“You going to be okay working on this?” Cole grabbed the copies from the tray and walked over to him. “I mean, it’s obvious you’ve got feelings for her.”
“How can you tell?” He hadn’t talked about her to anyone but Eddie.
“It’s the way you look at her,” Cole said.
“Well, then, would you have wanted someone else working on Dulce’s case?” Okay, that was a shitty thing to say. “Sorry, don’t answer that.”
Dulce and Cole’s situation had been totally different. She’d been newly pregnant with his child when someone shot him and snatched her from right in front of her townhouse in Georgetown.
“Look, I know how hard it is to watch someone you care about being fucked with.” He set two stacks of papers on the table—the originals and the copies. “And since I’ve never seen you this spun up before, I just need to know your head is in the game.”
“I’m fine.” No way would he let someone else watch over her.
“Good.” Cole crossed his arms. “So, does she know you have a thing for her?”
Hawk shook his head.
The first time he met Charlotte, he’d been struck by the strangest sensation—a vision, really. They were walking hand in hand in the foothills not far from his family home on the reservation. The sun was glowing off of Charlotte’s beautiful hair, and her head was tossed back with laughter.
In the half dozen times he’d seen her since, he’d never experienced the vision again. But the same feeling of peace always washed over him.
His family’s burial ground was not far from the location in his dream, and his mother would probably say it was the spirit of his elders showing him his intended path. Whatever it was, he loved the way he felt whenever he was around Charlotte.
He felt … whole.
“Look, it’s none of my business, but if you have feelings for her, you should probably do something about it.” Cole spoke from experience. “What we do is dangerous, Hawk, and tomorrows are not guaranteed.”
Shit, other than when he was conveying tactical plans, that was probably the most words he’d ever heard his boss string together.
Cole was right. Hawk could die on his next mission and never know what, if anything, he and Charlotte could have together.
Hawk wasn’t one to hop from one woman’s bed to another. He preferred being in a solid relationship with one woman at a time. Something that had happened only twice in his life. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t pulled the trigger on asking Charlotte out. Maybe it was the culture difference thing.
He was raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, and his adult life in the Marine Corps was bathed in the blood of battle. Whereas Charlotte grew up in the northeast with her single mom, her benevolent soul untouched by the ugliness of war.
Or maybe you’re just a chickenshit.
Cole’s phone rang on the table. He picked it up and tapped the screen.
“Hey, Sammy. Did you find anything?” Cole nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. “Okay, Hawk is here with me, so I’m going to put you on speaker.” He rolled back a chair, set his phone on the table, and they both sat down. “Go ahead.”
“Hey, Hawk,” she said.
“Hey, Sammy.”
“Okay, it took some doing, but I was able to gain access to one of the systems at HRA. Upon cursory examination, emphasis oncursory, it appears as if someone moved that file to an external server.” Computer keys clicked in the background. “My guess is, they discovered the file had been accessed and took steps to lock it down. At this point, I can only tell when someone accessed it and their passcode. I don’t have any visibility to the contents of the file.”
“Do they know it was Charlotte who accessed it?” Hawk asked.
“Unfortunately, yes, because she used her passcode to log in to the system.” Sammy clicked a few more keys. “It looks like she initially gained access on March twelfth at 8:17 p.m. and has looked at it four more times since, including last night.”
Today was June third, so her first look was about two and a half months ago.
She’d been scarce the past few months, and now he understood why.
“I scanned copies of these documents and just sent them to your encrypted email,” Cole said. “I’ll send the originals, the hard drive, and the knife to Beatrice so she can run forensics on them.”
“Hang on. Let me check.” Keys clicked in the background. “Okay, I got the email, and I’ve opened the attachment so we’re looking at the same thing.”
