Free Acceptable Risks by Natalie J. Damschroder Page B

bigger, and less urgent. It should wait. “With Kemmerling.”
“You know him, then.”
“I know who he is.” Anger put an edge in her voice. “He was an excellent agent who got too big for his britches and has been gunning for you guys ever since. I figure he wants to use the aftermath of the Kolanko job to tear down Hummingbird. Coming after me seems more personal, though. Unless…” She raised an eyebrow. “The RT-24?”
“Smart girl.”
“Call me a girl again, you’ll feel it.” She brandished her bottle at him. “I’m not that much younger than you, you know.”
He held up a hand. “Sorry. Figure of speech. But yeah, that’s the start of it. We think he still has connections inside, because he somehow got wind of my miraculous recovery and figured out how it happened. Any ideas?”
Lark considered, picking at the label on her bottle. “I don’t know much about the medical team. What do you have so far?”
Jason blew a small breath through his nose, not quite a snort. “I didn’t even know there was a medical team before I woke up rebuilt. And I just found out about all this today. Matt didn’t have time to give me a rundown. You were the priority, and I’m the only one he trusted to get you out of harm’s way.”
They sat in silence a moment while Lark let her mind whir back over years of interactions with the Hummingbird staff. There hadn’t been much in the last few years, just the occasional holiday party and company picnic. Not that they were typical of corporate America. They’d had stealth and weapons competitions, and hand-to-hand—
“Nils!” she half yelled as a memory burst into her brain. “I bet you anything it’s him.”
“I don’t know a Nils.”
“You wouldn’t. I mean, you should, but he’s one of those guys people don’t notice. The ones who get all resentful about it and go dark side.”
“What does he do for Hummingbird? He can’t be an agent.”
“No, he was support. But he wanted to be in protection. He was really pissed when I beat him hand-to-hand at the company picnic one year.”
Something dawned on Jason’s face. “I remember hearing about that. I wasn’t there, I was on a job. Redhead, right? More orange. Lots of freckles.”
“That’s him. Caitlyn told me he was a jack-of-all-trades at Hummingbird, efficient at whatever was asked of him.” More came back to her the longer she thought about that particular picnic. “I think he hung out a lot with Isaac. They were the same age. And it’s possible he was assigned to the lab at some point.”
Jason frowned. “Probably not likely, but possible, sure. If he had a spotless background and was good at grunt work.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “How long ago did you sell them your patent?”
“Nearly two years now. Right before I started working at BotMed. I never dreamed things would happen this fast. But they were probably working on the other stuff even before that, right? Dad said you had a lot of bone breaks, and the regeneration therapy wouldn’t help those. Nils could have been assigned to the team before Isaac was censured. What are you doing?”
“I’m texting Matt to find and question Nils. Do you know his last name?”
“Fredlund.”
He tapped at the keypad for a minute, waited for the phone to beep, and put it away. “Anyway, Kemmerling thought I was alive and thought he knew how. He sent a threatening photo to your father, who sent me to get you.”
Lark grimaced. “I’m sorry.”
He looked at her. “What? Why?”
“For dragging you away to babysit.”
He barked a laugh. “You have no idea. Lark, this was my first day out of the basement.”
“Oh!” She stared at him. “Really? You’ve been holed up the entire time?”
He shrugged. “Well, yeah. I haven’t actually been conscious that long, and was rehabbing, and had to be under constant observation and all that. I just got released—reluctantly, I might add, on the doctor’s part—and Matt sent me up here