War Hawk: A Tucker Wayne Novel Read Online Free PDF

vision of a dark-furred form sprawled on red rock.
    Abel . . .
    A touch on his knee drew him back to his own body.
    “I’m so sorry, Tuck,” Jane said, her fingers squeezing. “I should have called. I should have stayed in closer touch.”
    “It’s okay,” he answered hoarsely. “Kane and I’ve been on the move a lot.”
    Jane straightened, her palm shifting to Kane’s side. “I know how much you both loved him.”
    He swallowed hard.
    “Well,” she said, “at least most of the old gang is back together again. Wayne, Jane, and Kane.”
    An amused wistfulness softened her features. Back in Afghanistan, the rhyming confluence of their names had been a source of jokes among their unit.
    Tucker paused a few moments to collect himself more fully, then nodded toward the sleeping boy. “So, Jane, tell me about this newest member of our gang.”
    She turned to the boy, her face softening with a love that glowed from her skin. “His name’s Nathan. He’ll be four in a couple months. To be honest, he’s the other reason I never called. It’s hard. I always thought you and I would . . . well, you know.”
    I know .
    “Five years ago, I met a great guy—Mike. An insurance agent, if you can believe that.”
    “Why wouldn’t I believe that?”
    “You know what an adrenaline junkie I am. In the back of my mind, I always saw myself with someone risky. If not you, then a bull rider or a mountain climber or a cave diver. Then I met Mike. He was funny, sweet, handsome.” She shook her head. Memories drew out a smile, while sadness welled in her eyes. “We fell in love, and I got pregnant.”
    “And where’s Mike now?”
    Jane looked to Nathan. “He died in a car accident three weeks after his son was born. He was so proud . . . so happy . . .”
    Tucker hadn’t been expecting that. He felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. “I’m so sorry, Jane.”
    She nodded, wiping at one eye. “After that, I pulled away from everyone. My son and my job became my entire life. At times, I thought about looking for you, but we’d been out of touch for so long already, and I didn’t know what to say.”
    “I get it.” He stared around the small motel room, ready to move on to a less uncomfortable subject. Jane had sought him out for a clear reason. “How did you find me here anyway?”
    She shrugged. “Friends in shady places.”
    He lifted an eyebrow.
    “Okay. I placed a credit card trace on you. If you truly want to stay lost, you’ll have to work better at it.”
    She meant it as a joke, but he filed away her advice, reminding himself that he had become lax of late in covering his trail.
    Getting careless .
    Using her thumb and index finger, Jane tucked a stray lock of hair behind her right ear. Tucker remembered the mannerism; he loved it about her, though he’d never quite understood why. Just one of those things, he supposed. He found himself staring at her.
    “What?” she asked, catching him looking.
    “Nothing. Where’re you living now?”
    Jane hesitated. “I’d rather not say. It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just the less you know, the better.”
    Tucker would have scoffed at this kind of cloak-and-dagger talk coming from anyone else. But this was Jane; she was as even-keeled as they came. Jane had been the best intelligence analyst in the 75th Rangers, attached to the Regimental Special Troops Battalion. In the past, she and Tucker had worked closely together coordinating missions, until she’d left the army seven months before him.
    “Jane, you said you thought you were in danger. That someone was trying to kill you.”
    She took a deep breath. “I may just be paranoid. With my work, it comes with the territory. But with Nathan, I’m not taking any chances.”
    “Okay, then tell me what’s going on.”
    “You remember Sandy Conlon.”
    Tucker had to think for a moment before he could place the name. It had been so long ago.
    Jane slipped out a photo from a pocket and