SEALs of Honor: Hawk (12 page)

Shadow nodded. “I’ll recon with Swede and swing by and pick you up.”

Getting away took a little longer than Hawk was prepared for. Still, he made it in just over a half hour to find the hospital teeming with bodies from a multi car pileup. It took a few moments for him to flag down a nurse to tell him where Mia had been taken only to find out she wasn’t at that hospital at all.

Worried, he raced out to the parking lot and called Shadow. “She’s not here.”

“Taken to a different hospital?” Shadow questioned. “If there’s a bad car accident, that’s possible.”

“Damn well better be. If we handed her over to the assholes…”

“There’s no reason for them to take her now. They’d have just killed her on the spot.”

He knew that. He was already in his Jeep driving toward the second hospital. “Call and see if she’s there.”

“On it.”

He was on the main drag, only blocks from the second hospital when Shadow called back. “She’s there.”

“Good.” He pulled up to the front and hopped out. He raced inside. And found her. She was in the first examining room. A nurse hovered over her.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Mia said, trying to sit up. “You’re supposed to be chasing bad guys.”

“We are but I needed to know how badly hurt you are.”

“Not,” she murmured.

Hawk caught the nurse’s gaze and she smiled. “We’re sending her for X-rays soon then we’ll know for sure.”

Right. He could have just called. But he’d needed to see her again. He bent down and whispered, “I might have to leave, but you call me if you need anything. You got that?”

Surprise lit her face. She murmured, “Thanks. But you go save the world.”

He grinned. “Will do. You save yourself, you hear me. Make sure you are healing by the time I get back.”

She stared at him, her gaze dark, fathomless. “
Will
you be back?”

He leaned over and kissed her. “I will.”

And he left.

Chapter 15

T
HE
X
-RAYS CLINCHED
it. She was booked in the hospital and told to expect her stay to last for a few days. Now that she was in bed, medication pulsing through her veins, clean sheets and lots of water, all she wanted to do was sleep.

But her mind wouldn’t shut down. She wanted to go home. At least talk to her father. Let him know she was alive.

Did she have a cell phone any longer? The nurse walked in just then and she asked her.

“There is a phone. And your knife. They’re in a bag for you.” The nurse smiled at her. “I’ll put them on the side table.”

“No, bring it please. It’s not mine, it’s from the kidnappers.”

With a look of surprise the nurse hurried to a cupboard on the side and returned a few minutes later with both items. As much as she wanted to call her father, it was the knife that interested her. She turned it over in her hands. And found the initials JF on the top corner. She didn’t know if that would help anyone or not. Initials weren’t terribly helpful. Besides, they already knew what the plan was. They needed to identify the assholes involved, but the initials weren’t going to help that much. Especially as he might have taken it off someone else. She opened the knife and pulled the blade all the way out. It was big and deadly sharp. A hunting knife. With dried blood in the hinge. Human or animal?

She picked up her phone and called Hawk. “Not sure it makes any difference, but I managed to steal a knife from one of the guy’s packs. I hadn’t had an opportunity to use it, but it was in my pocket at the hospital here. It’s got blood on it and the initials JF on the outside.”

“I’ll get someone to collect it. Keep it safe until they get there.” His voice deepened. “And you stay safe. Remember, we got this.”

She laughed as she hung up. “Yeah, he’s got this.”

With that happy thought, she dialed her father. “Dad?”

“Jesus, Mia, are you okay?”

“I am now,” and she burst into tears. Silly. After a few moments she managed to get a hold of herself and explain what happened.

“Oh my Lord. I’m so sorry baby. I should never have let Gerry back into our lives.”

“That might not have changed anything.” She told him about Tom wanting to buy the land. “Dad, I think there has to be a reason why he’s so adamant about the land.”

“It’s full of caves, but I have no idea why they’d care. I haven’t been down there in years. Last time wasn’t all that pleasant, so I just avoided it after that. Hell, it’s closer to fifteen years since I explored that area.”

“Maybe it’s full of guns too.”

“I doubt it. He was twisted and power hungry, but he was more money hungry.”

“Any chance of precious metals or minerals?”

“No idea. Honestly, he wasn’t all there with his get rich schemes. Now sure, he’s wealthy and all that, but it’s old family money. No idea if any of his ideas ever worked out.”

“Doesn’t matter now. He’s dead. His son might not even know the news yet.” She didn’t relish seeing him again. He’d lost his father and that had to hurt. She was grateful to have her father with her still. She’d come so close to losing him several times lately.

“He will soon enough. I’m being released. Got to go back to the store and see how much damage has been done while no one has been there.”

“The place has likely been cleaned out.”

“Maybe it should stay that way. It just might be time to sell it. Too bad the only one who wanted to buy it is now dead.”

She understood how he felt. Still he didn’t sound happy about his decision. And she wanted him to be happy. “You don’t have to make a decision now.” She shifted in the bed. “Wait until you get there and see how you feel.”

A cop came to her doorway and looked around. She had a room to herself for which she was grateful, and it was as nice as it was unexpected.

“Sorry, someone is here. I’ll call you back later.”

And she hung up her phone before calling to the young man. “Hi, were you looking for this?”

She held up the knife. “Hawk said he’d send someone to collect it.”

“That would be me.”

“Do you know Hawk well or are you part of the local force and just the errand boy?” she said with a smile.

“Hawk,” he said with a laugh. “Who’s he?”

“Oh just the SEAL bringing this whole operation down.” She handed it over. “Take good care of it. It belongs to one of the kidnappers. I stole it from them.” She yawned. “Sorry, the pain killers are really knocking me out. Good thing you came now. I’ll be asleep in a few minutes.”

He gave her a big wide mouthed smile. “Yeah, you will.”

*

H
AWK STARED DOWN
at the map in front of him. An old engineer’s map of the bridge and the footings as it had been originally built was fascinating reading. And left too many opportunities for massive damage from bombs laid at the right location.

It’s not something bridges were ever designed against. The span was too great. The traffic too heavy. No one wanted to make the call to shut down the main artery on rumors. No one wanted to take the fall if this was found to be a hoax.

He knew it wasn’t a hoax, but he wasn’t sure many people were listening. Except his team. Mason was pulling more magic to help keep them in the middle of things. None of it mattered to him. He was after the men before the bomb was placed in their location. In order to do that he had to figure out where the most likely place was to set off the bomb for maximum damage. From a single entry position because that was simpler and faster than multiple detonations. That meant it had to be big enough and he wasn’t sure what he’d caught a glimpse of was big enough. They had to consider multiple strike points.

And that meant more vehicles, more men…and more places where they’d be vulnerable.

While the men behind him argued, he and Shadow, with Swede running the computer searches on the terrorists, plotted the best route as if they were planning to take the bridge down themselves.

It was always easier to stop an op if you understood the way the enemy was planning to go.

“I don’t know. It would have to be too damn big. It’s not going to blow downward, it will blow upward. Some damage but minor in the scheme of things,” Shadow said. His finger stabbed the map at the far entrance. “The foundations here are massive. Again the number of bombs, the types, the size…I don’t know…” He shook his head. “I’m not liking this at all.”

“I know what I’d do,” Hawk announced. “Underwater and take out the supports. This would give them the advantage of working under the cover of the water.”

Swede stood up and walked over to the map. “That would be a hell of a plan.”

“Access off what, a ferry? Those are big vans and now with the type of cargo they are carrying – heavy.”

“How about a barge or better yet an older fishing vessel? The bay is full of those,” Hawk said, staring at the paper, but in his mind he could see the water churning in front of him. “A large fishing boat is a common site, big enough to handle the weight.”

“A barge is too unwieldy,” Shadow said. “And they don’t have power of their own. A fishing boat would work but would have a hard time coming into dock in this area.”

“True, but a tugboat would be able to go back and forth easily enough. They also anchor outside and have a powerboat for coming to shore. No one would consider either option odd.”

His phone rang. He pulled it out, read the number and smiled. “Hey Gordon, you home now, causing trou-ble?”

“Mia’s gone missing again. She was checked out, X-rayed and booked into a room and given pain meds for the beating she took. The nurse went back in to check on her and she’s gone. Not her clothes or her shoes, just her. Gone without a trace.”

His voice broke as he said the next words. “They’ve got her. They won’t let her live this time.”

Hawk spun to stare at his friends, then back at the task force behind them. He took a deep breath, then in as calm and controlled a voice as he could muster, he said, “Gordon, I’m going to call you right back.”

And he hung up. With his chest pounding and panic stirring his blood to action, he said tersely, “Mia’s gone. No sign of her. Hospital bed empty. Her clothes left behind.”

The men’s gazes narrowed to slits.

“They took her?” Shadow asked incredulously. “Why?”

The television blared an alert. “We’ve just been given a message. A terrorist group is claiming to have a captive that they are going to blow up along with the cargo terminals if their demands aren’t met.”

“Does that answer the question?” Swede asked as the newcaster droned on behind them.

There on the television, obviously drugged and still in her hospital gown, face bruised and bloody already, yet hanging from a post, was Mia.

“Dear God,” Hawk whispered. “What have they done to her?”

Chapter 16

S
HE WAS AN
idiot. That’s all there was to it. She was a stupid fool. Maybe the morphine was responsible for her loose tongue. She’d suffered through the asshole’s torture and finally she was safe – and blurted out the first thing that came to her head when she saw the young cop. Only he wasn’t a cop. But she hadn’t known until he’d picked up the knife and pocketed it with a “thanks for that. My daddy gave me that knife. I really didn’t want to lose it.”

He’d smirked and said, “Very naughty of you, but I do like spirit in a woman. Too bad there’s no time for us to get to know each other. But the guys have figured out a good use for you. Especially now.” His smile had made her blood run cold.

And she’d lost consciousness. She didn’t know if he’d hit her, drugged her, or something else, but that was the last thing she remembered.

Now she was cold, scared and hurting like she hadn’t hurt before. She really could use more painkillers. Why were they after her again? She’d done nothing, knew nothing. She had no money or prestige or power.

There was no reason to keep coming after her.

And she’d really like to go home now, please.

Then they’d shoved the camera in her face for the second time. She stared into it and hoped Hawk was watching. She was on an old fishing boat of some kind but she had no idea where. Likely under the damn bridge they were all talking about. She was apparently going to be attached to the bomb. Like really. When she decided to have a shitty day, she had a
really
shitty day.

Facing the camera, she moved her fingers slightly. She needed to get a message out, but how? She didn’t know any secret codes. And had no freedom of movement. She stared at the camera when told too and read the words they gave her to read. It was all lies. They weren’t going to let her go.

She stared into the camera and whispered, “Sorry Hawk.” As the cameras were shutting off, she mouthed, “Fishing boat.”

And unbelievably they didn’t seem to notice. Or at least they didn’t show her if they had. She dropped her head. She was strapped against the wall, her hands in handcuffs with a small ledge where her feet rested so her arms weren’t taking all her weight. It could be worse, she knew that. But it was hard to remember such a small element.

There was nothing to do but wait. An old phrase of her father’s came rushing into her mind. When all else fails, remember who you love.

Tears clogged her eyes. She missed him.

Would she ever see him again? Would she see Hawk again? She understood they were both doing what they could. And she knew what her job was. To stay alive.

*

M
ASON WALKED INTO
the task force and immediately felt the bristling of the other men. They could damn well get over it. He understood Hawk’s message even if Hawk hadn’t.

This woman was important to him. He’d even seen her apology to Hawk on her thirty-second spotlight and damn it that sounded like his own loving partner. She’d have done the same thing. Funny, the guys and him had been with more women than they could count, but it was a woman like his own and now Hawk’s that stopped them in their tracks.

And speaking of which, he saw Hawk pacing in front of a map and arguing logistics with Swede. Good. He’d brought Cooper with him too. He ignored the task force and walked to his men.