Chapter Four
“Who is she?” Hawk asked in his mic from the far side of the room closest to the entry.
Teach stood near their clients and was the only one that could possibly hear the conversation.
Whoever the stunning mystery woman was, her presence was causing many men to look and then avoid her.
In the time since the mystery woman had walked through the door, a smattering of other women followed. All of them did a beeline toward a man in the room.
It was only when Nasser Bakshai’s arm slid around the waist of a woman who wasn’t his wife that Hawk and his crew concluded the reason for so few female guests.
“They’re all side pieces,” Stevie had said. “Wives are not that attentive.”
Sure enough, Hawk focused his attention on the behavior of the younger women and the men who openly pawed at them. Some more obvious than others.
When the mystery woman passed through the room, briefly stopping to speak with someone, Hawk felt a quick snag in his gut. This woman was much too put-together and held herself too high to be someone’s extra.
It was then that Hawk peeled away from their client, switching places with Teach.
Meanwhile, his team kept chatting.
“Are they afraid of a scorned woman coming in and causing a scene?”
“Is that what she’s doing?” Hawk asked.
“I don’t think so,” Teach said.
“There’s a couple making an exit through the kitchen,” Stevie told them.
Hawk’s gaze shot to the door leading into the server entry.
“On it,” said Carl, the fifth member of the team, who was dressed as a concierge of the restaurant and had access to the kitchen.
“She has to be someone’s wife. There are some serious cold shoulders blasting her way,” Charlie pointed out.
“Except Dad.”
The team had come to call the older Bakshai “Dad” and the younger Bakshai “Son.” It simply made communication easier.
“He looks like he wants her to curl up in his lap,” Teach continued.
“Can you get close enough to hear them?” Hawk asked.
“Not without being obvious. I did hear something about a funeral.”
“A threat of one?”
Teach chuckled. “They’re way too polite to be threatening each other.”
Yeah, even from his distance, Hawk could see the body language that didn’t suggest conflict. Although the woman seemed to become more and more uneasy the longer she stood there.
“Looks like she’s about to go,” Teach announced.
Hawk’s gaze zeroed in on her face.
Flawless.
Then she looked up, and those flawless features turned white.
Hawk followed her gaze.
The man she stared at looked green.
She turned back to the dad, pivoted, and headed straight toward the door.
She stalked through the crowd, which parted as if she were the oil in a bowl full of water.
Hawk took in the senior Bakshai, whose eyes looked her up and down now that her back was turned. His gaze less than polite.
He then motioned to his private security, said something, and nodded toward the fleeing woman.
The less-than-friendly muscle followed her out.
“I don’t like this,” Stevie said.
“Neither do I. I’m on her. Stevie, see if you can find out from the other staff members who she is. Carl, check the guest list.”
“On it,” Stevie announced.
“On it,” Carl repeated.
The mystery woman zeroed in on the door, her smile barely there as she all but ran toward it.
Hawk averted his gaze and started to walk ahead of her.
She was close enough that he could almost feel the heat of her body.
She stopped suddenly ... he thought he heard her cuss under her breath before pivoting toward the coat check.
Hawk hesitated.
When she turned around again, the smile was gone and replaced with tightly controlled anger.
Hawk doubled his steps to the front of the restaurant while Ashraf’s personal bodyguard hung back.
The woman was completely oblivious to the fact that not one but two men were following her.
A woman as beautiful as her really needed to understand the basics of situational awareness.
She didn’t bother putting on her coat as she stepped outside.
Her eyes darted around the darkened valet parking lot.
Hawk pulled his cell phone from his pocket and put it to his ear while standing less than three yards from her.
The valet approached. “Do you have a ticket?”
“No, I have a—” She stopped talking and pointed toward the SUVs backed up to the restaurant. “I think that’s my driver.”
She stepped from the curb and toward a darker part of the lot. As she walked, she started to open her purse.
Hawk watched at a discreet distance.
Until he saw Bakshai’s man come up behind her.
Hawk knew the second she realized he was there.
She let out a shriek and jumped back, and her purse hit the ground.
The guard grasped her arm.
The fear on her face was palpable.
Hawk moved.
“Mr. Bakshai would like to offer you a ride home,” Hawk heard the other man say in a very thick accent.
The woman tugged at her arm. “Let go.”
“His car is—”
“I have a ride. Now let go of me.”
“I’m afraid he insists.”
Her back stiffened, and she twisted her arm, which the bodyguard still didn’t release.
“What’s going on here?” Hawk made himself known.
Her eyes darted to him.
She tugged her arm again.
Bakshai’s guard let her loose.
“This does not concern you.”
Hawk offered a noncommittal sound. “Actually, it does.”
The woman took several steps until her back met the door of an SUV.
Hawk focused solely on the guard and took up the space between the two of them.
“Bakshai wants to see her safely home.”
“Tell your boss that I’m very capable of taking care of myself,” she spat. Her voice shaky.
Hawk’s eyes never left the other man.
Knowing the man was armed, Hawk made a quick assessment of their distance from each other and the speed it would take to disarm him.
He could do it, but there was always a chance a round could go off.
The woman behind him, whose rapid breath gave away how truly scared she’d been, was in range.
He needed to de-escalate the situation without violence.
“I don’t know how they do it where you come from, but scaring a woman in a dark parking lot and offering her a ride is considered threatening here. I’m sure Mr. Bakshai would want to avoid any unnecessary police activity.”
Tension bunched under the muscles in Hawk’s shoulders.
For the space of two breaths, Hawk actually thought this guy was going to challenge him.
“Do you need backup?” Hawk heard Charlie in his earpiece.
The bodyguard shifted his eyes to the woman before he stepped back.
Nose flaring, he turned and headed inside.
“Keep an eye on the extra heat,” Hawk responded to Charlie.
“On it.”
Hawk didn’t turn away from the guard until he neared the restaurant door where Charlie stood.
Hawk twisted toward the mystery woman, stepped out of her personal space, and pulled the earpiece from his ear to talk.
The absolute physical relief he saw in her stance was instant.
Her hand went to her chest.
She was shaking. “Thank you.”
“Do you need me to call the authorities?”
She shook her head. “No.” Her gaze darted to the retreating man. “That was weird, right?”
It was. But why? Why would Bakshai send his goon after her? Who was she?
“It didn’t look right from where I stood,” he told her.
She knelt down to pick up her purse and the cell phone that had tumbled out of it.
“Dammit.” She glanced at the cracked screen and shoved it in her purse.
“I’m sure Bakshai will pay for the repair.”
“I don’t need him to pay for anything.”
“Do you know him?” Hawk asked.
“No. He’s a ... was a friend to my father. I thought I was walking into a business cocktail party ...” Her words trailed off.
It seemed the spike of fear-fueled adrenaline gave way to the anger.
“It’s definitely a cocktail party. I’m not sure about the business part.”
“Yeah,” she sighed. Her eyes caught his and then dropped to the earpiece slung on his shoulder. “Are you the restaurant security?”
“Not exactly.” He didn’t think it was wise to say that he was technically on Bakshai’s payroll. “You really should pay more attention when you’re walking into dark parking lots,” he suggested, changing the subject.
“I know.” She glanced around then. Her body shook. “Damn. I’m usually more ... alert.”
He was fairly certain that she was realizing just how quickly things could have gone south.
“Does that phone work? Or do you need me to call for a ride?”
She shook her head. “I have a driver. He’s in one of these.” She motioned to the black SUV behind her. One of the cars he and his team had arrived in.
She pulled her phone out of her purse again and tapped her fingers on a text message. “He probably had to park in the lot.” Her screen lit up with a message. “He’s coming.”
Hawk moved out from the cars they were sandwiched between and offered her a wide berth to move around him.
“My name is Hawk.”
She looked at him then, and for the first time since he’d spoken one word to her, she smiled.
Good God, the woman was gorgeous. And that smile ...
“Alex,” she told him.
He had a first name.
“Nice to meet you, Alex.”
A nearly identical SUV pulled up to the curb, and the driver jumped out.
“The pleasure is truly all mine.” She rubbed her arm where Bakshai’s muscle had grabbed her. Hawk didn’t see a mark in the dimly lit lot, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one there.
Yeah, he needed to have a little discussion with the extra “help.”
The driver opened the door to the back seat, and Alex climbed in.
Seeing Hawk there, the driver moved around to the driver’s seat.
“You sure you have everything? Your house keys didn’t slide out of your purse?” Hawk asked.
Alex immediately looked in said purse and smiled again. “Got ’em.”
“Good. Be more careful, Alex.”
She nodded, her smile contagious.
And then Hawk closed her door and patted the car as if telling the driver he could move on.
Hawk watched as they drove away.
The bright white letters identifying the hired car were plastered on the bumper.
He had a name ... and a number.
Sort of.