Page 63 of Storm Warning

Exactly. Hawk’s throat tightened and he wasn’t sure he could keep talking. What more was there to say? Remi pressed her hand over his and squeezed. He soaked up the reassurance from her soft, warm skin.

“We’ll figure this out together, Hawk. I know you want to find him and talk to him. So I understand why you want to face him on your own terms. Maybe whatever happened on that helicopter is the reason for his descent into a dark world. I don’t know.”

Yeah. Lots of possibilities. That’s what worried him the most as he steered out toward the Fletcher Bay Marina.

“Where are we going now?” Remi asked. “Are we almost to John’s house?”

“Almost. We have to take a boat.”

“What?”

“You can only get to his house on a boat.”

Remi sighed. “He lives on an island, then.”

“Yes, an island that’s only connected to the rest of the world via boats.”

“What about helicopters?”

“He doesn’t have a pad. If he did, we would have been there last night.”

“This seems like a complicated way to live.”

“Coming from a woman who lives in Hidden Bay with no cell or internet service, and satellite is iffy. GPS can’t even find you.”

“It’s only a complicated way to live if you want to be in contact with the outside world.”

25

Remi appreciated that the enclosed and heated pilothouse on the boat Hawk had rented protected her from the cold and rain. Sitting behind Hawk as he steered the boat, she studied him. He was focused on navigating across the rough water in Puget Sound. Now that she knew Cole was his brother, she could more easily see Hawk’s resemblance to the image of the man in her mind reaching for her from the helicopter. She’d never actually seen her attacker’s face. When she’d fought him in the woods, it had been dark and raining, and he was well layered just like when he’d fought Hawk near the cabins.

If Hawk hadn’t run into him again later that night, they still wouldn’t know who was behind this. Except, Cole was probably not actually behind it. He had to be working for someone.

Despite his multiple attacks. Despite the fact that he’d abducted Jo, calling him a “hired assassin” wasn’t adding up. If he was a cold-blooded assassin now, Jo would have been thrown into the furious ocean. Her body wouldn’t have been found for days, weeks, if ever. Instead, Cole hadkept her hidden but alive, maybe to release her at a future date after he completed his mission.

But what was his mission exactly? It seemed like he wanted to kill Remi. He’d approached her with that knife, after all. Then again, he’d come after Hawk and Remi in the forest in the dark. If he used all the skills he’d gained in the military, he could take her out in an instant, no trouble at all. If he simply wanted to find out what was in her head, like Dr. Holcomb had insisted, Cole could have taken Remi, abducted her, and tried to torture it out of her. But Cole might know that wouldn’t work.

She shook her head. Something more was going on here. Regardless, she hoped Hawk would find Cole and then Cole would confess his wrongdoings and turn himself in. But nothing was ever that easy. Happy endings weren’t the reality, and she was only fooling herself. As much as Hawk and his brother were similar, they were very different.

“We’re almost there,” he called over his shoulder.

She took in the beautiful greenery and a few small hills that sprung out of the water. “It’s asmallisland.”

“Yeah. Only a few residents, so no ferries or bridges. Boat access only.”

Hawk circled around to dock at a private pier. He jumped down and secured their boat. She joined him on the dock. They hiked forward, and Hawk glanced around, maintaining situational awareness like the Army-trained pilot deputy he was. After his brother had found them at the safe house that supposedly he wouldn’t be able to find, Hawk’s hyperawareness was appropriate. Remi’s handgun was tucked in the small holster at her side, reassuring her.

“Tell me about this man we’re going to see.”

“What more is there to tell?” he asked.

“Was he there during that mission that went south?”

“Which one?”

“The one you just told me about, with King County, where you were fired.”

“No. Why would he be?”

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