Breaking Free (12 page)

The phone rang at the same time a knock sounded at the door. For a moment Zoe froze, a look of anxious dread flitting across her face before she reached for the phone. Hawk rose to answer the door but focused on her features hoping to read something from her expression. He grabbed the takeout food from the delivery boy and shoved some money at him with an abruptness just short of rude.

“Need any change, man?” the kid asked.

“No.”

Zoe sank back down on the couch, the receiver pressed to her ear. Her features appeared taut, and her fingers gripped the phone so tightly each joint stood out.

He swore beneath his breath unable to tell anything from her body language. He set the bag of food down on the coffee table. Every muscle grew tight as he waited for her to hang up. “Yes” and “no” and “Mom is on her way”, didn’t give him much to go on, but the fact that she remained calm eased some of his anxiety.

“The baby is all right,” she said as soon as she hung up. “She was in distress and they had to get her out pretty quickly, but the pediatrician said she’s doing fine now.” She swallowed and her composure wobbled, but she held on. “They had to do an emergency hysterectomy on Sharon. They couldn’t get the bleeding stopped. She’s had to have transfusions.” She rubbed her arms as though cold. “They nearly lost her.”

He had to hold her. All the reasons why he shouldn’t didn’t matter in that moment.

He sat down next to her and put his arms around her. The way her head found the perfect spot between his chest and shoulder to rest in, the way her breasts pushed against his ribs had a rightness to it. There was no reserve in the way she wrapped her arms around him and held on. It seemed he’d waited months, not weeks, for a reason to hold her.

If only she were allowing him to do so under different circumstances.

She shook with reaction but she didn’t cry. Driven to offer her comfort he said,
“They
didn’t
lose her or the baby. No matter what other sacrifices had to be made, Zoe, that’s the important thing.”

She nodded. “I have to call Mom.”

Without releasing her, he stretched back to tug the cell phone from his belt and flipped it open. He scrolled down to Clara’s number and pressed it, then waited for her to pick up. When she didn’t answer, he said, “She must be on the flight already. The tower may allow the pilot to get a message to her though. I’ll get the phone book and call the airport.”

She drew back releasing him, but her hand rested on his chest for a moment, and she looked up at him. “I’m sorry, Hawk.”

Confused, he asked, “For what?”

“It’s been one family drama after another ever since we moved in here. It’s not normally like this with us. If it gets to be too much for you---”

“Not a chance,” he cut her off. “I’m sticking around for when something good happens to balance things out. Hey, it already has---you’re an aunt again.”

“Yes, I am.” She offered him an unsteady smile and her shoulders fell in a release of tension.

“Congratulations, Aunt Zoe.” He brushed her lips with a kiss he told himself was a friendly gesture, but his lips clung to hers. The soft, lush texture of her mouth begged to be explored. He wanted to taste her, test her response. He forced himself to pull back before teeth and tongue came into play.

Her eyes looked huge, and a pale vibrant blue. He read surprise in her expression and something else that grabbed him right below the belt.

“I’ll get the phone book.” He grasped the bag of food and carried it into the kitchen. He had to get away from her before he did something stupid. Like kiss her again.

CHAPTER 8

Langley Marks swung the station wagon into a parking space at the firing range. Sporadic gunfire echoed from just over the man-made rise. “Flash, Doc, and Bowie should be here instructing.” He didn’t put the vehicle in park but continued to eye Hawk. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

Hawk shook his head. How had Lang known something was happening? Had he read his body language? Had something he’d said alerted him? He studied his expression. Lang was his oldest and closest friend since joining the unit. He trusted him implicitly. Besides he’d had only a peripheral part in planning and implementing the mission.

“Officially, Cutter’s injuries have been ruled an accident. Unofficially, the brass has decided that until they know for certain what happened, those of us who took part in the mission, have a cap on our promotions.”

“Jesus.” Langley leaned back against the seat and shoved the gearshift into park. His expression remained blank with shock for several moments then he looked up. “Something else is going on here.”

“Something happened while we were in Iraq, something Cutter saw or did.” Hawk rubbed a hand along his jaw. “I don’t know.”

“They believe one of the team caved his head in and left him to die,” Langley said as though trying to absorb it.

“Yeah.”

Lang turned toward him. “They can’t think it was you.”

“No. But they expect me to get to the bottom of it. And the only way I can do that is talk to the guys and see what they know.”

“Doc and Bowie are tight. They won’t give each other up, if they’re involved.”

“Yeah.”

“Derrick’s a hot head, but he and Cutter have been tight since BUDS. And Flash was never inside the building.”

“As far as we know,” Hawk said.

Langley’s brows rose. “Do you have any reason to believe differently?”

“No, but I’m not limiting any possibilities. Shaker had his hands full with a tango but I’m not ruling him out either. I need to find out what Cutter was up to before the mission. If he had any disagreements with any of the men, owed them any money, that kind of thing.”

“I can’t see any of them going ape shit over money, so it has to be something else.”

“Yeah, something worse. Something that could affect their careers. But what?”

Langley shook his head. “Jesus.” He rubbed a hand over his closely cut hair. “And what if all this is bullshit, and Cutter just fell or something? It will affect all your careers---for nothing.”

“No shit. But if it was just bullshit, why would someone be slapping him around to make sure he wasn’t waking up?”

“Damn.”

The disheartened tone of Langley’s voice mirrored Hawk’s own feelings.

Hawk shoved his hand into his pack and came out with a DVD of the hospital footage. “I need you to freeze frame the images on this disc and see if you can see who it is that came out of Cutter’s room that morning.”

“Consider it done. Flash is better at this than I am, but I suppose under the circumstances, you don’t want to take it to him.”

Hawk ignored the comment. “Zoe’s staying at the hospital practically twelve hours a day afraid to leave Cutter alone.”

“Shit,” Lang breathed. “She can’t keep that up.”

“No she can’t. That’s why I’m here. Doc, Flash, and Bowie are here and I’m going to see what I can find out from them.”

“Do you need me to watch your back?” Lang thumped the steering wheel with the heel of his hand, his features twisting with a grimace part anger, part frustration. “I can’t believe I just asked that. Jesus--These men are members of our team.”

Team. That word had taken on a different connotation to Hawk as soon as he’d discovered Brett unconscious inside the building. Would he ever be able to trust anyone as completely again? Realizing Lang was waiting for an answer he looked up. “I’ll be all right. Keep your distance, Lang. You don’t want to get tangled up in this.”

“I’m here for you, Hawk, and for the team. Whatever you need.”

Langley’s show of loyalty loosened the knot of tension twisting his insides. “Thanks, man. I may need to use you as a sounding board, but I think it’s smart to keep it between just the six of us.”

“And what about, Zoe?”

“She’s agreed to stay quiet until I figure things out.”

“How’d you manage that?”

“We’re Cutter’s team too. Zoe’s a Marine Corps brat. She knows how important it is to all of our careers. She knows the score.” Maybe too well.

“Is she protecting everyone’s career or just Cutters?”

Was it just her brother she was protecting? “I don’t know.”

Lang’s brows rose.

“We’re not--We haven’t---”Hawk drew a deep breath. “Her mother asked me to look after her. I won’t break that trust.”

Lang’s smile held a wry twist. “That’s an admirable position, but I’ve seen the way you look at her, my friend. And I’ve seen how she looks at you, too.”

He couldn’t deny the attraction that ricocheted back and forth between them, but Zoe wasn’t going to act on it. He had a gut feeling about that. “She doesn’t want to get drawn back into the life. Her Dad was killed in Desert Storm and now Cutter’s---” He swallowed. “And there are other issues.”

Lang raised one thick brow. “Her leg?”

“Yeah.” Hawk rubbed his jaw and tried to relax the urge to grit his teeth in frustration.

Lang’s gaze grew sharp. “I wouldn’t have thought that would matter to you.”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Hawk said his tone certain.

Lang frowned. “Shit.”

That just about said it all.

Hawk grabbed his pack. “I’ve got to go.”

“Call when you’re ready to head back to the hospital. I’ll be at the administration building.”

“Thanks.”

Hawk limped across the parking lot. A knoll of ground separated the cars from the range. He followed the path to the top of the shallow hill. BUDS trainees lay on the ground shooting at distant targets with AK47s. The cacophony of sound assaulted his ears as they fired.

Doc O’Conner paced back and forth behind the men watching as they practiced. As Hawk drew close, Doc’s haggard look became evident. Blood vessels lined the whites of his eyes like tributaries and lines of stress dug crevices around his mouth.

At Hawk’s greeting, Doc’s smile appeared strained.

“How’s it going?” Hawk asked.

“This batch seems better than most,” Doc said during a lull in the noise. “Ensign Jeffers, the guy at the end, has sniper training. He’s lethal every time.”

Hawk watched the trainee for a moment. “Did you have a party and not invite me, Doc? You look a little rough around the edges.”

Doc grinned. “No party. Well at least not one more than two people attended.”

Was it really just a late night with a woman? Or something else?

“How’s, Zoe?” Doc asked.

“Still spending twelve hour days at the hospital. We need to talk about Cutter. When will you be through here?”

“Something happen?”

“Yeah.”

Doc glanced at his watch. “It’ll be about an hour before we’re relieved.”

“Is Bowie around?”

“Yeah, he’s walked down to the head and will be back in a minute.”

“Bring him along. I thought Flash was here, too.”

“He’s down at the administration building keying in a report.”

Hawk nodded. “I’ll give him a call on my cell.”

Doc’s brow furrowed and dread took up residence in his eyes. “Is Cutter worse? Is he---?”

“No. But I need to speak with you about him. I’ll be on the pistol range when you’re done here. ”

Hawk sauntered down the field past multiple long distance training ranges to the sheltered pistol range and spoke to the range master to set up his target. Between the barrages of fire, he made a quick call to Flash on his cell and promised to meet him at the administrative building in an hour. He lifted his pack upon the narrow shelf that marked his firing position and separated him from the field.

What if they were all somehow involved in what had happened? His team. He flinched inwardly. Whether they were or weren’t, he already looked at them differently. He’d viewed these men as part of his family.

God, he hated this.

He removed his nine-millimeter Sig Sauer and several clips of ammunition and placed them on the shelf. He slid the bolt back to check the weapon’s chamber and finding it clear, slapped in a clip. He slid on his protective headgear, thumbed off the safety, raised the handgun, and waited for the next signaled burst of fire.

Squeezing the trigger and boring holes in the distant target helped relieve some of his frustration. Temporarily.

After he finished his practice, he stood atop the shallow plateau above the range and watched other personnel cycle in and out.

Thirty minutes later, Doc and Bowie arrived in a military Humvee. As they exited the vehicle, he studied each man’s expression. Would it have been better if he’d talk to each alone? They’d faced BUDS together. If they had a choice, they’d faced the charges, the disruption to their careers together. Hawk rolled his head to loosen the taut muscles in his neck.

“Hey, LT. What’s up?” Bowie asked.

“They’re still looking into Cutter’s accident and I wanted to touch base with you on it. Do either of you remember Cutter behaving differently before we were called up on the mission?”