Reach For the Spy by Diane Henders

instead
on the more urgent question of how to drag more air into my burning
lungs.
    Then his large hands
were rolling me over and brushing my tangled hair back, his tense
face hovering above me.
    “I’m… fine,” I
gasped.
    He whipped out his
phone and punched a button. “I’ve got her.”
    He hung up and stared
down at me, his fingers on my pulse. “What happened?”
    “In... a minute,” I
panted. “Gotta catch... my breath.” I sucked air a while longer
while he frowned down at me, still holding my wrist.
    Finally, I drew a deep,
unsteady breath and shoved myself into sitting position. My T-shirt
was stained with sweat and coated with prickly grass clippings from
the freshly mown lawn. Apparently I’d scraped my elbow when I fell,
and I noticed a small bloodstain on the shirt, too. Great.
    “Aydan, what the hell?”
Kane demanded. “Your heart rate was nearly two hundred. What
happened?”
    “Long story.” I was
still a little breathless.
    “I’ve got time,” he
assured me grimly. “Can you walk to the truck?”
    “In a minute.”
    I brushed the grass off
my shirt front and jeans while he did the same for my back. He
started to pick the grass out of my hair, but I stopped him. “Never
mind.” I delved into my trusty waist pouch and pulled out my
hairbrush.
    When I’d divested
myself of most of the grass, I heaved myself up onto trembling legs
and let him escort me to his Expedition. At least we had no
audience. Gotta love a small town on a Monday morning.
    Kane settled me into
the passenger seat and went around the vehicle to swing into the
driver’s side. He fixed me with a stern eye. “Now. Everything.
Start to finish.”
    I sighed. “I had a bit
of a disagreement with one of my clients.”
    “So I heard. From the
RCMP.”
    “Oh. Shit.” If I’d had
any adrenaline left in my body, I’d have panicked. Fortunately I’d
used up the year’s supply, so I achieved faint dismay.
    “What happened?” he
asked again, his cop voice firmly in place.
    “Bill Harks at the
Silverside Hotel hired me last week. He decided he wasn’t getting
all he was paying for and decided to help himself. He grabbed my
boob and hurt me. I kicked him in the nuts and hit him in the face
and left. Oh, and I threw a book at his head, too. Is he dead?”
    “No,” Kane said, his
expression unreadable. “But he’s angry. He wants to press
charges.”
    I slumped forward and
beat my forehead gently against the dashboard. “Please, shoot me
now.”
    “I don’t think that
will be necessary. It was clearly self-defence on your part. A
sexual assault charge will settle him right down. I’ll deal with
it.”
    I left my forehead on
the dashboard and mumbled, “Thanks,” to the floor.
    “But, Aydan, what were
you doing here? Why were you lying there in the middle of the park?
I thought you’d been shot or something.” This time, the cop voice
couldn’t conceal the edge in his tone.
    I sighed and stared at
the floor some more. “John, I’ve never been so close to beating
somebody to death in my life. I just couldn’t... could barely
control it.”
    I realized my fists
were clenched when he took one in his hand and stroked it until I
released my fingers.
    I took a deep breath.
“I just had to blow off some steam. I wasn’t even safe to drive. I
don’t know what I would’ve done if anybody had gotten in my way. So
I just came here and ran in circles.”
    I spoke into his
silence. “I know. Pathetic. Sorry. I’ve just been on edge
lately.”
    “Aydan.” His hand
tightened on mine. “You’ve had the week from hell. You were
attacked, and you reacted. You took out a man twice your size. You
are absolutely not pathetic. You’re amazing.”
    I was grateful for the
curtain of hair that hid my flaming face. “Thanks,” I mumbled to
the floor.
    He held my hand for a
few moments longer. “Do you need help to sit up, or is that just a
comfortable position?”
    I groaned. “Both,
actually. Kidding,” I added as he