SEALs of Honor: Hawk (17 page)

Cooper pulled into the hanger just then. Hawk got out, ready to start his day.

Chapter 23

S
HE WOKE UP
with a smile on her face.

Until she realized the hotel room was empty.

Hawk was gone.

He’d said something about coffee. How long did that take? Order a little room service. Slip out to the coffee shop around the corner?

She had no idea. But there was a terrible finality to the emptiness.

Fear clutched at her heart. Had he meant to come back and couldn’t? Had something happened to him? No, he was a SEAL. Of all the people who could take care of themselves it would be him.

She dampened down the fear. It was likely something simple – as in he’d been called away. That was all it would be. There was an imminent terrorist attack. Last night was stolen time.

She got up and showered, slowly running the soap over her body, reliving the night of loving. He was a masterful lover. Experienced. But more than that, he was so damn caring. Made her feel like the only woman in his life.

Of course he’d never said anything to her about tomorrows or even today, Neither had she after her initial plea – that she’d then not given him a chance to answer.

She’d figured he’d say the wrong thing to what she wanted to hear. And she couldn’t have had that. She didn’t want him to lie. Nor would she have wanted anything to change the magic of the moment.

She’d have missed something wonderful if she had. Now she couldn’t stop remembering his hands as they’d slid over her skin, or the feel of his lips as he’d explored her ribs or the bones running up and down her spine. Was there any skin he hadn’t touched? She rolled her neck, easing the stiffness. She’d slept so heavily her body ached in places she’d forgotten existed. Then again she probably couldn’t blame her sleep for that. Hawk had been wild and creative and so damn strong.

She gave a happy sigh, shampooed her hair yet again and let the water flow over her head until it ran clear. Finally done, she stepped out of the shower and wrapped up in a towel.

The mirror caught her eye. A sparkling face shone back at her. A well loved face. Or rather, a well loved puffy face. She laughed.

Much of the swelling had gone down, leaving her face looking almost normal now. The lips were still puffy, but that could have been from Hawk’s kisses.

Soon the evidence of what she’d gone through would be minimal.

And she could return to a normal life.

Whatever that meant.

She walked to her bed and sat down on the side. Did that matter? She was going home. Back to sharpen her search and rescue skills.

But that seemed so little now. Like an old life, not the life she wanted for herself. But she no longer knew what she wanted.

That was because she was no longer the same person. This had been a life changing event for her.

So what did she want?

She flopped back on the bed and considered that if all things were equal, what would she like to do?

She’d love to do more with her photography. Something she’d stopped doing because there’d seemed to be little point. Or maybe the truth was a lack of confidence. She’d done nothing with it, shown very few people the images she’d captured. But she could. Some were wonderful – at least to her. In her dreams, she’d love to produce coffee table books. Nice concept. But poor at paying the bills. Besides, she only took her camera on trips. She could hardly make trips to just take pictures – or could she?

Maybe she just wanted to do more. Helping Eva with the animals was nice and all, as they were awesome, but it was Eva’s dream, not Mia’s.

And the world had changed. Maybe picture books were possible, but they wouldn’t be bestsellers.

She frowned. She didn’t even know where her camera was. She’d been through so much shit she had no idea. She’d had it when she’d been caving. Then she got the message about her father being dead and everything after that had been a blank storm.

She no longer knew. Had it come back with their gear? And if it had, did it have anything she could use.

She got up and dressed in the clothes someone had taken the time to buy for her and made the bed. Hawk had promised coffee, but there wasn’t any. Except her mind kept nudging her. Where had he gone? And was he coming back?

A knock on the door startled her. She froze then ran to the door. Hawk?

She opened it without looking through the peephole. She knew instinctively she’d done the wrong thing.

Then she recognized the man in front of her.

Cooper. Hawk had mentioned something about Cooper not being on active duty as he was recovering from an accident. Apparently, he was happy to play nursemaid for her, holding coffee and a takeout bag advertising a local baker.

Her face fell. She stepped back and opened the door wider. “Hi Cooper.” She mustered a smile for the man who’d been so good at organizing her life. “Right on time again.”

“Actually, I’m running a little behind. Sorry.”

He walked inside and handed her the coffee and the bag. “Breakfast for you.”

She accepted both and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. “Thank you.” Then she motioned to the couch. “Can you stay?”

He shook his head. “Not long.”

She nodded and opened her bag. She gave him a fat grin as she saw the beignets. “Really? You found these here?”

He laughed. “Well, I certainly didn’t fly these in from New Orleans.”

She took the lid off her cup and sniffed the hot heady brew. “Lovely. Thank you so much.”

She waved at him to sit down. “You’re making me nervous standing up there. Is everything okay?”

He smiled, his face bland. “Of course.”

She rolled her eyes. “Right super secret spy stuff.”

With a big grin, he said, “Not quite.”

The beignet was too enticing to resist. She took a big bite, sending a dusting of powder sugar everywhere. She chuckled.

Glancing over at him, she caught the worried look in his eyes. She slowly lowered the treat to the top of the package and laid it down. “What’s the matter? Is he being sent out somewhere?”

Cooper shook his head.

“Right, he is, but you can’t talk about it, and that’s not why you’re worried.”

He raised both his eyebrows at that.

She slumped back. “I’m being sent home, aren’t I?”

This time he did smile. “Don’t think of it as being sent home. Consider it more a heading home to safety time.”

“And yet that’s where I was kidnapped from.”

He nodded. “We know. You’re welcome to stay here of course. There’s no one forcing you, but in our opinion, you should be at home with your father.”

She nodded. “It is time, I guess.”

She’d been thinking about that just a little while ago but hoping against hope that there’d be Hawk running through the door asking her to stay with him forever. She was a fool. He was never going to say that.

“I do have a problem.”

He frowned. “What’s that?”

“I don’t have a way to get home.” She glanced down at the clothes she was wearing. “And did you provide these? If so, thanks.”

He nodded. “They look good on you. And thank Hawk, he gave me the size and told me what to get.”

Of course he did. Somehow his years of experience with women had given him a trained eye to know exactly what size she wore.

Figured.

There was no reason to stay now. If Cooper said it was time to go home then Hawk wasn’t coming back.

So she’d be staying for nothing.

And in that case, she’d rather go home. “I could leave anytime if I had a way to get home.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

She raised her eyebrows and looked at him over the cup.

“Your father is on his way,” he said. “To pick you up.”

*

H
E COULD SENSE
the other men watching him. Wanting to say something but not actually giving voice to the words. Too bad. It would ease the tension around them. What did they expect him to do? She needed to go home. At least until this nightmare was over.

If he survived this mission then he might look her up. Regardless of his thoughts early this morning about keeping her, he wasn’t a good bet. There was always another mission. This was a tough job. He couldn’t tell her much about it, and he’d always be on the road.

But damn it was an impossible thought to let go of.

Besides, they were approaching the ship they were prepared to board. Hardly the time. As the Coast Guard vessel they were riding in came along side, he pulled his mask down and slipped overboard. They were looking for the bombs. The intel had been solid. But so far, finding the goods, that was a whole different story.

And this could go easy or it could be a shit storm. He swam around down below the front of the tanker to the small fishing boat tied up on the far side. It was the twin to the one they’d rescued Mia from. While the Coast Guard took care of the crew, his team would check out the fishing crew. If there were any.

He signaled to Swede and swam up. He rose slowly, checking out the size and breadth of the vessel. It was big enough and had a small lift on the back so it could have easily lifted the bomb off. Once in the water, it would be easy to drag the device into position.

They worked to the back of the fishing boat and slipped aboard. It was empty. They gave it a quick search. There were bits and pieces of wires left behind and some powder on the floor. A worktable. Ropes.

He messaged the Coast Guard about what he found.

After another quick search, they retraced their steps and slipped back into the water. And went straight down toward the bridge pylons. They were down long enough the air became an issue. They gridded the space and searched the entire area. And found nothing. Back at the Coast Guard they switched tanks and a second team joined them in the search. The Coast Guard motored over to the next rendezvous. Six hours later they’d checked out all the points they’d had marked. And still nothing.

Afterwards, pissed and exhausted, they met to reevaluate.

“We can’t have missed it.”

“No. Therefore it’s not there.”

They stared at each other in frustration. “If not there, where?”

Mason’s phone rang. His conversation was short, explicit. When he put away the phone he said, “We’ve found one.”

That set up a series of conversations and another plan.

This time the trip would end differently.

Chapter 24

L
IFE AT HOME
had a different edge to it.

Mia loved having her father back. The attack and loss of his brother had him taking an interest in the store again. He’d been reorganizing it after the vandals finished. Oddly enough there was mostly candy and gum missing. She had a good idea who to blame for that, but as she hadn’t seen Tom’s son and his cousin since her return, she couldn’t be sure. After all, his father had been involved in her kidnapping. That he’d gotten his comeuppance was one thing, but to imagine that his son was part of this was a different thing altogether. There was an uncle around somewhere as well, but she had no idea where. And she didn’t want to know.

Things had been quiet.

For that she was thankful.

“Mia, can you bring the horses over here. The farrier will be arriving soon,” Eva called out.

Mia chucked at the two retired quarter horses Eva fostered. Amongst other animals. Then Eva had a heart as big as the acreage she owned and lucky for the animals, did something with it – for both.

She walked toward Eva, knowing the horses would follow on their own accord. They were big babies and loved to be with their people friends.

She opened the gate and stepped back so they could move toward Eva. All animals loved her. Always had. If the truth be told, Mia was slightly jealous.

She wished she had something to do. Something special she
could
do. She really wanted to do search and rescue on a bigger scale. Only that would mean leaving Canford. And she wasn’t ready to do that.

She watched her friend as she spoke to the horses and the llama that was on the other side of the fence. She had a good dozen animals here she fostered. And so many more she’d adopted. She was alone and appeared to love it that way. Eva said she hadn’t met anyone that made her want to change her status.

Mia had said the same thing until she’d met Hawk. Only he was a distant memory now. But one that made her smile. She didn’t begrudge his presence in her life, only that it was now in her past.

Her father walked over. “Mia, you okay?”

She smiled up at him. “Sorry, just daydreaming.”

He closed the gate behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. Healing well.”

“Are you?” He studied her face as if looking to see if her bones actually healed under the skin. “The ribs?”

“Better.” She walked ahead of him. “I’m back to normal.”

“That’s not true.”

She turned to look at him. “In what way?”

“You’re sad all the time.”

Her head shake was instinctive. “I’m not,” she protested. Yet she was lying. She knew it, but as nothing could change the situation she was determined to move forward.

“You are. At first I thought it was because of what you’ve gone through. Maybe it is?”

“Maybe,” she said noncommittally, wishing she could get out of the conversation before her father guessed the real reason.

“As long as you’re mending.” And he walked toward Eva, his own gait unsteady and stilted. He used a cane now, but that beat wheelchairs out any day. “Interesting thing about an event like that,” he said. “It changes us forever.”

“Or maybe for just a little while,” she said with forced cheerfulness.

“I hope so. You’ve been through enough. You deserve to be happy.”

Did she though? She hated that she felt guilty for mentioning Hawk’s name to the young cop in the hospital. A terrible blunder. And one she’d paid for. But it had given her a scare. She’d survived, but what about other victims of crimes? Did she want to do something more to help? The questions roiled through her head in an unceasing hamster wheel.