Page 11 of Hayes (Voodoo Guardians #37)

“I’m telling you he’s alive on that mountain,” said the man. “He was alive when I passed by him. He was out of it, but he was alive. When you have him, you’ll have the greatest mind the Navy has ever produced.”

“If you’re lying to me, I’ll have your head,” said the man standing in front of him.

“You know, Khalil, you’d think that you could show me a bit of gratitude. If this doesn’t work out, if we don’t find that fucking guy and kill him, I’m going to be hunted by every member of the U.S. military for the rest of my damn life!”

“Lieutenant Bonds, I don’t care if you’re hunted for the rest of your life. It matters not to me. What matters is that we find him, get what he has stored in his brain, and then kill him. If you had done your job better, he’d already be in my hands.”

“And if your men had done their part and taken him earlier, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. As far as the world knows, I’m already dead, but if he sees me, if by some strange circumstance anyone sees me, I’ll be running for the rest of my life.

“I’m handing over to you the most brilliant man I’ve ever known, and that’s saying a lot. If this drug you have is capable of forcing him to give up all the secrets in his head, you’ll be able to stop all the communications from the U.S. military and the Voodoo Guardians.”

“And if he cannot, I will kill you myself,” said the man walking away from him. Leland Bonds just stood there, watching as Khalil Aamani barked orders to his wayward soldiers.

Actually, it was an insult to call them soldiers. They were men who had nothing else to do. No homes, no farms, no jobs. Some had families and earned their little bit of money by killing and stealing for Khalil Aamani.

He knew that Hayes O’Neal was something special the moment he walked into BUDs. It had been almost five years earlier. Already a stellar sailor working in Navy intelligence, he had shown an amazing ability to solve any problem at any time, in record time.

That alone wouldn’t have caused him to pay much attention to him. But when he received a few visitors one weekend, Bonds knew he was more than special.

“Lieutenant Bonds, nice to see you, sir,” said Hayes.

“Hayes, great job on the trainings today. You’re going to be an exceptional SEAL,” he smiled.

“Thank you, sir. Oh, this is my father, Benjamin ‘Hoot’ O’Neal, and my uncles, Tanner Sung, Jak Robicheaux, and Gator Dougall.” Bonds remembers his stomach bottoming out, overwhelmed with the need to vomit. “Sir?”

“Oh, sorry. I think I recognize the names of some of these men,” he smirked, hoping to cover his shock.

“Maybe,” nodded Jak. “Nice to meet you.”

“Same,” he said. “Well, I’ll see you Monday, Hayes.”

“Yes, sir.”

The men had watched him walk away and then continued toward their dinner location. Bonds hid behind the building, watching them, and knew Hayes O’Neal wasn’t just any brilliant kid in intelligence.

They’d all been amazed at the ease with which he coped in SEAL training. It wasn’t easy, but compared to the others, he seemed to struggle less.

Now, he knew why. He was one of them. One of the fucking VG. He’d have to watch him closely. And closely watch he did.

He made sure that the kid was placed within his grasp, watching as he fixed problems swiftly, easily with his superior mind. When his physical abilities seemed to match his intellectual acumen, even Bonds was amazed.

Someone would pay for that brain. But he knew that VG men were built differently. The kid would rather die than give up any secrets. Yet there were organizations, countries out there that could easily drug him and force him to tell the secrets he held within that big, beautiful brain.

If they could just get it all out, they’d be able to stop VG and definitely stop the U.S. and their superior behaviors.

“Bonds? Bonds, are you ready?” called Aamani.

“Yes. I’m ready. Are we headed up the mountain?” he asked.

“We are. We’re going to search every cave, every opening, every crevice until we find your man. If we don’t, you’ll be the one to pay for the mistake.”

“Stop threatening me, Aamani. I’m on your side. I want that damn kid as much as you do. You forget, if he’s alive, sooner or later, he’ll remember that I walked off that mountain. Then the whole world will come looking for me,” he said with assuredness and a cocky grin.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” said Aamani. “The whole world won’t care. Only a small group of men who will feel like the whole world.”