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“It could be,” she said, acknowledging his concern. “But I don’t think it is. Besides, it's been a long time since I entered any room or building without checking it out first. It must be some kind of safehouse. The Master has them all over the world. I can go looking for it, but I figured I could come here and let you and Colby know what had happened.”
Hutch nodded. “Good thinking. We can give you a tracking and/or communication device.”
“I don’t care what tomorrow brings. I need to be with you tonight.”
He drew her into bed and made love to her with a quiet intensity that seemed to reach down to the bottoms of their souls with its power.
Nora was asleep before he’d rolled from her. His ‘death’ had taken a far greater toll on her than it had on him. Even in her slumber, he could feel the restlessness within her. Worried she would slip away without confiding her fear and worry to him, he propped himself up on his elbow and watched her sleep, stroking her body and purring to her until she settled and slept.
She rolled towards him and opened her eyes, reaching up to touch his face. “You’re here. You’re alive.”
“I am. I’m fine, Nora. The worst part of the whole thing was that damn body bag.”
“I hated doing that to you. I am never doing it again. I mean I knew it was fake, but still, seeing all that blood and you collapsing like that… it was every worst nightmare I never knew I had.”
“It’s all right, baby. You’re here and you’re safe. I knew it would probably rattle you, and I couldn’t reach down the link to you. I wanted you to know.”
“I had to shut the link down in order to be able to do it.” She shuddered. “Never again.”
“Look, if the Master wants you to wait, maybe he’s coming out of his den.”
She seemed to think about that. “Maybe,” she agreed.
“We’ll get to Colby before the house awakes and figure out a new plan. If you’re not going to go to Lundy Island, which I have to tell you I’m relieved about, maybe we can figure out who the mole is and use them to feed bad information to the League.”
“I should probably leave. The Master may have the place being watched and if I don’t show up under cover of darkness it might tip him off.”
“You stay here, and I’ll go roust Colby. I don’t want you leaving without a way for us to track you or you to contact us.”
There was a soft knock on the door. Hutch directed her to the ensuite bath, pulled on some sweatpants, and answered the door. Colby slid inside.
“We don’t know where Nora is,” Colby said.
Hutch grinned at him. If Nora had managed to get inside Windsong with no one seeing her, she was better than they thought, or Windsong’s defenses weren’t as impregnable as Colby believed.
“Maybe you don’t, but I do. Put something on and come on out babe, it’s just Colby.”
“First, no need to get clothed on my account,” said Colby, provoking a growl from Hutch. Colby flashed him a grin. “You are so easy to bait. And second, I’ve never been ‘just’ anything.”
“Yeah, you can see what that particular bait will get you when I punch you in the face.”
Nora came out of the bath dressed in a sweater Hutch had worn earlier in the day. “He had someone deliver me a bundle of clothing and gear and told me to wait. I have a map as to where I’m to go, but I can’t tell you jack about the person who delivered it. Whoever it was made sure to dress and move so it would be hard to identify them again.”
“I hoped you might show up or at least contact Hutch. I brought up a tracking chip we can put under your skin as well as a communication device that you should be able to hide, but you can use to get to us. If there’s an emergency, tap the spot where we insert the chip. That’ll activate an emergency homing beacon.”
“How about under your hair at the base of your skull?”
“Will it leave a visible scar? I wear my hair up a lot.”
“It’ll be a bit red for several hours after it’s inserted, but it’s smaller than a grain of rice.”
Nora nodded. “I can work with that.”
Colby handed her a communication device that was like a tiny ear plug, which would be difficult to spot even if someone was standing next to her. He used a hypodermic to insert the chip. Hutch didn’t like the way she flinched when it was injected under her skin.
“I think you and I eat different kinds of rice,” she quipped.
“I apologize for any discomfort, but I feel better knowing we have a way to track you and you have a way to communicate with us,” said Colby.
