“Of course, you have to bring up protocol, don’t you?” Hawk said.
“Without protocol, what do we have? Chaos? Pandemonium?”
“Perhaps we’ll have an entire room of The Chamber’s dead board members,” Hawk said. “But we may never know, will we?”
“Sorry, guys,” Alex said. “I’m doing all I can.”
Just as she finished speaking, her computer beeped.
“Is that a go?” Hawk asked.
“Our sixth and final confirmation, right there,” she said.
“We’re up, Samuels,” Hawk said as he placed his right eye up against his scope. “Wait a minute. What’s going on?”
“They’re all getting up, like the meeting is over,” Samuels said.
“Alex, can you get audio from the feed?” Hawk asked.
“This is a video-only system,” she said.
“Yeah and we’re too far away for my directional mic to pick up anything.”
“Hold on,” Samuels said. “They’re sitting back down—and they don’t look too happy about it from what I can tell. Petrov is directing them all back to the table.”
“When did Petrov come into the room?” Alex asked. “She wasn’t in there earlier.”
“Just a second ago as they were all about to leave,” Samuels said.
“Save Petrov for me, Samuels,” Hawk said. “She’s mine.”
“Suit yourself.”
The two operatives took their positions and methodically picked off board members seated around the table. Hawk took the left side, Samuels the right. In a matter of seconds, they were all dead, except for Petrov.
She raced toward the door but struggled to get it open.
“What’s she doing?” Samuels asked.
Hawk squeezed off two rounds, the first one ripped through the back of her head. The second one tore into her back left shoulder blade. She collapsed to the ground. Hawk took a moment to study the scene. The clean shots happened too quickly; the first few people likely never knew what hit them while the last couple of people never had a chance to react. Only Petrov was left to squirm in her final seconds before Hawk ended her life.
“That’s a wrap,” Hawk said. “Let’s get the hell outta here before we attract any attention.”
* * *
HAWK WAITED UNTIL THEY were in the air before placing a call to Blunt. Satisfied with how the operation went down, Hawk was confident his superior would be pleased with the results.
“Have you heard the good news?” Hawk asked. “The Chamber board has been eliminated.”
“Are you sure about that?” Blunt asked. “Because that’s not the way I understand it.”
Hawk furrowed his brow. “What are you talking about?”
“There’s a report blowing up the networks right now about a brazen attack that killed seven heads of the German banking industry, an attack that sounded vaguely familiar to the one you were planning.”
“Sounds like a strange coincidence to me.”
Blunt took a deep breath. “Weren’t you shooting at the Byzantine Office Building?”
“That’s the one.”
“It’s a damn strange coincidence, then, because that’s the same building all these bankers were in. And what’s even stranger is that security footage being played all over television shows three suspects who look a lot like the three of you.”
“That’s impossible,” Hawk said. “We used facial recognition to verify their identities before shooting. We followed protocol.”
“For once,” Blunt said.
“You gotta believe me. We wouldn’t proceed unless we knew the targets were verified. You know me well enough to know I wouldn’t do that.”
“I also know you well enough to understand that you hate Katarina Petrov with a passion and have it out for her personally. If you even thought you had a chance to take her down, I doubt you would’ve waited to follow protocol before pulling that trigger.”
“So that wasn’t her?”
“The woman who was murdered was Madeline Schumer, head of Frankfurt International Bank.”
“No way. I swear that was Petrov. Alex confirmed it before we started shooting.”
“I’m inclined to believe you, Hawk, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re now fugitives and the U.S. government can’t do a damn thing to help you.”
“Come on,” Hawk said. “You’ve gotta help us. If everyone from the FBI to Interpol is chasing us, we don’t stand a chance.”
“I’m sure you’ll find a way,” Blunt said. “Just make sure you stay out of sight once you get back here, and stay in touch. You might still be able to help us.”
“Petrov set us up,” Hawk mumbled to himself as he hung up the phone.
CHAPTER 6
Tangiers, Morocco
KATARINA PETROV GRINNED as she scrolled through the news article on her phone about the brazen attack on the heads of the German finance industry. Stocks sank as the report shook the confidence many investors had in the European market. The direction German investing was headed brought certainty to the market, but that was no longer the case. Analysts and pundits alike voiced their fears about what might become. Nothing seemed certain, except more uncertainty.
Petrov put down her phone and lit a cigarette. She glanced out across the water before closing her eyes and putting her face to the sun.
“It’s a beautiful day,” a man said, interrupting her blissful moment.
She looked up to see her appointment had arrived and gave him a wry smile. “Well, that depends.” She gestured for him to sit down across the table.
“On what?” he asked as he pulled his chair out and took a seat.
“On what you can do for me, Karif. I had a beautiful day yesterday, but if our meeting goes well, perhaps this will be one too.”
Karif Fazil leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and clasped his hands, resting them on his knee. “I understand you require some assistance, though I’m not sure it’s the kind of thing we operate in any more. But before we discuss that, I’m curious how you set up the American assassin and his team.”
She took a long drag before exhaling. “Simple parlor tricks. Making the mind see what it wants to see is the kind of wizardry that’s been around for centuries. It only takes a little bit more effort these days with facial recognition cameras, but they’re susceptible too.”
“Who did he
