Chapter 6

 

BAM.

Next to point blank.

Rust. Damp. Dripping water.

No time to hide her now.

“Run!” Got to stop them catching her.

Bam.

Close. Too close.

Bam.

Flash.

Bam.

Flash.

Recoil.

“I don’t want to—”

Bam. Bam.

Window. Cracked. Air. Jagged glass. “Jessie, go. Run.”

Bam.

Ping.

Dust. No. It’ll get in her lungs.

“I’m not leaving—”

 

Smack.

I snapped open my eyes, not caring that I’d head butted the floor. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t do anything but lie there. Dark. I couldn’t see.

“Aeron?” Renee whispered from the bed, her voice groggy with sleep. Not surprised, we’d eaten enough to feed half of Wales. My parents and sisters had been thrilled. My mother had been delighted with the flowers too even though I didn’t know what they were for.

Maybe the happy drowsy glow had made it hard to feel my legs? I tried to move. My body fizzed like bees had used me for target practice. My breaths were harsh and sharp in my ears. Just a dream? A nightmare? I hoped so.

“Aeron?” Renee’s footfalls were soft as she hurried over. “What are you . . . are you okay?”

She rolled me over. I felt a whoosh of relief as she broke the hold the flash had on me.

“Frei.” I threw myself upward, stumbling, knocking her off balance as I staggered for the bedroom door.

No moon.

It was dark because there was no moon out tonight.

At least I—she, Frei—could see.

“Aeron, what’s happened? What did you see?” Her panic filled her whisper as she guided me through the doorway. I heard her intake of breath at the lingering pain from my flash. Her panic rippled from her. She still didn’t believe what she was feeling was real.

She’d wake Louise at the very least. Louise, the youngest at six years going on sixty, could sense. Not like my mother or I but she would still feel the panic. After Sam, I didn’t want them being scared.   

I stopped and turned to Renee. “I need to speak to Lilia. Frei and Jessie . . . they’re in trouble. Some kind of trouble.”

She frowned at me. “Aeron, that’s impossible. Jessie wouldn’t be anywhere but the CIG base. Maybe it’s just a dream?”

If only, I took her hand and led her toward the stairs. “Do you dream in German?”

“At times, yes.” She dragged me back toward my room. “Let’s go back to sleep. We can ask in the morning.”

I tugged her with me down the two flights of stairs to the third floor. “You’re different. You can speak a load of languages. I can just about ask where the bank is.”

Renee padded along behind my louder footsteps. I hoped I didn’t wake my sisters up. I couldn’t sneak for Jell-O.

“You’re learning German?” was all Renee could come up with. I could hear a load of other questions buzzing around her and that had been the least emotionally charged. I guessed it was her way of keeping calm.

“I thought it’d be nice to throw a witty retort back at Frei in her own language.” I was trying to hold onto what I’d seen. Memorize the detail. Frei in trouble. Who would have both her and Jessie? What were they doing outside the CIG base?

I shrugged at the glow of pride creeping up from Renee’s touch. My cheeks were burning again. I focused on creeping, loudly, across the landing.

A shaft of light split across the second floor below us. My mother came out of her room in her dressing gown and looked up at us.

“She’s seen it too,” I whispered.

“I was worried you’d say that,” Renee muttered from behind me.

My mother nodded to me as we headed down the steps to her. “Your father sleeps through most things but the girls hear everything. We’ll head to the kitchen.”

“Won’t they hear us?” Renee asked, peering back up the stairs. 

My mother shook her head. “They are used to me puttering in the kitchen at night.” She smiled at me. “You’re lucky that you’re like your father.”

I heard the snoring from their room and Renee sniggered behind me. “A lot like him.”

“Hey.”

Before I could poke Renee, my mother led us downstairs and into the kitchen. She flicked on the lamp instead of the overhead light. She turned and examined Renee for a moment. “You’ll need something.”

Renee shook her head, pulling down her favorite football jersey. I didn’t know why, the thing was twice her size. In fact, I was pretty sure it would have fitted me.

“Whiskey,” my mother said and walked over to my father’s liquor cabinet. She opened it up and dropped ice cubes in a glass. 

Renee slumped down onto one of the chairs at the breakfast table. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“No.” My mother’s bluntness didn’t help my nerves much either. She turned to me, her eyes focused and intense. “What did you get?”

I shivered. I tried to keep it straight in my mind. “Cold, damp, rust . . . There was gunfire or something. Frei said or thought or . . .” I rubbed the back of my neck. My clammy hands were nothing to the damp perspiration dribbling from my hairline. “Jessie was there. She told her to run but Jessie wouldn’t leave.” I shook my head. Dumb kid. Typical of the hero she was. “There was a smashed window, I think, then more gunfire and I couldn’t move.”

My mother smiled a soft smile. “You look like your father when you frown.”

She was trying to distract me and we both knew it. “Spill it.”

Renee tensed at my tone. I glanced a smile at her. “She may be your boss but she’s my delinquent mother.”

Delinquent, absent, neglectful, meddling and she wasn’t wriggling out of this one. I fixed her with my best glare. “No twisting, no leaving stuff out. I want the truth.”

My mother smiled at me again.

“And quit saying I look like dad or I’ll just touch you and find out for myself.”

She sighed. “Now that’s more like me.” She stared down at her manicured nails. “They were sneaking in. I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Jessie slipped. Something clattered to the ground below. There was gunfire. A window and Ursula was Tasered.”

Explained the not moving.

“She hurt?” Renee asked, hugging herself.

My mother shook her head. “I don’t think so but I can’t be sure. I couldn’t tell if she was shooting back either.”

“Any idea where she was?” Renee looked at my mother then me. We both shook our heads. “What about the window, what did it look like?”

I shrugged. “Smashed.”

Renee frowned. “Wooden, metal, or plastic framed?”

“Wooden,” my mother said, wrapping her dressing gown around her tighter. “There were some splintered parts.”

“Frosted?” Renee asked.

I rubbed my shaking hand over my chin. “It was dirty. Some kind of weird light was shining beyond it.” I bit my lip, trying and failing to find my way back to what I’d seen. I couldn’t concentrate.

“It changed color. Green . . . perhaps yellow.” My mother went to the kettle and drew some hot chocolate in two mugs.

“The floor?” Renee didn’t touch her whiskey. She was hunched over the table. I half expected her to start drawing a map.

“Wet. Puddles of something that smelled funny. Dripping water?” I couldn’t figure out what the smell was.

“I can’t identify the stench either but it was strong.” My mother came over and placed a mug in front of me.

“River water.”

Both looked at me but I nodded. “A port of some kind was in the distance. I could hear the river.”

“How can you be sure it’s a river?” Renee asked. She was all agent. The intensity in her eyes gave me goosebumps.

“I feel . . . different . . . around rivers.” I shrugged. “They make me feel . . . restored.”

My mother leaned on her fist with a dreamy smile.

“What? Dad the same?”

She shook her head. “No. It’s just nice to hear you talk about your feelings.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say. I tried ignoring the warm fuzzy feeling it provoked. Lilia sucked. She sucked. She made everybody happy. 

“Do you know why she was with Jessie?” Renee smiled and patted my hand as she focused on my mother. It only made me feel more wriggly.

“Running an errand,” my mother said, smiling back at Renee. “Before you ask, Ursula said it was personal and she’d talk to me when she got back.” She held up her hand. “That was the whole message.”

Renee scowled but said nothing.

I knew what she wanted to ask. “Why did you let Jessie go with her?”

My mother sipped at her hot chocolate. “I trust Ursula.”

“She’s a minor,” Renee mumbled, trying not to look like she objected too much. She still hadn’t touched her whiskey.

My mother gave her the kind of maternal stare that Nan had always given me: Eyebrows tilted in the middle, wrinkling up her forehead. “And Ursula is aware of that fact. Have you ever known her to act with anything other than complete awareness for others?”

Renee thumbed over a drip of condensation on her glass.

My mother smiled. “Didn’t think so.”

“But you’re not telling us somethin’.” I scowled at my mother, catching the glimmer of her veiling the truth. “You didn’t authorize her going and you sure-as-shoots didn’t authorize her taking Jessie.”

My mother sighed. “You’d be a fantastic poker player.”

“I ain’t the one into gamblin’.” I took a swig of my chocolate, thankful for the sugary hit.

Half window stretching up from the solid floor: Light flashing on, off, on, off. Smell of rust, damp.

 

I took too much chocolate, swallowed, winced, coughed, rubbing at my throat.

“If she took Jessie, it was for a reason,” my mother shot back. She took a swig of her own chocolate in response.

“If you’re her boss, ain’t you suppose to know what your people are doing?” I leaned forward, trying not to show my eyes were stinging from swallowing wrong.

“I’m not her boss.” She fixed on me, unyielding. “Ursula is in charge of the base. I’m . . . a subject matter expert.”

I rolled my eyes. “So you rope her in to take all the responsibility when you cause the mess?”

“She’s a general. That’s what she’s paid for.” My mother still hadn’t blinked. “I stayed on after my contract finished. I did my time being the one in charge.”

I scowled. Hah. “What would you know about doin’ time any place?” 

“Right, well, this is helpful.” Renee tapped her glass to the table top. We both glared but she tapped the glass again. “So we have established that Ursula is Tasered, she may or may not have Jessie with her. She’s somewhere near a river that smells and near a port. There’s also some kind of odd light beyond the window. We don’t know why she’s wherever she is and we don’t know if she’s hurt?”

My mother and I both nodded.

Renee rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Is there anything else . . . anything at all?”

“I saw a window. Half window. Like somebody had buried the bottom half.” I turned to look at my mother. I expected her to fire something back but she shook her head. For once, I got the feeling she was being truthful. 

She let out a long breath. “Ursula is a general and when the head of the task force goes missing . . .”

Renee groaned and thunked her head to the table.

I frowned at her. “What?”

She didn’t look terrified and her energy was more, “I don’t need this,” than “Uh oh.”

“I’ll head back to the base,” my mother said. “I’ll try and keep them from realizing for as long as possible.”

Renee knocked back her whiskey. Her expression stoic. Her eyes stared off into some thought.

“Why?” I looked at my mother, knowing Renee was zoned out. “Why are you leaving dad. You can’t.” I looked at Renee when my mother set her jaw. “Why . . . who . . . why are you getting drunk again?”

“Again?” My mother raised her eyebrows.

Renee didn’t say a word.

“Her birthday,” I mumbled. “Next year I’m keeping her away from Fitzpatrick.” I fixed my mother with a glare. “So . . . why?”

Renee put her head in her hands.

My mother gave me a wry smile. “When a team leader or general goes missing, our internal affairs team is called in. The FBI internal affairs.”

“Why them?”

She looked down her nose at me like I should know. “Because that’s the official line of who we are.” She stared at her nails. “Helps us to be accountable.”

Did it? I was pretty sure that the FBI didn’t have generals. “That makes no sense.”

“It’s a joint task force. It’s a long story. I came from the FBI; other members came from the military.” She sighed. “Complications a long time ago meant we had to sever the force . . . officially. It doesn’t exist. We are just an investigative section . . . officially.” 

“So why would they know about Frei? It’s just protocol, right?”

My mother nodded. “The IA can’t know what we do or how we operate. That’s why they call her a lead agent. We’re all FBI to them. It makes everything . . . difficult. Renee and Ursula are from the military side but the IA can’t know that.” She sighed. “They like making demands and asking too many questions.”

“Why?”

“They’re paid to be irritating.” My mother tapped her nails to her mug. “But they will try and find blame and dig into our personal files. They really want an excuse to go looking for answers.”

“Which are all made up anyhow.” I didn’t see why it was such a big issue. 

“If they realize that, they shut CIG down,” Renee mumbled. “If they find out we have minors on base or that Ursula took one on an errand, they shut us down.” She thumbed her empty glass. “If they find out about Ursula’s past—”

“They shut CIG down?” I asked.

Renee nodded.

“Which you’ve dealt with before, right?” I got a flash of suited folks irritating my mother. “So why is this time different?”

My mother looked from Renee to me as if she’d expected me to know that part. “Renee?”

I tried not to get irritated at the fact she’d kept something from me . . . again. Renee stayed staring into space.

“Because of who is the head of the IA,” my mother said, shaking her head at Renee.

“I need more whiskey.”

I frowned. “Why?” I looked from my mother to her. “Do I need to start roughing you up?” What was with withholding everything? “Who leads the IA?”

“Someone who won’t be very pleased.” My mother stared at Renee as if trying to get her to open up. I shoved my chocolate away and sat back.

Good luck with that. Unless she planned on cracking her like a coconut, Renee wasn’t spilling anything. She stared into her glass like she’d burst into tears any second. I hated that she was in pain, that she was worried and I didn’t know why.

“Lilia?” I snapped.

At my term for her, my mother blinked a few times. She looked like I’d Tasered her. “Abby Fleming is the head of the IA.”

Renee shut her eyes. A tear trickled down her cheek.

“Who is?” I rolled my hand, hoping somebody would fill me in.

Renee let out a long shuddering breath and met my eyes. “My ex-fiancé.”

I stared at her.

Huh?

She held her breath, all tensed up like she was waiting for a reaction. My brain cells had gone on vacation.

Huh?

“IA still gotta be professional, right?” I muttered at my mother, tearing my eyes away from Renee. She’d nearly gone and married somebody and never told me nothing. You’d think that might have been something she’d have wanted to share.

“She still thinks I’m MIA,” Renee whispered.

I folded my arms, about ready to throw something at her. “From when?”

“France.” Her lip wobbled. Her eyes searched mine.

I glared at my mother, not knowing what to say to Renee. So she’d not told me anything but some poor woman hadn’t been told nothing since Renee had been taken by Yannick?

That sucked. That really sucked. 

My mother held up her hands. “That was my call. It was better for everyone at the time.”

“Because of Yannick?” I asked. I caught Renee flinch. I hadn’t meant to say it so gruffly. I couldn’t help it. The guy had hurt her and she’d told me nothing. She’d nearly been married to somebody and she’d told me nothing.

“Yes.” My mother cleared her throat. She seemed to be studying my face as much as Renee. “So I will gather the team. If you retrace Ursula’s steps, perhaps you might pick something up.”

Renee frowned. “We don’t have a clue where to star—”

“Bess,” fell out of my mouth before I realized I’d opened it. Who was Bess?

“So we have that much,” Renee said. I caught her shaking her head out the corner of my eye but couldn’t look at her. Didn’t need to. I could feel she knew who I was on about. “Can you tell if Urs is injured?”

“No,” I grunted.

“Then we need to get going. Quickly.” Renee got up but I didn’t move.

“How long can you hold off the IA?” I asked my mother. Something inside seemed to prickle into life.

“A couple of days at most,” she said, fiddling with her wedding ring. “I’m risking a lot not to inform them immediately.”

I held up my hand. That wouldn’t do. “You wouldn’t know Frei was missing if you weren’t freaky, right?”

My mother smiled. “True, but I am.”

“But they don’t know that, do they?”

She shook her head.

“So that gives us a week at least.” I heard Renee slump back down into her seat at my words. “If you go charging off to the base and raising the alarm before Frei is classified as missing, how does it look?”

“Like we’re guilty of something,” Renee mumbled. I didn’t look at her. I couldn’t. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to throttle her or demand why she couldn’t tell me anything. Was I that scary to talk to?

“Do they know about the kids from Caprock?” I focused on my mother.

“No.”

“We move them.” I closed my eyes. “Use that receptionist of hers. She doesn’t give nothin’ away. We can trust her. Send the team out on vacation. The less they know, the less chance somebody will slip up.”

I could feel them both staring at me but just concentrated. Frei had taught me a lot. I’d listened. I’d learned from her. I just needed to act how she would. Be logical, icy, calm. She needed me calm. “An’ keep the CIG team away from the kids. If they don’t know, they won’t have to lie.” I opened my eyes. “Do any of them know Jessie went with her?”

My mother shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“So they only know she went on vacation.” I rubbed my chin. “You head there in a few days, that way it only looks like you’re covering her off-duty. It should give you enough time to ditch the files you’re panicking about.” I nodded. That sounded about right. “Maybe you need to doctor Renee’s files too?”

My mother smiled such a wide smile that I felt warm all over. “Who is the junior agent in this room?”

“I’m not sure if I am an agent or a soldier or either.” I knew I’d signed stuff but couldn’t remember much about the whole thing. In all fairness to me I’d been groggy and in pain from my jaw.

“I’m not sure if I should feel proud or terrified,” Renee mumbled. I noticed neither answered my question. 

“Frei’s a good teacher.” It sounded blunter than I’d meant. 

“Indeed.” My mother nodded at me. “What about you and Renee?”

“Renee and I head out on a road trip in the morning.” If we went racing off at night folk would talk. If the IA came asking questions, they’d think that was pretty suspicious. “Could it be somebody from Caprock trying to draw us out?”

“Jäger and Harrison went into hiding, so it’s a possibility.” Renee’s desperation to get me to look at her only made it harder to.

“It could be anyone,” my mother said. “Follow the evidence. Treat it logically.”

“We need an investigator for this.” Renee got up from her chair. Her aura jolted about: She couldn’t take me not looking at her any longer. “Aeron may have senses but I’m no sleuth.”

“You helped me figure out that it was Sam.” I broke out of my shock, reached for her hand, and gave it a squeeze.

Flash. A beautiful woman smiling; a proud smile. A dazzling ring on her finger.

I cleared my throat. “Guess that’s Fleming.”

Renee’s cheeks flushed. “I only figured out it was Sam after you and the CIG team. Mrs. Squirrel has more of a shot at piecing it together than me.”

I looked at my mother. “Any ideas?”

She stared down at her nails. “One. But it could put him in danger . . . I really don’t want him involved but we could use his help.”

I shook my head. “There is no way that we’re using Dad.”

“Aeron, now . . .” My mother’s voice trailed off as she turned to the stairs.

“What’s wrong with me?” my dad asked.  

I groaned. I’d felt him but I still jumped.

“You’re meant to sleep heavy.”

He put his hands on his hips. “My wife disappeared in the middle of the night.” He shrugged. His boxer shorts and tank top a real fetching combination. Polka dots?

“One of our team is missing,” my mother said, turning and taking his hand. “Agent Frei.”

My dad sucked in his breath. He remembered Frei alright.

“We could use your help,” Renee whispered, ignoring the glare from me.

He took a seat beside my mother. “Hit me with it.”

“What happened to keeping him safe?” I muttered. I didn’t want him in danger at all. He’d been through enough stress with Sam. I didn’t want his heart getting strained again.

“I worked a lot of missing persons’ cases.” He smiled at me. His receding hairline was shiny. “Serial killers weren’t a strong point but this I can do.”

My mother looked at him adoringly; Renee’s confidence soared at his words; and me, I rubbed the back of my neck, admitting defeat.

“Guess we should start with our previous . . . er . . . case then?” I asked. 

I expected somebody to object, to remind me I couldn’t tell him too much, but nope, they just nodded and waited for me to start.

I sighed. So much for my vacation. “Right . . . So . . . There was this academy in Texas . . .”