“What happens if the power goes out and the touchpad doesn’t work?” She envisioned there being no alarm and bad guys circling the house like sharks.
“I have a whole-house generator that kicks on automatically.” He checked the alarm again before taking her hand and heading toward the kitchen. “I’m going to check in with Cole. Do you mind feeding Remy? His bowl and food are in the pantry.”
“Sure.” She welcomed the mundane task as a much-needed diversion. “Come on, bud.”
Remy followed her to the pantry and sat down. His tail swept back and forth on the floor as he patiently waited for her to fill his bowl.
Hawk tugged his phone from a vest pocket, tapped the screen, and set it on the counter.
Cole answered halfway through the first ring.
“Lucas, Eddie, Viking, and I are ten minutes out, and according to Luna, Kimball is about two miles from you. Calliope is with Charlotte’s mom.” His voice sounded far away, like he was speaking through a tube. “It’s gonna be close, Hawk.”
Two miles?
Her adrenaline spiked, making her slightly lightheaded. She turned away from Hawk, closed her eyes and took a few breaths before setting the bowl on the mat next to Remy’s water bowl.
Charlotte would not add to Hawk’s already heavy burden by being weak and needy.
She closed the pantry and turned to Remy. “Break.”
At the command, the dog trotted over to his bowl and chowed his food like he hadn’t been fed in days.
“We’re ready.” Hawk assured his boss that Charlotte knew what to do. “I have complete faith in her ability to take care of herself.”
She mouthed the words, “Thank you.”
Hawk winked at her.
Hearing someone of Hawk’s caliber say those kinds of things about her to a man he respected as much as he did Cole meant more to her than he could ever know.
She’d never considered herself brave and certainly not a fighter. Sure, she’d spent her entire career fighting and advocating for victims, but there was never any physical threat to her life in doing so.
That had all changed with one incorrect keystroke.
Remy finished devouring his food and turned his attention to his water. He lapped it up, splashing it onto the floor around his bowl, then he licked his chops and walked over to stand next to Hawk.
Charlotte swung open the fridge door and set the stew back inside. Hawk wasn’t going to have time to eat, and until he came back to her safely, she wouldn’t beableto eat.
There was a barely audible voice in the background of the call.
“Lucas wants to know if the area around your workshop is clear for him to land the helo?” Cole asked.
“Yeah, there’s grass and very little debris to worry about,” Hawk said.
“We’ll let you know when we’re on the ground,” Cole said.
“See you soon.” Hawk tapped his phone to end the call.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Charlotte jumped, then turned to Hawk.
Voice deathly calm, he said, “We’ve got company.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Hawk,withRemyandCharlotte close behind, bolted back to the security room and checked the cameras. He scanned all of the monitors, watching for any movement.
