Something fell on top of the Rover, blanketing them. Amber blinked, trying to focus even as Steve braked hard. The material was heavy, ropelike. She heard Steve cursing as the vehicle ground into whatever it was and smelled tires burning as they tangled with the rope.
“That was a fucking decoy!”
Hawk pushed up with the muzzle of his weapon. She did the same. The gauze broke easily, but the ropes binding it weighed a ton. Something sharp hit her in the back and she cried out.
“Amber?” She heard Hawk yell.
“Stash! Don’t come over here!” She heard Marlena call urgently. “I’ve been—”
The world turned woozy and the voices slowed down like a recorder in need of a fresh battery. Amber felt as if she were being choked. She needed air. She reached out and felt Hawk slumped down against the back seat, struggling, too. Drugged. Whatever had hit her had gotten the others, too, and they must all be feeling disoriented like her.
They needed air. She pushed out of the cut material, the thick rope bindings wide enough for her to squeeze through. Sunlight flashed blindingly as her focus blurred and cleared and blurred again. A figure stood not too far away.
Amber frowned. “Lily?” she asked, her voice sounding hoarse and strange. The last thing she saw was Lily walking toward her, a grim look on her face.
23
The voices sounded distorted, as if he wereunderwater. 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 had to blink 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.
