“That’s it?”
“It needs to be in person, of course.”
Hawk moaned. “I knew there’d be a catch somewhere.”
“Is that gonna be a problem?”
“Of course not. I’ll figure something out.”
“Good,” she said. “Just upload the files to the usual place.”
“I’ll try to have something to you within 48 hours.”
“Hurry because we don’t have much time.”
Hawk terminated the program he was using to communicate with Alex and hid his steps on the computer. He migrated over to the living room and fell back onto the couch. He needed a plan to get Ackerman to talk, though Hawk doubted he could get the time of day out of Michaels’ puppet from the Middle East.
“How do I get Ackerman’s attention?” Hawk asked himself aloud.
An idea came out of nowhere and he smiled.
“This just might work.”
* * *
AS SOON AS RAY returned home from work, Hawk darted out the door, claiming to need to run a few errands. Part of his statement was true. Hawk needed to grab a few items at the grocery store—as well as record Ackerman’s voice so Alex could work her magic with the recording. She’d been short on details, and Hawk didn’t feel like talking over such an open line. No matter how secure Alex swore it was, it seemed like an ill-advised action.
The outside of Fortress Security appeared to be a fortified location, though it was far from being impenetrable, despite what the website claimed. Hawk surveyed the situation and considered his next move.
On top of the compound wall were two men, both armed with machine guns and decked out with enough ammo to eliminate several strongholds in any line of defense.
Maybe I should’ve consulted with Alex first about this.
Hawk still had time to back away and regroup. But based on what he observed during his first trip to the firm’s headquarters, he was confident he could navigate his way through the perimeter.
Instead of using bullets, Hawk had gathered a pocketful of tranquilizer darts he’d found lying around Ray’s house. Quieter and far less messy than the aftermath of gunshots, Hawk also saw the use of tranqs as a way to endear himself to Ackerman. Asking for a job was one thing, but doing it after you killed half his crew was another—and would likely end in either some sort of legal action or arrest.
From the position Hawk took up at the base of the wall, he recognized how little time he had to eliminate the targets. Two guards circled the wall, while another sat perched high above the compound in a guard tower. In the half hour Hawk noted their routes, they seemed to pass by each other every four minutes. Putting a dart in their back was imperative to evade capture. While the guard in the tower was far less watchful, the sound of two captains dropping along the wall would surely get his attention. Hawk figured he’d have less than thirty seconds to shoot him as well.
Here goes nothing.
Hawk strode toward the wall and waited until the two men passed by each other. In one smooth motion, he unholstered his gun and fell the two guards in three shots. The guard in the tower poked his head out and started yelling frantically. Before he could return inside and call for help, Hawk had drilled the man in the neck, dropping him almost instantly.
Hawk proceeded to scale the wall and snagged two more guns of the men he’d taken down. He crept across the commons area, his gun drawn and eyes scanning his surroundings. When he heard the trampling of feet coming from his right, he darted toward an armored vehicle parked to his left. The guards fanned out along the edge of the perimeter, guns trained in front of them. In their effort to capture the intruder, they left only one man to guard the office entrance.
The overconfidence of a supposed fortress never ceases to amaze me.
Hawk grabbed a rock off the ground and hurled it to the guard’s left. He immediately turned in that direction, which was all the time Hawk needed to rush toward the door. By the time the guard heard Hawk coming, it was too late. Hawk had already fired a dart at the man and hit him at the base of his neck. He moaned softly while crumpling to the ground, but the muted cry for help wasn’t loud enough to get his colleague’s attention.
Hawk’s appearance in the office lobby startled the man behind the reception desk. Clumsily, he reached for his gun.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Hawk said. “Now, show me where Mr. Ackerman’s offices are.”
The man stood and held his hands up in a posture of surrender.
“Follow me,” he muttered.
The man led Hawk up a flight of stairs and pointed toward the end of the hallway.
“Now, we’re going in together,” Hawk said.
Hawk urged the man forward, jamming a gun into his back.
“You better knock,” the man said.
Hawk ignored him and opened the door. Using the man as a shield, Hawk pressed forward and quickly understood why the man had suggested knocking.
Armed with a semi-automatic weapon, Ackerman sat behind his desk, gun trained on the entrance.
“Sorry to barge in on you like this,” Hawk began, “but I don’t intend you any harm.”
“Tell that to the men I watched you drop from my office window.”
“Tranquilizers,” Hawk said, holding his gun up in the air. He knelt down and put it on the floor, kicking it over to Ackerman. Discreetly, Hawk began recording their conversation.
“What is the meaning of this?” Ackerman asked.
“I just wanna talk.”
“There are better ways to set up a meeting among professionals.”
“Not in our line of work,” Hawk said. “You can read the resume of Chuck Pearl a hundred times, but until you see me in action, you have no clue if I’m legit or not.”
Ackerman waved with the back of his hand, dismissing the man who’d led Hawk upstairs. The man scurried out of the room. Ackerman set his gun down
