Hawk slipped the gun back into his coat pocket and watched Black discreetly remove the dart before calling for medical help from the security staff. A trio of men hustled over toward Adelman and knelt on the ground to inspect him. One man put on gloves and checked Adelman’s vitals. Satisfied that there wasn’t anything he could do with his immediate findings, he lifted up Adelman’s eyelids and shone a light on them.
“What happened?” the man asked Black.
“I don’t know. One minute we were having a conversation. The next he simply fell to the ground. It was the strangest thing.”
“It couldn’t be a heart attack. His pulse is strong and normal for a man about his age.”
Another security member joined them.
“Do you know this man?” he asked.
Black nodded. “I’ll take him to a hospital and get him the medical attention he needs.”
A small crowd had gathered by this point, mostly to inspect what had happened and likely to determine if there was any immediate threat on their own lives. The emcee put his hand on Black’s chest.
“You don’t have to go,” the emcee said. “We have plenty of experienced professionals who can give this man all the care he requires.”
“I want to go with him,” Black said. “This man has been a friend of mine for a long time.”
“But we haven’t even given out tonight’s gifts for all those in attendance,” the emcee protested. “Everyone here will need one when we move into phase two next week.”
Hawk didn’t twitch his facial muscles while speaking into his coms.
“Are you getting all this, Alex?” he asked.
“Loud and clear,” she said. “I just switched us to a private channel. Looks like you’re going to have fun getting out of there.”
“I don’t like not being included in this,” Hawk said.
“Of course you don’t. But Blunt trusts this guy—and we should too.”
Hawk continued to watch the scene unfold as heard a strange sound in the background.
“What was that, Alex?”
“Well, that’s interesting,” she said. “Are you still keeping an eye on the situation?”
“Yeah, but I can’t see too much because more people have crowded around them. It’s like a mosh pit over there.”
“I’m glad you have eyes on him because his signal just went dead.”
“What the—”
“Yeah, you heard me,” Alex said. “Does Black still have his glasses on?”
“Give me a second,” Hawk said as he strode across the room to get a more favorable angle on Black. After a few seconds, Hawk was able to see his partner’s face.
“I don’t see his glasses anywhere,” Hawk said.
“I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for that, but stay close just in case.”
“Roger that,” Hawk said.
Scanning the room once more, he walked over toward the far wall and leaned against it. Someone inside the circle was yelling for the house lights to be turned back on. Hawk watched a man scurry across the room in response to the request. If there were security cameras, they wouldn’t be able to detect much of anything without proper lighting. Hawk glanced to his left and then his right before reaching for the fire alarm and yanking it hard.
He dashed away from the wall and casually picked up a drink off a tray abandoned on a nearby table by one of the waitresses. The room fell into an uproar, and panic ensued. Hawk wormed his way over toward the group huddled around Adelman. The alarm blared, and red lights flashed over the exits.
“We need to get out of here now,” Hawk whispered in Black’s ear.
Hawk looked down and noticed the glasses crushed on the floor next to Black’s foot.
“I found the schematics for this building online and looked up another exit for you,” Alex said over the coms.
“You take the lead,” Hawk said as he helped up Adelman. Black and Hawk each grabbed one of Adelman’s arms and slung it around their necks so they could drag him.
“We’ll take care of him,” Hawk said to one of the security guards, who shrugged and didn’t question them any further.
The chaos in the room over the fire alarm sent everyone scurrying for the exits, allowing Hawk and Black to head down a long corridor without being noticed. They entered a stairwell and trudged upward.
“How many flights do we need to go, Alex?” Hawk asked.
“Ten.”
“Ten flights it is,” Hawk said.
“We have to cart this guy up ten flights of stairs?” Black asked.
“Unless you’d like to have the honor of doing it on your own, we’re going to do this.”
“What kind of tranq did you hit him with?” Black asked. “Is he going to be out long?”
“We’ve probably got another fifteen minutes before he comes to. So, in the meantime, maybe you can tell me why you took your glasses off and stomped on them?”
Black scowled. “I didn’t take them off. One of the security guys hit me with an elbow while attempting to tend to Adelman.”
“Likely story,” Hawk said with a sneer.
“Remember, Hawk—play nice,” Alex said in his ear.
“It’s the truth,” Black said. “We’re supposed to be a team, although you didn’t help matters by making a unilateral decision to knock out Adelman with your gun that you weren’t supposed to bring inside.”
Hawk shrugged. “This seems to be working out.”
“What do you think’s going to happen when we surface on street level?” Black asked. “We’re just going to lug Adelman around Hong Kong like Weekend at Bernie’s?”
“That—or we could call an Uber,” Hawk replied.
“That’ll be difficult since they took our phones.”
“Not with Alex on hand,” Hawk said. “She’ll order one for us since she has a tracker on us and knows exactly where we are.”
“I’m on it,” Alex chirped in Hawk’s ear.
Black shook his head. “You got lucky this time. But don’t ever go rogue with me again. We need to act like a team.”
“Standing in the corner and looking pretty isn’t my idea of how a team operates,” Hawk said. “If we’re going to work together, we need to work together.”
“You’re impeding on my turf and could’ve seriously screwed up my operation.”
“Well, you can thank me later for this,” Hawk said. “I didn’t blow your cover, and we’re about to get a whole hell of a lot more information out of Adelman while interrogating him in an environment we control than in some random men’s restroom.”
Just as they reached the landing on the street level, Adelman moaned and opened his eyes.
“What happened?” he asked. “Where am I?”
“Hang on,” Hawk said. “I’ve got another tranq.”
Black drew back and punched Adelman in the face, knocking him out cold.
“What’d you do that for?” Hawk asked.
“I thought you’d appreciate that,” Black said. “Sometimes you just have to improvise, don’t you?”
CHAPTER 12
HAWK SPLASHED WATER on Adelman’s face in an attempt to bring him back to consciousness. With eyes closed, he screwed up his face and writhed against the ropes binding him to a chair in the stark room deep in the belly of a CIA black site in Hong Kong. Slowly he opened one eye and then the other before a hard scowl spread across his face.
“Brady Hawk?” Adelman asked with a growl. “What’s the meaning of all this? What are you doing to me?”
“I’ll be the one asking the questions this time,” Hawk said as he circled Adelman.
“You’re making a big mistake,” Adelman said.
“It seems to me that you’ve already made one in the way you choose your friends.”
“I can promise you that looks can be deceiving—and certainly are in this case.”
Hawk stopped in front of Adelman and stooped down to get eye level. “That’s hard to believe. I remember
when we were in training, you drummed into our heads that whenever you’re taken captive, you say anything to gain your captor’s trust.”
“You’re forgetting one important element—keep everything as close to the truth as possible. Once you start telling lies, you’re bound to make a mistake somewhere along the way.”
“So I should just believe whatever you say?” Hawk asked.
“I swear that whatever reason you have for holding me like this, it’s a mistake.”
“Why? Is someone going to come looking for you?”
Adelman nodded. “Maybe the U.S. government.”
Hawk shook his head. “Right now, I am the U.S. government. And your only chance of getting out of here is if you tell me the truth about why you’ve been colluding with Obsidian.”
“If you’re employed by the government and you’ve captured me like this, I know you’re acting on your own.”
Hawk clapped slowly and then crossed his arms. “I must say that your performance has been outstanding up until this point, perhaps even somewhat plausible. But I know the truth.”
“You know nothing of the truth when it comes to my dealings with Obsidian.”
“Enlighten me.”
“What did you think? That I’m one of their stooges?”
“All the evidence points in that direction. We’ve got all kinds of evidence that documents such a relationship—secret bank accounts where you’ve been stashing loads of cash along with your name surfacing on a list of contacts from Russian arms dealer Andrei Orlovsky. It’s all quite damning. And then here you are at a gathering like this.”
“Use your brain, Hawk. I’m infiltrating Obsidian’s inner circle—at least, I was before you likely blew my cover with that stunt tonight.”
“This wasn’t a stunt. It was an outright abduction. We need answers about your level of involvement with Obsidian and what you know about what they’re planning next.”
“I wasn’t quite there yet in my operation,” Adelman said. “That’s why I’d rip you limb from limb right now if I could. Everything I’ve been working toward over the last year is gone.”
“What are they planning?” Hawk asked.
“I already told you that I was in the process of finding that out as I infiltrated the inner circle. But now we won’t find out until it’s too late.”
Hawk resumed circling Adelman as he spoke. “I must say that I’m impressed with your story. It’s likely close to the truth, except for the infiltration bit. That’s the lie. You’ve kept everything else close to your real story, and it sounds believable. But I’m not buying it. Unfortunately for your sake, you trained me in the art of deception.”
“I’m not trying to deceive you,” Adelman said. “I’m merely attempting to explain why I was at Obsidian’s event tonight and why this is such a big damn mistake.”
“How did you first make contact with Andrei Orlovsky?”
“Who?”
“These games are getting old already. Andrei Orlovsky—how did you meet him?”
“I’ve heard the name, but I’ve never made his acquaintance.”
“Of course you’ve heard his name in this underworld you’re living in,” Hawk said. “Orlovsky is a renowned illegal arms dealer—and your name was at the top of his list of clients.”
“What possible reason could I have to work with an arms dealer? You don’t suspect that I’m responsible for trying to incite some sort of conflict, do you?”
“I’m not sure what I think at this point,” Hawk said. “But I know that you’ve lost your bearings, Admiral. You were once a great man who loved his country, but now?”
“I’m still that man, Hawk. I’m just disappointed that you can’t see it. You’re being blinded by your own ambition. And to what end? To prove that you’re some super agent after you couldn’t make it as a SEAL?”
Hawk narrowed his eyes. “I walked away on my own accord.”
“Because you couldn’t handle it.”
“I couldn’t stomach the atrocities I was being ordered to commit as a soldier.”
“Those weren’t atrocities—that was justice.”
Hawk shook his head. “Murdering innocent people is never justice.”
“They weren’t as innocent as you thought they were. They were—”
“Kids and children and women—they weren’t monsters.”
Adelman shrugged. “But they would’ve grown up to be monsters if they weren’t already. You should’ve seen our mission for what it was—a pre-emptive strike.”
“You’re still the same man now as you were back then,” Hawk said. “And that’s all the more reason for me not to believe you.” He strode toward the door and reached for the knob.
“You’re going to regret this, Hawk. One day very soon, you’re going to learn that you just set back our efforts to infiltrate Obsidian. And when millions of people are dead after one of their attacks, the blood will be on your hands.”
“Worry about your own hands. If you ever find your conscience again, maybe you can commiserate with Lady MacBeth.”
Hawk exited the room, slamming the door behind him. He walked down the hall and entered the next door. He eased inside where Alex and Black had been watching the interrogation unfold. Black stroked his chin as he stood and stared at the prisoner, while Alex was hunched over her computer sifting through images captured by Hawk’s glasses at the Obsidian event.
“What do you think of that lying bastard?” Hawk asked.
Black shrugged. “He’s a bastard all right, but I’m not sure he’s lying.”
“Oh, come on,” Hawk said before exhaling. “You don’t really believe Adelman, do you?”
Both men turned and looked at Adelman while Alex remained quiet, engrossed in her work.
“Look at him,” Black said, gesturing toward Adelman. “He doesn’t appear to be too upset about the accusation. He’s just agitated and antsy, ready to get out of here.”
“He’s acting that way because he knows Obsidian agents will kill him for exposing one of their private meetings like that,” Hawk said.
“I don’t know,” Black said, still studying Adelman. “I’m really unsure. I mean, what if he really is trying to infiltrate Obsidian? He could be a valuable asset for us.”
“Even if he was being honest, you think he’d help us?” Hawk asked. “He wouldn’t dare want us to get any kind of credit for breaching Obsidian’s inner circle and bringing down the organization.”
“Let’s put egos aside for a moment and weigh what we know,” Black said.
“By any measure you use, the scales are tipped against Adelman. He can’t prove anything he’s saying. Besides, if anyone in the U.S. intelligence community knew about Adelman’s operation, Blunt would’ve heard about it and told us. In fact, he never would’ve sent us on this mission if Adelman were already in the process of gaining access to Obsidian’s leadership. Entertaining the notion that he’s telling the truth and is an undercover agent is hardly tenable, much less believable.”
Hawk settled into a chair at the table next to Alex. Seconds later, Black followed.
“What do you think, Alex?” Hawk asked.
Her gaze remained fixated on her screen. “I was listening, so I’m just saying this without taking into account Adelman’s body language, but I had a difficult time discerning whether his story was true or not. It sounds plausible, but from what you’ve told me, Adelman seems like an unusual candidate to penetrate an organization like Obsidian.”
“They’re not a terrorist group,” Black said. “So, it’s not like Adelman has to live in caves in the desert to gain someone’s trust. Obsidian is more like puppet masters. And based on how they operate, it makes sense that they would find value in someone like Adelman.”
“You know more than I do about Obsidian,” Hawk said. “It all seems strange that Adelman could be doing this without anyone knowing.”
“The actual activities of the Phoenix Foundation aren’t well known to anyone in Was
hington, except for maybe the president and General Fortner. So, if the shoe were on the other foot, someone would struggle to believe your story as well.”
“He’s got a point,” Alex said, still focused on her screen.
Hawk sighed. “Maybe you two are right. I just don’t like the idea of releasing him yet. There’s still more he’s not telling us.”
Black nodded. “I agree. Even if he is being forthright about his mission, it’s not like he can render Obsidian toothless on his own. There needs to be other people attempting to expose them.”
“People like us,” Hawk said. “My biggest reservation about believing Adelman is that he’s exactly the kind of person who would welcome large cash payouts in exchange for helping them. We already know he’s stockpiling large sums of money. And while I won’t begrudge him of that, he’s an admiral in the U.S. Navy. He’s not going to be hurting financially when he retires.”
Alex abruptly stood, sliding out her chair with the back of her knees. “Guys, where’s Adelman?”
Hawk and Black whipped their heads toward the window and peered inside the room.
Adelman’s chair was empty, and his bindings were strewn across the table.
“He’s gone,” Hawk growled.
CHAPTER 13
Washington, D.C.
TWO DAYS LATER, Blunt sat in his office chair, poring over the morning edition of The Washington Post. While the security breach may have been contained, there was still plenty of fallout, including the latest news of two other senators announcing they wouldn’t run for office again in the upcoming election cycle. Blunt flipped to the sports section for a brief moment of escape. For a few seconds, he pined for the days when he was dead—as far as the rest of the world knew—and living on a sailboat in anonymity.
A knock at his door ended his daydream. He called for the guests to enter the room and watched as Hawk, Alex, and Black all paraded inside. Black and Alex sat down in the two chairs across from Blunt’s desk, while Hawk remained standing.
“This is not a meeting I foresaw ever happening,” Blunt said. “I preferred to keep you unaware of each other for various reasons. However, circumstances have dictated that we convene to discuss what happened in Hong Kong and how we move forward from here.”
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