“Sorry about the mothball smell,” Brentwood said as she placed a blanket in Hawk’s and Alex’s hands. “If I would’ve had more of a notice—”
“We don’t care,” Alex said. “We just appreciate your hospitality, especially on such short notice. Besides, we’ve got time for them to air out before we go to bed. It’s only seven o’clock.”
“You’re right. It feels so much later to me.”
“I know what you mean. It feels later to me, too. We’ve been driving around all day, trying to stay off the radar. There aren’t many people we can turn to for help.”
“It’s the very least I could do for you two after what you did for me.”
“That good, huh?” Hawk chimed in.
“The Times offered me my old job back,” Brentwood said.
Alex smiled. “Sounds like everything went as well as we hoped.”
Brentwood’s phone rang. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take this call while you two get situated.”
Brentwood went into another room while Hawk and Alex discussed their plans for the rest of the evening.
“How long do you think we can stay here?” Alex asked. “I don’t want us to overstay our welcome. It’s so nice of her to take us in like this.”
“We can’t stay more than a couple days. I’d hate to put her in the middle of all this.”
Alex slumped into a chair in the living room. “We kind of already did.”
“True, but that was by her own choosing. The longer we stay here, the longer we endanger her. As long as the CIA doesn’t find out we’re staying with her, she’ll be fine.”
“Who’s going to help us now though? Are we really just going to have to wait until Michaels goes away before we rejoin the land of the living? I’m not sure I want to wait that long.”
“Don’t worry. I have some friends from the Navy who’d do anything for me.”
Alex raised one eyebrow. “Even after you bailed on them following a mission? I hardly think they’d accept you with open arms.”
“I connected with a few guys who wouldn’t hold that against me. Besides, I think the whole nation’s eyes are being opened as to the corruption running rampant in our own government by people who will do literally anything to maintain power, even murdering the citizens they swore to protect.”
“I hope you’re right about that. We sure could use more sympathetic support these days, more than just one tenacious reporter.”
Brentwood stepped back into the room. “Did I just hear you refer to me as a tenacious reporter?”
Alex nodded. “Well, yes, but I didn’t mean to—”
“That’s the best compliment anyone could ever pay me, and I’d love to hear more about why you think I’m tenacious, but Hawk has a phone call. It beeped in while I was on my previous conversation.”
Hawk sighed. “Great. They already know where we are.”
Brentwood handed the phone to Hawk. “You’re going to want to take this.”
“This is Brady Hawk,” he said.
“Mr. Hawk, this is Vice President Noah Young. We need to talk, sooner rather than later. Maybe even tonight if at all possible.”
***
HAWK AND ALEX AGREED to meet the vice president at a private box at Nationals Park. After almost dying the last time he was there, Hawk wasn’t eager to return, but Alex convinced him it was important if they intended to ensure the CIA’s twisted story didn’t become accepted as fact.
“We have evidence to the contrary,” Hawk said.
“If you don’t think they can make all that evidence go away, you’re crazier than you look.”
“I think I look quite sane, but I guess that’s beside the point, isn’t it?” Hawk quipped.
“Maybe he can help us,” Alex said. “It can’t hurt to talk with him.”
“Those are famous last words in Washington.”
“Not everyone is out to get us. There are still a few patriots left in this country.”
“I hope the vice president is one of them.”
At the stadium, Hawk and Alex picked up their tickets and wove through a sea of Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates fans. The pair took an elevator to the club level where most of the VIPs watched the games. Unable to sit in the stands like normal customers due to security threats, the people in the private box were members of American royalty. Senators, Congressmen and women, cabinet members—it was a large gathering of who’s who in Washington.
Hawk hardly remembered what the vice president looked like. Since the previous election, all Hawk remembered was seeing Michaels’s running mate at the state of the union speech earlier that year. When Hawk made his way across the room and heard someone say his name, he certainly didn’t recognize Young with his Pittsburgh Pirates hat on.
Hawk pointed at the hat. “Pirates, Mr. Vice President? You might want to reconsider that choice of hat?”
Young shook Hawk’s hand and then Alex’s. “I’m from Pennsylvania,” the vice president explained. “If I suddenly decided to start rooting for the Nationals against the Pirates, there might be riots in the street.”
“People have rioted over less recently,” Alex snipped.
Young’s face broke into a big smile as he pointed at Alex. “I like you already.”
“Trust me, that wit never stops spewing out of her mouth,” Hawk said, looking at Alex admiringly.
“I know what you’re trying to do, and it won’t work,” she said. “Just get on with it, okay.”
Hawk winked at her. “So, what’s the purpose of this meeting?”
“Come with me,” the vice president said, gesturing for them to follow. He strode across the room and exited, entering the hallway before turning right into another conference room. But it was stripped of all amenities, barely recognizable as part of the Nationals Park group of suites. Encircling a small desk were four padded chairs.
“First of all, I wanted to congratulate you on all your excellent work in the Middle East,” Young said. “We just received confirmation that we killed Karif Fazil in a drone strike earlier this week.”
Hawk frowned. “Are you sure? That guy is
