Page 39 of Hawk

Almost.

I was reaching for the phone to make the call when the door swung open, and I spun around, expecting to see Snake, but it wasn’t him. It was Hawk.

His eyes locked onto mine instantly, scanning me from head to toe, looking for damage. Before I could say a word, he closed the distance and pulled me into a crushing hug.

His arms wrapped around me like a shield, his hand tangling in my hair as he tucked me against his chest. The steady thump of his heart against my ear was the only thing that told me I was safe.

“Jesus, Mika,” he whispered, his voice rough with relief. “I got you. I got you.”

Hawk

I leaned in to study the photos of Jackal associates Kat pulled in her latest research. “Damn, these guys are nasty pieces of work.”

“Yeah, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. They’re—”

An alarm blared from above, alerting us a panic button had been activated. My phone went off at the same time.

Mika.

Kat flew into action, pulling up local CCTV cameras and zeroing in on where Mika was. The good thing was, he was downtown, which meant he was only a couple of blocks away from me—but the question was why? He was supposed to be at work.

Kat handed me my earpiece so she could keep me updated.

“It’ll be faster if you go on foot and cut through the alley behind The Pour House. That’ll dump you out right across from his location.”

I shoved the earpiece in and ran for the stairs. She kept me apprised of the situation as I flew out the front door of the building and headed for the alley.

“Your boy’s got skills, Hawk. I just watched him take down a biker twice his size. He’s running south on Elm Street. Oh, there you go, you smart man. He ran into the bank. It’ll be to your right when you come out of the alley. I’ve sent Maddox to find the biker. You just worry about Mika.”

I skidded to a halt at the end of the alley and looked to my right. Sure enough, there was the bank. I hurried across the busy street, dodging cars and ignoring the chorus of what-the-hells and blaring horns, my focus on getting to Mika.

I pushed open the bank door and stepped inside, scanning the space. It didn’t take but a second to spot him, and I rushed to him, pulling him against me.

“Jesus, Mika. I got you.” He was shaking, but he was okay. I hadn’t had so much as a second to even process how scared I’d been for him, but now that I could see that he was here and he was safe, all the emotions swamped me at once.

This had to end.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “You’re supposed to be at work.”

“I know. Mary Ellen needed me to pick up a gift for her niece. I was just going to run in and out, and there was no reason for Butch to know I’d be going to The Silver Box, so I thought it would be safe. I didn’t know he had someone following me. Can you believe that? He had one of his lackeys following me.”

I looked around to see the security guard from the bank watching us. I was sure he was trying to figure out if there was a threat or if we were customers. “Let’s get you out of here, and we’ll talk about this later, okay?”

He nodded, and we headed for the front door.

“Wait, what happened to Snake?”

“Snake?”

“Yeah, Snake. The guy who tried to grab me.”

“Maddox went after him, but I don’t know if he got him or not. We’ll find that out once we get to Three Bears HQ.”

We stepped out on the sidewalk, and he let out a little gasp. “The necklace. I need to pick it up at The Silver Box.”

I couldn’t believe he was still worried about completing his errand after what he’d just been through. I just nodded, walked with him to the little jewelry shop, and waited while he picked up the gift.

“I’ll go with you to drop it off, but I think you need to take some time off work.”

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