“Okay, I’m just trying to help.”
“You’ve got bigger problems right now that require your attention. You need to hack into the navigational system on that missile and splash it down into the Atlantic.”
“I’m working on it,” Alex said, her head down as she typed on her laptop.
“Can you do it?” he asked.
“Keep your fingers crossed. I got the specs from Colton Industries earlier, so I got everything I need to do it. I’m just not sure I have enough time.”
“Just focus on that,” Hawk said. “You’ve got less than two minutes. I’ll figure out how to shake these thugs.”
Hawk stomped on the gas as he approached a slight curve. He was getting close to the center of town where he would be more vulnerable not only to the terrorists but also to local police. If caught by either one, Hawk knew the chances of them escaping with their lives would be small. There was no extraction team waiting for them either. Hawk had to figure out a way.
Fight or die.
“Hold on,” Hawk said.
He whipped the steering wheel to his left just as he rounded the slight curve. If his tail lights vanished from view, he thought he might be able to trick the terrorists just enough to race back down the street and steal down a side road and wait them out.
Rerouted in the opposite direction, Hawk smiled as he thought his plan had worked. The terrorists flew right past. But the victory was short-lived as he looked in his rearview mirror and noticed the blue sedan turning around.
“Dammit,” he said.
“Going that well?” Alex asked without looking up, her fingers flying across the laptop.
“I hope things are going better for you.”
“I’m getting there, just running out of time.”
Hawk checked his mirrors. The blue sedan might have followed him, but his earlier maneuver would have given him the separation he needed to escape them for good. With his foot all the way to the floorboard, he gave Alex another warning.
“Brace yourself,” he said.
For a fleeting second, the blue sedan’s headlights vanished in the distance—and Hawk seized his chance. He spun the car around again in the opposite direction, wasting no time in jamming his foot back onto the gas pedal. The car lurched forward, thrusting Hawk and Alex back in their seats.
“You sure know how to show a girl a good time,” Alex said, her head still buried in her computer.
“Have you managed to take control of that missile yet?” he asked as they raced past the blue sedan.
“I’m almost there.”
“Better hurry. We’ve only got—”
“Thirty seconds. Trust me, I know.”
Hawk glanced in his rearview mirror. He slammed his fist on the dashboard as he noticed that he hadn’t managed to fool the terrorists. They turned sharply and were once again in pursuit. While he was still miffed at his inability to shake the car, his disappointment was abated by Alex’s announcement.
“I’m in,” she said triumphantly.
“You’ve got ten seconds.”
“That’s more than enough,” she said, her fingers a blur across the keyboard.
She hit a button emphatically and pumped her fist. “Done,” she said. “Take that!”
“Where’d you put the missile down?” Hawk asked.
“It’s going to land about twenty miles off shore, far away from any humans. And I think the chemicals may get diluted in the salt water, but the bottom line is nobody is going to die tonight.”
Hawk looked in his mirror and shook his head. “I wouldn’t make that declaration just yet.”
Alex turned around and let a string of curse words fly. “Got any new ideas?” she asked. “Seems like this U-turn plan isn’t working.”
Hawk glanced behind him as he saw the headlights disappear. Seconds later, all he saw were red tail lights. “What the hell?”
Alex looked over his shoulder. “What is it?”
“They just turned around.”
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t make—” Hawk stopped short and slowed the car as he noticed a police roadblock a quarter of a mile down the road. If that wasn’t disconcerting enough, a helicopter flew directly over them.
“It makes perfect sense now,” Alex said. “So, now what?”
“Well, we can’t let those cops stop us. I think we should turn around, see if we can find out what group was behind this attack.”
“Sounds like a suicide mission,” Alex said. “I thought you were into the whole live-to-fight-another-day school of thought?”
“Didn’t you say that woman was carrying two large suitcases out of the hotel?”
Alex nodded. “What are you thinking?”
“What if the other suitcase contained another weapon?”
“We got all four missiles that Colton told us about. You think he omitted something?”
“I doubt it, but what if the other suitcase was the Silencer 2K? What if Thurman gave this to the terrorists as well? We can’t let them have technology like that. They’d be able to sneak around and wreak havoc all over the place without being seen. It’d make them next to impossible to catch.”
“So, what do you propose we do about it?”
“Let’s go track them down.”
Hawk slowly turned around before gunning the engine. He didn’t go more than a hundred meters before the police cars abandoned their roadblock and began pursuit.
“We’ve got company now,” Hawk said.
“We can handle them later, but we can’t let those terrorists get a chance to utilize that technology. It’ll be disastrous.”
“Just be ready to drive,” Hawk said.
“You have a plan?”
“Still working on it. But I’ll go after the terrorists; you’re going to have to shake these cops. We’re already going to be in trouble with the Cubans for our actions here, but if they discover these weapons in our trunk, we’ll never see the light of day again.”
“Teamwork makes the dream work,” Alex said.
“Somehow I’ve got a feeling that you didn’t mean that sincerely.”
“Actually, this is exactly what I imagined our marriage to be like—and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“No relaxing on the beach and sipping
