The Midnight Hour - Brenda Jackson [99]
Hawk stiffened. His heart skipped a beat. "What the hell do you mean?"
Drake smiled. "Just what I said. Pull the documentation that goes all the way back to when the land was deeded to my ancestors. Warren Mountain is as protected as any Indian reservation is. It has its own law and until that changes no federal, state or local governmental agency can trespass its boundaries unless I give permission, and I'm not giving it."
Hawk stared at him. Cold chills crept up his spine. "You're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?"
"Yes. I'm going home, Hawk, and when Cross finds me, that's where I'll be."
Hawk blew out a long breath, raked his fingers through his hair, thinking he needed a haircut, but more important, he needed another thirty years to deal with the likes of Drake Warren. And just to think he had agreed to come out of retirement. Had he taken leave of his senses or what? "Think about what you'd be doing, son," Hawk said, altering their positions from business to personal. "Without backup forces from the government, your mountain will become a war zone-a slaughter territory. Do you honestly think Cross will come by himself? He'll bring men with him, trained killers of the most ruthless and cunning kind. He'll intend for it to be a showdown, one he doesn't plan losing."
"Then it should be interesting because I don't plan on losing either," Drake said quietly. He shifted his eyes and caught Tori's gaze. He drew in a deep breath and tried to rid himself of the anger he was feeling. "But I would like to ask that you do me a favor, Hawk."
Hawk lifted a brow. During the years he'd known Drake, he had only asked for one favor and that had been a few months ago when he was trying to find Tori. It was the first favor Drake had ever asked of him and it had hurt like hell to turn him down. He wondered if he would also have to turn down this second request. "What's this favor?"
"No matter what you have to do, keep Tori safe. She's not a part of this. I'll be operating alone."
Tori whirled on him. 'The hell you will. This isn't your fight alone, Drake! I thought we agreed on that. This is also my fight and I'm definitely in." She was so mad, her voice was shaking.
Drake stared at her. He had expected her anger and was prepared to deal with it. He would never forget how he'd felt when he'd gone down from that tranquilizer dart. Luckily, the injection he had taken had kicked in. But what would have happened to Tori if it hadn't? "No, you're not in" he said. "The only reason Cross tried killing you in the first place was because of me. This is not your battle, it's "tine, and I'll come and get you when it's over."
Tori's lips tightened as she tried to bring her anger under control. What had she expected? Drake Warren thrived on taking risks, but he was too bullheaded to see that what he was contemplating wasn't taking a risk but setting himself up on a suicide mission. There was no way one man could stand against Cross's ruthlessness.
"You might as well let me go with you, Drake, because there's no way I'll stay behind. Even if I'm locked up somewhere, I'll escape and then what? What do you think Cross will do when he finds out that I'm not on that mountain with you? He'll either finish you off and come after me or vice versa. There'll be no place for me to hide, not that I intend to hide anyway."
Her spine went ramrod straight as she continued to glare at him. "We either deal with Cross together or we deal with him separately, Drake. What's it going to be?"
Drake gazed at her thoughtfully for a long moment and she stared back at him defiantly, haughtily, full of anger and fire. And she was so deep-in-the-gut beautiful. He wished there was some way he could lock her up and throw away the key, but damn her hide, she would probably find a way to escape, and then he'd be too busy worrying about her safety to take care of Cross. At least if she was with him then he could keep an eye on her. And if things got too heavy, he had that room in the basement that had a steel door and no windows. If he had