Page 101 of Heartless

“Good enough,” Gideon answered. “Come join the party.”

Hawke heard her switch on the dirt bike. “Roger that. On my way,” she said.

His tension eased. The team would come in on his signal, but for now, he intended to get some answers.

“Are you working for the Wren Project?” Hawke asked.

Only the slight stiffening of Simon’s shoulders indicated the question had startled him. “I don’t even know what that is.”

“You’re not a very good liar,” Hawke observed.

A smile played around Simon’s mouth. “Fooled Livvy into thinking I was marriage material. I must say I don’t think she did much better.”

“No one is good enough for Olivia.”

“If you say so.”

Olivia huffed out an exaggerated sigh. “The next thing you guys will be doing is sharing cute tidbits about my personality. Can we get on with this?”

The noise of Eve’s bike in Hawke’s earbud reassured him she was getting closer. As soon as she joined Gideon and Liam, he’d call them inside.

“All right, Simon, you want to tell us what all this is about?” Olivia asked.

“No, I don’t think I do.” He glared at Hawke. “We had a deal. You didn’t keep your end of the bargain.”

“The agreement was the antidote in exchange for Iris. I no longer need the antidote, as you can see.”

“Maybe so, but I still need Iris.”

“Why?”

“That’s none of your concern,” Simon snapped.

An odd crashing noise sounded in Hawke’s ear, followed by a small yelp and then silence. He cut his eyes over to Olivia. Her brow furrowed, and her eyes narrowed. Yeah, she’d heard it, too.

“Eve,” Gideon said. “You okay?”

No answer.

“Damn,” Gideon said softly. “Stryker, you’re closer to her entry point. Find her.”

“Already on my way.”

Simon waved a hand in front of Hawke’s face. “Are we just going to stand here and stare at each other? I need to know where Iris is, and I need to know now.”

“Shut up,” Hawke snarled, focused on what was happening in his ear.

Looking startled, Simon seemed to struggle with a response.

Seconds later, Liam gasped Eve’s name, then said, “Gideon, you need to get here now.” The urgency in his voice was apparent.

“On my way,” Gideon said.

Olivia looked at Hawke like she wanted to run out of the building. Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen with five guns pointed at them. They’d have to play this by ear.

“Steady, baby,” Hawke said quietly.

“Baby?” Simon said. “Are you two back together? I was assured that would never happen. You were supposed to be dead, Hawke.”

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