“Oh, okay.” Kole nodded as if that made perfect sense.
Zade shot his teammate a look and said, “Dude, you have no idea what she said, do you?”
Kole snickered. “Not a clue.”
The room filled with chuckles. Hoping to see a smile on Matt’s handsome face, too, Kat glanced his way. Instead, she found him staring directly at her, and he was definitely not smiling.
Looking away quickly, Kat apologized to the group. “Sorry. I spend most of my days in a lab working with a team of scientists. I’m not used to having to explain what we do to other people.”
“Why don’t you dumb it down for us grunts. We’ll try to keep up.”
Matt’s sarcastic remark got everyone’s attention, including Gabe’s.
“There a problem, Turner?” Gabe looked directly at him.
Not appearing to be intimidated by his team leader, Matt simply shrugged and said, “Just ready to figure out why we’re here, that’s all.”
“Then let the woman talk,” Zade joined in.
Matt gestured for her to continue. “Explain away.”
Cheeks red with embarrassment, Kat did her best to ignore the strange looks Matt’s teammates were giving them both. Clearing her throat, she gave them what she hoped would be a clearer picture of what she and the others on her team did.
“A biomedical engineer uses biological or chemical processes to research and develop formulas or serums for various purposes. My department is directly involved in working on the company’s government contracts.”
“So, the government pays you to create stuff,” Kole simplified it even more.
“Yes.”
“Like what?” Gabe asked.
This is where it got tricky. Every government-sanctioned job the company took on required she and her team to all sign non-disclosure agreements.
As if he could read her mind, Jake said, “It’s okay, Kat. We’re all former military and do contract work for the government as well. We understand the risks involved in disclosing classified material. And I wouldn’t ask you to break any sort of legal agreement you may have signed, but if there’s something you believe is directly related to what happened, we need to know. I can assure you, whatever you share with us stays with us and will only be used to protect you.”
She knew he was right. They couldn’t help her unless they knew everything. Besides, even if they did go back on their word, being sued for breach of contract was still better than being dead.
“Okay.” Kat inhaled deeply and began telling them everything she knew. “The U.S. government has contracted with Anderson Biomeds for years. Specifically my department focuses on projects to help aid our military forces overseas.”
That got their attention.
“What sort of projects?” Gabe asked curiously.
“Several types, really. We’ve developed vaccines to fight off area-specific viruses, immune system boosters, things like that. Oh, and the blood clotting agent the military currently uses was also developed in our lab.”
“Really?” Kole gave her an approving nod. “That’s cool.”
Zade agreed. “Yeah. I’m sure we’ve all used that stuff at one point or another.”
Kat refused to allow herself to look at Matt for fear her eyes would give away too much. He’d always been able to read her well. Better than anyone else she’d ever known.
“If you’ve ever been deployed overseas, I can pretty much guarantee you have.”
“These formulas you develop, do the people in your department work on an individual basis, or as a team?”
“Oh, we’re very much a team. One that depends greatly on trust. We’ve also had to learn and understand each other’s nuances and strengths, and we use those to our advantage. Each person has a specific job, but we combine those jobs to obtain the desired result. At least, we try to, anyway.”
“Back to the company, itself”—Gabe chimed in—“why did the government choose to partner with Anderson Biomeds?”
