Something woke Hawk, and he lay still, waiting for the noise to return. Quiet filled the room and he looked at the clock on his table. Almost midnight. Stacy snuggled closer to him, as if feeling his restlessness. He turned and pulled her into the circle of his body. He filled his hands with her—breasts, belly, hips… She was soft flesh, warmth, and female. His.
Hawk kissed the back of her neck, placing little bites of desire along her spine, to her ribcage, and turned her over. Every breath filled him with her scent. “Stacy,” he said, nuzzling against her.
She came to a little more and grinned at him. “Should you still be up?”
Up was a good word for it, and when she reached for him, he realized that’s exactly what she meant. He chuckled, but it turned quickly to a moan when she squeezed his swelling length. Hawk lifted her and took her breast into his mouth. God, she had the nicest nipples, which rolled between his tongue and set his blood on fire. He tugged, until she made that noise he loved, and in that instant, he felt for her, found her wet, and thrust himself inside her.
“God.” He gripped her, moved against her, and when her hands lightly fluttered on his back and ran down his spine to his ass…he came as if he wasn’t the forty something year old he actually was. His muscles stretched, and the sensation of being wrung out overwhelmed him as he held onto her, just held. And finally he was able to relax. “Shit.”
When she laughed, he pulled out and kissed down her neck, down her chest and belly, and then…she stopped laughing, because he found her with his tongue and sucked her into his mouth. Her back arched, her hands gripped the sheets next to her hips, and with one swirl of his tongue around that little bundle of nerves, she rocketed off the bed. Her legs clamped around his head.
Heaven.
Shit, he was in heaven. He sucked and then bit lightly. Her hands dug into his hair, pulling his face away from her. He wanted to go back. She squeezed her legs and twisted, stopping him. He blew a cool breath over her and laid still against her thigh as she rode the final wave of her orgasm.
She was so still, he had to look up to check on her. He slid over her body and flattened himself to her chest. Her eyes blinked open and were hazy with that post coital drug. He pressed his lips to hers, savored the softness under his mouth.
His phone beeped on the table next to them.
“Might be the kids,” she whispered.
He rolled over, saw it was John, and sat up. “Hey John.”
“Dad. Some guy took Moira.” Panic rang sharp and fierce through his son’s voice. “Are you there? Can you hear me? Dad?”
Hawk’s entire conscious came to sharp focus. “What happened?”
“Willy’s been shot in the leg. And grandma—Grandma’s in the hospital. She was shot. Dad. Shot. In. The. Head. I thought she was dead.”
“Who is with you? Is someone with you?” Hawk stepped into his black cargo pants as he spoke. He turned the phone to speaker and tossed it back to the table.
“Grandpa’s here. He’s pretty shook up. They’re stitching up Willy—Mom?”
Stacy was also up and getting dressed. She didn’t need details to know something was wrong. “I’m here.”
John sniffed. “Someone took Moira. I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t get to her.”
“Are the police there? Did you contact the American embassy?” Hawk had pulled on a shirt and was tugging socks onto his feet. “Stacy, who do we have in Europe right now?”
“Luke. Luke is over there doing protection detail for the Prince of Mardine.”
“John, we’re calling everyone. Stay where you are. Stay with Grandpa. Don’t go with anyone. Just—”
“I know, Dad.”
His son knew. His son. Almost a grown man.
“Okay. Give us twenty-five, and we’ll be at the offices.”
“Okay—” John broke off. Almost wasn’t the same. He was still just a kid. “Hurry, Dad.”
Stacy had a bag in her hand, and Hawk reached into his closet for his own. Then they left the house together and jumped into Hawk’s big, black truck, Stacy driving. And it hurt. More than he expected, more than he would ever admit.
She sped down the road without a word, and when she hit the highway, she didn’t slow.
Hawk called the team, setting communications in motion.
They’d just gotten rid of Cortez. “Who now?”
“We’re going to find out,” Stacy stated, her voice low and hard. “And we’re going to get her back.”
“I’m going to kill them, Stacy.” There was more calm in his words than he’d intended, and it struck him. He had no doubt that he would do whatever he had to to get Moira back and to kill the bastard who took her.
As a headache started behind his ear, he pulled the bottle of meds from his leg pocket and downed a pill.
“You going to be okay?”
He nodded. “Hurry, Stacy,” he said, echoing his son.
She tightened her grip on the wheel and shot ahead until they reached the exit. She took it, getting them to headquarters in record time where she slammed on the brakes.
Malcolm was already there, and as he strode toward the door, Hawk spoke, “I need everything you’ve got on the report out of Germany. I want a trace hooked up to every line in the offices and every cell on the team. If—when—this asshole calls, I want to know where he is. I want a team ready to go as soon as the intel is in.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Meet in the conference room in ten.”
“Yes, sir.” Malcolm disappeared down the hall and into the large computer room at the back of the building.
“Josie, I need two tickets to Frankfurt.”
“Yes, sir.”
In the conference room, Hawk walked over to the computer in the corner and called up Luke Trenton on the webcam. The man answered with a smile and a beer.
Hawk stared. “Kind of early for that, isn’t it, man?”
“Hey, boss. Never too early for a brew when you’re in Europe.” Luke tipped his bottle in greeting.
“Change of plans. I need you on the next flight to Germany.”
“Sure, boss. What’s the assignment?”
“My family—” His voice broke, and he realized maybe autopilot wasn’t the same as calm, cool, and collected. He cleared his throat, felt a hand on his back. “I need you with my family until I get there. I need eyes on the ground, looking for Moira. A two-oh-seven, Luke.”
“Shit.” The beer bottle was set aside. “Do you know who took her? I can get a team together over here. I have contacts.”
“We don’t know. We’re still waiting to hear.” We’re hoping to hear. Fuck. We better hear.
Just then, his phone on the table rang.
Hawk pressed a button on the computer, connecting him to the computer lab. “We connected, Malcolm?”
“Ready to go, Boss.”
Picking up his phone, he touched the screen with a shaking hand.
And there was Moira. The side of her head was bruised. Her lip was split on one side. She’d been crying. His knees gave out as he let out a breath and worked to maintain control. “Baby.”
She started crying. “Dad. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t careful—”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m going to fix this. This is not your fault—”
“Aah, but it is yours.”
Every cell in Hawk’s body froze. He looked up into Stacy’s face. All color drained.
“Cortez. You’re—”
“Yes, I know. I’m dead.” The video feed moved as the phone was snatched from Moira’s hands. “About that… This is your warning, Hawkins. You, in Manila. Twenty-four hours. Alone.”
“Dad! Wait! Daddy—” The phone cut off.
His throat closed, his eyes blurred, and the pain that had started in the truck grew to a new, ungodly level. He grabbed Stacy around the waist, held tightly. When he opened his eyes, he found Jamie in the doorway.
“Get the team in here. We leave. Now.”
“He said to come alone.” Stacy argued, fear like an ice-cold bath.
Hawk stood, though. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “We go as a team. We go, you and I, and every man—to the last. And then, we take this fucker down.”
Her lips trembled. She nodded her head.
“He was using a satellite phone. No way to pin him down. He’s in the air.” Malcolm was wearing his typical skinny jeans and his flannel. His hair was tied back into a ponytail. “I’ve got a new laptop at the apartment. It’s got tracking programs on it. Give me twenty minutes to run home.”
Hawk checked his watch. “Good. Take Bobby to watch your back.”
“Bobby,” he called, and whistled through his teeth as he left the room.
“John, get me Barba on the phone right now. He’ll be our eyes and ears for the next twenty-four hours.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And then I want you on our private plane out. Cortez will expect us to prepare. He’ll figure we need a few hours to even get flights and get out of here. I want you ahead of us.”
“Yes, sir. I’m out and will be waiting.”
“Good.”
Hawk turned to Stacy. “Let’s get a sitrep from Germany. Call your dad. Tell him what’s going on. Check in on your mom and Willy. Get your head on where it needs to be—”
“With you,” she answered quickly.
“Yes,” he agreed, because he knew what she was thinking. That he’d put her on a plane to Germany. He couldn’t, though. Not now. He needed her by his side. Needed her eyes…and to know she was safe. He kissed her in that last moment before he turned to go to the lobby.
Just as he hit the lobby, the front window on the offices shattered, the report of a bullet sounding from outside. “Get down!”
His phone pinged, and he glanced at the screen.
I’m watching.
“Shit. Everyone okay?” Hawk rushed to the lobby, hollering for Jamie at the same time.
Bobby ran in through the splintered doorway at a crouch, laid Malcolm on the brown leather couch on the west wall, then stripped off his shirt and leaned on his friend’s chest, hard.
“South corner, black van. Damn it! Get an ambulance here.”
Stacy was already on the phone behind him, speaking rapidly to the 9-1-1 dispatcher.
Staying to the side, Hawk glanced out. Saw the van Bobby identified with what looked like local plates. “Binoculars, Jamie. Get those numbers.”
Hawk hurried down the hall to his office and crossed the room to his private bathroom. He grabbed two of the towels on the rack in the corner and ran back.
“Bullet’s still in there, Hawk.”
“Don’t let him move. John!” Hawk called him back.
“Ambulance is on its way. ETA, four minutes,” John said as he came over to stop Malcolm from getting up and to start doing his thing.
“It’s fine.” Malcolm’s words were slurred and pain rang like a fricking bell through them.
With their medic in charge of the patient, Bobby ran to the armory room and pulled his pump-action Remington. He came back up to the lobby and shouldered himself in next to the window. “Just give me the word, Hawk.”
“What’s the civilian element?” he asked.
Jamie answered, “Late night crowd starting to gather on the north corner, looks like they’re pouring out of that bar that sits just down the street. Probably heard the shots and saw the front window blasted to kingdom come. Damn it. Van is moving.”
Hawk watched the vehicle pull into the crowd and stop, obviously knowing safety being surrounded by innocent bystanders. “Shit. What I wouldn’t give for a sniper. Craig!”
Craig came up on his right. “On it.” He was their best shooter.
“Go for the tires. Jamie and I are going out the back for the driver.”
With a nod to his long-time friend, he and Jamie followed the hallway to the back and exited the building. The guys in the van opened fire, making the crowd disperse—lucky for Hawk Elite. Hawk ran right and affixed himself to the nearest tree. He turned his head and saw Jamie had done the same.
Without their usual gear, they were incommunicado. As if on cue, Craig and Bobby opened fire again and blew the front tires.
Tires flat, the van moved anyway.
“Determined sons of bitches,” Jamie muttered.
With a jolt, the van took off crooked down the street with smoke billowing from its engine.
“They won’t get far,” Hawk said, frustration riding every nerve as he gave up his pursuit and turned back to the building. “Damn it. I’ll call Darnell at the Raleigh Police Department. Give him the numbers and description.”
Stacy met him at the door. She had her arms loaded; two duffel bags. “Tickets have been switched. We catch a plane in four hours.”
“Good. That gives us time to put together orders for the guys.”
Her nod out toward the road had him glancing behind. “You leave anyone alive?”
“At least one got out. Probably both. Looked like that was the plan all along.”
“Police are out front. The EMTs are loading Malcolm.”
“How is he?”
“He was hollering about going with us or some such nonsense. I told him to give Bobby a quick tutorial and to stay close to his phone.”
Hawk squeezed his eyes shut. “And the bullet?”
“Surgeon is waiting at the hospital.” She set a duffel down and rested a hand on his arm. “He’s going to be okay.”
“I know.” His vision tunneled, and he blinked. “Call Josie to check in on him while we’re gone. When are the other guys flying out?”
“John’s getting on stand-by, taking off in half an hour. He’ll have to fly to New York first then up to Alaska, catching a flight down from there. We’re taking Craig with us—”
He opened his mouth to argue.
“He’s the new guy. Been with us a short time, and he wasn’t in Belize with us so no one should recognize him. We take a chance, have our team with us…he’ll do. That gives us four on the ground right away.”
“Yes.” His heart pounded. He hated feeling out of control. “Okay. Good plan.”
“Thanks.” She grinned. “It was Craig’s.”
“Good.” He lifted the duffel she’d dropped. “You ready for this?”
“I think I’ve been getting ready for this without even knowing it, all summer.”
Hawk’s eyes lit up. “Let’s go save our baby.”
It was easier to put it into work terms, to let the fear take a back seat.
Because giving in to that panic was just not an option any more.