Hawk’s phone rattled across the table. “It’s Big Earv,” he announced. “Let me take this outside.”
He hustled out of the room and answered the call. “What’s going on?”
“I thought you might want to know that the first lady is meeting with Samuels right now,” Big Earv said.
“You need to grab him.”
“I can’t do that. I don’t have a justifiable reason.”
“Go with the idea that her life might be in danger,” Hawk said.
“But they’re family friends.”
“So what? Don’t you know that one in five homicides is committed by a family member? We just need a reason to apprehend him.”
“If I try to grab him now, the first lady will have me fired immediately and order the other agents to detain me.”
“I’m sure you work with reasonable people.”
Big Earv grunted. “You seriously don’t understand the type of person who applies for a job with the Secret Service, do you? Reasonable isn’t in their vocabulary. There’s only one part of the job that matters—and that’s protecting the asset. If the first lady says I’m endangering her by detaining someone she’s meeting with cordially and there’s no proof of a threat, I’m done. No one will back me up.”
“Grab him, and I’ll help you sort it out later.”
“I just can’t—but maybe you can. We just got to the first lady’s favorite park. If you hurry, maybe you can detain Samuels yourself.”
Hawk sighed. “Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can. And if you won’t arrest Samuels for me, can you at least eavesdrop on their conversation?”
“That I can do.”
“See you in a bit.”
Hawk rushed back into the conference room and rehashed his conversation with Big Earv. “I’m heading out to the park. Black, I need you to come with me.”
Black nodded and then followed Hawk out to the car.
“We’re wading into some unprecedented waters here,” Hawk said as he navigated the gridlocked streets of Washington. “The first lady as an Obsidian recruit? Who would’ve imagined such a thing?”
“The president still doesn’t know, does he?”
Hawk shook his head. “I’m not sure he would believe it either. And if she’s working with Samuels, it’s the perfect cover since they’re related.”
“Maybe they’re more than that,” Black suggested.
“I guess it’s possible, but she’s like twenty years older than him. I’ve read that she treats him like the son she never had.”
Black shrugged. “Still doesn’t mean it’s not a possibility.”
“Either way, she’s in deep and positioned perfectly to manipulate the president to do exactly what Obsidian wants.”
A few minutes later, Hawk pulled up to the park. He and Black scanned the area for any sign of the first lady or the Secret Service.
“Are you sure this is where Big Earv told you to meet him?” Black asked.
Hawk nodded. “This is the only place she meets people in public. They must’ve left already.”
Convinced that the park was empty, they trudged to the car. Hawk ignited the engine with the push of a button and turned on his radio.
“In breaking news, sources tell our department that, today, law enforcement officials in both New York and Chicago have foiled a terrorist plot designed to blow up busy rail transit areas.”
“And the confirming text from Blunt,” Black said as he held up his cell phone.
“Well, if Obsidian didn’t know we were on to them before, they do now,” Hawk said. “But Samuels is still running free. And who knows what he’s cooking up with the first lady.”
They rolled along the surface streets of Washington, listening to a report of so-called security analyst experts debate the meaning of the attack and speculate on who was behind it and why.
“Doesn’t it make you want to just punch these guys in the face?” Hawk asked.
Black nodded. “It’s why I don’t listen to this crap. Because that’s all it is: a hot, steaming pile of garbage foisted on the American public as some strange form of entertainment.”
“When you keep your standards low, you’re rarely disappointed,” Hawk said with a smirk.
Black buried his head in his hands. “Can we please turn this off?” He paused. “No, actually, I’m demanding that you turn this off right now before I shoot up your radio.”
Hawk chuckled as he turned the power off. “It’s a good thing you became an operative instead of a politician.”
“I would’ve taken a flying leap off the top of the capitol building by now,” Black said.
“But knowing your luck, you probably would’ve survived.”
“No, that’s definitely good luck to survive, even in a situation as dire as that. No good luck for me, remember?”
Hawk was mulling over which of his two smart ass phrases to respond with when his phone buzzed.
“It’s Big Earv,” Hawk said. “Maybe he can tell us where the hell they went.”
Hawk wondered what could’ve taken so long for Big Earv to update him on the whereabouts of the first lady and Shane Samuels.
“I was beginning to think you’d abandoned us,” Hawk said as he answered.
“I’m sorry about that,” Big Earv said, his voice somber.
“What’s wrong, man?” Hawk asked. “You don’t sound right.”
“Meet me at the Dacha Beer Garden in a half hour. We need to talk.”
CHAPTER 23
HAWK APPROVED OF BIG EARV’S appointed meeting lunchtime location. A sprawling outdoor space with the constant ambient hum of conversations and random dogs barking in the beer garden made Dacha a great place to have a private conversation without looking like it was a secretive one. Hawk ordered a seltzer water and a sandwich while waiting for the Secret Service insider to arrive. After a five-minute wait, he ambled up to their table and took a seat.
“Sorry about being late,” he said. “I had to fill out some additional paperwork for my supervisor after our meeting this morning changed venues.”
Black waited for a moment before joining them.
“Where did he come from?” Big Earv asked.
“Black had to make sure you weren’t being followed,” Hawk said.
“You guys are a little paranoid.”
Black shook his head and scanned the area. “If we aren’t, we’re as good as dead.”
“So tell us
