“We don’t know,” Steve said, concern creeping into his voice. “We do know they were in one of those crates. I wish I knew for sure, Hawk. I can’t let it go when I don’t know what’d happened to them. Anyway, we’ll take you two back there. It’ll be faster.”
Hawk tapped Steve’s shoulder. “Sorry about Cam,” he said. Cam had been Steve’s closest friend when he was alone, a fish out of water, in D.C. “You guys can go ahead to Tirana. Just give Amber and me the directions. Tracking is tracking, after all.”
Marlena gave an exaggerated sigh. “Get the job done and follow us back to Tirana. Why would anyone track on foot when they can rent a Land Rover?”
Hawk grinned. He couldn’t imagine Marlena tracking up a mountain, either. “We had to cross a border without papers, for one thing. And then for some reason there weren’t big signs saying ‘Land Rover Rentals’ up in the mountain villages. Can’t figure out why.”
“Keep my cell number with you, darling. Call me whenever and I’ll arrange to pick you up one way or another.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Hawk promised, and didn’t blink when Amber bumped into his painful ribs. He’d have to teach her not to take Marlena’s baiting so easily. “Give me a few minutes to talk to my partner.”
He gave his cousin a telling stare, to which he received nothing but an amused quirk of the lips for an answer. It wasn’t lost on him how relaxed and happy his cousin appeared to be now. Apparently, keeping up with Marlena Maxwell’s lifestyle was good for him. He glanced at Amber, who was looking in the duffel bag, as if she wanted to use some weapon in there. Well, if Steve could manage a handful like Marlena, he could adjust to Amber and all her shady deals. She was doing something that he wanted to help with, anyway.
He bent down. “Land Rover?” he asked, leaving it to her to decide.
“You’re letting me decide?” Amber gave Hawk a sideways glance. Did he know how good he made her feel when he consulted her?
“You’re the guide. That’s what being a team means, sweetheart. We do everything together—like those two.”
He did know. She had to remember that he was a SEAL team commander. He would be the kind of man who liked to make sure his team, no matter how small in number, would know they were needed for the job.
Amber didn’t know what to make of the other couple. The man was very obviously related to Hawk. He had the same facial features, though he was a bit more clean-cut and stood a bit taller than Hawk. The woman reminded her a bit of Lily, with her sardonic humor and dark beauty. Amber wasn’t sure about that tidbit of information regarding her background, but from their fight, she could tell Marlena Maxwell wasn’t just a pretty face.
“You okay about this?” Hawk asked, pulling her up and taking her to one side.
Amber shook her head and spoke confidentially in his ear. “It’s too weird to think how we managed to bump into your cousin and his wife right in the middle of nowhere and they know the exact location of what we’re looking for. I mean, can you really trust them?”
“With my life,” Hawk answered, his eyes that dark gold color that always reminded her of sunlight reflecting on a bright ocean. “If they say they are down here looking for their friends, they are. Cam and Patty were their good friends. If it helps, the timeline checks out. I was in Asia when the drop shipment records were discovered and that was why we set up Dilaver. My commander wants me to map out the caches for destruction and GEM wants to make sure I get hold of one particular weapon for them. That’s this bomb.”
Amber looked over to where Marlena was talking to Steve. “GEM?” She should have known. “GEM is working with Jed now?”
“Isn’t Jed part of them?”
She looked at Hawk in surprise. “No. Jed is part of COS Command. GEM is an independent contractor agency.”
“They are working together now, Amber,” Hawk said, “and have been for some time. They were part of my mission in Asia. Jed runs part of GEM’s operations.”
“Well, the things a girl finds out in the wilds of Albania,” Amber muttered. “I don’t like GEM operatives.”
“Why? I’ve seen them at work a few times. They’re good.”
Amber leaned forward, making sure her words wouldn’t carry. “We call them witches.”
Hawk’s gaze turned quizzical. “Witches?”
“That’s info-world lingo. Some agencies get a reputation. When you want information personally extracted, hire a GEM witch. They’re programmed to seed suggestions to the subconscious.” She glanced at the couple not too far away again. “This one has probably infiltrated your cousin.”
Hawk slowly shook his head. “He works for them. Actually, now that I think about it, Jed probably has a hand in them being here. He’s a manipulative son of a bitch. What you’re talking about is NOPAIN, by the way. I know a little about it. It’s just a mental strategy technique.”
Amber snorted. “Mind control techniques, more like.” Amber studied him skeptically. “They taught you? Impossible. They only pick certain profiles.”
“Like what?”
“If you have been around them, haven’t you noticed? They’re mostly females. And orphans. I’ve been trying to get info on this agency for ages. Every operative that I’ve encountered or researched was an orphan and very carefully chosen. Info about GEM is an expensive item in some circles.” She met Hawk’s gaze levelly, then shrugged. “That’s my job. Even the CIA’s ultra-interested in GEM.”
To her surprise, he didn’t make fun about the information on the Agency or get angry at the notion that his cousin could be in trouble. He considered for a few seconds. “Will it make you mad if I tell you that too much info kills action? It’s not my area. Right now—”
Amber sniffed. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bomb, retrieve, remove, whatever. All this cool info and all you want is to save the world.” She smiled. “I’ll just grin and say ‘I told you so’ when you realizesheisn’t just in Albania for some side job. She has another assignment.”
