Page 75 of Hawk

I locked gazes with Mika and saw total trust in us to get him out of this, and I’d be damned if I was going to let him down.

“It’s over, Butch. The FBI has your crew out front, so let Mika go and turn yourself in,” I called.

He turned to face us, keeping Mika in front of him like a shield as he moved the gun off of him and pointed it at me instead. I hadn’t expected him to surrender, but I’d wanted the gun off of Mika, and I had accomplished that.

“Well, if they have my crew, I don’t have anything to lose, now do I?”

“Just your life,” Gator replied.

Butch let out a menacing laugh and moved the gun to point it at Gator. “A life behind bars? No, thank you.”

While Gator distracted him, I took a couple of cautious steps closer, but as soon as Butch noticed, he turned the gun back on me.

“Stop right there.”

I did as he said, but I didn’t take my eyes off of Mika.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen,” Butch drawled. “You’re going to let me get on my bike and ride away. I’ll take Mika with me just to make sure you don’t get any ideas and shoot me in the back as I’m riding off. You’re gonna tell your buddies from the FBI to let us go, and if you follow directions, when I get out of town and I’m sure no one’s following me, I’ll drop Mika at the first truck stop I pass, and you can come pick him up.”

For the first time, I saw fear in Mika’s eyes because he was a smart guy. He knew just like I did that if Butch rode away with him, he wasn’t going to let him go.

“You want us to believe you’ll let him go?” Gator asked, pulling Butch’s attention back to him. I made a small movement with my head to make sure Mika knew I was sending him a message. Then I looked down to the ground and back up, giving him a nod. He licked his lip nervously, but he nodded back.

I tapped my finger against my leg once, twice, and then a third time. Mika let his legs go slack, dropping to the ground. Butch was distracted enough that Mika was able to roll to the side as soon as he hit the ground. Gator and I both drew our weapons and rushed toward him.

“Nooo!” Butch bellowed, firing, first at Gator, then turning the gun toward me.

“Gator!” Mika wailed as I pulled the trigger.

I rushed to Mika, pulled him to his feet, and then wrapped my body around him, holding him tight while I looked over his shoulder to check on Gator, who was sitting there holding his right shoulder.

“Is he dead?” he asked, and he sounded so sad. The last thing I’d wanted to do was kill Butch in front of him, but the man had held a gun to my boy’s head. There was no coming back from that for him.

“I’m sorry, mouse. He didn’t give me any choice. I know you cared about him once—”

Mika jerked his head back and looked at me. “I mean Gator. I don’t care about Butch. He was going to kill me or sell me or something, and he shot Gator.”

He squirmed in my arms, trying to get a look at Gator.

I let him go, and he ran to where Gator was sitting, dropping to his knees. “He shot you!”

“Ah, sugar, this is barely a scratch. I’m fine.”

“Youare notfine. You’ve been shot.”

Chance rushed up and looked around, a grim expression on his face.

“Collins?” I asked.

“He’s hurt, but he’ll live.”

“What about the van?” Gator asked.

“There were four people tied up in the back. Three young girls and a boy. This was a good bust. One of the Jackals is already crying about making a deal. We just have to decide if any of them know anything worth listening to.”

Chapter twenty-five

Mika

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