Velesta, Macedonia
Hrana. A zena.
There were two universal truths when it came to man and his manhood. Both had to do with hunger. And when a man was hungry for both food and woman, he tended to expend a lot of energy in search of getting what he needed. Not just any kind of food. Or woman.
Ja sam gladna.
Hawk opened his eyes. Meditation worked. But not when one was hungry.
He had discovered that he enjoyed meditating—it slowed the heart down and helped to put things into perspective. And allowed him to keep his cool while living against his code of values for two months. Of course, knowing that any slight betrayal of the truth would put a bullet in his head helped the transition.
But still, his lessons in meditation had pulled him through a few tough moments. He had seen his share of horror in his time—in bloody battles and their aftermath—but he had always been on the “good” side, if one could call war good. This time, he had to play a part, and he had to watch the horror and filth of crimes being committed in front of him without being able to do anything about them. He couldn’t stop them…and it sickened him at night when he lay in bed, with images of girls being raped and used like toilet paper.
He couldn’t stop them. And so he had used his new training—meditation. For the first time in his life as a SEAL, he had to start learning a new weapon that had nothing to do with aiming and shooting.
But Hawk was hungry. He wanted real food. A big thick hamburger dripping with juice, everything on top, the kind that squished out in a mess when one had his mouth around it. He didn’t want the generic Mickey D’s that were in every corner of the world, with their cardboard taste and thin meat patties. He wanted the real thing, down-home cooking, grilled to perfection the way only a man knew how. Good old American hrana.
So far, there was none in Velesta, Macedonia.
And he wanted a real woman. Not these half-pints parading in front of grown men in darkened kafenas—or “fashion houses”—as they were called here. Not females with brutalized eyes that looked older than their real age.
He hungered for a real woman who hadn’t been shared by a dozen men a night, who hadn’t been kidnapped or tricked into slavery, and who wasn’t looking for a husband to get out of her situation. So far, in the limited world he had been shuffled through in this, the most notorious crime city in Europe, there were none.
Hawk uncurled from the lotus position. He stretched his legs, scooting forward on the soft featherbed until his feet found the thinly carpeted floor. He got up and strode to the huge antique window, unconcerned that anyone would glance up and see his naked form looking down on them. It was snowing outside. Who would be out there in this weather?
And who would be thinking of hot hamburger meat on a grill? He gave a short bark of laughter. He was used to the harshest of conditions under which to operate. His training had assured him of that. He’d gone from extreme heat to this early winter clime in a space of a few months; he missed the sticky sweaty conditions of jungle warfare, but he’d anticipated the change of venue to Velesta, and he had been mentally prepared.
Tough SEAL. Top covert operative. The local kingpin’s newest best friend. Money, drugs, and women handed to him on a platter. And all he really wanted right now was a thick flavorful piece of ground beef between a sesame bun. And a real woman. He laughed again. He was getting a hard-on while thinking about meat. Pathetic.
He looked outside at the first snowstorm of the year. The snow was falling down fast and silently. An early surprise to even the locals. The weather forecasters had made jokes about global warming on the news tonight, saying that God and scientists had forgotten about Macedonia. His lips twisted. They didn’t know how close to the truth they were.
If there were different levels of hell, he was in one of the hidden ones. He preferred the war zone to this—a place where the devils were running the show and appeared to be winning. At least from where he stood.
A whoosh and a thud. Hawk turned quickly, sidestepping the shadowy figure’s attack. He swung up, jamming the opponent’s hand against the wall. The intruder was wearing black and the material felt cold and damp, indicating that he had come from outside.
Surprisingly nimble, his attacker dodged Hawk’s other hand, countering with a kick aimed for his privates. Hawk twisted, but he didn’t release the captive hand, even when the kick connected with the side of his thigh. He yanked the arm hard, swung the attacker’s body over his shoulder onto the floor, trapping him beneath his own body.
A sharp stabbing pain hit Hawk on the chest. He grunted, reaching up with his free hand to pull the weapon out. It was a hypodermic needle; he could feel the drug’s immediate effect even as he grasped the stranger’s wrist, bending it back. A pair of legs wrapped around his waist like a steel vise, stopping him from pulling away from the needle. Ignoring the floating sensation rising like thick fog, Hawk tried to press down on the nerve in the wrist, but the other man held on to the needle determinedly, pushing in the plunger. Hawk released the imprisoned hand and reached for the man’s throat. Break his neck. That was his…only…hope….
Amber opened her mouth and immediately tasted warm male flesh. Her face was buried against the man’s neck and every breath she took in emphasized his clean scent, slightly tinged with cologne. She finally turned her head with some difficulty, feeling the scrape of stubble against her cheek.
God, he was a heavy guy. And…She moved her hand experimentally, then closed her eyes in disbelief. And naked.
“Shit,” she announced softly.
“I won the bet. Told you he wouldn’t be easy to take down.” Her friend’s voice, far above in the darkness, was wry and amused.
“I took him down, didn’t I?” Amber retorted, her voice strained. The man’s dead weight made it hard to breathe as she squirmed beneath, trying to free herself. She almost yelped when her lower body connected with something…no, she didn’t want to think about that. Trust a stupid American to walk around naked in this weather. Why hadn’t that crossed her mind?
“Need some help?”
“No!” Her reply was quick and breathless. Not if she could help it. No need to let her friend know that she was trapped underneath a naked man. Especially when her legs were still wrapped around his waist in a rather compromising position. She released them quickly, but that didn’t solve the problem that he was still very much on top of her, still very much touching her everywhere.
She pulled at one numbed hand trapped between them and was astonished to find him tightly holding on to it in his drugged state. She already knew where her other hand was and would rather not move it around too much. Damn it. She was going to have to get Llallana to help her.
“You’re taking too damn long,” Llallana said. She sounded closer. Amber moved her head and saw her friend standing nearby. It was too dark to see her face, but the welling of amusement was very evident in Llallana’s voice. “My, oh my, do you look comfy.”
“Oh, shut up. Help me move him.”
“Thought you didn’t need help,” Llallana snickered.
“Okay, I lied. Happy now?”
“Hmm.” Her friend crouched down. “Here, I’ll pull at the legs while you scoot upward, okay?”
“’Kay.” Amber arched her back as Llallana pulled, and smothered a shriek.
Llallana stopped. “What’s the matter?”
“Uh. Nothing. Can we…umm…turn him over instead?” She was not going to go into details about why sliding upward while arching her back was a problem.
There was a short pause. Llallana started to chuckle. “Oh my. Oh shit, I’m going to burst out laughing and get someone in here for sure.”
Amber glared into the dark shadows of her friend’s face. “Don’t you dare laugh.”
“Not here,” her friend agreed, her chuckling barely contained. “It isn’t time for us to die yet. But you can at least share with me how big he feels.”
That was one detail Amber was definitely not going to share. The man might be out like a light, but she could feel him through the thin stretched material of her cat-burglar outfit, and to make it worse, she wasn’t wearing any underwear. At the moment, he felt big and heavy against a part of her that was wide open because of her spread legs, and when she had arched upward just now…that was when she had almost shrieked. She had felt the tip of his penis pushing against the soft material. That was too damn close.
When her friend still didn’t move, Amber demanded, “Are you going to help or not? What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m patting his butt. He’s got…wow…a nice butt.”
Amber released a sigh of impatience. “Lily, if he wakes up now, what do you think will happen to us?”
“Nah, he’s out for a good two hours if you used the entire dose. If not, I have another needle right here. And his butt is nicely exposed. Wow, I like the feel of his back.”
“Will you stop?” Amber said through clenched teeth. “We came here to check out how good an operative he is, not how nice his bod is.”
“Well, he was pretty good, from my angle. So you’re wrong about him being just another pretty face. He would have gotten you if not for the drug.”
“I still won. He’s down like a sack of potatoes and…Lily…will you please do something?” She was beginning to panic that her friend might leave her here. Llallana had a dark sense of humor and just might think it humorous enough, in spite of the danger of discovery.
To her relief, she felt the weight on top of her shifting as her friend began to push and roll the body over. She helped as much as she could, using her one hand to press against the bare hard wall of his pecs. He moved a few inches and she found her face tucked against his chest. God, the man was hot all…over. She swallowed a curse. There was no getting around it; she had to arch up.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing,” Amber muttered against heated skin. She braced her legs on the floor and pushed up, trying to ignore how a certain big part of the male anatomy was grinding against her, at the moment, very sensitive nether region. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She gasped out, “You aren’t really helping, are you?”
“I am, too. He’s just a solid guy, Amber. Push some more so I can get some leverage.”
Easy for her to ask. She didn’t have a penis almost penetrating the crotch of her pants. Amber gave a sigh of frustration, took a deep breath, and pushed up with her legs as hard as she could. Her eyes almost crossed at the hard and intimate contact happening between her legs. She was supposed to be the assailant, so how come she felt like she was being attacked right now?
“I cannot believe this is happening,” she repeated out loud. As the body on top of her slowly turned over, she felt his hold on her hand tightening and gasped as she followed the rolling momentum.
“Oooooomph. He’s heavy. What’s wrong now?”
“He’s holding my hand and not letting go.”
“Really?” A small narrow light appeared from the slim flashlight in Llallana’s hand. “He’s determined to hold on to you even in his drug-addled state…how interesting.” The light moved slowly down the length of the exposed body. “Oh my.”
“Lily!”
“Check that out, Amber. No wonder you made all that noise. He’s…ummm…happy.”
“Damn it, stop taking liberties like that. It isn’t fair to the guy.” In spite of her protests, Amber found her eyes drawn to the small spotlight her friend had made. She rubbed her wrist absentmindedly as she stared down. Good Lord. No wonder she had felt him. The man was still semi-aroused. “Why didn’t I think of these things? That he would be naked and…horny? It’s the middle of the night, after all.”
“It looks beautiful. Makes me want to wait for him to wake up.”
“Lily!” She reached out and jerked her friend’s arm away. “That’s it. We’re leaving now.”
“What about the test and all that stuff you were talking about?”
“Oh.” Amber had forgotten the reason why they were there. They had wanted to make sure the new operative was good. She worked her hand free from the man’s tight grasp. “Okay, let’s tuck the note where he can see it without too much difficulty.”
“Where? The man is naked, for God’s sake. You wanted to piss him off, you said. Well, he’s going to be when he wakes up half frozen.”
Yeah. She had wanted to piss off Jed’s man to test him. She smiled in the dark. There was definitely a way to do that. “Go get the blanket. We don’t want him to catch a cold. I’ll make sure he gets the note.”
While Llallana went off to the bed in the corner, Amber took out the note in her side pocket. She checked another pocket, where she had a few loose things that were useful to open locks, and grinned triumphantly when she found what she was looking for—a long piece of string. Quickly, she poked a hole in the note and pulled the string through. She thought for a moment, then took out a pen and scrawled quickly before reaching out into the darkness.
“Now what are you doing?”
“Tying the note around his wrist. There. Got the blanket?”
“Yes, here.”
Amber tucked the thick feathered blanket over the sleeping man. “There. Let’s go.”
They switched on their nylon lines from their belts. One wonderful thing about hundred-year-old buildings converted for modern living—they still had high ceilings with walk-ways and turrets. It took a few minutes before they reached the small ventilation hole where they had crawled in. Their winter jackets were on the other side, fifteen minutes away. It would have been difficult to maneuver around with heavy garments on.
Llallana climbed in first, then turned abruptly. She turned on the flashlight again, almost blinding Amber. “You didn’t tie it around his wrist, did you?”
Amber never underestimated her friend. She kept her face expressionless. “Of course I did. Where else would I tie the note?”
Hawk didn’t open his eyes immediately. He strived to keep his breathing even, as if he were still out. He could feel some kind of cover over his face; moving his fingers slowly, he felt around him. Hard surface—on a floor? He was surrounded by some thick material—did they stick him in a sack?
He finally opened his eyes. It was pitch-black. He mentally checked his body—no pain anywhere, just a slight soreness around the right thigh. He remembered the kick. His heart wasn’t racing anymore. The drug must have been some kind of sleeping agent; he didn’t remember any hallucinatory dreams. There was a slight crick in his neck from lying on a hard surface, but other than that, he appeared to be fine.
So, where had his assailant taken him? It couldn’t be too far; Dragan Dilaver’s building was very heavily guarded. Recalling the attacker’s small build, Hawk doubted his ability to carry him out of a room, down several flights of stairs, through the huge foyer, and outside into the snowy open without a single soul seeing him. So that left only one simple conclusion—he was still in his own room, on the floor where he had been drugged.
Hawk lifted one hand and very slowly pulled at the material on him. He frowned, clutching the soft thickness several times. It felt like—his blanket. He drew his arm out from under it and encountered a lighter layer of cloth. This must be the one covering his face; the feathered blanket could have smothered him while he was out. What did you know, a thoughtful captor.
Part of him was pissed at the fact that he had been captured so easily. He couldn’t afford to let down his guard ever, and here he was, lying naked without any weapons, taken by surprise, and seemingly left—he cocked his head, listening—unguarded. Slowly, he inched the cloth down from his face.
Emerging from his warm cocoon, the air felt cold against his face. He was still in his room. His instincts told him that he was all alone, but caution told him to not move, just in case someone had a sick sense of humor and had wired a bomb nearby.
Hawk’s mind went over the events that he could remember. The attack had happened here, at the most open of the Dilaver holdings. Whoever his assailant was, he was cocky enough to do it, and was very sure of not being caught. And he was skilled in martial arts, so not just some dumb thief. He had deliberately attacked Hawk, so there was a message here somewhere. Conclusion: Explosives unlikely. Besides, why bother with the blankets if he had just wanted Hawk to die?
He was a SEAL. He sure wasn’t going to lie here and call for help so Dilaver’s men could come up to check around his naked body. Fuck that.
He rose up, letting the thick protective blanket fall away. It was still dark, so he couldn’t have been out more than an hour or two. The first thing to do was to turn on the light to see exactly what the dark stranger had left behind.
Turning on the bedside lamp, he squinted and adjusted to the sudden glare. Except for the blanket and spread on the floor, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. There was no sign of their fight at all. No hypodermic needle, nothing broken, not even a telltale shoe print. His attacker had been exceptionally careful not to leave any souvenirs for him to find.
Hawk started to head back to pick up the blanket. Something lightly scratched his thigh. He looked down. He softly cursed. Souvenir found.
Amber didn’t look up from her task when she heard Llallana coming into the kitchen. She arranged the freshly baked cookies in the jar, popping one into her mouth. There was always a lot to do for the café, and her customers, both Americans—mostly peacekeepers these days—and locals, seemed to love her cookies the best.
Llallana, as was her custom, poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down in her chair by the window. Her visits seemed to be less and less frequent these days, and Amber was beginning to worry about her friend. She knew how hard Llallana’s job was to one’s psyche, and wished she could offer more help, but in their business, each had to worry about her own assignment.
“You still won’t admit it,” Llallana finally began, voice filled with amusement.
“Nope,” Amber said, calmly closing the lid to the jar and reaching for another one. “No idea what you’re talking about.”
“You touched a man’s erection and won’t even tell your best friend.”
“I did not!” Amber munched on another cookie, not looking up but knowing her friend had an evil smile on her face that would make her break out laughing. “Besides, it wasn’t a full erection.”
“Aha. You at least admit to checking, then,” Llallana came back wryly.
Never mind checking, she had felt it in the most intimate way possible. She wondered how the poor man was going to react to her little present. “Can’t help it, he was naked,” she pointed out, finally looking up to meet her friend’s twinkling eyes. “At least I didn’t shine a flashlight on it and ooh and ahh over it like it’s the eighth wonder in the world.”
Llallana laughed. “Of course, blame it on me and my wicked ways.” She took a long sip of her coffee, then lazily settled back in her chair, cradling the cup in both hands. She watched Amber through half-closed eyes. “Unlike you, I’m not ashamed to admit to liking what I saw.”
Amber sighed. She reached for a cloth to wipe the flour from her hands. “Lily, darling, I think we both agree that shame isn’t in your genetic makeup. If we’re to work with this man, how could I look at him in the eye if I’d checked him out as thoroughly as you had?”
“Ahem…you’re the one working with him, not me, so I guess what I did was okay.” Llallana laughed again. “I think, either way, you’re going to be in trouble with the guy right now. He should have woken up by now and found your little present.”
Amber tried not to smile at the thought. “Maybe so. Maybe we shouldn’t have done what we did.”
Llallana arched her eyebrows. “Regrets? To hell with them if they can’t take it, and to hell with this new operative if he can’t take a little joke.”
“It isn’t a joke. It’s a test,” Amber corrected. She suppressed the thought of how not little he was.
“Oh yeah, tell his erection that.” Llallana took another sip of her coffee. “I’ve a feeling he’s going to be oh-so-mad with you.”
“You, too.”
“Ah, but he doesn’t know I was there, Amber. You’re all alone against his wrath.”
Amber crunched on her cookie. “If he can find me.”
Everything about their world was dreary and painfully serious. They had decided to seize every opportunity to have some laughter. So why not with the new operative in town? The CIA had sent him here to steal secrets. What a joke. Amber and Llallana had been working together for four years. Four freaking years watching the bloodbath around them. And now here comes some hotshot operative to take charge. Oh, really? Amber licked the crumbs from her fingers. In Macedonia, they had a saying: A foolish fox is caught by one leg, a wise one by all fours. Everything took time. And a lot of planning.
“What if he is better than the last one they sent?” Llallana interrupted her thoughts.
Amber rolled her eyes. “He has to be.”
“Okay, so the last one was a real bozo, but you said this time it involved a man named Jed McNeil. Is he showing up here, too, then?”
“No, Jed doesn’t just show up, Lily. He’s sort of like the cleanup guy in his outfit, so if we see him at all, it’s endgame time. But I did talk to him for a few short minutes.”
“What did he tell you, besides that it’s a CIA-sanctioned operation?”
“Jed never says anything, but the fact that he’s in on this thing makes it more interesting. And you know the CIA. Sanctioned? Pffft. We’re sanctioned, but that doesn’t stop them from betraying us if necessary. We’re still of use, that’s all.” Amber shrugged. “Back to this new guy—what’s our boy after that has Jed calling me up personally?”
“To warn you that he’s his boy?” As usual, Llallana chose not to address the subject of a CIA betrayal.
Amber nodded thoughtfully. “Lily, if he’s Jed’s boy, he’s not really CIA, you know that. There’s more going on than trying to find out coordinates.”
Llallana finished her coffee, placed the empty cup on the table, and stretched out her legs. “From what you told me about this Jed McNeil, he and his outfit are even grayer than our CIA, with lots of leeway. So what do you think is so damn important that everyone’s after? That Dilaver has?”
Amber had wondered herself. “Let’s find out,” she said. “If it’s that damn important, maybe we can get it for ourselves. Hell, possession is still nine-tenths of the law, even in these parts.”