Hawk: (18 page)

Hawk
lay awake on the couch, when he heard the sound of tires in his driveway. In fact, he hadn’t slept all night. He hated this feeling of helplessness. In the Army, there was always an objective and a way to accomplish it. Now, there was nothing to do but hope and wait to hear something, and that just wasn’t something he could handle well. He strode to the front door and threw it open. His heart sunk when he saw it was just Garrett pulling into his driveway. He sighed and rubbed his temples. The headache he’d been working on all night was now in full force.

Garrett hopped out of his truck and came around the front. Hawk frowned as he spotted the cracked headlight. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with Garrett’s personal shit right now, and he did not have time to fix his cousin’s truck at a discount.

“Listen, Garrett,” Hawk called out as the other man headed toward the front porch. “I’m in the middle of something. I can’t... I can’t hang out right now.”

The corners of Garrett’s mouth turned down. He slowed his pace a little but didn’t stop. “In the middle of something?” He eyed Hawk’s rumpled clothes and unshaven face. “Yeah, you look it,” he said darkly.

“I am,” Hawk insisted. “My... my friend Tildy is missing.”

Garrett scowled at him. “Your friend who?”

“Tildy. The girl I was with at Maria’s the time you came in. Remember? She’s had some... trouble... lately. And I went to pick her up yesterday, but she wasn’t waiting for me. Her parents haven’t heard from her or anyone else. She’s gone.”

Garrett rolled his eyes. “You mean your north side princess took off for a few days and didn’t leave you a forwarding address? What a shame.”

Hawk bristled. “She’s not like that! And she’s in trouble!”

“Oh, like I’ve been in trouble? ‘Cause you sure as shit don’t bother to help me out,
Cuz.
” He waved his hand dismissively. “Relax. She’ll show up in a few days. Probably partying with her friends.”

Hawk shook his head. “It’s serious, Garrett.”

Garrett glared at him. “It’s always serious when it’s someone else,” he muttered and turned to go.

Hawk felt a pang of guilt. He was intent on finding Tildy; that was his priority. But would he do i
t at the expense of everything- or anyone- else? Right at this very moment, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do find Tildy anyway.

“I’m sorry,” he told Garrett and the other man stopped for a moment. “She’s not partying. She’s really missing. I’m...
I have no idea what to do. I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I don’t mean to take it out on you.”

Garrett sighed. “S’ fine, I guess. I understand.”

Hawk stepped back toward his front door. “Come on in for a cup of coffee at least.”

Garrett nodded and turned to face him fully. As he headed up the porch step, Hawk said, “So
, what happened to your truck?”

Garrett grunted. “Fucking deer.”

Hawk made a face and headed inside. “I can help you out with it,” he told Garrett. “Later,” he amended.

Garrett nodded.

In his kitchen, Hawk measured the grounds for the coffeemaker and fired it up.

“What do you say we grab some gear and head to the lake?” Garrett asked as Hawk raided his cabinet for two mugs.

Hawk shook his head. “I can’t. I have to stay in town. In case anyone hears anything.”

Garrett frowned in disapproval. “So
, what is it with you and this girl?”

“She’s my friend. Someone’s been hassling her lately. I was looking out for her.” Hawk frowned, thinking about what a fabulous job he’d done of that.

“Friend,” Garrett grunted. “Friends with a white girl,” he muttered.

Hawk sighed, not wanting to go through this again. “She is just a friend. And who cares if she’s white, Garrett? She’s a nice girl.”

Garrett smirked. “Yeah? Why? Teaching border jumpers at the Community Center doesn’t mean shit, Hawk. Doesn’t automatically make her a good person.”

Hawk’s hand gripped one of the mugs reflexively. He took a deep breath to still the flood of anger that rushed through him. “You don’t know her,” he told Garrett quietly.

Garrett must have sensed he was on dangerous ground with respect to Tildy, so he just shrugged. “Maybe not.”

Hawk watched the coffee brew and fought the onslaught of emotions roiling in his gut. As the filtered water filled the pot, he decided rage would not help Tildy. He had to keep himself in check for the time being, if he was going to be of use to anyone. He set a steaming mug down in front of Garrett and leaned a bit closer.

“What’d you do to your arm?” he asked Garrett.

Garrett’s eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Deer?” Hawk asked.

“No. It’s nothing.”

Hawk looked at Garrett, waiting patiently. Garrett finally scoffed. “I don’t want to talk about it!” he snapped.

Hawk still waited.

“It’s not like you care!” Garrett bit out.

“Try me.”

Garrett shrugged, but he was more irritated than nonchalant. “It’s shit work,” he confided. “At the lumberyard. They work you death. Got no insurance. Miss any work, even for an injury, you’re fired.” His eyes flashed angrily. “Guess I’m grateful the good Christians at the yard don’t work on Sundays. Least I get one day off.”

Hawk nodded. “Left you high and dry, didn’t I?”

“Fuck yes,” Garrett muttered.

Hawk surveyed his cousin. “Don’t know how I let things get so bad between us,” he finally said. “Guess that’s on me.”

Garrett made a face at Hawk. He clearly agreed.

Hawk shut off the coffeemaker and took Garrett’s mug from him. “Let’s go,” he said.

Garrett frowned. “Go where?”

“To the garage,” Hawk replied, washing the mug in the sink.

Garrett paused. “For what?”

“Talk to my boss. Get you hired.”

Garrett’s face lit up, and he pushed his chair back, standing up. “You serious?”

Hawk nodded.

Garrett practically scrambled for the front door.

Hawk pulled his truck into the gravel lot, parked by the side door, and killed the engine. He and Garrett got out and walked to the door. Garrett looked around. “No one’s here,” he observed.

Hawk nodded, unlocking the door. Once inside, he punched the code for the alarm system, disabling it. “We get a late start on Sundays, and only then if we’re on a deadline for a custom order, but I can still show you around.”

Hawk led Garrett into the lar
ge bay area with its three workstations. Garrett eyed the Chevy hot rod that they were close to finishing for a client, running his hand over the custom fenders. “Sweet,” he proclaimed.

“What was the prison garage like
?” Hawk asked.

Garrett nodded. “It was big, but n
ot like this. No real body work. Just maintaining their own vehicles.”

“Guess you know your way around tools then.”

“Yeah, no problem. Brake lines, fuel lines, transmissions. They offer hands-on classes.”

Hawk nodded and picked up a wrench off the nearby workbench. “Guess I didn’t bother to check in with you while you were inside.”

Garrett’s smile diminished somewhat. “No. No one did. Just left me there.”

“I
do
know. I want you to understand that,” Hawk admitted.

Garrett turned to face him. “Know what?”

“That we’re here because of me.”

Garrett stared at him.

Hawk gripped the wrench in his hand and swung it at his cousin’s head.

“Wake up.”

Hawk threw a bucket of cold water onto Garrett’s face. The man came to, struggling against the chains that held him to the chair.

“Wh-what the fuck?” he groaned.

Hawk set the bucket down and picked up the wrench again.

Garrett’s eyes focused, and he looked up at Hawk.

“Where is she?” Hawk asked quietly.

Garrett shook his head. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Hawk flexed his fingers around the wrench and then sent it crashing down on Garrett’s knee. Garrett screamed.

“Don’t,” Hawk told him. “Don’t make this worse than it has to be. Just tell me where to find her.”

Garrett grinned, his teeth bloody from the blow that had knocked him out in the first place. “You’ve lost it.”

Hawk grabbed Garrett’s hair with his free hand and pulled his head back so he was looking right up at him. “How do you know she volunteers at the Community Center?” he demanded. “I never told you that.”

Garrett’s eyes widened for a moment, but he tried to shake his head underneath Hawk’s hand. “You must have,” he insisted.

Hawk’s hand tightened in his cousin’s hair, making him wince in pain. “I never did.”

Garrett’s eyes flashed, and his jaw set. “I don’t know where your white bitch is.”

Hawk let go of Garrett’s hair and turned to the portable work table next to the chair. He tossed the wrench onto it and picked up a pair of pliers. Some of Garrett’s bravado evaporated.

“You’re not going to do this!” Garrett protested. “We’re family! And I’m
telling
you-”

“You start telling me what I want to know, and this can end.”

“I don’t know!”

“You’re lying,” Hawk said calmly. “You’ve been a
liar all your life, Garrett. I’ve known you long enough that I can tell.”

Hawk stepped closer with the pliers.

“If you do this, you’re choosing her over me!”

The rage that was threatening to boil over in Hawk finally did.
“I will always choose her over you!
She’s never done anything to hurt anyone! She’s clean and innocent, and fuck you for taking that from her! I knew you were a lot of things, Garrett, but I
never
thought you were this.”

Garrett laughed. “What does this make
you
?” he demanded. “That you would turn your back on your blood and then do
this
?”

“A better man than you are!”

Hawk had resolved himself to getting the answers he needed, no matter what had to be done to get them. For the first time since Tildy went missing, he had an objective, a way to do more than just sit on his hands. This was a thing that he knew, a thing he did not like, but that was so familiar he slid into it as easily as putting his uniform back on.

Hawk
took another step toward Garrett, but stopped when he heard the sound of a key sliding into the side door. He spun and crossed the bay in a few short strides, but the door opened, and Shooter stepped into the darkened garage.

“Go,” Hawk ordered. “Leave. Now.”

Shooter closed the door behind him and took in the scene. Instead of leaving he stepped further inside. “What are you doing, Hawk?” he asked quietly.

“He knows where Tildy is.”

“No, I don’t!” Garrett argued.

But Hawk simply nodded at his former lieutenant. “He does. He can’t
keep her at his folk’s place. He’s got her somewhere. And he’s going to tell me where that is. And if he didn’t...
hurt her
... then he might live.”

Shooter’s jaw twitched
as he looked back and forth between Hawk and Garrett, then he extended his hand to Hawk. “Give me the pliers.”

Hawk’s eyes narrowed. “He knows where Tildy is!”

“Hawk-”

“You are not going to stop me from finding her!”

“David-”

Hawk took a menacing step toward Shooter, who did not even flinch. Hawk jabbed a finger at him. “You would do this!” he shouted. “If this were Sarah, when it
was
Sarah, you would have done this!”

Shooter hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. And it would’ve been wrong.”

Hawk stared at the man he’d long considered his brother, but he barely recognized him now. “How can you-?!”

“You’re too close to it, Hawk. You might lose control,” Shooter said quietly. “Plus, he’s your cousin. You shouldn’t have to live with this. Give me the pliers.”

Hawk hesitated but ultimately put his faith in the man that he’d trusted a thousand times before. He handed over the tool.

Shooter pocketed his keys and walked slowly toward Garrett, opening and closing the pliers in his hand, testing them. “He loves you,” he told Ga
rrett. “You’re his family, and he worries about you, whether you see it or not.” He moved even closer. “I was in his position once. My woman was taken from me and I would have moved Heaven and Earth to find her. Would have tortured and killed any man who got in my way, but no one knew where she was, so there was no one to ask.”

“I don’t know where she is!” Garrett insisted, trying to lean away from the menacing Ranger-turned-Biker-turned-Torturer.

“He says you do. And I believe him. He’d tear you apart, piece-by-piece to find her. I know that because it’s what
I
would do. It’s what I’m
going
to do.” He leaned down until he was just inches from Garrett’s face. “The difference is, Garrett, I don’t love you. You don’t mean shit to me. So, I’m not going to feel bad after.”

He snared Garrett’s left ear with the pliers and twisted savagely until he screamed.

“I’m not going to let go, Garrett,” Shooter said in a voice that was as calm and deadly as Garrett’s was piercing and panicked. “I’m not letting go until either this ear comes off, or you tell me where she is.”

Garrett tried to remain stoic, but Shooter twisted the pliers again until they cut the skin. Blood poured over the gleaming metal.

“Fuck, fuck,
FUCK!
”

Garrett instincti
vely tried to get his head away and, in a splash of blood, part of his ear tore. Shooter gripped it in the pliers and held up the dripping piece of gore in front of the man’s face. “Oh, look, Garrett. Your ear
did
come off.” He flexed his hand, and the chunk of mangled flesh dropped onto Garrett’s lap. Garrett was hyperventilating, from both pain and terror; his glazed eyes staring at the bloody lump.

“That’s okay,” Shooter said in a soothing voice. “You’ve got another one.”

He moved the pliers to his left and slowly reached out again.

“No!” Garrett bellowed, trying valiantly to break the chains that were holding him. “I took her! Okay? I took her. She- she was fucking up my life! Don’t you get it? She was distracting him. He didn’t want anything to do with me. If she was just...
gone... then things would be the way they’re
supposed
to be!”

Shooter held his hand in
midair, keeping the tool just within Garrett’s line of vision. “Gone where, Garrett?”

Garrett looked wil
dly from Hawk to Shooter. “I... ”

“Gone where, Garrett,” he asked again quietly.

When Garrett didn’t answer, Shooter moved forward.

“The Badlands!” he screamed. “She’s in the Badlands.”

Hawk moved forward, coming up behind Shooter. “Where?” The badlands were huge, and the heat of summer hadn’t broken, despite last night’s storm. The temperature was rising even as they spoke. Hawk couldn’t let himself wonder if she’d even made it through the night. He dug the key to the padlock out of his pocket and quickly unlocked it. He pulled the chains off and threw them onto the concrete floor. He then grabbed Garrett by the shoulders and hauled him to his feet. The man stumbled a bit, but Hawk caught him under the arms. He was close to Garrett’s good ear.

“You’re taking us there,” he said quietly. “You’re taking us to the Badlands. And if she doesn’t come out alive, then you don’t either.”