“You said we needed to talk about something sensitive,” he said. “We were alone in the jet and the car. What was so sensitive it had to wait until it was too late for me to turn back?” He didn’t like the way Blink chuckled as he stopped in a shaft of moonlight. The shadows made the hard angles of his face more severe and the grey at Blink’s temples more pronounced. He was even more ominous but it was the calculating sharpness in his black eyes as they read Hawk that rubbed him the wrong way, he realized. There was no doubt that Blink was as brilliant as he was rich but Hawk didn’t like the blatant way the man wallowed in his omniscience. Blink didn’t hide that he knew everything about Hawk nor that he minded finding leverage wherever he could.
“More than a gifted surgeon, I see. I appreciate a man who sees the forest for the trees but mind your step, doctor.” It was just smug and patronizing enough to flick Hawk’s temper. He barely had a temper but the one thing that was always sure to trigger it was rich pricks.
“You didn’t go to boarding school, did you? You’re the petty, resentful kind of rich because you were so poor it almost killed you,” Hawk guessed as he held Blink’s stare. Blink smiled as he stepped closer.
“And you’re the boring kind of rich. You didn’t care about all that money and privilege until you had the good sense to be embarrassed by it,” he drawled then gave his head a dismissive shake. “We’re not here to discuss all the reasons why you don’t like me.”
“I didn’t have to get out of bed to do that but I don’t care how powerful you are or where you keep your giant laser. You’re still a bully beneath your smooth new manners and none of that’s going to work on me,” Hawk explained. “Tell me whatever it is I need to know and don’t ‘warn me’ to keep whatever’s going on here to myself. I’m not going to sell you out because I don’t need the money and I’ve learned the wisdom of minding my own business.” He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled back at Blink. There was just a quick twitch of his eye before Blink turned on his heel.
“Let’s hope that your visit will be limited and brief,” he agreed and avoided a branch as he signaled at the clearing ahead. “You’re going to see many things while you’re at Blackhurst and I’ll trust you to keep them to yourself. But the most sensitive of the things you’ll encounter will be Mr. Grim. He is held together with whatever the medical equivalent of duct tape is and is absolutely mad. Homicidal, obviously. I chose you because of your impressive surgical abilities and your combat background. You’ll need to stay on your toes and on guard. Your SIG Sauer isn’t a bad call and while I hope you never have to use it, please don’t kill him if you can avoid it. Casper Grim is an extremely dangerous man but he is also staggeringly gifted and I see very big things in his future. I’ve invested a great deal of money in him and it would be a shame to see it go to waste because he’s destroyed himself.”
“Destroyed himself? Is he suicidal?”
“Regularly,” Blink replied.
“Jesus,” Hawk groaned and blew on his hands as he rubbed them together. “Will I be able to finish his leg before he kills himself?” He asked and Blink swatted vaguely.
“I don’t think he’s planning to off himself in any specific way. But he’s never been particularly careful and one gets the idea that Grim wouldn’t mind if he accidentally blew himself up,” he explained. He nodded and they stepped over large stones and fallen branches until they reached the clearing and Hawk shivered.
“Are we still on your property?” Hawk asked as he spun and squinted. He could barely see the main house’s lights through the trees...
“Yes!” Mr. Blink hissed and gave Hawk’s arm a hard jerk. “I just had this historic house refurbished two years ago and he did this in weeks,” he grumbled as he waved but Hawk’s nose wrinkled. It used to be a charming cottage with a wrap-around porch and stone path but now frayed sheers fluttered in cracked panes and the front door hung on its hinges.
“Really?” Hawk cringed at the scorched corner of the front porch and the busted bow window. “What happened there?” He asked. Blink sighed and it was weary.
“I sent repairmen to fix the window and he threw Molotov cocktails at them.”
“Really!” Hawk laughed in shock. Grim didn’t sound like he’d be a willing patient, if he didn’t like the window guys. “And you said he was amenable to getting his leg fixed?” He asked and Blink’s lips pulled into a grin.
“He didn’t really have a choice,” he finally confided. “Grim’s hip’s dislocated and he can’t escape. He can either die at the bottom of the stairs or let you fix his leg,” Blink explained and Hawk swore as he ran for the porch. He carefully bounded up the burned and busted steps and negotiated the broken planks on the sinking porch with Blink at his back.
“I doubt he went very far,” Blink mused before he grabbed Hawk’s arm. “It might be booby trapped.” He raised his brows at Hawk in warning but he snorted.
“I remember reading something about that. The briefing was thorough,” he chuckled but it was true. At Mr. Lavender’s insistence, their hacker, Reginald, provided Hawk with the dossier he’d built for Casper Grim. It was all digital but it was still a hefty stack of autopsies, investigative reports and a partial psychological profile by Dr. Aiden Sharp. “But he might be dead,” Hawk warned and Blink’s head cocked.
“It was just his leg. And possibly a few broken ribs and a twisted arm,” he guessed but Hawk shook his head.
“And rhabdomyolysis and kidney failure,” he scolded and held Blink back as he stretched for the handle.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Blink murmured. “If it helps, I didn’t have any trouble with that door six hours ago. Aside from its...state,” he said as he waved at the cock-eyed door, hanging from the jamb. Hawk held his breath as he turned the handle and leaned back as he pushed it open. It creaked before it snapped off its hinge but Hawk was able to peek around it and see a clear path. He squeezed through and took a cautious step as he looked for any wires or triggers but all he saw were chunks of crumbled plaster, cracked walls and soot-stained upholstery and wallpaper. What Hawk didn’t see was any sign of Grim. Well...aside from the general state of the house. But there was nothing at the bottom of the stairs but a crumpled rug and a stain on the field stones. “Fuck!” Blink whispered as he carefully stepped around Hawk. “Grim?” He called and swayed forward as he listened. Hawk tiptoed behind him and hunted for anything that looked suspicious but all he saw was destruction. Every chair was smashed and the table legs were ripped off and stacked in and around the hearth in the living room.
“Get out! I don’t want his help!” It was a furious shriek from upstairs but it was thready and shredded.
“Up there!” Hawk whispered as he pointed and skipped through the foyer to avoid the mess. He took the stairs two and three at a time and avoided the broken planks. Hawk noted the deep gashes in the wood and the smears of blood on the posts. A rope was looped around the banister and a massive hunting knife was lodged in the top step. “He climbed this!” Hawk said and Blink shook his head in disgust.