He knelt down, reached under the bed, and dragged out his protective vest. He stood and pulled the state-of-the-art piece of gear over his head. Theripof Velcro was familiar and oddly comforting as he secured it around him.
“Holy moly.” At the sound of her voice, he turned to find Charlotte standing in the doorway, staring at him, her mouth slightly open. “I’ve never seen you”—she waved her hand up and down in front of him—“like that before.”
“Does the gun make you uncomfortable?” He set his hand on the butt of the pistol.
Considering Hawk’s chosen career, that could be a problem going forward. He understood that some people were leery around weapons, but, in the right hands, they were an invaluable tool.
“Are you kidding me?” Her eyebrows popped way up. “I think you look super sexy.”
Hawk couldn’t help himself. He laughed despite the seriousness of their current situation.
“Thanks. You’re pretty sexy yourself.” He stomped over to her, put a finger beneath her chin, tilted it up, and kissed her. “As much as I would prefer picking you up, dropping you on that bed, and having my way with you again, it’ll have to wait.”
“Ah, man.” Her exaggerated disappointment was adorable. “Come on, Remy. Let’s go get you a treat.” His dog popped up from his bed in the corner of the room, trotted over to her, and they left his bedroom.
“You’re going to spoil him,” he called out to her.
“I knooow,” she shouted right back to him.
He smiled, shook his head, and stalked over to his specially designed walk-in closet. The double barn-style doors easily slid aside, and he headed directly to the large gun safe built into the back of the closet. He reached up, grabbed his black duffle bag off one of the shelves, made sure his NVGs—night vision goggles—were inside, and set it on the floor.
Hawk got the suppressor for his Glock, grabbed extra magazines and a box of ammo for his pistol, and shoved all of them into the bag. He scanned the selection of handguns for one suited to Charlotte’s smaller hands and decided on the PPQ subcompact 9mm. His mom had tried it out a few times and loved it so much, he bought her one for her birthday.
He verified there were fifteen hollow-point rounds in the extended magazine, slid the pistol into its holster, and set it in the bag. Add those fifteen rounds to the one already in the chamber and she should be good to go.
He had no idea if she’d ever held a handgun before, let alone fired one, and hoped she wouldn’t have to tonight. But in a worst-case scenario situation, having a loaded weapon was far better than not having one.
Hangers scraped across the bar as he slid aside a bunch of clothes and reached to the back wall. He wrapped his hand around the custom-molded grip of his black, Hoyt VTM 34 compound bow. Next to it was a quiver containing ten carbon arrows with steel fixed-blade broadhead tips. They were razor-sharp and designed to take down a full-grown bear. A human male would be easy work.
He grabbed them both, swung the safe shut, and spun the dial to lock it.
Duffle bag in one hand, his bow and loaded quiver in the other, he left the closet and headed down the hall.
Charlotte was already in the kitchen, spoiling his dog, and he set his bow on the island. He set his gear bag on the floor and leaned the quiver against it.
“Have you ever handled a gun before?” Hawk tugged the PPQ from the bag and set it on the counter in front of her.
She gave it a long look but didn’t seem nervous or recoil at the sight of it, the way some people might.
“I’ve taken a couple of lessons at the range using a gun that looked kinda like that one.” She shifted her gaze from the pistol to Hawk. “Sometimes, I have to go to one of our remote sites, and they aren’t always in the best part of town, so my boss thought it would be a good idea to have protection.” Hawk definitely didn’t like the sound of that. “I know how to safely handle a firearm, how to load it, and I’ve killed a lot of paper targets. Unfortunately, I never took enough lessons to feel comfortable purchasing one of my own.” She shook her head. “With what’s happening now, I wish I had stuck with it.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. Safe handling is a good foundation, so you’re already ahead of the game.” He removed the pistol from the holster. “This is a 9mm semiautomatic with a fifteen-round magazine, and it currently has one in the chamber.” He explained what all of that meant as he pressed his thumb against a button on the grip to release the magazine. “You shouldn’t need to do this, though.”
He showed her the bullets and how they were stacked in the magazine. Next, he locked back the slide, the bullet in the chamber popped out, and he caught it in midair. He pressed his thumb down on the slide stop lever, and the slide slammed back into place.
“Hold out your hand for me.” She extended her hand, and he set the handgun in her palm. “I want you to get a feel for the weight of it.”
“It’s not as heavy as the other gun I used.” She moved her hand up and down.
“This is a subcompact, so the grip might feel smaller. You were probably practicing with a full-size Glock. Similar to mine.” He tapped the butt of his gun.
Hawk took the PPQ from her hand and set it back on the counter.
“Go ahead and pick it up and show me how you hold it.”
She wiped her palms down the side of her jeans and took a deep breath.
“Don’t worry, Sweets.” He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “It’s not loaded, so you can’t hurt anything. Unless you decide to hit me over the head with it.Thatwould hurt.”
