Page 14 of Hawk on the Hunt

“Turn it down, Ben,” the senator ordered. While Ben followed his instructions and muted the TV, he continued, “Nicky, find out what the most appropriate gift is that we can send to the vice president to show her that we’re hoping her son will get well soon.”

“How?” Nicky asked.

“Google it, or ask Siri, I don’t care, just get it done,” he snapped.

Nicky returned to her desk and typed something on her computer.

“Clara, get the vice president’s chief of staff on the line so I can convey my heartfelt wishes.”

“Senator, don’t you think that’s a little much? I mean, you’ve met Vice President Grossman only once when she swore you in. I’m sure the Senate majority leader will speak on behalf of—”

“In moments like this,” he cut her off, “we have to act. We can’t wait until somebody else makes a decision for us. A leader has to lead.”

Zara caught Clara’s raised eyebrows, but decided not to get into the conversation. For a senator who hadn’t been in office for even a month, and barely knew the president or vice president, it was a little forward to make such a move, when it was the Senate majority leader’s place to show support for the vice president. Only somebody who wanted to stand out, cut in front of the Senate majority leader. It meant stepping on several people’s toes.

“What can I do, Senator?” Ben asked, showing his usual eagerness to please his boss.

“Find out what happened in Afghanistan, and report back to me. We’ll have to launch an investigation into this incident.”

“Of course, sir, right away, sir!”

“Zara, contact the chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, and set up a meeting with him to discuss launching an investigation.”

Zara nodded, even though she knew that her boss wasn’t a member of the committee, and it wasn’t his job to launch an investigation. Clearly, he was as overeager to impress the right people as Ben. And just like Clara’s protest had led nowhere, Zara’s wouldn’t either, so she didn’t even bother making one. She had more important things to worry about than whether he was treading on other senators’ toes who’d served much longer than the junior senator of Idaho.

“I’ll get right on it,” Zara said and walked to her desk and sat down.

Not a single person in her office had made any comment on how the vice president must be feeling, knowing that her son was badly injured and half a world away. All they’d been concerned with was how they had to act in this situation to look good in the eyes of Vice President Grossman and President Mansfield.

It was the part in politics that she’d started to resent. She’d been naïve when she’d decided to work for the U.S. Senate, thinking she’d be serving the people of the United States, when in reality, she served politicians and political operators who were only looking out for their own best interests. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this kind of job after all.

She took a deep breath. Perhaps she was simply a little impatient today, wanting to get this day over and done with, so she could see Dylan again. There were still so many things he hadn’t explained, still so many things they needed to talk about, because if he wanted a second chance, and if she wanted the same, they had to be on the same page. No more secrets. No more lies. Nothing less than an open book would do.

8

It was afternoon, when Ace and the other ex-CIA agents had filled Dylan in on all the intelligence they’d been able to gather. Dylan was impressed.

“Guess it does pay to work together,” he commented. “Fox, you mentioned earlier that you were able to steal a list of Stargate agents from Langley. Can I see it?”

Fox nodded. “Let me get it up on the big screen. Maybe you’ll recognize somebody.” While he tapped something on his keyboard, Dylan turned to Ace.

“I’m assuming you all went through the list before. Did any of you recognize anyone else?”

“Only a couple of the ones who’re dead now,” Ace replied, then motioned to Yankee. “And this joker here doesn’t match his own photo.”

“What does that mean?” Dylan asked.

Yankee grinned. “I wanted to stay in Washington D.C., so I underwent plastic surgery so nobody would recognize me.”

Dylan shook his head. “And here I thought you were blessed with those handsome good looks from birth.”

“I wasn’t too bad looking before either.”

Everybody chuckled, when Fox gestured to the large screen on the wall. “There’s the list. Go through it as slowly as you want.”

Fox rolled his chair away from the laptop, and Dylan sat down on the chair next to his and scooted closer so he could use the mouse. While the other three men stood around, also looking at the screen, Dylan scrolled through the records. The list was bare-bones. Only a photo, the real name as well as the person’s code name, and any special skills were noted on the list. The list was organized alphabetically by code name, with Ace being the first on the list. Earlier, Ace had told him that he’d been Sheppard’s first Stargate agent, and that their relationship had been a close one from the time when Sheppard had adopted Ace from an orphanage in Virginia.

Dylan scrolled through the list. When he got to the record for Echo, he read the red overlay: dead, it said.