Free Cuckoo (Kindred Book 3) by Scarlett Finn

colleagues. 
    He exhaled and his mouth contorted at the same time he averted his eyes. The confident exterior slipped long enough for her to recognize annoyance. Knowing what ruled your opponent was an excellent way to gain advantage. Changes in his manner and expression could betray those weaknesses, and they wouldn’t be recorded by any microphone, meaning it was up to her to catalogue them. Brodie had quizzed her about such things in the past, and she wanted to have all the answers should he do it again. 
    “I no longer work for the same man.”
    So it wasn’t a change in his contemporaries but a change in his superior that disturbed him. Hazarding a guess that the separation had been acrimonious, she probed in hope of revealing the particulars. “Why not?” 
    If he’d switched allegiance, then it was possible Kahlil had been the one to reveal Game Time’s existence and potential to his new employer, whoever that was. Word about the device was beginning to seep into a wider circle and that was dangerous for CI, and for the Kindred.
    The device and corresponding viruses were locked up at the manor. She’d always been assured that the place was impenetrable and for a man on foot with a handgun that was true. But Kahlil had connections. That much was clear from how quickly he’d bounced into new employment and had exposed Game Time to this new party. 
    “My employer considered me inefficient,” he said and didn’t seem embarrassed to say it, making her think that Kahlil had an agenda of his own. Did he want to punish his previous associate? Or was this an attempt to impress the new boss in his life while humiliating the old one?
    He was guarded enough that she recognized his reluctance to give her details and retreated so as to not aggravate him. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have the authority to make deals for Cormack Industries,” she said. “Any deal that we discussed—”
    “No,” he said, shaking his head and letting himself lean into the desk. “We knew that Grant was conducting negotiations privately, using CI as a shield, a front to protect himself. No one else here knew about it. But Grant trusted you, he brought you inside.”
    “If you saw what happened at Atlas then you know how our association was strained.”
    “That works in my favor,” he said. “You have no concerns about loyalty. Grant is dead. You are free to sell the device.” 
    “Why would I want to do that?”
    He smiled and pushed back in his chair again, restoring his confidence. “We know about your connection to the Kindred. About your affair with Raven.”
    “You heard what was said in the Atlas warehouse?”
    “No, we only saw it.” She didn’t like the knowing slant of his mouth. “But I have inside sources of my own.”
    If he was trying to charm her into working with him or surrendering Game Time, then he was going about it the wrong way. “Good for you,” she said, pushing away from the desk with designs on rising, but he spoke again before she could get her feet under herself.
    “I know the truth,” he said and she relaxed her arms.
    “The truth?” she asked, wondering what he was going to declare.
    “About who your Raven is.”
    His confidence was warranted and she stayed glued to her chair. Knowing who Raven was changed everything, he could reveal that knowledge and bring Raven’s enemies to her and Brodie’s door. Kahlil had admitted to knowing what had happened in the Atlas warehouse. Therefore, it was also possible he knew about Sutcliffe’s compound and could know how Grant had died. He might even know about who Leatt was working for.
    “I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific, Mr. Samara.”
    “Have many secrets, do you, Miss Bandini?” He arched a brow, but she wasn’t biting, so he came nearer to the desk. “I know who killed them.”
    Again, she wasn’t sure who he was referring to, but if he ratted Brodie out to the cops for his work as Raven, it could destroy all of their