“I hope you’re right.”
“When have I been wrong?”
Alex chuckled to herself and kept following as they crept across the rooftops until they reached the area McGinn had spoken about.
“Alex, just below us is the place where you can tap into the security feed,” McGinn said. “We’ll try to take care of that as soon as possible. Go check it out.”
Alex wasn’t sure she wanted to leave them. “I’d rather not go alone, since I’m unarmed.”
McGinn yanked up his pants leg, revealing an ankle holster. He jerked the gun out and handed it to her. “Now you’re armed.”
Alex took the gun and tucked it into the back of her pants. She shimmied down a light pole positioned a few feet away from the edge of the roof. Once she reached the ground, she located a locked gray box that had a series of wires running all around it. She inspected the wires before she jimmied the lock open. Inside, she saw a network of video cables and other wires. McGinn knew the layout of the building well and made it clear to Alex that it was her job to make sure nobody was surprised on Saturday night when the exchange occurred.
Once Alex finished inspecting the box, she climbed back on top of the roof and rejoined Hawk and McGinn. The two men were crouched down, peering inside a skylight.
“What are we looking at?” she asked.
“This is where the exchange is going down,” McGinn said. “Get a good look, because when you’re staring at the closed-circuit video feeds, we need to make sure this room is monitored closely.”
“Does it need to be empty?” she asked.
“No. We just need to know how many people are inside,” McGinn said. “We’re going to turn this room into a kill box once we identify who has the weapon.”
“How exactly do you plan to get out?” Hawk asked.
McGinn pointed at the far wall. “There are windows on both sides that are easily accessible. Do you see them?”
Hawk nodded. “They seem a bit high off the ground.”
“Well, easily accessible with the aid of a table or chair.”
Alex expressed her reservations. “That may not be so easy to get to if other gunmen enter the room. You’d be sitting targets then.”
McGinn turned around and looked at Alex, flashing a wry grin. “That’s why we’re going to secure the room first. No one gets in until we get out.”
“If you think this is the best plan of attack, I’m willing to go along with it,” Hawk said.
“You got any better ideas?” McGinn sneered.
“This is your turf,” Hawk said. “Don’t take any offense. If I were running this op, I’d prefer to have a better backup plan. But I’m deferring to you here.”
“Good,” McGinn said. “What about you, sweetheart? You want to mount your high horse and tell me what a horrible idea this is?”
Alex shook her head. “I’ll be able to handle what you’ve asked for. If you think you can get the job done with this plan, let’s do it.”
They all headed toward the alleyway where they’d parked. When McGinn was a good ten meters ahead, Alex leaned in to Hawk.
“I’m beginning to wonder if this guy has ever planned an operation in his entire life,” she said. “He’s overly confident for such a flimsy plan. Everything has to go just right for this to play out like he hopes.”
“Just keep your head down and do your job,” Hawk said. “And have an escape route in case things go sideways—because they just might. We need to set up a rendezvous point in case we get separated during the mission.”
Alex nodded. “We do. We also need to talk about something else that I learned about our host.”
“What is it?” he asked.
“Can’t talk about it now, but we need to—and soon.”
They crouched near the edge of the roof and waited for the guards to make their rounds and clear the area. Once they did, the trio climbed down and returned to their vehicle, McGinn wasted little time in firing up the engine and stomping on the gas. The tires barked as the car accelerated.
“That’s not exactly the best way to avoid being seen,” Hawk said.
McGinn laughed him off. “Did you see anyone there when we left?”
“No, but—”
“Exactly. These are a bunch of knuckleheads who would have a hard time tracking down anyone who attacked them in broad daylight in a confined space. Did you see how easy it was for us to get in and out of there?”
Hawk shifted in his seat as he glanced over his shoulder. “You can never be too careful.”
McGinn snickered. “These guys are hacks. It took me less than a week of recon to figure out how we were going to stop this exchange from taking place.”
“Why didn’t you just do it yourself?” Alex snipped.
“Just because it’s easy, sweetheart, doesn’t mean I can do it alone.”
Alex bit her tongue, seething at his blatant patronization.
“Take a right up here,” Hawk said.
McGinn shot Hawk a look. “What the hell for? Gotta pick up someone?”
“I think we’re being followed.”
McGinn chuckled again and shook his head. “I ask for the best and brightest, and this is what I get.”
“Two highly-trained and accomplished operatives? I’d say you got exactly what you asked for,” Alex said.
“The jury’s still out on that,” McGinn said before jerking the steering wheel to the right and rounding the corner.
They raced along the surface streets for over a minute without seeing another car on the road. McGinn finally broke the awkward silence.
“You satisfied now that no one is trailing us?”
Hawk took a deep breath and glanced over his shoulder through the back window. A pair of headlights could be seen in the distance.
“That other car is still back there.”
McGinn abruptly pulled the car over to the side of the road and shoved the gear into park. The car that had been behind them roared past and kept going.
“See—what did I tell you?” he said. “Nobody’s tailing us, so
