Page 21 of Hawk on the Hunt

With his thumb, Dylan wiped away a tear and caressed her cheek. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”

Finally, she found her voice again. “You have premonitions?” She glanced at the others. “All of you?”

All the men nodded.

“That’s why somebody is hunting us,” Dylan explained. “Because we see a catastrophic event in the future, and we may be able to prevent it. That’s why somebody wants us out of the way.”

“Are you sure it was the Capitol you saw?” Tiger asked.

Dylan nodded. “I saw the plaque outside the Speaker’s office.” He looked back at her. “Tell me why you would be in the Capitol.”

“I told you yesterday that I work for the junior senator of Idaho,” Zara said.

“Yes, but I thought you work in one of the Senate buildings, where the senators have their offices.”

“Yes, but I have to go to the Capitol almost every day for one thing or another.”

“Fuck!” Dylan cursed and rubbed his neck. He glanced at Ace. “I need to talk to Zara in private. Given my latest vision, I think it’s paramount that she knows everything that’s going on here so I can keep her safe.”

Ace nodded. “I think you’re right. Take her to your room.”

Zara stared at Dylan. “You live here?”

“I do now,” he said. “Come. Let’s talk.”

Still dazed and confused, she followed him as he led her up the large staircase to the second floor of the villa, where he ushered her into a bedroom at the end of the long hallway. When he closed the door behind her, they were finally alone, and silence wrapped around them. Zara gave the room a cursory look. It was warmly decorated, with a large bed, a dresser and nightstands, and an armchair with a reading lamp. There were no personal items in the room except for a small travel bag and some of Dylan’s clothes.

Dylan reached into the back of his waistband and retrieved his gun. He laid it on the nightstand, before turning back to her.

Her tears had dried, but she wasn’t ready yet to accept Dylan’s words as the truth, though they did explain so many things. Why he’d left. Why he’d never taken medication for his migraines. But it didn’t justify him leaving her without a word. Anger flared up in her once again, and she glared at him.

“You should have told me!” she railed, her hands balling into fists. “If you really loved me, you would have told me!” She beat her fists against his naked torso, while more tears welled up in her eyes. This time, she used her anger to force them down.

Dylan took hold of her fists and encased them in his palms, holding them pressed against his chest. “Zara, baby, I didn’t tell you because knowing would have put you in danger. Besides, you wouldn’t have believed me, and I didn’t want to lose you. You would have left me if you thought I was a lunatic.”

Zara sniffled, his words soothing her even though she didn’t want to allow it. She wanted to remain mad at him, because she could handle mad, she couldn’t handle scared. Because if Dylan really had premonitions, and what he saw was true, then she would die, and that scared her more than anything.

“Please tell me it’s all a joke, or a nightmare, or anything, just tell me it’s not true,” she begged.

“I’m sorry, baby, but I won’t lie to you ever again. I know the truth is scary, but this time I will be with you all the way. I’ll never leave you unprotected again. I promise you that.”

“How can you promise that? Didn’t you just say it yourself? In your vision, I die in an explosion at the Capitol.”

He released her hands and cupped her face. “We’ll prevent the explosion from ever happening. I’m not gonna let it happen, Zara. I won’t.”

“You’re one man, Dylan! How will you prevent this?”

“I’m not alone. The others, Ace, Fox, Yankee, and Tiger, they’ve already got leads on who’s behind this. We’ve all seen parts of this event happening in our visions. If we work together, we can stop who’s behind this. We have to.”

His voice was determined, his tone beseeching as if he was trying to convince not only her but also himself. She saw it then, the fear in his eyes, the fear that he couldn’t stop this premonition from becoming reality. Her resistance crumbled at the pain he tried to hide in his eyes. He was the man from four years ago again. The man she’d loved and trusted. She still loved him, but could they repair the broken trust?

“Help me trust you again,” she said. “Tell me the truth. All of it. Don’t leave out the bad stuff. I need to know the whole truth.”

He nodded and sat down on the bed, gesturing her to join him. She sat down, leaned back against the headboard and crossed her legs. Dylan shifted, until he sat opposite her, looking straight at her.

“I always thought I was a freak because I had these premonitions, and the things I saw became real, sometimes almost immediately, sometimes months later. I had no idea that there were other men like me, until Henry Sheppard recruited me for Stargate, his top-secret CIA program.”

Zara listened with rapt fascination.