Maybe not consciously. But had she let something slip? Maybe a piece of information she’d heard and she’d passed it on as part of her daily report. But then, the general would know and he’d been stumped how she might have gotten the information out.
Kong wanted to believe her. He studied those big brown eyes of hers with their fascinating flecks of greenish gold. She looked so innocent, so genuinely scared and confused. Was it an act? He wasn’t sure. Her fear wasn’t an act. No one could manufacture that scent at will, but that fear could stem from her having been caught. He wasn’t the right person to interrogate her. This entire exchange had proved that.
Katherine Knox looked so prim and proper with her buttoned-up sweaters and severe hairstyle. Her hair was a dark brown with golden highlights and he’d bet it was long. Perhaps to the middle of her back. He’d bet it was wavy too. He wanted to see it down… Kong frowned at the thought and pushed it away.
She reminded him of a librarian and not of the sexy variety. If she was looking to get information, wouldn’t she have played on her attractiveness? Because she was attractive. If she thought bland-colored, dowdy clothes that hid her figure changed that, she was mistaken. But was her appearance strategic? Was her plannotto be noticed so that she could listen in on conversations with no one being the wiser?
Kong couldn’t trust his own judgment. Not with this. Women had always been his weakness. Right now, his need for answers was working in opposition to his instinct to protect. But he needed those answers.
Without looking away from Katherine, he bellowed, “Lark!”
His best friend had been genetically altered with DNA from multiple varieties of snakes – among other things. One of her gifts was that she could mesmerize people with her gaze and once enthralled, when asked a question, they couldn’t lie. If someone was clever enough, they might be able to circumvent the truth or withhold information to a certain degree, but they couldn’t outright lie when asked a direct question.
Katherine Knox was certainly clever. She’d graduated summa cum laude from university. She had a master’s degree inbusiness and had been held in high regard by the company that had previously employed her. She was also August Cleary’s daughter. Kong would be a fool to underestimate her.
“Kong,” Lark said as she stepped up beside his chair. Her voice took on a chilly edge as she acknowledged the other woman. “Miss Knox.”
Like everyone else here, Lark wasn’t a fan of having someone on the base who wasn’t loyal to Black Bay. This was their home, yet since this woman had arrived, they’d had to police themselves, toe the line more carefully, in case word of some of the things they got up to got back to government officials. No one wanted the heat or the hassle.
Kong’s foot connected with an empty chair and he pushed it out for Lark to sit. “I’d like to ask Miss Knox some questions.”
Lark didn’t need any more explanation than that. With a quietly uttered, “Gotcha,” she flopped into the seat, propped her elbow on the table, and settled her chin into the cup of her palm. Softly, she said, “Hey.” Katherine turned to look at her and that was all it took. As soon as Lark’s gaze captured hers, their little resident spy was snagged, her eyes growing a bit unfocused. Now Kong just needed to word his questions correctly.
“Who did you tell about the Venezuela op?”
In almost a dreamlike state, Katherine replied, “I don’t know anything about a Venezuela op.”
Kong blinked. Well, shit. If she didn’t know about it then she couldn’t be who he was looking for. Fuck. That put him back to square one.
But wait… Before the mission, he’d been talking with some others about Godwin. Maybe she’d overheard that. He hadn’t thought anyone had been around at the time, but he may have been mistaken. Or perhaps someone else had said something within her hearing later. If Godwin was affiliated with Cleary, as Kong suspected, all it would take was word that some of them were discussing him to have Cleary’s people watching Black Bay closer to see what they did next.
“What do you know about Terrence Godwin?”
“I don’t know any Terrence Godwin.”
He looked to Lark for confirmation. She didn’t break eye contact with Katherine but she gave him a subtle thumbs up. Katherine Knox was telling the truth. She wasn’t their leak.
He was so thrown off by the unexpected information that he wasn’t sure what to do next. He’d just scared this poor woman – again – for absolutely no reason. And after she’d apologized to him. He felt like the biggest asshole on the planet.
Had it just been bad luck that Godwin left before Kong arrived? His gut said no. So who was their leak?
When he didn’t ask Katherine anything more, Lark took up the slack. “Why are you at Black Bay?”
“To monitor ORION and the Resurrection soldiers and report back daily on the project’s progress.”
“What directives were you given regarding the day-to-day operations of Black Bay?”
“I’m to report to my liaison immediately if anyone at Black Bay attempts to interfere with ORION, the soldiers under ORION’s command, or any of the medical staff brought in to assist the Resurrection soldiers.”
“And to feed them information on Black Bay’s movements?”
“That wasn’t in the job description nor do I have access to that information.”
“Not even if you overhear it?”
“My government contact was very clear that they do not want extraneous information in the reports.”
“Why did you fail to disclose that August Cleary was your father?”
