“Please, no more chases,” Hawk said. “I’ve had enough erratic driving and piloting for one day.”
“I won’t make any promises,” Alex said with a wink.
Hawk looked at the clock—it was nearly 1:00 a.m. While Hawk’s body had reached its limit, his mind was still working.
“Do you still have those missiles in the trunk?” he asked.
Alex nodded. “What are you thinking?”
“We need to get rid of those things right now.”
“And how do you propose to do that?”
“Let’s sink them in the bay.”
Alex pulled into an empty beach parking lot just off the main road.
“Remove all the navigational features,” Hawk said. “Basically take out anything that could be used to reverse engineer these weapons.”
“I’m already on it,” Alex said, unscrewing the control panel that contained the navigational device for each missile.
Less than ten minutes later, she had stripped each missile down to little more than its shell.
“They’re awfully light,” Alex said as she weighed one in her hands. “Are you sure these things will sink?”
Hawk nodded. “Even if they don’t, it won’t matter. The Cubans—or anyone else for that matter—won’t be able to do anything with them.”
Satisfied that the missiles were unusable and the chemicals would be rendered useless, he headed toward the mainland. Once they started to cross the bridge that spanned an inlet, Alex eased onto the shoulder. She tossed the first missile into the water. The moon provided just enough light for her to see the weapon disappear beneath the surface. She proceeded to dispose of the other two, lingering until they vanished in the water.
Hawk watched from the comfort of the car.
“Good work, Alex,” he said after she returned.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Hawk dialed Blunt’s number.
“You both still alive?” Blunt asked.
“For the time being,” Hawk said. “But just barely.”
“I look forward to hearing all about it. Apparently you succeeded.”
“We tried calling you earlier, but you didn’t answer your phone, which isn’t like you. Is everything okay?”
“It is now. I’ll fill you in on everything when you get back.”
“Yeah, about that,” Hawk said. “We need to get out of here ASAP. Can you contact the pilot for us and have him report to the airport immediately?”
“What did you do?”
“Don’t worry. We didn’t leave a trail of dead bodies, but we could be in some hot water if we’re still here in the morning.”
“I’ll call the pilot and have him get the plane ready.”
Hawk hung up and looked at Alex. “We’re getting out of here tonight.”
* * *
AN HOUR LATER, Hawk and Alex were taxiing down the runway.
“I’m not gonna miss this place,” Alex said.
“If only we had a chance to spend some time relaxing at the beach,” Hawk said.
“I think I’m starting to see the allure of a beach vacation.”
“I knew you’d come around.”
The plane sped down the runway before lifting off.
As the aircraft climbed, Alex looked at her phone and noticed she’d missed a call from Mallory along with a couple of texts.
Alex scrolled through the pictures that Mallory had sent, including the image painted on her wall. After studying them, Alex handed her phone to Hawk.
“Chilling,” he said once he’d finished and returned her cell. “I wonder what she’s stumbled on.”
“Well, she mentioned about seeing an image of a pair of senators meeting with some Chinese Navy admirals in a meeting that wasn’t made public.”
“Of course they wouldn’t want that getting out, but maybe it’s not what it seems.”
She forced a laugh. “When is any clandestine meeting with politicians benign? There’s a reason they don’t want that information getting out.”
“Whatever the reason, it looks like she’s poked the bear. We need to speak with Blunt about this when we get back and see if he knows anything.”
Alex nodded. “That’s not all Mallory sent me. There’s also this dossier that I thought you might find interesting.”
She handed the phone back to him. He scanned a report, complete with pictures. Hawk zoomed in on the images and shook his head.
“This isn’t exactly news to me now,” Hawk said after he read the document.
“I know, but I thought you’d want to see that intelligence briefing. Evana Bahar has breathed new life into Al Hasib, only she’s renamed it Al Fatihin—The Conquerors.”
Hawk sighed. “I guess we can forget about beach vacations any time soon.”
CHAPTER 31
Langley, Virginia
GENERAL FORTNER HUNG UP after getting debriefed by Blunt. Digesting the news wasn’t easy for Fortner, who was tasked with gathering intelligence to keep U.S. interests safe. The notion that someone would conspire against his own country to move an agenda forward wasn’t unique, but the fact that it was Senator Thurman shocked Fortner. Thurman’s presidential aspirations were no secret, even something people within the intelligence community rooted for despite being urged to remain neutral politically. However, working in cooperation with a terrorist organization to assassinate the sitting president wasn’t an act that could be ignored.
Fortner paced around the room, considering the best way to break the news to President Young. A face-to-face meeting would be best, but Young wasn’t likely to peel off his stumping schedule at a time when his party needed him to bolster their chances in the mid-term elections. And while Fortner contemplated meeting Young on the campaign trail, reports of such a meeting could get leaked to the press and lead to wild speculation. Ultimately, Fortner decided a phone call was his best option.
Fortner alerted Young’s staff about an urgent conversation that needed to occur. Fifteen minutes later, Fortner’s phone rang.
“Please stay on the line for the President of the United States,” a woman said.
After several clicks, Young started speaking. “General, how the hell are ya?”
“I’m doing well, but I wish I had better news for you.”
“What’s going on?”
“Actually, it’s already happened and everyone is safe, but I thought you might be interested to know that an attempt was made on your life at the Hard Rock Stadium last night.”
“What?” Young asked with an edge to his voice. “And this is the first I’m
