Reach For the Spy by Diane Henders

the usual pain. Heat and pressure surrounded my
head while I groaned through clenched teeth. The pain subsided, but
the pressure continued as I pried my eyes open.
    “You can let go now,” I
told Kane.
    He removed his large
hands from around my head. “Just making sure you didn’t try to beat
your brains out again.”
    “Nah. I only do that at
the end of the day.” I dragged myself to my feet. “Pit stop. Back
in five.”
    The short walk down to
the bathroom helped me regain some circulation. When I got back to
the lab, I sank into the chair again. “Any special requests?”
    “Same old, same old,”
Spider said wryly.
    “Hmmph.” I slouched
down and closed my eyes.
    This time, the cage
shrank quickly. Wild panic flashed through me as the heavy bars
crushed my chest and back. I struggled desperately against the
ropes that bound my hands, wailing without thought.
    Thought.
    I burst out onto the
mountain peak again, gasping.
    “ Aydan! ” Spider
sounded almost as panicked as I felt.
    “Fine. I’m fine.” I
breathed deeply. The long mountain vista had lost its depth. It
looked more like a painting on a wall. A close wall.
    “Aydan, Kane says to
come out now.”
    “No, I’m in here, I’ll
make it worthwhile.” I dissolved the mountains and picked up the
next file.
    When the signalling
blip flashed through the sim, I dragged my gaze up from my tedious
reading. The file room was lined with iron bars. As I sucked in a
breath, they advanced slowly, eating up the space.
    “Back off,” I muttered,
and banished them with an effort. I pushed through the virtual door
and headed for the portal.
    “Okay, I’ll live,” I
grated. “You can let go now.”
    Kane released me and
stooped to look into my face. “Lunch time. Let’s go.”
    The three of us trekked
back upstairs. When the heavy door finally released, I took a
couple of rapid steps into the lobby, staring into middle distance
while my heart raced like a frightened gerbil.
    I jerked and yelped
involuntarily when Kane’s face appeared in my field of view.
“Aydan?” he asked cautiously. “Are you all right?”
    “Yeah.” I turned toward
the security booth, fumbling to unclip my security fob with cold,
quivering fingers.
    I stepped gratefully
out into the blazing sun, squinting in the heat and brightness. My
legs twitched with the urge to run.
    “Come on, we’ll take
the Expedition.” Kane’s voice broke into my reverie, and I tottered
behind him and Spider toward the parking lot.
    We buckled in without
speaking, and Kane put the vehicle in motion. We’d driven for a
block or two when Kane gave a brisk nod. “Webb?”
    Spider extracted a
small device from his pocket and waved it around the interior of
the SUV, then up and down close to me.
    “Clear.”
    I relaxed. “I’d love to
have one of those,” I told him.
    “Take this one.” He
offered it to me.
    “I can’t. Too hard to
explain if it was found.” I sighed and turned to Kane. “What’s
up?”
    “I was going to ask you
the same thing. You were screaming last night. You almost blew the
audio on the bugs. What happened?”
    “Nothing.” I squirmed
in embarrassment. “Shit. I was dreaming. That’s all. Sorry.”
    “It’s all right.” He
shot a glance over at me. “I got a frantic call from the analyst
who was monitoring. I called you, but of course I couldn’t say
anything. Your phone’s tapped, too, did I mention that?”
    “I figured.” I put two
and two together. “Oh!” I felt a flush rising on my cheeks. “I’m
sorry I was so rude.”
    He gave me a puzzled
frown. “You weren’t particularly, considering.”
    “Then you’ve got an
amazingly high tolerance for rudeness.”
    Spider gulped.
“Actually. That was probably me you were talking to. I made the
second call.”
    “Oh, Spider, I’m sorry!
I was just so tired, and I thought it was a crank call.”
    “It’s okay,” he assured
me hesitantly. “So what you said this morning in the lab...”
    “No, no,