Thirty-five hundred dollars for two teenage girls. The depth of human depravity knew no bounds.
Shortly after dumping them at the club, the uncle was killed by a guy who didn’t like the way he was looking at his girlfriend. If it hadn’t been for the text message one of the girls sent to her mom about him taking them to the concert, and the cheap, disposable lighter with the logo from the club found in his pocket, those poor girls might have never been found.
When the team went in to rescue them, they found three other teenage girls that had been missing. All of them had been kidnapped from various reservations across the country.
The asshole club owner had put the word out that he catered to a particular niche market that was “into native girls” and was willing to pay top dollar.
Hawk was sort of known for being quiet, with a great deal of self-control—something his father and grandfather had instilled in him growing up. It was part of what made him such a good tracker. But when he’d heard the owner talking about those native girls like they were merchandise, his teammate, Eddie, had to pull Hawk off of him.
He turned away from the photos on the wall just as Charlotte Cavanaugh came through the main door. She had what looked to be a full messenger bag hanging across her body and appeared to be somewhat frantic as she hurried to the front desk.
Remy noticed her, too, and stood, waiting for permission to go say hi. Apparently, his dog had a thing for the pretty redhead, too.
Today, she wore loose-fitting blue jeans, a dark green T-shirt that hugged her body, and a pair of brown-and-tan lace-up hiking shoes. He’d only ever seen her in professional attire, not that it mattered.
Hawk would like Charlotte in anything … or nothing at all.
It had been a while since she’d been to their facility, and he’d missed seeing her.
“Good morning, Rebecca.” Her hands shook as she unclipped the flap on her bag and twisted to wrestle a large poly envelope free and set it on the high counter.
“Good morning, Ms. Cavanaugh.” Rebecca smiled up at her.
“Please, call me Charlotte.” She slid the envelope closer. “I’d like to leave this for Dulce, please.” She looked nervously over her shoulder toward the door.
Hawk followed her gaze but didn’t see anything unusual.
“She’s already on her way up here.” Rebecca started to slide the package back to her. “If you’d like to wait a moment, you can give it to her yourself.”
“Oh … no, thank you.” Charlotte glanced toward the door again. “I … I have … um … another appointment I have to get to.”
She turned to leave and stopped when she locked eyes with Hawk. She chewed her bottom lip, dropped her chin, and hastily headed toward the exit. Her fingers had just curved around the door handle when someone called her name.
“Hey, Charlotte.” Dulce approached the front desk with Cole at her side.
Charlotte’s eyes closed for a few seconds. She smiled and turned back to Dulce.
“Hi, guys.” She gave Hawk a quick sideways glance and walked over to them.
Yeah, something was definitely troubling her. But what?
She always seemed skittish around him, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her more uneasy. So he remained in place and continued watching her.
“Ms. Cavanaugh … sorry, Charlotte left this for you.” Rebecca handed Dulce the envelope.
“You don’t have to look at it right now.” Charlotte tried to sound casual, but whatever was in that envelope made her very anxious.
“I’m too curious to wait.” Dulce accepted the letter opener from Rebecca, sliced open the envelope, and looked inside. “What the heck?” She gave Charlotte a confused look and handed the envelope to Cole.
“There’s a … a note inside that explains everything.” She was wound tight as a sailor’s knot, and he half-expected her to bolt for the door any second.
Cole glanced into the envelope, and his entire body became more alert than usual.
“How ’bout you just tell us yourself.” His tone was gruff and intimidating.
“It’s … it’s kind of a long story.” Charlotte’s voice quavered, and she clenched and unclenched the strap of her messenger bag.
A surge of protectiveness flooded through Hawk. He was just about to come to her defense, but Dulce beat him to it.
