It was definitely strange listening from the point-of-view of the person she’d accidentally remote viewed. She’d seen it happening to him and felt so helpless.
“I suppose an observer can’t lift a finger to help out, can they?” Hawk asked.
Well, not this observer, she thought wryly. She looked at Jed again, wondering how he was going to explain about her “presence”.
“He was too far away to help, Hawk, and wasn’t even sure whether you were alive. He did say you took down fifteen of Dilaver’s men before shots were fired. There were several fights happening and he thought he saw someone shoot you. We were hoping it wasn’t true but since we had no contact from you for a while, we had to accept the possibility,” Jed said, as he attached the module via USB to the laptop. “Tell Amber I’m ready whenever she is.”
“She’s almost there.”
Helen grinned when Jed looked up at her. She gave him the thumbs-up signal and mouthed “good save”. He gave her one of those looks that revealed nothing and, needing a reaction, she mirrored an exaggerated version back to him. He didn’t even crack a smile. He ought to have that stone face of his patented.
She wondered about this Amber woman who had saved their operative. It was a brave thing to do, running off to battle a drug warlord at his own compoundandsuccessfully extract an injured SEAL. She would have loved to be there, in the thick of things, helping her out.
“How long before you can get back to me about what Dilaver and this new person, Greta, are planning?” Hawk asked.
“Give us a couple of hours. Probably this evening, before you leave the area.”
“Good. Okay, Jed, everything’s secured at our end. We’re ready to transmit.”
“Hang on.” Jed sent Heath an enquiring look. Heath held up one finger as he double-checked the firewalls, then he nodded. “Ready to link up here. There we go.”
Helen looked at her back-up link. It was split-screen, one side showing the signal coming in and the other a smaller view of Jed’s connection. While Heath’s task was to make sure the link remained secured, hers was to monitor for outside interference. She winced at the sight of the man on the other side. His face looked as if he’d gone through the meat grinder. One of his eyes and his lips were horribly swollen. He had told Jed earlier his physical functionality was at seventy percent. If his body looked like his face—no freaking way. Unless, of course, it’s a SEAL. Those dudes were tough sons-of-bitches. One of her trainers was a former SEAL and he’d been an inspiration when it came to mental strength.
Hawk squinted back at her—actually, at Jed—since he couldn’t see her. “Did we interrupt something important?”
Hell grinned again. Jed wasn’t in his usual casual jeans. In fact, he looked quite dashing and resplendent in formal suit, white shirt, and a tie. With his hair combed back and his face all nicely groomed, he looked like a diplomat, especially with the official-looking sash and ribbons that denoted his being part of some entourage. Dressed formally, he somehow looked more dangerous than ever, making the animalistic sensuality that was so much a part of him even more pronounced.
“I always dress up for dinner,” Jed replied with a straight face. “You don’t look so good, Hawk. Hello, Ambrosia, long time.”
“Jed, it has been a while. How have you been?”
Helen blinked. Wow. Was that the woman who rescued Hawk McMillan? She looked like she’d never left a beauty salon. Her voice was low, very sexy, and she spoke Jed’s name like she knew him very well. Helen frowned.
“Good. Can you handle this route?”
“It shouldn’t be a problem. I’m transmitting the map I’ve prepared. Hawk’s coordinates match a few areas. Time being the key thing here, which of these routes should we head for?”
“We’re printing it right now. Hang on.”
Jed turned to Helen. She gave a thumbs-up to show she was receiving the transmit, then clicked on the command key to print. Jed walked from where he was to get the map from her. She thought she saw a ghost of a smile on his lips when she handed it to him, but she wasn’t sure because he had turned his attention to the printout almost immediately, returning to his laptop.
“First, I agree that you should abandon the initial plan to destroy every cache of weapons shown here. The most important thing is to get to the target weapon. Once you have it, you can contact me again and I’ll send someone to pick it up. Second, we’ve compared your coordinates with the aid and relief drop-offs by manned and unmanned U.S. aerial vehicles the last six months. Although your physical description of the woman doesn’t fit, we have reason to believe Greta is the same handler who had worked as a secretary to Deputy Director Philip Gorman’s task force in the CIA for the past ten years, so we have a paper trail. We’re transmitting a file photo. We’ve computed that the target weapon is in the cache between Elbasan and Tirana at ninety percent.
“The third factor is still an unknown. We’re concentrating on all political activities in that part of the world in the next seven to ten days and putting out a code red alert. From what little Dilaver hinted to Ambrosia, the target weapon is to be used after a decoy has been activated. There’s an international summit going on in Skopje right now and the main meeting with certain world leaders present in two days. That, however, will be off the seven-day deadline, so we’re assuming that either the event or threat is a decoy and there’s another target. Keep your cell or your watch close by, Hawk. Someone will contact you. Check for messages whenever you can.”
Helen scribbled in her notes. She needed to remember every piece of information when it came to arguing with Jed McNeil.
“Will do,” Hawk said.
“Still the same prepared guy, aren’t you, Jed?” Amber asked.
That confirmed it right there that Amber and Jed were more than acquaintances. Helen sniffed. She didn’t want to think aboutthatright now.
“Still trolling for information, Ambrosia?”
“I can’t help but notice that little pin on your collar, that’s all. You’re at this summit already, aren’t you?”
“Wait a minute. You’re here in Macedonia, Jed?”
