by Bree Younger
He called Brady again, and they went over their plan. From what Claire could gather, they were going to lure the sedan into a narrow alley Hawk knew of in a deserted part of town. The car would be trapped.
When Hawk hung up, she reiterated her uncertainty about the plan. “Hawk, this sounds really dangerous. Are you sure we shouldn’t wait until you have more guys to help?”
“I’m sure. We’ve got it under control.” Hawk gave her a hard look. “And while we’re on the subject, when everything starts going down, you plant your sweet ass on the floorboard, and don’t you get up until I come and get you. Do you hear me?”
She didn’t appreciate being talked to as if she were a two-year-old, and she let him know it. “I hear you. I’m not an idiot. I know I’d just be in the way.”
“Exactly. I can’t concentrate on doing what I need to do if I’m worrying about you getting hurt. I want you as far away from any fighting as possible. I don’t know if those guys are armed. They’re probably not, but anything’s possible. A shot won’t kill you unless it hits you in the head or heart, but I’d rather avoid any gunshot wounds if possible. They do hurt like a son of a bitch.”
She shivered. After that, the conversation ceased. Hawk concentrated on his driving, taking the exit into Southaven and driving down a series of streets, heading closer to town. Chancing a glance back, she saw that the sedan was following behind them with another car a ways back. She assumed that must be Brady.
They passed through a heavily trafficked area and then moved out, leaving the more populated areas behind. Streetlights got fewer and fewer, and the buildings had an abandoned feel. She knew they must be getting close to the point that Hawk had planned for the ambush.
When he picked up the phone to call Brady, her suspicions were confirmed.
“About a half mile down there’s a narrow road on the right that squeezes in between two of these old warehouses. Follow me and stick close to their ass, okay? After we get about halfway down, I’ll brake. You climb on their ass. And then we’ll see what we’ve got.”
He hung up and looked at her. “Go ahead and get down on the floor.”
Stifling a protest, she did as he said, scooting the seat back as far as it would go and then lowering herself into a balled-up position on the floor of the SUV. Comfortable it was not. She was scrunched up as tightly as she could get. Hawk grinned down at her, and she stuck her tongue out at him. He just shook his head and reminded her, “Do not stick that head up no matter what you hear. And if anyone else tries to get to you, you move over into the driver’s seat and you floor this truck. Don’t worry about me or Brady. You just get to safety. We’ll find you.”
Claire didn’t like it, but she nodded her head in agreement.
* * * *
Hawk took the turn, checking his rearview mirror to make sure that the sedan followed. It did, right on his tail. He grinned to himself. Brady turned right behind them, and he wondered how long it would take before the guys realized they’d got themselves into one helluva predicament. Casting one final glance at Claire where she huddled down on the floorboard, he slammed on the brakes, jerking the wheel so that the car slid sideways, blocking the road and putting Claire on the side opposite where the other car had been forced to stop.
He told her, “Lock the door behind me,” before he jumped out and began running toward the other vehicle. A quick look told him that Brady had done the same. Now the car, and its passengers, had nowhere to go. Stopping a few feet from the other vehicle, he drew his gun and held it on them, motioning for them to get out. He could see them talking, their heads together, hands gesturing frantically. Finally, the driver’s door opened, and the vampire exited the vehicle. He walked toward the front end of the car, and Hawk got a good look at his face. He looked stupid and mean. He had dirty hair that Hawk thought was supposed to be red. His eyes were squinty and bloodshot.
“Hands up,” Hawk barked, not trusting the man one inch.
“Look, man, I don’t…” His whiny voice grated on Hawk’s ears, trying his patience.
Hawk cocked his weapon and repeated his order. Adding, for good measure, “Right now.”
The man glared at Hawk, but he raised his hands, showing Hawk that they were empty. Brady moved to cover the two in the vehicle as Hawk moved closer.
“Who are you, and why are you following us?” He studied the face of the man in front of him and knew the second he spoke that he was lying.
The man smiled. “We weren’t following you, dude. Hell, we were just going to visit a friend. I don’t know what’s got you so jumpy.”
Hawk allowed a mean smile to crease his face. “You’re lying. And not very well. Dude.” He tilted his head to one side. “Now, either start talking or I’m going to start beating the truth out of you.”
“Really man…” The man rushed forward, lowering his shoulders to plow into Hawk’s midsection.
The gun flew out of Hawk’s hand, and he cussed as it hit the ground and slid across the street out of reach. How the hell had he let this fool get the jump on him? The vamp fell on top of him. Using his legs as leverage, he arched up, flipping the man off him. Then they were both up. The man Hawk had started to think of as Red came at him again. He was slow. Hawk kicked out and caught his opponent on the side of his knee. The man yelled and went down again. He lay on the ground for a few seconds, and Hawk risked a glance over at Brady, who was busy with a second vampire. They were rolling around in the middle of the road, the other vamp’s hands were around Brady’s throat, but Brady was punching him in the head with quick, short jabs.
His attention was drawn back to the man he’d knocked down, who’d finally struggled to his feet. Hawk saw that the man now held a knife in his hand. He narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure you want to go there, boy?” he taunted his adversary.
The man just snarled and came in low, knife held ready to strike. Hawk stepped to the side and, in one elegant movement, knocked the man’s hand aside, twisting it so that he dropped the knife. Then a quick jab against the vampire’s temple rendered him unconscious. Hawk had just bent down to pick up the knife when a woman’s scream pierced the night, followed by the sound of breaking glass. Turning around, he saw the third vampire had smashed out the window of his SUV and opened the passenger door. He was pulling a struggling Claire from the safety of the vehicle.
She was fighting like a little tigress, but she was not strong enough to keep the vampire from getting a grip on her arm and pulling her around in front of him. Like his buddy, he also had a knife, and in a blink he was holding it against Claire’s throat. Hawk froze. A deep-enough cut through the jugular and not even the healing powers of a vampire’s blood could save her.
Hawk heard Brady move up to stand beside him and cast a quick look sideways. Brady nodded, indicating that he’d taken care of the other vampire. So the only one still in play was the one who currently had Claire. Her eyes met his, and he could see how frightened she was. She lifted her chin and straightened up as much as she could. Hawk felt a rush of pride at her courage. She wouldn’t buckle. That’s the message she was sending him with her body language. He returned his attention to her attacker, who had begun to speak.
“Back off. Right now. Or I cut her.” Hawk could see the vampire was nervous, his eyes darting around and his hands clenching so tightly on Claire’s arm the knuckles were white. That didn’t make Hawk feel any better. The most dangerous men were nervous ones with weapons, because you never knew what in the hell they might do if they got spooked.
“Calm down, friend. We don’t want anything bad to happen, do we?”
“I’m not a fool. And I ain’t your friend. You and your buddy back up right now, or I’m gonna start slicing.” The man’s eyes kept darting between him and Brady. Hawk cast a glance at his friend, who tilted his head slightly to one side. They’d worked together so often that he knew immediately that the other man had a plan. Hawk nodded in a barely discernible movement.
Hawk knew he had to
do something to draw the man’s attention to give Brady a chance to get into position for whatever he was planning. Holding his hands out to the side, he dropped the knife he’d picked up and eased himself slightly to his left. “I know you’re not a fool. I just think that we should be able to handle this without anyone getting hurt.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brady take a small step to the right. “After all, if you hurt her, you know that you won’t get out of here. She’s your only bargaining chip.”
The man’s eyes stared into his. “Yeah. Well, I have a feeling you don’t want anything to happen to Little Miss Blondie here.” Hawk could tell from the slight tremor in the vamp’s hand that he was mostly talk.
“You’re right.” He eased a bit more away from Brady, and the vamp’s eyes followed him. “I don’t want anything to happen to anyone. I’d like for everyone to just walk away from this with no harm done.” Hawk heard a slight noise from Brady and knew he was ready to move. He stared hard at Claire and then slid his eyes down to her feet. He looked up to see if she got the message. She blinked twice in rapid succession. He nodded.
“Sure you do, dude. Like you give a shit what happens to me.”
“On two,” Hawk said clearly.
“What?” The vamp stood uncomprehendingly.
“One. Two.” He counted it out quickly, not wanting to give the man time to figure out something was going to happen. As soon as he said two, several things happened. Brady dove to his right. Claire collapsed to the ground, going completely limp. The vampire who’d been holding her tried to grab her but failed. Hawk raced forward, and Brady picked up the gun Hawk had dropped earlier, raised it, and fired. The vamp’s head exploded like a ripe melon.
Hawk grabbed Claire and pulled her into his arms and away from the dead body. He nodded to Brady in thanks, leaving him to tend to the other two vampires, who had begun to stir. He knew his man could handle restraining the others. Right now, his priority was taking care of Claire. She had begun to shiver in reaction, and her face was so pale he was afraid she was going to pass out. He got her to the SUV and opened the back door. He lifted her to sit on the backseat and then went to grab his pack.
It took him just a minute to find the wet wipes that he’d been looking for. He returned to Claire to discover that she hadn’t moved. It was almost as if she were a block of ice. He pulled out a cloth and began to wipe off the blood that had splattered over her face and hands when Brady had shot the vampire. He brushed out pieces of glass from her hair that came from the shattered window. Her shirt was also covered with blood. He reached down and stripped his shirt off, leaving him with just a T-shirt.
When he began removing her shirt, she seemed to snap out of it.
“What are you doing?” she asked softly, but she didn’t stop him. With quiet efficiency he stripped her shirt off and pulled his own over her head.
“Just getting you cleaned up, baby. How are you feeling?”
“I’m not sure. I…I’ve never actually seen anyone shot before.”
“It’s a shock, I know, sweetheart. But you did great. Just great.”
She let out a whimper and threw her arms around his neck. He held her close, rubbing his arms over her back and whispering words of comfort and telling her how proud he was of her. Brady came up behind him.
“Everything’s all cleaned up, boss.” Brady spoke quietly, and Claire didn’t stir from her position against Hawk’s chest. “I stashed the body in the trunk of their vehicle and cleaned up the mess good enough to pass muster.”
He turned to nod to his friend. “Good. What did you do with the other two?”
“They’re in my car. One in the trunk and one in the backseat.”
Claire pushed away from his chest and looked up. “I know them.”
Hawk studied her face. She seemed to be pulling herself together. “Who are they?”
“They’re the guys who kidnapped me and Cass.”
“Do you know their names?”
“Yeah. The”—she took a deep breath—“the one that was shot. That was Buck. The redhead is Jimmy, and the other one is Wayne.”
“Okay. That’s good. How’re you feeling, sweetheart?”
He saw her attempt a weak smile. “I’m better. Sorry I fell to pieces on you.”
He moved to the back again and grabbed a bottle of blood. “Here. Drink this.” He held the bottle out to her, watching in satisfaction as she sipped delicately. She’d looked a little like she might be going into shock, and he thought the blood would help her.
Brady spoke. “I’ve gotta say, you handled yourself just fine, Miss Landry. I couldn’t have asked for better.”
“Thanks. It was so unexpected. I didn’t even know he was by the truck until he started trying to break out the window.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” Hawk wanted to make that clear. “You did just what I told you to do. I forgot about the third man, so that was my fault.”
“Mine, too. We both knew there was a third man. We just fuck…er, messed up,” Brady added.
Claire did smile weakly at that. “So what now?”
Hawk looked her over critically. “You feel good enough to drive?”
“Yeah. I can do that.”
He turned to Brady. “I’ll drive the vamp’s car. We’ll take them to that house out on the west side that I told you about earlier. Claire will drive this one. You follow behind her in yours.”
“Will do.”
Brady moved to his vehicle, and Hawk turned to Claire. Reaching out, he cupped her chin in his hand. “You sure you’re up to this?”
“I’m positive. I’ve got this, Hawk.”
Hawk nodded. “All right. Let’s do it.”
He helped Claire out of the back and into the driver’s seat. He moved around the vehicle and used Claire’s bloody shirt to brush out as much glass as he could before shutting the door. Then he went back around to Claire.
“Pull out and then wait for me. I’ll get ahead of you. Then you just stay close. Okay?”
“Okay.”
He dropped a quick kiss on her mouth before closing the door and moving to the other vehicle. In moments they were on their way.
Chapter Thirteen
Claire followed closely behind Hawk, all her focus on her driving. She had to keep it together. Earlier, when Brady had shot Buck, she hadn’t been sure that she would be able to handle it. For a bit there, she had completely shut down. It was Hawk’s voice and the warmth of his body heat that had drawn her back and eased the chill that went clear down to her soul.
Though she was a vampire, she wasn’t a killer. She had never even seen a dead body before except at funerals where they were laid out in caskets and looked like they were sleeping. Not with gaping holes in their heads, their blood and bits of brain splattered all around. She shuddered as she recalled looking down and seeing all the blood when Hawk had started cleaning her up. Swallowing down the bile that threatened to rise into her throat, she just kept her eyes on the road ahead, her hands tightly gripping the steering wheel.
Trying to remove the picture of the dead body from her mind, Claire forced her thoughts to Hawk. He had been amazing. The way he had talked to Buck and maneuvered him into doing what he wanted him to do. When he had looked at her and she had seen the warmth and determination in his eyes, she hadn’t felt as frightened. She had known that if anyone could save her, it was Hawk. And he had. He had acted. He and Brady. Between the two of them, they had taken care of everything. Then, when it was all over, he had been so tender and gentle with her, reassuring her until the coldness of the shock had passed. The warmth that was her love for him expanded even more within her chest.
The end of the streetlights signaled that they had left behind the city limits and were moving further into a more rural area. Houses were getting fewer and farther between, and so were passing automobiles. They had traveled several miles before Claire noticed that their speed had fallen drastically. Hawk braked and then turned on his blinker, and she r
ealized that they had arrived at their destination.
As she followed Hawk down the narrow dirt drive, she tried not to think about what the men planned to do with the prisoners that they’d taken. She knew that Hawk wanted some answers from them, and she hoped that they would just tell them what they needed to know. Even if they did, though, she knew they couldn’t let them go. They would just run back to Simone and tell her everything that had happened. And the last thing that Hawk needed was to have to worry about Simone at the same time he was trying to rescue Cassidy.
Her mouth became a firm line. Whatever was necessary to rescue Cass, she would do it. She wasn’t going to wimp out now. If the vamps had to die, then she’d help kill them.
The drive ended in front of a large house. Claire pulled up beside Hawk and parked. After turning the car off, she sat and stared at the dark building before her. It was deserted, that much was obvious. Windows were broken out, and graffiti paint covered the porch. The whole place had a spooky quality, and she almost laughed. It was perfect for a bunch of vampires.
Movement from the side caught her eye, and she turned her head in time to see Hawk getting out of the car beside her and walking over to say something to Brady. The other vampire nodded and got out to stand with his boss. They both spoke for several minutes, occasionally casting unreadable glances in her direction. She pried her fingers from the steering wheel and tried to just breathe calmly.
At last Hawk nodded and began moving in her direction. Not wanting to appear weak, she opened her door and slid out. When Hawk reached her, she felt his eyes examining her.
“You okay, sweetheart?”
“Hanging in there.” She managed a smile. “Where are we?”
He looked over at the house. “We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“How did you even know about this place?”
“One of my agents is from here. This used to be his house before he was turned.”
