In the headphones, he heard a sharply drawn breath, and he glanced to his right. Was Kit panicking?
Then he grinned. Like her son’s, her wide smile was a tiny bit crooked…and just as filled with joy.
The woman liked flying.
Relaxing, he settled in to enjoy the flight—because being in the air was happiness, no matter how often he flew.
A few minutes later, he could see that the private road leading to the PZ compound was still blocked to traffic. The fence gate was closed.
But the law enforcement vehicles were gone.
Keeping the helicopter at a low height, Hawk flew over the compound and hovered by the back fence.
“I don’t see a trail.” Bull’s voice came through the headphones.
“That way.” Kit motioned toward the east. “The path is almost invisible when near the compound. Obadiah didn’t want it to be used. Once in the forest, there’s an animal trail to follow.”
Hawk made a couple of passes.
“There.” Kit leaned forward and pointed. “It’s that thin line. Do you see it? The cliff near that stream is where we’re going.”
Hawk glanced around, checking his surroundings, height, speed.
“I can see that’d be quite a walk,” Bull said.
As they got closer, Kit motioned to the right. “The caves are there, beside the waterfall, and”—she made an unhappy sound—“the open area is smaller than I realized.”
Hawk shrugged. No wind. No fog. Easy enough. He’d dropped into tighter spots.
Piece of cake, although he noticed Kit held her breath as he centered and lowered the helicopter into the clearing. After landing on the stream bank, he shut down the engine.
Before removing his headphones, he told Kit, “Wait for me to help you out.”
“Sir, yes, sir.” The bubbly laughter in her voice didn’t sound like her.
Ah, right. “First helicopter ride?”
“Oh, yes.” Her huge brown eyes were luminous with delight. “It was awesome. And you do this all the time?”
“I take my floatplane more often than the helicopter, but yeah. This is my job.”
He unlocked his gun safe, donned his holstered Glock, then jumped out and surveyed the area.
To the east, was the cliff. Scattered trees, boulders, and thick brush ran along the base. Water splashed noisily from the top into a curving stream. Mud-loving Aric was going to be happy. Dense forest covered the other three sides.
As Bull and Caz got out, Hawk walked around the Squirrel to open Kit’s door.
She’d only needed a small boost to climb into the helicopter, but he knew from the times he’d been injured getting out was a whole different story.
She stalled in the door, trying to figure out what to do.
“Want help?” He held out his hands and waited until she nodded.
With her busted ribs and abdominal surgery, he couldn’t grab her around the waist. Okay then. Putting an arm around her lower back, another under her sweetly curved ass, he pulled her against him and lifted her out, then bent his knees until her feet touched the ground.
She was a slender little female, and he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed feeling her against him. But he released her quickly, moved back, and waited to get yelled at.
Her color was pink, her eyes flashing. Within a second, her anger disappeared, and she said ruefully, “Thank you. I couldn’t figure out how to get down without giving my ribs a good jolting.”
He nodded. “Been there, done that.”
Caz gave her an assessing look, then chuckled. “Nice job of transferring the patient, ’mano.”
“Where to, Kit?” Having already strapped on his revolver, Bull had Aric on his shoulders. The kid was giggling because he usually grabbed Hawk’s hair to hold onto, and it wasn’t possible with Bull’s shaved head.
She pointed at a patch of brush in front of the steep bluff. “There.”
Darkness behind the bushes turned out to be the cave.
After handing Aric over to Hawk, Bull waded through the underbrush, pulled out a flashlight, and ducked inside. A minute later, he called, “All clear.”
Kit went in.
Seeing there wasn’t room for anyone else in there, Hawk set Aric down beside some rivulets that had forked off the stream. “You okay here, kid?”
“Uh-huh.” Aric crouched and picked up a shiny rock.
Hawk grinned. A big bowl in his living room was already filled to overflowing with Aric’s finds.
Apparently not willing to shout over the waterfall noise, Caz signaled that he’d patrol the area from the helicopter and southward.
Hawk nodded and took up guard to the north. Even if there weren’t any PZs in the neighborhood, the bears and cougars would consider a four-year-old to be a fine snack.
“Well, damn.” Bull’s booming voice could barely be heard over the splashing of the water. “That’s a hell of a lot of cash.” A couple of minutes later, he emerged from the cave with plastic-wrapped, shoeboxes.
Kit followed, looking shell-shocked.
“Kit?” Hawk took a step toward her. “You okay?”
“There’s money. So much money.”
Hawk glanced at Aric, but the boy was happily splashing in the streamlet and hadn’t noticed his mother was upset.
“Money’s a good thing,” Hawk said cautiously.
“Um. Yes.” She shook her head, and her brain apparently turned back on.
He almost grinned. When young, he’d enthusiastically pumped a car’s gas pedal, then had to wait until the flooded engine could recover and start. Like the vehicle, the little gardener had been swamped with too much of a good thing.
Her face brightened, and then her laughter bubbled out. “This is wonderful. I can’t wait to divide up the money with the other women. We’ll have a chance to start over.”
“Okay then.” He studied her. Apparently, she hadn’t even considered keeping it for herself.
As if unable to believe the good fortune was real, she followed Bull to the helicopter to watch him stow the boxes away.
Hawk made a quick check of his half of the area…and saw two birds burst upward from the forest canopy to the west. A few more birds went up. Closer to the clearing.
The trail was in that direction.
“Hsst.” His snake-like warning carried over the sound of the water, and his brothers turned toward him.
Catching a glimpse of movement and a glint of metal from down the trail, Hawk made the hand signal to his eyes and pointed. Enemy in sight.
“Dios,” Caz said under his breath. Closest to Aric, he snatched the boy up and disappeared into the forest to the south.
“Kit, we have company coming,” Bull said in a low voice and motioned to a boulder north of the cave. “Hide behind there.”
Instead, seeing her son carried away, she started to run that direction.
Hell. Hawk grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the boulder. He kept his voice quiet and cold. “Get down. Stay put.”
Panting, she stared up into his face, then regained control and crouched behind the boulder.
Good enough. Getting Bull’s attention, Hawk motioned to her.
Bull nodded. He’d protect the civilian.
And Hawk would do what he did best. Taking the area of less cover, he ran to the northeast along the base of the cliff.