on the bed,” I suggested.

Dave shrugged. “What
do you care? He was going to kill you.”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“Hurry up. Take his
gun and let’s go.” Dave shifted from foot to foot, glancing
apprehensively at the door.

“We have to leave him
his gun. Let’s just put him on the bed.”

Dave took a step back.
“You’re nuts. And you’re on your own. My back’s shot.”

“You take his feet,”
Hellhound directed. He grabbed Kane’s shoulders and together we
lugged him across the room and manhandled his limp body onto the
bed.

We both fussed
guiltily, straightening out his arms and legs. I raised his head,
and Hellhound stuffed a pillow under it.

“Come on, already,”
Dave urged. “He’s gonna wake up any minute and start shooting.”

He was probably right.
Kane had been livid before. Now? Yeah, he’d probably shoot us all.
Well, Dave and me, for sure.

I turned to Hellhound.
“Quick, Dave and I have to get out of here. Do you have any idea
where James might be hiding? He’s kidnapped Nichele and he’ll kill
her-”

“What the hell,
darlin’?” he interrupted. “Call the cops. Trust me, ya don’t wanna
go lookin’ for him.”

“Arnie, I can’t, he
said he’d kill her if the police got involved. Just tell me where
to start looking.” I shot an uneasy glance at Kane. “Hurry up, I
have to get out of here.”

“No fuckin’ way. What
the hell’s goin’ on? Kane killed your husband, an’ he thinks you’ve
gone rogue?”

“Arnie,
please
!
I have to go! Just tell me where-”

He grasped my
shoulders, his grip gentle despite his obvious agitation. “Aydan, I
don’t want ya lookin’ for Jim, it’s too dangerous.”

“Forget it, Aydan,
come on,” Dave said. He shot a contemptuous glare at Hellhound. “I
told you he’d be useless. I’ll help you. Let’s just go.”

Hellhound stiffened
and glowered at Dave. “Ya dumb shit, all you’re gonna do is get her
killed,” he growled.

Kane groaned and I
pulled away from Hellhound, my heart pounding. “Arnie, I have to go
before he wakes up. Just give me a neighbourhood to start in,” I
pleaded.

“No. Aydan, promise me
ya won’t go lookin’ for Jim,” Hellhound demanded.

I turned away. “Let’s
go, Dave.”

“Wait.” Hellhound’s
hand shot out to capture mine, and he stepped in front of me to
gaze down into my eyes. “Tell me the truth, Aydan. Are ya still on
the same side as Kane?”

“Yes! He’s got it all
wrong, it’s just a misunderstanding…”

“Come
on
!” Dave
burst out. He grabbed my wrist and tugged me in the direction of
the door.

Hellhound scowled at
Dave, who returned a defiant glare. Hellhound blew out a breath
between his teeth and glanced unhappily at Kane before turning back
to me. “I’ll come with ya, then.”

“Arnie, no…” I
began.

“Let’s go,” he
interrupted, and I gave up the argument temporarily, my nerves
fraying when Kane groaned again. I retrieved my gun from the table
where Kane had left it and we hastened for the door, leaving Kane
laid out on the bed like a Viking warrior on his pyre.

I was pretty sure he
was going to be okay. When I glanced back, he was already starting
to twitch and mumble profanities I was almost certain he’d learned
from me. My steps slowed, my conscience nagging me. It just felt
wrong to leave him there helpless, despite how much he’d pissed me
off. Oh, yeah, and threatened to kill me. There was that.

“Aydan!” Dave hissed.
“Hurry up!”

I quickened my pace
and we followed Dave out the back door of the hotel to clamber into
the idling truck. I strapped into the passenger seat while
Hellhound stood in the alcove of the sleeper, bracing his
outstretched arms against the cabinets. I couldn’t make out his
expression in the dim light, but tension rolled off him in
waves.

Dave glanced over as
he pulled onto Crowchild Trail and ran rapidly up through the
gears. “Where to?”

“We need to hide,” I
blurted out, then gave myself a mental slap upside the head for
stating the obvious.

“Christ, ya gotta know
fuckin’ stun guns are illegal in Canada. What the hell were ya
thinkin’?” Hellhound burst out. “You’re gonna be in a shitload a’
trouble.”

“Doubt it,” Dave
grunted. “He doesn’t know who I am.”

“He woulda seen ya
when ya dropped Aydan off. He never misses anythin’, an’ ya got big
motherfuckin’ signs on the sides a’ the truck.”

Dave shrugged. “Oh,
well.”

Hellhound snorted. “Ya
got no fuckin’ idea what a world a’ hurt ya just walked into. Head
for the Forest Lawn Industrial Park. I know a guy there with a big
bay, owes me a favour or two.”

“Got a better idea,”
Dave said. “Think he got the tag?”

Hellhound considered
for a few seconds. “Probl’y not. Ya parked out front, an’ he was
right by the hotel. He couldn’ta seen your plates.”

“Good.” Dave steered
the truck down a side street.

I couldn’t contain
myself any longer. “How did you find us? What happened?”

Dave grinned. “Circled
around back and parked for a few minutes. Saw you walking through
the lobby. The big guy looked mad, and you looked scared. Followed
and watched what room you went into. Looked like he had a gun, so
it took me a few minutes to come up with a plan. Lucky I sneaked
that stun gun over the line the last time I was down to the
States.”

I didn’t know whether
to kiss him or kick him. I really wasn’t sure whether Kane would
have killed me or not. A few days ago, I would have put my life in
his hands without a qualm. Now I wasn’t so sure. Dave might have
just saved my life. Or he might have just sentenced me to certain
death.

Shit.

Dave stopped in the
shadows next to a small park and rose painfully to shoulder past
Hellhound into the sleeper. He withdrew two large rolls from a tall
narrow cabinet.

“Give me a hand,” he
said, and we followed him out of the truck.

The rolls proved to be
self-adhesive decals that completely covered the ‘Dave’s Trucking’
logos on the doors. Hellhound shot a suspicious glare at Dave while
we applied ‘Rosie’s Custom Transport’.

Dave shrugged. “It
ain’t what it looks like. I do a regular hitch for Rosie, couple
times a month. She likes having her logo on the truck when I do, so
she got me these removable signs.”

“This still won’t
help, though,” I argued. “If Kane saw your truck earlier, he’ll
track you down through Dave’s Trucking.”

“Worry about that when
the time comes.” Dave winced his way back into the cab, and we
followed suit.

“Arnie, you should go
now,” I said. “I don’t want you to get involved.”

We peered at each
other in the semi-darkness. “Involved with what? What the fuckin’
hell’s goin’ on?” Hellhound demanded.

“Arnie, never mind.
Just go, okay? I want you to stay safe.”

“Fuck that, Aydan, I
wasn’t gonna leave ya with a fuckin’ gun in your back, an’ I ain’t
gonna leave ya knowin’ you’re plannin’ on lookin’ for that fuckin’
asshole Jim! Tell me what the fuckin’ hell’s happenin’! Now!”

I gave in, taken aback
by his uncharacteristic harshness. “First things first. Have either
you got a cell phone?”

“Yeah,” they agreed in
ragged unison, groping in pockets.

“Turn them off, and
then we need to get out of here. They can track those.”

“
Fuck!
”
Hellhound flung his phone at the floor with a violent sweep of his
arm, and I flinched as pieces ricocheted around the cab.

“That’s one way to do
it,” Dave observed. He continued to excavate his pockets, stepping
up the pace as he went. At last, he threw up his hands. “Must have
lost it at the hotel when I jumped out of the truck. Shi… Crap.
Well, guess it’s no problem, then.”

He put the truck into
gear and pulled away.

“Sonuva
bitch
!”
Hellhound grabbed at the tiny counter for balance as the truck
swayed, and kicked savagely at the cracked phone case. “This is so
fucked up!” He wedged himself into the tiny bench seat and scrubbed
his fist roughly against his beard.

I turned sideways in
the passenger seat, trying to make out his expression in the
fluctuating illumination as we passed under streetlights.

“Are you okay?” I
asked, concern gnawing at me. I’d seen him sleep-deprived, in agony
and facing death, but I’d never seen him lose his cool like
that.

“Yeah,” he muttered.
“Sorry, darlin’. It’s just this thing with Jim’s buggin’ the shit
outta me, an’ now Kane’s got some wild hair up his ass. I never
thought he’d ever…” He bit off the sentence. “What the fuck’s goin’
on?”

I sighed and tried to
formulate a reply that would explain enough about the situation
with Kane without giving away classified information. “You knew my
husband died about two and a half years ago.”

“Yeah. Heart attack,
ya said.” Hellhound leaned forward to study my face in the dimness.
“Ya were in bed with him. So how the hell could Kane have killed
him?”

“He slipped Robert a
drug that caused a massive heart attack as soon as he exerted
himself. It was just my bad luck that he decided to come home to me
instead of going to the gym as usual.”

“That’s crazy. How
d’ya know that?”

“Kane told me.”

“Fuck.” Arnie reached
for my hand and held it gently. “Sorry, Aydan. That’s gotta be
tough. But why would he kill your husband?”

“It seems Robert was
in the same line of work as Kane,” I said carefully.

“What?” He jerked
upright. “What the hell…”

“And…” I swallowed. “I
think… Robert might not have been the only member of my family who
didn’t die a natural death.”

He stared at me. “Ya
mean…”

“They might have
killed my parents, too. And maybe my uncle. That’s why I was flying
under the radar. I needed to talk to my aunt in Victoria. She’s the
only one left.”

Hellhound sat in
silence, and I knew the wheels were turning in his keen mind. “But
there’s more to it than that, ain’t there, darlin’?” he asked
finally. “Back at the hotel, ya said he’d been lyin’ to ya for
months, fuckin’ with your mind.”

“Yeah.” I knew I
shouldn’t say any more, but the anger and betrayal burst out of me
anyway. “My mind wasn’t all he fucked with. That asshole.”

“What… Oh. Shit! No
wonder he was so pissed when we were gettin’ it on. Sorry, darlin’,
I didn’t know the two a’ ya were…”

“We aren’t. And I
don’t think that was why he was mad. He didn’t do me because he
wanted to. He had orders.”

Arnie gaped at me.
“What the… That’s the sickest fuckin’ thing I ever heard. Why the
hell would he have orders to bang ya? No offense, darlin’, I know
how good ya are, but it just ain’t that important in the big
picture.”

“No, you’re right. It
was part of a bigger plan. He was supposed to fake being in love
with me so he could manipulate me to keep working for them. So he
said all this mushy shit, and I turned him down because you
know
I don’t want to get attached…”

My throat was
tightening, and I took a deep breath to hold my voice steady. “…And
I felt so bad because I liked him and I thought he was hurt, but
he’s just a lying scumbag and he’s been playing mind games the
whole time and I can’t
believe
I wasted any sympathy on that
asshole
, and then he has the fucking nerve to say I betrayed
his
trust…”