“It used to be a school.”
“How do you know this?”
“Intel reports,” he said. “I studied the area extensively. When I managed to get outside, I looked around for some landmarks and figured out where I was.”
“How’d you find me?” she whispered.
Hawk put his index finger to his lips.
Footsteps roared past and continued down the hall. Hawk put his face flush with the floor to try to see if it was safe to return to exit.
“Clear?” Emily asked.
Hawk looked up and shook his head. He placed his head back down and watched the slow, methodical march of a trailing soldier. Or perhaps it was the new leader who’d taken General’s place. The man moved down the hallway, checking each room by opening the doors, turning on the lights, and peeking inside.
“He’s coming this way,” Hawk whispered. “We’re going to have to ambush him. I’ll sit here in the middle of the floor. You hide behind the door. Break his arm before he shoots me.”
“With pleasure,” Emily said.
The guard proceeded to stop in front of their door as Hawk predicted. Hawk watched as the doorknob turned slowly. As light flooded the room from the outside, the man flipped the switch, revealing Hawk, who was sitting in a fetal position. The man smiled.
Emily shoved the door hard against the man, but it didn’t throw him off balance as Hawk assumed. The guard fired one shot before Emily knocked the gun out of his hand. Hawk scrambled for it across the floor, but the man kicked it away.
Meanwhile, Emily tried to restrain the guard in order to give Hawk enough time to retrieve the gun. But the man was too strong and flung her to the ground. She landed on her back with a thud.
The guard then dove for the gun just as Hawk was about to put his hands on it. He landed on top of Hawk, pinning him to the ground, and snatched the gun.
Standing up, the man used his gun to direct Hawk to sit in the corner. Hawk followed suit and looked at Emily, who was lying prone with her head facing Hawk and turned away from the guard. She looked at Hawk and gave him a wink.
With his gun trained on Hawk, the guard yelled down the hallway in Arabic for his colleagues to join him. Hawk used the opportunity to glance around the room for something to help him knock the gun away from the man, but there wasn’t anything to use.
The guard turned his full attention back on Hawk and smiled.
“We were all warned about the great Brady Hawk,” the guard said. “Looks like he wasn’t so great after all.”
“Am I really that famous?” Hawk deadpanned.
The guard just smiled and glanced anxiously back down the hall for the men. Their footsteps were still faint but growing louder by the second.
Emily cut her eyes up at Hawk again. He gave a nod that was barely perceptible, and she swung into action.
With one explosive kick, Emily kicked the guard in his balls. As he doubled over, Hawk unleashed a vicious roundhouse kick, rendering the man unconscious. Hawk grabbed the gun and scrambled to his feet. Emily stood up as well.
“Where to now?” she asked.
“Let’s head to the room next door. We can get out through the window.”
They dashed down the hall in the opposite direction of the approaching soldiers and rushed into the next room. Hawk ran over to the window and looked down.
“It’s not that far of a jump,” he said. “Ladies first.”
Emily joined him at the window and glanced out. Without hesitating, she leapt from the second-story and rolled once she hit the ground. Gunfire echoed down the hall. Hawk glanced over his shoulder before he followed Emily.
Once he landed, they hustled across the area and hid behind the back of a car. Hawk peeked around the end to see if anyone was watching. Several men poked their heads out of the window from which Hawk and Emily had just jumped. After a few seconds, they disappeared back into the building.
“It’s almost dark now, and I can’t have all those weapons sitting in the car like that, if they’re even still there,” Hawk said.
“Are you sure you won’t reconsider?” she asked.
“Searchlight is on their own as far as I’m concerned.”
“They’re not fooling around when they say they’re going to send an assassin after you.”
“And I’m not fooling around when I say that I can fend for myself. Got it?”
She nodded.
“Now, please let me get on with what I was sent here to do, and don’t contact me again here.”
“You’re making a mistake, Hawk.”
“I’ve made plenty of mistakes in life, and the one I’ve made over and over again is trusting someone else. I won’t do that again.”
Hawk scanned the area again before heading down the street. Based on where he was in relation to the compound, Hawk estimated he was about a ten-minute walk. He wondered if he’d ever see Emily again—or if she might be on the other side of a gun barrel if he did.
CHAPTER 22
ALEX’S EYES BULGED as Hawk descended the basement stairs carrying a large cache of weapons and munitions. After getting over her initial shock, she rushed up to him, her mouth agape.
“Where have you been?” she asked. “I was worried sick.”
“I ran into some problems while I was out,” he said as he dumped his load of guns onto the table.
“Someone could’ve seen you come in here. Are you out of your mind?”
“I doubt it. It’s dark out, and the old woman who lives here didn’t even notice me.”
“What’d you do with McGinn’s truck?”
“I parked it a block away and snuck around to the back of the house. Nobody saw me, trust me.”
“My trust level is running low at the moment, so pardon me if I have just a little bit of angst about what you just did and where you were.”
“Look, I really don’t want to talk about it right now,
