Page 31 of Storm Warning

As he suspected, emergency calls had been made all over the county, and the sheriff’s department was out answeringeach emergency as fast as possible. The female dispatcher told him a deputy would come to the lodge, but it would be a while. To stay on the line while he waited.

What?“I’m standing out in the storm to get a signal, and I’m exposed to the elements and the attacker. I’m going inside now. Send someone as soon as you can. We need an ambulance too.”

“Sir, we’re calling in resources from other counties.”

“In other words, your response time is slow.” They might do better to take Jo in to the nearest hospital themselves, and that would get Remi out of this dangerous environment too.

He palmed his gun and stared at the lodge. It was barely discernible in the darkness. He wasn’t the one in danger. The attacker was after Remi. Still, Jo had been put in danger because of proximity. Anyone at the lodge could face that same danger. Hawk might have been fired from the King County Sheriff’s Department, but he could still defend and protect. He went back inside and found Remi still sitting next to Jo, trying to reassure and comfort her. She glanced up at him, expectantly.

“They’ll send someone as soon as they can.” He saw the disappointment in Jo’s eyes.

Remi looked deflated but not surprised. He paced the small space. Not like he could return to his cabin and think in peace and quiet.

Jo mentioned the attacker had used a syringe and drugged her. Why hadn’t he killed her and thrown her out to the ocean to be lost forever? Maybe the man was a hired assassin and had some weird moral code only to kill for pay. As for his penchant for knives, that particular weapon could be hidden, and he could more easily blend in. He wouldn’t be noticeable. Hawk believed it was important to know why the guy had used a knife instead of a gun so he could beprepared. Maybe there was something in the psychology of it, his personal signature in his kills, that could give them clues about who this man was. But he could think about that much later. The details could be vital.

And for that matter, how did they even know it was a man? The assailant could be a well-trained, muscular female for all he knew. He needed to stop making assumptions and figure out how to keep Remi safe.

“Hawk.” Jo’s voice pulled his thoughts back to the room.

He stopped pacing and leaned against the desk to listen.

“Take her and get out of here.” Jo gestured at Remi, but he had no doubt who she meant.

“She told you everything?” he asked Jo.

“She told me about the amnesia and the puzzle pieces, if that’s what you mean.”

“As much as I know, which isn’t much. But I’m not leaving the lodge. I’m not leaving you,” Remi protested. “Hawk called the sheriff. They’ll be here sooner or later.”

Later, probably.

And maybe then Remi would tell them about her lost memories. Without more details, it was hard to tell whom to trust. Still, the sheriff’s department needed to understand what they were potentially up against, and now Hawk realized it was best to encourage her to share her story with the local authorities. She’d run to hide and was trying to do the right thing—but it was hard to distinguish exactly what that was. Even when a person did the right thing, everything could still go completely wrong.

Remi shouldn’t carry this burden alone, and maybe she’d unloaded on Hawk, but he could admit when he wasn’t enough.

13

The hard look of determination on Hawk’s face took her fear to the next level. He was her self-proclaimed protector, at least until someone else took the job. The weight of it pressed down on her.

They’d send someone as soon as they could? Didn’t they understand?

Remi rubbed her arms. She’d never really shaken off the chill of their time out in the storm. But she hadn’t been chained to a wall in a dark bunker, so she wasn’t going to complain. She glanced at her friend. How did a person recover from something like that?

“Remi.” He leveled his gaze on her. “We made the call, and now while we wait, we do the next thing.”

Remi had a feeling she knew where he was headed, and she didn’t like it. “The next thing, as in, checking the lodge to make sure everyone is accounted for and safe?”

“Yes. I need to make sure the lodge is as safe as it can be. You can come along and make sure your guests are informed and comfortable. Then I’ll check the cabins.”

“We already checked them, remember?” They hiked around every one of them.

“Well, I’m checking them again. I’ll make sure everyone is okay and knows what’s going on.”

Remi pursed her lips. She knew what he was up to. He was going to try to find the attacker while he was out there. In fact, he probablyhopedto find him. But they’d made it back to the lodge without incident, and the guy was only human. Well, maybe he had been a Navy SEAL and had turned rogue, and in that case, he might suffer through the cold and rain, lying in wait for her or Hawk. She didn’t want to think of Hawk out there alone, facing off with this evil, but she was familiar with the sort of determination that drove him because she felt it herself. She wanted to go back out and search for him too after she got her second wind.

But she wasn’t going to leave Jo.

Hawk put the satellite phone back in the charging station for when the power came back on. “And then I think you and I should get out of here so we can take Jo to the hospital.”

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