Michaels smiled wryly and set his papers down. “I may have taken a peek at them earlier today.”
“Well then, are you ready for some more good news?”
“I’ve always got time for that.”
“Just heard back about your mystery accuser. Turns out she’s quite prolific when it comes to getting arrested. Her rap sheet is several paper reams long with her latest arrest for driving under the influence with cocaine in her system. She’s being cued up to be featured prominently on the news next week if she continues these allegations.”
“What you’re saying is that everyone will dismiss her as a nutcase?”
“There will always be a handful of people who would believe some story like that, but I’m pretty sure this one won’t see the light of day.”
“Good work. Anything else?”
“I saved the best for last.”
Michaels leaned forward, his hands clasped together and resting on his desk.
“Don’t keep me in suspense any longer.”
“I just received a call from the Pentagon. The Army Rangers captured Brady Hawk in Oman attempting to sell weapons to Al Hasib.”
Michaels shook his head. “Hawk has some nerve, doesn’t he?”
“My favorite part is that they weren’t even weapons from Colton Industries.”
“Let’s get that going in the cable news cycle, shall we? More stories like this should bolster my poll rankings. I may not even have to stump that much the way things are going.”
Kriegel held up his finger. “Let’s wait on this Hawk capture for a couple of days. We’ll get much better optics on this story on Monday after your debate with Braxton, which is supposed to center around national security. But Tuesday morning, we’ll hit this hard.”
“Excellent idea,” Michaels said as he pumped his fist. “I love it. I’ll hammer away at Braxton Monday and then Tuesday we serve up results.”
“I’m glad you approve. I’ll get everything together, including some official U.S. Army video to go along with the story when we release it.”
“How the mighty have fallen,” Michaels said.
Kriegel excused himself, leaving Michaels alone with his papers. He could sense victory finally arriving and the man who’d been one of the biggest banes of his political career would go away forever.
And J.D. Blunt, you’re next.
CHAPTER 21
Brighton, England
ALEX WATCHED EVERY moment of the capture unfold on her monitor. Her face flushed red with rage as she watched the Army Rangers swarm around Hawk’s vehicle and stick him in one of their Humvees. Meanwhile, she continued to type furiously on her laptop. After a few more minutes, she took a break to call Blunt. She needed to vent with the only person who would understand.
“I tried,” she said after he picked up the phone.
“What happened?” Blunt asked.
“I tried to warn him but he left before I could respond back to him, and he walked right into the trap Michaels laid for him,” she said as she fought back tears.
Alex wanted to scream or curl up in a ball and cry until there were no more tears left—both options sounded appealing to her in the moment. But there wasn’t time for that.
“Try to keep it together, Alex. We’ll figure a way out of this.”
“What do you think is going to happen? Is Michaels going to suddenly have a change of heart and let Hawk walk free?”
“Hawk did the same to Michaels. Maybe he’ll return the favor?”
“Are you even hearing yourself, J.D.? Michaels is a mad man with no intention of doing anything favorable for Hawk, especially now that the cat is out of the bag regarding Michaels’ true intentions. Make no mistake, Michaels is going to do whatever he can to silence Hawk.”
“Sadly, I know you’re right, but that doesn’t mean something couldn’t change. Perhaps Michaels will require services in the future. Not even Michaels is a big enough fool to pass up utilizing Hawk in that manner.”
Alex clenched her fists as she stood up and paced around the room.
“Hawk would rather die than join forces with Michaels. You ought to know that as well as anyone. Hawk is loyal to a fault. I don’t need to tell you that’s how he got into this mess in the first place, trusting one of his cronies from the Seals.”
“Michaels has a strange way of exerting pressure in just the right places to get what he wants.”
“But Hawk would never do anything for Michaels, no matter what. We’ve got to do something or else it’s lights out.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Blunt said. “But what can we do from our positions at the moment? I have friends in high places, but I doubt any of them would risk their careers to help in this situation. Michaels is just too powerful.”
“There is something I can do.”
“Care to share that with me?”
“You’ll know it when you see it.”
“Alex, what are you planning on doing? Please tell me you’re not preparing to go after him.”
“I’m desperate, but I’m not insane.”
“Alex,” Blunt said, speaking in a measured tone. “What are you going to do?”
She sat back down at her laptop and continued typing.
“Alex, talk to me. Tell me what you’re doing.”
She smiled. “It’s not what I’m going to do, but what I’ve already done.”
“Since you’re sitting in your apartment in England, I’m starting to get concerned.”
“Relax, J.D. I just stole an MQ-9 Reaper—and I need to divert my full attention to flying it.”
Alex hung up and zeroed in on her keyboard as she entered new coordinates for the drone she’d hacked. The nearest one she found was only fifty miles away from Hawk’s location, which meant she could have the Reaper onsite in less than 15 minutes.
She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as she pulled up the drone’s camera and put it up on one of her other monitors. Her laptop became the virtual onboard computer, enabling her to identify targets as they came into view. With the DOD satellite picture still up on another screen, she marked the vehicle Hawk was in. They’d only
