“She’s not fighting my battles,” Hawk said. “She’s just correcting you. But you gotta admit, if you’re going to play second fiddle to someone, it might as well be me.”
“I won’t admit that even if my life were on the line,” Black said. “I don’t cop to lies.”
“We’ll settle this later, gentlemen,” Alex said. “In the meantime, you two have a fire to start.”
“Roger that,” Black said.
Hawk watched through his binoculars from a half block away as Black jumped out of his EMT van and strode into the condo lobby entrance. A couple minutes passed smoke began pouring out of one of the first-floor windows and several residents fled through the front doors. Hawk directed his gaze to Samuels’s floor, but he could still be seen flashing by the window every few minutes or so.
“Did you pull the alarm?” Hawk asked.
“With sadistic glee,” Black said. “I haven’t yanked on one of those since the eighth grade just minutes before Mrs. Rast’s physical science mid-term that I hadn’t properly studied for.”
“It looks like most of the residents are heeding the warning,” Alex said.
“Every one of them except our good friend Shane Samuels,” Black said. “He’s staying put, isn’t he?”
“We didn’t think this would be easy, did we?” Hawk asked.
“This stuffy fire-retardant suit says no,” Black quipped.
“I’ll get him out,” Hawk said. “You just get ready to search the place.”
Hawk hustled across the street toward the condo and rushed inside. His mere presence was met with a plethora of thank yous from residents fleeing the building.
If you only knew . . .
He lowered his face guard to shield his identity and raced up the stairs to Samuels’s door. After knocking once and hearing no reply, Hawk shouted louder.
“Is anyone in there?” Hawk said. “There’s a fire in the building, and you need to evacuate immediately.”
“I’m fine,” Samuels shouted. “I’m sure you guys will handle it.”
“You need leave right this moment,” Hawk said, setting his bag that Alex had helped engineer to hide a smoke machine inside down by the door.
But there were no footfalls nearing the door even as plumes were pushed beneath the doorway.
“Please, sir,” Hawk said. “I’m begging you to come out now before it’s too late.”
Still no answer. Then Hawk drew back his axe and pummeled the door, splintering it in two hits. He kicked his way through and rushed inside, scanning the apartment for Samuels.
“Sir, I’ve got oxygen,” Hawk said as he continued looking around for any sign of Samuels. “I’ll help you get out of here.”
After a frantic half minute, Hawk found Samuels on his balcony, staring at the chaos in the streets below. Hawk grabbed Samuels and ushered him toward the door.
“We’ve gotta go now, sir,” Hawk said. “Your life is in danger. This building is becoming less structurally sound by the minute.”
Samuels didn’t budge.
“The longer we wait—”
“Okay, okay,” Samuels said, ripping his arm away from Hawk’s grip. “I’m coming. Just let me get my computer.”
“We don’t have time for that,” Hawk said.
Samuels pulled out a gun and trained it on Hawk. “I say we do. Now step aside.”
Hawk put his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender and moved out of Samuels’s way. He strode toward his office, where he shoved his computer into a laptop case and flung it over his shoulder.
“I’m ready,” Samuels said, his weapon still aimed at Hawk.
“Can you put that thing away?” Hawk said. “That won’t be necessary.”
Samuels tucked the gun into his pants and started walking toward the exit. Hawk took Samuels by the arm and led him to the hallway before pricking him with a tranquilizer needle that knocked him out in a matter of seconds.
Scooping up Samuels, Hawk raced downstairs. The concoction only lasted ten minutes, which was cutting it close for the amount of time Alex would need to get the necessary information off the laptop.
When Hawk hit the sidewalk, he rushed Samuels over to another paramedic van that had just arrived on the scene.
“This man needs some attention,” Hawk said, handing off Samuels.
Then Hawk sprinted over to Alex, who was waiting in their vehicle nearby. He ripped the computer out of the bag, handing her the device along with Samuels’s cell phone.
“Time to get to work,” he said.
She tagged Samuels’s phone with a micro tracker before taking the computer and typing furiously. Using an algorithm she wrote to break the password, she initiated the transfer of all his files over to her hard drive. Hawk nervously paced around, waiting for her to finish.
“Come on, come on,” Hawk said. “He’s starting to wake up.”
“Almost there,” she said.
“He’s sitting up,” Hawk said. “I need it back right now.”
“Done,” Alex said as she disconnected the two devices and handed the computer back to Hawk. He shoved it into place and hustled to the paramedic vehicle tending to Samuels.
“Wha—what happened?” Samuels asked.
“You passed out, sir,” the paramedic said. “Smoke inhalation.”
“But I—where’s my laptop?”
The two men looked around but didn’t see it upon a cursory glance. But Hawk, who had slipped into the van from the front seat, pushed the bag into plain view just beneath the stretcher holding Samuels.
“Oh, here,” the paramedic said. “Is this it?”
“Yes, thank God,” Samuels said, clutching it tightly. “Did anyone else touch this?”
“No, it was right here the whole time.”
“Good,” Samuels said. “I need to get going.”
“But, sir, I’m not done checking you out yet.”
“Yes, you are,” Samuels said as he hopped down and walked away.
Hawk breathed a sigh of relief from the front passenger seat once Samuels vanished. The paramedic turned and looked at Hawk.
“Did you know that guy?” the paramedic asked.
Hawk shook his head.
“Strange dude,” the man said.
Hawk seamlessly wove his way into the now growing number of first responders crowding the street. He went inside and acted as if he was making a sweep of the first floor.
“The fire’s out,” Black said over the coms. “Time to get out of here.”
He’d barely finished talking before Alex’s voice followed.
“Uh, guys, Blunt was right,” she said.
“About what?” Hawk asked.
“About everything,” Alex
