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Downtown Singapore Mainland
A warm breeze carrying the hint of orchid blossoms drifted across the large balcony. The sun had set an hour before, cloaking the city in a hot and humid darkness that offered only slightly lower temperatures from those dominating the daylight hours.
Viper raised her eyes from her laptop and glanced across the balcony to the man lounging in the shadows a few feet away. He was dressed in dark khaki cargo shorts and a black tee-shirt, stretched taut across his broad chest. Her heart thumped of its own accord and she pressed her lips together in reaction, ignoring the leap in her pulse.
“What if he doesn’t show?” she asked.
The man smiled faintly in the shadows.
“Then I hunt him down.”
“So much for our relaxing getaway.”
Viper stretched and closed her laptop, reaching for her bottled water.
“Is that what this is?” Hawk asked, straightening up and going across the flagged stones with lazy, measured strides. He moved like a panther, and Viper knew he was just as dangerous. “Yesterday you were scouring the embassy, looking for ghosts. This morning you were gone before dawn and came back with a new wound on your neck. Not much of a getaway.”
Viper shrugged, the corners of her lips tugging upwards.
“Old habits,” she murmured apologetically.
Hawk stopped next to the chaise lounge where she was stretched out and looked down at her, his blue eyes glinting in the low light from the lamps on the rooftop.
“I’ll take care of this as quickly as possible,” he promised, “and then we can get back to enjoying the evening.”
Viper smiled up at him and set the computer aside, swinging her legs off the cushions and standing in one fluid motion.
“You can only take care of it as quickly as the target allows,” she said. “Personally, I’m not holding my breath.”
“Neither am I,” he admitted, turning to look across the street at the high-rise opposite. “There’s about a seventy percent chance he’ll show, but when is anyone’s guess.”
Viper followed his gaze to a dark window directly opposite them.
“Who is he?” she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
Hawk glanced at her.
“A Chechen separatist,” he said slowly. “I’ve been watching him for a little over a year. It’s just pure luck I spotted him on our way from the airport.”
“Is it?” she asked softly.
Their eyes met and he shrugged.
“Probably not.”
Viper nodded, turning toward the small table holding the remains of their dinner.
“Charlie?” she asked over her shoulder, reaching for a slice of mango.
“Who else? He’s the one who sent us here.”
“Good point.” She turned to face him again, biting into the mango. “I can’t help feeling there’s something else going on though.”
Hawk looked at her.
“Like what?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she murmured, shaking her head. “You know how he is. Singapore isn’t just a whim. We’re here for a reason, and I think that reason is more than just an ex-soldier.”
He stared at her for a long moment, his lips drawn into a grim line.
“Something connected to Asad?” he asked finally. “Or the leak in Washington?”
Viper’s mask slid into place and she shrugged, popping the rest of the mango into her mouth.
“I don’t know, but when I find...”
She stopped abruptly, her eyes widening as Hawk lunged in front of her, turning his back to her as he did so. For a split second, his broad shoulders blocked her view. Then, suddenly, they moved.
She never heard the shot that threw him backwards. Viper reacted with pure instinct, reaching out to grab him as they both fell hard on the stone balcony. She grunted when they landed and immediately pulled herself from under his weight. Rolling onto her stomach, she low-crawled straight to his rifle, set up a few feet away. She didn’t need to hear the shot to know where it must have come from.
Reaching the rifle, she set her eye to the night-vision scope and scanned the building opposite, rolling over windows quickly until she found the one she wanted. Viper watched as a man slung a soft rifle bag over his shoulder, turning away from the open window.
Viper exhaled slowly as she squeezed the trigger. The man opposite fell a second later as the 7.68 round blew apart his skull. She watched him fall, then shifted back to the window Hawk had been watching all night. It was still dark. No threat there.
Viper closed the bipod legs attached to the rifle, lifting the gun and rapidly disassembling it with sure fingers before placing the pieces in an open case nearby. A moment later, there was no evidence a rifle had ever been present on the edge of the balcony.
Viper turned then, and her heart surged into her throat.
Hawk was lying perfectly still, blood soaking his abdomen and spreading across the stones beneath him.