Mia looked up from her screen. “Is this how married people act? Because if it is, I think I’m just gonna stay single for the rest of my life.”
Hawk put his head down, feigning shame. “I’ll just get back to work.”
Alex chuckled and glanced at Mia. “Not a fan of public affection?”
“Well, you weren’t even holding hands, but I still found it uncomfortable.”
“Better buckle up then,” Alex said. “Now that Hawk knows you don’t like it, he’s going to be much worse. You should slow walk that comment back.”
“That’ll really dissuade him?”
“If you help us catch these terrorists, he’ll probably honor your request not to torture you like that.”
“I think I can handle that challenge,” Mia said, returning her gaze to her terminal.
“Okay, here’s the thing. I’ve got this satellite video that was taken from the time we were in Texas and investigating the abandoned semi,” Alex said. “All of the Nicolo officials are sticking to the line that the truck was stolen, even though they didn’t file a police report until about the time that it was caught.”
“That’s definitely suspect.”
“Of course it is. And so far, we haven’t been able to determine what happened to their truck since we have issues with the satellite footage. We need to determine what happened to the people that were in the truck. Maybe they fled before the satellite was in position, but we need to look under every rock if we’re going to find them.”
"So, you just want me to stare at this footage until it ends?" Mia asked
Alex shook her head. “We don’t have time for that. I want you to do me one better. Write a program that analyzes movement and captures thirty seconds after anything moves within a hundred-meter radius of the truck for the duration of the footage.”
“I can do that.”
“Good. Write that program and then execute it in fast motion. Maybe it’ll give us something.”
“I’m on it,” Mia said.
Alex glanced at her phone as her screen lit up, alerting her about an incoming call from Titus Black.
“Tell me some good news,” Alex said.
“I wish I had some,” Black said. “It’s more like a mixed bag.”
“You didn’t find the weapons?”
"No, but they were here a few days ago. We broke into the facility and looked at the most recent shipping manifests, cross-referencing it with Lopez's journal."
“And?”
“The weapons are headed to Virginia Beach.”
Alex’s jaw fell slack. “Whoa. This is getting a little too close for comfort.”
“Yeah, they’re supposed to reach port by the Fourth.”
“All right. Get back here pronto, and we’ll discuss our next steps for squelching that threat.”
“Roger that.”
Alex hung up and reported Black’s findings to Blunt and Hawk in the Phoenix Foundation boss’s office.
Blunt gnawed on a cigar as he mulled over the news. “I wish the president would listen to us when we tell him that a terrorist strike is coming—and it’s going to kill thousands of people if we don’t take extra precautions.”
“That’s obviously off the table at this point,” Alex said.
Hawk turned to Blunt. “You don’t even think this news would persuade him to change his mind?”
"Not a chance," Blunt said, shaking his head. "Young's bound and determined to use this event as some proof that he isn't scared, and Americans shouldn't be scared either."
“So, we don’t have much of a choice but to find those weapons,” Alex said.
“I’ll see if we can set up a joint op with the CIA to inspect the docks at Virginia Beach, catching Nicolo’s crew off guard.”
“Maybe board it before it reaches the harbor,” Hawk said. “Conjuring up a probable cause for search and seizure with the Coast Guard might work.”
“That’s a good idea, Hawk,” Blunt said. “But I want Titus Black on that boat. There are too many things that have gone wrong already to make me wonder that this job—whatever it is—is being directed by someone on the inside. It’s just too well constructed to be a terrorist op.”
“We’ll make it happen, sir,” Alex said.
She hustled to her office where she found Mia grinning widely.
“What is it?” Alex asked.
“You said Hawk would honor my request if I found the terrorists, didn’t you?” Mia asked.
Alex nodded. “What’d you find?”
“I found seven instances of movement that lasted longer than three seconds. Most of them were things like a leaf blowing in the wind or an animal slithering across the ground.”
“A rattlesnake?”
“I’d guess one of them was at least five feet long, if not longer.”
“Rattlesnakes were crawling around when we found that abandoned truck?”
“I’m afraid so,” Mia said. “But that’s not all that was crawling around. There was something of far greater interest to you than just snakes.”
“What was it?” Alex asked.
“Look very closely in the corner of the screen here,” Mia said, pointing to the lower right portion of the monitor.
“What am I looking at?”
“At the moment, it looks like a dirt patch next to a cluster of large rocks. Nothing special, right?”
“Right.”
Mia zoomed in on the spot she was pointing too. "Now, take a closer look."
Alex strained to see anything. “What is it?”
“Just keep watching.”
Seconds later, the ground moved. Six people appeared to climb out of the dirt, stand upright, and dash toward a Humvee that barely reached the edge of the picture. Everyone scrambled inside before the vehicle kicked up dust, speeding away.
“What was that?” Alex asked, shaking her head in disbelief.
“You saw it,” Mia said. “I just wanted to verify that I wasn’t going psycho.”
“Zoom in.”
“Wait. You can do that?”
“This is a CIA satellite,” Alex said. “We can count a person’s nose hairs if we want to. Hop up and I’ll show you.”
Alex and Mia switched positions. After making a few keystrokes, Alex honed in on the people emerging from what looked like the ground.
“Recognize any of these people?” Alex asked.
Mia squinted as she stared at the screen, shaking her head. "No one really looks familiar, but it's hard to tell because it's not that close."
"Hang on a second," Alex said, pounding out a few commands with her fingers. "Now, look again."
With the area
