Read Online Tell Me No Spies by Diane Henders - Free Book Online

loitering in the stream and watching the data
flow by. I idly sifted through the packets, not paying much
attention while I waited for the requisite time to pass.
    A sudden familiar
flavour tugged at my attention, and I focused on the string of
packets. What the…?
    I latched onto the
last packet in the burst of data and rode its rollercoaster course
through the Sirius firewalls.
    At its destination, I
shot tentacles of consciousness through the file repository,
tracking and tracing all the related information while I wrapped
myself around the accumulated data packets like a feeding
jellyfish.
    Icy chills raced over
me, chased by fiery heat as I absorbed the contents in a voracious
gulp.
    Rage engulfed me, and
I flung my consciousness back to the mountaintop. Kane leaped to
his feet as I burst into existence beside him and yanked my hand
from his grasp.
    “Aydan, what…?” he
gasped. Seconds later, a fire hose materialized in his hands and he
turned the full force of the water on me, his eyes wide with
horror.
    I barely spared a
glance at the blue-white fire hissing from every surface of my skin
and licking along the upraised blade of the sword in my hand.
    “Get. Out.” I could
barely form the words. The flames roared to the sky. The water
evaporated before it could touch me. “Get. Out. Now! Go !”
    Soon I would immolate
everything. Everybody. Even him. Especially him.
    Unable to trust
myself, I folded sim space to reach the exit portal between one
heartbeat and the next, blazing fire and fury. When I stepped
through, the pain goaded me into instant violence. I lashed out
blindly, shrieking obscenities. My arms were pinned by a powerful
grip, and I redoubled my struggles, incapable of rational
thought.
    At last, a semblance
of sanity returned. Kane still held me tightly, calling my name
over and over.
    “Let. Me. Go.” The
words boiled from my throat in a satanic growl. As his arms
loosened, I jerked away from him and stormed for the door.
    “Aydan, wait! What’s
wrong? Are you all right?” I heard rapid footsteps behind me, and
Kane’s large hand closed on my shoulder. I whirled to face him.
“Leave me. Alone,” I hissed.
    I took the stairs two
at a time and glared into the retinal scanner. As the time-delay
chamber door released, Kane came up quietly behind me. I stepped
into the chamber and shot him a look when he made as if to
follow.
    “If you come in here
with me, I will rip you limb from limb.” My voice shook, and he
took a slow step back, still holding the door of the chamber
open.
    “Close the door.” My
hands ached as my fists clenched. The time delay wouldn’t start
until the first door was shut. “Close the fucking door!”
    “Aydan, what’s wrong?”
He searched my face as Spider and Sam pounded up the stairs behind
him.
    “Fuck off!” I roared.
“Close the goddamn fucking door!”
    Kane shot a quick
glance over his shoulder. “Go back down,” he commanded, and the
other two did a fast fade down the stairs. He turned back to me,
his movements slow and smooth, his voice soft. “Aydan, I need you
to talk to me. Calm down. Tell me what’s wrong.”
    “What’s wrong is you
won’t close the fucking door! Move, goddammit!” I lunged at him.
And the moron wrapped his arms around me and pushed his way into
the chamber, the door closing behind him.
    He released me
immediately and I glared at him from close range in the tiny room,
panting and trembling with the effort to keep from attacking
him.
    “Better start the
countdown,” he advised mildly.
    I wheeled to activate
the scanner on the exterior door and stood with my back to him,
fighting the compulsion to turn and batter him with my fists.
    “You’ll be out in a
few seconds,” Kane soothed. “Just hang on. Just a few seconds
more.”
    The sound of his voice
galvanized my muscles like a jolt of electricity. I realized I was
growling without words, a harsh keening that rose and fell like the
battle cries of two tomcats squaring