“Be my guest,” the old man said without flinching. However, he didn’t pop the trunk. Instead, he just sat there with the car idling.
“Sir,” the guard called, “I need you to open the trunk so I can inspect it.”
The old man didn’t move.
“It’s okay,” Hawk said. “Do what he says. We can handle ourselves.”
Hawk trained his gun upward and waited for the trunk to swing open.
CHAPTER 10
HAWK STARED UPWARD and tried to think two moves ahead once he eliminated the guard. The gunfire was sure to draw attention and send what remaining security force Dr. Becker had running toward the entrance. Hawk decided that kicking the trunk open could surprise the guard and knock him out before any weapons went off.
As a result, Hawk recoiled his legs, pressing his feet against the top of the trunk and waiting for the lock to click free. Hawk had already plotted out what to do next and mentioned the next course of action to Black.
“You good?” Hawk asked.
“Roger that,” Black said.
Hawk swallowed hard as he heard the sound of the guard fingering the latch. The trunk barely moved an inch before Hawk thrust his feet upward, slamming the metal into the guard’s face. He staggered sideways before Hawk caught the man with two hits, one to the throat and the other to the face. Before he had a chance to fight back, he collapsed to the ground, out cold.
The old man shifted into gear and stepped on the gas while Hawk was still dragging the guard’s body into the station.
Alex cocked her gun. “What do you think you’re doing?”
The man stomped on the brakes and waited for Hawk, who joined Black in the backseat.
Packed tightly inside, they shifted from side to side as the old man wove down the winding road leading away from the castle.
“You don’t need to drive so fast,” Alex said. “There’s no one right behind us.”
“I’m not slowing down for anything. They’re probably already after us.”
“You need to slow down up ahead because that’s our van,” she said.
He growled as he eased off the accelerator and tapped the brakes. Once the car came to a stop, he popped the trunk, sending Hawk and Black scrambling out of it.
“Thank you, sir,” Hawk said.
The old man flashed a rude gesture before stomping on the gas and speeding away.
“Time to get home and figure out what’s really going on,” Hawk said.
The team piled into the van and was tearing down the mountainside seconds later.
* * *
THE NEXT EVENING, Blunt welcomed the team home at the Phoenix Foundation offices, convening to discuss what they gleaned on their visit to Switzerland. Hawk nursed a cup of coffee as he settled into his chair next to Alex.
“Trying to wake up?” Blunt asked.
Hawk shook his head subtly. “It’s been a long thirty-six hours. I still haven’t recovered.”
“All that time on the plane and you didn’t catch up on your sleep?”
Black walked into the meeting and sat down across from Hawk and Alex as Blunt finished his comment.
“No matter how tired you are,” Black began, “it’s difficult to settle down after an operation like that. At least, I know it is for me.”
“Well, you're all awake enough to be here, and it's time to talk about what you found at Dr. Becker's fundraiser,” Blunt said.
Alex opened up her laptop. “I couldn’t sleep on the flight home either, so I started working on the phone we lifted off Dr. Becker.”
“Was it encrypted?” Blunt asked.
Alex nodded. “Yes, but I managed to crack it just before we touched down. Whoever is running Obsidian has some advanced technology. I couldn't get a geolocation on any of the numbers dialed from this phone. They were essentially all phony numbers.”
“How can that be?” Blunt asked.
She shrugged. “I’ve read about some software that can do this while visiting the dark web, but I’ve never come across it.”
“So, the phone is a dead end, just like the trip,” Blunt said.
“Only if Becker warned his Obsidian contact,” she said. “But according to him, this was the only way they communicated, and it was always a one-way communication.”
“So, what are you saying?” Blunt asked.
“I’m saying we have a way to contact Obsidian.”
Blunt slapped the table and grinned. “How long will it take you to set up a way to get a bead on their location if we call them tonight?”
“Maybe half an hour,” Alex said.
“Great,” Blunt said. “We’ll meet back here in thirty minutes.”
For the next few minutes, Alex worked hard to get all her programs set up to track the number, while Hawk and Black finished their reports from the operation. When she finished, she called everyone back to the room.
“Hawk,” she said, “I think you should be the one to do the honors.”
Hawk sighed and took the phone in his hands. He looked up slowly at Alex.
“Just hit the redial button,” Alex said. “Hopefully we’ll get some answers.”
He followed Alex's instructions and waited patiently as the phone rang. Three times, then four. Still nothing. A fifth and sixth ring. Nobody had answered yet. But just as the phone was about to ring a seventh time—and Hawk was about to hang up—a man replied on the other end.
“I was wondering what was taking you so long to give me a call, Mr. Hawk,” the man said.
There was a long, pregnant pause. Hawk said nothing as he glanced around the room at his colleagues.
“This is Mr. Hawk, isn’t it?” the man asked.
“Yes, and who is this?” Hawk asked.
“Your mother swore you would find me, though I am surprised it took you so long. I was beginning to wonder if she mattered as much to you and we believed.”
Hawk felt his heart begin to race. In the midst of dealing with the pain of losing his mother, he figured it had to be from some terrorist operative he battled in the past. Maybe a grieving brother set on getting his pound of flesh. Or a disgruntled arms dealer
