Big Earv handed the guard transfer papers.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“We’re taking this prisoner out of here,” Big Earv said. “He’s headed to greener pastures, or so he thinks.”
The guard shook his head. “I don’t see anything on my list here about any transfers this evening.”
“Look again,” Big Earv said.
The man scanned the page before glancing back up at Big Earv. “Nothing here, I’m afraid.”
“Read the transfer order,” Big Earv said, pointing to the paper he had given the man. “Do you want to be the one to call Wallace?”
“And tell him what? That I let an unauthorized transfer happen on my watch?”
Hawk could tell the man wasn’t going to budge and knew the longer this charade went, the more their chances of escaping diminished. He reached into his briefcase and discreetly pulled out a syringe.
“How many more of the checkpoints do we have to go through?” Hawk asked.
“Just one more,” Big Earv said.
“Good,” Hawk said before jamming the needle into the man’s neck. He dropped his clipboard and grasped at the puncture spot. With Hawk cushioning the man’s fall, Black ripped off the access badge and removed the radio.
“Let’s keep moving,” Black said.
“Roger that,” Hawk said.
They opened the gate and wound their way down another corridor to the final gate. One guard stood on their side, while two more remained stationed on the other. Before they reached the guard, he was scowling and shaking his head.
“Nobody told me anything about a transfer,” he said.
“Here’s the order,” Big Earv said, holding up his piece of paper.
“I’ll need to get Wallace to sign off on this.”
“You want to piss him off this late at night over a signed order to move this prisoner?” Big Earv asked.
The man chuckled. “Wallace gets pissed off about everything. He’ll get mad about the color of the sky if he feels like it. I’d rather have him upset for calling him than for letting a transfer leave without full authorization, if you know what I mean.”
“I know what you mean,” Hawk said before whipping out his gun and shooting the man in the knee. He screamed in pain as he collapsed to the floor and dropped his weapon. Hawk kicked the man’s gun aside and then cuffed him to the gate bars.
Meanwhile, the other two guards drew their weapons.
“Put them down nice and easy,” Black said. “We don’t want anybody to die today.”
The men put their guns down. Just as one of them was about to place his weapon on the floor, he picked it back up. Black didn’t flinch as he shot the man in the hand, ending the potential threat.
“I said I didn’t want anyone to die today,” Black said, “not that I didn’t want anyone to get shot today.”
Hawk released the gate. Black and Big Earv hustled through and secured the other two guards. Blunt stepped over the first man Hawk had shot and hustled toward the exit.
“Now what?” Blunt asked.
“Alex,” Hawk said over his coms. “How are those security cameras looking?”
“Those hallways are on a loop,” she said. “Nobody will even know you’re out there.”
Big Earv gestured for them to follow. “This way.”
They all hustled toward a secure exit. He used his access badge to unlock the door, opening up into the parking lot.
“We need to hurry,” Big Earv said. “They’re going to find us out any minute now.”
They all rushed over to their vehicle as they piled inside, joining Alex. Bullets started pinging all around them, shattering glass.
Blunt groaned as he took a shot to the arm.
“Dammit,” Hawk said as he roared out of the parking lot. “Is he all right?”
“Nicked him on the arm,” Alex said. “Blunt has always been a wuss.”
“You take that back,” Blunt said, shaking his fist at her. “I eat nails and drink black oil for breakfast.”
“Apparently, getting shot doesn’t deflate his ego,” Black said.
“Or his sense of humor,” Big Earv added from the passenger seat.
Hawk watched in the rearview mirror as Alex and Black patched up Blunt.
“Do you want me to kiss it, too?” Alex asked.
“I’m not afraid to hit a girl,” Blunt said.
Alex laughed as Hawk pulled onto a dirt road, following directions from Big Earv.
“We’re almost there,” Big Earv said, indicating an SUV up ahead.
When they reached the other vehicle, Hawk skidded to a stop, kicking up dirt. The five hustled over to Big Earv’s SUV, which he emphatically said that he would drive.
“I know where we can get the old man as good as new again while hiding out for a few days,” he said, whipping the SUV around in the middle of the road. “And they’ll never find us unless we want to be found.”
“Under the circumstances,” Hawk said, “that sounds like a fabulous plan.”
CHAPTER 36
Sydney, Australia
FALCON SINCLAIR REGAINED consciousness but remained still. The storm that was raging outside as he tossed the pill into his mouth had subsided as an eerie quiet had fallen over his yacht. He listened to make sure that it was no longer occupied by the woman who attacked him. And while she may have seemed like a mystery to him, she wasn’t. Christina Shields had been on his radar for a while, and he wasn’t about to forgive her soon for trespassing on his boat in an attempt to kill him.
He eased to his feet and then reached underneath the kitchen sink for a gun strapped to the inside of the cabinet. After searching the cabin, he moved outside and scanned the area. Two agents lay dead, face down in the water, bobbing on the gentle tide drifting in.
Sinclair cursed under his breath before retreating to his suite inside the yacht and calling the authorities to report the murders. As he relayed the particulars to the woman in dispatch, he searched the security footage during the time of the attack but found nothing. He slammed his fist on the desk and let fly a few more choice words.
Within five minutes, the police showed up. Sinclair ambled onto
