Big Earv grunted before stomping toward the men. They scrambled to their feet and raced away.
“I was really hoping you’d let me wreck one of those dudes,” Big Earv said. “Because I’m really pissed off right now.”
“That makes two of us,” Hawk said.
“Three of us,” Alex chimed in over the coms.
“This was clearly a set up,” Hawk said. “And unfortunately, Nazari and his minions are still out there.”
“Then let’s get back to work,” Big Earv said.
Just as they started to leave, Hawk noticed a piece of paper on the ground with Arabic writing. He knelt and picked it up.
“What is it?” Big Earv asked.
“This may have not been the setup that we thought it was.”
CHAPTER 43
HAWK AND BIG EARV rushed back to the SUV where Alex was already furiously typing on her laptop. He read the crumpled up note, which appeared to be a restaurant menu. Near the straight edge of paper was half a business name and half a street address. Hawk considered the possibility that it was a mere coincidence.
When he got in the vehicle, he asked Alex to enter in the information as he read it off.
“Got it,” she said. “It’s a little cafe in Mirabad, Afghanistan.”
“Makes sense,” Hawk said. “That was the area where we suspected Tahir Nazari was hiding out before all the intel said he was hiding outside of Baghran.”
“You’re using that word intel quite loosely,” Alex said.
Hawk grunted. “No doubt about that at this point. But that makes me think that this wasn’t necessarily the setup that we thought it was.”
“What do you mean?” Alex asked.
“I mean, Nazari was likely in that building at some point, but he’s since moved obviously,” Hawk said.
“And Senator Wharton was trying to play it both ways,” Alex said. “He thought he could placate Blunt, while also avoid drawing the ire of Falcon Sinclair.”
“Was Wharton’s name on that list of payouts from Sinclair’s shell corporation?” Big Earv asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Alex said. “Wharton’s on the take, and he’s not about to piss off the man who could be effectively controlling the free world in a few days from now.”
Hawk thought for a minute as the gears in his mind started to whir. “Okay, go with me on this. After Blunt visits Wharton. Wharton calls Nazari and warns him. Then what? Where does he go?”
“To another one of Wharton’s properties,” Alex said.
“Did this building belong to Wharton?” Big Earv asked.
She nodded. “I just found that out five seconds ago on one of my searches. Wharton owns several real estate companies that develop properties in East Harlem. The name didn’t ring a bell when I first saw who owned it, but now I know it was one of his.”
“So, Wharton warned Nazari, but there had to be a backup location he could go to,” Hawk said.
“Cross-referencing all of Wharton’s properties nearby right now,” Alex said, her keyboard clicking at a rapid speed.
A moment of silence passed before Alex raised her hands in the air, triumphantly. Then they almost immediately fell, deflated.
“Want the good news or bad news first?” she asked.
“Always good first,” Big Earv said.
“All right then,” she said, “There’s more than a dozen within a mile of here. There’s no way we can check all of them fast enough.”
“We don’t know when they’re going to strike, do we?” Big Earv asked.
Hawk shook his head. “No, but they’re not going to stay around here long and risk getting caught. Time is of the essence in these types of operations.”
“Let’s put the shoe on the other foot and pretend you were the terrorist,” Alex said. “How would you strike?”
“With a dirty bomb?” he asked.
“That’s how Karif Fazil tried it, but he failed,” Alex said. “Maybe Nazari has a different idea.”
Hawk met Alex’s gaze, her face flush. “Are you feeling any better?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “Let’s figure this thing out.”
“You look hot.”
“Why thank you, honey. But I don’t think this is the appropriate time to be flattering me, especially in front of Big Earv.”
Big Earv chuckled. “Don’t mind me.”
“No, seriously,” Hawk said. “You look like you’re overheated.”
“Would you focus for a minute?” she snapped.
Hawk rolled down the window halfway. “That ought to help. It was getting stuffy in here anyway. Now, where were we?”
“You were about to tell us how you’d terrorize New York.”
The distant thumping of music reached his ears. “Well, I might attack the seven hundred and fifty thousand people they expect to be in Central Park for the Rolling Stones’ concert tonight. Easy target and even easier to get away with.”
“I don’t think these people care too much about that,” Big Earv said.
“Good point,” Hawk said.
“So, how would you do it?” Alex asked. “I mean, what would your delivery method be?”
He shrugged. “We don’t even know what kind of weapon they’re using.”
“I know what I’d use,” she said.
“What?” he said.
“I’d use drones. It’d terrify the hell out of everybody, creating mass chaos and panic. And there’d be nothing anybody could do about it until it was too late. Nowhere to take cover. Nowhere to run.”
“See if you can find how many Afghani nationals entered the country in the past three days,” Hawk said. “Look specifically for New York as the port of entry.”
Alex typed away, while Hawk tapped his hand on the steering wheel to the beat of the music wafting outside.
Big Earv shot him a glance. “You really want to go to this concert, don’t you?”
Hawk nodded. “It’d be a blast.”
“I think you’re looking for any excuse to go,” Big Earv said with a wry grin.
“I told you I like to mix work with pleasure.”
Alex cleared her throat. “Okay, you ask, I deliver.”
“What’d you find?” Hawk asked.
There were two dozen Afghani nationals that came into the country. Four of them are listed as former MIT grads, all holding some sort of degree in chemistry. And five others are licensed pilots.
“Another 9/11?” Hawk asked.
“Not a chance of that happening,” she said. “But drone pilots, on the other hand … It’s a
