“Yeah,” Hawk said, “they threatened not to let me see you today. How are you feeling?”
It was so good to hear his voice again. Amber wanted to jump out of her chair and kiss him. “A bit weak,” she replied. “I’m just glad to see you.”
It had been a strange two days, coming in and out of her drugged sleep. When she was finally cognizant, she had found out that she was in a medical facility in a military base. There were visitors, but she didn’t know any of them. She just wanted to see Hawk.
She had heard all the details of what had happened from Lieutenant Jazz Zeringue, Hawk’s close friend from his team. Dragan Dilaver was dead. All hiskafenashad been destroyed by fire. Hawk was all right, but he had some injuries that needed to be taken care of. She knew some of those came from being Dilaver’s prisoner.
“We’ll let the two of you have a few minutes alone after the meeting,” Amber’s nurse said from behind her. “Here is some water, and if you need us, we’ll be outside the door.”
“Thank you,” Amber said. She looked up when the door opened and a familiar figure, clad in faded jeans and jacket, walked in. “Hello, Jed.”
Jed McNeil always made a room feel smaller. The man had the kind of presence that was quietly forceful, speaking volumes without actually having said a word. She had forgotten how those light silvery eyes could gaze with an intensity of a hunting animal. Right now they were assessing, taking in both her and Hawk’s physical condition. She was pretty sure that he had already read the medical reports.
“Hello, Ambrosia. Long time.” He looked at Hawk. “Lieutenant McMillan. Good job.”
“I haven’t completed my assignment,” Hawk said quietly. “There’s still those caches.”
“Your team will take care of it. We’re combing the different locations right now.” Jed took a seat. “Except for one factor, we have everything under control.”
“What’s that?”
Jed glanced at Amber. “Llallana Noretski.”
Hawk also turned to her. “Lily took the bomb with her, Amber.”
“I know,” she said softly, trying to keep the sorrow away. Lily was, in all likelihood, dead. “Lieutenant Zeringue told me about it. She had been programmed by the CIA to follow certain orders. I’m still not sure what they are, though. Why was she with me all these years? Was she waiting for this particular weapon?”
Jed shook his head. “No. She’s a sleeper cell, which means that the CIA intended to use her for a target. A sleeper lives a normal life until their trigger is activated, so Lily didn’t really know much of anything except that she had undergone some kind of psychological evaluation from the CIA. From what I gather talking to Mr. Bradford Sun, she had been brainwashed into a separate identity. She identified her missing self as her sister, which the CIA used as a cause to channel her hatred and distress. That way, whoever activated the trigger would have the key to manipulate her.”
Amber frowned. “So, someone from the CIA did this to set off a bomb at an international meet?” She was still in shock at all this stuff about Lily and her conditioning. She had heard about these topics but had never really thought about it happening to her in real life. “Why this particular group of people? Wait, I remember Lily’s last words to me. Something about finally getting rid of all those responsible. Does that mean she had been programmed to think all the political figures at that summit were her enemies?”
“That makes sense,” Hawk said. “She hated those who had power to stop the trafficking of women. I think that’s why she acted so oddly with Brad. Her feelings were in conflict with her conditioning. At the same time, those phone calls started.”
Amber sighed. She still couldn’t believe what she had been told the last few days. Yet, looking back, she could see how out of character Lily was, and how she was always mentioning calls on her cell phone. Amber had misunderstood, thinking it had to do with the girls’ transport in and out of the country. How was she to know that those calls were activating whatever embedded commands that were dormant in Lily’s psyche?
“We found her car,” Jed said.
Amber bit down on her lower lip. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to hear this. Hawk pressed a button on his wheelchair, moving him forward and closer. He held out his hand. She put hers in his. It felt so good to touch him again.
“It was at the bottom of a cliff,” Jed continued. He opened a file and leaned forward to hand them some photographs. “It’s not easy to recognize, but you can see the license plate. Is this her vehicle?”
Amber squeezed Hawk’s hand as she checked the photo. “Yes.”
“There’s no body in the wreck,” Jed said.
Hawk jerked forward. “You could have told Amber this right from the get-go,” he said, then paused. His eyes narrowed. “You son of a bitch, you were testing her.”
Amber looked at Jed steadily. “Did you think I would lie about Lily?”
Jed ignored Hawk’s glare. “I wanted to see how prepared you are for her death,” he said calmly. “Because eventually she will die.”
“Why?” Amber asked. Despite what Lily had done to her, she didn’t want her dead.
“Because she still has the bomb,” Hawk said.
“We need you to work with us to understand how Lily’s mind works—what would be her next target, if she uses the weapon. We need to find her and eliminate her.”
“I don’t want her…killed,” Amber said.
