Page 25 of Hawk on the Hunt

Suddenly a crackling sound coming from somewhere in the ceiling jolted her. Panic sliced through her, and she involuntarily shifted. Dylan’s cock slipped from her sheath.

“Anybody who wants dinner, come down to the kitchen,” the voice of a woman came through a hidden loudspeaker. “I’m not gonna reheat for anybody.”

Zara let out a sigh of relief. “That startled me.”

“I didn’t realize either that they have a speaker system in the house,” Dylan admitted and rose.

She ran her eyes over his nude form, admiring his toned muscles, and his graceful walk as he headed for the ensuite bathroom.

He looked over his shoulder. “You coming? You heard Lilly: she won’t reheat dinner for anybody, and according to Yankee, she means it.” He winked at her. “And it’s time for you to meet the rest of the gang, since we’re going to be living here until all this is over.”

“We? Here?” Zara jumped up and walked toward him. “But I have an apartment in the city. It’s easy for me to commute to work from there. I can’t just—”

He put a finger over her lips. “You’ll have to. What I saw is imminent. There’s no way I’m letting you out of my sight. And there’s no better protection than here at the mansion. From now on you have five well-trained bodyguards.”

“But I have to go to work,” she protested. “The Senate is still in session for a few more days.”

“We’ll talk about that later.”

His voice was firm, and she knew what this meant. He wouldn’t budge. “You’re still as stubborn as ever.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, well, get used to it. When it comes to your wellbeing, I’ll never give in. I’ve lost you once. There isn’t a chance in hell that I risk losing you a second time.”

She sighed and grimaced. “Men!”

Unexpectedly, he pulled her against his naked body, his chest crushing her breasts. “You’d do the same if I were in danger. Hell, you broke in here to save me, not even knowing what kind of danger you might have walked into.” He gave her a gentle slap on her backside. “And for that I should paddle your sweet ass. You’re lucky it’s dinner time.”

He kissed her, and drowned out her protest.

14

Zara took a seat around the large dining table in the kitchen of the mansion. Dylan had introduced her to the other four couples, and she was worried that it would take her forever to learn everybody’s name, particularly because the women called their boyfriends by their given names, whereas the guys addressed each other by their CIA code names.

“How did you all choose your code names?” Zara asked, looking first at Dylan, then at the other men.

“We didn’t choose them,” Dylan said. “The man who recruited us all into the Stargate program gave us our names.”

“Oh, so, uhm, about the program. What were you supposed to do? I mean, with your premonitions?”

Dylan motioned to Ace.

Ace nodded and answered, “Have you ever heard of remote viewing?”

She nodded. “I saw something in a documentary once that mentioned it, but wasn’t that program a failure?”

“It was. But only because the people the CIA recruited for it didn’t have precognitive skills. Henry Sheppard, my adoptive father, was part of that failed program back then. However, he realized that if he could start up the program again, and find men like him, men who were precognitives, the program would be a success.”

“So he looked for all of you. But how? I mean how would you even know that somebody is a precognitive? Anybody could pretend to have a premonition, no offense,” she added quickly.

The others chuckled, and Zara took a bite of her food. “Oh, this is delicious by the way.”

“Thanks,” Lilly said. “It’s your turn to cook tomorrow night.”

“Oh!” Startled, Zara almost spit out her food.

Dylan laughed.

Lilly turned to Dylan. “Don’t laugh yet. The guys here don’t get off scot-free. You’re on clean-up duty.”