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“Reel it in, Sweets!” Hawk stood next to her on the bank of the river. “That’s right, keep the line tight.”

“It’s so strong.” Charlotte pulled back on the rod, and the tip curved toward the water. She leaned forward, turning the reel handle as fast as she could, then pulled the rod back again until the fish splashed at the surface. “Oh, my gosh, look how big it is!”

“That’s what he said.” Calliope’s bootsteps on the rocks came from behind them.

“Never gets old, babe.” Lucas jogged alongside her, and they stopped at the water’s edge.

Hawk wanted his folks to meet Charlotte, so after the dust settled on the HRA mess, he’d invited Lucas and Calliope to join them on a road trip to Montana. He’d instructed them to pack their camp gear because he wanted to bring them up to his favorite spot.

His mom fell in love with her right away, as he’d known she would. She even took him aside one afternoon and threatened that if he did anything to screw things up with Charlotte, she would never forgive him. She’d laughed after saying it, but he was pretty sure she’d meant it.

His dad was a bit more reserved, but when she’d asked to see his shop, wanted to know how all of the power tools worked, then asked if he could help her make something, he was a goner. They’d come into the house, and his dad called him into the kitchen.

“Son, she’s special.” He put his arm over Hawk’s shoulders and looked at her across the room. “You treat her right.”

“I will, Dad.” And he would for the rest of his life.

Right after Charlotte’s confrontation with Pennington, three teams were sent out to track the buses. Andi and Cole covered the one from Arizona, Calliope and Lucas the one from Texas, and Eddie and Viking the bus from New Mexico.

Two of the buses made their stops, and all of the kids got off. The third bus, the one that originated at the HRA facility in Nogales, Arizona, stopped, but only twenty-two of the thirty-three children got off. Andi and Cole followed the bus to a house in Mesa Verde, California, where all of the remaining kids were offloaded, crying and scared to death.

The bus drove off, and local cops pulled it over and arrested the driver about a block away. Andi and Cole raided the house, took down the traffickers, and got the kids to safety.

The last update Charlotte got was that most of the children were placed with vetted family members or sponsors. The remaining few were relocated to one of Every Last Child’s wonderful, legitimate care centers.

They determined that a total of 5,417 kids had been trafficked. The authorities had already managed to locate 2,043 of them. They were still searching for the remaining 3,074 kids.

Unfortunately, the chances of finding them diminished with each day that passed.

Charlotte submitted her resignation to HRA and gave herself a few months to decompress before becoming a private consultant. Working for Dulce’s organization kept her busy, along with her periodic training sessions with OSI employees. She was able to work with children more often, and that made her extremely happy.

Thanks to Senator Houldcroft’s influence, the arrests of Pennington and the other men on the list were very public and with television cameras rolling. He’d also seen to it that they were all denied bail, so they were all sitting in jail while awaiting their trials.

Of course, they’d hired the best, most expensive attorneys to defend them. But the video evidence from Charlotte’s meeting with Pennington, the list, and the statements from Helene Wagner, Vincent Kimball, and, yes, even Leonard Everett pretty much sealed their fate.

These disgraced men would do whatever was necessary to save their own skin, including outing certain politicians who’d funneled money to HRA and other NGOs, knowing full well the money wasn’t being used as intended. As a result, there were a lot of very nervous people in DC these days.

In exchange for their testimony, Everett and Kimball pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and would be eligible for parole in twenty-five years—when they were in their late eighties. Everett blamed Kimball for him getting caught and hadn’t spoken to his old friend since the day he was arrested.

Melissa Everett took over ownership of the business, thanks to a statement in her father’s will that, if anything happened to Leonard, ownership was transferred to his daughter. Her father thought that was the best way to ensure the company remained in the family.

She immediately fired everyone involved in even the smallest way with the HRA contract—those who hadn’t already been arrested—and sold the buses. She turned over all of the money her cheating husband had been stashing away and gave it to the government as part of a deal to keep them from seizing all of their other assets.

Bernardi Transportation returned its focus to long-haul trucking—the way it was before her father turned it over to Leonard. Last Hawk heard, Melissa was dating a younger man, and the company was doing very well.

The ultimate revenge of a scorned wife.

Helene admitted to creating the list and helping Kimball. When asked why she put the list on the HRA server, she said she didn’t think anyone would find it amongst the thousands of other HRA case files.

She refused a plea deal, likely thinking she could charm a jury. Unfortunately for her, the jury didn’t buy her poor little me act, and she was found guilty of aiding and abetting in the commission of a felony. The judge sentenced her to fifteen years with no chance for parole, and she was currently serving out her time at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women.

Human Rescue Alliance, its board of directors and upper management were all under investigation by a special congressional committee, and all of their finances were undergoing intense scrutiny.

Charlotte had been relieved when Doug Norcross, her former boss, was cleared of any wrongdoing. She respected him a great deal, and Hawk wasn’t sure she could’ve handled another disappointment.

A few weeks after her confrontation with Pennington, Hawk gave up his apartment and moved in with her. He’d begun to spend most nights there anyway, so it made sense. Besides, they enjoyed being together—hated being apart, actually—and it seemed like the natural next step in their relationship.

They’d talked about marriage, and they both wanted kids, but it was always just talk.

He was hoping to change all of that during this trip.

“What do I do now?” Charlotte dragged the fish out of the water, and it flip-flopped around on the smooth rocks.

“Let’s get the hook out of its mouth.” He grabbed the needle-nose pliers from the tackle box and carefully removed the hook.

“Can I get a picture of you and I with it?” Her nose and cheeks were pink from the chilly air, and her smile could light up a room. “We can put it next to the one of you and your brother.”

“I’d like that.” Hawk couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have a woman like Charlotte loving him. “Hold the fish like this.”

He showed her how to slip her fingers into the fish’s gills and was pleased that she wasn’t grossed out.

“I’ll take it and send it to you guys.” Calliope stepped back, pointed her phone, and took a couple of shots. “Okay, I just sent them to you.”

“Charlotte, this is your first catch,” Hawk said. “Do you want to keep him and we can fry him up for dinner, or do you want to let him go?”

“Are you kidding? I’m keeping it.” She dropped it into the big bucket of water and rinsed her hands off in the river. “I’ve never tasted fresh fish cooked over a campfire. And from the story you told me about Daniel, a fish tastes much better when you catch it yourself.”

“I can vouch for that.” Calliope held up her hand. “Nothing tastes better than fresh, batter-dipped, deep-fried alligator.”

“Ah, babe.” Lucas hooked his arm around her neck, tugged her to his side, and kissed her temple. “Don’t ever change.”

“Oh, you can count on that.” She started to put her phone away.

“Hey, Calliope, would you mind taking another picture for me?” Hawk tugged the little leather pouch from his pocket and knelt down in front of Charlotte.

Charlotte looked from him to Lucas and Calliope and back to him. She started to lift her hands to cover her mouth and stopped.

“Ew, fish.” Instead, she laced her fingers together in front of her heart and smiled down at him.

“Charlotte, I love you. You are the sun that warms my days, the moon and stars that light my nights, and the earth that grounds me. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy.” He dumped the simple, diamond solitaire ring from the pouch onto his palm and held it up to her. “Will you marry me?”

“I love you, too.” The orange sunset reflected off the tears welling in her eyes. “Yes, I’ll marry you!”

Right there, at his favorite spot, as the sun began to dip behind the mountains on the other side of the river, he slipped the ring on her finger. He stood, wrapped his arms around her, and lifted her off their feet.

In the background, Lucas and Calliope whistled and clapped.

As he kissed Charlotte, Hawk sent up a silent prayer to his ancestors, thanking them for bringing this incredible woman into his life.

“Howdy, Luna.” Boone Langston removed his cowboy hat as he sauntered into the Dark Ops operations center.

“Hey.” She gave him a quick backward glance and went back to clicking keys on her keyboard and glancing up at the wall of monitors in front of her.

Ever since he started with Dark Ops about two months ago, she’d been a little standoffish to him. Not in a snobby, I’m-better-than-you kind of way, just … aloof. He’d tried engaging her in friendly conversation, but she was always either too busy, on her way somewhere, or had some other excuse.

Boone was an easygoing guy and got along with pretty much everyone, so that was something new.

She was a beautiful young woman, like, mind-blowingly beautiful, but he was almost certain she didn’t know that about herself. And from what he’d seen so far, she was probably one of the smartest people he’d ever met.

If he had to guess, he’d say they were about three or four years apart, and he thought it would be nice to hang out or whatever. He wasn’t looking for, nor was he ready for anything more than friendship, but he got the definite vibe she was extremely cautious when it came to trusting people.

That was fine—Boone loved a challenge—and Luna Pannikos was just the person to give him one.

Thank you for reading Dangerous Hunter! Keep reading for a sneak peek of Dangerous Obsession , book 1 in the thrilling OSI Dark Ops series.