R Patterson - The Shadow Hunter

“The Navy is ready, sir,” said General Adams, the Naval representative to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “I just received confirmation that we can scramble our fighters and have them respond within the next fifteen minutes.”

Norris drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before answering. “Do it.”

Central Siberia

HAWK SKIDDED TO a halt in front of the man, who opened the passenger side door and started swearing. He held his gun trained on Hawk and ordered him to get out of the vehicle. With his hands held high, Hawk obliged. He walked slowly in front of his captor, who didn’t move, eyeing Hawk closely.

The highway was bumpy, undoubtedly littered with potholes underneath the ice. There wasn’t a guardrail either to protect cars from dropping straight down into a steep canyon. Acting as recklessly on an icy surface as Hawk did was borderline suicidal, enough to unnerve anyone interested in living.

As soon as both men were in the vehicle, Hawk didn’t waste any time in gaining an advantage. He grabbed the man’s hand and yanked it through the opening in the steering wheel. Pulling back on the man’s arm, Hawk applied pressure until it snapped. The man screamed in anguish as he squirmed in an attempt to break free from Hawk’s grip. As the man tried to put the vehicle in gear, Hawk swatted the man’s hand before slamming his head against the side window. After a series of hits, the man fell unconscious.

Meanwhile, the driver in the other vehicle noticed the fracas and attempted to help. He wheeled his vehicle around to face Hawk.

Hawk shoved the other man out of the driver’s seat and took his place. By the time he’d got his bearings, he noticed the other car was headed straight toward him. Hawk threw his vehicle in reverse and waited for the right moment to accelerate.

With the approaching vehicle about fifteen meters away, Hawk stomped on the gas and drove backward up the road he’d just come from. The other vehicle didn’t have a tight enough turning radius and found himself spinning his wheels on the ice after he’d stopped. Hawk seized the opportunity, accelerating straight toward the stalled vehicle. Metal crunched as the grill from Hawk’s vehicle smashed into the passenger side of the other car.

The momentum from Hawk’s SUV drove the car sideways until it stopped a couple of feet from the edge. The other driver rushed toward the passenger side to get out but then stopped when he opened the door and looked out.

“Adios, comrade,” Hawk said before revving the accelerator and then nudging the car farther toward the edge. Seconds later, the man returned to the driver side window, pressing his hands against the glass and pleading for Hawk to stop. But Hawk ignored him before shoving the vehicle into the craggy canyon.

Hawk got out to inspect his work, certain that he’d succeeded. He peered over the edge and saw the car already on fire. As he turned around, he heard footsteps fast approaching. He didn’t wait to assess the situation, instead darting toward his vehicle. The other man had regained consciousness and was sprinting toward him with his weapon.

Hawk ducked as bullets peppered the windshield. Keeping his head down, Hawk navigated back onto the road. Noticing the man pulling out his phone to make a call, Hawk drove toward the man before whipping the back side of his SUV into him. He hit the ground hard and slid on the ice, dropping both his phone and his weapon.

Hawk scrambled for the gun and snagged it first. The man climbed over Hawk and went for the phone. But he didn’t make it more than a couple of steps before Hawk put a bullet in his back. The man groaned as he tried to get to his feet, but Hawk shot again, this time dropping the man for good.

Hawk pocketed the cell phone before dragging the man’s body over to the edge and rolling it into the canyon with the rest of the carnage. He took a deep breath and surveyed the area. He couldn’t see anyone in the vicinity. After one final sweep for any clues that a major struggle occurred, Hawk eased behind the wheel and headed north on the highway toward Yakutsk.

He glanced at the cell phone to make sure it had a strong signal. Being dark for so long, he didn’t want to call Alex only to have the call drop within a few seconds. Once he was satisfied that he could hold a call, he dialed her number and waited for her to pick up.

On the fourth ring, she answered.

“Hello?”

“Alex,” he said, unable to get out another word before she expressed her relief.

“Thank God, Hawk,” she said. “Are you all right?”

“I am now,” he said.

“What happened? I was really getting worried about you.”

“Pretty much nothing has gone right so far. From my kayak getting a large hole in it to getting kidnapped by some Russian mafia to Andrei Orlovsky forcing me to do some dirty work for him to—”

“Wait, you just saw Orlovsky?”

Hawk sighed. “Yeah. He made me drop off some drugs for him and then had his goons try to kill me.”

“Obviously they didn’t succeed.”

“Yeah, they’re in the bottom of a canyon right now along with one of their vehicles.”

“Did you get hurt?”

“Nah, just a few scrapes and bruises. I’ll be all right in the morning.”

“What are you doing now?”

“I’m driving to Yakutsk to finally find out what the hell is going on with Tyson. What about you? How’s life on the farm? John Daniel?”

“I’m much better now that I know you’re okay,” she said. “I was really hoping we could do this together.”

“Me too. Things always seem to run a little bit smoother when I’ve got you in my ear, walking me through everything.”

She laughed. “I’m not sure that wasn’t a pipe dream anyway with John Daniel running around.”

“That bad, huh?”

“The little guy misses you,” she said. “But he’s living on the edge, just like his daddy. He’s leaping off beds, climbing to the top of bookcases, and pushing the limits. There’s no doubt he’s your son.”

“Well, give the little man a hug for me. I’ll give you an update when I can. The problem is I need to ditch this phone before Orlovsky uses it to track me. I’ll get a burner when I get to Yakutsk and call you again. Sound good?”

“Yes, but please make that a priority,” she said. “Hawk, if something happened to you, I just don’t—”

“I know, Alex. Just remember that we’re doing this so another kid can be reunited with his dad.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” she said. “But that doesn’t make it any easier.”

“Anything else?” he asked.

“Yeah, get out of there as soon as you can,” she said. “There’s some trouble brewing in the Pacific, major trouble.”

“North Korea?”

“Yeah—and they’re talking about nuclear war now.”

Hawk grunted. “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”

“You and the rest of the world.”

“I miss you,” he said. “I love you. See you soon.”

“Love you too. Be careful.”

Hawk disconnected the call and then tossed the phone out of the window and into the canyon below. If Orlovsky could track the phone’s location, perhaps he’d think that Hawk drove off a cliff.

As Hawk turned on the radio, breaking news bumper music interrupted the anchor. Then he proceeded to read a report about the tension between North Korea and the U.S. Hawk detected a hint of joy in his voice as he explained the scant details available to the public.

After letting out a string of expletives, Hawk returned his full attention to the winding roads. He needed to be in Yakutsk yesterday.

He just hoped Tyson would be there upon arriving in the central Siberian outpost.