“So, what are you saying?” Blunt asked.
“I’m saying we have a way to contact Obsidian.”
Blunt slapped the table and grinned. “How long will it take you to set up a way to get a bead on their location if we call them tonight?”
“Maybe half an hour,” Alex said.
“Great,” Blunt said. “We’ll meet back here in thirty minutes.”
For the next few minutes, Alex worked hard to get all her programs set up to track the number, while Hawk and Black finished their reports from the operation. When she finished, she called everyone back to the room.
“Hawk,” she said, “I think you should be the one to do the honors.”
Hawk sighed and took the phone in his hands. He looked up slowly at Alex.
“Just hit the redial button,” Alex said. “Hopefully we’ll get some answers.”
He followed Alex's instructions and waited patiently as the phone rang. Three times, then four. Still nothing. A fifth and sixth ring. Nobody had answered yet. But just as the phone was about to ring a seventh time—and Hawk was about to hang up—a man replied on the other end.
“I was wondering what was taking you so long to give me a call, Mr. Hawk,” the man said.
There was a long, pregnant pause. Hawk said nothing as he glanced around the room at his colleagues.
“This is Mr. Hawk, isn’t it?” the man asked.
“Yes, and who is this?” Hawk asked.
“Your mother swore you would find me, though I am surprised it took you so long. I was beginning to wonder if she mattered as much to you and we believed.”
Hawk felt his heart begin to race. In the midst of dealing with the pain of losing his mother, he figured it had to be from some terrorist operative he battled in the past. Maybe a grieving brother set on getting his pound of flesh. Or a disgruntled arms dealer who had his operation ruined by one of Hawk’s missions. But someone with a connection to Obsidian? Hawk hadn’t even considered that. Obsidian seemed to operate at a different level, and this attack underscored it. They decided to confront a man who could be the fly in their ointment instead of letting him disrupt their plans later on down the line.
“Just keep him talking,” Alex whispered. “I’m getting close to finding his location.”
“What do you want with me?” Hawk asked the man.
“The same thing I wanted with your mother—I want you dead. You’re a difficult man to find, Mr. Hawk.”
“There are other ways to get my attention.”
“I’ve found it’s challenging to get people’s attention sometimes. But nothing seems to work like killing their mother.”
“You’re one sick bastard.”
Alex looked at Hawk and gestured with her hand for him keep talking.
“I’ve been called worse.”
“I thought Obsidian was better connected,” Hawk said. “Surely you could’ve found me another way.”
“Good luck finding me, Mr. Hawk. I’ll be waiting.”
The line went dead. Alex pounded her fist on the table.
“I’m assuming you didn’t get his location?” Hawk asked.
She shook her head. “I was so close. He obviously knew what he was doing and was just toying with us.
“Now what?” Hawk asked. “Can’t you glean anything from that?”
“I can run his voice through a database and see if I can find something, but it’s still not going to tell us where he is.”
“Maybe we can figure out where he is some other way. He wants me to find him.”
“Yeah,” Alex said, “but he doesn’t want to make it easy on you. Makes you wonder why Obsidian is so intent on distracting you.”
“Maybe he can tell us,” Hawk said.
“Or maybe it’ll be too late,” Black suggested.
“Too late for what?” Hawk asked.
“For whatever Obsidian is planning.”
CHAPTER 11
THE NEXT MORNING, Blunt called the team together to discuss their next steps. He didn’t doubt Alex’s skills at pinpointing Becker’s Obsidian contact, but he did wonder if a good night of sleep in their own beds might be just what they all needed to regain their edge.
Hawk and Alex filed into the room behind Black, who was drinking a cup of coffee. Blunt noted how they all still seemed exhausted.
“I hope everyone slept well last night,” Blunt said.
“My sleep has been pretty restless ever since those animals murdered my mother,” Hawk said. “That won’t change until we catch the man who did this.”
“We’ll find him,” Blunt said. “But we can’t lose sight of the bigger picture at this point. It’s apparent that Obsidian is preparing to make a big move and wants to eliminate any speed bumps along the way.”
“And Hawk is the speed bump?” Alex asked. “It’s like they don’t even know about Black here.”
“I’m sure they do,” Blunt said, “and they probably have a plan for him as well. They just haven’t tipped their hand yet.”
“Or maybe they’re hoping to get a two-for-one special,” Black said. “They think they can take out both of us at the same time.”
“They very well could,” Blunt said. “That’s why it’s imperative for us to be so vigilant right now. If we hear or see anything, we can’t ignore it. We must be ready for any scenario.”
Alex shook her head. “The scenario we’re all dealing with right now is that we have no credible leads. That number we called was rerouted so many times I lost count. I’m at a loss for any other ways to find his location.”
Blunt pulled out a cigar and snipped the end off before jamming it into his mouth. He chewed on the tobacco for a few seconds before responding. “Do you have a recording of that phone call you can play for us again?”
Alex nodded and opened her laptop.
“Can you play it over the speakers in the room?” he asked. “I thought I heard something while he was speaking, and it bugged me all last night.”
Alex pounded on her keyboard and after a few seconds looked up at Blunt.
“I’m ready whenever you are,” she said.
“Let’s have a listen.”
The original recording boomed over the sound system. Blunt glanced at Hawk, who winced again when the Obsidian agent bragged about killing Hawk’s mother. Hawk clenched his fists and shifted in his chair.
With eyes darting back and forth while looking upward, Blunt concentrated on the conversation. There was something he swore he’d heard in the background—then, he was confident he heard it again.
“Stop it right there,” Blunt said. “Can you back that up just a few seconds?”
Alex complied and replayed the conversation from that point.
“Okay. Pause it,” Blunt said before Alex tapped her computer and halted the clip. “Can you isolate the background noise?”
“You think you hear something distinct?” Black asked.
Blunt nodded. “It feels like a long shot, but I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. I just need to know for sure before we move on.”
“Give me a second,” Alex said as her fingers went to work.
Blunt put on his reading glasses and studied some of his files on Obsidian while Alex fulfilled her boss’s request.
“Ready?” Alex asked as she leaned back in her chair.
Blunt removed his spectacles and nodded. She tapped a key and the recording resumed, this time with the exchange between Hawk and the agent barely audible. Alex had enhanced the ambient noise, much to Blunt’s delight.
“Good job,” he whispered as he listened.
Midway through the recording, Blunt heard what he was listening for, the smooth baritone voice of auctioneer Charlie Bell. Blunt clapped his hands and pointed at Alex.
“That’s it,” he said. “That’s exactly what I thought I heard.”
Alex stopped the playback. “What did you hear?”
“That voice belongs to one of the best auctioneers at the Fort Worth S
tockyard,” Blunt said. “Once you see Charlie Bell in action and hear his voice, you’ll never forget it. He talks a hundred miles an hour while raising bids for a longhorn and then has you spellbound with his mesmerizing description of the next animal. It’s truly an art form.”
“And you’re sure that’s him?” Alex asked.
Blunt nodded. “Charlie's style and sound are so unique it's nearly impossible to mistake someone else for him. Charlie has been there for years, and I make it a point to go visit the stockyards in Fort Worth every time I go back if anything just to hear him auction off a few steers.”
“So, now we know where he was when we called—or at least, we think we do,” Hawk said. “Any way we can find out who he is?”
“I have an idea,” Alex said.
“Let’s hear it,” Blunt said.
“Since we know the exact time of the conversation, if we could get a look at the security video from the event, we might be able to pick him out of the crowd.”
“You think it’ll be that easy?” Blunt asked.
She shook her head. “At this point, it’s all we’ve got. But we should be able to isolate the Obsidian agent pretty quickly by watching for him to answer his phone at the exact moment Hawk placed the call.”
“Make it happen,” Blunt said.
“There is a problem with all this,” Alex said. “We'll need to get a warrant to obtain all the footage from the stockyard. I doubt they're just going to hand it over unless you have some contacts down there.”
Blunt sighed. “I’m not exactly a favorite of the stockyard’s CEO.”
“I’m sure there’s a story here you need to share,” Hawk said. “Maybe a burned bridge or two?”
“More like scorched earth,” Blunt said. “Hank Wilson, who is the CEO there now, ran against me for my Senate seat one term. I obliterated the guy and exposed both of his mistresses, much to the surprise of his loyal wife.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “He had two mistresses?”
“Probably more, but that's what the private investigator came up within just over two weeks of tailing him,” Blunt said. “The whole scandal ended his political career as well as his marriage. The crazy thing is we were hunting buddies before that. Now, I'm pretty sure he'd try to shoot me in the back if we went out hunting together.”
“In that case, do we have an alternative to a warrant?” Alex asked.
“What about the NSA?” Hawk asked. “We could always see about getting the footage from them.”
“The problem with that is that Obsidian is embedded everywhere,” Blunt said. “Frankly, we don't know who to trust anymore.”
“We can trust Mallory Kauffman,” Hawk said. “Can’t we, Alex?”
She nodded. “If we ever need a favor, I can always count on her.”
“One day you’re going to have to repay all those favors, aren’t you?” Blunt asked.
“That day is not today,” she said. “I’ll grab my coat, and we’ll go pay her a visit.”
“Not now,” Blunt said. “We need to wait until after hours. It’s important that we avoid taking any chances that someone on the Obsidian payroll will see you. Have Ms. Kauffman meet you in the lobby after hours and escort you inside using fake identities. We can’t have any record of you being there, both for your sake and for hers.”
“Roger that,” Alex said as she stood.
“We’re so close,” Blunt said. “It’s past time for whoever murdered Hawk’s mother to pay.”
CHAPTER 12
ALEX EASED UP TO THE guard gate and rolled down her window. She collected all her credentials from the passenger seat and handed them to the armed man standing just outside. Reacting so quickly, he didn't even have an opportunity to make his demands known, a move Alex made to give off the impression that she belonged and didn't require further questioning.
“Everything looks in order, Ms. North,” he said as he offered the documents back to Alex.
“Thank you,” she said as she retrieved the items.
“The visitor's lot is ahead and to your left,” he said. “You'll see the sign.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said before accelerating into the complex.
Alex glanced at the Homeland Security badge she’d created. Georgia North was her name, a low-level director with full clearance. There was something about hacking her own government’s website and planting information that made her feel anxious. But she was certain she’d exercised the proper protocol to get her alias in the system. The way in which she breezed through the security checkpoint should have given her the confidence she needed to move forward without a second thought. However, the nagging feeling that she was about to get caught wouldn’t go away.
After she reached out to Mallory, Alex decided that in order to keep Black and Hawk in the loop, she needed to use their coms. Any cell phone conversations were sure to be picked up by the NSA—or at least there was a great chance of that happening. But the secure channels utilized by their coms prohibited any eavesdropping. More importantly, with Mallory making a risky move to help, Alex didn't want to jeopardize her friend's standing with her superiors.
Mallory was waiting in the lobby when Alex entered.
“It’s good to see you,” Mallory said.
“Likewise,” Alex said before greeting Mallory with a hug. “You ready to get to work?”
“Just as soon as Tom over here determines that we’re not miscreants,” Mallory said, nodding toward the security checkpoint.
A barrel-chested guard poked his head around the side of the metal detector and flashed a wide grin at Mallory before giving her a friendly wave.
“Come on over, ladies,” he said. “There isn’t a line.”
“You dating this guy?” Alex asked in a whisper.
“No, but he’s a big flirt,” Mallory answered. “I just play along so he likes me. You can never have enough friends around here, especially for moments just like this one.”
They strode toward the machine and placed all their belongings into a small tray on the conveyor belt. Once Tom signaled for them to walk through the detector, Mallory went first followed by Alex. They retrieved their items on the other side.
“Just wait right there,” Tom said to Mallory. “I need to make sure your friend has clearance.”
He hustled over to a nearby computer terminal and started typing on the keyboard.
“When did they start adding in this extra protocol for checking in?” Alex asked, keeping her voice low.
“Just a couple of weeks ago,” Mallory said. “Our director has been here about five years—and from what everyone else is telling me, that’s about how long you have to work here before you become extremely paranoid.”
“It didn’t take you that long. You were paranoid after about a week.”
“Give or take a week,” Mallory quipped. “I honestly think I became wary of everyone by lunch my first day on the job.”
“And look where it’s gotten you,” Alex said with a wink.
“Yes, sneaking in agents from fellow organizations because none of us trust the ones we work for.”
“Isn’t that how Washington has always worked?”
“That’s been my experience.”
Tom prevented the conversation from going any further as he sauntered back over to the women.
“Ms. North, I’m going to let you through for now, but I had some problems pulling up your file. Have you worked with Homeland Security for long?”
“At least a couple of weeks,” Alex said. “My boss told me it would take a few days for the system to update, which is why I contacted her. We’re old friends. I just wanted to get familiar with what she does here and how we can coordinate our efforts while I’m at Homeland Security.”
“Of course,” Tom said. “I just couldn’t verify your position with the department.”
“Would you mind checking again?” Alex asked. “I know I’m in there.”
“Certainly,” Tom said with a wink before returni
ng to his terminal.
Once he was out of earshot, Alex activated her coms. “Hey, fellas. I need some help. And based on the problem, I think Black is more suited for the task at hand.”
“What do you need?” Black asked.
“I'm getting hung up here at NSA in the lobby by Deputy Dudley Do-Right. For some reason, my picture and other information hasn’t populated yet to the system, and I need this guard to verify me before he'll let me through.”
“On it,” Black said.
“I left everything open on my computer,” she said.
“I see it,” Black said. “This should only take a minute.”
“We don’t have a minute,” Alex said. “I need it thirty seconds ago.”
“Roger that.”
Alex heard the whir of Black’s fingers tapping out keystrokes. Thirty seconds later, he declared victory.
“Done,” he said. “I republished the update, and it went through when I checked it.”
Alex sighed with relief before glancing over toward Tom, who wore a confused look on his face followed by one of surprise. He abruptly got up and walked over to them.
“Well, I apologize for the holdup, ladies,” Tom said. “That was really strange. Your profile and clearance level wasn't there and then—boom!—it appeared out of nowhere. You're both good to go.”
“Thank you,” Alex said.
“You’re quite welcome,” Black said.
“You’re welcome,” Tom called.
“That was for the security guard,” Alex said in a whisper to Black. “You just stay on the line in case I need you again.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” he replied.
Once they reached Mallory’s office, she ushered Alex inside.
“This is new,” Alex said as she glanced around. “When did you get these new digs?”
“I got a few perks with my latest promotion,” she said. “The pay raise was nice, but not compared to having my own space. Working on the floor next to other analysts was really depressing sometimes. It’s nice to be able to spread out and not worry about people bothering me.”
“And that doesn’t happen now that you’re a supervisor?”
“Not as much as you might think. Most of my subordinates are all trying to impress me and won’t bring me anything until they’ve verified it six ways from Sunday.”
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