Page 95 of Storm Warning

“And I can’t believe you thought I was a rogue agent, a gun for hire.”

“What was I supposed to think?”

Hawk thought about John’s words.

“...the difference between the good guys and the bad guys was often a matter of point of view.”

John must have been using that philosophy as his justification to go after the Tempest device.

He peered around the rock, trying to find their egress. Shadows crept between the trees. Time was running out.

“It doesn’t matter right now. Let’s just say that they know that two different parties want what she knows, and someoneelsewants her dead. I tried to encourage her to remember. Jar her memory before it was too late.”

“With the puzzle pieces? That was you, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. I showed up to watch out for her and found you here. I thought you wereworkingfor him, man. I couldn’t seem to get a break and get her away from you. You had her fooled into believing I was on the wrong side of this.”

“Why would you think I’d betray my own country?”

“You were close to John. You were here. Remi was here.”

“That makes sense. But we need to trust each other. I’m sorry that I believed John. But I was trying to find you so I could talk to you. Why didn’t you just come to tell me?”

“I did...”

“What? When?”

“I followed you. You were meeting with John, and it was too late. He’d already turned you against me. I thoughtyouwere the traitor,” Cole grunted out. “But that’s his men out there. And they’re not just trying to kill me. They’re goingto kill you, too, because by now they know that John’s game is up.”

His brother’s words left Hawk grasping for something solid. The storm system was building to a crescendo around them—it was almost a metaphor for this situation. How would they escape? Hawk spotted two men on either side of them, hiding in the woods, signaling each other and creeping forward, so he kept shooting.

“I’m running out of ammo.”

If Cole was telling him the truth, then they were both in trouble.

“They’re making their way around,” Cole said. “We need an escape. You know this place better than me.”

Hawk doubted that. “The cliff. We can get close to the edge in those trees, and then make our way over to the bunkers. You remember those, don’t you? You abducted Jo and chained her to a wall.”

“Dude, I don’t know about the bunkers, and I didn’t chain anyone to the wall.” Cole grimaced in pain.

They crawled through the underbrush, making their way close to the edge. “Not too close.” He didn’t want this to be one of those rare moments when erosion tried to dump them in the ocean.

Hawk and Cole pressed forward until they found the entryway to the bunker built in the cliffside. The ocean boiled below, pounding the rocks and soaking them to the bone with cold sea spray.

Hawk and Cole scrambled toward the entrance.

“It’s a maze down there.” Hawk shook his head as they entered the corridor built into the cliff. “This was a bad idea. We should have found another way. Remi needs protection. We need to get back to her.”

He should never have left her to stop Cole, who wasn’t even his enemy here.

Well played, John. Well played.

“They’ll follow us,” Cole said. “They aren’t going after Remi until they’ve taken us both out. They need us out of the way.”

“Unless more of John’s men are at the lodge.”

“Doesn’t matter. We can’t help her until we get out of this,” Cole said.

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