Page 44 of Hawkeye

Glancing down, I realized the last message on the screen was the one about my mother. Any nerves I might’ve felt disappeared at the reminder they’d planned to go after her.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Ready.”

Then I called the only number in the thread.

A man picked up on the second ring. “About damn time. What the hell happened last night?”

“Not what you were expecting.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. “Who is this?”

My soft laugh held no humor. “Let’s not pretend you don’t know exactly who I am.”

“I seem to have underestimated you, Miss Talbot.”

I met Calder’s eyes as I replied, “Considering I have the job ledger your crew lost at the yard, I’d have to agree.”

“I’m not dumb enough to fall for a bluff like that,” he growled.

“Four-digit dates, lot numbers, completed jobs marked off in the last column,” I listed. “I’m sorry, but you’re exactly that dumb because my cross-reference connects your ledger to every confirmed theft and future target.”

There was a loud crash in the background before he asked, “What do you want?”

“For you to stay far away from my mom.” I sounded convincing even though I knew he couldn’t get anywhere near her. I’d already spoken to her this morning to let her know that Calder was having her moved from the protected apartment to the compound in a few hours.

“Give me the ledger and the cross-reference. You, personally. Today. And I’ll leave your mother out of this,” he offered.

“Fine. Come to the auction house this evening at eight. The place will be empty by then so we won’t be interrupted.” Before he could argue for a different location, I added, “The meet will happen somewhere I’m comfortable, at a time when I don’t need to worry about losing my job because I’m making sacrifices to keep my mom safe.”

His cold laugh sent a chill up my spine. “Double cross me, and your job will be the least of your worries.”

Calder jabbed his finger against the screen to end the call, then turned it face down. “You did a great job.”

I looked down. “My hands are shaking.”

“Your voice didn’t.” He interlaced his fingers with mine until the tremor eased. “That’s what counts.”

I lifted my arm and heaved a deep sigh. “Good thing they’re steady now. There’s work to do.”

He fired off a quick text before giving me a deep kiss. “You’ve got this, baby doll.”

There was a soft knock on the door, and he strode across the room to unlock and open it. Someone handed him a canvas bag, and he shut the door again. Then he laid it on the workbench and pulled out everything I’d need to create a decoy ledger.

Eyes wide, I shook my head. “How did you find the same kind of notebook?”

“Cipher.”

The one-word reply wasn’t a surprise since I’d seen the Black Crowns tech genius at work myself. “Gotcha.”

I spent the next several hours painstakingly adding entries to the decoy ledger, making slight changes that wouldn’t be immediately visible but would throw off their whole operation if they somehow made it out of here with it.

Calder brought me a sandwich and a bottle of water. “Take a break.”

“Perfect timing.” I stretched my arms above my head to work out the kink in my lower back. “The hard part is done. I just need to do my fake cross-reference next. A lot of that can be accurate because it’s mostly the finished jobs.”

“So fucking smart.” He gave me a quick kiss before unwrapping the sandwich and handing it to me.

We ate in silence, and I beamed a smile at him when I was done. “Thanks. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was.”