Page 24 of Hayes
“No. No, we can’t have gone through all this only for them to make you leave,” she said with genuine sorrow.
“We’ll worry about that later,” he said, kissing her. He leaned on her as she walked with him to the sofa. He stared at the haul and just shook his head.
“What do we do now?” asked Victoria.
“We have to find out what Bonds wants and what Aamani is looking for, other than Hayes.”
“Have you ever encountered him before?” asked Victoria. “Maybe on another mission, did you see him or stop something he was attempting to do?”
“No. Never. I knew of him, of course. Many in the spec ops community know who he is. But I’ve never met him.”
“But Bonds knew him,” said the young woman standing and pacing around the room. “Bonds, who watched you manhandle communications devices, data, complex mathematical problems, and much more. Bonds knew your abilities.”
“What are you saying?” asked Luke.
“I’m saying that maybe what Aamani wants is Hayes. His mind and what it can do for him. With him, he’d have the secrets to every weapon, device, or vehicle created by G.R.I.P. Even if you didn’t want to, under duress, torture, or drugs, you would give up the secrets.”
“Shit,” muttered Hayes. “Has anyone ever thought to do this before? Has anyone attempted to take any of us before?”
“I feel like that’s a yes, but I can’t put my finger on who it was,” said Cam. “But you damn sure bring up a good point.Sooner or later, the world will figure out who our boys are, our sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons, and use them for their own evil. Ryan. Ryan was one they tried to use for secrets.”
“How did we forget that?” asked Luke.
“I think there are a lot of things we’d like to forget, but we can’t,” smirked Gator. “We have to find Bonds and Aamani. Somehow draw them out and stop them. With Hayes’ testimony, Bonds will be on the Navy’s most-wanted list, especially after all those men were killed.”
“Fuck. He killed my team. Our team. He never once gave a second thought to that. He killed them all,” said Hayes in a fog of painkillers.
“We need to get him to bed,” said Cruz. “Let’s go, big boy. Time for you to rest.”
Cruz jerked his head toward Gator and Jak for some help, and the two big men lifted him, carrying him fireman style up the steps to his room.
“What do I do?” asked Victoria. The resounding response echoed throughout the house.
“Nothing!”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Listen, I didn’t say I would go out into the streets to interrogate people. All I was saying is that I can help.”
“How?” asked Eric. “As you pointed out, you cannot go out into the streets.”
“I don’t know. I mean – wait,” she said, standing and pacing back and forth. “Their comms equipment. Bonds would have been wearing the same equipment. It’s made by G.R.I.P., I have the last coordinates for Hayes, and if I have that, I can track backwards for Bonds and find out where he is or at least where he dumped the equipment.”
“Awesome,” said Luke. “What do you need?”
Victoria pulled out all the electronic equipment she had with her, then made a list of the things she would need to create the piece required to find Bonds. Within an hour, the guards returned with more equipment than she could possibly use.
“Oh, wow,” she laughed. “You guys really believe in overkill. Thanks. This will work.”
“You’re welcome. May I watch?” asked one of the men. “I have an interest in communication devices and a degree in electrical engineering.” Victoria looked over her shoulder at Cam, and he nodded.
“Yes.Of course.”
After hours of working on the device, she pushed it back and stretched her neck back and forth, hearing the cracks. Then she suddenly stood and stared at the room of men talking softly.
“Shit.”
“Shit? Shit what? What do you need?” asked Cam.
