“You think it’s going to be that simple to kill Hawk?” Blunt said, breaking into a laugh. “You really are delusional.”
“One person’s delusion is another person’s reality. Besides, the reality is you’re not going anywhere unless you tell me what I want to know.”
“I doubt I’ll be able to pass along any useful intel to you. It’s hard to think when your hands are hanging above your head.”
Petrov walked toward the wall and pressed a button. A small pulley motor began to hum, lowering Blunt to the ground. Petrov grabbed a chair that was against the wall and used her foot to slide it to him.
“Have a seat and collect your thoughts,” she said. “Your life depends on it.”
Blunt sat down and moaned. He took a few deep breaths and threw his head back, grateful for a respite.
“All better now?” she asked.
Blunt nodded. “Thank you, Katarina. Kindness is very becoming on you.”
She narrowed her eyes and glared at him before pushing the button on the wall. The motor sputtered to life again and hoisted Blunt back to his previous position.
“It didn’t have to end this way,” Petrov said. “We could’ve been doing this together.”
Blunt situated himself again and struggled to get a deep breath before speaking.
“When I agreed to join The Chamber, this was never the mission.”
She laughed. “Oh, you poor naïve man, J.D. This has always been the mission. But like any good leader, the soldiers only need to do their job to accomplish the overall objective. The bigger picture isn’t of consequence to them.”
“I thought The Chamber was going to be a force of good in this world, a last line of defense against ruthless dictators,” he said. “Never did I dream for a minute that it was actually a vehicle for creating a totalitarian regime.”
“In the annals of history, it won’t matter what you thought. All that anyone will ever remember about J.D. Blunt was that he was a traitor to his country. Because if I go down, you will go down as well.”
“So, you have a dead man’s switch? Clever.”
She smiled and nodded. “You know me. I always think of everything. Three days after I die, someone from my office will anonymously release mountains of documents on all of the people involved in The Chamber. My legacy will remain heroic within the Russian border, which is all I care about. You, however, will be viewed quite differently after your death.”
“I doubt anyone will care that much about me after I die. Hell, no one probably even cares if I’m alive or dead.”
“Brady Hawk cares, which is the only reason you’re alive right now—and quite possibly the only reason you’ll survive, if I decide to let you.”
“You better kill me now because I assure you that if I live, I’ll do whatever I can to make sure that you won’t live to see the end of the week.”
She shrugged. “By that point, everything I was assigned to do might already be completed. You’ll only be feeding your rage and anger.”
“No, I’ll be getting justice, justice for all the terrible things you’ve done.”
“J.D., I’m disappointed in you, trying to claim some moral high ground like that. You know that everything is relative and highly subjective according to your perspective. One man’s traitor is another man’s hero.”
“You’re no hero, Katarina.”
“I suppose the Russian history books will differ with you and thus prove my point. So, you cling to your hope up there, but you’ve done nothing to persuade me to change my mind. Hawk is going to die.”
“Aren’t you even going to attempt to interrogate me?” Blunt asked. “Maybe I’ll give you what you want to know.”
She shook her head. “No, you’ve made it very clear where you stand on everything. And I’m a big fan of not wasting everyone’s time, though you arguably have more to waste than I do at this point. So, consider this an act of grace that I don’t treat you like you deserve right now.”
“I’m so grateful,” Blunt sneered.
“I’m in the position of power, not you, J.D. Your angry words and threats ring hollow as you hang up there. Enjoy what time you have left. Your mind will torture you far more brutally than I ever could.”
“I doubt that. My conscience is clear.”
“Don’t be absurd. In how much denial do you have to be to even believe such a statement like that? Your conscience is clear? What a ridiculous claim. We both know the truth. Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, El Salvador—you mean to tell me you have a clear conscience about what you did on each of those operations?”
“I wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t kill innocent people and their families just because they got in my way.”
“And that’s why I’m standing down here and you’re hanging up there,” she said as she turned out the lights. “Sweet dreams, J.D.”
Blunt summoned all his strength to draw another deep breath as he watched her silhouette vanish down the hall before the door closed behind her.
Hurry up, Hawk.
CHAPTER 22
HAWK EASED HIS WAY along the darkened corridor in the bowels of the Library of Congress. The four buildings that comprised the world’s largest library were interconnected through a series of tunnels. And while the library was closed to the public, employees worked through the night to fulfill requests and shuttle books back and forth between the various reading rooms. As a result of the graveyard shift staff, Hawk exercised caution as he moved toward the target.
Samuels was fulfilling Alex’s role, watching the security feeds and warning Hawk about any potential dangerous situations lurking around the next corner. Big Earv, who’d filled Hawk and Samuels in on the Secret Service’s clandestine holding facility just a few blocks away from the White House, took up his position just outside the
