Page 34 of Emi's Hero

That smile made George smile, as well. In fact, it made the day brighter. He felt hopeful.

His steps were lighter as he crossed the yard and settled into tour-guide mode. “When Hank Patterson sent Hawk out to Hawaii to protect a cattle baron’s daughter, he probably already had it in the back of his mind to set up an office of the Brotherhood Protectors on one of the islands. Hawk made such a good impression on the Parkmans he was soon to be married to the cattleman’s daughter.”

“Kalea?” Emi guessed.

“Right. And, boy, from what I heard, she gave Hawk a run for his money when he was playing bodyguard to her.”

“I can imagine,” Emi said. “She seems to be a strong, independent woman. And a pilot.” Emi shook her head. “I bet he had to work hard to win her over.”

“He did.” George led the way toward a group of outbuildings. “You should have him tell you the story of how a cowboy fromMontana became a Navy SEAL and ended up on a cattle ranch in Hawaii.”

“Hawk’s from Montana?” Emi asked.

“Born and raised,” George said. “When Hank decided he needed a branch of his organization in Hawaii, with Hawk there to manage it and the staff, Mr. Parkman offered a building to set up the Brotherhood Protectors Hawaii office.” He stopped in front of one of the outbuildings that looked just like so many others and lifted a panel beside the door, exposing a biometric reader. He pressed his thumb over the reader for a second. A lock clicked. He grabbed the door handle and pulled it open.

“After you,” he said and stood back for her to enter.

The room they walked into looked like a tack room with horse gear hung on the wall and a couple of saddle trees loaded with saddles.

Emi frowned. “Are we in the wrong building?”

George engaged a hidden lever, and a portion of the wall with the bridles, brushes and curry combs opened, exposing a dark corridor.

As they stepped into the corridor, the panel behind them closed automatically, and lights blinked on.

George passed several doors on either side of the hall, leading the way to the door at the end.

He opened it to a large room with a conference table and enough seating for a dozen people. A bank of computers, each with an array of monitors, lined one of the walls. The opposite wall was covered with a large dry-erase white panel. At the end of the conference table was a giant display monitor.

“Oh, good,” Hawk called out from where he sat in front of one of the computers. He grabbed a laptop and a remote-control device and carried them to the conference table, close to the display monitor. “I just finished speaking with the other members of the team. They all wish you luck in yourcurrent assignment. I gave a heads-up to those on standby for assignments. They’re ready whenever you need them.”

“Good,” George said. “I have a feeling we’ll need them.”

Hawk gave George a grim nod. “Let’s see what Swede and Kyla have to say. I told them we’d call within the next fifteen minutes. That was five minutes ago.” He shot a smile toward Emi. “Ready to meet our tech support folks who work miracles?”

Emi nodded. “Yes.”

Hawk waved his hand at the seats near him. “Please, have a seat while I bring them up.”

George pulled out a chair for Emi.

She sank into it, and George sat beside her.

Hawk dropped into another and ran his fingers across the laptop’s keyboard. Moments later, the giant display lit up with Swede’s rugged face and white-blond, closely cropped hair and the dark-haired, dark-eyed former assassin, Kyla Russell.

“Hey, Hawk,” Swede said.

Kyla raised a hand. “Hawk.”

“Thanks for joining us,” Hawk said. He turned to Emi. “This is Emi Sands; you know her backstory. Emi, this is Axel Svenson, aka Swede, and Kyla Russell. Both work the computers for Brotherhood Protectors.” He faced the monitor. “I figure since you haven’t contacted us, you don’t have anything new on the location of the compound or the real identity of Fallon Vance.”

Both Swede and Kyla nodded.

“I’d like to say we found something of use,” Swede said, “but we need a little more information. There are a lot of people who own property and a yacht in Hawaii.”

Kyla grimaced. “What Swede said.”

“Emi is going to work with a hypnotherapist this afternoon,” Hawk said. “We hope she can come up with something out of her memory that could help with the search. We’ll let you know more on that after her session.”

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