The man hustled up onto the steps so that he could be heard more clearly. “If anyone leaves, I’m going to detonate this bomb.”
CHAPTER 29
HAWK WATCHED TALIB AL-SADI hold his hands up in a gesture of surrender as several U.N. guards surrounded him, guns trained on his chest. Talib clutched a small device in his right hand. He had yet to explain what it was, but everyone there understood it to be a dead man’s switch. If he was shot and his finger fell off the button, the bomb would detonate.
Two U.N. security personnel moved in on Talib as the ringing from the alarm finally stopped.
“That’s far enough,” Talib said as he stared down the duo and shook his hand containing the small object.
Hawk moved stealthily behind the crowd before hustling up a back stairwell to ease into position atop the bannister. He glanced at Alex, who was still guarding one of the doors. She nodded at him, giving him the signal that she was ready. Closing one eye, Hawk used his scope to hone in on Talib’s neck. He waited patiently for Talib to stop shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
“Blunt, what did you tell this guy?” Hawk asked over the coms. “He’s so nervous he looks like he might throw up.”
“I told him he could die, though I didn’t tell him that you’d be the one taking him out. Talib would have seriously tried to kill you if he knew the man who prevented him from getting all his virgins in the afterlife was in the same room tonight.”
“He’ll get over it,” Hawk said.
Talib stopped moving just long enough for Hawk to decide to fire. He steadied his hand one final time before squeezing the trigger. The shot hit the intended target in the exact spot Hawk had aimed for. Talib grabbed his neck before toppling to the ground.
A gasp emanated from the onlookers, almost as if they were waiting for the bomb to detonate and everyone to be dead. But the device was still in Talib’s hand. A pair of ambassadors edged toward Talib’s body, ready to hold down the switch. But before the men got too close, Talib’s hand fell open and the switch rolled off the end of his fingers and onto the floor.
Another collective gasp, this time louder than before.
“We’re all gonna die,” one ambassador said as he collapsed and covered his head with his hands, as if he was awaiting that fatal moment.
Others joined him—but nothing happened. The small device clinked on the marble surface and rolled a few feet. Hawk raced down the steps toward Talib’s body. Kneeling down to check Talib’s vitals, Hawk nodded at Alex, who immediately stepped up and started explaining the situation, while Hawk grabbed Talib and dragged him to one of the nearby administrative offices.
“The package is secure,” Hawk said into his coms.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I need you all to remain very calm,” Alex said. “I’m sure you have plenty of questions, but the most important thing you need to know is this: you’ve all likely contracted a deadly virus through any of the drinks that you consumed here today. We’ve been following a terrorist organization for quite a while now, and we discovered only hours prior to this event that there was a plan in place to infect everyone here. It was the best way to transmit this awful virus all over the world without anyone realizing it until it was too late. However, you cannot leave until you’ve received a shot with the antidote and have a wristband attached. You will then be tested one hour later to make sure you aren’t a threat to spread the virus.”
“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” one of the Russian ambassadors asked, shaking his fist. “How do we know this is not some ploy by the Americans?”
Other ambassadors joined in, nodding vigorously.
“You’ll just have to trust us,” Alex said. “But you’re not getting through those doors without a shot.”
The ambassador started to charge toward the only open door. Hawk fired a tranquilizer dart into the man’s back. He took two more steps before he collapsed.
“Anyone else?” Alex asked. “Okay, good. Now let’s all return to the main hall where we will process you.”
A team of doctors and nurses contracted by the Phoenix Foundation poured into the room and set up a handful of stations in every corner to begin administering the shots. Above each post was a sign that delineated where each country’s representatives were to go. Hawk and Black patrolled the area, making sure everything remained calm.
“Are all the doors locked?” Blunt asked over the coms.
“They are now,” Black said. “I double checked them myself.”
“We have to be certain,” Blunt said. “If one person gets out, it could spell disaster.”
“How are things looking on the outside?” Hawk asked.
“As of right now, it’s quiet,” Blunt said. “Not a soul moving near the doors. But you need to keep an eye out for anyone who looks shady. Someone from Obsidian might still be inside.”
“I couldn’t find a single person with a catering uniform on,” Black said. “It’s like they vanished.”
“They’re still here,” Alex said, joining the conversation. “I just found one of their outfits in a trashcan in the ladies room.”
“The medical staff has a manifest of everyone who is supposed to be there,” Blunt said. “We should be able to identify the perpetrators after every authorized person there has received their shots.”
Hawk milled around the main hall for a few minutes to observe the situation. While many ambassadors still wore worried looks on their faces and spoke in hushed tones, everyone remained calm.
“Everything looks good in here,” Black said.
Hawk nodded. “I’m going to sweep the perimeter.”
While Blunt had been monitoring the outside, he hadn’t reported anything out of the ordinary since sending Talib in to keep the assembly from fleeing. But that quickly changed.
“Hawk,” Blunt said, “we’ve got a problem. Someone just exited one of the side doors and is heading across the street. And he’s not wearing a wristband.”
CHAPTER 30
HAWK BROKE INTO a sprint as he raced in the direction Blunt guided him. The scene across the street was a busy one with plenty of pedestrians clogging the sidewalk on a warm New York evening.
“You need to describe this guy to me so I know who I’m looking for,” Hawk said.
“He’s wearing a suit but no tie,” Blunt said. “He looks like he’s of Middle Eastern descent and balding.”
“So, an old guy?”
“Maybe. It’s hard to tell from the grainy footage I have. He has a goatee that appears to be gray.”
“That’s helpful,” Hawk said. “But I’m still not seeing him.”
“He just crossed the street and is heading east on Forty-Third.”
Hawk darted through the intersection, stopping a few times to avoid getting hit by oncoming cars. Once he reached the other side, he hustled along the sidewalk as he searched for the escapee.
“If this guy is infected, could he already be infecting others?” Hawk asked.
“Not yet, according to Dr. Peterson.”
“Well, that’s about the only thing we have going for us here.”
Hawk continued scanning the area in front of him.
“Do you see him yet?” Blunt asked.
“Not yet.”
“I think he just went into the coffee shop on the corner.”
Hawk bulled his way through throngs of people walking in the opposite direction, staying light on his feet. Once he went inside, Hawk spotted a man talking on his cell phone that fit the description Blunt had given.
“You see him yet?” Blunt asked.
“I think I’ve got him,” Hawk said.
He rushed across the room toward the man, who cast a sideways glance toward Hawk. As he neared the table, the ambassador shoved it over in Hawk’s direction before dashing out a side door. Hawk scrambled to regain his footing before hurdling over a few chairs and following the man outside.
When Hawk reached the curb, he watched as the man climbed into an SUV with diplom
atic plates. Searching for a way to continue pursuit, Hawk saw a motorcycle with the owner taking off her helmet. Hawk handed her his cell phone and wallet.
“I need to borrow your bike,” Hawk said. “I’ll bring it right back.”
“What?” she said. “No.”
Hawk was undeterred by her response and grabbed the keys from her hand and boarded the bike.
“Sorry,” he called back as he turned the key and then kick started the engine. “I wouldn’t do this if weren’t important. Stay right here.”
Hawk eased off the brake and onto the accelerator. Once he had a feel for how the bike handled, he took off after the SUV, which was turning up ahead at the next intersection.
“We’ve got a live one,” Hawk said. “I’m on a motorcycle now, and that ambassador is in a black SUV.”
“I see you,” Blunt said. “The car is turning right.”
“Roger that.”
Hawk sped up and was only a few spots behind when the light turned yellow. Predictably, the SUV jammed on the gas and raced ahead. While Hawk could still see the car, he knew he was running out of time. He eased into the space between the lanes and revved the engine before speeding forward. Swerving to avoid a van in the cross street, Hawk maneuvered in and out of several cars, performing a meandering U-turn until he worked his way back across the intersection. The SUV had almost vanished from view by the time Hawk returned to a straight route, but he watched the ambassador turn left.
“You’re losing him,” Blunt said. “He just turned left onto Forty-Seventh Street. Stay with him.”
“I can still see him,” Hawk said.
He blew through two intersections and nearly lost control as he rounded the corner in pursuit. The slower traffic enabled him to make up some ground as he edged nearer than he’d ever been.
Once the flow of traffic picked up again, Hawk zoomed up next to the ambassador and motioned for him to pull over. He couldn’t see inside the tinted windows, but he didn’t have to in order to know what the driver was thinking.
A sharp jerk to the left sent the SUV careening into Hawk’s lane. He eased on the brake and let the car whip by. Hawk gathered himself and made another approach. This time, the driver stomped on the brakes.
Hawk veered left, just missing a collision.
Moments later, they approached another intersection. This time, the driver jerked the steering wheel even harder to the left, clipping Hawk and sending the car into a spin. Vehicles traveling in both directions came to a screeching halt. Hawk tried to maintain his balance but lost it and skidded along the ground before coming to a stop near the curb. He remained still for a moment, unsure if he’d broken any bones. Based on the way he felt, he was almost certain that he had.
“Are you still alive?” Blunt asked.
“He can’t get rid of me that easily,” Hawk said with a slight chuckle that turned into a cough. He slipped his hands into his pocket and made a move to get up when a foot stomped on his chest.
Opening his eyes, Hawk looked up to see the ambassador.
“I will not allow you Americans to pump me full of your poison,” the man said.
Hawk spotted a couple of men who appeared to be guards flanking the ambassador. With a slight nod, Hawk turned to the side and spit out some blood.
When the man spun around in the opposite direction, Hawk grabbed the man’s leg and jammed a syringe into his calf. He screamed as he fell to the ground.
“This man is trying to poison me,” the ambassador said.
Hawk shook his head. “No, I just saved your life.”
Pedestrians stopped to take in the scene, many of them filming the interaction with their cameras.
Hawk looked down as he staggered to his feet. He climbed onto the motorcycle, wincing in pain. Gritting his teeth, Hawk kick started the bike to life and slowly drove away from the scene.
“Nice work,” Blunt said.
“I want a raise,” Hawk snapped before turning off his coms.
Hawk returned the bike to the owner, who was still standing on the corner where he left her. She was speaking with a pair of police officers, recording her account of the brazen theft as she held up the phone and wallet to the cops. Hawk snatched them out of her hand and then dug into his wallet and handed her a card.
“I had a little accident,” Hawk said. “Call the number on the back of that card tomorrow morning and tell them what happened. We’ll make everything more than worth your time.”
One of the cops grabbed Hawk by the arm. “You were the punk who stole this pretty little lady’s bike?”
“I borrowed it,” Hawk said.
The officer set his jaw and glared at Hawk. “Borrowed it? You think you can just commandeer someone’s bike for a little joy ride and there won’t be any consequences?”
Hawk looked at the woman. “Do you want to press charges now?”
She scowled as she looked at him and then back down at the card.
“Come on, lady,” the other officer said. “We don’t have all day.”
“I guess not,” she said. “He looks like a trustworthy fellow.”
One of the cops laughed. “Do I need to remind you that this is New York City?”
She looked Hawk up and down. “I’m taking a flier on this one.”
“Good call,” Hawk said before he spun and walked away.
Hawk turned his coms back on and limped along the sidewalk toward the U.N. building.
“How’s everyone doing?” Hawk asked.
“We just completed testing,” Alex said. “Everyone appears to be showing no ill-effects of the virus. We’re going to begin releasing everyone now.”
“Hold popping the champagne corks,” Blunt said. “I’m getting a call now from the head of U.N. security.”
Hawk waited for Blunt to report back after hearing him say goodbye.
“Good news?” Hawk asked.
“That ambassador you chased down, Hawk, wasn’t the only person to break out,” Blunt said.
“There was another one?” Black asked.
“Yeah, but nobody knows who he is.”
CHAPTER 31
Washington, D.C.
HAWK AND ALEX joined Black and Blunt at the Phoenix Foundation offices the next morning. The short flight from New York to Washington resulted in a poor night of sleep, but the team was summoned together per order of President Young.
Hawk eased into his chair in the conference room, holding an ice pack on his ribs.
“That was quite a tumble you took last night,” Blunt said. “I thought for sure you broke something.”
“A rib, maybe two,” Hawk said. “I’ll find out this afternoon when I go to the doctor. But that doesn’t matter now, does it? We stopped Obsidian from taking the whole world hostage.”
“For now, anyway,” Black said. “We still need to find out who’s really in leadership here and start rooting them out.”
“No rest for the weary,” Alex said, nursing her cup of coffee.
Linda buzzed in over the phone’s intercom system to let the team know that President Young was now on the line. She patched him in.
“J.D., I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am that you were able to eliminate that threat last night at the U.N.,” Young said.
“Just doing our job,” Blunt said.
“Next time, how about you give me a heads up, even if you are worried about a potential leak?”
“Sorry, Mr. President,” Blunt said. “It’s not that we didn’t trust you. But we needed to keep the loop tight to avoid missing our opportunity to squash El Diablo. Unfortunately, we still don’t know much about this group’s leadership. We just know how they play—and they’re making an unprecedented power play.”
“I heard one of the ambassadors escaped without receiving the antidote,” Young said.
“Hawk tracked him down and administered it on the street.”
“Damn fine job, Hawk.”
“Thank you, sir,” Hawk said.
“Well, thank you to all of you, and keep up the good work.” Young hung up, and the room fell silent.
“He doesn’t know, does he?” Black asked.
Blunt shook his head. “We decided not to tell him about the mystery man who snuck out.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“We don’t need to trouble the president with things like that. It wasn’t anyone who was there in an official capacity, so it was likely one of the terrorists responsible.”
Alex leaned forward in her chair, her elbows resting on the table. “Nice deduction.”
Blunt eyed her closely. “Do you know something else about the escapee?”
“I know he’s not quite the mystery man today that he was last night.”
“What do you mean?” Blunt asked.
“Last night, I entered the screenshot from the U.N. security feed into the CIA’s database. We couldn’t find anything on him, but we did find another picture he was in.”
“We have his picture on file?” Black asked, “But we don’t know who he is?”
“Just a cameo of sorts, captured with another person we know all too well,” Alex said.
“Who?” Blunt asked.
“I found a shot of our mystery man with none other than Evana Bahar, Al Hasib’s new leader,” she said.
“I’m sure she’ll be excited about helping us,” Hawk said.
“That is if we can find her,” Alex said. “She’s become a virtual ghost since last we saw her last in Cuba.”
“Planning something big, no doubt,” Black said.
Blunt clipped the end of a cigar he pulled out of his coat pocket. He jammed the stogie into his mouth and bit down hard. “That’s another mission for another time,” Blunt said. “There will always be some other evil to vanquish, but we need to celebrate this win today.”
“Roger that,” Alex said.
“Oh, one more thing,” Blunt said as he reached underneath the table and flipped a switch. The monitor on the wall came alive, and a dark image started to populate the screen.
“What’s that?” Hawk asked as he strained to make out the image.
“That is Otto McWilliams,” Blunt said. “The CIA caught him last night. He’s not going anywhere for a long time.”
Any Means Necessary Page 17
