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“I know what his primary skill is.”
That made sense. Kahlil knew that Raven was a sniper, so unless he was right in front of the buyer, Kahlil would have to assume he was lying on the top of a building somewhere ready to take the shot.
“Tell me the story now,” she said. It would be recorded on her watch, meaning Brodie could hear it for himself. Getting the details without her love present would spare him the pain of having an audience when the truth came out.
But Kahlil shook his head. “I will be in touch with a time and a place. I will bring the money. You will bring the device.”
“I will have to consult with my colleagues before we commit to where and when.”
“Good. But make it soon. I want to get out of this city. I have plans of my own that don’t include hanging around here.”
Could his boss be local or was he just desperate to get on with outdoing his old boss? It didn’t matter to her either way. The Kindred hadn’t agreed to sell the device to Kahlil, but Zara was determined that Brodie would know the truth about his parents. If there was retribution to be had, she would make sure the Kindred were dedicated to getting it for him.
He’d lost his parents, Art, and Grant. No story could bring any of them back. But finding out the reason for their deaths would bring closure. Losing her own mother had been devastating to her teenage self, but at least she knew how it had happened. Brodie and Grant had both suggested to her that the blast, which killed their parents, was no accident, and they had the chance to confirm the veracity of that and get some details.
“We’ll be in touch with the details,” she said, and although he was perturbed, she couldn’t feel intimidated by his arrogance, not after what she’d seen him doing this morning.
“I brought someone with me, my partner. He insists on seeing you. He thinks his presence will reassure you.”
She didn’t like to be blindsided, and when a shadow moved across the table, she glanced up. Her instinctive gasp revealed more of her surprise than she wanted it to. Coming to Purdy’s during the day was supposed to be safe, now she wondered if she’d been wrong.
Shoving to her feet, he was blocking the path she’d need to travel if she wanted to reach the door. He’d spared their lives once, she couldn’t bank that he’d do it again. “Benedict Leatt.”
“What happened to Ben?” he asked, having the gall to smile. “I’m not your enemy, Zara. Sit down and let me explain.”
Trying her best to don her Kindred mask, she sank back down onto her chair and watched Ben sit in the perpendicular place. “You were working for Kahlil all along?”
“He wanted Game Time,” Ben said, not answering the question. “I didn’t know what it was, but he was willing to pay a serious amount of money to find out where Sutcliffe was keeping it.”
From that explanation, she guessed he’d hooked up with Sutcliffe as he’d said he did. Kahlil would have seen Leatt’s strategic position and turned to the physical therapist. “Is that why you stayed at the compound after murdering Grant because by then you were on Kahlil’s payroll?”
“We didn’t know where Game Time was. We knew that the Kindred had emptied the bunker, Grant told us that. But we wanted to check the place out, just in case he’d hidden it anywhere on the property.”
They knew that the bunker was empty, they didn’t know what had been in it for the Kindred to take or what Sutcliffe had kept closer to home. “You didn’t find it. We have it.”
“We know,” Ben said. “And we knew that was a possibility, which was why you and yours weren’t eliminated like your former boss. He was of no use to us. We realized after he tried to take power that he wouldn’t be worth dealing with. We couldn’t ask him to rebuild Game Time for us, he proved he had his own agenda.” Ben nodded toward the silent Kahlil. “My friend here said he had leverage with your people.”
All along, Ben had been playing her. He’d known about the Kindred. About who killed Tim and why. He was good. “So you held the story as backup?”
Ben nodded. “When we didn’t get Game Time from Sutcliffe. We scratched an alliance with Grant McCormack off the list. That left us with you. And here we are.”
“And here we are,” she repeated. “How did you two get involved with each other?”
“Sutcliffe came to me as a legitimate patient. My friend here approached me, he didn’t give me all the details at first, just guided me in how to talk to Sutcliffe. I soon figured it out. That was long before I even met you, Zar. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you.”
“Why would you—”
“Money,” Kahlil said. “I paid him well for his loyalty.”
Money gave access, forged an alliance, and ultimately got Grant killed. Kahlil had been fired by his previous employer then begun a crusade to usurp what Sutcliffe had won. Except no one knew where Game Time was and Sutcliffe was a paranoid bastard, though with good reason it seemed.
“Sutcliffe lost his arsenal,” Zara said. “Grant tried to take over, and you took him out before he could get in your way.”
“I’d think you’d be grateful for that,” Ben said. “He was going to kill your friend.”
Brodie was more than her friend, but she didn’t need to remind them of that. “You spared us because you wanted to use us. If you couldn’t find Game Time on the compound, you planned to get it from us. How could you kill a man for that?”
“I care about you, Zara. You were upset, I thought I was doing you a favor,” Ben said. “Your boss man would’ve been a much bigger problem for all of us if we’d let him take control out there.”
