Hawk pretended to give it some thought. “To be honest,” he said, “my attention isn’t focused on her legs much, but I know hers are a hell of a lot less hairy.”
Dilaver laughed. “You know what I like about you, Hawk? You aren’t afraid to make me laugh with the most absurd observations. I can’t imagine talking about my leg and comparing it to a woman’s with anyone else but you.”
That was because Hawk had set out to talk to Dilaver as he would to any of his SEAL teammates. It was drilled into him to be as natural he could be, as he would be with his own best friends. It was the last thing he wanted to do; by acting with the same familiarity, it felt almost like betraying his own friends. But he had succeeded, just as his GEM trainer in NOPAIN had said it would, in gaining a measure of friendship from the gunrunner. Nonphysical persuasion and innovative negotiation, a system most GEM operatives he’d met seemed to practice, both repelled and fascinated him with how good it was at manipulating human minds.
“Yeah, well, I don’t know whether to feel insulted or special now,” he drawled.
“Oh, special,” Dilaver said. “And especially special since I have been hearing about our CIVPOL chief having a public argument with your Amber this morning.”
“Is that right?” Hawk tossed the tape into a nearby pail.
“Seems like someone has informed our Mr. Sun that a certain American has been sharing Amber’s bed every night for a week.”
Hawk cocked an eyebrow. “Is that someone in your pay, perhaps?”
“But of course. Revenge is sweet. Mr. Sun has raided a couple of my sites and cost me quite a bit of income. This is just the beginning. One day…” Dilaver’s voice trailed off and he shrugged. “But not yet. Can’t keep ridding every one of them so quickly. I’ll wait awhile till that sanguine outlook of his wears off a bit.”
“Sanguine?” Hawk wouldn’t use that description for Bradford Sun at all.
“He’s optimistic that he can clean this region up,” explained Dilaver with a humorless smile. “I find that extremely comical.”
“And you say I make absurd observations?” Hawk commented as they headed out.
“You don’t find it funny that the man thinks that and yet has a girlfriend who sells his secrets to people like me?” Dilaver laughed nastily, glancing at Hawk craftily. “And today his sanguine outlook was just a little dimmer when he realized that she isn’t all sunshine. I heard he’s taking her off for a vacation to get her away from you, my friend. What are you going to do about it?”
So far, so good. Fed information was being passed on as planned. Hawk feigned surprise. “That’s news to me. When?”
“My sources say in a couple of weeks, but hell, the way you’re over there all the time, it might be sooner. I don’t think any man would let a woman like Amber go so easily.” Dilaver nodded at his guards as they passed them. The latter kept a distance, keeping an eye on their boss and the surroundings. “So you had better spend as much time with her as you can before she’s whisked off, my friend.”
“I’ll do that,” Hawk promised. Maybe he could spend tonight with Amber after going out with Dilaver. “Better warm up first or your pretty legs might cramp up.”
Even the guards behind them snickered at Hawk’s joke. But his mind was already on the day’s agenda. He had to ready the file to be uploaded. He wasn’t sure he could get away to go with Amber to that interview. He wanted to. Tonight, at thekafena,he had to see which of the girls could speak enough English for the interviewer. It would be tough; they all lived in fear. He would have to think of some way to persuade them without blowing his cover.
Amber poured tea for everyone in the room. There was an anxious excitement in the air as the three girls who had agreed to do the interview sat on the big sofa, eyeing the two newsmen with suspicion, cynicism, and hope. They were young, but they had been through enough to know that promises didn’t mean anything. It was also decided that no doctor was needed to examine the victims until the girls had met the reporters and felt comfortable.
Amber and Lily had been very upfront about it. This interview was meant for them to tell the world what was going on, in their words. The reporters would try to sell the story to international cable news and other agencies. It would dosomegood—not for them, but maybe for those other girls who were still in thekafenas.
Of the girls they had in the safe houses, only three could speak enough English to give personal accounts, with a little help from Amber and Lily. They were also the few who were old enough to have something to say. The others were too young to give extensive interviews; some of them weren’t comfortable with telling their stories to adult men. Amber had told the two men that she had compiled a list of what these girls had told her, about what had been done to them after they were kidnapped.
Brad was standing by the fireplace. He had already briefed the reporters that under no circumstances were the identities of Amber and Lily to be revealed, or their pictures taken. In fact, he had introduced them as Anna and Ludmilla.
Amber watched Hawk question the two men as they set up the taping and photo devices. He was speaking in a low voice, but she heard enough of the conversation to know that he was asking for a direct copy of the interview as well as the reporters’ final copy.
“I want to compare what was said and what was written,” he told them. “And if I feel you have done a poor job, I’ll release my own copy of the interview as well as your direct copy.”
To her surprise, Hawk showed them a recorder the size of his palm. He hadn’t told her about this. Again, she was struck at how prepared he was for this sort of thing. She exchanged glances with Brad.
Lily was giving last-minute encouragement to the girls, each in her own language. They were all from different countries and Lily was the only one who understood the cultural horror of so many girls being traded like international souvenirs. Amber had sighed with relief that her friend and Brad had been very cordial with each other. Maybe they had come to some sort of understanding. She had tried to talk to Lily about it, but her friend’s replies had been oddly cool.
Not that she had spent that much time talking to Lily, Amber acknowledged wryly. She had been kept very busy with Hawk showing up at her place at the oddest hours. Lily must have gotten the clue that she wasn’t alone too much because she had practically been living somewhere else, only showing up during the day to help with plans and business.
All in all, it had been a heck of a week. She glanced at Hawk again. He was very comfortable with her and her friends, participating in their plans and risking his own cover. Brad would tell her if he’d found anything unusual in Hawk’s background, so she wasn’t worried. But neither was she blind.
Hawk McMillan was a natural at taking charge, and he did it without ordering anyone about. There was just an air about him that made her feel very safe whenever she was around him. She couldn’t quite put a finger on it. Maybe it was the way he pointed out alternate ways to do things, giving sound reasons why a direct interview at thekafenawould be even more effective as a news story. Or the way he was now handling the two reporters. Without making any verbal threat, he had subtly warned them that he would be paying attention to how they would spin the girls’ tales.
It dawned on her that he was always searching for weaknesses in any situation and fortifying them before they were exposed by the other side. He had a very indirect approach about it, as shown in the way he maneuvered himself into her secret venture. But it was remarkably effective, as in the way the two reporters in the room were answering all his questions quietly and respectfully, as if his approval were essential.
She wondered what Brad thought of that. He was watching all this, too, and hadn’t said anything to undermine Hawk. She sensed that he was learning as much as she was about this operative sent in to infiltrate Dilaver’s nest and hunt down some kind of hidden weapon. To do that required a lot of skill. She knew from experience that nobody ever got too close to Dragan Dilaver. That Hawk had succeeded in this feat gave her an idea how really capable he was.
