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“Well, there are two versions of events. The elder Mr Mortcombe has made all your apologies and anyone who asks is simply being told you and Mr Mortcombe have gone on a world tour as a belated honeymoon. But you know that.”
“Oh, is that what he’s telling them? News to me.” The plane began to taxi. I tried not to tense, expecting to see thirty angry war-forms burst out of the trees to chew through the hull and drag me off into some dark corner.
Hamid, with his usual dry-as-dust smirk shifting beneath the surface of his face, informed me, “The version of events given tomyemployer and myself is that you, your husband, and your father-in-law were attacked by a bear and wild boar during a hunt.Youwere seriously injured and taken to a private clinic in Virginia. Obviously, based on the events of Alaska, I know this is a lie.”
“Total lie,” I confirmed.
“Your father-in-law instead disclosed what sounds closer to the truth: you were attacked by another faction of your cult, likely operatives or allies of the ones in Alaska, and you are currently being concealed by a faction sympathetic to or allied with you. How far off the truth is that?”
“Fairly close. Except the faction that attacked us is in business for themselves.That’s the faction that finally stepped in to deal with the degenerates that spurred your employment. We declined their offer to ally ourselves with them. They’re after the Mortcombe fortune.”
“Ah, I see. Now it all makes sense. And you brought inmycompany because it would be an outsider presence that would ask the wrong questions. But who are the degenerates in all this?”
“In a word? Incels.” Hamid deserved an explanation for the crazy, so he could keep himself safe, but I couldn’t tell him too much, either. That would make him verynot-safe. “I am sorry you’re mixed up in this, Hamid.”
“Keeping my client alive and intact when there are innumerable bad actors waiting for a single opportunity to strike is the life I chose, Mrs. Mortcombe. I have also been told that you will be residing in Virginia until July. My understanding is you have gone into hiding and are living under a false name and...”
He pointed at his hair.
“It’s not my color, is it?” I sighed.
“No, ma’am. Not well done, either. You are quite recognizable to anyone who has actually met you.”
I sipped my tea as the plane finished lining up at the end of the tarmac and the engines spooled. Facing this direction, I had a view of the woods beyond the airstrip fence.
The plane soared into the sky, leaving the early spring landscape far below.
There.
Hiding in the trees below was a cluster of three buildings and a dirt path. There were other buildings nestled among the rapidly-receeding forest, but that one—that must be where Sterling was. I committed it to memory, including the line of road cutting through the trees, the dirt paths, and the terrain beyond.
“Mrs Mortcombe.” Hamid reached into a bag in the chair next to him.
I yanked my attention away from the ground, fingers against the cold window. Hamid slid a file folder across the table. Inside were maps of our route from the airport to the bank, including stops to change vehicles. Other agents in plainclothes would be positioned along the route. There was an agent who had the appointment before me at the bank to make certain I’d be right on time for mine. There was a bank floorplan, the exact location of the box I was to open, a list of bank procedures to access the box, that I was to dump the contents of the box into my bag, and leave immediately. Then the route we would take, plus alternates, and everything was timed precisely.
“Memorize it,” he instructed.
When had I purchased the Cloak & Dagger Super Spy upgrade? Probably when I’d also gotten the Helicopter Rescue Add-On pack, curtesy of my ex-black-ops-special-forces-no-such-agent father-in-law and mate.
If I’d been smart, I’d have not so much as gotten on a plane flyingoverFairbanks. I’d have figured out some other way to get my mitts on the box. Instead, I was about to deliver myself right smack into the loving arms of a bunch of wolves who would do terrible things to me on video, then take my precariously alive body out into some water to feed some orcas.
“You and I will pose as a couple,” Hamid said flatly. “Memorize the packet. If I tell you to run, you run to the next point on the map from where we are. Keep moving. How badly compromised are you from the attack?”
I touched the wound on my side. “Still sore. My stamina isn’t what it was. Strength isn’t where it was.”
“Are you fully past the anemia that comes from hypovolemic shock?” he asked.
“I think so.”
“It’s impressive you healed so quickly from what I understand was a very serious injury.”
“Good genetics, I guess. And I never skipped leg day. I can run a few blocks, if that’s what you’re asking.” I’d be huffing and puffing and crawling by the end, but fat chance I was letting the FrostFur carve anything into my other arm.
Hamid reached into his bag and produced a very small vial. “I was also told, by Mrs Logan, that you would have to take this, and it was not negotiable.”
My stomach dropped through the hole in my side. MoonDark. I picked up the vial and ran my thumb over the cap.
“She said you’d know what it is and why you have to take it. I am very skeptical, but decided to play along.”
