“Yes because that’s what happened.”
“Did your mother see this man?” the father asked.
“I don’t think so. She was cooking in the kitchen and singing.”
The father cursed before muttering a disparaging remark about his wife’s singing. “I’m going to beat you.”
“I swear, Papa, I’m telling you the truth.”
“And where did this man go?”
A few awkward seconds of silence passed before he spoke. “He’s in my room under my bed.”
Hawk hated that he was about to make the boy look like a liar, but he had no choice. In a flash, Hawk slid out from underneath the bed and darted through the open window. He raced down toward the ravine. When he was sure no one could see him, he looked back over his shoulder to double-check.
A few minutes later, a handful of terrorists rumbled up to the house. Hawk didn’t stick around to see how the conversation went. He scrambled over the rocky terrain, staying low to remain out of sight as much as possible.
When he hit town, he pulled his keffiyeh around his face and sauntered along the road.
Hawk tried to raise Alex again on the coms, but he couldn’t connect. After cursing under his breath, he continued along the shoulder, looking for the right vehicle to transport him to his contact.
A couple minutes passed before he jumped into the bed of a truck piled high with scraps of wood. He rode along for a few miles until he reached the edge of the village. When he jumped out, he spotted the green van that was supposed to carry him to the extraction point and get him back to civilization.
The man in the van was hardly recognizable beneath the scarf wrapped around his head. But he gave Hawk the confirmation signal before nodding toward the passenger seat.
“Rough ride out there?” the man asked in a clipped British accent.
“Not how I would’ve liked it, but the job is done,” Hawk said.
“I was about to give up on you.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Hawk said.
A half-hour later, Hawk was delivered safely to the extraction point, where a helicopter zipped him out of the region. He put on his headphones and asked if someone could patch him through to the Phoenix Foundation offices in Washington, D.C. Before he knew it, he heard Alex’s sweet voice coming through crystal clear.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“I made it to the extraction point, and I’m on the way back.”
She sighed. “I lost you on the satellite feed and was getting really worried.”
“No need to worry now,” he said with a chuckle.
There was a long pause.
“Alex, what is it?” Hawk asked.
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t kill Tahir Nazari.”
Hawk furrowed his brow. “What do you mean? I saw his chest explode.”
“No, you killed someone, just not Nazari.”
“Then who did I kill?”
CHAPTER 4
Great Keppel Island, Australia
FALCON SINCLAIR NURSED his Bloody Mary as he scanned the wildlife from the deck of his getaway home. Hidden deep within a nature reserve, one he bought for a ghastly sum and then donated to a conservation organization, the estate provided much-needed privacy away from the paparazzi and nosy press. It also gave him the opportunity to plan his next move in peace.
A kangaroo bounced along the dirt path just beyond the edge of his fence, stopping every few meters to graze for a while on the tall grass sprouting up from the island floor. In the trees surrounding him, the kookaburras sounded their unmistakable laughing call. A cool breeze rushed across his face. Warmer weather was on the horizon, his favorite time of year. But before he could enjoy it, he had important business that demanded his attention.
“Sir,” a young man said, snapping Sinclair back to reality, “would you like to meet out here this morning?”
Sinclair didn’t turn around. “Let’s meet inside.”
He drew in a deep breath of ocean air before following the man back into the house.
Assembled in the living room were three men, all sitting upright on a long couch. They all stiffened when Sinclair sat down across from them in a wicker chair.
“So, gentlemen,” Sinclair said, pausing to take another sip of his drink, “where do we stand right now with the rollout?”
The man on the left side of the sofa glanced at his notes before answering. “Over a hundred smart homes—”
“Freedom Homes, Richard,” Sinclair corrected. “Let’s call them by their correct name. We wouldn’t want to slip up and say a generic name like that in public, would we?”
“Of course not, sir,” Richard said. “Over a hundred Freedom Homes have been constructed throughout the U.S. and another hundred existing homes have been retrofitted in various locations throughout Europe.”
“Excellent,” Sinclair said. “You’ve made incredible progress, especially considering how you’ve also continued to keep the space program on track. Before long, we’ll be ushering people from their Freedom Homes and into our shuttles headed for the last great frontier in our universe.”
He turned his attention to the burly man seated in the center. With a shaved head and a dragon tattoo on his right forearm, the man named Rocky leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.
“Where are we with the girl?” Sinclair asked.
“We’re still searching for her,” Rocky said.
“What’s taking so long?”
“Unfortunately, our contacts have been unable to yield any results,” Rocky said. “Apparently, her location is being protected.”
Sinclair cocked his head to one side and furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”
“She has disappeared, withdrawn from the university she was attending and has vanished. None of her friends know what happened to her.”
“And her parents?”
“Her father is dead, but her mother is a ghost. No record of her anywhere.”
“Keep looking for anything you can find on her,” Sinclair said. “We need to have all the leverage possible at our disposal in case we run into any problems with her uncle.”
“I understand,” Rocky said. “Our men will find her. I’ll give you an
