Hawk nodded toward a stack of wooden crates in one corner of the room. “What about those?”
“We’re going to call the Saudis and give them a heads up about it, maybe even let them take credit for busting Bashir and confiscating some of his weapons. It’d be our olive branch to prevent a diplomatic dispute. I’m sure President Michaels will appreciate that.”
“He’d probably rather have the credit.”
Thomas grinned. “Of course he would. But where’d be the fun in letting him get away with that?”
Hawk chuckled and then walked over to the lone remaining tanker to assist with the loading process. Once they finished, Thomas asked Hawk and Alex to drive one of the tankers to the landing strip.
Hawk climbed into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition. After a few moments, the tanker coughed and sputtered to life.
“You ever driven one of these things?” Alex asked.
“Once, but not by choice. I was trying to escape these guys in Peru and—”
“Never mind. I’m not in the mood to hear a story right now.”
Hawk furrowed his brow and looked over at Alex. “Is everything all right?”
“You’re so perceptive, Hawk.”
“Look, I’m just trying to help. If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. But you don’t have to bite my head off.”
She sighed and stared out the window as Hawk joined the convoy exiting Bashir’s complex. Biting her lip, she looked as though she might say something several times before deciding against it.
“Alex, I want you to feel like you can talk with me about anything, okay? Tell me what’s bothering you?”
Taking a deep breath, she paused before answering. “I don’t know. It’s just this,” she said oscillating her index finger between them. “Us.”
“What about us is it that’s bothering you?”
“I kind of need to know where things stand, though I’m afraid of what you’re going to say.”
Hawk focused on the twisting road in front of him as it wound down the mountain. Looking at her would suffice as a simple acknowledgment, though he was unsure how she might react in the moment.
“Are you afraid I’m going to reject you?” Hawk asked. “If so, I can promise you that will never happen.”
She shook her head. “I’m afraid of what it will mean moving forward for our partnership with Firestorm.”
“How will it change?”
She forced a laugh. “How will it change? How will it change? I know you, Hawk. In fact, I know you well enough to understand exactly how it will change. You’ll put the mission at risk to protect me.”
“I already do that—and I’m not apologetic about it. That was the stipulation Blunt made to me when he relented and allowed you to work some in the field. However, he’d still prefer you following me on a satellite feed from the safety of an office in Washington or a place offsite.”
“And you don’t see anything wrong with that?”
Hawk shook his head, his gaze still trained on the taillights of the truck in front of them. “I do what I do because I love my country, but even more so because I don’t want someone to have to suffer the way I did.”
“But your suffering was contrived, just an elaborate ruse to get you back onboard with special ops.”
“It felt real—and that’s all that matters as it pertains to my motivation for protecting you . . . and everyone else when we pursue people like Malik Bashir or Karif Fazil. We’re making the world a better place, safer from their terror.”
“But are we really making a difference?”
“I know what you’re saying. It feels like a game of whack-a-mole sometimes, but if we just left it alone, we’d be overrun with pests—pests with violent intentions. However, just know that if we’re together or not in the future, my loyalty is going to be to the people on my team.”
“Live to fight another day, huh?”
Hawk nodded. “It’s why I was able to let Fazil go this time. I want to hunt that bastard down so bad and kill him myself, but there are some things that are more important, such as making sure no terrorist ever gets their hands on these missiles.”
“Probably a good call, though I don’t feel easy about putting them in President Michaels’s hands either.”
“Well, as soon as we’re done with this, we’re going to go deal with him.”
“You want to go back to Washington after this?”
“There’s nothing I want more. I want to clear my name and expose Bozeman and Michaels’s dirty little game. They almost got away with this, but I’m going to make sure everyone knows what they’re up to.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?”
Hawk shrugged. “Probably not.”
CHAPTER 25
Three days later
Washington, D.C.
HAWK AND ALEX TUNED the radio to a local news talk station as they drove from Reagan National Airport to a place Hawk rented for a month. They hadn’t traveled far down the Beltway before they came around a corner and were greeted by a sea of red brake lights.
“Welcome back to Washington,” Alex quipped. “This city sure knows how to remind you of the things you hate the most about it.”
Hawk drummed his fingers on the steering wheel before something arrested his attention on the radio. He turned the volume up.
We just received some breaking news that long-time weapons dealer Malik Bashir was killed in a raid by Saudi Arabia’s Special Forces. According to Omar Khan, a spokesperson for the Saudi Arabian Minster of the Interior, Bashir had been conducting business and hiding in a home carved into the Asir Mountains. Troops penetrated the compound and gathered thousands of kilograms of munitions as well as some small amounts of
