Page 16 of Shadow Lies

“She just wants to talk to you. Discuss the details of the position.” She reached for her cell phone on the table. “I can call her and you two could—”

When his eyes narrowed to angry slits and his focus moved from the cell to her face, she stopped herself before she completed the sentence.

“You’re working for her,” he said with certainty.

“I, uh. No. Not—not really.”

He tipped his head to the side and looked almost amused. With his arms crossed over his chest and adon’t bullshit meexpression on his face he looked more Navy SEAL than monk.

Then again, the monks here were different. According to the internet, the Shaolin monastery trained warrior monks. Maybe Charley was right when she said she wasn’t surprised Kane was here.

Still and silent, he stood and waited for her to explain herself. Although his stare broadcast his accusation clearly. Wordlessly.

It was the most uncomfortable silence she’d ever endured. She knew he wouldn’t end it. It had to be her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I thought you might want the job.”

That piqued his interest. “You know what the job is?”

“No. She wouldn’t tell me. Do you?” she asked.

“No.”

“Then how do you know you don’t want it?”

He snorted out a laugh that was devoid of humor.

“I just know.” He shook his head. “You talk just like a spook. Maybe you should go into intelligence for a living instead of taking jobs from mysterious women calling from unknown numbers.”

Perhaps Charley had done too good of a job cleaning her up. She looked more like she worked for the CIA now than she had when she’d actually worked there.

“Uh, uhm—” she stuttered.

“Although maybe you’re already working for the spooks. DIA. NSA. CIA. Pick one of the three-letter organizations.”

She drew back at his uncannily accurate guess regarding what her career had been before it had imploded. How the hell had he known?

“Charley could be working for any one of them,” Kane concluded.

Was he right? Was Charley CIA? If so, she’d have access to Alexis’s records…

She didn’t have time to ponder that now. She had a large man sneering in front of her. A man she still had to convince to take this job. Or at least, Charley’s phone call.

“Kane—” The sound of a gong startled her. “What was that?”

“Warning gong. Practice is starting soon.”

“Practice?”

“Kung fu.”

“How long is this practice?” she asked.

“Until chanting begins. Then meditation. We rest at twenty-three hundred.”

She did the math to convert the military time before frowning. “Eleven p.m.?”

He nodded. “It will be dark soon. You need to go. Do you have transportation? Lodging?”

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