Page 113 of Don't Look Back

She remembered the sound of the voice.

“Kiiiirrraa. Kiiirrrrra.”

A high-pitched child’s voice as they played a game enjoyed by children the world over. She didn’t remember if he’d said more. Perhaps the Russian version ofCome out, come out, wherever you are.

Maybe.

She took a deep breath. This question wasn’t for Reuben; it was for everyone listening and watching. “Was Benny’s last name, by any chance, Kinder?”

ChapterFifty

There were several audible gasps in the room filled with SEALs and NSWC personnel watching the feed from Kira’s pendant camera in real time. Teague figured his face showed the same shock as the others.

“How the fuck did we miss that?” someone shouted.

Those with computers before them—the tech team—immediately began typing. Teague wished he had a computer, but he was out of that part of the game. No more contact with Nadia. She was of no use now, and any communication with her could screw things up once she’d interacted with Rand and Kira.

“He passed the background check. He must’ve scrubbed his résumé.”

People started shouting out the facts they knew about Ben Kinder. He’d worked in tech support for Fleet and Family Readiness for the last year. Non-appropriated funds, meaning it was a different part of the civilian military employee system.

It was a low-level position—the computer networks he dealt with were not part of the main network systems. FFR ran the daycares, rented out recreational equipment, set up excursions to sporting events and other entertainment at a discount for active-duty personnel.

It was enough for base access, which meant Kinder could flash his badge, drive through the gate, and, as long as he didn’t face a random inspection of his vehicle, he could have an M4 in the trunk and start shooting at unarmed sailors.

Weapons were heavily restricted on base. Anyone he encountered in the building where Kira had presented the workshop would be unarmed unless they were part of base security.

He’d had a background check—everyone with base access went through one—but he’d come out clean. According to the information on file, he had an American passport, and prior to working for FFR, he’d worked for an American tech company in Germany for several years.

His citizenship had to be fake, along with the work history, but as a guy in tech, he’d probably been able to alter the records to match what he needed. Still, there should have been a flag somewhere.

His real name probably wasn’t even Kinder. In the live feed, Reuben Kulik didn’t confirm or deny the surname. Kira’s question had clearly been meant for NSWC and FMV to hear.

How had she figured it out?

On the screen, Reuben’s eyes had widened in reaction to the question before his face shuttered again. HeknewBenedikt—Benny—was living under the last name Kinder in the US.

In guessing at his last name, Kira had tipped her hand.

“She needs to get out of there,” Teague said to the room at large.

There were murmurs of agreement, but none of them could do a damn thing.

Another thought struck him. He knew just enough about sleuthing people’s history on the internet to be able to guess at how hard it would be to evade a Department of Defense background check, even for a low-level job. He also knew what the check would entail. They send letters to former employers and follow up if there is no confirmation of employment. Everything is verified in multiple formats. Email. Phone. Snail mail.

Social Security numbers, credit checks, address history.

A single slip would require looking deeper.

“I think,” Teague said, “we should be looking at who hired Kinder and who signed off on his background check. And once we have that information, we should look at who else they’ve cleared for civilian jobs in the last year.”

The connection between Kulik and Kinder could hold the key to finding the other members of Laskin’s new mercenary army.

Everything had clicked into place for Kira. Her childhood playmate had been sent to Virginia to hatch whatever plan agreed to by Reuben and Grigory to attack the Navy SEAL base. Then, a week ago, Reuben received the heads-up from Cousin Andre that she was delaying her trip to Malta by a day because she would be teaching at Little Creek.

Reuben, who hadn’t been thrilled with her planned visit, had seen an opportunity to stop her from coming and pounced. He contacted Benny, who worked for the Navy at the very same base, and told him to go after Kira.

Benny had been happy to comply, even singing out her name as he had when they were children. Had he planned to tell her of their past connection when he took her hostage?

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