A Memory in the Black (The New Aeneid Cycle) (14 page)

Caitlin wasn't answering her phone. It wasn't even ringing when Felix tried to call her, so she was probably unaware he was even trying at all. No rings and straight to her voice mail, so in all likelihood either she was on a call or had it off. She was expecting to hear from him
—she wouldn't have it off, so Felix hoped she was just busy talking to someone else. Maybe it was one of her friends in The Scry, though she hadn't seemed too eager to involve them before.

But very likely she was on a call, he told himself. Small chance that her battery had died and she hadn't noticed. Possible that she'd dropped the phone off her balcony and it was broken and shattered.

Small chance that something had happened to her.

He forced himself not to dwell on the worry.
Shut it off, he told himself. Let it go. She was probably just on the phone or unavailable for some other reason. Spider monkeys escaped from the zoo, stole her phone, and used it to smash over a fruit stand. Yes, there's the answer. Spider monkeys were always to blame. Fuzzy punks. Felix walked down the sidewalk toward Caitlin's apartment. Whatever had happened, he'd find out soon enough.

Why was the AoA looking for Diomedes?
He pondered the question in an attempt at distraction. Did they want him as a link to find who'd ordered the killing, or was it something else? While farfetched, Felix hadn't completely ruled out the possibility that the AoA had actually hired him. Yet Marc had said otherwise, and assassinations weren't how the AoA operated.

Or was that it?
They hired Diomedes for a purpose other than to kill the ESA man, but something had gone wrong? Or maybe something only seemed to have gone wrong. The AoA was based on open information exchange and planning between all of its members, but there were the two factions. Though both were united in their belief that humanity was destroying itself, one wished to delay that self-destruction long enough to find a way to escape on their own, while the other, smaller group preached that the organization might be able to save the entire planet. It was a difference of opinion to be sure, but the fact that the first faction still had no viable means of secession meant that the immediate goals of both factions were relatively identical, so far as Felix was aware. Had the rift between them finally widened to the point that the AoA's left hand didn't know what its right hand was doing?

It was all speculation, Felix knew.
The simpler explanation, that the AoA had nothing to do with the shooting at all, was more likely. And why would they hire Diomedes for anything?

Whatever was going on, he couldn't shake the impression that things were somehow connected.
Or maybe he was just looking for an excuse to look into the shooting a little more. Felix dismissed that with a laugh. Since when did he need an excuse to be nosey?

He arrived at the entrance to Caitlin
's building and, getting no answer at the intercom, decided to key in on his own and wait for her. A rapid elevator ride and two unanswered knocks later, he was inside her unit.

Her laptop was gone and her mail had been brought up, the latter of which sat unopened on the kitchen counter.
She'd obviously been back and left since they'd been there together earlier, so where had she gone? Felix tried calling her again, but still got neither ring nor answer.

He continued through the
tiny apartment in a cursory search for some sign of where she might have gone, though he considered it unlikely that Caitlin would leave a note instead of simply calling him. After a few minutes, he'd found nothing resembling a note and nothing else that might indicate. . .

Wait a minute.

Felix stopped as he noticed it and then looked around to be sure. Her motorcycle helmet was gone.

She'd left the city.
It was a fair deduction, at least; Caitlin hated city traffic to the point where she avoided driving in it unless it was on her way in or out. But where did she go? Did she leave for her house? Felix couldn't think of anywhere else outside the city she'd be going, though he supposed that hardly made anything certain. The worry he'd locked away earlier started to slip back in again.

Then again, she might have just left the city for a ride to clear her head. Felix thought she'd preferred a horse for that though, and they were
out near her house—a ninety-minute drive away. It wouldn't be completely out of character, but she'd also been anxious to know what he might find out from Marc.

Caitlin could take care of herself, but the whole thing seemed odd.
He shouldn't be worried, but Dio's throwing his hat into the ring had him feeling otherwise.

With
more questions than answers, Felix found himself traveling back downstairs to the garage level where she kept her cycle parked. Maybe she'd just moved the helmet. At the very least he could verify that the cycle itself was actually gone. Yet gone or not, he'd still have no definite answer.

He
r parking space was empty. After a moment or two spent in fruitless pondering, he was on his way back upstairs when he decided it was worth a try to stop at the main floor, exit the building, and take a quick walk around to see what he could see. He looped around the building's exterior once, not entirely sure what he expected to find.

Whatever it was, he didn't find it. Felix was keying into the front door again when the reflection in the glass showed him a face he wasn't expecting.

"Mister Hiatt?"

He turned.
"Ms. Noble," he said. "I'd make some clever remark about being surprised to see you if I weren't so. . . surprised to see you."

She kept her distance, about ten feet away. "You left me a message."

"Indeed I did. Though since I only gave you my phone number, you can understand my surprise. How's it you happen to be here?" Felix tried to keep too much suspicion from slipping into his tone. Was she somehow responsible for Caitlin's disappearance?

Ondrea
wore a light grey pantsuit and lab coat. Her eyes swept over him and then fixed on his in a way that gave Felix the distinct impression of being studied. "I decided I'd rather speak to you in person. Isn't that what you wanted to begin with?"

"Well, can't argue with that, but I meant what are you doing
here
? This isn't my address, so were you following, or waiting for me?"

"You come to my office, and then
I find you tailing me in the U-District," she said. "So I don't think you can take umbrage. I followed you here from your apartment if you have to know. Now we can stand here wasting time talking about who's stalking whom, or you can tell me why you contacted me in the first place."

"Well put.
Though things are a little different now than a few hours ago."

"What do you know about Gideon?"

"I know I didn't expect to see him again. That was him today, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was," Ondrea
said. "Have you seen him since then?"

"Nope.
But I'd be able to tell you who it was that shot at you in exchange for some answers I'm looking for, myself."

"I know who it was." The woman's poker face could rival Diomedes'
s. "Do you know anything of value?"

"Ah, so you know him. Do you know why he was shooting, then?"

"He's a wanted man, that's how I know him. And no, I don't know why he was shooting. Do you?"

Felix shrugged off the accusation in her tone
and smiled. "Hoping you could tell me, actually."

"Then it seems you've got nothing to tra
de after all." She turned to go but paused to add, "If you should see Gideon again, call me, and we'll see if we have anything to talk about."

Felix called after her before she'd taken two steps.
"The woman I was with today, have you seen her?"

Ondrea stopped and turned.
"Not since earlier. You don't know where she is, either?"

"She was supposed to meet me here," he answered, trying to read
Ondrea's body language.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I
can help you there. Who is she?"

"
Just my girlfriend."

Ondrea nodded, pursing her lips.
"Why are you looking for Gideon, Mr. Hiatt? Were you a friend of his, or is this something else?"

"Just an acquaintance. And I thought he was dead.
Actually, I heard he'd been shot, six months ago. Kind of makes me wonder what's happened that he's up and around again."

She looked him over anew.
"Felix," she said thoughtfully.

".
 . . Yes?"

She shook her head as if clearing it.
"He was. Shot. But he's recovered and healed. It was a long recovery from an unpleasant experience, so I'm sure you'll understand that he'd like to put it behind him. For his own good, it's best for you to drop the matter. If you see him, call me immediately." She handed him a business card.

"I might be more inclined to call you if I knew what his relationship with you is," Felix fished.

The ring of his phone cut off Ondrea's response. Felix pulled it out and checked the call ID. It was a number he didn't recognize, but with Caitlin unaccounted-for he decided it was worth putting off Ondrea. With an apology to her, he took the call.

"
Felix?
" The caller's voice was Welsh and instantly took a weight off his shoulders.

"Caitlin
? I didn't recognize the number. Everything okay?" The sound of background cars came through from her end of the connection.

"
I'm alright, Felix. A bit of a tale, truthfully. Are you alone?
"

"Actually, no
. I'm standing here with Ondrea Noble."

"
Could you step out of earshot a moment?
"

"Well, okay, but that's relative nowa
days." He covered the receiver, asked Ondrea to excuse him further, and stepped a short distance down the block. She stood watching him while he resumed the conversation. "Okay, go ahead."

"
You may have a point about the earshot, ducks, so be careful. Don't trust her.
"

That raised his eyebrows a bit.
"Are you sure?"

"
I think so. Felix, I'm here with Gideon. He found me. We're about an hour outside Northgate on the road to my house.
"

"Your
—" Felix caught himself. "Is that a good idea? Why didn't you call before?"

"
I couldn't. He thinks there might be a tracer on him somewhere and he's been jamming it. The jammer's blocked my phone, and I didn't want to leave him alone long enough to get out of range. I didn't risk stopping to find a pay phone until we'd gotten a good distance away. I'm sorry if I worried you.
"

"Just worried you'd run into Dio again.
I'm glad to hear otherwise, but," he paused to turn his back to Ondrea, "why shouldn't I trust her? What did he tell you?"

"
I'd tell you myself if I knew for certain, but for the moment? I'm just going by what he told me, and his own impressions are a little treacled. Can you meet me at my house?
"

"As soon as I can," he said with a pointless nod.
"I'd ask more if I could."

"
Perhaps later when you're away from her. And I should likely keep moving for the moment.
"

"Sounds like a plan, then. Guess I won't be able to call you."

"
I'll try to check in when we arrive.
"

"Sounds good. I'll head out as soon as I can."

"
Alright. Drive safe, Felix. And don't tell her about Gideon.
"

"I won't. And you, too."

Felix put away the phone and returned to Ondrea. "Sorry about that. She's fine. Phone battery just died."

Ondrea nodded dismissively. "As I was about to say, Mr. Hiatt, if you see or otherwise locate Gideon, call me. Rest assured you'll be well-paid for the information."

"How much?" He wanted to ask more—why she needed to find him so badly, and his original question of her relationship to Gideon—but he was anxious to catch up with Caitlin. If Gideon was with her he could likely answer those questions himself.

"That depends on how fast I hear from you.
The quicker you find him, the more I'll pay. You know how to reach me, and now I'm needed elsewhere. You'll excuse me."

With that, she turned and strode away.
Felix watched her for a moment and then called himself a cab.

Ondrea kept a brisk pace toward the corner of the block and tried to decide what to make of the encounter. It hadn't been until Felix had mentioned Gideon's shooting that she made the connection and remembered one of the names on the recording that Gideon had begun moments before Diomedes fired. She thought the voices were similar, but as it was months since she last listened to it, she couldn't be sure without hearing it again.