Mallory clicked off her safety, her gun trained on the man’s back.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she said.
The man turned around and noticed Mallory.
“Who are you people?” he asked.
“We’re just here to retrieve some stolen property,” Mallory said. “Now I suggest you hand that nice young lady the laptop in your backpack before I pump some lead into you. Think you can go along with that deal?”
The man didn’t say a word, seething as he dug through his bag and fished out Alex’s laptop. He handed it to her.
“Is that it?” Mallory asked.
Alex turned it on and stared at the screen as she waited for it to come to life. The computer whirred, and the login window appeared.
“This is it,” Alex said.
“Good,” Mallory said before looking directly at the man. “You got off easy today. If I as much hear you breathe a word of this to anyone, I’ll send an army of DEA agents over here and they’ll have your sorry ass in jail for the twenty years. You understand?”
“Lady, I don’t even do drugs,” he said. “I just—”
“Just what? Hustle vulnerable women in dark alleys? I think that’s even worse. But don’t you worry. Whatever charges come your way will most definitely stick.”
“I’ll stop, lady. Just point that thing elsewhere,” he said, gesturing toward Mallory’s gun.
She lowered her weapon and eyed him closely.
“I suggest you get on out of here and find a respectable means of employment.”
He nodded and dashed off down the sidewalk.
Alex smiled. “You may have just turned that man’s life around right there.”
Mallory rolled her eyes. “He’ll be locked up before the end of the week. The only things he regrets right now are that he got caught and he got kicked in the face by a woman. I doubt either of those things will score him many points with his gang.”
“Well, let’s get out of here before we draw any attention,” Alex said. “I need to find out where Hawk is and if he needs my help.”
Alex looked down at her comlink as it started to blink.
“What’s that all about?” Mallory asked, gesturing toward the device.
“Someone’s online,” Alex said as she inserted the earpiece. “It’s Hawk.”
CHAPTER 20
HAWK BUMPED ALONG THE ROCKY ROAD in the truck that he’d stolen from Al Hasib. He shoved in his earpiece and had fallen into a rhythm of trying to raise Alex on the coms every five minutes or so without much luck. But he persisted and was rewarded when Alex finally answered him after a couple of hours.
“Are you okay?” Hawk asked.
“I should be asking you that question,” Alex answered.
“Since you weren’t responding, I figured something had to have happened to you. It’s not like you to leave me stranded in the middle of a mission.”
“Well, your suspicions are correct. Something did happen to me, but I don’t want to get into it right now. Tell me how you are and how I can help.”
“I’m alive,” Hawk said. “And currently, I’m speeding along one of these godforsaken Iraqi highways headed for a port so I can get to the Strait of Hormuz.”
“Did you get captured?”
“Captured, tortured, and questioned.”
“And released?”
“Not exactly,” Hawk said. “Fazil left me alive because he said he wanted me to watch him bring the world to its knees. Then I learned that the weapons system is going to be utilized in the Strait of Hormuz. It’s going to cripple the world’s oil prices and give Al Hasib control if they manage to commandeer any boats as they hold all these tankers hostage.”
“How’d you escape?”
“It’s a long story, but the short version is that I had some help by a nice young man who’s infiltrated Al Hasib to take revenge for the death of his uncle.”
“So, what can I do for you?”
“Meet me in Oman,” Hawk said. “I need you on site with me if we’re going to disable the weapon. This is one mission I can’t do on my own. I need your savvy tech skills to snuff out this threat.”
“And you’re sure that’s where the weapon is going?”
“I’d bet my life on it,” Hawk said.
“How exactly are we going to disarm it? Do you have a plan?”
“I’m still working on that, but I’ll have it all figured out by the time you get here.”
“Are you sure we’ll have enough time before Al Hasib starts using it?”
“I don’t know. But I do know we don’t have much time, so do whatever you can to get to Oman. I’ll send you the exact location for where we can meet up.”
“Be careful, Hawk.”
“You know me.”
Hawk hung up and continued on his route toward Um Qasr, a port city a stone’s throw from Kuwait. After stopping for gas in Basrah, Hawk purchased a first aid kit to clean up his face as well as a cell phone. He bandaged himself up before he called Thomas Colton to learn more about the best way to disarm the underwater weapon.
“Hello, Son—I mean, Brady,” Colton said as he answered the phone.
“It’s been long enough since you found out the truth. You need to stop calling me that.”
“Old habits die hard.”
“So does your habit of letting terrorists get their hands on your weapons.”
“And I’m hoping that you’ll be able to stop them. Is that what this call is about?”
Hawk sighed. “Sort of. I need to talk with one of your top technical experts to learn about the weapon’s vulnerabilities and what the best is way to shut it down.”
“Then you’d want to speak with Dr. Carl Morton, the head of our research and development team,” Colton said. “Carl conceived the design for the mine weapons system and will know if there are any easy ways to disarm it. Let me patch you through to him—and good luck.”
“Thanks,” Hawk said.
He waited as the line started ringing again.
“This is Dr. Morton.”
“Hello, Dr. Morton, this is Brady Hawk, and I’m the one who’s trying to retrieve your
