Page 29 of Hawk

“I feel like we’ve already established the fact that I don’t have to do anything.”

He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Fine.”

An hour or so later, I pulled into my parking spot at Three Bears HQ and headed straight for Wolfe’s office. I wanted to get to our ops center to see what Kat had found. She was the best at digging up information on the computer, and I didn’t know what we’d do without her if she ever left us. But I needed to talk to Wolfe first. I’d called him Saturday night before I went to sleep to let him know what was up, but I knew he’d want an update. We’d also need to talk about who was going to cover my duties because if this asshole went to enough trouble to track Mika down after two years, he wasn’t going to go away easily or quickly.

I got off the elevator on the eighth floor, which was where all the action happened here at Three Bears. Wolfe, Gator, and I all had offices here, not that Gator used his much. Of the three of us, he was the one most interested in working in the field. There was a large ops center with desks, computers, and multiple monitors on one side and a large table where we could sit to plan out strategies for large-scale jobs on the other. The ops center was Kat’s baby, and for the most part, we gave her whatever she said she needed and left her to it.

Wolfe’s door was open, so I waved at Caden and went on in. I shut the door behind me and sat down in the chair across from his desk.

He eyed me up and down before saying, “You look like shit.”

“Yeah, well, it’s been a rough couple of days, and Mika’s couch wasn’t made for someone my size.”

“You’re sleeping on the couch?” he asked doubtfully.

“Of course I’m sleeping on the couch. I’m there to protect him, not fuck him.”

He put his hands up. “Okay, but you’ve been low-key obsessed with this boy for months. You can’t blame me for assuming you were taking close protection to a whole new level here.”

“And what would you have said if I told you I was sharing his bed?” We had rules against getting personally involved with clients for a reason, and I had no intention of crossing any lines with Mika, but I wondered what Wolfe would say.

“I’d tell you to watch yourself. That the most important thing right now is Mika’s safety. But you already know that, and I’m not your boss, Hawk.”

I laughed. Technically, Wolfe wasn’t our boss. That was true. But there was a reason Mika had assumed Wolfe was the one in charge. He was the business mind behind Three Bears Tactical, and while technically we were partners, he’d been our commanding officer when we were in the service. Old habits were hard to break, and neither I nor Gator wanted to disappoint him. We both deferred to him in most situations.

“You know Mika asked me what my boss would think about me refusing to charge him for protecting him. He was referring to you.”

Wolfe shook his head. “The boy is yours, so of course we’re going to help him. We take care of our own.”

“Yeah, well, the boy doesn’t quite know that yet. He will, though. I’m just glad he called me. I have a bad feeling about this guy, Jason.”

“What do you know so far?”

“Not much.” I gave him a rundown on what Mika had told me about Butch and about the Iron Jackals.

“So is he here alone, or is the gang with him?”

“No idea. I have Kat looking into them, so hopefully, she’ll have some idea.”

“And I assume you don’t know how this guy managed to find Mika after all this time?”

“No, but I plan to ask him first chance I get.”

He nodded. “Okay. If you need anything, just let me know.”

“This could just be a simple case of an abusive ex rearing his ugly head or—” I didn’t want to think about the alternative, but from everything Mika had said, this biker gang was involved in some pretty nasty business.

“Or if his whole gang is here, it could be a much bigger issue.”

“Exactly. I’m going to talk to Kat now. I’ll keep you informed.”

I left his office and made my way over to the area where Kat worked. She had her own little area in the back corner of the ops center that had glass walls surrounding it. Most of the time, she left everything wide open so she could monitor what was going on, but when she needed to do a deep dive, she liked her area dark, so with the flip of a switch, the smart glass walls turned opaque.

Apparently, whatever she was working on now required focus because her area was all closed off. I went to the open door to find her with her earbuds in, fingers flying across her multiple keyboards as she jumped from device to device.

I rapped my knuckles on the glass next to the opening to get her attention, and she looked up. She pulled out her earbuds and let out a sigh. “Your boy has got himself mixed up with some nasty shit, Hawk.”

“He isn’t my boy yet,” I pointed out. I knew I hadn’t been discreet about my interest in Mika, but I hadn’t realized it had made it as far as Kat. She tried to keep out of the office gossip for the most part. Unless—I shook my head. “They really are taking bets, aren’t they?”

---