“Project Precious Gems picked up victims who are ideal for this type of program. Sleeper cells are manipulated through their emotions—hatred, fear, and a deep belief in a cause. I don’t have to point out Lily Noretski has all the requirements.”
“She’s heading your way, then,” Diamond interjected at this point to Jed.
“Apparently. I’ll be at the art show.”
“Get T. to bring the other weapon.”
Jed’s lips quirked. “I’ll let you know as soon as I take care of Llallana Noretski and have the device in my hands.”
Hawk understood what “taking care of” meant. Jed was Number Nine, the one who finished the job. “I’ll head off to Velesta now,” he said grimly. There was nothing he could do to save Lily. He could only pray that all these crazy calculations were wrong, that it was somebody else.
“Do what it takes to wrap up,” Jed said. “Diamond, there’s a message in your decoder for you. Hawk, any questions?”
He was going back to Velesta for one thing and one thing only. “Permission to take care of Dilaver,” he said.
“He’s no longer an asset,” Jed said, and nodded to someone off-camera. The screen went blank.
“This chopper will fly you to an airstrip by Velesta,” Diamond said. “While we’re on the way there, you can brief me on T. and your activities with her.”
Hawk didn’t say anything when Marlena winked at him as she passed him. “Stash and I will go to our seats and map out an attack plan,” she said.
The helicopter was faster than any he had ridden on. He didn’t bother to ask questions about permissions and international borders. Let them take care of those details. He had a personal war to wage against a certain Slavic warlord and he knew it would just be him, Steve, and Marlena. Three against a small army. He refused to think of what was happening to Amber. He and Steve were SEALs and they would get Dilaver one way or another.
After answering Diamond’s questions to his satisfaction, Hawk looked outside the chopper. He frowned. A familiar blue.
“That’s the ocean we’re heading toward,” he said. “We aren’t heading to Macedonia.”
“We have to make a stop,” Diamond said.
“I don’t have much time,” Hawk said, getting impatient. Amber. “Turn back now.”
“I suggest you sit down and wait. Fifteen minutes won’t make any difference at this point.”
Hawk resisted the urge to punch Alex Diamond and ruffle up his nice white shirt. He didn’t care for waiting fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes could mean getting to Amber in time before…He looked down at his clenched fists. Save energy. He needed to direct his anger for the battle.
The helicopter landed and Hawk was the first to jump out. The first thing he noticed was the smell of the ocean. Fresh. Clean. Something that he had missed a lot the last few months. Then his eyes followed the direction Diamond was heading.
Waiting by the beach was a very familiar sight. A rubber ducky, the boat with which SEALs transport inland from a larger ship or submarine. And by that boat, six very familiar men. Jazz. Cucumber. Mink. Zone. Dirk. Joker. His brothers-in-arms were here.
For the first time since he had woken up from the drug, Hawk felt a measure of relief. Oh yeah. This was going exactly as he’d prayed for.
“Thank you,” he said to Diamond, then approached his team. They saluted him and he snapped back a salute. “About time. Where’s Turner?”
“He’s out of commission for a while. We need you back for a wedding,” Jazz said. “Best man’s missing.”
“Been missing too many damn weddings. Won’t miss this one,” Hawk said. “Are we ready?”
“Standing and ready, sir!”
24
“I know you can hear me, Amber,” thevoice whispered in her ear. “I know you hate me and I’ll have to live with that. But I need you here. Hawk will come for you and that will keep him from following me. I didn’t give them that high a dose, so he and his two friends can get back here in time. But just in case…I’ve made sure that you don’t feel anything. I know what it’s like to have your legs spread out while they maul you one by one and I don’t want you to feel the pain and anguish I did. I don’t have time to get more of the stuff that puts you out, but this will work just fine.”
Amber felt a jab in her arm. Tied up as she was, she had never felt so helpless. Her eyes flew open and met Lily’s dark ones, except they didn’t seem like her friend’s eyes at all. There was a far-off look in them, as if she weren’t really looking at Amber.
“Dilaver will rape you,” Lily told her matter-of-factly, “and Hawk will kill him. I’ll finally get what I want—the bastard gone. Meanwhile, I’ll be at the art show and I’ll wipe out the rest of those bastards who think they can run the world by selling weapons and women. I’ll show all the CIAs and World Health Organizations and humane watch-dogs how it’s done. They think they run everything, but they are wrong.”
Although her mouth was taped, Amber tried to say something. The sounds she managed to make were weak and took too much effort. Lily shook her head.
