by CW Browning
“Mmmm.”
He glanced at her.
“You don't sound convinced.”
Alina looked at him, her eyes shuttered and Viper's mask in place.
“I'm not,” she replied. “I don't like it.”
“I don't like it when you say that,” Hawk muttered. “You always say that right before all hell breaks loose.”
Viper was surprised into a laugh.
“You say that like it's a bad thing,” she retorted.
Damon grinned and lowered one eyelid in a wink.
“Maybe I like bad things,” he teased before sobering again. “So we have the gunny with information he won't share over the air waves, we've got your ex in the hospital and his house in flames, and you're on the clock to find Asad and Co. Did I miss anything?”
“Blake Hanover is in town. He thinks he can track down the other drivers. If he does, we’ll get an idea of where, exactly, all the deliveries were being made.”
Hawk frowned.
“There's a lot of alphabets getting involved,” he muttered. “The FBI, the Secret Service, DHS and us all have our fingers in the pie, not to mention the bloody Casa Reino Cartel. Too many people. Too many opportunities for mistakes.”
Viper's eyes met his in agreement and they were silent for a moment before she let out a sigh.
“If it weren't for John lying in a hospital bed, I'd be tempted to walk away from the whole thing and let the domestic agencies sort out their own mess,” she finally said, her voice low. Damon turned his head, watching her. “Unfortunately, John is lying in the hospital and the men who put him there are smuggling weapons of terror for the man who tried to kill me last week. Seriously, what are the damn odds?”
“You certainly can't make this up,” Damon admitted. He smiled at her gently when she made a face at him. “If you could walk away, would you?”
Alina thought of John, fighting so hard to live, and her lips tightened imperceptibly.
“Not until they're all dead.”
Hawk raised his hand to touch her cheek and she lifted hard, dark eyes to his blue ones. Almost immediately, the tension left her body and her lips twisted humorlessly.
“Unless it’s to go back to that island in the Caribbean,” she murmured. “I might walk away for that.”
Damon smiled slowly and he lowered his head to brush them against hers.
“That can be arranged,” he whispered. Alina's heart surged into her throat and she smiled against his lips. “We have unfinished business on that island.”
The kiss deepened and when Hawk finally lifted his head a few moments later, they were both breathing hard. Passion had replaced the anger in Viper's eyes, and Hawk sighed a silent sigh of relief. His Jersey Girl was keeping a tight rein on her fury at John's attack, but that hold wouldn't last forever. He knew when Viper unleashed it, she would be the only one left standing at the end, but now was not the time. She had to focus on Asad.
“How long did Charlie give you to find out what Asad's game is?” he asked, lifting his beer to his lips and taking a long drink.
Alina sipped her own beer, watching him.
“Seventy-two hours,” she answered. “I've got a little over twenty-four left. Why?”
Hawk's eyes were narrowed and he seemed lost in thought. Alina watched him silently.
“You still need someone to go to Turkey for you,” he finally said, turning those cobalt eyes to hers. “I'll go.”
Viper stared at him for a moment, then her lips twisted wryly.
“You're already going, aren't you?” she asked softly.
“I'll be in the area,” he answered carefully. “Just a quick trip. What do you want me to do?”
Alina sipped her beer, ignoring the sharp and painful stab of disappointment at his leaving.
“Find out where and when Asad started working with Al-Jibad,” she said after a moment. “I want to know who he was before he was a terrorist, and where he came from.”
“You know this already,” Hawk pointed out.
Viper shook her head.
“No,” she murmured. “I only know what they know in Damascus.”
Hawk smiled slowly as understanding dawned.
“Every story has a hidden beginning,” he murmured softly and Viper nodded.
“I want to know his,” she told him. “It's the only way I can figure out who's controlling him.”
“You really don't think Al-Jibad was the head, do you?” Hawk asked.
“That's what I want you to find out in Turkey.”
“Oh, is that all?” he said sarcastically, his eyes laughing at her. Then he sobered, all humor fading from his eyes. “I'll go, but you have to promise not to go after Asad until I get back.”
“Hawk, I can't do that,” she protested. “It'll take you seventeen hours just to get there. Michael may give me information tomorrow to lead me right to Asad.”
“It's going to take nine hours, actually,” Hawk told her, leaning his head back. “I'm leaving at seven from Philly.”
“Nine hours?! That's impossible,” Viper started to scoff, then stilled as a thought occurred to her. She stared at him hard for a minute. “You're taking Hermes!” she exclaimed accusingly.
Hermes was the code name for the Global Express 7000. It was an aircraft capable of making the 4,500 nautical mile trip to Turkey nonstop. She’d heard rumors Charlie added it to the Organization's resources a few months ago. She just never thought they were true.
“I have a very small window of time,” Hawk answered apologetically.
Viper frowned thoughtfully.
“Even so, I can't promise I won't be engaged with the target before you get back,” she said. “You know I can't.”
Damon finished his beer and leaned forward to set the empty bottle on the coffee table. Leaning back again, he rested his head on the couch and turned to look at her.
“I don't feel comfortable with this all happening stateside,” he said slowly, “especially when we have a leak in Washington who seems hell-bent on you. Hell, even Harry is uneasy! He brought me here for a reason. I'm not happy about leaving.”
“Last I checked, I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” Alina murmured dryly. “This is far from the worst situation I've been in.”
Hawk's lips twitched.
“I'm sure it's very dull compared to Taliban camps in Afghanistan,” he retorted, “but it's just as dangerous. More so because there's a false sense of security here. You're home.”
“Then I have home field advantage,” she said briskly. “Stop worrying. You have a job to do. Go. Get it done so you can come back to me.”
Damon smiled slowly.
“I like the sound of that.”
“What?”
“Coming back to you.”
Alina grinned and sat up, pulling her legs from his lap and tilting her head back to finish her beer.
“Don't get used to it,” she told him, lowering the bottle. “I'm not one to keep home fires burning. You're more likely to come back and find I'm off somewhere else.”
She stood up and picked up his empty bottle, missing the confident gleam in his dark blue eyes and soft smile playing with his lips.
“I'll take my chances,” he said, standing up and stretching. His gaze fell on the laptop bag laying on the coffee table and he glanced over his shoulder. Alina was carrying the bottles into the kitchen, her back to him. Hawk reached down and had the bag open in a matter of seconds, tilting it to see inside. The expected laptop was there, but there was something else tucked down on top of the computer. He tilted his head. Was that a picture frame?
“Get your nose out of there,” Viper snapped from the kitchen.
Hawk straightened up and turned to follow her, grinning unabashedly.
“Sorry,” he said, sounding anything but apologetic. “Habit.”
Alina shook her head, setting the bottles in the sink. She couldn't blame him. She would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed. It wa
s in their nature. Alina turned to find him glancing at his watch as he strode into the kitchen.
“If you can't postpone engaging Asad, will you at least keep me informed?” Damon asked, joining her at the sink. His gaze was unusually serious. “Use the clean phone.”
Alina stared up at him thoughtfully.
“This is really bothering you, isn't it?” she asked. “Why?”
“I told you,” he said, stepping close to her and resting his hands on her hips. “I'm not comfortable with any of this. Someone leaked your identity and you're here, in their front yard. I don't like it.”
He was right, of course. Alina was more than aware of the risk to herself as soon as she was cleared to go after Asad. Whoever was funding him had a vested interest in her failing to complete her mission. However, this was nothing new. It was the case every day she went to work. It was the case with Hawk as soon as he boarded Hermes tomorrow. There was always a risk, and there were never guarantees.
“This is what we do,” Viper said, her eyes searching his. “This is what we were trained to handle.”
“We were trained to handle it on foreign soil. It's different. You know that.”
Alina sighed imperceptibly and slipped her arms around his waist.
“I'll keep you posted,” she relented.
“See? That wasn't so hard,” Damon murmured, bending his head to brush his lips against hers. “I'll check in when I get there.”
“Where, exactly, is there?” Alina asked as he released her and turned back toward the bar.
“I told you,” he said, picking up his black bag from the bar stool and slinging it over his shoulder. “Near Turkey.”
“But not Turkey,” she clarified. “So where?”
Hawk looked at her, amused.
“Really?” he asked. “We're going to play this game?”
“Well, if I have to keep you informed of my movements, it only seems fair I at least know what country you're going to,” she retorted.
That gave him pause and he pursed his lips thoughtfully.
“You're right,” he decided after a moment. “This really is going to be complicated, isn't it?”
They stared at each other across the kitchen, both feeling a little unsure of this new and strange ground they suddenly found themselves on. They never discussed their missions. They were used to working autonomously.
“Never mind,” Viper decided suddenly. “I don't need to know.”
Hawk studied her for a moment, then nodded.
“Alright.”
He turned to move toward the sliding doors and Alina's heart suddenly pounded, surging into her throat. She moved forward until she was between the bar and the door, watching him leave. Inexplicably, a feeling of panic overtook her and the last thing in the world she wanted was to watch Hawk walk out the door. For some reason she didn't even try to understand, Alina was suddenly terrified she would never see him again.
Her voice stopped him at the door.
“Hawk.”
Damon glanced over his shoulder, one eyebrow crooked in question.
“I have a spare room,” she told him. “You don't have to leave.”
Damon's hand froze on the door handle and he paused before turning to face her slowly. His blue eyes were unfathomable as they met hers across the room. Alina swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, and watched as he studied her silently.
“What did you say?” he finally asked softly.
Her heart was thumping against her ribs painfully, but she maintained her neutral expression and never broke eye contact with those hooded, cobalt eyes.
“The last time you were here, you ended up in a hotel room,” she reminded him, her voice steady. “That's unnecessary when I have plenty of room here.”
Damon's lips twitched ever so slightly and he moved toward her silently, dangerously. His gaze never left her face as he closed the distance between them.
“This won't help to uncomplicate matters,” he murmured, stopping inches from her.
Alina was surrounded by the fresh musk that was Hawk and her pulse beat a rapid tattoo against her throat. This was insane. She was offering him her spare room, nothing more.
Except they both knew the spare room was not in question.
“I think we're beyond that at this point,” she replied, her voice a bare breath above a whisper.
Damon's eyes probed hers and he trailed a light finger along her jaw.
“I hate walking out that door every time,” he said softly, sounding almost bewildered.
“Then don't do it,” Alina replied, sliding her hands up his arms to his shoulders. “Stay.”
His eyes darkened and dropped to her lips.
“I've been waiting for years to hear you say that.”
Damon slid his hand around to cradle the back of her head, his fingers plunging into her hair, and lowered his lips to hers. As soon as they touched hers, longing exploded between them and all the uncertainty Alina was feeling disappeared. She heard his bag hit the floor as her eyes slid closed and Damon wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up hard against him. The powder keg that had been building between them for months exploded and all that existed in that moment was him; his strong arms around her, his lips hot on hers, his heartbeat pounding against her own. Inexplicably, Alina felt as if she had come home, and a low moan sounded in the back of her throat. Damon heard it and responded by moving his hands to her waist and lifting her, seemingly effortlessly, until her legs wrapped around his waist. Alina felt weightless, as if she was floating in time, his hard shoulders beneath her hands the only solid strength as he turned and walked the few steps to the bar. He set her on the marble top, never taking his lips off hers, and Alina sighed into him.
The blood was pounding in her ears and an indescribable feeling of freedom suddenly washed over her as Damon slid her shirt up and over her head. They both groaned when skin touched skin and Damon lifted his head to look at her.
“Last chance,” he whispered. “But I don't know how the hell I'll stop if you say so,” he added with a short laugh.
“Then it's a good thing I have no intention of stopping,” Alina responded breathlessly, pulling his lips back to hers.
Damon laughed deep in his throat and pulled her up hard against him. The laugh turned abruptly to a groan as she moved her pelvis against him restlessly. When his lips left hers to blaze a trail along her neck, Alina sucked in some air and wondered why they had been avoiding this for the better part of a year. Then all conscious thought ended and Alina could only feel the passion and raw emotion flowing between them.
Much later, neither of them had any clear recollection of making it up the stairs to the bedroom, or of falling onto her bed in a disarray of scattered clothing and bare skin. Neither of them noticed the black hawk come in through the skylight and settle onto his perch in the darkest hours before the dawn. All thoughts of Turkey, Asad, chemical weapons and Mexican Cartels were forgotten. All that existed for them in those precious few, short hours was each other.
Chapter Thirty
Michael glanced at his watch and looked around the underground parking garage before moving toward the elevators. He had arrived at the meeting place about fifteen minutes early. There was no sign of Viper's Jeep or Shelby, but that didn't mean anything. She was a ghost. Michael's lips curved. He knew from experience just how good she was at not being seen. He had no doubt that she was already here. The only question was when she would choose to show herself.
He pressed the button for the elevator and waited, glancing around again. After spotting a black SUV following him this morning, he was forced to take a circuitous route out of DC. It took him quite a while to lose his tail, but he eventually managed it before heading north to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. At least now he knew his paranoia was well-founded. Someone was watching him.
The elevator doors slid open and he stepped inside, pressing the button for the fourth floor. He took one last look around the parking garage before the doors sl
id closed again. The elevator began its smooth run up, but stopped suddenly between the second and third floors. Michael frowned, his eyes going to the digital display over the doors. It went blank and all the buttons on the control pad lit up as if they had been pressed.
Michael backed up toward the back wall of the elevator, his hand going to the holster that secured his side arm. His fingers were just touching it when the panel above him disappeared and a face appeared in the opening.
“There's no need for that,” Viper told him, amused.
“For God's sake, Lina!” Michael exclaimed, taking his hand off his weapon. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Just being cautious,” she replied, repeating his own words back to him. She held a hand down to him. “Let's go. Up you come.”
Michael stared at her in disbelief.
“Are you serious?” he demanded.
“Yes.”
“This is not going to end well,” he muttered, grasping her outstretched hand and lifting his foot to the hand-rail lining the elevator car. “This will never hold my weight.”
“Don't underestimate good, old-fashioned steel work,” Viper replied, her hand closing around his strongly. “Heave Ho!”
She pulled as he half-jumped, half-stepped his weight onto the hand-rail. It held, and he stretched up his other hand, reaching for the edge of the panel opening. His fingers closed around steel and he strained to pull himself up through the opening. After a full minute or so of heaving, his torso was through the opening and he was able to let go of her hand and pull himself the rest of the way. He emerged from the elevator and crawled onto the top of another one, stopped parallel with his.
“Heave Ho?” he gasped, looking at her. “What are we? Pirates?”
“At the rate we're going?” Alina retorted with a grin and a shrug. “Not far off!”
She dropped the panel back onto the elevator and motioned for him to follow her along the steel girders lining the elevator shaft. Michael shook his head and followed her a few feet until she reached another set of steel girders belonging to another elevator shaft.