“If you didn’t keep secrets from me, I never would’ve come down here in the first place,” she fired back. “How can I even trust you anymore?”
“Alex, it’s not like that,” Hawk said.
She wasn’t hearing any of it, turning around and storming back toward their car.
Black continued to move toward Hawk. “Don’t worry about it, man. We’ll get Fortner another time.”
“But that was our golden opportunity to capture him. We may not get another chance like that.”
Black shrugged. “We will. Now go sort things out with Alex. We need this team on the same page if we’re going to take down Obsidian.”
Hawk sighed and trudged toward the car. But Alex was already gone.
CHAPTER 9
HAWK GROANED WHEN his alarm went off the next morning. After training himself to get up at daybreak while in the military, Hawk rarely slept late enough for his alarm to sound. But between sleeping on the couch and rehashing his conversation with Alex in his head, he was up for hours before finally crashing.
He rolled off the edge, hitting the floor with a thud. Usually such a noise would have Alex running into the room, sometimes with her gun drawn. But not this morning. Alex had already left for the day.
Hawk scrambled to get dressed and cooked breakfast before heading to the office. And it wasn’t something he was looking forward to. His only hope was that Alex had cooled off some and would be a little more understanding.
When Hawk strode through the front doors at the Phoenix Foundation, he received some looks that signaled he knew Alex had already charged inside in all her fury. A couple of administrative assistants glanced at him then looked away when he made eye contact, hiding behind their project reports and manila folders. There was nothing he could do but brace for Hurricane Alex, not that he really blamed her for her anger.
Hawk crept past her workstation, crouching low and moving swiftly until he reached Blunt’s office. He softly knocked on the door and eased inside.
Blunt grunted as Hawk slipped into one of the chairs across from his boss’s desk.
“Please keep it down,” Hawk said in a hushed tone. “If she hears you talking, she’s going to storm in here.”
Blunt took a long pull on his coffee before setting it down on the table and emitting a satisfied sigh. “I knew this was coming, but I had no idea it’d be this rough. Alex is usually a pretty understanding person.”
“Except when it comes to issues of honesty. When she’s been lied to or feels like someone tried to pull one over on her, she brings some fire.”
“Have you had a chance to talk with her yet?” Blunt asked.
Hawk shook his head slowly. “I slept on the couch last night because I know a conversation wouldn’t go anywhere. To be honest, I didn’t even attempt to discuss it last night after we got back from our stakeout of Kitty Tiller’s place.”
“Black gave me the full report on how that went,” Blunt said as he winced. “How did Fortner escape?”
“Hell if I know. For a minute there, I thought we had him pinned down. And then poof! It was like he disappeared into thin air. I know we’re not dealing with some rookie operative, but I certainly didn’t expect him to behave like a seasoned agent.”
“You can’t underestimate Fortner,” Blunt said. “He’s got a way about him that suggests he’s just bumbling along. But I think that’s his way of creating lower expectations all around for himself. Then when he exceeds those expectations, you think he’s a damn magician.”
“Well, he had to have some magic working last night to elude us. We were right on top of him before he inexplicably escaped.”
“Hopefully we’ll get another chance soon,” Blunt said. “But in the meantime—”
“In the meantime, you better start looping me in on everything,” Alex said as she burst into the room.
Blunt held up his hands, gesturing for her to calm down. “Alex, we’re all on the same side here.”
“Then why does it feel like I’m being ostracized?” she said, stamping her foot. “I work hard for this team, and I’m just as much of a part of it as anyone else. Keeping me in the dark isn’t the way we need to operate.”
Blunt clipped off the end of a cigar and then stuffed the stogie into his mouth. “Alex, this is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you what Hawk was doing.”
“What?” Alex said.
“This, this reaction,” Blunt said, extending his hand toward her and circling her in the air. “When you act like this, it makes everyone more reticent to trust you. Stomping around the office, disrupting a stakeout—we feared that you’d be a little fiery if you learned that your brother was being investigated.”
“First of all, he’s my half brother,” Alex said, pointing her index finger at Blunt. “And secondly, I’m not mad because you suspected him and asked Hawk to look into what he was doing. I’m mad because you intentionally hid it from me. You conspired with my husband to keep a portion of his mission away from me. I find that infuriating.”
Blunt shifted in his seat. “Well, perhaps I made a mistake, but I—”
“No, you definitely made a mistake,” Alex said. “What makes this team work so well is the fact that we have each other’s backs and don’t keep secrets from each other.”
“Alex, we’re in the espionage business,” Blunt said. “You should know by now that secrecy is a part of what we do.”
“But from each other? No, that’s not how this works. At least, that’s not how it’s supposed to work. We can’t have any doubt that we’re all on the same page and have the same goals for each mission—and even if it’s family.”
Blunt’s eyebrows shot upward. “Are you sure about that?”
Alex nodded. “I signed up to protect the security interests of this country and the people
