Whole Pieces by Ronie Kendig Read Free Book Online

there the first time?
    Stratham gathered Jensen and his spotter, Jacobie, then told them about the possibility of freedom fighters down there. “Find out how many. STK if you can eliminate all of them and stay dark.”
    â€œRoger.” Jensen and Jacobie rushed into the darkness, moving swiftly and with stealth. Stratham then pointed to the kid and eyeballed Hawk. “Stay on him. Don’t let him out of your sight. In fact, tie him up.”
    Mack’s eyes bugged out. “ Tie him—? We can’t keep him here. He’ll see how we work.”
    â€œDo you have a better idea?”
    â€œWe’re compromising the operation.”
    â€œIt’s already compromised—the second that kid stumbled upon us.” Stratham glowered. “Hawk. You heard me. Tie him up.”
    Hawk swallowed and considered the little guy. Keeping the boy here . . . it was their only choice. Right? Wasn’t it? They didn’t exactly have a way to see the—fu . . . ture.
    Hawk’s hand eased to his leg pocket. With his pointer finger, he traced the outline of the timepiece. Like a whiff of sulfur, the howl of Constant seared into his memory banks, left his hackles raised and heat spilling down his spine.
    Depressing the stem—would that bring Constant? Maybe that’s what had happened before, when he’d leaned down and shifted his leg. Had he depressed the stem then?
    Why hadn’t Constant retrieved his watch? Surely the whole concept of time wasn’t connected to this lone device? The being couldn’t be that limited, could he?
    â€œHawk!” Stratham snapped, his voice slamming into Hawk, though quiet and controlled in the secure spot.
    From a pack, he snagged a rope and bent toward the boy. “Abda, you would do anything to protect your sisters and mother, right?”
    Though his lower lip trembled, the bright-eyed boy gave a slow nod . . . and extended his arms, wrists together.
    Hawk’s heart tumbled into his stomach. This was some kind of messed up. It wasn’t right. None of it. The kid, the team . . .
    I should’ve never come back. Had Hawk somehow broken an unwritten rule? Would that rule-breaking snafu shatter his chances to save the team?
    Immediately he regretted the thought. Yanked it back into the void from which it’d come. Any chance to save the lives of his team wasn’t something to regret. It was something to protect. He coiled the rope around Abda’s wrists and ankles, tight but not crushing.
    Shoulders slumped, Hawk shook his head. “I am sorry, Abda.”
    â€œIt’s okay, Haytham. But . . .”
    Hawk angled his head. “What?”
    â€œMy moor . She will worry that I have not come back.”
    Hawk looked to Stratham, who let out another curse.
    â€œSo what’s the call?” Mack asked, prone on the ground, his weapon poking out of their cover and prepped to protect. “We keep him here? He’s right—what if his mom looks for him?”
    â€œIt’s too late. She won’t be about alone.”
    â€œNo,” Hawk said, emotion tightening his words. “His father will. Or Tarazai.”
    Check the watch.
    Though they’d kept quiet, their discussions, arguments, and decision making conducted in controlled whispers and hissed words, the night had thickened with tension and trouble, leaving a noisy din in Hawk’s mind. So much that when he slid his fingers beneath the Velcro closure to retrieve the watch, the ripping noise might as well have been the weapons’ fire.
    He tensed, feeling Stratham’s glare on him. Hawk shifted away and reached for his weapon, the cold metal of the watch chilling him. Or maybe that was the daunting realization that this device could predict—no, not predict, but glimpse into—the future.
    No, not the future so much as it was tugging him back to where he belonged. The present.
    They needed to