Confused, Hawk stumbled back toward the driver before he delivered a vicious head butt to Hawk, knocking him out.
CHAPTER 16
IN ORDER TO AVOID DETECTION, Alex parked a half-mile away behind an abandoned gas station. She crouched down and peered around the corner, watching the bakery through a pair of binoculars. As she waited, it seemed like an eternity before anyone showed up and entered the small store. If the man who entered the building was indeed one of Bashir’s men, he was fifteen minutes late. And she found that troubling, if Ngozi was to be believed. He’d said that Bashir’s men were always on time.
After a couple minutes, the man re-emerged with Hawk in tow. Alex was surprised at the casualness with which the man wanded Hawk and then patted him down in search of any type of transmitter device. Apparently satisfied that Hawk didn’t have anything on him, the man walked around to the other side of the car. However, the driver had gotten out and prevented Hawk from getting inside.
“Oh, no,” she muttered to herself. “He’s been compromised.”
She contemplated running back to the car and getting her rifle to take a shot at the two men. She wasn’t sure if Hawk could be saved, but she wanted to try. As she turned to go, she looked back over her shoulder at the action and realized there wouldn’t be time to help. She’d be better off following them.
But she froze when the driver slammed Hawk with a head butt, sending her partner crumbling to the ground.
“Get up, Hawk,” she said. “Get up.”
The driver dragged Hawk to his feet and threw him inside their SUV. Once he climbed behind the steering wheel, he fired up the car and wasted no time in stomping on the gas. Alex struggled to see what was happening in the vehicle thanks to the dust that had been thrust into the air from the spinning tires.
Damn it, Hawk. What have you gotten yourself into this time?
Alex rushed to her car and started to follow the SUV. She picked up her secure sat phone and called Blunt.
“How are things going?” Blunt asked.
“They’d be better if Hawk could’ve activated his tracker before they knocked him out.”
“Are you telling me that you’re following him now in your car?”
“I had no choice. The original plan was for me to go after him at night when nobody would see me driving, but I’m following them now. However, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to get to the exact location of Bashir’s hideout. I’m in a bit of a tough spot.”
“Stop following them right now, Alex. You’re putting yourself in too much danger. If anyone spots you, you’re going to jail . . . and you’ll both wind up dead. Not to mention that this is our best chance to capture both Bashir and Fazil.”
Alex slowed down and pulled off onto the next dirt road she saw.
“I hope you’ve got a good alternative plan then because I just left Hawk up there to die . . . wherever there is.”
“You didn’t form a contingency plan? You should’ve known that this was going to be a risky proposition.”
Alex blew out a long breath. “I don’t need a lecture right now. I need a solution.”
“Okay, for the time being, don’t let anyone see you behind the wheel of that car. Let me call you right back.”
Alex leaned back in her seat before hitting the dashboard with her fist several times. Blunt’s words echoed in her head. You didn’t form a contingency plan? He was right. It had been a foolish oversight to assume that it would’ve been as easy as planting a tracker on Hawk and having him turn it on so she could find him. Working in conjunction with General Fortner, Blunt concocted a solid plan for after they had infiltrated the compound. But their hastily thrown together plan according to Ngozi’s recollection had already proven to be a failure. She could only hope Blunt would deliver a Plan B that was a winner. And she didn’t need to be reminded of the stakes if it didn’t succeed.
She tried to take her mind off the gravity of the situation and admire the surrounding beauty of Saudi Arabia’s southern region. She found it awe-inspiring and might even enjoy the few minutes she had there if it weren’t for Hawk’s life hanging in the balance.
Her phone rang, and she scrambled to answer it.
“What did you find?” she asked.
“I think I’ve got a solid Plan B for you,” Blunt said. “But it’s not going to be easy.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that because it’s going to take about everything you’ve got to pull this off.”
“Tell me what I need to do.”
Blunt gave her instructions, which she heeded with precision and efficiency. She quickly drove the car back to the desolate two-lane road that snaked through a narrow valley. After parking in the road and edging the nose into the other lane, she took out her rifle and used the butt to bash in the front fender.
She tied a scarf over her head and waited. In less than five minutes, she saw a large tanker rumbling down the road just as Blunt had predicted. He’d identified a pattern of tankers that went up a mountain road and disappeared. Given the fact that he was pressed for time to concoct an alternative plan, he took a guess that the tankers were headed for Bashir’s fortress.
Doing her best to conjure up tears, she waved at the tanker, which slowed to a halt a few feet behind her vehicle. The driver rolled down the window.
“Please help me,” she said, speaking in Arabic. “We were hit by another vehicle that continued on, and my husband was badly injured. He was so delirious that he started walking out across the valley, telling me to remain here with our car. I wanted to help
