Chapter 14
14
Hawk stood at the door of Remi’s office—the one that would let him outside into the turbulent, dark night. He bundled up and tugged his hood on. Extra ammo and a knife were stowed in his truck, and he’d grab those before going into the forest.
Remi stepped close and snapped the top button of his jacket as she looked up into his face—her action came across as personal. Intimate. Concern filled her soft, warm eyes. An image skittered across his mind—he was holding her, looking down at her, and leaned in to kiss her. Hawk shook off the outrageous thought. What had gotten into him? He must have been so completely exhausted that his mind was playing tricks. He didn’t have time for an emotional connection. Once Remi was safe and in the clear, her attacker behind bars, he could take time to clear his head and then get back on track with his own personal mission to find an assassin he’d been hunting for far too long.
Remi stepped even closer and looked at him long and hard. A knot lodged in his throat, and for a split second he had the strange feeling she might lean in and kiss him goodbye. And even weirder—he would have let her. He really had to stop having these thoughts.
“Be careful out there.” She squeezed his hands around the radio she pressed into them. “I want updates, Hawk. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll come out there and find you. Do you understand?”
“I believe you.” He almost smiled at the idea of someone coming to his rescue. “But don’t you dare. I’ll be fine.”
Before he got in deeper with this conversation—or, God forbid, he kissed her because he was losing his way in this pressure-cooker situation—he opened the door and stepped out into the violence of nature. That was the good, hard slap in the face Hawk needed.
He didn’t know Remi.
She didn’t know him.
The wind tried to take off his hood. Hawk tugged it forward and shined the flashlight around. He’d memorized the brochure map of the Cedar Trails Lodge layout, including the cabins, the trails, and the currently empty campground behind them. But he also kept it in his pocket in case he needed to refer back to it, though it would get soaked if he tried.
After grabbing the supplies from his truck, Hawk set out, heading into those forbidding woods.
God, please hide me in the shadow of your wings.
“Don’t let this jerk sneak up on me,” he mumbled to the air. That made twice he’d prayed in one day, as if he believed God had not already written him off.
After what seemed like hours but was probably less than an hour, he’d checked every cabin again. Though he didn’t want people to open their doors to a stranger, he’d knocked lightly to do what he called a “cabin check” and informed them the sheriff’s department was on the way and not to open their doors for anyone, despite the fact they had opened the door to him.
Exhaustion pulled at him as he pushed forward to the last cabin that he planned to visit. He couldn’t forget they’d already done this earlier in the evening, checking each of them.
But this last one. This was Cabin 12. Collin Barclay, a.k.a. Jo’s abductor and Remi’s likely attacker, had stayed there. Hawk doubted he would find the criminal inside. He would be an idiot to return after what he’d done to Jo.
Hawk hid near a tree and watched for movement inside. He might have already given himself away long ago as he checked other cabins. After a few minutes he decided it was time to go for it. He should wait for the sheriff’s department to arrive and let them do their job and gather evidence, but if Collin decided to come back, he could scrape all the evidence. Though he could already be too late, Hawk wanted a piece of that for himself.
He stalked up to the cabin and banged on the door. It creaked open because it hadn’t been fully shut. Perfect. Too perfect. A trap? He didn’t care as he stepped inside and shined the light into the darkness. He sensed no one was here. It was unoccupied. Completely empty. The place had been cleared out.
No iPad with Remi’s image rested on the desk. He hadn’t thought he would find it. Collin would probably have cleared out the moment he took Jo and hid her in the bunker.
Hawk searched the bedroom, the bathroom, and the closet. Nothing. Unfortunately, that familiar churning in his gut started up. He couldn’t explain it, but something was off here. John had suggested Hawk come to Cedar Trails Lodge, insisting that he would find the answers he sought. Hawk had thought he meant that by getting rest he would get peace of mind. And that clarity would help him find his way in the mess he’d created.
But now he got the sense that John hadn’t meant that at all. Hawk wasn’t sure he was ready to face the storm—metaphorical or otherwise—but he stepped out of the empty cabin into the darkness. He turned on his flashlight.
Pain ignited in his head as he slumped to the ground.
Stunned, he couldn’t move. He blinked a few times, wondering if he was dead already. Water pricked at his face and eyes as he looked up. He’d dropped his flashlight, and the beam lit up the woods around him.
A shadow filled his vision.
The ghost of his past that he’d been chasing stood over him.
“What are you doing?” the man asked.
Hawk struggled to respond as a million thoughts slammed into his mind. John had been right. Hawk found answers and what he’d been looking for at Cedar Trails Lodge.
“I’m ... protecting her.” He finally ground out the words.
The man shifted closer, taking in Hawk’s face. “You’re in the wrong place. Back out of this.”
“I can’t do that.” Hawk started to climb to his feet but struggled with dizziness.
“You get up, and I’ll end you.”
He didn’t doubt the man who had long evaded him.