Colton refused to let Talib know he was getting to him.
“You have no idea what you’re doing with that machine. It hasn’t been tested yet.”
Talib grinned. “That’s why you’re going to do it for us.”
“Like hell I’ll help you. You find someone else to do your bidding.”
“We’ll kill you if you don’t.”
“You’ll kill me anyway.”
Talib shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Though I can assure you that we’ll definitely kill you if you decide not to assist us with the testing of the weapon.”
Colton took a deep breath, exhaling as he stared upward. Anything to avoid eye contact with Talib.
“Don’t worry,” Talib said. “We’ll know right away whether or not your scientists were creating a working weapon. If it’s sabotaged, you die. If not, you’ll get to see quite a show.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
Talib laughed. “I hear there’s a bridge in this city that would make for a good test target on Saturday morning.”
CHAPTER 33
ALEX SPENT ALL DAY TUESDAY trying to uncover the source of Al Hasib’s underground hiding place. She’d gone through all of the footage from when they kidnapped Tom Colton, and it did nothing but frustrate her. Poring over city planning records that dated all the way back to just after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that destroyed most of the city resulted in further exasperation. Searching within a five block radius beneath the surface street infrastructure, she saw nothing that could even be converted into something the size of a closet, much less a lab.
Her irritation level continued to climb and reached a crescendo when Hawk called for the fourth time late in the afternoon.
“Look, Hawk, I get that you’re worried about Colton, but hounding me every hour is only slowing down my search,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” Hawk mumbled. “I’m just concerned. That’s all. The longer this goes, the less hopeful I am that we’ll be able to pull him out alive.”
She sighed. “Yeah, but it’s not only about him—it’s also about all those people Al Hasib intends to target. This research I’m doing has never been more important.”
“Do you think you could’ve missed something on the footage?”
“If you were here right now, I think I’d slug you in the face.”
Hawk huffed a slight laugh through his nose. “I’d love to see you that mad.”
“Well, keep bothering me and you just might.”
“Fine. Just call me when you come up with something.”
Alex hung up and got up to walk around the room to clear her head. She wasn’t keen on drinking coffee late in the afternoon as she preferred Red Bull. But these were extenuating circumstances that required a heightened sense of awareness. She turned on the one-cup coffee maker and then collapsed onto the bed.
After staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, she concluded she must have missed something in her initial assessment of the footage.
She ignored the gurgling noise emitted by the coffee maker to signal that the cup was ready. A smile spread across her face.
Gotcha!
Watching the footage for a few more moments, she noticed a flicker on the brake lights of a tow truck that rolled beneath the bridge pulling a 15-passenger van. The tow truck had passed another car on the inside lane, but when the car emerged, it beat the Al Hasib SUV out by three seconds. And there was no tow truck. That’s when she figured out how they escaped without being detected.
Typing furiously on her keyboard, she pulled up the footage of more cameras to follow the tow truck until it stopped. It went beneath another bridge and never came out.
She didn’t waste another second as she grabbed her phone and dialed Hawk’s number.
“I know where they went,” Alex said.
“Text me the cross streets, and I’ll go check it out,” Hawk said. “So, how’d they do it?”
“A tow truck.”
Hawk let out a long breath. “I should’ve known. They used a towing company to get rid of some agents’ dead bodies the other night by just toting off their cars.”
“You saw that when you were on surveillance of the house?”
“Yeah. And I can’t believe I didn’t think about the connection.”
Alex continued to type on her computer. “You wouldn’t have known unless you had seen the footage I saw.”
“But I at least should’ve—”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Hawk. It happens to everyone. We miss things sometimes. It’s just part of it.”
“I’m gonna flush these bastards out and kill every last one of them.”
“Hawk,” she said.
“Yes?”
“Be careful. You don’t know what you might find—or if the weapon might be operational already.”
“I doubt it will be ready, but I’m always careful. Gotta be alive to fight another day, right?”
“Roger that.”
Alex hung up and took a closer look at the files on record. She noticed there were plenty of areas where potential underground tunnels and caverns could have been built in this area. But she couldn’t find anything on the city’s plans.
Doesn’t mean it’s not there.
About an hour later, she received a call from Hawk.
“Did you find their hideout?” she asked.
“I sure did,” Hawk said. “And they must’ve anticipated us coming because this place is empty.”
“And you’re sure they were there?”
“Not a doubt in my mind.”
“So, where are they now?” Alex asked.
“I was hoping you could tell me that.”
“Sorry, Hawk, but I’ve got nothin’.”
CHAPTER 34
ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, Talib picked up the gun that the two Colton Industries scientists had built for him. The PUB-47 felt light in Talib’s hands. He set it down on a table and ran his fingers across the gun, admiring the complex contours.
“This is a work of art, gentlemen,” Talib said as a smile spread across his face. “If it’s as powerful as it is beautiful, it could lay waste to thousands of infidels here in America—and no one will be able to stop me.”
Dr. Young stomped his foot. “You don’t know what kind of power you’re dealing with here. You could kill us all.”
Talib smiled. “That is the point, isn’t it?”
He paced around the room for a moment before stopping and snapping his head in Young’s direction.
“Do you know the extent of pain and suffering my people have had to endure at the hands of your imperialistic government? Thousands upon thousands of lives have been torn apart, forever severed by your government. And for what? For your precious security? We never had any aspirations of turning your country into a Muslim one—but we do now.”
“So violence is the answer? More violence begs more violence,” Young snapped.
Talib clapped slowly, and a wide grin spread across his face before his expression turned serious. “This is rich. I never expected to get lectured about the advantages of peace from a man who helps build weapons that you can hold in your hand and destroy an entire village.”
“These weapons are meant to keep peace, not create war.”
Talib chuckled and patted Young on the back.
“You tell yourself whatever you need to in order to go to sleep at night. At least I’m honest about who I am and what my life is for.” He stopped for a moment and stared blankly. “But to show you that I’m into—oh, how do you Americans say it? Equal opportunity?—I will kill one of my own to test the gun.”
Talib summoned one of the guards, who rushed over.
“What is it, sir?” the guard asked.
“I want you to bring me Sabit. I want him to help me with something.”
The guard scampered away and returned two minutes later, leading Sabit toward Talib.
“That will be all,” Talib said, nodding politely toward t
he guard.
After the guard returned to his post, Talib gestured for the two doctors to join him.
“I know you think I’m a monster,” Talib said as the scientists approached him, “but the truth is, I’m not impartial to any one side in this debate about the right religion. Even people who are born into the world’s greatest—and only—true religion sometimes stray from the truth. Take Sabit, for example. Sabit couldn’t resist his carnal desires and tried to thrust himself upon another woman who was not his wife. I know some Muslims may not have a problem with this, but I do. It disgusts me, and he must pay a price.”
Talib picked up the PUB-47 and used it to direct Sabit.
“Over there,” Talib said as he eyed Sabit closely.
Sabit’s lips quivered as he tried to respond, but when he tried to say something, no words came out.
“All the way down the hall,” Talib said. “I want you to stand against the far wall.”
Sabit obeyed but hesitated in doing so. Each step he took appeared tentative at best, fearful at worst.
“Go on, Sabit,” Talib said. “You know why you must suffer such a fate. Go ahead. Tell them.”
Sabit tried to talk but couldn’t muster more than one syllable at a time.
Talib waved him off. “Forget it. You’re not worthy of an explanation. You get what you get, and you must endure it no matter what.”
“What else do you want from me?” Sabit cried out. “Don’t you know what mercy is?”
“There is no place for mercy within the Qaran.” Talib pointed the gun at Sabit again. “Now, stand against the wall.”
Talib turned toward Dr. Davis. “Would you like the honors?”
Davis shook his head. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. We created it just like every other PUB-47 unit so that it only responds to the user’s specific fingerprint. Only you can fire the weapon.”
A sly grin spread across Talib’s face. “When I watched James Bond movies, I always thought Q was a myth. Now I have two of them working for me.”
Talib’s back was turned to Sabit, who still hadn’t moved.
“Did I stutter? Why aren’t you standing against the wall?” Talib demanded.
Sabit fell to his knees. “Please, don’t do this. All I ever wanted to do was fight for Al Hasib and see the caliphate take its rightful rule in the world.”
Laman, who’d quietly been watching the scene unfold, stepped forward. “If you cared so much about Islam and serving Allah, perhaps you wouldn’t have raped those women,” Laman said. “There are consequences for your actions.”
“Please, I beg of you. Have mercy on me,” Sabit pleaded.
Talib turned toward Laman. “Did Sabit stop when the women refused his advances?”
Laman shook his head.
Talib flicked the button on to power up the PUB-47.
“Very well then,” Talib began, “For the mercy you gave will be the mercy you receive. Now, stand against the wall before I make things most unpleasant for you.”
Sabit refused to move, glaring at Talib.
Talib narrowed his eyes as he marched across the warehouse toward Sabit. After one punch to his throat, Talib watched his minion clutch his neck. Gasping for air, Sabit put one hand up in a gesture of surrender. Talib grabbed Sabit’s arm and pulled out a knife and then he slit Sabit’s wrist.
Sabit’s eyes widened as he watched his blood spill out onto the floor.
“Now, go against the wall like I told you the first time so I can put you out of your misery,” Talib said.
Sabit staggered toward the wall, then slumped against it before falling to the floor.
“Should I use full strength?” Talib asked Davis.
Davis shook his head. “I wouldn’t recommend it. Medium strength should be sufficient.”
Talib laughed. “You scientists are so cautious. I need to see what this thing will do.”
“You might want to rethink—” Davis protested.
But his suggestion fell on deaf ears as Talib had already fired the weapon.
In a matter of seconds, the entire back wall of the warehouse had been blown off. Talib rushed to the back of the building to get a closer look at the damage. The aluminum wall had flown more than 200 meters and was wrapped around a large crane that had been standing a few moments earlier. The crane, too, had become a pile of mangled steel.
Talib looked at the ground and saw part of Sabit’s leg that had been separated from the rest of his body. Laughing, Talib kicked the leg and then stared, mouth agape, at the gun.
“Dr. Davis, how much power does this weapon have?” Talib asked.
“It brings the equivalent of an earthquake that would register a ten on the Richter scale.”
“A ten?” Talib said as he couldn’t stop grinning. “And how large of an earthquake was the Golden Gate Bridge built to withstand?”
“An eight.”
Talib turned to Laman. “You see that these two men get whatever they want to eat tonight. They deserve it. In just three days, we are going to strike with deadly force thanks to these men.”
Talib raised his fist in the air.
“Allahu Akbar!”
CHAPTER 35
AFTER A SEARCH on Wednesday for Al Hasib’s new hideout turned up empty, Hawk’s frustration level rose to a new level. It was one thing to be outfoxed in the Middle East, but it was another to be chasing a ghost in his own backyard. Familiar terrain, state of the art surveillance systems, a working knowledge of Colton Industries—none of that seemed to give Hawk and the Firestorm team any type of edge. He even resorted to asking General Johnson to lean on his FBI contacts to see if they’d make any breaks in the case. But so far, nothing.
However, the tide began to shift on Thursday morning.
A report from a construction equipment rental company about a devastating blast overnight was picked up over the scanner by Alex. She’d called and told Hawk to check it out.
When he arrived, there was only one local San Francisco police car on the property. Two officers wandered with a man who Hawk guessed was the business owner.
Hawk crept up to the edge of the property and took some pictures. The steel frame on the crane was bent and covered by a large aluminum panel. To Hawk, it looked like the kind of ridged panel that would be used for siding on a building.
As Hawk watched the officers inspecting the crane, the owner started pointing behind them. Hawk turned and noticed a large structure that appeared to have its back wall blown off.
What the—?
Hawk snapped a picture and called Alex.
“Were there any earthquakes last night or any other strange geological anomalies?” he asked.
“Not that I’m aware of,” she said. “Why?”
“I just sent you a picture, and I want you to check this out for me. Do you think the PUB-47 could’ve done this?”
“Still waiting for the photo.” After a few moments, she answered. “Oh, my God, Hawk. That weapon is more powerful than we imagined.”
“Are you sure that’s what did this?”
“I’m not aware of anything else that could’ve caused such destruction.”
“Get me the address for that facility, and I’ll look it up.”
Hawk eased down the street in his car and spotted the address, relaying it back to Alex.
“Checking now,” she said.
Hawk gaped at the aftermath while he waited.
“Okay, I’ve got something,” Alex said. “That was Bonner Metalworks. Looks like they specialized in boat hull repair.” Some more typing. “And the bank foreclosed on the property about a year ago. It’s been vacant ever since.”
“It wasn’t vacant last night,” Hawk quipped. “I’m gonna check this out.”
“Be careful.”
Hawk parked his car and scaled the fence. The gate had been padlocked, though Hawk wondered why. If Al Hasib had been there the night before and was testing the weapon, they obviously weren’t concerned with covering up thei
r tracks. In a short matter of time, the whole world would know they’d been there.
Hustling up to the main facility, Hawk found a table containing a few pages with handwritten notes scrawled on them. A small sketch that Hawk readily identified as the PUB-47 was also on the table. He used his phone’s camera to capture the pages left behind. While he was sure it wouldn’t prove useful to finding the terrorists, he needed to make sure by having Alex look them over.
A loud horn from a ship startled him. Hawk spun and turned in the direction he thought it was coming from. And then he went slack-jawed.
Directly in front of Hawk was a large roll-up door that was also three stories high, matching the height of the main section. It led to a narrower annex. And at the end of the open space was a dock and the bay.
They didn’t break the lock because they came here by water.
Hawk called Alex to give her his revelation.
“Alex, we’ve been looking in all the wrong places,” Hawk said. “They’re not using roads to get around any more. They’re using the water. And I’d bet anything that’s where they’re going to attack from.”
“This is starting to come together then,” Alex began, “because I think know what they’re going to attack. They’re going after the Golden Gate Bridge.”
CHAPTER 36
ON FRIDAY MORNING, Alex met Kade Parker again. She felt the least she could do was thank him again for saving her life before she turned down his offer. When she arrived at the corner bakery where they’d planned to meet, this time Parker was already there.
“You were early,” Alex said as she slid into her seat.
Parker flashed a quick smile. “I guess I need the proper motivation to be on time.”
Alex ordered a coffee and then clasped her hands together, placing them in front of her on the table.
“I want to begin by telling you how grateful I am for what you did for me the other day,” she said.
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