The voices sounded distorted, as if he were underwater. Hawk opened his eyes and everything was white, without shape. He found it hard to move his arms and his head felt as if something heavy was holding it down. The glaring white light hurt his eyes and he blinked hard to focus.
Maybe he was dead. They always talked about a bright white light at the end of a tunnel. But there was no tunnel and the sounds weren’t angelic. In fact, it sounded like...a very, very pissed-off woman, using a lot of words he was sure wouldn’t be present in heaven.
“This time I’m going to kill her! I’m sick and tired of being poked by these tranqs every time we go for a drive. Stash, don’t move, so I can cut the ropes, babe. These things are heavy.”
“I’m okay. Go check on Hawk and Amber.”
Amber! Hawk jerked up with a start and his head hit something hard. His chest exploded in pain.
“Hawk, are you hurt?” he heard Marlena somewhere beyond the white light. There was the distinct sound of a slicing knife and suddenly he saw a glimpse of trees and sky, then Marlena’s face. “Hawk?”
“I’m alive,” he said, pushing away the rest of the material. It tore easily enough once there was a cut. “Amber?”
There was no reply.
“Amber!” He struggled up, squeezing out between material and ropes.
“Careful, Hawk,” Steve said. “The ropes can get you tangled up even worse. Almost like a commercial net of some kind.”
“Where’s Amber?” Hawk asked, moving toward where Amber had been sitting. She wasn’t there. “Amber!”
“She’s gone. They must have taken her,” Marlena said.
“Dilaver,” Hawk said grimly.
Marlena nodded. “It’s Greta, for sure.”
“How do you know?”
“Stash and I were tranqed in a similar fashion in D.C. when we were driving. Darts. Same effect. Since Greta was the handler in D.C., of course it must have been she who authorized our capture then. We have to get out of here and call Center.” She turned to Steve. “We don’t have a choice.”
“No, we’re going to go after Dilaver right now and get Amber,” Hawk corrected.
“Don’t think so, cuz,” Steve countered. He was out of the vehicle, looking down. “All the tires have been slashed.”
Hawk determinedly cut through the rest of the material, making the opening wide enough for his body. He jumped out of the Land Rover. Like Steve said, the tires were flat as pancakes. He kicked the rim in frustration.
“We’ve got to get to Dilaver.” He looked at Steve and Marlena. He tried to say it as calmly as possible. “You don’t know what he’ll do to her.”
In reality, his whole being was frozen with fear at the thought of what could be happening to Amber now. He had to get to her. Dilaver would be taking revenge on her because of Hawk’s betrayal.
“Hawk, we’ll have to call Center to get help here,” Marlena said quietly. “You know they’ll ask us to go check on the weapons cache first.”
“She’s right,” Steve said. “They’ll ask for the status on the bomb.”
“Fuck the bomb.” Hawk meant it. “I need a vehicle and we’re going back to Velesta.”
“Look, there’s a note.” Marlena pointed to the windshield.
Steve snatched the note that was stuck between the glass and wiper. “‘Bring the bomb to me and you get her back,’” he read. He glanced up. “What do you want to do, cuz? I’m with you, whatever you need.”
Hawk nodded. He knew Steve understood what he was going through. When Marlena was missing in D.C., his cousin had enlisted his help and had even gone off to destroy an entire luxury sailboat to get his woman back.
“This is going to be more than a dozen armed thugs,” he said quietly. “Dilaver’s got an army in Velesta and he should have the compound fortified by now.”
“Draw it up. Let me see it. Then we’ll make plans,” Steve said.
“My darlings,” Marlena interrupted. “Can I interject here and make a suggestion? Like, let’s go to the weapons cache and then call Center?”
“Lena, we can worry about the bomb later. We have to find a way back to Tirana to get...” Steve paused and smiled wryly at his wife. “Sorry, love, my bad.... Hawk, we have weapons nearby—that cache itself. It makes sense to go there.”
Hawk frowned as he figured out a way to get out of there. Marlena slipped in between Steve and him and stood quietly till he gave her his whole attention. Her blue eyes, a little darker than Amber’s, didn’t have their usual flirty sparkle. They were cool and assessing as they caught his gaze.
“We need Center to get us transport out of here,” she said. “It’s the quickest way. And you’ll have all the weapons you need.”
Hawk returned her gaze levelly. “Tell me the truth, Marlena. You know Center doesn’t give a hoot about Amber. They’ll want the bomb and won’t let me use it for an exchange.”
Marlena nodded. “Yes, you’re right, but we can use a decoy.”
“That’s fine and dandy, but they didn’t even allow me to cancel Dilaver because he’s still an asset. I’m not going to endanger Amber to please them.” Hawk turned to the Jeep. “If I have to I’ll go there myself with what weapons I have.”
Marlena laid a hand on his shoulder. “Call Jed, then,” she said. “He’ll find a way, Hawk. Jed’s Number Nine in his group and it’s his job to finish up any operations. He makes the final decision for the COS commandos. He won’t leave anyone behind if he can help it.”
Hawk stilled. That was right. Jed and Amber had talked as if they were good friends. “Okay,” he said. He pulled out the cell phone from the duffel bag. “Since you two aren’t supposed to be here, I’ll try not to mention your presence.”
Marlena’s smile was classic Marlena—sly and sultry. “If you have to, do it. I can have my honeymoon anywhere I choose,” she told him, then turned and walked back to Steve.
As the other two pulled out their gear from the vehicle, Hawk dialed the numbers and went through the usual indirect routing. He finally got hold of Jed McNeil. He gave an account of what had happened as quickly and succinctly as he could, then waited as Jed kept silent.
“We’ll get Amber,” he finally said, “but you have to go to the cache and get the bomb. When you’re there, activate your watch. I’ll find you.”
Hawk frowned. The watch had been a recording and uploading device. “I’m not sure what you mean. I activate it to steal the coordinates from Dilaver’s system. How would you locate me?”
“Ask Marlena to show you,” Jed said, and cut off.
Hawk put away the cell. “I didn’t mention your names, but he knows you’re here with me,” he told the other two. He showed them his watch. “He said Marlena would know how to use this to let him know how to locate us.”
Marlena crossed her arms, then turned and glared at Steve. “I hate those commandos.”
Steve grinned at Hawk, then showed him his wrist. He was wearing the same watch. “Wedding present,” he said, trying not to laugh. “His and hers watches.”
Hawk frowned. “What is it?”
“It’s obviously some kind of tracking unit,” Marlena said angrily. “Sneaky bastard. I’m going to kill him too. Right after I kill those who got us.”
“No,” Hawk said. “Dilaver’s mine. Now let’s go get the bomb and wait for Jed.”
“I didn’t find the weapon on them. Time’s running short, so I revised the plan. I have Amber Hutchens with me and left a note. He’ll bring the bomb in exchange for the hostage. Make sure you keep her alive till Hawk McMillan shows up. He’ll want to see her before he gives you anything in exchange.”
Amber didn’t move as she listened with her eyes closed. It was useless anyway. There wasn’t any way to loosen the ropes around her. She couldn’t believe that this was Lily speaking. It was her voice, but there was something different about its tone. It was flat, without emotion.
“They would have known I was following them. This way is better. Let him bring the weapon.” There was a pause, and Lily’s voice was very sure. “Of course he’ll come for Amber. Are you afraid? He’s just one SEAL against so many of you and this time you’ll be ready for him, right? There will be no surprise ambush.”
There was a longer pause this time and Amber had to strain to hear Lily’s whisper. “I’ll do what I have to do. Things fall apart.”
“Someone’s been here since we left,” Steve said.
Hawk looked at the scattered branches and brush that had once covered the crates. “Didn’t you touch any of them before? How did you know Cam and Patty had been here then?”
Marlena pointed to a crate behind a big shrub. “That’s the one we looked at because it wasn’t hidden very well. It was as if it had been pushed back into place by someone else.” She walked over to it and slid the top aside. “It wasn’t nailed and it looked as if things had been taken out of it. Then we found a few articles of clothing that Stash said were Cam’s.”
“Definitely Cam’s,” Steve agreed. “A truly classic Cam tie. I checked around and noticed the hidden crates but opted not to open them. I had a feeling about what they were anyway. But we needed to find out about that particular one because Cam’s things were in there. It looked like he and Patty had opened it and taken things out. But then why leave his stuff inside?”
Hawk walked closer to the exposed crates. “Don’t know, cuz. Right now, my concern’s more on these. Whoever’s been here opened them, too, but left all these weapons lying around. I guess they were after something else.”
“I don’t think your target weapon’s going to be here anymore either,” Marlena said.
“I’m going to look anyway while Jed sends us help.”
Hawk watched Marlena pull on Steve’s arm so she could glare at the watch he had on. “There’s no need to activate your watch,” she said, “since someone’s activated something on his wedding present that let everyone know where we were every moment of the day.”
“How was I to know?” Steve shrugged. “It’s just Jed, that’s all.”
“Oh yes, control freak king. Obviously, Hawk never activated his, so tell me, what did you do that’s different?”
Steve frowned, his fingers playing with the watch. “He showed us the recording and uploading feature.” Then he grinned sheepishly. “I asked him whether it took pictures underwater. And he told me to find out for myself.”
Hawk shook his head. “I don’t want to know,” he said. Marlena was staring at his cousin as if she were going to attack him any minute. Hawk shook his head again. Newlyweds. He added, “I really don’t want to know.”
Marlena didn’t seem to hear him. “Is that why you took me swimming after...” She paused, the expression on her face somewhere between outrage and amazement. “I’m so going to kill him.”
“We’ll have a talk with Jed later, babe, but right now...” Steve looked around.
“I know. Sorry, Hawk. When we get Amber back, are you going to marry her?”
Hawk looked up. And he was suddenly very sure. “Yes,” he said simply.
Marlena smiled. “Well, then, don’t accept any wedding presents from Jed McNeil.” She looked up at the sound of a far-off chopper. “Do you think that’s for us?”
“Knowing Jed, yes,” Steve said.
“There’s nowhere to land except way out in the open,” Hawk said.
“Can’t tell you what Jed’s up to, cuz.” Steve swung his weapon over his shoulder. “But if it’s not him, we have plenty of toys and ammo here.”
Hawk looked up, trying to gauge where the chopper was heading. “We stay exactly where we are,” he decided. “If someone finds us, then we know it’s through...your wedding present.”
Marlena made a rude noise, then gave Steve a nudge. “Did you at least delete those pictures?” Hawk heard her ask in a low voice.
“Of course,” Steve said with a straight face as he headed toward Hawk.
Newlyweds. Hawk looked down at the weapon in his hand. He knew they were also bantering to distract him from worrying too much about Amber. The SEAL in him knew that he could do nothing for now, but the man in him knew the danger she was in and was howling in silent fury. He knew Dilaver would take great pleasure in hurting Amber. He prayed that he would somehow be in time to save her. And for the first time in his life, he was deathly afraid that he wouldn’t be.
They used the crates and shrubs as a barrier and waited in silence. Twenty minutes went by after the sound of the helicopter flying by had stopped. Hawk was about to say that maybe they’d made a mistake when a shadow emerged from behind a tree. Hawk immediately took aim, quietly noting that the intruder hadn’t made a sound to betray his approach.
“He’s wearing white,” Marlena said. “That’s Alex Diamond, Number One.”
There were nine COS commandos. Hawk stood up from where he was. He’d seen this one before. After he and Steve had saved Marlena that time in D.C., Alex Diamond had shown up to debrief her.
The man stopped, giving the area a sweeping glance. He was either confident or arrogant, because wearing white wasn’t conducive to camouflage. He waited till Hawk reached him.
“Where is it?” His voice was as cold as his light blue eyes.
“It isn’t here,” Hawk said. “It might be with the same people who took Amber Hutchens.”
Diamond shook his head. “Then why the exchange note? Something’s wrong.” He turned to Steve and Marlena. “Congratulations. I heard you got married.”
Steve slipped a hand behind Marlena’s waist. Hawk suspected it was to stop his wife from making one of her usual rude comments. “Thanks. Anything to stop you from assigning her to work with you as a married couple,” he said with a slight smile. “Did you get hold of T.?”
Diamond’s eyes narrowed a little. “Have you seen her lately?”
“I did a few months ago,” Hawk said.
The other man pinned his gaze on him immediately. “We’ll speak more about your last meeting with her on the chopper. Leave the crates here. I’ll take care of it. The target weapon is more important.”
“But we don’t have it,” Hawk pointed out.
Diamond turned toward where he had come from. “You have twenty-four hours to find it,” he said. “We’ll get hold of Jed on satellite inside the chopper.”
The older man moved as if he’d been trained in jungle warfare. Hawk admired his fluid speed and eerie silence. Even hiking with his SEAL team, Hawk would hear certain sounds from weapons and clothing. He looked at Diamond’s back ahead of him and wondered at the COS commandos’ training program. He had to find out more, not just for Admiral Madison, but to satisfy his own curiosity.
Not turning around, Diamond said, “You’re injured. I can hear you breathing. There’s fluid in your lungs. You’ll need medic care very soon or you’ll get an infection.”
“I’ll take care of myself after the mission,” Hawk said quietly.
“Good.”
The chopper was military-issued. An armed man waited nearby, saluting Diamond as they approached.
“Better you than me,” Marlena whispered to Hawk.
“What?”
“He’ll want to know every little detail about T. She’s determined to avoid him.”
Hawk frowned. “Why’s that?”
“You really don’t know?” She looked at Diamond talking to his man outside the waiting chopper. “He and T. had some kind of falling out and now she won’t see him. She’s my operations chief, so of course I won’t tell him anything I might know when he asks me.”
Hawk shrugged. “I’ll tell him anything he wants to know about T. Somehow I think she can take care of herself.” He studied Diamond for a moment. There was a certain polished danger around the man that reminded Hawk of T.’s elusive quality. “A woman like that is hard to catch anyhow. More power to him.”
Diamond turned at that moment. If he’d overheard their conversation, he didn’t show it. “We have Jed on satellite. He’s at an international summit where we suspect this bomb was going to be used. It’s small and flat and can be hidden very easily in a tiny suitcase. It’s also totally undetectable because of its covering.”
Amber had been right. That was why Jed McNeil was all dressed up on the video link. “But why this particular bomb?” Hawk asked. This had been bothering him. “Anyone can rig one up.”
“It’s the mother of all little bombs,” Diamond explained. “Virtually undetectable by all the modern sniffers. Because so many heads of state are attending this summit, it’s going to be very difficult to smuggle any arms or devices into the area. The surrounding streets have been cordoned off to stop vehicular suicide bombers. Air traffic has been reduced.”
“Only a person who is authorized or invited can get in there then,” Hawk said.
“Yes.” Diamond turned. “Jed will fill you in on the details.”
Hawk’s cell phone buzzed. “Hang on,” he said. Very few people knew his number. He frowned. It was Bradford Sun’s ID. “This is Hawk.”
“Lily’s gone.”
Hawk waved Steve and Marlena over. “What happened? Were you ambushed?”
“No,” Brad said grimly. “She drugged me.”
Hawk’s frown deepened. “What do you mean, she drugged you?” He looked up. All the others’ eyes were on him. “Tell me exactly what happened, Brad.”
“We were followed to my place and, to give you and Amber more time, we decided to stay longer. Everything was fine or so I thought, until she stabbed me with a needle full of some kind of powerful drug. Whatever it was damn near killed me. She nearly OD’d me. My housekeeper saved my life.” There was a pause. “She tried to kill me, Hawk.”
“Are you certain it was her? We were drugged here, too. But it’s Dilaver who did it.”
“I’m sure. We were sleeping in...my bed,” Brad said. “I...still can’t believe it.”
Jesus. Hawk didn’t need Brad to paint a picture of what had happened. “I’m sorry, man,” he said. “I’m not sure what’s happening. Amber and the bomb are missing, too. Look, I’m meeting my contact via video and have to go, but I’ll bring this up. We’ll figure out what’s happening here. I’ll call you as soon as we have a game plan. Are you doing okay?”
There was a short bitter laugh from Brad. “Barring the fact that I’m still at the hospital, I suppose I am.”
“I’m sorry,” Hawk said again.
“Not your fault. I should have gone after the details in her file more. I had a gut feeling about her CIA background, so I did another check with another source. I found out recently she was saved by the CIA after being abused for two years in the whorehouses, and the file mentioned that she was part of Program Precious. I had assumed that was the name of the rescue operation, but now I’m not too sure. You do have CIA connections, right? Maybe you can find out what this program is and get a tie-in. There’s something wrong with her, Hawk. I woke up when she answered her cell phone. I thought it might have been you or Amber calling. Then she stabbed me with that thing and...she was muttering the same line over and over again.”
“What was it?”
“It’s that poem. ‘Things fall apart’...do you know it?”
Hawk took out a pen and jotted down the line. “That’s it? Things fall apart? I think I know it. Sounds familiar.”
“It’s from a famous poem. I swear I heard her saying that line as I tried to understand what was happening.”
“Okay. Keep your phone by you. I’ll be in touch.” Hawk ended the call. He turned to Diamond. “There’s another woman missing and I think she’s betrayed Amber and me.”
“Give Jed the details.”
Hawk and the others climbed into the huge chopper. There were two systems technicians, in familiar fatigue greens, working and monitoring the computers.
“We’re clear, sir,” one of them said.
“Good.”
The large LCD screen was state-of-the-art. Jed’s image was clearer than the one Hawk had talked to on Amber’s laptop. Now he could even see the flecks of silver in the other man’s eyes in the close-up. He was back in his usual faded jeans jacket but the background was a sumptuously decorated hotel room. His expression remained impassive as Hawk gave a detailed account of the state of the crates and Brad’s phone call.
Hawk waited after he was done. He was getting used to Jed McNeil’s odd long silences. The others standing with him must be, too, since they kept quiet. He always had a feeling that Jed was computing and simplifying, because when he spoke up after these silences, he always seemed to be able to reduce to bare bones the most complicated facts.
Jed looked down and Hawk could heard him shuffling some papers. “The summit meeting took place successfully, with only one minor incident. A woman was caught with an exploding device. It wasn’t our target weapon,” he said quietly. “Computation of seventy-five percent success of our operation, but that’s without the detail of Llallana Noretski. The woman in custody was obviously the decoy Greta mentioned to Amber Hutchens in their meeting. Llallana was the one going in with the bomb.”
“But the note demanded the target weapon and if they had it, why take Amber?” Hawk asked.
It was just a trick of the camera setup, but Jed’s light eyes seemed to turn colder. “McMillan, you like Miss Hutchens. It’s the only way to get you to do what they want—that is, go back to Velesta without finishing your mission. Meanwhile, Llallana takes off to the summit with the bomb.”
“One question. How’s Lily going through all the security without a pass?”
“There’s a very famous art exhibit unveiling in eighteen hours. I’ll let you make a guess as to who might be part of the entourage.”
Hawk took a deep breath. “Too coincidental.”
“There was a reason they didn’t kill you, Mr. McMillan. While you’re busy saving Miss Hutchens, the bomb will go off. You can’t be at two places at the same time.” Jed looked down at his papers again. “Granted, there’s something else going on here that would explain Amber’s girlfriend’s motives. Bradford Sun dug up something important that had been left out of previous classified files. Project Precious.”
“Brad said he thought it was a CIA-headed operation to rescue underage prostitutes.”
Jed shook his head. “Negative. This was a super-classified project. Very short summary—it’s short for Project Precious Gems. The last word sounds familiar to you? The CIA wanted trained operatives with the same talents unique to GEM operatives, except totally under its control. GEM, as you know, is independent, and the CIA was interested in finding out its secrets. Project Precious failed in copying or modifying NOPAIN, the GEM system, but things don’t go to waste in the CIA. Project Precious has morphed into what I know is a sleeper cell program. Trainees aren’t exactly operatives; they are embedded with sleeper commands that are activated with a repeated phrase.”
“Things fall apart,” Hawk muttered. He was beginning to feel the whole cloak-and-dagger world ought to explode with a certain undetectable bomb. Lily—a sleeper? He couldn’t even wrap his head around it right now. “So she’s been around Amber all these years waiting to be...activated?”
“She probably wasn’t aware of it, or only vaguely. Sleeper commands come in slowly, each one triggering the operative into a deeper state of awareness. By the time she’s fully activated, she’ll be ready to finish her assignment.”
Hawk shook his head in disgust. “I don’t even want to know how they did this to Lily.”
“Project Precious Gems picked up victims who are ideal for this type of program. Sleeper cells are manipulated through their emotions—hatred, fear, and a deep belief in a cause. I don’t have to point out Lily Noretski has all the requirements.”
“She’s heading your way, then,” Diamond interjected at this point to Jed.
“Apparently. I’ll be at the art show.”
“Get T. to bring the other weapon.”
Jed’s lips quirked. “I’ll let you know as soon as I take care of Llallana Noretski and have the device in my hands.”
Hawk understood what “taking care of” meant. Jed was Number Nine, the one who finished the job. “I’ll head off to Velesta now,” he said grimly. There was nothing he could do to save Lily. He could only pray that all these crazy calculations were wrong, that it was somebody else.
“Do what it takes to wrap up,” Jed said. “Diamond, there’s a message in your decoder for you. Hawk, any questions?”
He was going back to Velesta for one thing and one thing only. “Permission to take care of Dilaver,” he said.
“He’s no longer an asset,” Jed said, and nodded to someone off-camera. The screen went blank.
“This chopper will fly you to an airstrip by Velesta,” Diamond said. “While we’re on the way there, you can brief me on T. and your activities with her.”
Hawk didn’t say anything when Marlena winked at him as she passed him. “Stash and I will go to our seats and map out an attack plan,” she said.
The helicopter was faster than any he had ridden on. He didn’t bother to ask questions about permissions and international borders. Let them take care of those details. He had a personal war to wage against a certain Slavic warlord and he knew it would just be him, Steve, and Marlena. Three against a small army. He refused to think of what was happening to Amber. He and Steve were SEALs and they would get Dilaver one way or another.
After answering Diamond’s questions to his satisfaction, Hawk looked outside the chopper. He frowned. A familiar blue.
“That’s the ocean we’re heading toward,” he said. “We aren’t heading to Macedonia.”
“We have to make a stop,” Diamond said.
“I don’t have much time,” Hawk said, getting impatient. Amber. “Turn back now.”
“I suggest you sit down and wait. Fifteen minutes won’t make any difference at this point.”
Hawk resisted the urge to punch Alex Diamond and ruffle up his nice white shirt. He didn’t care for waiting fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes could mean getting to Amber in time before...He looked down at his clenched fists. Save energy. He needed to direct his anger for the battle.
The helicopter landed and Hawk was the first to jump out. The first thing he noticed was the smell of the ocean. Fresh. Clean. Something that he had missed a lot the last few months. Then his eyes followed the direction Diamond was heading.
Waiting by the beach was a very familiar sight. A rubber ducky, the boat with which SEALs transport inland from a larger ship or submarine. And by that boat, six very familiar men. Jazz. Cucumber. Mink. Zone. Dirk. Joker. His brothers-in-arms were here.
For the first time since he’d woken up from the drug, Hawk felt a measure of relief. Oh yeah. This was exactly what he’d prayed for.
“Thank you,” he said to Diamond, then approached his team. They saluted him and he snapped back a salute. “About time. Where’s Turner?”
“He’s out of commission for a while. We need you back for a wedding,” Jazz said. “Best man’s missing.”
“Been missing too many damn weddings. Won’t miss this one,” Hawk said. “Are we ready?”
“Sir! Standing and ready, sir!”