Savage Bay Read Free Page B

listen. This is different. This is not a regular operation. Caine needs the best. And the best is Titan Six.”
    Hawkeye sighed and threw the bloody towel hanging around his neck to the floor. He rose to his feet, pacing across the locker room.
    “Caine’s daughter, Dominique, is missing,” said Tank.
    Hawkeye stopped and looked up. “What?”
    “She’s missing. For almost eighteen hours now.”
    “What do you mean missing ?” asked Hawkeye.
    “Missing. As in Dominique Caine is not present. As in we can’t find her . Got it?”
    “I’m listening.”
    “Dominique is the project manager at a research facility called Savage Bay. It’s operated by Triad Genomics, one of Caine’s biotech companies. Do you know it?”
    “I’ve heard of it,” said Hawkeye. “Genetics. Real high-tech stuff.”
    “Right. Eighteen hours ago, Cain lost contact with Savage Bay. The whole facility went dark. No communications. The whole place just went silent.”
    “Eighteen hours?”
    “Yes,” said Tank. “We have no idea what’s happened, but it’s difficult to imagine a scenario that isn’t horribly bad.  So Caine is sending in a covert ops team. Titan Six. And she wants you to lead us.”
    Hawkeye nodded, considering the gravity of what Tank had told him.
    “You’re the best, Hawkeye. You always have been. Titan Six can survive without you, but we’re not at our best without you in command.”
    “Tank, you’re just as -- ”
    Tank held up a hand. “Stop. This is come-to-Jesus time. Don’t blow sunshine up my ass. I know I’m good. But you’re better.”
    Hawkeye nodded.
    “Caine needs you,” said Tank. “We owe her everything. She brought us in on the ground floor of Titan Global. She let us build the Titan Six team on our terms. Gave us virtually unlimited resources. We turned Titan Six into the best covert ops team on the planet. Governments around the world pay millions for our help in times of crisis. But now Caine needs your help.”
    Hawkeye balled up his right fist and slammed it into a metal locker. He was silent for a moment, then turned back to Tank.
    “Okay,” Hawkeye said. “I’ll come back.”
    Tank smiled and clapped him on the shoulder.
    “I knew you’d do the right thing,” he said. “But the clock is ticking. We need to leave right now. Is there anything you need to get form your apartment?”
    “No,” said Hawkeye. “Nothing I can’t replace.”
    “I’ve got a helicopter at the airport five minutes from here. But we have one stop to make first before we head back to the Ops Center. There’s someone else that’s essential to the operation. We have to go pick her up. I think you know her.  Isabella Cruz.
    Hawkeye rolled his eyes. “Yes, we’re . . . acquainted.”
    “Cruz is staying at a resort town in southern Spain. Not far by air.”
    “Wait a minute,” said Hawkeye. “She doesn’t know we’re coming to get her, does she?”
    Tank grinned. “No,” he replied. “She most certainly does not.”

Chapter 3
     
    SIXTEEN HOURS BEFORE THE SAVAGE BAY HALO JUMP
    MARABELLA, SPAIN
     
     
    Sixteen hours before the Savage Bay HALO jump, Isabella Cruz took a sip of her softly bubbling Prosecco, leaving behind just a hint of her full, dark red lips on the rim of the glass.
    She sat at a small, elegant table at Restaurante Las Rejas, eagerly awaiting the fillet of sea bass with cream puree and salmon roe suggested to her by a young, attentive waiter. The cluster of tables outside Las Rejas was only lightly populated, and Isabella sat with her back to a broad plaza lined with restaurants and boutiques.
    The afternoon sun warmed Isabella’s deeply tanned, olive skin. She sat with one long, slender leg crossed over the other. Her long, black hair flowed across her bare shoulders and down her back. Her thin white camisole was stretched tightly across her ample chest.   
    Isabella poked at her salad with a cold fork, ignoring her date, and instead studied an attractive man seated at