Page 17 of Black Bay Enforcer (Beasts of Black Bay #3)

Katherine crawled out of bed and hurried through her morning routine.

She’d had a shitty night’s sleep but was determined to find Kong as soon as possible.

If that wall was still between them, she was going to get to the root of it and tear it down.

She tried calling him, but it went to voicemail.

She hung up without leaving a message and headed to the mess hall. He might be there having breakfast.

He wasn’t. Nor did he show up while she lingered over her coffee until the very last minute. Walking to the Resurrection Hub, she rubbernecked the entire way, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. No such luck. Later, she told herself. She’d find him later.

She listened with half an ear as ORION gave the usual morning update on the Resurrection soldiers as she checked her messages.

One of them was from her mother, reminding her that she needed to take time off from work for her upcoming birthday bash.

Katherine made a note to speak to the general about it.

Her mother threw her a party every year, and it was always a big deal.

Harper Knox spent a crazy amount of time and money planning it, insisting on outdoing the last event.

When Katherine was a child, that meant magic shows, costume parties, and pony rides, and one year, her mother had organized a party at a theme park so she and her friends could ride the rides all day.

In her teen years, there were beach trips, shopping excursions in the city, concerts, and the year she’d graduated from high school, her mother had booked a cruise.

These last few years, her mother had gotten even more elaborate, throwing fancy, catered events with live music at exclusive settings.

Sometimes, it was a bit much. When she was a child, those parties had been magical.

What little kid wouldn’t think so? As an adult, Katherine had tried to tell her mom she didn’t need to make such a fuss, but her mother lived for that sort of thing.

It brought Harper joy. So even if Katherine would have preferred a quiet, no-frills birthday for a change, she went along with her mother’s plans.

This year, she was pretty sure her mother had said something about a wine-tasting event at a vineyard.

Though she had to admit, it would be nice to see some of her friends again. Even if she couldn’t tell them where she was working or what she was doing.

Maybe Kong would like to go as her date.

The thought brought him right back to the forefront of her mind and she frowned.

That distance she’d felt from him had really bothered her.

Should she try calling him again? She could always use the excuse that they needed to plan the menu for the promised feast to break in his oven properly.

Besides, she still needed to thank him for getting her a TV.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she picked up the phone and dialed. Voicemail again. This time, she left a message, injecting a cheery note into her voice as she expressed her appreciation, reminded him of their upcoming date, and asked him to call her so they could plan the menu.

Replacing the phone, she sat there for a few minutes staring at it but it didn’t immediately start ringing. Where was he? She didn’t think he’d still be sleeping at this hour.

A thought struck her and her belly clenched.

Had the general punished him for taking her swimming?

How would something like that even be punished?

Her mind flashed with images of Kong peeling a mountain of potatoes, and then, scrubbing a bathroom floor with his toothbrush before her imagination really went wild and started bombarding her with Kong locked in the brig or shackled to some sort of medieval rack.

Gah. She was nuts. Kong was fine and he’d call her back when he got the chance, maybe at lunch.

But he didn’t call. Nor did he show up at the mess hall. Her fingers were practically itching to call him again but she didn’t want to come off as needy. She’d already left him a message. What more could she say?

At dinner, Katherine was joined by Perrin, and two other women, Jayla, and Lynx, who she’d met briefly at Kong’s place.

Like Perrin and Lark, these women were one of the few female Beasts that had survived their upbringing.

Lynx, with her blonde and black streaked hair, slightly pointed ears, and golden eyes was definitely feline.

Probably a lynx as her name implied. Jayla, on the other hand, was harder to identify.

Aside from the fangs that almost all the Beasts had – Perrin was the only one Katherine had met so far who didn’t have them – there were no other markers to differentiate her from any random woman you might see on the street.

Her hair was long and dark, her eyes were blue, and her features were regular.

Jayla was also the bubbly sort, completely monopolizing the conversation as she shared the latest gossip happening around the base. Unfortunately, none of that gossip had to do with Kong who still hadn’t gotten back to her.

“He’s off base.”

Katherine’s eyes snapped to Perrin. “What?”

“Kong. He left on a mission early this morning.” Perrin flicked her fingers toward the entrance to the mess hall. “You’ve been watching the door all evening but he’s not going to come through any time soon.”

Katherine felt her cheeks heat at being called out. It looked like her attempts to be all casual failed miserably so she gave up the pretense.

“Where did he go?”

Perrin pinned her with a look. “That’s classified.”

Right. Of course. “Do you know when he’ll be back?”

“When he completes the mission,” Perrin told her with a casual shrug before returning her attention to her food.

So not helpful.

Jayla jumped on the moment of silence with another, in her words, juicy tidbit, but Katherine wasn’t paying attention. A whole new host of worries rolled through her head.

What kind of mission was Kong on? Was it dangerous? Could he be hurt? Killed?

A shiver of panic raced through her and Katherine found new respect for military spouses. She barely even knew Kong and she was scared for him. What must it be like to have the person you love out there in dangerous situations not knowing when or if they’d come back?

Kong wanted to bellow with rage and smash something. Godwin had killed another woman. He’d raped her and beaten her so badly that she’d died in the hospital from her injuries without ever regaining consciousness.

Another life that would have been saved if Kong had killed that sick sonofabitch when he’d had the chance.

“The police have organized a state-wide manhunt. His picture and known aliases are being blasted to news outlets, airports, bus terminals.” Erik flashed his phone screen at Kong. “Social media too, so word will spread.”

“He didn’t pick some nobody that no one would miss,” Leo added with a growl. “Did you see the girl’s father? Did you see the look in his eyes? He’s not going to rest until Godwin is strung up by his balls.”

“He’ll go to ground,” Erik theorized. “He’s trapped, and by now, he knows it. There’s nowhere he can go.”

But trapped where? How far had Godwin been able to get before the alert had gone out?

He’d had a healthy head-start in the time it had taken the police to arrive at the scene and the time it had taken the doctors to work on the woman.

Even though the DNA they’d found on her body had been fast-tracked, it still took time to process.

“We’ll get him,” Leo said.

The statement was meant to be comforting but Kong had heard it too many times. How many more people would be hurt or killed because of Kong’s failure?

He wanted to question Cleary. He’d bet his left nut that at least one of those calls on a burner phone the general had mentioned had been from Godwin.

Cleary likely knew exactly where he was.

The man might have even helped him, maybe arranged a pickup.

After all, if you found yourself in the shit and needed a way out, you contacted the most powerful person you knew.

There was no way General Davies would authorize an interrogation for the sake of finding one lowlife scum. Stopping a potential war was more important, and Kong going off book would have things blowing up in their faces.

Big picture, he reminded himself, but it was damn hard.

It was early morning, still dark outside, when they arrived back at the base.

There’d been nothing more they could do in Miami.

It was a waiting game now. Wait for Godwin to fuck up.

Wait for Cleary to fuck up. Kong hated to wait.

Just like he hated to wait for a more respectable time to visit Katherine.

She’d called him twice yesterday, the one bright spot of his day, but he hadn’t had a chance to call her back.

He looked up at her building and the row of dark windows. She was probably sleeping. He should go back to his place and get a couple of hours of shuteye as well. He could bring her breakfast in a little while and they could talk then.

He wanted to see her. Badly. But he also wanted to ask her about her father.

He couldn’t tell her why, but he wanted a better picture of the man.

Something more than the public face of a weapons manufacturer.

Kong could understand the man wanting to start a war – as despicable as it was, there was a profit motive there – but why hire someone like Godwin?

He was a thug. A murderer. He couldn’t be trusted.

The guy had sold out his family to save his own ass.

Why would August Cleary think Terrence Godwin would keep his secrets?

Too many unanswered questions. He hated those almost as much as he hated waiting.

He looked up at those windows again and saw a faint flicker of blue light. Maybe Katherine was up after all and watching TV.

It couldn’t hurt to check. Kong jogged over to Katherine’s building and went inside.

Taking the elevator up, he promised himself that after a quick listen at her door, if he didn’t hear any sounds, he’d leave and let her sleep.

But he hoped he’d hear something, some indication that she was awake.

He’d missed her. How crazy was that? He’d been gone less than twenty-four hours and he hadn’t been able to wait to get back to her.

Approaching her door, he heard the soft sound of what he thought might be a sitcom laugh-track. The tightness in his chest loosened. She was up and watching TV. He didn’t have to wait to see her. He knocked.