Page 73 of Heartless

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Colombia

“You need more sunscreen. Your nose is getting pink.”

Olivia lowered her binoculars and watched Hawke dig the tube of sunscreen out of his pack. She’d applied three coats already, but the humidity was so high, much of it had melted off.

It struck her how they’d gone back to their same routine. He’d always been the one to carry their medical supplies. From bandages, to painkillers, to antibiotics, he was always prepared for anything.

In her pack were the MREs and snacks. They each carried their own canteens.

They’d been on numerous ops together, and from the very first one, they’d started a routine that had lasted for years. They never talked about it, never planned for it. This was who they were and what they did.

Although Hawke had been on various large missions during his career, this was the biggest one she’d ever been involved in. She hadn’t served in the military, but she had overseen multiple ops and had been involved in dozens of missions. Nothing like this though. Yesterday, she had stood at the door of the OZ operations room and almost gawked at what could only be termed a war room. Eve had told her that they’d added several additions to OZ headquarters since she’d left. The war room was one of them. Giant monitors covered every wall. A huge table big enough to seat a couple dozen people sat in the middle.

For an instant, she had felt out of her element, uncertain. Not the norm for her. There were several areas in her life she wasn’t confident in, but this wasn’t usually one of them. This was what she’d been raised to do—this was her life.

Hawke had been standing beside one of the monitors, talking with Eve and Gideon. When he’d spotted Olivia, he had waved her in. “Come on in. Make yourself at home.”

She didn’t know why, but the moment he’d said the words, she’d felt immediately comfortable. This was her element. She knew who she was and what she could do. In seconds, she had been immersed in the discussion, confident once more in her role.

The monitors had revealed the different people involved in the planning and execution of the mission. Twenty-one operatives were actively involved in tonight’s coordinated attack. Seven others were in communications roles. Each person would play an important part. For the mission to succeed, every one of them was vital. By tomorrow morning, five warehouses, four cargo ships, and three drug labs would be reduced to ashes. The Gonzalez cartel wouldn’t be completely broken. There were other, smaller facilities owned by them, but it would cripple them so severely that it would take decades before they would have even a percentage of the influence they had now.

This would not only be an almost complete decimation of the cartel, but also a huge blow to the shadow organization funding them.

And with no Gonzalez at the helm, the cartel would be decimated.

“So what did you do with Juan and Priscilla?”

Not by any noticeable gesture did Hawke indicate he knew what Olivia was talking about.

“Come on, Hawke. I know you.”

When Serena had announced yesterday that Juan and his mother had disappeared and that there were all sorts of urgent messages about finding them zipping through cyberspace, Olivia had known immediately that Hawke had had a hand in their disappearance. She remembered him telling her about the takedown of Hector Gonzalez and how his son had been inconsolable. She knew he’d felt bad for the child.

Her husband’s extraordinary compassion was one of the many reasons she’d fallen in love with him.

Shrugging, Hawke stared at the horizon. “The kid deserved a chance. He never signed up to be a drug kingpin. His mother was forced to marry a man twice her age. She never asked for that life either. I simply gave them a chance to live different lives. What they do now is all up to them.”

“Where’d you come up with the funds?”

“I may or may not have funneled some of the funds from the original bust to a few private accounts.”

“How’d you explain your extraordinary generosity?”

“I lied. Said that Hector hid some funds for them. That I found them. The kid doesn’t need to know his father didn’t give their welfare a single thought. Juan still looks up to his papá. He already had his heart broken. I just gave him a little bit of hope back.”

Her heart melted. This man who tried to be so tough and who was as deadly as they came in many ways, was a good man. She loved him, would always love him, but more important, she genuinely liked him, too.

She tilted over, nudged him gently with her shoulder. “Softy.”

“Shh. You’ll spoil my reputation as a badass.”

She grinned at him and then caught her breath. The hot look he threw her could melt a girl’s clothes from her body. They’d never had sex in the middle of an op. They’d had plenty before and after, but never during. It wasn’t going to happen now, and they both knew it, but it was still amazing that after all they’d gone through and after all these years, he could give her one look, and she wanted to rip his clothes off and let him devour her.

Blowing out a shaky breath, she stood. “I’m going to check the devices again.”

His eyes locked on hers for several breathless seconds before he looked away and said, “Good idea.” Turning his gaze to the warehouse, he raised his binoculars.

---