“We’ll take care of it. You be careful,” Lily said.
“Okay. Take care of the duffel bag, Hot Stuff. We’ll need it for our vacation coming up.” What she really wanted to do was check out Hawk’s injuries for herself, but she had to do this. “Be there soon.”
“You have three hours or I’ll come looking,” Hawk had told her.
She smiled at the memory of the ferocious stare he’d given her. She had taken care of herself for so long that it made her feel giddy to see a man act so protective. Was it possible that she had only just met him? She felt as if she had known Hawk a lifetime.
The commotion outside her window interrupted her reverie. She peeked, then went out of her bedroom to look through the other window. Her little building was surrounded by cars. She could see Dilaver stepping out and giving some commands.
“Showtime,” Amber muttered.
By the time they reached her upstairs apartment, she was pulling out huge suitcases from the little closet by the stairway. She turned. Two men stood at the connecting door, weapons drawn, their eyes searching the small apartment.
“Can I help you?” she asked calmly.
The men ignored her. One of them walked to the kitchen door that led to the deck and opened it. Dilaver strode in, leaning heavily on his stick.
“The restaurant isn’t open today, Dragan,” Amber said.
“I’m not here for a meal, Amber,” Dilaver said, and nodded to his men. “We’re looking for Hawk.”
“You could have called on the phone,” she said. Her apartment was suddenly filled with men. “I’d have saved you time. He isn’t here. I thought he was with you.”
Dilaver sat down in the sofa and looked around him. “Very small place. It’s hard to hide a man in here.”
Amber raised her eyebrows. “Hide? Why would I hide a man? Are we talking about Hawk still? Because I thought you were both friends.”
“As of this morning, we’re not, my dear. He’s an informer.” Dilaver leaned on his walking stick, cocking his head. “As if you didn’t know.”
Amber shrugged. “No, I wasn’t sure. He’s a careful man, that Hawk. Doesn’t reveal much about anything.” She walked around her suitcases. “Are you really looking for him here, at my restaurant? Why would he come here to hide? This would be the first place you’d look, wouldn’t it?”
Dilaver nodded. “True, but you have been seeing him a lot lately. He couldn’t have gone far, though. He escaped not too long ago.”
Amber noticed Dilaver didn’t mention Hawk’s injury. She sat down on the arm of the sofa. “Excuse me, are you telling me that a man escaped from your compound? I find that hard to believe, Dragan.”
A grim expression finally crossed the Slav’s face. “It was a dramatic escape. He and a few others killed and injured a number of my men there.”
“So there were others involved?” Amber asked. She smiled. “Come on, now, you’re pulling my leg, aren’t you? How can anyone go into your compound without your knowing it? And then mount an escape after killing your people? I know you better than that, Dragan.”
A voice interrupted from the kitchen doorway. “You seemed awfully calm about the news that Hawk’s in danger.” A smartly dressed small middle-aged woman stood there. She surveyed the apartment. “Are you sure you know nothing about his background?”
Amber shrugged. “I knew he wasn’t telling me the whole truth, but then this is Velesta. You must not know much about this town.” She cocked her head, studying the woman curiously. “Which part of the States are you from?”
“Don’t tell her anything, Aunt Greta,” Dilaver warned from the couch. “Amber sells information. This is my aunt, Amber, and that’s all you need to know.”
Amber crossed her arms. Here was a chance to find out exactly what everyone was after. “We can make a deal. You’re after Hawk for something big. I can see that now. What does he have that you don’t?”
“And what will you do for me if I tell you?” Dilaver asked. His eyes narrowed. “Can you tell me where Hawk is?”
Amber shook her head. She gestured toward the suitcases. “I’m leaving town for a vacation very soon,” she said, “and last night was my goodbye with Hawk.” She sighed loudly. “I didn’t want it to end, but a woman has to make some tough choices.”
“A vacation with the CIVPOL chief, right?” Dilaver leaned closer. “Good choice. Your going away might help me. Hawk won’t have one more place to hide. It won’t be easy for him to get in and out of Velesta without my knowledge. I’ll have people posted at every crossroads looking for him.”
“It really sounds like he has something very important that you want,” Amber said. “Now I’m really curious. Is this information going to make me a lot of money?”
“Miss Hutchens,” Greta cut in, still standing in the doorway. “I deal with information myself. In fact, I can give you all kinds of classified information to sell that will make you a very wealthy woman. Now, if you can locate Hawk for us, maybe we can do some business. But there’s a time limit. Hawk won’t be of use to me after the seventeenth of this month.”
Amber noticed Greta said “me” and not “us.” “Why the specific time?” she asked.
