“I looked all around but didn’t find anything weird, and it didn’t look like anything was missing or out of place.” She turned to Dulce. “It was just a … a feeling, ya know. So, I spent that night at my mom’s house.”
“Oh, believe me, I know all about that feeling.” Dulce had been kidnapped and dragged to Colombia by the son of a drug cartel boss. Cole and the rest of the team had flown down to rescue her.
“But then … last night, I stayed late at my office to finish downloading all of this stuff. When I was done, I walked out to my car in the parking garage. Everyone else had already gone home by that point.” Hawk wasn’t thrilled to hear she’d been walking around a parking garage alone at night. “Anyway, when I got to my car, I discovered all four of my tires had been slashed, and when I opened the door”—she dipped her head toward the knife—“that was sitting on the driver’s seat. It’s frommykitchen, and I never even noticed the stupid thing was missing.”
Son of a bitch.
“Give yourself a break, Charlotte.” Hawk maintained his outward composure, but inside, he wanted to tear down the world to find the person responsible for tormenting her. “You’ve obviously been under a great deal of stress.”
“Why would someone write all of this sensitive information down and then keep it on the HRA system?” Dulce asked. “Seems pretty careless to me.”
“I’ve wondered that myself.” Charlotte picked up the list.
“Perhaps whoever created that list planned to use it for leverage or to cover their own ass.” Hawk warmed to the idea. “If that information ever got out, every single person on there would be destroyed.”
“Exactly, so why leave it where anyone might stumble upon it?” Cole smoothed his palm down the side of his beard.
“Maybe they thought it would get lost in the crowd of the thousands of other case files HRA has on the system?” Charlotte’s shoulders bobbed up and down.
“Do you have that file number, the one that gave you access to all of this information?” Cole slipped his phone from his back pocket.
“It’s right here.” Charlotte pointed at a series of eight letters and numbers printed at the top of the page. “The system always includes it on printouts unless you specifically check a box that says not to.”
“Perfect. Excuse me for a minute.” Cole took the papers, rolled his chair back from the table, and stood. He pulled his phone from his pocket, tapped the screen, and put it to his ear. “Hey, Sammy.”
He gave his wife’s shoulder a gentle squeeze before walking over to the far corner of the room where they couldn’t hear him.
Sammy Joslin was OSI’s lead tech person. The things she could do with a laptop and access to the Internet were legendary.
“I knew you guys would know what to do.” Charlotte’s back was rigid, and this close, Hawk noticed the shadows beneath her eyes. She’d lost weight, too.
“You didn’t have to drop it off.” Dulce reached over and placed her hand on Charlotte’s forearm. “I’m always happy to see you, especially about something this serious.”
“I know how busy you are, and I didn’t want to disturb you,” Charlotte said.
“You’re my friend, Charlotte. You’re never disturbing me.” Anyone who knew Cole’s wife would tell you she was one of the most approachable humans alive, and she was fiercely loyal to her friends.
Charlotte was definitely holding something back, and Hawk had an idea of what it was.
“You were planning to run, weren’t you, Charlotte?” He tilted his head to one side and watched her across the table, wondering if she would lie to him.
CHAPTER SIX
“I…”Charlotteshiftedbeneath Hawk’s penetrating gaze. It was like those dark eyes of his could see through to where she tucked away all of her secrets. She wanted to look away but found it oddly comforting, too.
“Charlotte?” His voice was gently coaxing and smooth, like warm honey.
She’d heard it before, when he used it to convince her to let him walk her to her car.
She considered lying, but heaping more lies on this situation would be dumb and would just further complicate things. Especially since these were the only people she could trust to help her.
Besides, the thought of lying to him didn’t sit right with her.
“I wasn’t reallyrunning, per se, more like taking a few days off … out of town.”
“Bringing this stuff here was the right thing to do.” He stretched his arm across the table and placed his warm hand over hers. “Going it alone, not so much.”
Wowzer.As powerful as his gaze was, it was nothing compared with the feel of his hand on hers. Heat filled her cheeks, and she knew without fail that her freckles would pop out.
