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“For what purpose?”
“To give you the information you found on the microdot under my toenail, of course.”
“Was there ever a dead body in the first place?” Olivia asked.
“Of course there was, darling. It just wasn’t mine.”
“Who was it?”
Instead of answering her question, she said, “You’ll be hearing from an attorney soon, Olivia. He has something for you. I suggest you hear him out.”
Before Olivia could ask anything else, Iris dropped something from her hand. A noxious gas exploded, burning Olivia’s eyes and throat. Hawke grabbed her arm and pulled her away. She knew her mother was escaping, but smoke filled the area, and she couldn’t breathe, could do nothing but cover her face and try to get away from the fumes.
Seconds later, the smoke evaporated. And Iris was gone.
CHAPTER FORTY
Hawke and Olivia sat in a bank of chairs in the hospital waiting room. They had dragged themselves there a couple hours ago, looking as shell-shocked and ragged as they felt. Once Iris had fled, there’d been no reason to remain at the warehouse. Everyone else was dead.
He evaluated the mission and decided it had been a halfway successful op, though he knew he was being generous with that estimation. They had gotten some answers and some justice, but they still had more questions than answers.
Those things would have to wait. Eve was in the ICU. It hadn’t been a bullet that had taken her down, but the dirt bike. When she’d wrecked, she’d been thrown from the bike and landed on her back. With a broken collarbone and leg, three cracked ribs, and a concussion, she was in better shape than they’d feared, but she was still in serious condition.
He and Olivia had finally stopped coughing. The smoke bomb Iris had used as a distraction to get away had stung like hell. They’d both gotten checked out, and other than lingering, irritating coughs that should go away in a couple days, they were told they would be fine. Since he’d practically had to carry Olivia into the hospital, Hawke wasn’t so sure about that. She hadn’t completely recovered from being poisoned. This additional trauma had pushed her to the point of extreme exhaustion.
The ER doctor had assured him that her vitals were good, but he’d agreed that several weeks of complete rest would be in order. Hawke had an idea for that, but considering the way he’d behaved, he had grave doubts that she’d go for it. Didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try.
A message chimed on his phone. Pulling it from his pocket, he expected to see a response from the cleaners he’d texted with orders to dispose of the bodies and erase all evidence of violence at the warehouse.
Hawke cursed softly as he read the text.
No evidence exists at the location. Someone got here before us.
Hawke responded, You’re sure? Blood, bullet holes, shells. Nothing?
The reply came in an instant. There’s no indication that anyone’s been here in years.
Iris Gates had struck again.
Who did this woman really work for? MI6, the shadowy Wren Project, or someone else? Every time he thought he had her figured out, she threw a new wrench into his theory. He still didn’t know how she’d escaped the facility in Arizona, much less how she’d faked her death. Or the identity of the body that had been autopsied. Hell, he wasn’t really sure there had been an autopsy. He had confirmed with Bruce that the med tech from the holding site that had pronounced Iris’s death had mysteriously disappeared. Additionally, a coroner’s assistant had apparently vanished as well.
Every time he had an answer, ten more questions popped into his head. He wasn’t sure they’d ever know the whole truth.
From the corner of his eye, Hawke watched Olivia. She was three shades past pale. Dark circles beneath her eyes and the downward turn of her mouth told him she was almost at the end of her strength. How could he blame her? In the last two weeks, she’d learned her deceased ex-husband wasn’t dead. She’d been beaten and drugged. She’d learned that her mother was a likely traitor, although that was up for debate—maybe. And she’d thought her mother had committed suicide.
To top it all off, she had almost died from some kind of experimental sleeping drug, and oh yeah, her mother was still alive. Not to mention that Simon Swift, her ex-fiancé, had been responsible for a lot of what had happened to her.
Just one of those things might destroy a weaker person, but Olivia Gates was not weak in any way, shape, or form. She was at the end of her fierce reserves, though, and since Hawke was responsible for much of her pain, he was going to do his best to repair the damage he’d caused. If she would let him.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
She sent him a half smile. “Like a balloon with several pinpricks.”
“Come away with me.”
“What?”
“I talked to Ash. OZ is shutting down for a few weeks. He’s taking time off to spend with his new family. Gideon’s going to stay with Eve while she recovers. Liam is going on location with Aubrey for a documentary she’s filming. Xavier and Jazz are still trying to run down more intel on her brother.”
