Amber called out Lily’s name. Her friend was walking quickly toward her car, talking on her cell phone. She waved at Amber, signaling that she needed a minute.
Amber slowed down, thinking about Lily’s angry words in the house. There was something wrong, but she couldn’t put a finger on it. Lily had been very distant the last week, disappearing more and more. She knew her friend wasn’t with Brad, or both of them wouldn’t look like they had toothaches.
“Everything’s ready,” she heard Lily said. “I’ll call in when I arrive.”
“Are you okay?” Amber asked after Lily ended her call. She wondered whether there was trouble about which Lily wasn’t telling her. Her friend had been on the phone a lot lately.
“I suppose. You really should have asked me first.”
“You were in the middle of the interview. I thought it best not to interrupt,” Amber said, studying Lily. She didn’t seem so angry now. “Besides, I thought it helped.”
“That’s not the point. You and I are partners in this and you went off on a wild idea Hawk had. It went well, but at what cost to Tatiana? You and I don’t seem to talk anymore,” Lily said, turning around and walking toward her car.
“Hey.” Amber reached out and grabbed Lily’s elbow, stopping her in midstep. “We can’t talk if you keep running off every time you’re mad, which is a lot lately. Tatiana will be fine. I think her talking again is healthy, don’t you think?”
Lily shrugged, refusing to meet her eyes. “So she tells you and the others what happened to her. How can that be healthy?”
Amber stared at her friend. How could it not be healthy? The poor girl had been catatonic since her arrival. “Lily, it’s a start. We can’t offer her psychological care. She needed an emotional outlet. Hawk somehow reached inside her, grabbed back what was still alive—”
Lily turned sharply, her temper coming back into her eyes. “Hawk this and Hawk that. What does he know about psychological pain? You’re siding with him as if you know him that well. He’s just like Brad, standing there doing nothing.”
“They are both doing something, sweetie,” Amber said gently. “Is it the guys, then? Are they what’s bothering you? If you didn’t want the interview, you should have told me.”
“The interview’s fine. It’s just the way everything else is being handled.”
Amber frowned. She was trying to understand what was going on in her friend’s mind, but for the first time ever, she was failing to see the reasons for the anger. She had thought it had been Brad’s presence, but now it was Hawk’s, too.
“Tell me what’s wrong, Lily.”
“Look, if you can’t see it, you can’t.” Turning away again, Lily shrugged off her arm. “It’s okay to enjoy the guys, Amber, but if you get emotionally involved, it won’t work.”
Now it was getting even more confusing. She caught up with Lily, who seemed determined to get to her car. “Okay, what won’t work? And don’t keep going off every time you say something cryptic like that.”
Lily pulled her car keys out of her pocket. “Okay, here’s a question. I thought we were going to get information from Hawk and sell it. Now that you’re involved semi-seriously with him, you aren’t thinking about that any longer, are you?”
“Well, no,” Amber admitted. “I told you I agreed to help him out.”
“Yes, as a favor for this Jed dude that helped you before. I get the favor thing, but why can’t you extract some info and use that to your advantage? It’s a weapons thing, so it’ll get us a lot of fresh funds. I can get help to track down more girls on the trails. The location of whatever Hawk’s looking for will be worth a lot in the market, don’t you agree?”
“Yes, but you know I am very selective over the sale of information. Anyhow, this information involves the CIA, so I’ll have to clear it with them first.”
“Since when have you followed the rules that closely?” Lily asked, her voice strangely toneless. “Or, like I said, are you getting so involved with the man that you’re now abandoning our own operation?”
“Hey, wait a minute.” Amber stepped in front of Lily so they were facing each other. “Why do keep you saying that as if I have been doing nothing? The girls and their safety are just as important to me. Brad and Hawk have been helping a lot and you know it. I can’t just betray my friends willy-nilly for money.”
She wasn’t sure she liked the look in Lily’s eyes. They were bright with something close to hatred. Yet, when she spoke, it was still in that strange toneless voice.
“I see, now they are friends. Brad the protector. Hawk the hunter. Yet they really haven’t done anything to deserve your friendship. What am I, Amber?”
“You’re my friend, too, Lily,” Amber replied quietly. “I don’t have to keep defending Brad. He’s an issue to you, and the two of you need to sort things out. Brad is a good man and is risking quite a lot in arranging this interview. As for Hawk, I don’t know about him, and you may be right that my heart’s getting involved, but what he did today was done in kindness. He was very gentle with Tatiana and she opened up to him. And if that doesn’t convince you, how about the risk he’s taking in getting the reporters to meet the girls at Dilaver’s brothels? He didn’t have to offer, Lily, yet he did because what he sees in those places really bothers him.”
“And he told you this, huh? When, in between bouts of hot sex?”
Amber looked up at her friend. “I like him,” she said simply. She didn’t have to say anything about what she and Hawk had been doing. “And I have been getting to know him.”
“Well, whoopee-do. It must be great to have men eating out of your hand and talking about saving the world at the same time. Speaking of which, I’m late for an appointment to get a new replacement for our injured mercenary from last week. I do have to make this meeting because some of us like to actually take these girls out of this hellhole, you know?”
Amber stepped away so Lily could get her car door unlocked. “Will you be back tonight?” She didn’t like the way this conversation was ending.
