Mia scanned the names. Business leaders and politicians from the U.S., U.K., Australia, Germany, France, Spain, South Africa, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico among many others were listed in the transactions.
“This is unreal,” Shield said.
“I wish I could agree with you, but I’m not surprised,” Mia said. “But I’ve been seeing this for over a decade. It’s par for the course, in my opinion.”
“It’s still appalling.”
“Well, let’s make sure that the world learns about this,” Mia said before uploading the screen shots and files to a cloud server.
As they continued to work, the sound of gunfire echoed down the hall.
“What’s that?” Mia asked as Gimli rushed toward the door.
“They’ve found us,” Gimli said. “Emergency protocol, everyone.”
Mia watched as the hackers got up and rushed away from the gunshots and down a long hallway. She and Shields followed after them.
“Where are we going?” Shields asked.
“Hell if I know,” Mia said. “I’m assuming somewhere safe under the circumstances.”
One by one, each hacker entered a hatch in the middle of the floor and climbed down it. Gimli stood atop the hole and helped each person down.
Mia looked up and watched Gimli as he secured the door. He then pushed a button, releasing a wave of heat that rushed over Mia.
“What was that?” Mia asked.
“I hope you backed up what you found,” he said.
She nodded. “I sent it to the cloud.”
“Good,” Gimli said. “Because it’s all gone now.”
Mia winced as she felt a wave of heat rush by the door followed by screams of agony. “What did you do?”
“It’s the unsavory side of hacking,” Gimli said. “Probably the side your brother protected you from.”
“Did you set them on fire?” Mia asked.
“Those people are murderers.”
Mia sighed, letting out a long breath as she followed the group. Nobody seemed bothered by the carnage occurring overhead.
She tried not to think about that and tried to dwell on the positive things that had just happened, namely the information she just discovered that could destroy Falcon Sinclair and all those associated with him.
CHAPTER 27
Blueridge mountains
HAWK CHECKED HIS GEAR after he parked about a mile from the entrance to Blunt’s new safe house. Expecting a protracted fight, Black and Alex took stock of all their munitions and weapons. Once they concealed their vehicle with branches and limbs, Hawk made a call on his satellite phone.
“I was hoping I’d hear from you soon,” Blunt said as he answered the phone.
“We’re all looking forward to seeing you,” Hawk said. “I even brought you some Cubans.”
“Now that gives me something else to look forward to.”
“Well, it won’t be long. We’re about an hour out, and as far as I can tell, we aren’t being followed.”
“Excellent. Be safe.”
Hawk ended the call and tucked the phone back into his rucksack.
“What do you think?” Alex asked. “Is this still a rescue operation?”
“Maybe, maybe not. There’s only one thing I know for sure, and that’s this: We’re about to walk into a trap.”
Black shrugged. “Is it a trap if we know it’s there?”
“Fair point,” Hawk said. “I’m inclined to think Blunt isn’t really at the safe house. They’re using him as bait to lure us in. And if I were in charge of the operation and it went wrong, I’d certainly want to have a backup plan.”
“But do they still think they’ve laid a trap for us?” Alex asked. “That’s what we need to think through before we lay eyes on the house.”
Hawk stopped. “Look, I wouldn’t risk sending any of us in there. Let’s just stick with the plan, okay? Nothing’s really gonna change whether it’s a trap or not.”
“Except how we approach the door,” Alex said.
“It’s just tear gas,” Hawk said. “If Blunt’s inside, he’ll get over it.”
The team worked their way along a creek that ran parallel to a road winding above them. Alex had obtained the infrastructure blueprints and mapped out the best route to Blunt’s new safe house.
“If those documents I got from the county were correct, the line that feeds electricity to this place is straight up the hill near the road,” she said.
“I’ll make the cut,” Black said before hustling off.
Hawk and Alex sat down and drank some water while they waited for Black to return.
“You think you’ll ever get tired of this life?” Alex asked.
Hawk wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and resealed his water bottle. “Are you trying to tell me something?”
“No, it’s just that—” she paused, and her gaze dropped to the ground. “I don’t know. I’m just not sure if I want to keep doing this for the rest of my life.”
“If you don’t like it out in the field, I’m sure Blunt won’t mind if you stay in the office more.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m talking about all of it,” she said. “The hacking. The sneaking. The looking over your shoulder. The shooting. Just everything. I’m not sure how much I can do all that for much longer.”
Hawk nodded subtly. “I see.”
When he fell in love with Alex, he never imagined anything but them working together for the rest of their lives in this capacity. Maybe a bit naive and foolish, he thought, but she seemed to love the work as much as he did. The adventure was his drug of choice, and he wanted nothing more than to share it with the woman he loved. He hadn’t pondered how he might feel about going it alone … or not continuing at all.
“Please, say something, honey,” Alex said. “No matter how you feel, we can always talk about it together and be truthful with one another.”
Hawk unscrewed the cap to his water bottle and gulped down some more of the cold liquid. He sighed once he finished drinking and replaced the bottle back in his rucksack. In his mind, ideas of how to respond clashed. But it shouldn’t have surprised him since he didn’t really know how he felt about the mere suggestion of stepping away from
