“You don’t want to know the answer to your second question,” Hawk said.
Alex glanced at her computer. “The info is all stored on my computer. I’ve been collecting it ever since we activated that watch on the President, which oddly stopped working a few hours ago.”
“Were you able to capture Michaels’ conversation with Petrov from earlier today?” Blunt asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Alex said, patting the top of her computer. “It’s all right here.”
A knock at the door interrupted their brainstorming session.
“Does anyone know we’re here?” Blunt asked.
Hawk pulled out his gun and screwed a silencer on the end of it. Then he eased the safety off.
“Why don’t you take it, General?” Hawk said.
Fortner shrugged and walked over to the door. He looked through the peephole.
“Did either of you order room service?” he asked.
The remaining trio all shook their heads.
“Who is it?” Fortner shouted through the door.
“Room service,” came the reply.
“Sorry, we didn’t order any.”
“That’s not what I have on my ticket,” the waiter replied. “This is room 345, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but we’ll decline it,” Fortner said.
“Sir, I can’t return with this bottle of wine that’s worth 300 euros, nor can I leave it out in the hall since it’s alcohol, hotel policy.”
“One moment please,” Fortner said. Turning toward Blunt, he asked, “What now?”
“Just take it,” Blunt said. “We’ll pour it down the drain.”
Hawk nodded but backed into the bathroom and trained his gun on the door.
“Okay, I’ll take it,” Fortner said, checking the peephole one final time. He proceeded to remove the panic chain and turned the deadbolt. However, the door crashed into him and a pair of soldiers wearing body armor stormed into the room.
Hawk fired two shots at the men before one of the men hit Hawk in the shoulder with a tranquilizer. He fell to the ground and his gun fell from his hand.
“Now, no one else move,” said Frank Stone as he entered the room wearing a hotel staff uniform. He kicked Hawk’s gun aside.
Hawk tried to sit up as his vision blurred.
“Take every piece of electronic equipment in this room,” Stone ordered the other soldiers. “Every watch, every phone. Nothing that runs off power is to be left behind.”
Alex glowered at Stone. “What are you going to do to us?”
“Nothing,” Stone said. “Unlike some people in this room, I know how to follow orders.” He nodded at Fortner. “Your presence here will be passed along to your superiors, as well as your unauthorized use of a Ranger team.”
“Screw you,” Fortner said.
Stone wagged his gun at Fortner.
“Settle down, General. You made these decisions, not me.”
The soldiers ripped cords out of the wall and piled all of Alex’s computer equipment on the waiter’s cart. In less than a minute, they had gathered everything.
“Evening, gentlemen,” Stone said before glancing at Alex, “and lady.”
The door slammed shut behind them.
Hawk’s eyes grew heavy and he decided to lie on the cold bathroom floor.
“Please tell me you made a copy of everything,” Blunt said as he looked at Alex.
She took a long breath and hung her head.
“I didn’t have a chance yet.”
“All our evidence is gone,” Blunt screamed. He then launched into an expletive-laden tirade.
The reality of what had just happened dawned on everyone in the room—any chance of showing the American public as well as the global community what President Michaels had been up to just vanished.
Hawk closed his eyes and passed out.
CHAPTER 29
Washington, D.C.
THREE DAYS LATER, Hawk stumbled out of bed in one of Blunt’s safe houses in Washington, D.C. He started a pot of coffee and picked up a copy of The Washington Post sitting on the kitchen table. Next to it was a note from Blunt, who said he’d gone to the store but would return in half an hour.
Hawk knocked on Alex’s bedroom door.
“Come in,” she said.
Hawk entered the room and found her sitting at her desk. She typed furiously and didn’t even look up.
“How’d you sleep last night?” she said.
“Better. And you?”
“Couldn’t sleep. I get restless when I don’t have my equipment up and running.”
Hawk sat down on her bed. “Configuring all your new equipment?”
She nodded and continued typing.
“I’ll let you get back to it then,” he said. “Want me to fix you some breakfast?”
She nodded before stopping and spinning around in her chair to face him.
“Did you read the paper yet?”
Hawk shook his head. “I was just about to sit down and see if I could find anything interesting to read.”
“Front page, below the fold,” she said. “Apparently, they found parts of my mother’s body floating in the Bosphorus, but no head.”
“So, no way to tell what happened to her?”
“No left arm or right foot either. She was quote-unquote chewed to pieces by marine animal life, according to the article.”
“That should shake some people up,” Hawk said.
“Hopefully that will wake some people up and they’ll realize what she was trying to do.”
“If anything, it gives me a good opening to speak with our reporter friend today. Little things matter more to a reporter than timeliness of a story.”
“Good luck with that,” she said. “I’m going out later on to grab a few things to finish building my computer.”
“Breakfast should be ready in fifteen minutes,” he said before closing the door and returning to the kitchen.
Hawk read the front page story detailing the discovery of Katarina Petrov’s death. There was an accompanying article that discussed what bearing her death would have on the formation of the one world currency. Another story on the opinion page outlined President Michaels’ options to get the U.S. in line with the rest of the countries signing up for the new global economic policy. One sentence stood out to Hawk.
“While Michaels’ attempt to persuade the Supreme Court to rule that the Federal Reserve Act was unsuccessful, it’ll be a footnote in the annals of U.S. history if he can persuade the Federal Reserve’s board to relinquish its power or direct Congress to adopt Petrov’s vision for a one world currency.”
Hawk’s
