Shadow Hawk Read online

  But there was no disdain now. No, she had a look in those kill-me-slowly baby blues that spelled complete and abject terror.

  She really believed him to be the bad guy.

  Unbelievable. “Hey. Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you, I only need to—”

  “Let me go, Hawk.”

  Her fear cut through him and broke his heart. “I can’t do that.”

  “Let. Me. Go.”

  “I hear you, believe me,” he said with real regret, protecting her with his body when a blast of wind brought hot ashes drifting down on them. “But I can’t do it, I’m sorry.”

  “Won’t, you mean.”

  “Okay, yeah. Won’t. Not until you listen to me.”

  She glared at him with so much emotion spitting from her eyes, he nearly did as she asked and let go of her. Usually put together, she now had dirt streaked down a cheek and along her jaw, and her shirt was torn. So were her pants, from knees to thigh, exposing one of her world-class legs and the scratches she’d sustained.

  She looked like a wreck. A furious, undone, adorable wreck. And he wanted to kiss her again. God, he’d give a limb to do just that.

  Scratch that.

  He just wanted to hold her. Hold her tight until she was safe, and no longer scared.

  Yeah, explain that.

  “You’re a wanted man,” she said. “It changes everything, Hawk.”

  “Wanted for what, exactly?”

  “For turning rogue!” Abby arched up with each word, bumping some interesting female body parts into many of his favorite parts. “For running the Kiddie Bombers! For shooting Gaines! Pick one!”

  “I would, except for one thing. I am not running the Kiddie Bombers.”

  “But I saw you shoot him.” Her voice quavered though her eyes did not. Nope, they were cemented to his, shiny with emotion and a self-righteousness, which normally made him want to wrestle her down and mess up her hair and wrinkle her clothes.

  But she was already ruffled, which was just as well because he couldn’t summon even a shred of playfulness or his legendary calm, not with his heart lodged in his throat. “You have to trust me,” he said quietly.

  She stared at him, then slowly shook her head.

  Fine. Christ. Hawk was not a man used to explaining himself, but he gave it a go now, he had to. “Okay, I shot him, yes.”

  “Oh, my God.”

  “But it was in self-defense. This was all a crazy setup. Gaines has been running the Kiddie Bombers. He’s been re-selling the confiscated weapons, putting them back on the streets, probably at a pretty profit. But I got too close, and now I’ve become a problem to him. He decided to lay the blame on me and then fake his death.”

  She stared at him like he’d lost it, and truthfully—he had. He totally had. “He’s still very much alive, Abby. I didn’t kill him, I swear it.”

  He didn’t realize how much he needed her to believe him until she stared up at his face, her heart in her eyes.

  “I know,” she whispered. “He can’t be dead because he called me.”

  “He what?”

  “He wanted to tell me you were the bad guy.” She stared down at the handcuff linking them.

  “I’m not,” he promised. “But he’s feeling closed in by all the loose ends now.” He touched her face. “You’re a loose end, Ab. You’re in danger. He means for me to die here tonight, and now, I think he means the same for you. Please, let’s not let him win.”

  Abby swept her gaze down the length of him, and he knew what she saw. Blood. His. Gaines’s. “I swear it,” he whispered. “I won’t hurt you.”

  “Then uncuff me.”

  “Do you promise to come with me, so I can keep you safe?”

  “I’m not ready to promise you anything.”

  This evening was not going his way. “Where’s Logan?”

  “He was air-lifted out.”

  That stopped Hawk cold. “What? What happened?”

  “He fell from the barn roof.”

  Christ. “Listen to me,” he said, gripping her shoulders and giving her a little shake. “Logan didn’t fall from any roof, he would never have fallen. Don’t you get it? He’s fucking with us, Abby, like we’re toys.”

  “Then come in with me, and we’ll figure this all out.”

  “By in, you mean turn myself in?”

  It was all over her face, and he shook his head.

  “Hawk—”

  “I need to get to Logan, wherever they took him. He’s in danger, too.”

  “Fine. After we go back, we’ll—”

  “No.” He laughed harshly. “Let me save you some bullshitting time, okay? I overheard you and Watkins. If I go in, I go in charged for Gaines’s murder. Even though you and I both know he’s not dead.”

  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 ver