It was General Johnson.
CHAPTER 16
ALEX WATCHED THE DAYLIGHT spilling through the cracks in the floor turn faint as the hours ticked past. She supposed Hawk shouldn’t have been gone more than half an hour, yet darkness was about to set in and still no word from him. She grew annoyed at McGinn’s apathetic response to Hawk’s absence.
“Aren’t you going to do something?” she asked, huffing after she did.
“Do what? I’ve already told you the first twenty times you asked that question that I can’t really do anything without jeopardizing this mission.”
“Don’t you get it?” Alex said. “There isn’t going to be a mission without Hawk. You can’t stay here forever. You’ve got no idea what’s going on in the real world up there right now. We’re just two caged little animals, though I’m clearly more upset with this arrangement than you are.”
“Simmer down, princess. I’m sure your cowboy hero will return any moment now.”
“You’ve been saying that several hours now, and it hasn’t happened yet.”
McGinn growled. “Fine. I’ll go check on him. But you stay here and keep your prying little eyes to yourself. I’ll know if you looked at something.”
He glanced up at the lights. She hadn’t even considered that McGinn had surveillance in the room.
McGinn put on his cap and opened the door to the tunnels. He had almost exited the room entirely before he turned around and poked his head back inside.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon,” he said.
“I’ll be waiting for you, dear,” Alex said with an exaggerated eye roll.
Alex listened until his footsteps faded down the tunnel just outside the door. She wanted to punch herself in the face for being so careless. As careful as she was, she never considered McGinn would have placed surveillance in what amounted to a panic room in a basement. She had no one else to blame but herself.
Maybe he’s not such an amateur after all.
Whether he was a professional or amateur, she didn’t care; she simply needed to doctor the footage in the event that McGinn happened to review it. Or maybe someone else was watching.
Whatever the case, she needed the video gone twenty minutes ago.
CHAPTER 17
HIS EYES OPENED SLOWLY as he regained consciousness. His side ached from what he assumed was the impact of the vehicle that hit him and Emily. That was the last thing he remembered. He tried to move, but the ropes tethering him to the wooden chair prevented any serious mobility. The piece of cloth tied snug around his face tasted like a cocktail of dirt and sweat and wreaked of mold.
Due to the lack of bright light, Hawk couldn’t tell how big the room was. A lone bulb dangled from the ceiling, casting an ominous shadow on him. The light’s reach wasn’t more than ten square feet, which left Hawk to wonder what lurked in the darkness.
“Emmm-ahhhhh-leeeeee,” he tried to shout through the gag. He tried twice more with his muffled voice but to no avail. Equally concerning as her absence was the fact that his cries for her didn’t seem to attract the attention of anyone. He sat in the room alone for another fifteen minutes before he heard a door swing open.
Hawk whipped his head in the direction of the sound as light from the outside flooded into the room. It was enough to give Hawk a glimpse of what kind of environment he was truly in—a stark one. No other doors nor any other exit points, with the exception of a window in the corner.
Good to know.
A medium-built man strode across the room, his hands clasped behind his back. He stopped a few feet short of Hawk and looked him up and down.
“So, this is the great Brady Hawk,” the man said before breaking into laughter. “You don’t look so great right now.”
The man, who sported the nametag of General attached to the left side of his jacket, removed Hawk’s gag.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Hawk asked. “Who are you?”
The General clucked his tongue and wagged his index finger at Hawk. “I ask all the questions around here. Is that clear?”
“What was that?” Hawk said, feigning as he couldn’t hear.
The General put his hands on his knees and leaned forward, stopping just inches from Hawk’s face.
“I asked is that clear?” the man said.
Sensing an opportunity, Hawk lunged toward the General and clamped down hard on his ear. Hawk bit harder as the man squirmed in an effort to escape. As the General thrashed about, he gave Hawk all the leverage he needed to get off the ground and turn the tables on his captor. Hawk tried to maintain his balance long enough until he got into a position to let the General break a hard fall. Hawk came crashing down on the man as the chair splintered. Immediately, Hawk found himself free and grabbed the rope, but not before he snatched the General.
Hawk worked furiously to tie his new prisoner up.
“You yell for your guards and I’ll break your neck right here without another thought,” Hawk said. “Do you understand me?”
The man nodded.
“So, tell me General, where is she?”
“Who?”
“Don’t play games with me. I know you took her—and for all I know, she was the original target.”
The General chuckled and shook his head. “Oh, no. It was you all along. You were the primary target.”
“Where is she then? And you better not say dead or else I’m going to rip you apart right now.”
“I’ll tell you,” the man said. “Come closer.”
Hawk edged closer but wasn’t about to get as close as the man had been when Hawk summoned him.
Instead of saying something, the man spit into Hawk’s eyes.
“I’ll never tell you anything,” the General said.
Undeterred, Hawk knelt down next to the man. “So, tell me, General, how good are you at arithmetic?”
The General seemed shocked by the question, taken aback by the oddity if not absurdity of it. “Do
