“Get the confirmation or we walk.”
McGinn sighed and shook his head. “I’ll do it later, but right now we need to get moving and scout out the location of the exchange. We still have to finalize our plans for Saturday night.”
CHAPTER 11
EMILY THORNTON WATCHED as Hawk and Alex piled into an SUV with McGinn. Emily fired up her vehicle without turning on her lights. Surveillance in an unfamiliar location was less than ideal, especially in a place like Berera. Even though she tagged McGinn’s SUV with a tracking device, Emily couldn’t count on it due to the shoddy cell coverage that powered the GPS.
She kept her distance but never lost sight of them. In a way, it was a metaphor for how she felt about Hawk ever since that day in Jordan when she was torn from him. Despite her willingness to go along with the plan, it wasn’t her preference. She minced no words when she expressed to her superiors that the method seemed over the top and cruel. They ignored her suggestions, and she caved.
Hawk’s cries still haunted her, even more so since he finally learned the truth about what happened that day. They could’ve extracted her much more quietly, though at the time she didn’t realize she was being used as a pawn in a larger scheme. A simple transfer would’ve sufficed to get her out of Jordan. Instead, it was a big show, all designed to stir up Hawk and use him as a weapon. They just never counted on the fact that he might jilt them.
She managed to keep up yet avoid detection when McGinn’s vehicle finally came to a stop outside a warehouse dock. Once she turned off the engine, Emily watched Hawk step into the street and then climb over a fence with ease. It was as if he was made for this type of work, a far cry from the compassionate American he portended to be when she first met him several years ago. As Hawk slipped into the shadows, Emily knew her mission would fail. Trying to convince a man that the pathway to his destiny should take a dramatic detour wasn’t an easy sell. She knew it would be impossible.
Just getting a message to Hawk almost proved to be too much for Emily. She wanted to steal across the street and tuck a note beneath the windshield wiper. But it was too risky. She might get caught delivering the note—or he might get caught reading it. Either way, she couldn’t identify any safe opportunity.
For several minutes, Emily sat in her car, paralyzed by fear. She refused to tempt fate not once but twice in delivering the message. If she were to get caught, she had no obvious allies. If McGinn caught Hawk, she was unsure of what might become of him. She bit delicately around her thumbnail, trimming it until it became smooth. After a few moments more of deliberation about what to do, she turned on her car and drove away.
Emily dialed Parker’s number.
“Did you speak to him yet?” Parker asked.
“This isn’t as easy as you might imagine,” Emily said. “I can’t just convince him to meet me for coffee and go hand him a note.”
“Well, you better figure out a way fast, because he’s running out of time and—”
“Come on, Parker. Can’t you be more patient?”
“In this case, you’re the one running out of time since you seem to be the only person around here who thinks he can be persuaded to join us. And be honest with me, do you even really think he can be convinced at this point?”
Emily sighed. “I’m hopeful.”
“You’ve always been a terrible liar. He gets until Sunday to decide. After that, I can make him no promises regarding what will happen to him next.”
“Fine. I’ll figure a way.”
“It’s no skin off my chin, either way, though I’d prefer to have him join us than eliminate him.”
“I understand.”
“Good luck, Emily.”
She hung up and exhaled.
Emily knew Hawk would never come around, but she at least wanted to try—and give him a heads up that someone would soon be going after him.
CHAPTER 12
ALEX WATCHED McGINN CLIMB up a chain-link fence before hoisting himself up onto the roof of a small utility shed just over the other side. Hawk insisted that she follow McGinn so she’d be able to escape with him in the event that someone stumbled upon them. She took a deep breath and followed McGinn’s path to the top. Hawk joined them a few moments later, and McGinn began to share his plan.
“That warehouse is where everything is supposed to go down,” McGinn said, pointing to the building adjacent to where they were standing. “Inside there are a few spots where we can create a kill box, and I think the best one is right near the exit.”
“Let’s see it,” Hawk said.
Alex trailed behind the two men as they talked strategy for how they would cordon off the men who would deliver the chemical weapon to the boat at the docks. She watched the pale half moon on the horizon flash in and out of view due to the sporadic clouds drifting across the sky. Lights flashed and flickered on various watercraft all along the docks. Less than a mile from shore, she counted six boats returning to the harbor.
“What are you going to do about all the activity around here?” she interrupted to ask McGinn. “It’s not like you’ll be able to avoid detection.”
“The weekends here are quiet. All the crewmen are home getting drunk and trying to pick up a woman at a bar somewhere. I could set this whole dock on fire, and nobody would notice until Monday.”
“If you say so,” she said.
“Don’t worry. We won’t need to make a
