“If we still have it,” Alex said. “How do you know that those militiamen weren't playing you yesterday?”
“We don’t,” Hawk said, “but when I looked at Chief’s face when he was talking about the man he knows as Billy Youngblood, the contempt was genuine. You just can’t fake that.”
“In that case, you boys better suit up,” she said. “The mountain awaits you.”
* * *
HAWK AFFIXED A BODY CAM to the strap on his pack and turned the device on before heading out with Black.
“Can you hear me?” Hawk asked over his coms.
“Loud and clear,” Alex said.
“Good. We’re going to get your drone back and figure out what’s going on here.”
“I don’t like it, Hawk.”
“I know,” he said. “I can tell you’re apprehensive about this mission. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. I just can’t shake this bad feeling I have. These people we’re dealing with, they’re—” She stopped abruptly, suspending her thought.
“They’re what?” Hawk asked. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah,” she said slowly, “everything is fine. I just got chills thinking about what might happen if we don’t stop these people.”
“We’ll stop them. Don’t worry,” Hawk said as he turned and looked at Black. “You’ve got two of the best agents on the case.”
Black chuckled. “You've got the second best agent and me. You're in luck.”
“You better be as good as advertised,” Alex said. “This is your chance to prove it.”
Hawk and Black moved along the same path as the drone, reaching the charred area and forging ahead without taking too much time to examine it. Black surveyed the damage and nodded.
“This was definitely an explosion,” he said. “No doubt about it.”
A few minutes later, they arrived at the spot where the drone started to go on the blink.
“There’s the drone,” Hawk said.
Alex gave a celebratory whoop. “Hopefully it’s not fried.”
“I’ll let you be the judge of that,” Hawk said as he knelt down and picked it up. “Are you getting this?”
No reply.
“Alex, are you there?”
Nothing—except a screeching noise in his ear from the coms. He backed up a few meters before speaking again.
“Alex?” he tried again. “Are you there?”
“Oh, there you are,” she said. “You went out for a moment, just like the drone.”
“Well, I can’t see much of anything new from here,” he said. “But there’s definitely something inside that mountain. And we’re going to need to get a little closer to check it out some more.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Alex said.
“Why’s that?”
“You’re about three miles away from here, and it just started snowing like crazy.”
“The old man was right,” Hawk said with a chuckle.
“What old man?”
“Never mind. I'll explain later.”
“So are you coming back now?” she asked. “I might be covered up by the time you get here if you don’t hurry.”
Hawk sighed. “This is our chance to find out what this place is. We haven’t seen a single guard from here, and if we’re going to break inside, we at least need to know what we’re up against.”
“I don’t like this, Hawk.”
“We’ll make it quick. I promise.”
Hawk nodded at Black before they moved forward and crossed the small tributary that wasn’t much more than a trickle. After hopping over it, Hawk looked up and noticed a large pole poorly disguised as a tree with several communication dishes attached near the top.
“Think that’s where the magnetic field is being generated?” Hawk asked.
Black stopped and stared up. “That’s what I’d put my money on. I see some devices pointed toward the ground and several aimed skyward.”
“All right. Let’s keep moving. Just remember that.”
After they plodded along for a few more minutes in silence, Black started a conversation.
“You know, charging ahead without going back and forth about it is so much easier,” Black said.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Hawk asked.
Black nodded.
“Yeah, well, we’re a team and we work together like one,” Hawk said. “You don’t just race into a potentially dangerous situation without discussing it first.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
Hawk shook his head. “You’ve got some nerve. I’ll tell you that much. I suppose you forgot that we’re down one less terrorist in custody because of your stunt in Sudan.”
“I got quite a bit of intel on Evana Bahar and how Al Fatihin operates.”
“That information is probably worthless by now as much as they move around. We speculated that Evana was making a move to retrieve Ramin Torabi so she could ingratiate herself to his father, Amir, who also is the head of HadithTel and could fund Al Fatihin for years. And if that’s the case, I think you know who got the short end of that trade.”
“Not if I’m the one who brings them down.”
“We will bring them down,” Hawk said. “But how many more innocent people might die before we do?”
Black remained silent as they forged through the forest and made their way closer to Walsh’s property boundary. Hawk noticed a guard patrolling the area a few meters away and scrambled to the ground, dragging Black down as well.
Hawk rolled into a prone position and looked at Black, who had pulled out his binoculars and was scanning the surrounding area.
“How many men do you see?” Hawk asked in a whisper.
Black held up his hand. “Five,” he said. “All armed. And these don’t look like stiffs with a weapon either.”
“So, we’re in for a fight?”
“If we try this now—and who knows how many more are behind that door.”
“Door?” Hawk asked. “What door?”
A large section of the rock against the side of the mountain began to slide upward.
“Would you look at that,” Black said. “Those militiamen weren't kidding when they said some major construction was going on here. What is Obsidian hiding inside there?”
“What else do you see?”
“Looks like there’s a checkpoint of some kind and definitely more men inside. Oh, and there he is, Mr. Walsh himself.”
Hawk snatched the binoculars from Black without a word and surveyed the scene.
“I think I could take him out right now,” Hawk said.
“Look who’s acting impulsively now,” Black said. “We need
