Page 64 of Hawk

“So that comment that Snake made about putting me with the others… they really do have people being held captive here in Vesper.”

“Well, we don’t know that for sure.”

I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but I knew what I heard.

“We have to find them, Hawk.” I couldn’t imagine what that would be like. For someone to grab you off the street and not let you go. “There has to be some way.”

“That’s what I came up here to talk to you about. I’ve been looking for them for a while now and haven’t found them. The FBI doesn’t know where they are. Hell, like I told you, until we contacted Chance, they didn’t even know they were in the state of Texas.”

“We don’t even know if they’re still in town. They might’ve taken the others and moved on. What if me getting away spooked them, and now we’ll never find those poor people?”

“That’s possible, but odds are that’s not the case. We believe the Iron Jackals are providing the muscle and the security, not that they’re actually running things or that they have any say in how long they stay around. The problem is, if they’re still here, we have no idea where they’re holed up, and they seem to be really good at staying under the radar.” He paused and let out a small sigh. “With one exception.”

I wasn’t sure where this was going, but I had a suspicion. “Me. I’m the exception.”

“Yeah.” He sounded just about as thrilled with the situation as I was.

“Okay, so…”

“So, Chance wants to use you to see if we can draw Butch out.”

“And you think that’s a bad idea?” I didn’t like the idea, but if there was something I could do to save the others, I had to.

He thought about it for a second before answering. “If we’re right and they’re still in town, I think it could work. And if it was anybody but you, I’d say it was a good plan. But itisyou, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Would you be with me?”

“I wouldn’t be with you-with you because Butch wouldn’t approach you if I was there. But the only way this would happen is if my whole team was watching you. We wouldn’t let you out of our sight.”

“Okay. I trust you to do everything possible to keep me safe.”

“We would, but that’s the problem. We’d do everything possible, but there are no guarantees.”

I swallowed down a lump in my throat. Putting myself out there so Butch could find me wasalmostthe last thing I wanted to do, but leaving people to suffer because I was too scared to help actuallywaslast so I didn’t see any other choice.

“There are no guarantees in life, Daddy. But I believe in you, and I believe in your team. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t try to stop what they’re doing, so I think we should do it. So when do we start?”

“I don’t know. Chance is downstairs waiting for an answer. So how about if we go down there and find out?”

“Okay, but I should probably put on some clothes first.” There was no way I was going down to the ops center in my pajamas to meet with an FBI agent to plan whatever this was. A sting, I guess. I didn’t know. I’d never done anything like this before.

A few minutes later, I was dressed and ready to go downstairs. But before we got on the elevator, Hawk pulled me into a hug.

“You don’t have to do this. If at any point you change your mind, all you have to do is tell me.”

“Thank you for that, but if they really are holding people hostage, I have to try my best to help.”

“Okay. Let’s go down there then.”

Chapter twenty-one

Hawk

I was so proud of Mika. I knew he was scared of Butch, but he’d been calm and collected the whole time we talked with Chance. He’d asked good questions, and if he hadn’t understood how something would work, he’d looked to either me or Wolfe for an explanation. By the time the meeting was over, we had a solid plan to lure Butch out of hiding and put an end to this nightmare for Mika.

When we were finished, Chance stood and held out his hand to Mika. “Thank you for agreeing to help us. We need to get these guys off the street, and your assistance is going to make that possible.”

“Assuming they’re still in town,” Mika pointed out.

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