Page 29 of Black Bay Defender
Kong sat back in the chair and blew out a breath. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
“That’s a tall order.” He looked at her as if he was considering what to tell her before he asked, “You want to know his life story or everything about you and him?” He held out a staying hand. “Because if you want everything we’ve gathered on him since he arrived at Black Bay, I’m going to get us some drinks first.”
Since Kong didn’t drink alcohol, she knew he was talking about soda – he had a weakness for Cherry Pepsi – and actually, a dose of caffeine and sugar would be welcome right about now. “I could go for a drink.”
Kong immediately stood and left the room, returning a few minutes later with a six-pack of bottles dangling from his fingers. He ripped one from its plastic loop and handed it to her. Lark eyed it suspiciously. “Did you shake it?”
“Of course.”
“Asshole.” But she still took it, and cautiously – because she wouldn’t put it past him to shake it up – she cracked the cap. A hiss and some fizz, but no explosion.
Kong chuckled as he settled back in his seat and opened his own soda. He guzzled half of it before he spoke. “Okay, so, once upon a time…”
“Really?” she asked dryly.
“Do you want to hear this or not?”
With a grumbled, “Fine,” Lark took a sip of her soda and settled in for story time. Better to let Kong have his way or he’d clam up and wouldn’t tell her anything.
“Once upon a time.” He paused, eyeing her to see if she would interrupt again. When she did nothing more than shoot him a baleful look, he continued. “A brave queen named Lark discovered that a witch – Doctor Anne Dietrich – might be up to her old tricks again. One of the queen’s knights, Jace, embarked on a quest to discover the truth.”
Okay. She had to admit she kind of liked this. Amused, she took another sip of soda and relished the fizzy, sugary goodness of cherry-flavored refreshment.
“But our intrepid knight found himself in hot water. Instead of notifying us of what he found and waiting for a team – like he should have,” Kong irritably gritted out. “He went in on his own.”
Lark jerked forward. “Was he captured?” God, she couldn’t even imagine one of their own being back in Doctor Dietrich’s hands. Was that what the operation in Ohio was about? Kong had mentioned they’d gone in to rescue soldiers. Had Jace been one of them?
Kong shook his head. “No. He got away, but the people after him managed to plant a tracker on Paige.”
Her brow scrunched with a frown. “Who’s Paige?”
“Jace’s fiancé.”
“Jace is engaged?! When did that happen?”
“Right before the Ohio op, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.”
Lark had so many questions, but she bit them back. “Okay, okay. Keep going.”
“Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. Jace went in solo, managed to copy some files, and sent them off to you, but he must have tripped an alarm. Security came after him, guns blazing and Jace leaped off a building, crashing into Paige’s apartment.”
Files? Lark was practically vibrating with the need to ask what those files contained but she somehow managed to control the urge.
“Security showed up, and they were going to kill Paige for seeing too much so Jace grabbed her and took her with him – but like I said, they managed to plant a tracker on her before they got away, and Doctor Dietrich and whoever else was in charge, sent one of the Resurrection soldiers in pursuit.”
This time, she couldn’t hold her tongue. “Resurrection soldiers?”
Kong nodded. “Doc Dietrich’s latest project. Soldiers augmented with bio-robotic upgrades.”
An image of Grady’s mechanical arm flashed into her mind, along with the metal plate on the side of his head. “Grady?”
“Grady,” Kong confirmed. “Turned out he was Paige’s brother. She’d been told he’d been killed in action.”
Lark’s eyes widened. “Okay. Wow. The odds…”
“Oh, it wasn’t a coincidence. It was a test. The doctors had stripped those soldiers’ memories and they wanted to see if it held up against someone they knew. It didn’t. Grady was ordered to kill her and he couldn’t. Some part of him recognized her.”
