didn’t blink as he spoke in a near monotone.
“Larkspur. JT. I know you’ll find this. The situation has gotten dire and I have decided to remove myself from your proximity to keep you both safe. I’ll contact you when I get to Mexico. JT, I completed the investigation into the employee you mentioned. He was the only insider feeding Kemmerling. I want you to return to Dr. Berwell and complete your testing and immunizations. We need the results as soon as possible. Nothing is more important. I love you both.”
The last words rang with truth, a stark contrast to the rest of what he said.
“It’s all bullshit,” Lark said. She couldn’t catch a breath. Her chest burned. “He doesn’t call me Larkspur.”
“And he never calls me JT. Only the agents do.”
Concentrate on the facts. Forget possibilities . Things her father had taught her. Nausea surged and she swallowed it down. All these quick-change emotions were churning her up. She wouldn’t be any good to her father if she lost it. “He hates Mexico,” she pointed out. “It was where he and Mom went for their honeymoon.”
“They had a horrible time, he got sick and refused to go back,” Jason added.
“He’d never leave us to ‘keep us safe.’ He knows what a crock of shit it is.”
“Nils has to be a low-level connection. Someone else in the company is a traitor.”
She wanted to weep. Her father was so careful about who he trusted, and to get burned this badly… “It sounds like this Dr. Berwell—”
“It’s not Gabby.” Jason cut her off. “But it could be anyone else.”
“How do you know it’s not Gabby?”
He turned his head, his expression intense. “Because she’s in love with your father.”
“Oh.” She worried her bottom lip, letting the revelation join the cauldron of details. “But she could—”
“I’ve just spent three months in intensive contact with her. She’s not part of this,” Jason insisted.
Lark didn’t bother arguing. Men could be stupid, but Jason had to have good instincts to do the job he did. That didn’t mean she would take this Gabby/Dr. Berwell off the list. Jason was right, though. It could be anyone.
He rewound the DVD and replayed it. “He’s wearing a different shirt than the one he was wearing when I saw him yesterday,” he said. “Unless he spilled coffee on himself, this was probably done today. See the light behind him?” He twisted to check the windows. “It came from there, and came across.” He swept his arm past the wall that was behind her father in the recording. “Morning sun. Couldn’t have been too long ago.”
“He was drugged.” Lark moved closer to the TV. “He could have been putting on the monotone and the stare, but he can’t dilate his eyes at will. Especially with that much light.”
“There are two coffee mugs in the kitchen. One has lipstick on it. The other is full.”
“So someone was here. A woman.” She carefully didn’t reference Gabby again. “Any sign—”
“No struggle. I don’t think whoever it was used his coffee to drug him, and he didn’t fight them.”
Lark listened to the end of the speech playing on the DVD. “He wouldn’t send you back to the lab, either. I can’t figure—”
“It’s not a lab,” he said in a low voice, as if considering.
“What?”
“Gabby gets annoyed when I call it a lab. It’s a medical facility. Or something, she never really said.”
Her brow wrinkled. “Okay, whatever. My point is, Dad saved your life for you . Not to test the technology. He wouldn’t trap you again.”
“Thanks.” He squeezed her shoulder and let his hand stroke down her hair before focusing on the DVD player again. “Let’s see if we can figure anything else out.”
They sat down and watched the recording half a dozen more times, picking up tiny things that only reinforced what they’d already deduced. After the last time, they sat for a minute.
“What do we do now?”
Jason knew what Matt would have wanted him to do, or at least
“Larkspur. JT. I know you’ll find this. The situation has gotten dire and I have decided to remove myself from your proximity to keep you both safe. I’ll contact you when I get to Mexico. JT, I completed the investigation into the employee you mentioned. He was the only insider feeding Kemmerling. I want you to return to Dr. Berwell and complete your testing and immunizations. We need the results as soon as possible. Nothing is more important. I love you both.”
The last words rang with truth, a stark contrast to the rest of what he said.
“It’s all bullshit,” Lark said. She couldn’t catch a breath. Her chest burned. “He doesn’t call me Larkspur.”
“And he never calls me JT. Only the agents do.”
Concentrate on the facts. Forget possibilities . Things her father had taught her. Nausea surged and she swallowed it down. All these quick-change emotions were churning her up. She wouldn’t be any good to her father if she lost it. “He hates Mexico,” she pointed out. “It was where he and Mom went for their honeymoon.”
“They had a horrible time, he got sick and refused to go back,” Jason added.
“He’d never leave us to ‘keep us safe.’ He knows what a crock of shit it is.”
“Nils has to be a low-level connection. Someone else in the company is a traitor.”
She wanted to weep. Her father was so careful about who he trusted, and to get burned this badly… “It sounds like this Dr. Berwell—”
“It’s not Gabby.” Jason cut her off. “But it could be anyone else.”
“How do you know it’s not Gabby?”
He turned his head, his expression intense. “Because she’s in love with your father.”
“Oh.” She worried her bottom lip, letting the revelation join the cauldron of details. “But she could—”
“I’ve just spent three months in intensive contact with her. She’s not part of this,” Jason insisted.
Lark didn’t bother arguing. Men could be stupid, but Jason had to have good instincts to do the job he did. That didn’t mean she would take this Gabby/Dr. Berwell off the list. Jason was right, though. It could be anyone.
He rewound the DVD and replayed it. “He’s wearing a different shirt than the one he was wearing when I saw him yesterday,” he said. “Unless he spilled coffee on himself, this was probably done today. See the light behind him?” He twisted to check the windows. “It came from there, and came across.” He swept his arm past the wall that was behind her father in the recording. “Morning sun. Couldn’t have been too long ago.”
“He was drugged.” Lark moved closer to the TV. “He could have been putting on the monotone and the stare, but he can’t dilate his eyes at will. Especially with that much light.”
“There are two coffee mugs in the kitchen. One has lipstick on it. The other is full.”
“So someone was here. A woman.” She carefully didn’t reference Gabby again. “Any sign—”
“No struggle. I don’t think whoever it was used his coffee to drug him, and he didn’t fight them.”
Lark listened to the end of the speech playing on the DVD. “He wouldn’t send you back to the lab, either. I can’t figure—”
“It’s not a lab,” he said in a low voice, as if considering.
“What?”
“Gabby gets annoyed when I call it a lab. It’s a medical facility. Or something, she never really said.”
Her brow wrinkled. “Okay, whatever. My point is, Dad saved your life for you . Not to test the technology. He wouldn’t trap you again.”
“Thanks.” He squeezed her shoulder and let his hand stroke down her hair before focusing on the DVD player again. “Let’s see if we can figure anything else out.”
They sat down and watched the recording half a dozen more times, picking up tiny things that only reinforced what they’d already deduced. After the last time, they sat for a minute.
“What do we do now?”
Jason knew what Matt would have wanted him to do, or at least
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