Aim for the Heart

by Ingrid Weaver

  But then, she hadn't been too subtle about checking out Glenna and Abbie when she'd seen how Rafe and Flynn had felt about them.

  Eagle Squadron took care of its own in more ways than one.

  "What's between Hawk and myself is our business, Flynn," she said. She squeezed Hawk's hand as she turned to Rafe. "The testosterone fest will have to wait. What's our current situation, Sergeant Marek?"

  Rafe glanced briefly at the way she was touching Hawk, then dug into a pocket on his thigh. He came up with a magazine that would fit Flynn's pistol and tossed it to Sarah.

  She realized it was no accident that she had to release Hawk's hand in order to catch it.

  "Norton and Lang are covering the exit to the deck," Rafe said. "The Major and Gonzales have the main force of Jibril's men pinned down on the bridge. The servants and ship's crew are contained in the galley."

  She slipped the extra ammunition into her pants pocket. "What's our escape plan?"

  "We've got a chopper holding a mile to port," Flynn said, his tone all business. "It'll come in on our signal. Chief Esposito rigged charges to blow the helicopter pad on the aft deck to cover our retreat."

  "Time frame?"

  "Eight minutes."

  "We need to get below first." She glanced at Hawk. "There's a computer we have to destroy."

  He nodded once to indicate he understood. They couldn't risk leaving his work for Jibril's people to find, whether it was encrypted or not.

  "The chief can do it," Rafe said. "Give me the location and I'll relay the info."

  Sarah quickly described the location of the computer equipment Hawk had used. Rafe repeated the information into his microphone to Esposito and started for the door. "He's on his way. Let's move out."

  "What about Jibril?" Hawk asked.

  "The prince is holed up on the bridge with his men," Flynn replied, putting a fresh magazine in his rifle as he moved after Rafe. "Shouldn't give us any problem."

  "You're not just going to leave him here, are you?" Hawk asked.

  "This is strictly a rescue mission," Rafe said. "He's the crown prince of Moukim. We can't touch him." He checked the corridor, then stepped outside with a fluid, twisting movement, his gun directed toward the staircase to the deck. Several guards lay motionless on the floor, their ankles bound and their wrists fastened together behind their backs with plastic bundling ties.

  Flynn followed Rafe into the corridor, his weapon pointed in the opposite direction. He gestured for Hawk and Sarah to join him. "Prince Jibril covered his tracks too well, Lemay. Apart from your testimony, there would be no smoking gun so we don't have the authority to take him."

  "He was going to cut off Sarah's hands," Hawk said.

  Rafe and Flynn stopped where they were. They both looked at Sarah.

  She scowled, clasping her borrowed pistol more firmly. "It's the penalty under Moukim law for the way I assaulted him at the conference last week. Let it go. It's got nothing to do with the mission."

  Rafe turned to Hawk. "Give me a summary."

  "It was going to start tomorrow. One body part a week until I gave him fusion power."

  Rafe activated his transmitter again. He repeated what Sarah and Hawk had told him. His voice roughened. "Major? Requesting permission to kill the son of a bitch."

  * * *

  Hawk and Flynn ran across the deck toward the stern of the Faith behind Rafe and Sarah. The air was filled with the sound of waves slapping against the hull and the staccato pops of gunfire from the men who were covering their retreat. On their left was the bulky silhouette of Jibril's helicopter where it was tied down on its pad. The helicopter platform was elevated, extending partially over the stern so it provided cover on one side. Rafe led them around a lifeboat that hung from a davit beside the port railing and dropped into a crouch behind it. Sarah fell to one knee and steadied her gun on the other knee, her attention on the deck behind them.

  "Four minutes," Flynn said, crouching behind Hawk. "The chopper's on its way. It'll be hugging the wave tops behind the stern. When it comes up over the railing, dive inside and roll to the right to grab for the next man. There won't be much time."

  "Sarah goes first," Hawk said over his shoulder.

  "We wouldn't do it any other way."

  Hawk heard the resolve in Flynn's voice and knew he could count on him. These men were every bit as protective of Sarah as the Major had claimed.

  Redinger had denied the team permission to go after Jibril. He'd agreed with Sarah. Their objective wasn't to bring Jibril to justice, it was to get off the Faith in one piece. Rafe and Flynn didn't like leaving unfinished business any more than Hawk did, but the Major was right. As much as Hawk would prefer to see Jibril pay for his cruelty to Sarah and for the men who had died because of Weltzer, his priority was still Sarah's safety. The sooner they accomplished their escape, the safer she would be.

  The dark forms of the rest of the team converged on the stern from various points around the deck, the muzzles of their weapons flashing as they continued to fire behind them. Redinger was the last to arrive. He placed himself at the far end of the group, gave them a thumbs-up and turned to watch the water. No lights were visible, but the stuttering hum of a helicopter was rapidly approaching.

  Hawk hooked one hand in the back of the waistband of Sarah's pants, preparing to toss her into the helicopter as soon as it arrived. She threw him a look over her shoulder, part exasperation and part something else he couldn't interpret.

  Rafe and Flynn maneuvered themselves in front of Hawk on either side of Sarah and each grabbed one of her arms. Apparently they had the same thing in mind as Hawk. Sarah opened her mouth to say something then, but her words were drowned out by a sudden thudding boom.

  Lights flared to life along the upper edge of the bridge, flooding the deck with a white glare. Car-size plates of metal in the superstructure swung open, exposing two pairs of long-barreled weapons. There was another boom. A shell rocketed over the deck to burn a trail through the darkness.

  "The bastard has artillery," Flynn said. "We don't have the ordnance to take that out."

  Another panel opened to reveal an unmanned machine gun that was mounted high on a circular metal base. It swiveled toward them. A line of sparks shot up from the deck between the helicopter pad and the back of the lifeboat less than a yard away from the team.

  "These must be what Jibril meant by the Faith's defenses," Sarah said. "He must have been waiting until he could pin us all down before he used them."

  As quickly as it had begun, the gunfire ceased. The point had been made. A voice cut through the sudden silence. "Throw down your weapons!" The words were amplified by a loudspeaker, but Jibril's high-pitched, Oxford-tinged tone was instantly recognizable. "Surrender and you will not be harmed."

  "Yeah, right," Flynn said. "Tell us another one."

  "This is all a terrible misunderstanding," Jibril continued.

  "I've heard that before," Sarah muttered.

  "Allow my guests to remain with me and the rest of you are free to leave. You have ten seconds to decide."

  "Three minutes until the charges blow," Rafe said. "That will give us the cover we need to board the chopper. We have to stall."

  "Seven seconds…six…"

  Hawk didn't need more than half a second to make his decision. He took a deep breath and released his grip on Sarah's waistband. "Hang on to her, Rafe," he said, rising to his feet. "You'll have your three minutes."

  "Hawk," Sarah, cried. "Oh, my God! No!"

  "Three…two…"

  "Don't shoot!" Hawk shouted. He raised his hands over his head, stepped away from the group and strode forward.

  "Ah, Hawkins. I'm pleased you elected to join me."

  Hawk could hear a scuffle behind him and Sarah's muttered curses. Her voice cut off suddenly, as if someone had put their hand over her mouth. He didn't look back. He was confident she wouldn't be able to break free of her large and determined friends.

  Flynn had said
the explosives were under the helicopter pad. Hawk glanced at the raised platform on his right. The charges would have been positioned so that the team wouldn't be harmed when they went off. That meant the force of the blast would be directed away from the stern, likely toward the front and the sides. He wondered how accurate Chief Esposito's timing was.

  "But what about your lovely…incentive," Jibril said. "I am still waiting for her."

  Hawk walked past the lifeboat so he would have a clear path to the railing at the side of the ship. He was now in line with the front of the helicopter pad. He squinted against the floodlights that shone in his eyes and cupped his hands around his mouth. "You don't need her, Jibril," he shouted. "I have what you want. I discovered the key today. I can give you fusion power."

  The loudspeaker fell silent. Hawk could hear the men behind him shifting. He tried to keep track of the time in his head, but it was dragging by in nightmare slow motion. He knew Jibril had no intention of letting Sarah and her team go free. He could only hope that as long as he kept Jibril talking, the palace guards wouldn't open fire.

  The mahogany doors that led into the upper part of the ship swung open. At least twenty heavily armed guards burst through and fanned out along the deck. Hawk heard the clicks of weapons being readied behind him. He was right in the middle. If there was gunfire, he would be caught between both sides and be dead within seconds. He was counting on Jibril's greed to keep him alive.

  A blur of white appeared at the doors. It was Jibril himself. Hawk felt his pulse kick. He hadn't expected the prince to swallow his act that well.

  Twelve more guards fell into position around Jibril, forming a human wall to shield him as he advanced, although he had probably deduced the men from Eagle Squadron wouldn't be allowed to harm him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have appeared, no matter how many guards he hid behind. He gathered his djellabah around him and moved with his characteristic smooth glide despite the slow roll of the deck. He halted when he was still several yards from Hawk. "If you lie," he called out. "I will kill all of you."

  Hawk lowered his hands. "I never lie, Jibril. I do have the key to fusion power. Ask your guards. They were watching me when I found it."

  There was an exchange of words between Jibril and the guard on his right before Jibril and his human shield came two paces closer. With the floodlights behind him, his face was in shadow, yet his dark eyes appeared lit from within. "The technology will be mine and mine alone."

  "Fly me to Moukim tonight," Hawk said. "I'll begin running the tests as soon as we arrive. You'll have a prototype reactor by next month."

  "You see? I win again, Hawkins."

  "Yes." How long now? One minute? Half a minute? "You always win, just as you won Faith."

  Jibril laughed. There was a manic edge to the sound. "Yes, I won Faith. It was only a matter of finding the right incentive then, too."

  Hawk's muscles were bunching with the urge to move but he forced himself to remain motionless. Didn't Jibril hear the approaching helicopter? Or did he plan to wait for it to get closer before he gave the order to destroy it? Hawk felt a bead of sweat trickle down his temple. He had to keep Jibril talking. "You mean your money?"

  "No, Hawkins. Nothing so crass. You were the incentive that time. I used the same tactic with Faith that I did with you."

  Twenty seconds? Fifteen? "I don't understand."

  Jibril took a quick step forward. His guards hastened to resume their formation. "No, you never did understand that I was the true genius. What a shame. It was so pathetically easy." He laughed again. "Would you like to know, Hawkins?"

  He hoped the team could get Sarah into the helicopter first. Yet with so many of the palace guards positioned on the deck, would the explosion provide enough cover? "Know what, Jibril?"

  "How I did it. I convinced Faith that if she married you she would be a widow by the end of the day. To keep you alive, she was willing to do anything."

  Hawk's entire consciousness was focused on counting off three minutes. His thoughts were filled with the people whose lives depended on him. This wasn't about his past. It wasn't personal.

  But it was. Dammit, the past had never been over. Jibril's words lanced through his heart, rupturing the wound that Hawk had believed was long healed.

  Time stopped as the buried pain came pouring out. Faith had left him at the altar. She had agreed to marry Jibril. She had done it because…

  Because she'd thought she was saving Hawk's life.

  In the space of a heartbeat, everything crystallized. It fit. Finally it made sense. The love Hawk and Faith had shared had been real after all. Jibril had recognized that love and had used it. He'd twisted it.

  All these years Hawk hadn't seen the truth. He hadn't trusted his feelings. He'd hidden behind his logic, but he could have listened to his heart all along.

  It was all so gloriously simple.

  Jibril waved his hand toward Hawk and gave a curt order in Arabic to his guards.

  Before the guards could react, a whistle split the air. Hawk snapped out of his daze and dove for the brass railing at the edge of the deck. A blinding flash reflected in the metal. Thunder erupted around him. He was already on his way over the side when the force of the blast caught him, flinging him upward and away from the hull.

  He had only an instant to glimpse the scene behind him, but every detail seared into his brain. The platform at the stern of the ship tilted forward on billows of flame. The helicopter that had been resting on it split apart as its fuel ignited, raining deadly chunks of metal decking and burning wreckage on the palace guards. In the center of the guards, a tall, slender figure was cowering on his knees, his robes alight, his face contorted in a scream.

  And in the glare on the edge of the destruction, a group of men tossed a small blond woman through the open door of the helicopter that rose above the corner of the deck.

  Hawk was smiling when the first piece of debris hit him.

  Chapter 15

  "How is he?"

  Sarah wiped her eyes on her sleeve and glanced over her shoulder. "No change, Rafe."

  Rafe moved into the room to stand at the foot of the hospital bed. He and Flynn had been the first ones out of the helicopter when they'd spotted Hawk in the water. Rafe's uniform had dried during the flight to the carrier, but his boots were still damp enough to make wet sounds as he walked. "Norton said he probably got a concussion from the blast."

  "Yes, I remember." Sergeant Norton was the team's medic. He'd started working on Hawk the moment they'd winched him onboard the helicopter. There hadn't been much he could do, other than start an IV and control the bleeding.

  All Sarah had been able to do was pray.

  She tried to block the memory, but the image of that scene rose yet again in her mind. Hawk's sodden clothes had been charred and torn. His right side had been a mess of bruises and blistered skin from being caught so close to the explosion. Blood had seeped from his ears and his nose and poured from a gash at his hairline, mixing with the seawater to form a macabre veil over his face. He'd been so still, for one horrifying instant she'd imagined the worst until Norton had assured her Hawk's heart was still beating.

  Sarah dragged her chair closer to the bed. The blood had been cleaned up and his burns and abrasions had been dressed, but Hawk still hadn't moved. If he had a simple concussion, he should have shown signs of coming around by now, shouldn't he? She touched her fingertips to the bandage that was wrapped around Hawk's skull. Something big, probably a piece of metal, had struck him before he'd hit the water. It had taken eighteen stitches to close the wound. This was the injury that concerned the doctors the most.

  She glanced at the array of medical equipment that monitored Hawk's vitals. The facilities on this aircraft carrier were as good as any hospital. The ship was part of the navy's Mediterranean fleet. It had been on routine maneuvers when the team had arranged to launch their raid on the Faith from here. The medics had been prepared for them to return with casualties.

>   But apart from Hawk, no one on the team was injured. Thanks to him, they had escaped certain death without a scratch.

  And their deaths had been certain. Sarah had heard the final order that Jibril had given just before the charges had gone off. Take Hawkins and kill the rest.

  They had been trapped. If Hawk's quick thinking hadn't bought them time, the Faith's artillery could have taken out the chopper. The machine guns that had been trained on the team could have cut them to shreds. Hawk had understood the situation instantly and had placed himself between them and the guns.

  I would gladly give my life if I thought it would save yours.

  She didn't bother trying to stop the tears this time. They rolled down her cheeks and fell on the sleeve of Hawk's hospital gown. As she watched the dark circles grow on the pale-blue cotton, she thought about the other things that Jibril had said. He'd boasted about Faith. He'd mocked their love.

  Sarah should be ashamed to feel pleased that the bastard had suffered before he'd died.

  The fire hadn't spread past the Faith's deck, so the innocent servants and ship's crew who had been hiding in the galley hadn't been hurt. While the guards who had survived had declined the Navy's offer of help for their wounded, the diplomats had worked fast. One of Jibril's cousins, the next in line for Moukim's throne, had been eager to smooth over the incident, so he was already publicly claiming his predecessor had perished in a tragic helicopter accident.

  "The men drew straws," Rafe said. "I get to sit with Lemay if you want to catch some sleep."

  She shook her head. "Thanks, but I'm not leaving until I talk to the doctor. He said they'll have the test results any minute."

  "Do you remember what you told me when Glenna was in the hospital a few months ago?"

  Had it only been a few months? It seemed longer. So much had happened. "What was it?"

  "You said it was going to work out, that Glenna and I were two of the lucky ones."