Chapter 13
After a few moments of humiliated profanity muffled by the pillow, I sat up and shook off my mood.
Okay, fine; so I was embarrassed. If it saved the life of an innocent man, it was a small price to pay.
Hauling myself out of bed, I dressed in the spare jeans and T-shirt from my backpack and responded to Hooker’s demanding meows by dumping a few crunchies in his dish. Then I wandered around the living room, both hoping for and dreading Dante’s return call.
After a few minutes I decided to do something useful, and scooped up Hellhound’s muddy parka, the duffel bag, and my dirty clothes for a trip to the laundry room.
At the door, I hesitated.
The parka and duffel bag alone would make up an entire load. And the laundry basket in Hellhound’s closet had been half full. No point in running the coin-operated washer and dryer for only my jeans and T-shirt.
Tossing my clothes on top of his, I hoisted the laundry basket and headed down the hall.
By twenty to ten I’d grabbed a couple of fitful naps between laundry cycles and the clothes were clean and dry; mine tucked into my backpack and Hellhound’s folded and stacked on his dresser.
I hesitated, eyeing the tidy pile of clean jeans and T-shirts.
Was this a kind gesture or an invasion of his space? What if he came home and thought I was playing housewife, and his commitment-phobia took over?
Muttering at my own stupidity, I scooped his clothes off the dresser and back into the laundry basket, stirring them into a convincing tangle.
My phone vibrated as I straightened, and I drew a deep breath and braced myself for an embarrassing conversation with Dante.
Instead, a text from Stemp glowed on the screen: “Call home. Urgent.”
Anxiety prickled the back of my neck. Urgent? In all the times he’d texted me, Stemp had never used that word.
I rapidly scanned the apartment with my bug detector before punching the speed dial button on a secured phone.
Stemp’s ‘Yes?” was as crisp and precise as always, but I thought I detected a subtle edge of tension. Or maybe that was just me.
“It’s Aydan,” I said.
“Return immediately for a briefing. How soon can you get here?”
“Two hours, but I’m supposed to be meeting Labelle and Riel at eleven-thirty.”
“This takes precedence. Briefing at eleven-forty-five.”
He disconnected without another word.
Heart thumping, I switched to my burner phone and dialled Labelle. The call went to voicemail, and after his smooth voice had delivered its recorded message I said, “It’s Arlene Widdenback. I’m sorry, I won’t be able to make it at eleven-thirty after all. I have to deal with an urgent matter this morning. I might be able to meet later…”
I did a rapid mental calculation. Four hours round trip to Silverside and back, but who knew how long the briefing might take; or whether I’d even get back to Calgary today at all?
“…Maybe around three,” I went on. “But it will depend on the outcome of my meeting this morning. I’ll call you as soon as I know.”
Imagining Labelle’s annoyance and hoping it didn’t make him send another gunman after me, I shouldered my backpack and hurried out to my car.
When I strode into the meeting room at Sirius Dynamics on the dot of eleven-forty-five, Stemp, Holt, and Spider were already seated around the table.
“Please close the door,” Stemp said as I crossed the threshold.
I obeyed and slid into the nearest chair as Stemp began the briefing.
“This morning a terrorist threat was sent to the news media, indicating that upcoming Remembrance Day services may be attacked with a new and devastating weapon that is capable of killing large groups of people instantly, without leaving any visible injuries.”
My heart froze in my chest.
“That’s only three days away!” Holt snapped. “Which services? Where?”
“Unknown.”
I got my voice working with an effort. “P-Please tell me that prototype ultrasound weapon isn’t missing from our lab again…”
“The weapon is secure,” Stemp replied. “Except for the few days that I carried it, it hasn’t left the lab since you and Kane retrieved it nearly a year ago.”
I was just beginning to breathe again when Holt shot Stemp a hard-eyed look. “Well, the technology’s obviously out there now.”
Even though accusation had tinged Holt’s words, Stemp’s response was as emotionless as always. “Apparently. However, Dr. Chow and his staff underwent lie-detector tests and they all passed, so it was not leaked from the R&D lab.”
“Did you do the test?” Holt’s tone made me eye him warily. Pretty belligerent for a guy who had supposedly overcome his anger problem.
Stemp remained impassive. “I completed it this morning at zero nine thirty, fifteen minutes after the report came in. Due to our involvement with the weapon last year, Kane and I were at the top of the list to be tested.”
“What about Kane?” Holt demanded. “Has he done his yet?”
I smothered my small stab of defensive irritation. Holt was right to ask hard questions if somebody was about to unleash a death ray on innocent civilians.
“Kane passed his lie-detector test ten minutes ago,” Stemp said.
Wait, Kane was here?
I suppressed that train of thought and returned my attention to the meeting as Holt dialled his attitude back to something a little less confrontational. “Oh. So I suppose you’ll want Kelly and me to get tested, too.”
“Yes; and also Webb. Dr. Travers will see you as soon as you complete this briefing.” Stemp surveyed us before continuing, “The testing is only a formality. I do not believe we have a leak in the Department. We knew when we captured the weapon that it might not be the only working prototype.”
“But…” I spoke up as a thought occurred to me. “…the prototype we have uses a targeting system. You have to aim it at somebody to kill them; you can’t just wipe out a crowd with one press of the button.”
“True,” Stemp agreed. “I raised that point with Dr. Chow. He said it would only take a small modification of our weapon to produce a continuous ultrasound ray that would disrupt brain tissue as it passed over multiple targets.”
My guts twisted. “So they’d only have to wave it back and forth like a flashlight to kill everybody its beam touched.”
“Yes.” The single word was grim.
“Any luck tracing the origin of the threat?” Holt asked. “How did the media find out before we did?”
“It was a laser-printed letter on generic paper mailed to a newspaper in Montreal; and the postmark indicates it was mailed from within Montreal yesterday.” Stemp’s customary emotionless façade didn’t change, but his disgust was palpable nonetheless. “The newspaper opened the letter this morning and immediately broadcast the news. We had no prior intel.”
Spider’s face was a mask of worry. “I’ve reviewed all the analysts’ reports and checked with Brock and Tammy, too. There was no chatter in advance; nothing that even hinted at anything like this. And it’ll be virtually impossible to trace a paper letter. I’ve already put Brock and Tammy on it to see if they can find anything floating around the internet.”
“Good. You will oversee the investigation as soon as you complete your lie-detector test,” Stemp agreed. “Civilian counter-terrorism units across the country are taking the primary role so you will coordinate with them. Kelly, you’ll be following up our other lead.”
Slow suspicion welled up, clenching my guts. “The threat came from Montreal,” I said, holding my voice steady. “That’s not a coincidence, is it?”
Stemp’s mouth flattened. “Unlikely.”
“Shit.”
“So Riel might be involved,” Holt said. “Maybe that’s why he’s here for a face-to-face meeting. If he suddenly needs a deadly ultrasound weapon and he doesn’t trust Labelle enough to use him as a middleman…”
I swallowed the sick lump in my throat. “Maybe.”
“But it doesn’t make sense for Riel to be the terrorist,” Spider objected. “He wouldn’t be so specific about the way the weapon works unless he actually had one. And if he already had one, he wouldn’t need Arlene Widdenback to supply it. And if he’s coming here now to order it from her, he’s cutting the timing pretty close if he’s planning to use it on Remembrance Day.”
“Riel may be fishing for information,” Stemp said. “If he is aware of the existence of the weapon, he may have issued a hoax threat to see how Arlene Widdenback reacts.”
“But we can’t take that chance.” Spider’s voice trembled. “All those innocent people…”
“Agreed,” Stemp said. “We’ll bring in the weapons expert Kane consulted last fall and administer the lie-detector test to determine whether he leaked the technology. Kelly, you’ll go ahead with your original mission to meet Riel. If he is our terrorist and is planning to acquire the weapon, he should reveal his motive soon. If he does not appear to be behind this threat, simply proceed with your original mission.”
Holt thrust out his chin in an action-hero pose. “I can coordinate with the military units…”
Stemp shook his head. “No, you’ll be backing up Kelly. You’ll both return to Calgary immediately.”
Holt’s jaw clenched, but he gave a single short nod and didn’t argue.
When Stemp dismissed us and hurried out, I turned to Holt. “How did it go at Dante’s? Did you see anybody? Did you check the area for bugs or surveillance?”
“Of course!” Holt barked. “I’m not a fucking rookie!”
“I know.” I held my voice level despite my spurt of reciprocal anger. “I’m just making sure the bases are covered. I hope you’d do the same if our positions were reversed.”
“Damn right I would.” After a brief silence, he drew a breath and added, “Sorry I snapped at you.” I acknowledged the grudging apology with a nod as he went on, “I’ve got motion-sensor cameras on his place. No activity so far.”
Worry tightened my shoulders. Was that good or bad? Maybe Dante was out of town and everything was fine…
“Okay, thanks,” I said, and rose. “I have to check in with Labelle. I was supposed to meet him and Riel today at eleven-thirty, but…” I consulted my wristwatch. “I’ll see if he’ll go for three o’clock at the Petroleum Club. I won’t want you with me, but if you could stay in the area that’d be great.”
“Fine.” Holt strode out, his stiff shoulders still radiating irritation.
I sighed and gave Spider a ‘what can you do?’ shrug before following.
There was no sign of Kane in the lobby or parking lot. He must have left already, hurrying back to be with his family.
Ignoring my disappointment, I slid into my car and dialled Labelle. Though his tone was shorter than usual, he nevertheless made a show of graciously accepting the three o’clock meeting, and I texted ‘we’re on’ to Holt before heading back to my farm to pack some business clothes that would satisfy the Petroleum Club’s dress code.
Worry squirmed in my belly while I drove. What if Riel really was behind the terrorist threat? Did he intend to kidnap me and force me to hand over the weapon? Or did he have one already?
A shudder shook me at the thought of scores of innocent civilians collapsing into instant death, never even knowing what had hit them.
And just to add to my worries, Dante still hadn’t returned my call.
Was he out of town?
Still too hurt and angry to return my call?
Or suffering horribly at the hands of captors who had yet to reveal themselves to me?