Shadow Hawk

He watched her eyes once again lock on the blood splattered down the front of his shirt. Watched as she stepped close to set her hand on him. The warmth from her body seeped right through to his chilled flesh, and he nearly shut his eyes, but then he realized she’d slipped that hand around him, reaching for the rifle he’d swiped from her.

That settled it.

Time for Plan B. And though his muscles screamed in protest, and every inch of him hurt like hell, he pressed her back against the tree. “Don’t even think about it.” Before she could find another way to kill him, he took off running, forcing her along with him.

“Hey!” Abby tugged, trying to slow him down.

“Later.” He’d talk her into believing him later. He’d have to. “We’re going on the run. Together.”

7

WITH LITTLE CHOICE, ABBY FOUND herself racing alongside Hawk, whose endurance showed her she’d been stupid to think she could ever win in a physical battle with him-and, given that she’d put herself in a position to be caught and handcuffed, possibly not even a battle of wits. They dodged through trees, the heat of the fire following them. Everything seemed to be engulfed. Flames flickered and hissed and snapped all around them.

She wondered if the farmhouse had caught fire as well, wondered if the others were looking for her, wondered about Elliot. “Where are you taking me?”

“To get to the bottom of this unbelievably fucked-up night.”

She tried to slow him down and came up against the restraint of the handcuffs, which reminded her. She had a panic attack scheduled for, oh, right about now. “I can’t be handcuffed, Hawk,” she puffed. “I can’t-”

“Just run.”

“See, that’s the thing.” She gasped for breath. “You’re just making this worse on yourself-”

“Shh.”

He stopped so fast Abby blinked. She eyed the veins in his temples working overtime. His jaw was so tight it could shatter. “Do you realize you’ve spoken more words to me in the past sixty seconds than in our entire relationship?”

“I need to know what’s going on, Hawk. Now.”

“I told you. The Kiddie Bombers have been run by an inside mole all along. Gaines. And I’ve apparently gotten too close. He’s got no choice now but to stop me. And Logan. And you, Abby.”

The situation was impossible, not real, and yet…

And yet his words reminded her that over a year ago, she’d also been suspicious about how the group seemed to know the ATF’s every step. Then she’d been kidnapped, and had ended up being distracted by the events of that whole nightmare night, and then her rescue and leave of absence.

“Come on,” Hawk urged. “He’s not working alone, there are others. We have to get out of here.”

The next thing she knew they were running again, through the trees, far from the fire, from the scene. “Hawk.”

Ignoring her, he just kept pulling her along, and when she dragged her feet, he simply entwined his fingers in hers and tugged harder.

“Stop.” Accompanying this demand, she dug her heels into the ground, but it was frozen and slippery, and all she did was trip.

“Jesus.” The hands he put on her waist felt strong and very capable as he steadied her. She’d set something off in him, and if she wasn’t mistaken, it was concern, not anger. “Don’t be stupid.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, Hawk. Except back to the others. Now uncuff me.” She nearly choked on her next word but spit it out anyway. “Please.”

Hearing the crack in her voice, he grimaced, and so did she. Oh, God. Don’t be pathetic, Abby. Keep it together.

“We both know what will happen to me if we go back,” he said. “I’m being set up, Abby. And by the time the red tape gets untangled, it’ll be too late. Gaines will be gone.”

“Gone? Where?”

“Who knows. Some uncharted South Pacific island. But not before he makes us pay.”

“You’re wrong.” Her chest felt tight. God, who to believe? “He wouldn’t hurt me.”

He let out a frustrated breath and gave her a little shake. “Why are you so loyal to him? What does he have over you?”

He’d saved her, and she’d never be able to forget that. “I owe him…everything.”

Hawk stared at her for a long moment, opened his mouth, then closed it. “This is crazy, you know that? Gaines is after us, I swear it.”

“And your proof of all this is…?”

Behind them came the sound of a man’s shout.

“Shit. Run,” he commanded.

“Hawk-”

He pulled her along. “My gut is screaming,” he told her over his shoulder. “And my gut is never, ever wrong.”

“But-”

“Jesus. Can’t you just trust me?”

“No!” She was panting for air. “Because you’re basing all this on your gut. That’s not enough.”

“Yes, I-” He took one glance at her undoubtedly mutinous expression and shook his head. “Ah, forget it.” Ruthlessly he continued to pull her along, on a path only he knew.

So much was wrong, Abby couldn’t even wrap her mind around the facts, or her feet, apparently, because she tripped again. She’d have landed flat on her face, too, if Hawk hadn’t grabbed her at the cost of his own balance, and then they were falling anyway, hitting the cold ground. As luck would have it, her chin bounced off a patch of snow instead of dirt, which she supposed she should appreciate.

“Shit.” Hawk was on all fours, head down, breathing hard. “Shit!”

“Yeah, you’ve already said that.”

Turning his head, he leveled her with an extremely unamused glare. “If you could keep in mind we’re attached.”

“If you could keep in mind that you’re kidnapping me!”

“I’m protecting you!”

“Then uncuff me.” She was breathing as if they’d been running miles, instead of a quarter mile, tops, but she needed to be uncuffed. Now. “You don’t need me,” she gasped. “Just uncuff me and go do what you’ve got to do.”

“You have to stay with me. Or-”

“Or what? Or I’ll be safe?”

“Damn it, I told you, I’m keeping you safe!”

“Let me go.” She heard the panic in her voice but couldn’t help it. “I’m…I’m begging you, Hawk.”

He closed his eyes. “Abby…” His voice was hoarse. “I have to do this. If something happens to you, I won’t be able to live with myself.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me-”

“Right, because I’m going to make sure of it. Besides, I know you. If I let you go, you’ll go digging-”

“No.” He didn’t know her. He didn’t know, for example, that she was an inch from meltdown. Or that she could scarcely breathe because of it. Or that she didn’t understand any of this, not the way she’d broken protocol and left the van in the first place to run after him when she’d thought him in danger, not the way she’d let him kiss her for a good long time before she’d kneed him…

And now she was handcuffed to him, the man she’d been so secretly attracted to. Gee, what great taste she had. Clearly there was something seriously wrong with her. “So you want me to believe that this is for