Chapter 18
18
Sitting in the back of the county SUV, Hawk tried to remain nonchalant, but he knew his expression came across as grim. He had half expected Deputy Hunter to cuff him just for having a connection to an assassin, but she hadn’t, so that could mean they didn’t know yet.
Everything would hit the fan when they found out.
Timberbrook County law wasn’t prepared to face this adversary. Once Hawk was back at their offices, he would try to convey that message as best he could without insulting anyone. As he’d been informed, the sheriff was already overtaxed as it was. But it wasn’t really the sheriff and his intentions that worried Hawk.
Remi hadn’t looked at him. She didn’t trust him. He couldn’t really blame her for wanting to get far away from him, but they needed to stick together.
Cole would come for her again, and God willing, Hawk would be the man standing in his way.
Again.
As he sat in the back of the vehicle, he looked out the window at utter darkness and let himself imagine the thick, moss-covered ground and the evergreens of the Olympic National Forest swaying in the wind. The sheriff steered them along the two-lane highway, through the woods, toward the county seat. Though Hawk wasn’t driving, he could still feel the wind buffeting the vehicle, meaning the next storm was moving in already.
If he wasn’t so exhausted, he might press the sheriff for answers, but he didn’t trust himself to speak right now. At least they had a few minutes before they would arrive, and maybe by then Hawk would know what to say.
And what not to say.
Sheriff Thatcher cleared his throat.
Hawk lifted his gaze to the rearview mirror, where he locked eyes with the sheriff. Sheriff Thatcher focused back on the road. Hawk waited for what he would say.
“What happened back in King County, Beckett, I read about it. I contacted a buddy of mine. I won’t say his name, but I know that you took the blame for all that went down. You made the hard choice, the hard call. No one can know what they would do if faced with that kind of moral dilemma.”
Moral dilemma. Save thousands or save one. He could have saved Jake, but the terrorist would have gotten away. He hadn’t known that Jake would die, and Jake had been the one to nudge Hawk farther in a direction he’d already been leaning. So he went full throttle. He took the terrorist down, but Jake died.
Hawk’s chest constricted. He hadn’t expected those words or that perspective from the sheriff, given the way the man had looked at him, but clearly he’d been misreading the situation, and now he remained unsure of what to say. Maybe he should have gone to the other side of the country to flee the story following him, but in this digital age, it was impossible to escape. And besides, John had sent him to Cedar Trails Lodge.
The sheriff kept eyeing him through the rearview mirror. The least Hawk could do was respond. “Glad to have your vote of confidence.” He hadn’t meant that to sound sarcastic, but he wasn’t sure that’s not how it came across. “But now you’re having doubts?” Because he knew Cole was Hawk’s brother? Hawk wouldn’t bring it up. Not yet. Timing was everything.
Sheriff Thatcher worked his jaw. “Let’s put that conversation off for now. I just wanted to lay the cards on the table, as the saying goes, and let you know where I stand. I’m on your side.”
Hawk wasn’t sure the sheriff believed his own words, and only time would tell. A churning grew in his gut, that sense of complete wrongness.
Thatcher glanced in his rearview mirror again, only this time he wasn’t looking at Hawk. Then he jerked his gaze to look out the driver’s side window. “What—”
The county SUV bucked. Metal twisted and crunched as another vehicle slammed into them. The seat belt kept Hawk in place. Screams of terror erupted. Hawk pressed his hands against the cab as Remi’s scream filled his ears. Sheriff Thatcher’s curse-laced shouts of anger drowned out her screams.
The vehicle spun, then slid down an embankment before slowly rolling onto its side and then rolling once more before resting upside down. Heart pounding, Hawk caught his breath. The cab hadn’t been crushed and remained intact. They were still alive. He hoped. He believed.
He slowly got his bearings, pulled himself together, and turned to Remi. “Are you okay?”
Face pale, she looked at him, stunned, disoriented like him, but she nodded. Held his gaze.
Hawk unbuckled. “Sheriff Thatcher?”
“My leg ... it’s stuck. I’m not sure it isn’t broken.” He groaned, then got on his radio and called for emergency services.
Deputy Hunter’s face appeared in the sheriff’s window.
“Get them out,” Thatcher said.
She shifted to assist Remi and Hawk and spoke to her boss. “Sheriff, more deputies are coming from around the county.”
Hawk was able to kick the door open after a few tries, and then he crawled out onto the soaking wet grass and pushed off from a moss-covered rock to stand. This could have been so much worse. He scrambled to the other side, where Remi stood looking around.
The county vehicle lights illuminated a portion of the road. Her Bronco was parked on the shoulder near where they’d gone over the embankment. Down the street, an engine idled, one headlight on bright, the other missing—the offending vehicle.
“How did they hit us?” Remi asked.
“It was intentional,” Deputy Hunter said. “Get down. Crouch on the other side of the SUV. I’ll help the sheriff.”
“What?” She looked dazed but then nodded.
A burst of gunfire filled Hawk’s ears. “Down! Get down!” He dropped to the ground next to Remi. The sheriff was trapped in his vehicle and couldn’t escape the bullets. They had to protect him until help arrived.
Deputy Hunter had also dropped to the ground. “I’m shot.” Her voice sounded shaky.
“How bad?” Hawk crawled over to her and assisted her behind a thick-trunked red cedar and set her in a patch of ferns.
She grunted in pain and pressed her hands against the wound at her side. “I can stop the bleeding. I’ll be okay until help arrives. But the sheriff. We have to protect the sheriff.”
Hawk had already pulled his gun and in that moment realized the sheriff had never asked for their weapons, even when transporting them, so he really had trusted Hawk. He got into position to protect the others.
The shots had come from across the street. He got a better look at the vehicle that had sent them into the ditch. The massive front-end grille appeared only slightly affected. The truck had come at the SUV from a forest road, ramming into them from the left, sending them down the embankment. That’s all that had been needed to disable them.
“You’re going to be okay,” Remi said to Hunter. “Help will be here before you know it.”
He’d had a bad feeling about this entire ride to the county sheriff’s offices, but he hadn’t expected this.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” He gave Remi another quick once-over. She didn’t appear injured.
“I’m good. Just a little shaken. What about you?” Fear swam in her eyes. Fear for the deputy and fear for their lives.
“We need to protect the sheriff,” Deputy Hunter said again.
Hawk wanted to go after the aggressor. Cole. It had to be.
The sheriff suddenly appeared, crawling forward to the deputy. He grimaced, then held his leg. “The impact jammed my ankle. Feels like something’s broken.”
“And you didn’t wait for help?”
At Hawk’s surprised look he shrugged. “I was a sitting duck. Sometimes you just have to push through the pain to save your own hide.”
Sirens resounded in the distance, growing closer.
Using a small flashlight, Sheriff Thatcher checked his deputy. “Hang in there, Carla. You’ll be okay.”
“I can’t die before my retirement next week. I’ll survive,” she said, though her voice was still shaky.
Remi started to push up. “I can get the medical supplies—”
“No.” Hawk and Sheriff Thatcher said the word at the same time.
“You’ll expose yourself.”
“ I’ll get the supplies and then go after him,” Hawk said.
“No. Beckett, get Ms. Grant—Remi—get her out of here,” Sheriff Thatcher said. “You can get her to the county offices. Our deputies can protect her. Carla and I are both injured.”
Hawk eyed the woods around them, ready to defend them. Cole would make his move soon. In the meantime, he had to make the sheriff understand what he was up against. “An assassin who would attack law enforcement isn’t going to let a building with a few deputies stand in his way. I don’t want to see you or more of your deputies hurt or killed. I don’t want to see Remi die. Now, you told me you were on my side, and you understood the hard choice I made before. I hope you’ll be as understanding now when I tell you I know how this guy works and thinks. I know how to keep Remi safe, and I know where to get answers. So once backup arrives to protect you, Remi and I are going to disappear.”
“Now, you listen—”
“He’s right.” Remi cut off the sheriff. “You want me safe, Sheriff, then let me go with Hawk. You don’t want my blood on your hands, do you? You don’t want more of our deputies shot. Thank you for your offer of protective custody, but I choose Hawk to be my private security.”
Deputy Hunter groaned and cried out, pulling all their attention to her. Sheriff Thatcher shined his flashlight on her blood-soaked hands and, grimacing with his own pain, added his hand to hers to put pressure on the wound.
“Hang in there, Carla.” Fear for his deputy and friend edged Sheriff Thatcher’s voice.
Hawk got it. He understood what was going through the sheriff’s mind. Fear and anger that his deputy, his partner, had been shot. His vehicle was mangled. His authority challenged. He didn’t like the choices he was forced to make.
As far as Hawk was concerned, Thatcher had no choice. He must have realized it too and gave Hawk a subtle nod. “We’ll keep working the investigation from our end. I can arrange a safe house too, if needed, just let me know. Get out of here if you’re going.”
“I won’t leave you.” He couldn’t abandon them to defend themselves. This was a whole new level of attack. It was crystal clear that Cole didn’t want Remi in police custody to reveal her secrets. Her memories.
“We’ll be all right,” Thatcher said. “Help is on the way.”
Hawk understood. Thatcher hadn’t said the words. Remi was the target. Getting her away meant giving them a chance. How messed up was that? But it was true.
“Fine. I’ll take her, but first I need to try something.” He had a long-buried bone to pick with Cole. He didn’t wait for the sheriff’s permission and left them, pressing forward into the woods toward where the big truck idled in the road. Hawk was battle ready, military trained, but a little rusty compared to Cole, who’d taken his own road down a dark, fatalistic path.
Standing behind a tree near the road, Hawk fired one shot into the ground. “Come on, Cole. What happened to you?” He shouted the question, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer, but he needed to reach the man—if his brother still remained somewhere inside that assassin’s head.
He didn’t get an answer. Cole didn’t want to give away his position.
“I won’t let you get to her,” Hawk said. “You’ll have to go through me.”
Potentially lethal words, those, but he spoke truth. His pulse raced in his ears as he waited for Cole to make a move.
Sirens resounded, and not only did an ambulance show up but also a fire truck as well as two other county vehicles. More law enforcement. They could arrive quickly if the situation was dire enough, close enough, and threatened their sheriff and fellow deputy.
Surprising Hawk, Cole responded with gunfire, bullets hitting the tree. If he wanted Hawk dead, Hawk would be dead. He ducked, knowing that Cole was making his escape. Wheels squealed as the truck sped away.
Hawk jogged back to the rolled county vehicle, where medics were already attending to the deputy and the sheriff as well as doctoring the scrape on Remi’s forehead near the cut she’d endured yesterday fighting with an assassin. Hawk’s head didn’t feel all that good, especially since he already had a mild concussion—probably, the ED physician’s assistant had told him—but he didn’t have time to give in to the pain.
He shrugged off assistance and zeroed his focus in on Remi. She had a strange look on her face. She searched the woods and then found him coming toward her.
“Hawk.” Her voice was oddly strong. “Did you see him? Did you see ... Cole?” Remi hadn’t said “your brother.” Was she actually trying to protect Hawk in case the sheriff didn’t know yet?
Actually, no. Hawk hadn’t seen their attacker, but who else could it be? Who else had pursued her since yesterday morning?
“Do what you said you were doing. Get out of here. Remi, Hawk is the man of the hour.” The sheriff’s forehead beaded with sweat as the medics attended his ankle in the back of the ambulance. “Go. Get out of here.”
Apparently, the sheriff had resigned himself to Hawk and Remi’s decision, and maybe he was a little out of his head with pain at the moment too. Hawk had hoped someone else, someone more competent than himself, would take this on, but right now, he was the one invested. The man of the hour, as the sheriff put it.
He had to get to Cole and end this before someone else was hurt.
Or Remi was killed.
Remi, however, shook her head, unshed tears in her eyes. “This is because of me. All because of me. I can’t hurt another person.”
Hawk gently grabbed her arm and urged her toward her Bronco. The keys were still inside. He assisted her into the passenger seat. His mild concussion wasn’t a foregone conclusion, and Remi didn’t appear to be in the frame of mind to drive.
Steering them up the highway in the opposite direction that Cole had gone, Hawk said nothing. He needed time to think. He might have spoken with too much confidence when he told the sheriff he knew how this guy worked and how he thought and that he knew how to keep Remi safe. That was all partially true. But he did know where to get answers.
John had sent Hawk here for one reason, and that meant he knew details about Cole’s whereabouts or where he was suspected to show up. John was in the intelligence business, after all, so Hawk shouldn’t be surprised. He would know why Cole was after Remi.
“Where are we going?”
“To talk to the man who knows more than we do about what’s going on.”
Her breath suddenly quickened. “Not yet. If you’re in this with me, then help me, Hawk. Take me to Dr. Holcomb. I need to see her as soon as possible.”
Hawk didn’t know how to tell her that could be a mistake.