The next explosion was small but way too close and very hot. Instinctively, she pushed him back, knocking them both down. Then she was enveloped in Hawk’s strong arms and rolled, tucked into him while embers rained down.
When it was over, she realized that the muscles in his arms were quaking. He was a dead weight on top of her. “Hawk?”
A litany of swear words escaped him, blowing her hair back. He lifted his head, his eyes not even close to warm and soft, but hard as aged whiskey. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“What? Save your sorry ass?”
“Exactly. Save your own first, you hear me?”
“Then get moving!”
“Yeah.” With a groan, he got to his feet and reached out a hand to help her. A considerate bad guy.
Where was Gaines…?
Having been in a bad situation before, the worst, Abby had a gut-wrenching need for everyone to be okay and accounted for, even knowing that someone on her team had caused all this. “Do you think Gaines-”
“Oh, that’s right. You still need to rescue your Sugar Daddy.”
No one at ATF knew that she’d dated him twice, she’d made sure of that. Their relationship mostly consisted of her miraculous rescue, and then a vague, uncomfortable friendship that she’d had difficulty maintaining because of her new “issues.”
“Where is he, Hawk?” When he didn’t answer, she shook her head and turned toward the direction of the barn.
“No, wait. Don’t.” Hawk grabbed her arm, his eyes dark with concern. For her. And though it shouldn’t have, it touched her as he spoke. “Don’t even think about going back-”
“I have to.”
“Goddamnit, Ab-”
Yanking free, she was halfway to the barn when her cell vibrated. Pulling it out of her pocket, she flipped it open and saw “unknown” ID. “Hello?”
“It’s me.”
Elliot’s unmistakable voice brought a wave of relief.
“Listen to me. We’ve been betrayed. By Hawk.”
She processed the words, but, damn, it was hard to swallow, despite what she’d seen with her own eyes. “Elliot, are you sure, because-”
“Have I ever been wrong?”
Okay, no. No, he hadn’t. And she knew exactly what she owed him, but-“Whose phone are you calling me on, because it’s not yours-”
“Trust me, Abby.”
She wanted to. She knew he wanted her to. But just because she hadn’t ever allowed Hawk’s charm to melt away her panties didn’t mean she didn’t know that he was an incredibly good ATF agent, one who believed in what he did and believed in putting away the bad guys. There had to be an explanation for all of this. “Tell me where you are-”
Another explosion interrupted her, picking her up like a rag doll, tossing her once again on her ass in the dirt.
Gaines had disconnected.
Hawk was gone.
And she was all alone.
This night just kept getting better and better.
5
HAWK STUMBLED THROUGH the burning forest, getting his strength back as he made his way through the fiery night. Things had gone FUBAR quickly-“fucked up beyond all repair”-but he knew Gaines planned on somehow vanishing for good, and he couldn’t let that happen. What he really needed right now was Logan, and he wished like hell he still had a radio.
But, really, he was lucky to still have his head.
He knew Abby was going to be pissed at the disappearing act, but he’d have to deal with that later. And if it turned out she wasn’t in with Gaines, well, then he’d apologize and they’d all go back to their regularly scheduled program.
Which was her ignoring him. One of these days he’d figure out why her pissiness was such a turn-on…
Hawk made it around to the back of the barn before he fell to his hands and knees hard. Staring down at the dirt, he tried to gather his wits. Not easy, since they’d been scrambled by the explosions and then again by the knowledge that his boss had been playing both sides, selling the weapons they’d confiscated over the years on the black market, in essence undoing all the good they’d accomplished by putting those weapons right back into the hands of gangbangers, murderers and terrorists.
If he thought about it too long, it hurt his brain all the more. But it sure made sense. No matter how hard they’d worked at getting to the top of the Kiddie Bombers’ hierarchy, they’d been thwarted at every turn.
But Gaines hadn’t worked alone. No way. So who else was involved…Abby? And if not her, then who?
Watkins? Thomas?
Tibbs?
Not for the first time, he slapped at his pockets and his belt, but all forms of communication had been stripped from him in the fight. He’d even managed to lose his cell phone.
“We can’t get in because of the explosions.”
Hawk’s ears perked at the male voice. Who was that? Thomas?
“On Gaines’s last transmission, he said that Hawk did this, all of it.”
No, not Thomas, Hawk thought as he used a tree to silently push himself to his feet and peer through the trees at the figures he could barely make out.
“Gaines is presumed dead.”
“No,” came an answering female voice. A shaken one. “We don’t know that he’s dead.”
Abby. Sweet, hot Abby, with those gorgeous baby blues that softened whenever she smiled.
And hardened whenever she looked at Hawk.
He’d been looked at that way by women before, usually after a few drinks and an overnighter, when he’d made his excuses rather than stick around and explain that he was only saving the woman some time because he wasn’t a good long-term bet.
Hell, he wasn’t even a good medium-term bet.
No sweat, he’d always figured. He’d get back to the whole love game when he retired from the job.
Which wasn’t looking so good right now.
Abby had pulled out her cell, and was listening. “Yes, sir.” Slapping the phone shut, she let out a breath. “Tibbs found a memory stick in Hawk’s house.” She hesitated. “With information on the Kiddie Bombers.”
Ah, Christ. He’d been set up but good.
“If Gaines is dead…” Watkins trailed off, but Hawk silently finished the sentence in his own head.
The men around Abby moved off, probably to search for him. Get in line, he thought.
Gaines had really gotten it together for this one. If he had his way, Hawk would die tonight. Probably Logan, too.
And…oh, Christ. If Hawk had succeeded in even planting a seed of doubt in Gaines’s mind about Abby turning him in, then he’d screwed her.
Gaines would have to off her, too.
