The Midnight Hour - Brenda Jackson [72]
Ashton was touched by the love and devotion she felt for his friend and was suddenly filled with a need to kiss his wife. He felt her quiver the moment their lips met and within seconds he was lost in the welcome and warmth of her arms and her body.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Abram Hawk paced the confines of his living room, waiting °n an important call. He needed information from the Agency, information he no longer had access to, but hoped to obtain. No one worked as many years within the CIA as he had without building trust and confidence in certain people. He still had one person he could depend on: the woman who had been his assistant for over eight years, Lucille Mitchell. Although he'd never seen reason to divulge any information to her regarding Victoria Green's history, Lucille was someone he trusted implicitly. She'd always been his accomplice in making sure the agents in his operations were well cared for and that their personal well-being came first. She had always been his eyes and ears when he'd not been around and had kept him in the loop on what was going on in the lower ranks.
As a favor to him, Lucille had agreed to check out a few things. Until he was certain of his theory involving Solomon Cross, he wouldn't go to Casey. He'd known from first meeting Ronald Casey that the man intended to do things his way, which wasn't always the best way, and that was the main reason he hadn't told him Tori's history. A part of him knew he couldn't trust the man to look after Tori's welfare if she had stayed on as an agent. It was obvious that Casey had his mind set on a higher goal and his present position was just a step in that direction. The agents who worked under him were supposed to make him look good by doing what they were told and not give him any trouble.
Hawk smiled. He wondered if Casey had been ready for the likes of Drake Warren. Since he had once been Drake's commander when Drake had been a marine, he'd understood Drake. Casey wouldn't take the time to do so, which was a big mistake.
So lost in bis thoughts, Hawk jerked when he heard the phone ring. Crossing the room he quickly picked it up. "Yes?"
"Hawk, this is Lucille. Sorry it took so long to get back with you, but Casey called an unscheduled meeting with Robert Chisholm."
Hawk raised a brow. Chisholm was the man at the Agency in charge of the entire South American investigation; a man determined to bring Cross to justice after that Haiti incident. His son had been one of the marines who had been killed in the explosion. "What was the meeting about?" he asked, definitely interested.
"The informant the Agency has on Solomon Cross reported in. It seems that Cross found out that Drake has a love interest and has ordered that the two of them be found. According to the informant, Cross has been bragging to his men that they are about to have special houseguests and just what he intends to do with them when they arrive."
Hawk frowned. "Arrive?"
"Yes. Whomever he's sent to hunt them down will deliver them to him alive at a drop-off point, somewhere in South America in the hills near some rebel camp. Cross is supposed to be waiting there for them. The Agency plans to have their men in place when that happens and hopes to finally apprehend Cross."
Lucille sighed deeply before she continued. "Chisholm is excited at the thought of finally capturing Cross and it seems that he and Casey are willing to use Tori and Drake to do it."
Anger gripped Hawk's entire body. He didn't want to believe that Chisholm and Casey would go as far as to willingly place two agents' lives in danger. But then, a part of him knew they would. In their minds Drake and Tori were nothing more than sacrificial lambs for the cause of justice, as well as their own individual personal causes. After all those years of working hard to forge a bond of trust between the agents and the men they worked for, men like Casey and Chisholm were willing to destroy mat trust for their own personal gains and he refused to let that happen.
Hawk breathed