Page 19 of Storm Warning

“I’m not staying long.” She dropped her hood, so he gotto see her dark-auburn hair, partially wet after battling the rain on the hike to his cabin.

“This must be important for you to get out in this.”

“You were former Army. A pilot. A warrant officer, then?” She remained rigid and questioned him like she was practiced in interrogations and he was a suspect.

He ran his hand around his jaw and chin, scratching the stubble there. “Yes. Why?” He wished he’d said nothing, but the deputy had wanted his background.

“And since then, before coming here, what did you do?”

He frowned. “Why the third degree?” Why not just look him up on the internet? Oh, right. That wasn’t readily available here.

She stepped forward. “Hawk, I need to know.”

He looked into those earnest eyes that had turned a deep, mesmerizing blue now. She was scared, but not of him. Or if she was, why was she standing here alone in his cabin, facing off with him?

“I’ll tell you everything I can if you tell me why it’s important.”

Her hands shook as she fished something out of her pocket, then showed him two puzzle pieces. “Do you know anything about this?”

He took the two pieces from her. He couldn’t make anything out of the partial image. “What’s this? Part of a puzzle?” He handed the pieces back. “No idea.”

She looked at him long and hard. “If you’re the one who sent these to me—if you’re behind this—I want to know and I want to know now. I don’t have time for games.”

“What does my background have to do with anything? Why would you think I had anything to do with this?”

“You first. You said you would tell me everything.”

“Look, if I was the one to leave you the mysterious puzzle pieces, I could just lie about it.”

“I’m good at seeing through lies. I would see holes in your story eventually.”

This woman.

He didn’t need this kind of drama. Or maybe he did—it occupied his mind so he couldn’t think about himself and the crash and Jake. Oh, and the fact he didn’t have a job.

“I was 160th SOAR. Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne). Night Stalkers.”

“And then what?”

He didn’t see that his past had any bearing on her current dilemma over a puzzle. “I was a deputy for the King County Sheriff’s Air Support Unit. Seattle’s the county seat. You can check it out if you want.”But please don’t.“Look, Remi. I’m one of the good guys. Whatever has got you freaked out about those puzzle pieces has nothing to do with me. And I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”

She bit her lip and frowned. “Then who left this for me? I wish I had cameras everywhere now, but that kind of defeats the ‘no technology’ theme going on at this place.”

“Does the puzzle have to do with the attack today? And if so, then why have you been targeted?”

Remi stared at him as if she was some kind of mind reader, penetrating his brain to find out if she could trust him. Then she turned her attention to the window and looked out at the storm, but he could tell she wasn’t seeing the display. The dark, furious clouds muted what remained of the fading sunlight anyway. She turned to open the door so she could walk back outside and into the storm. Hawk moved to stand in her path. He had to know.

“What’s your story? Why areyouhere? What didyoudo before?”

Her face twisted as her frown deepened. “I came here to remember.”

Funny, because Hawk had come here to forget.

“I shouldn’t have come to your cabin.” She tugged on her hood, moved past him to open the door, and stepped outside, then pressed into the chaos.

Hawk stood in the doorway and let the rain lash him as he watched her disappear into the woods, where nightfall had come quickly. Eventually the flashlight beam was lost in the darkness. Her determination reminded him of one of the 160th Airborne mottos.Night Stalkers don’t quit.

Then there was ...Death waits in the dark.

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