39
HAWK
I’m careeningdown the road at well over a hundred miles per hour.The map app glows against the dashboard, one red pin marking the property.
That pin is all that’s between me and Daniela and whatever waits in that house.
And I’ll be damned if I let her face it alone.
There’s no traffic out here.No brake lights.No slow-moving pickups.Just me, asphalt, and early morning.The occasional fencepost flashes by.I’m grateful there aren’t any cops on this stretch.I’d have to decide between stopping and ramming a cruiser, and I know which way I’d go.
I keep one hand on the steering wheel and drum my free fingers on my thigh.I’m not nervous.Not exactly.Certainly not excited.
Just…aware.
Hyperaware.
Hyperaware that every minute I take getting to Daniela is one fewer minute I have to save her.
I should have been with her.
I bite that thought in half and mentally spit it out.
If I let my mind go there…
Nope.
Can’t.
Regret at this point is counterproductive.
The speedometer climbs.Ranchland rolls into emptiness.Daniela’s face keeps showing up in the glass.I press the accelerator and watch her vanish and then return.
Vanish.
Return.
It’s been—what?—half an hour since I left?I glance at the dash.Thirty-three minutes.
Fuck.
I need to tell someone where I’m going.In case I need backup.But then they’ll follow, and I don’t want that.
But I have to be smart about this.
The thought punches me in the ribs.I know better than to go alone.I’ve given that lecture to Falcon, to Robin, to half the men I’ve hired across a dozen operations.Lone wolves die of their own pride.
I don’t slow.I simply thumb the steering wheel control and bark, “Call Robin.”
The ringtone fills the car.It rings.And rings.And rings.
“Come on, Robbie.”My voice sounds hoarse.“Pick up.”
Voicemail.Again.
“Robin, it’s me.I need you.Call me back ASAP.”I rattle off the coordinates, the rough mile marker, the county road numbers that only locals use.
I end the call, jaw locked.Where the hell is she?This isn’t like her at all.My gut doesn’t like it, and my gut is rarely wrong.But I can’t give that any more thought.
