Page 19 of Hawk on the Hunt

Zara had the decency to look sheepish. “I turned on the Find My app this morning when I programmed my phone number into your cell.”

Dylan sighed. “That’s how little you trust me?” Maybe he deserved this. After all, he hadn’t given her a reason to trust him.

“You didn’t call.”

“I’m sorry. The day got away from me. I was gonna call you…” That was the truth. He’d planned on going to see her after taking a shower.

“Yeah, well, you didn’t.” She glared at him. “I thought you’d been kidnapped, or run into a trap, or something, when I didn’t hear from you.” Her voice was getting louder. “After everything you told me last night, what was I supposed to think?”

“What did you tell her?” Yankee asked with raised eyebrows.

“Okay! How about you all butt out for a few minutes, so I can talk to Zara,” Dylan demanded.

“Before you do that,” Ace said, “you and I need to have a word in private.” Ace motioned to a door on the other side of the foyer. “My office, now.”

Since this was Ace’s house, and he was running the show here, Dylan had no choice but to respect his command. But before he followed Ace into his office, he glared at Tiger and Yankee. “If either of you lays another hand on her, you’ll regret it.”

Both men raised their arms in mock-surrender.

Satisfied with their compliance, he looked at Zara. “I’m gonna talk to Ace first, and then I’ll explain everything. And don’t worry: Yankee and Tiger won’t hurt you.”

Zara stared at him, looking shell-shocked.

Inside Ace’s private office, Dylan remained standing. “What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”

Ace tipped his chin toward the foyer. “I need a little bit of clarification. You say she’s your girlfriend. Yet she programmed her number into your phone this morning. That doesn’t gel. If she were your girlfriend, you would already have her number in your phone. See how I’m having a problem with understanding this? Not to speak of the fact that you didn’t even suspect that she switched on a tracker on your phone. Want to explain that to me? ‘Cause from where I’m standing, it looks to me like you had a one-night stand that turned into a stalker.”

“She’s not a one-night stand. And not a stalker either,” Dylan ground out. He paused for a second, trying to tamp down his anger at the implication. “Zara and I lived together four years ago. I wanted to propose to her. I’d already bought the ring. Then Sheppard was murdered, and I had to run. I broke it off with her via text message.”

Ace rubbed his hand over his nape. “Fuck! No wonder she doesn’t trust you not to disappear again. When did you go back to her?”

“I didn’t. It was a coincidence. Zara saw us in the café last night. She approached me. We talked. I told her the bare minimum of what was necessary.”

“About the Stargate program?”

He shook his head. “Only that I was in the CIA, and the program was compromised, and our director killed, and that I had to disappear.”

“And your premonitions? Does she know anything about that or what the program was about?”

“No.”

“Hmm.” Ace grimaced. “Do you trust her?”

“A hundred-percent.”

“But she doesn’t trust you, does she?”

He shrugged. “Evidently not, or she wouldn’t have activated the tracker on my phone.”

“At least that means she doesn’t want you to disappear again. And considering she broke in here to try to free you, she still cares about you. But now that she knows this location, we have to make one-hundred-percent sure that she doesn’t disclose this to anybody. Or she’s putting us all in danger.”

Dylan nodded. “I know.”

“Do what you have to. Tell her you love her even if it’s a lie. Keep close tabs on her.”

“It won’t be a problem.” He wouldn’t have to lie to her, because he still loved her. But he knew he had to tell her more about the situation they were all in, and the reason why he and his brethren were hunted.

“Good. We’ll do more perimeter checks tonight just in case somebody tailed her.”