Deadly Testimony (Safeguard #2)(24)
It would be cheaper to eliminate the one witness providing testimony than pay the fines associated with each instance of the civil case. Plus, multiple instances meant executives involved could be facing enough back-to-back sentences in jail to miss the majority of their lives.
No wonder people wanted Kyle dead.
“Once those containers are recovered, I believe—even if I can’t prove—authorities will discover they were smuggling other goods.” Kyle dragged his hand through his hair. “I’m not sure what though, so there are further investigations going on. I don’t even know if this is the only trial I need to get through.”
There were a lot of red flags as far as she was concerned, enough to make her restless.
“Not knowing what you don’t know is dangerous. It could be key to keeping you alive.” She slipped past Kyle and headed for her duffel. Pulling out her slim tablet, she set it on the coffee table along with a small wireless router.
Kyle paused in his pacing. “For a person in what I considered to be a very physically focused job, you spend a large amount of time on technology. What are you doing now?”
“I’m firing up my personal mobile hot spot and logging in to Safeguard’s virtual private network.” It didn’t take long to get everything up and running. “I don’t like waiting around to see if someone is going to take a poke at me. I’m going to do some digging into your friends Tall, Slow and Grumpy from last night. Could be they were hired by the same interested party or could be there’s multiple contracts out on you. It’d be good to know who is active in the area and likely to be looking for you.”
He resumed his pacing. “I don’t suppose your research will be instantaneous.”
“Nope.” Though she was already sending an update to Diaz to let him know what she was doing and reaching out to a contact or two who might be able to run some queries in parallel with her own line of research. “I like to keep busy at times like this.”
“And here I thought you’d spend most of your time watching the door or the window.” There was no edge to Kyle’s words but he did have a hefty dose of sarcasm in there. “I really am not the type to watch movies.”
She paused. “Do you have experience in this kind of research? Background checks? Organizational contacts?”
It would actually put a new perspective on things. She’d start wondering what sorts of resources he managed when he was overseeing the projects he managed for Phoenix Biotech.
But Kyle shook his head. “All of the projects I oversaw had to do with chemical formulation and manufacturing process development, production scale-up and quality oversight before the chemicals we sell are shipped to various biotech companies worldwide. I was responsible for project management and financial accountability on those projects. The chemical engineers and raw material vendors in my networks were in support of those areas of concentration. Not a one of them would employ Tall, Slow or Grumpy.”
He smiled as he used her labels for the thugs. And she let herself smile in return. Actually, a part of her was relieved. It helped her believe he truly hadn’t been knowingly part of the uglier side of whatever Phoenix Biotech was up to.
“I hate the comparison, but they’re likely to have more in common with me professionally than you in terms of network connections.” And didn’t that just burn to admit.
Kyle raised an eyebrow. “I imagine the scope of what they can do is extremely limited as compared to your range of skills.”
“You’d be right.” She continued to bring up search windows, fingers flying over the ultralight wireless keyboard. “But that doesn’t make dealing with them more enjoyable in any way.”
“You’re not pleased at all in working around large, heavily muscled men of action?” His tone had gone back to teasing.
She fired off one more query and slowly raised her gaze to meet his. “I respect people who are good at what they do. Not a one of those men was above average in strength, dexterity or intelligence. They weren’t exactly charismatic either.”
Kyle held her gaze for a long moment. “Someday, I hope to have the opportunity to demonstrate for you how very good I am at the various things I do.”
Chapter Nine
Kyle studied Isabelle a few moments longer. She was studiously ignoring him at this point but there was a telltale hint of dusky rose showing through her bronze complexion. His commentary wasn’t entirely unwelcome.
Grinning, he decided to give her some space. Or as much as was possible in a shared hotel room. Even a junior suite layout with a sitting area. His longer stride made pacing the room less than a valid option for keeping himself busy.
Instead his gaze landed on the bags she’d brought up from the front desk. She’d specifically said they wouldn’t be ordering room service either. If she’d gone and gotten takeout, it had to be something nearby and ready in record time.
Resigned to fast food, he strode over to the bags to investigate what was for dinner. He’d only had a few bites of the excellent sandwich he’d put together and he suffered a pang of regret for having had to leave those supplies behind.
What he found instead was a series of small containers, carefully labeled, and he froze. “Where did you go for food?”
Isabelle didn’t even look up from her laptop. “Safeguard has connections to an excellent catering company in downtown Seattle. I had them deliver directly to me a couple of blocks away. That way, we don’t need to worry about room service or who made the food we’re about to eat. Standard practice for me and other Safeguard operatives on longer engagements. The shorter ones, we just don’t eat or drink anything we didn’t bring with us on the job. There should be a note in there telling us what everything is.”