“They would have known I was following them. This way is better. Let him bring the weapon.” There was a pause, and Lily’s voice was very sure. “Of course he will come for Amber. Are you afraid? He’s just one SEAL against so many of you, and this time you’ll be ready for him, right? There will be no surprise ambush.”
There was a longer pause this time and Amber had to strain to hear Lily’s whisper. “I will do what I have to do. Things fall apart.”
“Someone’s been here since we left,” Steve said.
Hawk looked at the scattered branches and brush that had once covered the crates. “Didn’t you touch any of them before? How did you know Cam and Patty had been here then?”
Marlena pointed to a crate behind a big shrub. “That’s the one we looked at because it wasn’t hidden very well. It was as if it had been pushed back into place by someone else.” She walked over to it and slid the top aside. “It wasn’t nailed and it looked as if things had been taken out of it. Then we found a few articles of clothing that Stash said were Cam’s.”
“Definitely Cam’s,” Steve agreed. “A truly classic Cam tie. I checked around and noticed the hidden crates but opted not to open them. I had a feeling about what they were anyway. But we needed to find out about that particular one because Cam’s things were in there. It looked like he and Patty had opened it and taken things out. But then why leave his stuff inside?”
Hawk walked closer to the exposed crates. “Don’t know, cuz. Right now, my concern’s more on these. Whoever’s been here opened them, too, but left all these weapons lying around. I guess they were after something else.”
“I don’t think your target weapon’s going to be here anymore, either,” Marlena said.
“I’m going to look anyway while Jed sends us help.”
Hawk watched Marlena pull on Steve’s arm so she could glare at the watch he had on. “There’s no need to activate your watch,” she said, “since someone’s activated something on his wedding present that leteveryoneknow where we wereeverymoment of the day.”
“How was I to know?” Steve shrugged. “It’s just Jed, that’s all.”
“Oh yes, control freak king. Obviously, Hawk never activated his, so tell me, what did you do that’s different?”
Steve frowned, his fingers playing with the watch. “He showed us the recording and uploading feature.” Then he grinned sheepishly. “I asked him whether it took pictures underwater. And he told me to find out for myself.”
Hawk shook his head. “I don’t want to know,” he said. Marlena was staring at his cousin as if she were going to attack him any minute. Hawk shook his head again. Newlyweds. He added, “I really don’t want to know.”
Marlena didn’t seem to have heard him. “Is that why you took me swimming after…” She paused, the expression on her face somewhere between outrage and amazement. “I’m so going to kill him.”
“We’ll have a talk with Jed later, babe, but right now…” Steve looked around.
“I know. Sorry, Hawk. When we get Amber back, are you going to marry her?”
Hawk looked up. And he was suddenly very sure. “Yes,” he said simply.
Marlena smiled. “Well, then, don’t accept any wedding presents from Jed McNeil.” She looked up at the sound of a far-off chopper. “Do you think that’s for us?”
“Knowing Jed, yes,” Steve said.
“There’s nowhere to land except way out in the open,” Hawk said.
“Can’t tell you what Jed’s up to, cuz.” Steve swung his weapon over his shoulder. “But if it’s not him, we have plenty of toys and ammo here.”
Hawk looked up, trying to gauge where the chopper was heading. “We stay exactly where we are,” he decided. “If someone finds us, then we know it’s through…your wedding present.”
Marlena made a rude noise, then gave Steve a nudge. “Did you at least delete those pictures?” Hawk heard her ask in a low voice.
“Of course,” Steve said with a straight face as he headed toward Hawk.
Newlyweds. Hawk looked down at the weapon in his hand. He knew they were also bantering to distract him from worrying too much about Amber. The SEAL in him knew that he could do nothing for now, but the man in him knew the danger she was in and was howling in silent fury. He knew Dilaver would take great pleasure in hurting Amber. He prayed that he would somehow be in time to save her. And for the first time in his life, he was deathly afraid that he wouldn’t be.
They used the crates and shrubs as a barrier and waited in silence. Twenty minutes went by after the sound of the helicopter flying by had stopped. Hawk was about to say that maybe they had made a mistake when a shadow emerged from behind a tree. Hawk immediately took aim, quietly noting that the intruder hadn’t made a sound to betray his approach.
“He’s wearing white,” Marlena said. “That’s Alex Diamond, Number One.”
There were nine COS commandos. Hawk stood up from where he was. He’d seen this one before. After he and Steve had saved Marlena that time in D.C., Alex Diamond had shown up to debrief her.
The man stopped, giving the area a sweeping glance. He was either confident or arrogant, because wearing white wasn’t conducive to camouflage. He waited till Hawk reached him.
