“Your mercenary called you,” Amber pointed out. “I read in the papers that the Americans did it in Somalia. Called in on the embassy for help. Collect call, too.”
“That’s true,” Lily admitted. “Shit. Men are crazy. I wouldn’t have time to call anyone while I’m in a middle of a war. Oh, go ahead, give it a try. The man’s crazy enough to break into the café and carry you upstairs, he’s probably crazy enough to answer a buzzing cell phone.”
Despite the gravity of the situation, Amber grinned. “Maybe I’ll phone in a take-out order,” she said as she dialed.
The descent down the hill was quick enough, with rounds impacting all around Hawk and his men. The sound of the firepower was tremendous as they moved closer. Hawk motioned the two others that they were going to the flank.
The other side was using clumps of trees for cover. Their vehicles were parked together near a clearing behind the kill zone. To get closer, Hawk and his men would have to get nearer to the enemy’s camp and line of fire. Hawk sent the two men to opposite points. “Wait till dark,” he ordered. “I’ll move in and get closer. If we synchronize our explosives, they’ll think there are actually more of us. With Dilaver uphill, they’ll give up a lot sooner.”
“What about those who try to escape in their trucks?”
“Pick off as many as you can. Dilaver wants to capture them, so I’d go for the tires.” He didn’t know how good they were with weapon precision skills, and frankly, he would prefer to exterminate as many of these bastards as he could. He didn’t care whether they were of any value to Dilaver or not. “Darkness is good cover for us, so they won’t be able to see us while we can see their headlights.”
“Okay. We’ll wait for your first charge and then we’ll toss in ours.”
“Remember to get out of the way, American,” one of the men said in a joking tone. “We tend to just throw in all the explosives we’ve got and watch the fireworks. We don’t worry about who’s on whose side at that point.”
“Right.” Hawk got the point. Dilaver might be thinking about business, but this was “fun” for the men. They were in this for the sheer adrenaline of bloodletting.
The opposing side had retreated under tree and bush cover, leaving some of their trucks in the clearing. They had evidently been caught with their pants down by Dilaver’s sudden attack. Hawk wondered again why they were here in the first place. Dilaver had mentioned that he believed this gang was responsible for some of his missing trailers, so were they here to capture another? Yet the country road was so out of the way from the usual routes the gangs traversed.
He decided that as soon as it became dark enough, he would sneak up to the trucks. It would have been easier if he had a grenade launcher, then he could just take them out from a distance, but where was the fun in that? Hawk bellied up under a clump of bushes and waited, listening to the sounds of gunshots and explosions around him.
Stringing up explosives, as Jazz would say, was like making music; the more expert one became, the better the result. And a very well-done explosion could devastate the enemy’s psyche. If his team were here, they wouldn’t be hurling grenades at each other like these idiots were doing, making more noise than actually targeting the enemy. Hawk felt strange, removed from it all.
The buzzing in the back of his pants made him frown. He had ignored it several times now, but whoever it was kept calling. He didn’t think it was McNeil calling, unless there was an emergency. What the hell? He was alone and he still had a few minutes before dark. He pulled out his cell phone.
It wasn’t a number he recognized. There was a text message, too. He clicked on it.Pick up hotstuff. Now.Hawk stared at the message, then looked up into the darkening sky. He wasn’t going to—Ah, hell. He would just have to use the earphone so his hands would be free.
Amber picked up on the first ring. “About time.” Her voice came in clearly through the earpiece. “I almost gave up.”
“This had better be good, Ambrosia,” Hawk said, as he looked around him. “This isn’t a good time to have our usual phone sex.”
Even her snort came in loud and clear. “I know you’re currently using your gun for other sports, Hot Stuff. That’s why I called. I can hear explosives, by the way.”
She knew. Hawk studied the figure darting in and out of the shadows toward him, slowly sneaking up. He briefly wondered whether he should find out whether it was “his” side or the other who was trying to surprise him. It didn’t really matter. He was on neither. “Let me guess. You’re concerned for my safety and are calling me to tell me you want me badly.” Hawk took aim at the figure, his eye steady as the shadow popped up and down like a dummy target. “You do know that most people don’t answer cell calls in the middle of a firefight?”
“The soldiers did in Somalia, so why can’t you? You’re probably just hiding behind a big tree while waiting for Dilaver to finish his war games,” she answered sardonically. “It isn’t as if you’re special ops or something and have any special skills in warfare to be any help.”
Hawk’s lips curved reluctantly. It didn’t matter how grave the situation was, but that woman always managed to put a smile on his face.
“No special skills…I’ll have to remedy that,” he said, then fired his weapon. The figure fell over. And stayed that way.
There was a pause. “Hawk? I heard a shot. Are you okay?”
“Just target-shooting. What is it you need, Ambrosia?”
“You have to make sure Dilaver won’t take those men alive, especially a man named Dija.” There was a pause and Hawk could hear women’s voices arguing back and forth. Then Amber returned, sounding a lot more sober. “They know Lily and we prefer Dija doesn’t mention anything about Lily to Dilaver.”
Lily. Hawk remembered the dark-haired woman with the weapons at Amber’s place the other night. “Connection?” he asked. It was about time to make his move toward the vehicles.
“These men are mercenaries and Lily retains their services to get certain things.”
He should have known. This place was full of shady dealings. “Let me guess. Highway robberies. Dilaver’s shipments.” The persons behind Dilaver’s problem were two women. Dilaver wouldn’t like that. “This all has to do with the kidnapped girls, doesn’t it? I know Dilaver’s after the people robbing him.”
“Yes. A potential problem if Dija gets caught. He doesn’t intend to be, but he claims he’s surrounded and might have to give up. Dija is five-eight, scar on his left cheek, speaks English almost without an accent, and is missing a little finger.”
“So what do you want me to do? Go looking for some man with a missing finger in the dark?”
