“Where do you want to take me?” she asked.
“Some place safe where you won’t be used like a pawn again.”
“Will I be able to take this leg off?”
He shrugged. “If you’d like; that’s up to you. I thought you were excited about receiving such an incredible piece of technology.”
She sighed. “I’ll forever remember what happened here tonight whenever I put it on in the future.”
“Look, we all suffer in our lives, but we move on—at least, we should. You’re young, and I have no doubt that you’ll be able to move on, probably much sooner than you think you can right now.”
A’isha stood, and her eyes met Nelson’s. “I’m ready to go. Please take me some place safe.”
“Good. We need to hurry and get far away from here.”
“Why? What could happen?”
Nelson took her hand and helped her down the steps before striding up the aisle to the exit. “I’ll explain everything later. We don’t have any time to waste.”
A’isha came to an abrupt halt, stamping her foot as she did. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me why we need to hurry and why we need to get so far away from here.”
Nelson sighed. “The quick story is that we’re in danger right now due to the way that bomb in your leg can be detonated. If we’re in range of a cell phone tower, we’re in danger, so I need to get you far away from here.”
“Then where are we going?”
“We’re going to the train station. We first need to disappear from the area, and then I’m going to drive you up into the Catskill Mountains in New York where nobody will find us unless we want to be found.”
A’isha resumed her pace, passing Nelson, who was standing still and shaking his head.
“You’re quite a firecracker,” Nelson said.
“A what?”
“Never mind,” he said. “Let’s just keep going.”
A’isha charged ahead, fighting back tears. Despite the kindness of Agent Nelson, she was still grappling with swirling emotions, ranging from rage to gratefulness and terror to courage.
CHAPTER 19
HAWK SKIDDED TO A STOP at the curb and reached across the passenger seat to fling open the door. After Black hustled over to the car, he jumped inside. Checking the rearview mirror, Hawk sped off.
“Where have you been?” Hawk asked, dispensing with pleasantries. “We needed your help tonight.”
“You’ve got it now,” Black said. “But I’m not a magician. I can’t change the past.”
“You’re not answering my question.”
Hawk gave Black a sideways glance as the car roared through an intersection.
“It’s a long story and—”
“And I already know the shortened version. But I want to hear what you were doing with your sister. Why tonight of all nights?”
“Can we just focus on finding Young right now? I’ll tell you everything later.”
“No,” Hawk said, narrowing his eyes as he shot a quick look again at Black. “This is a matter of trust. And if I can’t trust you right now, this isn’t going to work.”
“Fine,” Black said. “Fortner kidnapped my sister and was holding her hostage.”
“He was in Chile, wasn’t he?”
Black nodded.
Hawk slammed the steering wheel with his fist. “I knew it. That intel was solid, and I was struggling to believe we had missed it so badly.”
Black explained the full story to Hawk as they drove from location to location in search of the warehouse where Evana Bahar and her cell were broadcasting their torture of President Young. At times, Black’s story seemed almost unbelievable, but Hawk tried to take Blunt’s advice and keep an open mind.
Hawk jerked the wheel to the right as the car fishtailed on the snow-slick surface. Every few minutes, the precipitation’s intensity seemed to increase.
As Black continued sharing his side of the events, Hawk attempted to put himself in that same scenario. If he had a sister in danger at the hands of a madman, Hawk concluded he probably would’ve done the same thing. Once Black finished, Hawk patted his partner on the back.
“How’s your sister doing?” Hawk asked.
“She’s pretty shaken up, not to mention the fact that she now knows I’m a secret government operative. That was all news to her.”
Hawk chuckled as he rolled into the parking lot of another potential place Young was being held. “She’ll probably never look at you the same again, will she?”
“I highly doubt it—and I’ll bet that she’ll have a hard time trusting any strangers in the future.”
“Join the club,” Hawk said with a laugh. “We’re partners, and this whole conversation started because I was having a difficult time trusting you. Even those closest to us can make us hold everyone suspect. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
“Are we good now?” Black asked.
Hawk reached over gave Black a fist bump. “We’re good now, and I’m sorry for being so hard on you about this. You’ve gotta protect your family, something I don’t have anymore.”
“You’ve got Alex.”
“Of course, but I’m talking about your blood kin, the people who’ve been there with you and for you your entire life. I’m referring to the brothers, sisters, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles—everyone who saw you grow up and know the best and worst sides of you. When you lose that, it’s like you lose a little piece of yourself. I lost that a long time ago, and in some ways, I never really had it.”
“You have Blunt.”
Hawk nodded. “And he’s the reason I ever considered this job in the first place. In a field riddled with deceit, you need a constant, a rock, someone you can count on.”
“That’s what Laura is for me. And although I’m not sure it’ll be like this in the future, any time I visit her, I forget about this work for a few hours and just relax.”
Hawk turned off the engine. “Well, let’s go check out this facility and see if it’s what we’re looking for.”
Both agents stealthily stepped out of the vehicle and crept around the corner of the building, weapons
