Wow. He was damn good.
Lily looked at her friend again, who was tucked in bed like she had gone there herself. Nothing around to show what McMillan had done. Oh. Amber’s weapons were laid out neatly at the foot of the bed. Lily smiled ruefully. Ooops. She knew where those were kept.
That man was in so much trouble. That was good. “Keep distracting her for me,” she murmured. “I’d hoped Brad would, but you’ll do.”
But she wasn’t going tothinkabout Brad. And what she didn’t want him to do with Amber. She couldn’t feel anything anymore, remember? No feelings. Not a damn one.
5
“Dobro.Call me back when the shipmentarrives. I’m counting on you.” Dilaver shut his cell phone and turned to Hawk. “Finally, some good news.”
Hawk raised his eyebrows questioningly. He was sitting on the new sofa Dilaver had bought last night, his feet resting on the new coffee table. An entire suite of furniture to replace the destroyed one. He wondered how long they would last before they, too, became the victims of their owner’s displeasure.
“I tell you, everyone wants a piece of the action, you know? It used to be they respected the different militias in charge and no one would contemplate going after anything that belongs to us, but lately…” Dilaver paused, shaking his head in disgust. “They even dare to rob me. In broad daylight! The last few months have been killing me, man, what with the missing shipments. Not enough income and too many damn lazy fuckers to feed, you know? What the hell’s this world coming to when even the petty thieves don’t respect us?”
Hawk almost laughed aloud. He was sitting with one of the most reviled men in the criminal world and the latter was complaining about his illegal activities like some businessman facing a market downturn. That the piece of action had to do with kidnapped girls being trafficked across borders like so many cattle was sickening enough, but Dilaver talked of them as shipments and income, not registering that these were human lives that he had destroyed. And it was ironic humor that struck Hawk because it didn’t seem to occur to Dilaver that he was the biggest robber of all, as he sat there complaining about petty thieves.
“Yes, I’ve been watching all the bad news happening lately,” Hawk said now. Here was his opportunity to plant some ideas. “You’ve been losing a lot of money since I met you. You need help.”
“You think so, huh?” Dilaver eyed him thoughtfully. “You know, I’ve been thinking about how I could use you.”
“You only paid for my guiding you out of Asia,” Hawk reminded him. “My boss gave me orders to run my errand and then head on back.”
“What if I become your boss? How much does Stefan pay you?” Dilaver asked. “You did a great job protecting me and getting my men and me through the borders with hardly any problems. I’m very impressed by your skills, especially when we were running like hell through the jungle. You trekked well, finding us shelter whenever we needed it, and in the end you got us out of that hellish place in one piece. I think you’ll do extremely well here in Macedonia, Hawk.”
His skills hadn’t been tested much during that adventure. Getting them out of Asia had been made easier when he had been cleared by covert agencies way ahead of him and Dilaver. And now he had gained enough of Dilaver’s trust that the latter wanted to hire him.
“I still have my one job to do for Stefan,” Hawk said. “Meanwhile, I’ll think about your offer, but only if I know what it entails.”
“You’re loyal and you finish your job, no matter what. I like that in a man. You deal with illegal weapons and that’s what I would like you to continue to do.”
Hawk raised his eyebrows. “I thought your girlie business was used to finance your weapon business. What’s there to that? You don’t deal with arms dealers like Stefan does.”
“Ah, but I’m getting interested, you see,” Dilaver said, tapping his cane on the carpet. “When I was in Asia, I heard about the weapon conference. Stefan mentioned it. Big names. Something big happening there. I want details; I want to get in on the deals, Hawk.”
“Why? You got it good the way you’re set up. Girls and drugs finance the weapons trade, right? And you arm the KLA and whomever you like.” And had used those weapons to kill some of his fellow SEAL brothers. Hawk gestured at the map of Macedonia that was pinned crookedly on one of the walls. “Why would you want to start negotiating with other arms dealers, man? They would just want a piece of your pie.”
Dilaver’s smile was confidential. “Do you know how I get my weapons?”
Yeah, Hawk did, and that was why he was here in this rat’s nest. “Like everyone else, I suppose. Take them off the hands of Russian small-timers.”
The big man laughed. “Nope. Guess again.”
Hawk shrugged. “Fuck, Dilaver, we aren’t playing some fucking Macedonian Trivial Pursuit here. There are black market weapons galore everywhere these days. You have the money; you can buy anything.”
“Yes, but I didn’t buy some of these weapons, you see. They were free.”
Hawk rubbed his chin. “That’s nice but somewhat unbelievable. People don’t just hand you weapons without expecting something back in return.”
“But it’s true, my friend,” Dilaver said with a laugh. He waved his walking stick, pointing it at the ceiling. “They literally fall down from the sky.”
The big man started guffawing, and couldn’t seem to stop.
“Clearly, I’m missing some big joke,” Hawk said wryly. “You’re just dying to tell me, aren’t you?”
Dilaver shook his head. “There you go again, with that odd American talk that doesn’t translate well in Serbian.” He frowned, slowly translating the phrase back into English. “Dying…to…tell. What the hell does that mean?”
“It means you have a secret and you want to share,” Hawk explained, also reverting back to English. “Here’s some more weapon phrases. You’re sitting on a bomb. Or, you’re about to explode. Or, you have a bee in your bonnet, if you’re into skirts.”
