“I didn’t get a rule book.”
Renee folded her arms. “Quit lying or I’ll knock you on your ass.”
Emotional blackmail to threats, this was going great. I should
share more often. “Nan warned me not to. My mother good as screamed at me for
it, okay?”
“And?”
“That’s it. No doubt I’ll get to experience it again and then I’ll
move on. Lesson learned. You’re just fine. It was worth it.” I held up my
hands. “I chose to help you. You had no say in it and I don’t care if you hate
me. I would do it again, every time.”
I spun on my heel not ready to face Renee’s temper.
Frei squeezed my arm as I got in the chopper. “How bad will it
be?” she whispered.
“Horrific. I can feel it coming on, so the quicker you get me
there, the quicker I can get it over with.”
Frei nodded. “That’s not all, is it?”
“No.”
I didn’t need to say anything more. She seemed to read my eyes.
She helped me in and signaled to the pilot.
“Keep her away from it,” I whispered as she started to close the
door.
Frei’s eyes softened in a way I hadn’t ever seen before. “You got
it.”
I didn’t dare look at Renee in case somehow she could read my
thoughts. There was no way I wanted her feeling guilt for what I was facing. It
was my problem but like I’d told her, she was worth it.
Chapter 6
THE SPRING SUNSHINE shimmered up off the ground in rippling waves.
It reminded Frei of something but she could never put her finger on what. It
was pleasant out but inside it was baking from the constant heating. So much
so, she’d shoved open her windows. The maintenance guys were trying to fix it.
She wasn’t holding out they would. Her PA had told her it had been like it for
over a fortnight.
The wonders of running a base.
Hearing a thump at her door, she turned from her thoughts to
Renee. The woman had been more antsy than usual since Aeron got taken into the
clinic. She doubted that her mood would be any better this afternoon.
“You heard anything?”
Frei shook her head.
“It’s been nearly a week, Urs. Someone must have said something?”
Renee put her hands on her hips. “Lilia must be worried too.”
Lilia didn’t, and wouldn’t, know the true extent of it. Frei had
been checking in on Aeron. The poor kid was suffering a blow by blow account of
what had happened to Renee the first time with Yannick
and
in St.
Jude’s. Not just Renee but every one of Yannick’s victims. It was heartbreaking
to watch. Even as hardened as Frei was, she came out of there feeling sick to
her stomach.
Doctor Montgomery was doing her best to keep Aeron sedated through
most of it but it was just taking the edge off.
“Is this because of me?” Renee asked, slumping into a chair. “I
can’t believe she did it, why would she do something so idiotic?”
“Says you who always makes rational decisions.”
Renee scowled at her. Why she was bothering, Frei didn’t know, she
was about as scary as a mouse. “Even you must be thinking the same thing. I get
that I made her feel bad—”
“Renee, you endangered an entire town by withholding information
from your own teammate. She had a right to know about the danger Yannick
posed.”
Frei held up her hand to stop Renee from protesting. “Even the
general law enforcement were notified. You
chose
not to tell her.”
Renee glared up at her. Again, why she was bothering, Frei didn’t
know. She should have learned by now that her temper didn’t get her anywhere.
She could pout and stomp her feet all she liked.
“You acted out of fear. Aeron reacted to that fear. If you can’t
see that she’d give anything for you, you’re blind.” Frei didn’t get her.
“I can’t help it, Urs. I was ashamed. You know that.” Renee’s eyes
misted up. She’d always been a fiery, emotional, intense woman with her heart
dictating her actions.
In the past it had always been a mixed blessing. Sometimes that
made her accomplish things no one else could. Aeron getting out of Oppidum
alive and without getting locked up for life was testament to that. The
downside was that Renee could do some really idiotic things too.
Frei blamed herself in part for it. She hadn’t been around when
Renee was sent to protect Yannick. Back then she’d been straddling two roles.
In her absence, CIG had sent Renee off into danger. If she’d known, she would
have stopped it.
The problem was her past was sticky. Renee hated that part of her
and it wasn’t like they’d been on speaking terms back then. She’d had to
navigate working alongside Renee before but it had forced a choice. She’d
chosen friendship but if anyone from back then had known she was working with
any kind of law enforcement, the consequences would have been painful. She’d
had to cut all ties but by the time she’d known Renee had been abducted, she’d
been missing for a year.
Frei had found the trail Renee had left but it was obvious how
deep the damage was. Aeron had fixed that. She was paying for their catalogue
of mistakes and Frei blamed herself.
“Look, you know the kid loves you. I know that it isn’t the way
you want it to be.” Frei looked out the window at the clinic across the way.
Doctor Montgomery had wandered out. “Maybe one day it might be, we don’t know
but, Renee, I saw her stick up for you. She knew you needed her when you saw
Sally.”
“You should have seen Sally’s face,” Renee said with a smirk. “It
took her . . . what . . . all of ten seconds to announce it to everyone who’d
listen?”
Sally was a great receptionist, an amazing nurse and the ultimate
gossip. Renee, being the legendary Colonel Black’s daughter, was akin to a
movie star. Her life had never been private. Which is why she got so defensive
when anything about her personal life came up.
It also meant that should those rumors ever reach higher up, they
would send in someone to weed out the truth. It had happened in the past. CIG
may be a joint taskforce but it wasn’t beyond being ripped in two by nosey
bureaucrats.
“In spite of the fact that you’re not getting roses or some sad
excuse for a love song, you’re still the most important thing to her.” Frei had
no doubt of that. When it came to Renee, Aeron’s loyalty exceeded even her own.
“So suck it up?” Renee sighed. “Take her as she is and stop
whining about it.”
“Yes.”
Renee laughed. “I’ve had my ass kicked by you for some weird and
wonderful reasons, but this has got to top them all.”
Glad that Renee was accepting the chastisement with grace, Frei
let through a brief, curt, smile. “I’m sure that it was the time you decided
getting drunk and climbing the assault course in your panties was a great
idea.”
Renee’s cheeks colored. “I was in a strange place.”
Frei nodded. “Seems love tends to drive you nuts.”
Clearing her throat, Renee got to her feet. “The less said about
it, the better.” She offered a half-hearted salute. “If you hear anything—”
“Aeron is your responsibility. You are the head of the protection
team. I’ll inform you in due course.”
Frei would do anything for Renee herself. She knew that, but duty
came first. There needed to be clearer lines if they were going to work
together and better communication. She’d addressed Renee’s side of it but Aeron
was going to have to hear it too. In all fairness to the kid, she wasn’t
military, she didn’t know what protocol was.
All Aeron knew was that she was loyal to Renee and there for her.
Renee couldn’t deal with drawing the line, she’d proven that, so Frei would
have to do it for her. She wasn’t looking forward to the attitude.
“Doctor Montgomery is outside,” Frei’s assistant said as she poked
her head through the doorway.
Frei sighed as Renee stopped and turned to her. Hopefully it was
good news. “Let her in.”
Doctor Montgomery strolled in, her black bushy hair held back by a
large band. Her skirt boring beige and her shirt the same but it was nothing
but a mask. Montgomery had taught Renee everything she knew in order for her to
go undercover and the woman was brighter than the sun outside.
“Aeron woke up a few minutes ago,” she said. “I think she’s
through it now but I want to run a full assessment before I release her.”
Frei nodded. Whether Aeron liked it or not, she would have to deal
with it.
“How is she?” Renee asked, respect and worry warring in her eyes.
“As can be expected.” Montgomery never gave much away.
“Can I see her?”
Montgomery shook her head. “Not until she’s ready to be released.
With her gifts, it’s better she have complete isolation.”
Frei agreed. It would be better for the kid if she had space from
everyone else’s feelings.
“She doesn’t like being alone.” Renee’s whisper was hard to hear.
She held up her finger. “Wait, how about I go and get her violin. That’ll help
her. She loves it.”
Montgomery smiled, studying Renee like she could read every
thought. “Drop it off at the front desk and I’ll make sure she has it.”
Renee nodded, saluted, and hurried out. Frei shook her head.
Considering the woman was in her mid-thirties, she looked like a teenager
sometimes.
“Interesting development,” Montgomery said, turning to Frei.
“I’d call it inconvenient.” Frei ignored the searching look.
Montgomery had tried figuring her out over the years and hadn’t come close
once. “How is she really?”
“Now that the slashes on her face have disappeared, much better.
Although, she’s showing some things I’m concerned about.”
Not good. “Like?”
“The pain she took on board from Renee seems to have triggered her
own reaction to Sam.” Montgomery wandered over to the window. “Of course, she
would always need to deal with it eventually but the way she is doing so is
unhelpful.”
“Which is?”
“Violence.”
Frei never gave her feelings away but she couldn’t help her
eyebrows raising. Aeron and violence? At her height and muscular build that was
a recipe for trouble. “Toward people, herself?”
“I’m not risking anyone anywhere near her.” Montgomery seemed
disgusted at the idea. “But she’s redecorated her room.”
Frei met Montgomery’s eyes. “Why?”
“She has issues with being locked in.” Montgomery waved her hand.
“I understand why but her reaction is not rational.”
“You letting her use the gym?” Frei understood that Montgomery was
worried but Aeron wasn’t an open and shut case.
“No. She’s not leaving the room.”
Frei took a breath. She was the head of the base. It was her call,
still, she didn’t want to stick Montgomery’s nose out of joint. She knew what
she was doing.
“Let her. Give her the violin too. It’s how she coped in the
institution.” Frei offered a tight smile. “Aeron’s a good kid. She’s not going
to hurt anyone.”
Montgomery eyed her for a moment, again that searching look that
most people turned away from. Frei didn’t. “You sound like you know her well.”
A leading statement. Montgomery wanted to know what the dynamic
was. She could unravel Renee with ease but it would be an impossible task with
Frei. “Aeron Lorelei poses no threat to herself or anyone else. I have no
doubt.”
Her words were neither an endorsement or a judgment but a simple
statement of fact. Montgomery offered a brief nod and left the room.
Frei watched her go. She watched Renee hurry to the clinic with
Aeron’s violin. Odd how she could see Aeron for who she was. Maybe that was her
upbringing, if she could call it that. Aeron was simple and straight down the
line. If she liked someone, she liked them. If she thought something was right,
she’d do it. She was all heart and noble conscience. How was that so hard to
see for everyone around her?
Frei’s cell phone buzzed across her desk and she answered it
without paying much attention.
“I have a proposition for you that you will love.”
She shut every window and perched on the edge of her chair. Her
heart pounded with a heaviness that she’d long consigned to bad memories.
“Huber, I don’t work for you anymore.”
He laughed, the same infuriating laugh he’d always had since she
was a kid. “You know that’s not exactly true. I let you play with those people
but I still have the papers.”
“And I still know where you hide your money.”
Huber laughed again. “I’ve missed your insolence.” He slapped his
hand against something. It used to make her jump as a kid. Now, it didn’t even
make her flinch. “There’s an auction, a big one being held at an academy . . .
Caprock.”
She tensed at the name, glad he couldn’t see her face. “I don’t
care.”
“You will. Two children, fifteen and sixteen. Prized for brains
and talent. Worth a lot of money.”
Frei clenched her jaw. Huber could have been drooling the way he
was talking.
“Even the Kühns are going to be there.”
That did make her flinch. A powerful family. “What is so important
about these children?”
“No one knows. Principal won’t give out any details. I want them.”
Him and everyone else by the sound of it. “Why would I be
interested in this?” The more she spoke in German to him, the more her accent
came through.
“Easy. If they don’t impress, like the others in their class,
they’ll suffer like your sister did.” His chair creaked and she could see him
recline, whiskey glass on his desk. “Not everyone is as lucky as you.”
Frei crunched the chair between her fingers at his snide remark. “
You
were the lucky one. I made you millions.”
“A billion actually.” He slapped his hand against something again.
“I will get you into that school but you’ll need a team. If you pull it off,
think of the acclaim . . . Think of how it’ll look for Caprock.”
That line used to work a long time ago. It irritated her that her
fingers flexed at his pitch. She’d tried helping, tried making a difference but
straddling his sordid network and CIG had come to a head.
Renee had threatened to turn her in. She’d walked away. Renee had
been taken by Yannick. So she made a choice. Renee or the helpless kids.
It was a no win situation.