After he put the SUV in park and opened the door, Hawk stared over at Maddie, who was curled in a ball in the passenger seat. Her body was still shaking, but at least she’d stopped crying, which was something. She had been so hysterical on the flight, he thought several times about landing at a hospital to have her seen for anxiety.

The fact that she passed out after the interview scared the shit out of him and her green-as-grass attorney too. His face was white when he found him outside after the equally freaked out guards told him he was with her.

You can’t check out on me now, baby. We’ve got a lot of things to do and I need you.

With a huffed breath, Hawk got out and closed the door then went around to her side. He lifted her out and kicked the door shut. There would be no walking inside for her in this condition, he thought, carrying her toward the front porch.

He balanced her weight and reached for the knob, but the door opened wide. Mickie stood there looking excited, and behind her was the whole team wearing big grins. Hawk flinched when they all shouted congratulations in unison. Maddie whimpered and a violent tremor shook her body. Mickie’s smile disappeared and she moved so he could carry her inside.

“What’s wrong?” Gray asked, stepping up behind Mickie to put his arms around her shoulders. “Cade is here. Do you want him to look at her?”

“That might not be a bad idea,” Hawk replied, his eyes searching the group for the former operator-turned-doctor as he walked toward the hallway. He felt the team’s worried eyes following him as he strode toward the suite. Mickie beat him there and punched in the code.

“What happened to her?” she asked, as she pushed the bar to open the door.

“As soon as I have her settled, I’ll come and explain it all,” Hawk replied, walking toward the bedroom.

He opened the door and carried Maddie through the darkened bedroom to the bed, where he gently laid her down. She immediately curled into the fetal position and turned away from him, but Hawk unbuttoned her skirt, rolled her back over and removed it and her prosthesis.

Her whimper signified she was about to start crying again, and the thing he wanted to do most right then was crawl into that bed with her, hold her and cry too, but he couldn’t. The team was waiting for an explanation and he owed it to them. Mickie had gone to a lot of trouble to arrange the party that was waiting when they got home, and he needed to thank her, but it would be a long time before Hawk felt like celebrating anything—even the birth of his daughter.

Emotion surged up to choke him as he quietly closed the bedroom door and heard Maddie crying. It rose higher with each step toward the door of the suite. Two steps later, he staggered and fell to his knees as it reached his lips. His stomach cramped, he hugged his waist and the emotion escaped in a roar as his eyes filled and flooded.

He’d held it together as long as he could and Hawk knew there was no stopping the storm, so he just curled over his arms and let it go. His mother’s death, Maddie’s death, her resurrection, the baby, the amputation, the surgery, and now the possibility that he’d lose her again all joined forces to consume him. What in the hell would he and Sarah do without her if he couldn’t fix this?

“Oh, God…” he groaned, rocking.

A hand landed on his back, and he thought it was Maddie. He looked up and saw that every member of the team―no, his family―was in the suite and had circled around him. He even saw Maria lurking behind them holding Sarah and rocking her baby in a stroller. He couldn’t even work up the emotion to get angry about that.

“We’re here for you, Hawk—whatever you need us to do,” Logan said, his voice serious as he squeezed his shoulder. “I’ve never seen you not happy-go-lucky, so this must be bad. But nothing is so bad it can’t be fixed, if you’ll let us help you.”

“I need Dante to take Maria back to Guatemala, get a visual on that Little Bird in the compound and call me with coordinates. Maddie has been accused of consorting with the enemy, desertion and theft of government property. Unless the Army can recover their helicopter, she could go to jail for the rest of her life.”

“Oh, my God!” Susan said, pushing around Dave to stare down at Hawk. “That is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard. Has she got a lawyer?”

“He looks about sixteen and is really excited about his first big case,” Hawk growled, his anger growing more. “This had to be a set-up of some kind. Why would the Army give her an attorney like that?”

“I fired him. I’d rather represent myself than have Beaver Cleaver do it,” Maddie said, her voice hoarse, as she walked out of the bedroom in a housecoat looking ragged. Her eyes zoned in on Maria and her face pinched as she walked over to take the baby out of her arms.

“Oh, you can’t do that,” Susan said, her brows crashing together. “Only a fool represents him—um—herself. I’d offer to help, but I don’t know any military attorneys. I’ll call Ronnie to see if she might know anyone.”

“Surely, they’ll appoint you another one if you fired him, won’t they?” Mickie asked, sliding her arm around Gray’s waist.

“I don’t know if they will or not,” Maddie replied, walking over to stand beside Hawk.

“If we get the helo back to them and turn over the cartel location, maybe they’ll just stop this insanity.” Hawk looked up into Maddie’s red-rimmed, fear-filled eyes. “That should be proof she wasn’t consorting with anyone, that she was held captive. It should be readily apparent, but some of the Army brass are just morons.” Like her father, who he couldn’t help but believe may be behind some of this. If he was, Hawk might just kill the bastard.

“Well, Levi and I will help Mickie clean up, then we’re on standby when Dante is ready to roll,” Caleb said, stopping to squeeze his shoulder. “We’ve got your six, man.”

“Let me know if you need me to go and I’ll be ready too,” Slade said, stepping up. Lola barked and he laughed as he looked at her. “No, you won’t be going this time, baby. I need you to stay here and make sure Taylor stays out of trouble.”

“Buddy is the one she needs to keep out of trouble. I threw hotdogs in the trash and he found them, after scattering garbage all over my new kitchen,” Taylor growled, folding her arms and resting them on top of her small baby bump.

Dante stepped up beside Mickie. “I just need to do a ground check and rev up on the bird to make sure those repairs are good. She did good flying back from Arizona today, but it’s a lot farther to Guatemala.”

“I left the leased bird on the grass beside the pad, so if she’s not airworthy, just take that one,” Hawk said, looking up at Dave, who frowned. “Ah, never mind. I’ll take it back tomorrow. I’m sure our helo is fine now.”

“Considering what I spent fixing it, it better be air-worthy,” Dave growled, then glared at Dante. “Don’t bring it back with holes this time, or I’ll put holes in you.”

“Stronzo,” Dante said with an eye roll.

“Dante, call me as soon as you have those coordinates. I need to get them to the brass quickly, before they press charges and file for a court martial,” Hawk said, and he gave him a thumbs up as he walked away.

Hawk looked up and saw Maria staring at Maddie and he believed if she had a knife in her hand at that moment, she might well slit her throat.

“Adios, Maria. Go get your things together and Caleb will take you to the helicopter,” he said in Spanish and she jerked as if waking from a trance. She took a step toward Maddie as if she wanted to say goodbye to Sarah, then huffed a breath, grabbed the stroller and left.

“Good riddance,” Maddie hissed, following her with her eyes. “I think she was a bad luck charm. We should’ve never brought her back here.”

There was definitely a bad omen working overtime in their universe, but Hawk thought that demon might be wearing a uniform, not a skirt. Until he heard back from Max, though, he wouldn’t know for sure.