Page 28 of Guarding Grace (Hawk Security #2)

“Fuck off, asshole,” Deb spat. She’d never been good at following my orders. “My brother is going to wipe the floor with you, and then I’ll cut your balls off for a trophy. ”

Victor laughed. “I like her. She has spirit.”

I grabbed Deb and clamped my hand over her mouth. “You sent Maria and that other idiot after my woman,” I snarled. “And that is unfuckingacceptable.”

Grace stopped pacing and wrapped her arms around herself.

“Stay quiet,” I whispered to my damned sister.

“Fuck you, Mr. Policeman. When I’m done with you and your bitch, you will wish you’d licked my boots when you had the chance. I’m going to enjoy feeding you to the sharks.”

“Look, shit for brains, you have no idea who you’re fucking with.

When you came for Grace after our warning, you crossed a line that your father knows not to go near.

Ask him what happened the last time anyone fucked with Lucas Hawk.

Good luck explaining to him that you decided to pit your family against us.

” I chuckled. “And for your information, dickwad?—”

“You shut your mouth, Mr. Policeman.”

Deb squirmed loose. She was red-faced, but at least she didn’t yell into the phone.

“Too bad for you, Victor. I’m not a cop anymore.

That means I don’t have to play by their rules.

” I gave that two seconds to sink in. “So when you go out on the street or even near a window, you might want to check the fine print on my resume. I was a Marine Scout Sniper before I joined SWAT. You won’t even hear the bullet coming before it splits your head open. ” I stabbed at the phone and hung up.

Deb was one huge smile. “You told him. I loved that sniper shit. He’s probably shittin’ himself right now.”

Grace shivered. “You were scary.”

I shrugged. “That was kind of the point. It’s the only language a dickhead like him understands.”

“What do we do now?” Grace asked.

“Now we wait and let him stew. Attempting to kidnap you was a very risky play. My bet is that he didn’t run it by his papa, and if that’s the case, he’s got a bigger problem.”

Deb nodded.

Grace’s eyes narrowed. “And if he did get his father’s okay?”

“Get dressed and let me worry about that.”

After I kissed her forehead, she did as I asked—this time without argument.

I waited until Grace had closed the bedroom door to turn on Deb. “I told you to not say anything.”

Deb snorted. “I’m not going to let some idiot say shit about you. ”

I sucked in a calming breath. “While I love that you support me, I can take care of myself.”

She patted me on the shoulder. “I know you can. But the asshole needed a dose of sister power.”

She didn’t get it. “This Victor guy is the kind of whack job you don’t want to interact with at all.”

She spun and walked away. “Right, be quiet and paint my nails or something else female-approved.” My pain-in-the-ass sister stopped before she reached the hallway. “Remember, you owe me a look at that medal.”

“Right,” I said as she rounded the corner to leave.

“Bye, Grace,” Deb yelled before she descended the stairs.

“Bye,” was Grace’s reply.

I dialed Lucas to let him know Victor had made contact.

After a full recounting of my less-than-cordial talk with the younger Russo, Lucas agreed that we needed to wait to hear from Tall Tony himself.

Then he switched topics. “The guy with the neck tattoos is definitely a Marku foot soldier,” he told me. “But the driver is a question mark. All we figured out before we had to let them go was that he’s Korean—not a talker.”

I circled the table. “Prints?”

“I was hoping they’d match someone in the LAPD gang database, but they don’t, and they’re not in AFIS either, which leaves us with a good possibility and a bad one.”

Based on Marku’s history, I suspected where Lucas was going with this. “The bad one being North Korea? More missile technology?”

“It’s possible, but I don’t want to go there yet. The more likely option is that he’s a local that Marku brought in for more muscle.”

I leaned against the counter. “What makes you think that?”

“Russo is a dirtbag, but not that kind of dirtbag. He doesn’t have any way to get his hands on something like missile electronics. These days, the FBI is mostly focused on the Russians. Russo would stay a million miles away from anything that would cause the FBI to shift their focus to him.”

I nodded to myself. “Plus, it doesn’t make sense that Elliot would be entrusted with something like that.”

“Agreed. Jordy will keep digging for chatter. You just keep our girl safe.”

“My girl,” I corrected him.

A moment of silence followed. “You’re going there, huh?”

“I’m already there. She’s mine. ”

“Hmm… Has she bought into that? She’s in a pretty vulnerable spot right now.”

“She’s mine.”

“Given your past, isn’t that an abrupt change?”

“I said, she’s mine.”

Lucas pulled in a long, deep breath. “Listen to me, Marine.” His voice was measured, but insistent. “People under severe stress often compensate by making risky choices that they later regret.”

“I don’t need?—”

His voice entered beast mode. “What part of listen didn’t you understand, Marine?”

I was yanked back into the corps, and my training kicked in. “Sorry, sir. Go ahead, sir.” I’d woken the beast, and it was a damned good thing we weren’t in the same room, or I’d have my head handed to me.

“Son…” He dialed back his voice. “Go slow is all I’m suggesting.

Don’t take any agreement on her part for granted.

She needs to actively buy into whatever happens between you two with time to think things through.

As the writer Richard Bach said, ‘If you love someone, set them free; if they come back they’re yours. If they don’t, they never were.’ ”

“You want me to push her away?”

“No. William Shakespeare once wrote, ‘Wisely and slowly. They stumble that run fast.’”

“Yes, sir. Copy that.” Once again he was speaking in riddles.

“Don’t take this to mean I don’t support you, Terry. I do. Have you explained yourself to her? I mean, been totally open?”

I didn’t get exactly where this was going. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. I can tell manipulation when I see it. For a long time, your voice has said one thing, while your eyes have said another. You’ve been pushing her away on purpose.”

“We talked.” How could my eyes have given me away? I’d thought I’d been doing a good job, but Lucas had seen right through me, as he did with pretty much everybody. The man was a damned human lie detector.

“Good. Be honest with her. You’ve been pretty mean at times.”

That hurt. “I will.” I’d been trying for annoying. Had I drifted into mean?

“One more thing. Russo has put out the word there’s a five-hundred K reward for the case.”

I whistled. “That will get people’s attention.”

“True, and it could motivate some idiots to get creative in their search.”

He meant that it increased the danger for Grace.

“Understood. ”

“We’ve all got your back. Catch you later.” He clicked off before I had a chance to get an update about Pete. It was hard to wake up each day and wonder if he’d be extracted or if I’d get the bad news that it hadn’t been successful.

At least Grace was being spared this daily agony.