“I want to call the Chicago office,” Hawk said as he glanced at his watch. ‘They should be in by now.”
“But what if that was the Chicago office director you just spoke with? You’ll be busted without a doubt.”
“I can always hang up if I don’t recognize his voice.”
“Okay,” she said. “Give me a second, and I’ll scramble the location of your call.”
She typed furiously on her keyboard for a minute before announcing she was ready for Hawk to proceed. He picked up the phone and dialed the Chicago office’s number. The secretary answered and patched him through to Eddie Willingham, the director of the Chicago office.
“Eddie, this is Milt,” Hawk said. “How the heck are you?”
“I’d be a lot better if I wasn’t freezing my face off every time I go outside.”
“Maybe you should volunteer to open an office in Miami.”
“I tried that, remember? Dan beat me out for it. But thanks for rubbing it in.”
Hawk looked at Alex, who scowled at him. “So sorry. Forgot about how painful that was for you.”
“Forget about it, Milt. What do you need?”
“Just checking to make sure I haven’t missed anything regarding Tuesday’s launch.”
“All conditions are a go here. What about in New York?”
“No issues yet, so I anticipate everything will go off without a hitch.”
“Good,” Willingham said. “So, where are you going Tuesday?”
“I haven’t thought about it yet.”
“Well, you better. You need to take a long vacation far away just like they told us to. If not, you might regret it.”
“Of course,” Hawk said. “I mean, I’ve thought about it. I just haven’t made any concrete plans. I was thinking of maybe Fiji or somewhere like that.”
“Excellent choice. Maggie and I went there for our anniversary last year.”
“What about you? Where are you planning on going?”
Eddie chuckled. “What is wrong with you today? The last time you called, we talked about this. I’m heading to New Zealand for an extended trip.”
“Oh, yes,” Hawk said, earning another disapproving look from Alex. “I hear those Kiwis are fun. Beautiful country.”
“I know. You’ve told me all about your trips there many times. You’re the one who’s convinced me to go.”
“Have a nice trip. I’m sure we’ll talk after we all get back.”
“Of course. Stay safe,” Eddie said before hanging up.
“What a disaster,” Alex said. “At least if he tries to trace the call, he’ll see it lead back to this office. You’re lucky he didn’t act like he suspecting anything. But don’t worry because I pulled the plug on the rerouting as soon as I realized we were getting the Chicago office director.”
“The important thing is we know something major is going down on Tuesday—and New York City isn’t the only place in Obsidian’s sights.”
Before the discussion could continue, someone pressed the buzzer, requesting to be admitted to the building. Alex and Hawk rushed up to the front desk and looked at the man depicted on the security camera screen. He was leaning on a dolly stacked over four feet high with square boxes.
“What do you have there?”
“A delivery for Mr. Milton Reese,” the man said.
“Come on up,” Alex said as she pushed a button to allow him access. They both watched as he wheeled the packages onto the elevator and then entered the lobby area once he reached A Hand Up’s floor.
“I just need a signature right here,” the deliveryman said as he handed a tablet to Alex.
She scribbled an illegible name onto the screen and handed it back. He squinted as he studied what she wrote.
“First and last name, please,” he said.
“Nancy Register,” she said.
The man thanked her before ducking outside of the room and leaving the offices.
“What do you think this is?” Alex asked.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Hawk said as he pulled out a pocketknife and slipped it beneath the tape securing the box shut.
Hawk’s eyes widened and his mouth fell agape as he stared at the contents.
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’s a bomb. Obsidian is going to attempt to set off bombs all across the country.”
CHAPTER 15
Washington, D.C.
BLUNT STARED AT THE screen on his phone, alerting him that Randy Wood was calling. Given their conversation from the night before, Blunt wasn’t surprised. Wood needed assurance that he wasn’t going to be surprised with something the Phoenix Foundation team did. And Blunt was relieved that he wouldn’t have to disappoint the deputy director, at least not yet.
“Did your team return everything back to the way it was yesterday?” Wood asked.
“As far as I know,” Blunt said as he paced around his office.
“Just make sure you keep a tight leash on them. We have a good plan in place to unmask Obsidian’s chief players. Unfortunately, it’s going to take some time, and I know patience is something Hawk runs short of.”
“I’ll do my best, though I’m not sure we have the luxury of taking much time.”
“Just leave the speculation to us. You guys handle the field assignments we throw you and stick to the script.”
“You’re the boss,” Blunt said, though without an ounce of conviction.
“I’ll be in touch soon.”
Blunt hung up and noticed Hawk had tried to call.
“What did you find out?” Blunt asked as Hawk answered his phone.
“We have a serious threat in both New York and Chicago.”
“How serious?”
“Depends on where Obsidian is planning on planting this thing,” Hawk said. “But we just received a shipment of materials here necessary to build a bomb. The only thing missing are the explosives.”
“I’m sure they’ll be arriving soon.”
Hawk nodded. “I know. If we leave this office, we’ll be in danger of tipping off Obsidian that we discovered what they were up to.”
“And that can’t happen. I just spoke with Randy Wood, and he’s really nervous that we’re going to torpedo his plan to uncover who’s at the top of Obsidian’s power structure.”
“Well, we might not need a plan that takes weeks to unfold,” Hawk said. “Alex has been digging around this morning on the servers here and
