You thinking what Im thinking? Logan asked.
That were being set up, instead of the other way around?
Bingo.
Im guessing we got too close, and hes unhappy with us?
Lets make him really unhappy and catch the SOB red-handed.
Watkins, search the interior, Abby directed, the static now nearly overriding her voice. Hawk, Logan, guard the exits from above.
But where is everyone? This from Thomas. Its like a ghost town in here.
Theres got to be a building we havent cased yet. Or a basement. Something, she insisted. Find it. Find them.
Theres nothing, Watkins said from inside. No one.
Logan cocked his head just as Hawk felt it, a slight vibration beneath them. It was hard to discern between the howling wind screeching in his ear and the sharp static on the radio, but hed bet that they were no longer alone up here.
Whats going on? Abby asked.
Neither Logan or Hawk answered, not wanting to give away their position in the icy darkness, which was so complete that without the night vision goggles, they couldnt have seen a hand in front of their faces. Unfortunately, the goggles couldnt cut through the heavy dust kicked up by the wind as they silently moved toward the ladder theyd commandeered and left on the northeast side.
Which was now missing. Shit.
Problem, Logan said.
What? Abby repeated in that voice that could give a dead guy a wet dream. Hopefully Hawk wasnt going to get dead, but without the ladder there was no way down without taking a flying leap. Just the thought made him break out into a cold, slippery sweat.
Logan jerked his head to the left, and Hawk nodded. Logan would go left, and hed go right.
Logan, Abby said tightly. Hawk. Check in.
Weve got company, Logan said, so calmly he sounded comatose. Were separating to locate.
Details, she demanded.
Someone took our ladder.
There was silence for one disbelieving beat. Watkins, Thomas, she snapped. Back them up. Now.
She was sounding a little more drill sergeant and a little less sex kitten, thought Hawk. Which was good, except he must be one sick puppy because the sound of her kicking ass turned him on as much as when shed sounded like she was kissing it.
West side is clear, Logan reported via radio, right on cue.
Hawk? This from Abby. Check in.
Oh, Im fine, thanks. He eyed the slippery roof, the distance to the ground, and gave a shudder. At Abbys growl of frustration, he let slip a grim smile as he looked left, right, behind him. Another gust blew through, wailing, railing, raising both holy hell and a thick cloud of dust as the icy air sliced right through him. He couldnt see anything, any sign of Logan behind him, or anyone else.
Which could be good.
Or very, very bad.
Where are you? Abby asked.
In hell. Of that, Hawk had no doubt. Logan?
Hawk, get down now, Logan suddenly said, and then came a click, as if hed been cut off.
Logan? Hawk tapped the earpiece. Nothing. The radio was dead, but hed get off the roof because Logans instincts were as good as his own. He couldnt see much, but he knew there was a tall oak nearby, with branches close enough to reach and subsequently shimmy down. All the way down. Christ.
A sound came from three oclock, and Hawk whipped his head around. Logan or enemy? Going down.
To do so, he had to shove his night vision goggles to the top of his head so that he couldnt see the ground rushing up to meet him, not that that helped much because he had a helluva imagination, and could picture it just fine.
The wind doubled its efforts to loosen his hold, blinding him with debris. All he could do was hold on and pray for mercy as he lowered himself, even though praying had never really worked for him.
When his feet finally touched ground, he inhaled a deep breath and nearly kissed the damn tree trunk. Instead, he drew his gun and backed to the wall of the barn. Just to his left was a window, boarded and taped, and yet hed swear he saw a quick flash of light from within.
Someone was definitely inside.
Watkins?
Or his very secretive bomb maker?
The radio was still eerily silent, and foreboding crept up through his veins as he slipped the night-vision goggles back over his eyes and turned the corner of the barn. There his gaze landed on a door low to the ground-a cellar entrance. Before he could try the radio again, the door flipped open, catching the wind and hitting the barn wall like a bullet.
A man crawled out, silhouetted by stacks of ammo behind him, and piles of guns, rifles, awfully similar to the ones that had been stolen from beneath his nose. Apparently the Kiddie Bombers liked to be armed. With ATF-confiscated weapons. Hawk steadied his gun and waited for the rogue agent to reveal himself.
The mans head lifted and all Hawks suspicions were immediately confirmed. Gaines.
He managed to get a shot off, then a white-hot blast knocked him flat on his ass.
2
THE BASTARD HAD shot him, point blank, and given that it felt like his lungs had collapsed, he assumed hed taken the hit in his chest. God bless the bulletproof vest. Stunned, gasping for air, he tried to remain conscious, but his vision had already faded on the edges and was closing in as he lay on his back, staring up at the night sky as a whole new kind of hurt made itself at home in every corner of his body
Hawk? Check in, Abby said in his ear.
Check in? He felt like he was checking out But the radio was back, good to know, and man, did she sound hot. Too bad he was floatingfloating on agony, thank you very much, and utterly unable to move.
Or speak.
Hawk.
Ah, wasnt that sweet? She sounded worried. He was touched, or would have been if he could get past the searing pain. He needed to get up, to protect himself-
A foot planted itself on his throat, and then the fire in his body sizzled along with his vision as his air supply was abruptly cut off.
By Gaines. Regional director.
Traitor.
Hawk tried to lift one of his arms to grasp at the foot on his windpipe.
Dont bother. Gaines pressed harder. Youll be dead soon, anyway. I just wanted you to suffer a little first, you know, for screwing with me for so long.
Hawk found himself shockingly helpless, an absolutely new and unenjoyable experience. He simply couldnt draw air, and good Christ but he felt like his chest was burning.
Hurts like a mother, doesnt it?
What hurt the most was that he couldnt remember if hed managed to spit out Gainess name before hed gone down. In case this all went to shit, he wanted Logan to know theyd been right. That is, if the radio was even back up. Logan-
Sorry. Its going to be a tragic evening all around. Youre both going to die trying to double-cross the agency.
Through a haze of agony as he choked on his very last breath, he realized he was still gripping his gun. Now if only he could get the muscles in his arm to raise it. As he struggled, he heard everyone checking in.
Watkins.
Thomas.
Logan. Thank God, Logan.
Any second now theyd realize Hawk hadnt checked in as well.
That he couldnt
HAWK? COME IN, HAWK. Abby said this with what she felt was admirable calm, even as a bead of sweat ran between her breasts. Something was wrong, and it wasnt just that their equipment had failed-even the backup equipment-for five long minutes.
I dont see him, Thomas radioed.
Me either. This from Watkins.
Im going back up to the roof, Logan responded. Maybe he never got down.
She expected Hawk to jump in here with laughter in his voice to say that everything was good. But he didnt. Oh, God. She needed to sit down. For several months. Because he would not joke, not at a time like this. He might be surprisingly laid-back and easygoing considering the constant, nonstop danger the job put him in, but he knew protocol. Hed been a soldier, Special Forces. He lived by the rules, and to her knowledge, always followed them. Hawk.
When he still didnt answer, she visualized him. Her therapist had taught her that picturing the cause of her grievance helped.
When he still didnt answer, she visualized him. Her therapist had taught her that picturing the cause of her grievance helped.
Of course her therapist had meant the men whod taken her hostage, but the idea behind it was the same. Hoping it would work, she concentrated on the image of Conner Hawk.
It took embarrassingly little time-like one-point-two seconds. He came to her shirtless, which she didnt-shouldnt-speculate about. The only time shed ever seen him that way had been six months ago, on her first day. He and Logan had spent hours lying beneath a truck in the broiling hot sun, surveying a house. After the arrests, Hawk had come into the office for a change of clothing he kept in his locker.
Abby had been sitting at a table in the employee room eating lunch, her fork raised halfway to her mouth, her salad forgotten as hed stalked past, eyes tired, several days worth of growth on his lean jaw, sunglasses shoved up to the top of his head. Hed ripped off his sweaty shirt and stood there in nothing but jeans riding dangerously low on his hips as he and Logan laughed about something while he fought with his locker door.
Ever since the hostage situation, her therapist had been promising her that her physical desire for men would eventually return, probably when she least expected it. Shed traveled a bit, visited her parents and sister in Florida, where theyd busily set her up on all the blind dates shed allow, and yet nothing had really taken. But sitting there in that room, it had not only returned, it came back with bells and whistles.
Holy smokes.
Conner Hawk had it going on.
Unable to help herself, shed continued to stare at him, soaking in his tanned, sinewy chest, the tattoo, the various scars that spoke of how many years hed been doing the hero thing. His jeans had a hole in one knee and another on the opposite thigh, exposing more lean flesh.
Then hed glanced over and caught her staring.
Unnerved, shed dropped her fork in her lap. Unfortunately it had still been loaded with the bite shed never taken. Ranch dressing on silk. Nicely done.
Those melting chocolate eyes had met hers, filled with that cynical amusement he was so good at. He hadnt said a word as hed yanked a fresh, clean shirt over his head, the muscles in his biceps and quads flexing, his ridged abdomen rippling as hed pulled the material down. His eyes, even heavy-lidded from exhaustion, had still managed to convey a heat that had exhilarated her in a way she hadnt wanted to think about.