“We’ll make sure to keep a low profile,” Hawk said. “We’re honeymooners, right?”
“If that’s the case, where’s my ring?”
Hawk reached into his bag and produced a fake diamond ring.
Alex’s mouth fell agape. “Hawk, what is this ?”
“If we’re going to look the part, we need all the right props.”
“Hmm. Nice prop.”
“It’s a fake, Alex. Now, should we go over the plan again?”
She shook her head and adjusted the ring on her finger. “I think I’ve got it. You just need to get me close enough to hack into the console so I can set off the homing beacon. Should be easy enough. You’re the one with the hardest job, not me.”
“I hope you’re wrong about that.”
The captain docked the boat and helped them get out. Hawk thanked the man and slipped him an extra hundred dollar bill to get Alex roses for their room. He winked at the man and gestured toward the ring on her finger. The captain smiled and nodded knowingly.
Hawk and Alex proceeded to check into their hotel room, which was located on a rocky cliff overlooking the harbor. He set up all his reconnaissance equipment and scanned the area below for any signs of Fazil’s men.
“Are you seeing anything yet?” Alex asked after ten minutes of silent searching.
“Nothing so far. There’s plenty of activity around the docks, but nothing that looks suspicious at the moment. Mostly just fishing and tourism boats.”
Another five minutes passed without a word spoken between either of them.
Hawk stood. “I need to go down there and scope it out.”
“Right now?”
He nodded. “It’s just before lunch. By the time I get down there, the place should clear out a little bit, and maybe I’ll be able to get a better feel for what I need to do to get you close enough to hack into the system.”
“From the report you gave me, I only need to be about fifty meters away. That should be close enough for me to gain access to the network.”
“Any chance beyond that distance?”
She shook her head. “It’s a localized system, and the back entrance is designed to latch on to any cellular networks in the area. However, the only way you can gain access is through a special bluetooth portal the engineer created. It’s a boosted bluetooth signal, and fifty meters should be strong enough for our needs. All I need to do is engage the homing beacon. I could be done in less than a minute if everything goes as planned.”
Hawk shot her a sideways glance. “Nothing ever goes as planned.”
“You don’t have to tell me that, but a girl can dream, can’t she?”
“Realistically, how long will it take?”
“Maybe five minutes tops,” she said. “That should allow for any extra hiccups I might encounter.”
“Fair enough. That at least lets me know what I’m dealing with in getting you close to the boat.”
“What makes you think Al Hasib even has the control panel on one of their boats here?”
“It’s too heavy to lug around. Plus if someone decided to, it’d likely draw quite a bit of unwanted attention. At least, that’s what Kejal told me.”
“Good luck down there,” Alex said. “I’ll keep an eye on you from here. What’s your cover going to be?”
“I’m going to ask if any of the tourism boats know of a spot where we can cliff dive around here. I’ve always dreamed of doing something like that on my honeymoon.”
Alex laughed softly. “For some reason that doesn’t surprise me.”
“Yeah, I’m not the kind of guy who will just grab a book and read by the beach for the entire vacation. I need to be doing something active.”
“You might try relaxing sometime,” she said. “It can be therapeutic.”
“The most therapeutic thing I can do right now is put an end to this threat in the Strait of Hormuz. Maybe after that, I’ll consider a lazy vacation with you.”
“In that case, I’ve got a list of places we could go to waste the time away.”
Hawk wagged his finger. “Don’t get too excited. We need to stay focused and finish this assignment first.”
“Good luck,” she said.
With his pack slung over his back, Hawk made his way down to the docks to scout out the area and look for the potential boat that contained the control system. The biggest problem Hawk had was that almost all of the boats appeared rather modest without much room to house such a device. The larger vessels were prone to attract attention in a small harbor such as the one on Kumzar, and Fazil was smart enough not to make a mistake like that.
Where are you, Al Hasib?
Hawk stopped and spoke with a boat captain about the possibility of hiring him later that afternoon for a tour around the island. Trying to remain as casual as possible, Hawk continued scanning the area for a likely candidate. When nothing stuck out to him, he left the harbor area and walked along the shoreline for a couple miles. Finally, something caught Hawk’s eye.
Anchored just off shore at an inlet away from the main docks was a boat that looked out of place. At about forty feet in length, the craft had sleeping quarters below deck visible by way of several porthole windows. One man stood at the helm hunched over. Hawk noticed the man had a gun holstered as he stood upright and began walking around the deck. As he strode about, he looked off in the distance, but there were no lines of concern etched into his forehead. Hawk figured the guard must have thought everything was as it was supposed to be and didn’t give much more than a cursory glance at the shoreline.
Hawk hid behind a row of trees just off the shore. With the tide going out, the boat was in shallow enough water that Hawk noted
