“Well, you didn’t hear about the Verge refinery plant exploding across the sands of Kuwait, did you?” Alex said.
“No, I didn’t,” he said. “However, I saw something about a thwarted attack. I’m guessing you’re calling with good news.”
“Good and bad.”
“Good news first?”
“I already gave it to you,” Alex said.
“Where’s Hawk?”
“That’s the bad news. He and Samuels are gone.”
“What do you mean gone?”
“I mean poof, thin air, gone. Nobody can find them, and it hasn’t been easy to get any answers out of Verge since Doug Dorman was killed in the attack.”
“Damn it,” Blunt said. “Doug Dorman was a good man.”
“You knew him?”
“We worked together a few times. He was a hard ass sometimes, well, more like all the time, but he was one of the good guys.”
“He’s also one of the latest casualties from Al Hasib’s attempted strike. And from what I can gather, they might be preparing to make another attack.”
“You sure about that?”
“I guess we’ll find out, though I heard Verge has beefed up its security considerably since then.”
“They’d be fools not to,” Blunt said.
“But Verge still hasn’t cleared all the explosives. I’ve been jamming the radio frequencies here since the attack to make sure Al Hasib can’t detonate anything and make this worse than it already is.”
“Keep it up. I’ll make some calls, see if I can get some help. Do you have Hawk and Samuels’s last location?”
“Some pier in the harbor, so they could be anywhere by now.”
“All right, I’ll be in touch.”
Blunt hung up and called Frank Stone.
“Frank, I need your help with something,” Blunt began. “I’ve lost two agents, and I need you to get them.”
“The two agents wanted by Interpol and the FBI? You’ve got some nerve, J.D.,” Stone said. “I mean really.”
“Look, this isn’t the time to get into a pissing contest. We’ve got two of our top operatives in danger right now, and I need an assist.”
Stone laughed. “If they’re your top operatives but got captured by a bunch of local bandits from Al Hasib, I’d say you’re throwing around labels far too generously. Maybe you need to reassess how you define the word top. I’m not touching this one,” Stone said.
“Why the change of heart, Frank?” Blunt asked. “You’re the one who asked me for help on this in the first place.”
“Yeah, but I was expecting you to get someone to do the job and do it right, not screw it all up and have it come back on me.”
Blunt was seething on the inside but tried to remain calm as he responded. “You know how it is on the battlefield. Sometimes you get into a situation that you didn’t expect or never could’ve accounted for.”
“Yeah, and when that happens, you die. End of story.”
“These men are worth going after.”
“Maybe for you, but I’m not willing to risk my career over them.”
“What’s gotten into you, Frank?”
“The bottom line is I know who hired you, and Noah Young isn’t going to be President much longer. And while Michaels won’t hear it from me, some other eager beaver ready to ascend to the ranks of power will spill the beans, and you’ll be screwed. That much I can promise you. It won’t be pleasant by any stretch of the imagination.”
“So, I guess that’s a no on helping Brady Hawk.”
“It’s a hell no, J.D. And you only have yourself to blame. You should’ve selected a more competent agent.”
Blunt hung up his phone and started to pace around the room. He needed some help—and fast.
CHAPTER 19
Kuwait City, Kuwait
HAWK FELT SAND POURING into his boots, his arms dragging along the ground as an Al Hasib operative pulled him into a tent. With orders being barked out, Hawk barely opened his eyes in an attempt to survey the situation more properly. Another guard lugged Samuels toward the tent in the same manner. But that was the extent of the Al Hasib muscle assigned to watch the pair who’d attempted an escape and failed.
Guess we deserve that.
Samuels began moving around before he mumbled something, drawing the ire of the guard towering over him. Screaming and cursing, the guard dropped Samuels for a moment, kicked him in the ribs, and then picked him back up.
At least I know he’s awake now.
Convinced escape would only become increasingly more difficult the longer they were held hostage, Hawk sprang into action. He grabbed the guard’s arms and pulled downward. The guard, who was already hunched over Hawk, lost his balance and toppled headfirst to the ground. Still holding onto the guard, Hawk used the man’s momentum to spring upward. The guard who’d been pulling Samuels spun around, surprised at the sudden tussle. He barely got a word out of his mouth in a call for help before Hawk delivered a vicious kick to the man’s knees, sending him sprawling toward the ground. Samuels clamored to his feet and attacked the guard while Hawk returned his attention to the other operative. Another roundhouse kick and a pair of targeted punches knocked the guard unconscious. Hawk knelt beside the guard to search for his keys. Meanwhile, Samuels took care of the other guard.
“Ready to make another run for it?” Hawk asked.
“Only if you’ve got the keys this time, Einstein,” Samuels quipped.
Hawk held them up triumphantly and jangled them before snatching the man’s gun from his pocket. “I rarely make the same mistake twice.”
“Just be glad that mistake didn’t cost us our lives.”
“Let’s get outta here,” Hawk said as he crept near the entry to the tent.
“Where’s Hendridge?” Samuels asked.
“Let’s see if we can find him on the way out,” Hawk said.
The camp was still in a state of chaos as men scurried back and forth, carrying equipment and loading it onto trucks, as if they were breaking camp.
Still disguised by their insurgent fatigues, Hawk and Samuels kept their heads down as they weaved through the other soldiers too focused on their task to notice the escapees.
“Over there,” Hawk
