R Patterson - The Shadow Hunter

He moved into the interior and found one guard patrolling the area. Hawk slipped up behind the man and broke his neck. Hawk found a sandbag nearby and attached it to the man’s body with a rope before dropping him into the water just off the dock. Then Hawk spied another guard strolling past two missiles, which were still situated on a transport truck.

Affixing a silencer to the end of his weapon, Hawk shot the man at point blank and then stuffed him into a locker in the corner.

With the room clear, Hawk didn’t want to waste any time. He scaled the truck and started to disarm the weapon. Following instructions that were in a mission packet on Commander Wilson’s phone, Hawk rendered the two missiles toothless in just under fifteen minutes. He fried the motherboard, meaning that the codes wouldn’t arm the devices. And as a result, they’d never detonate. Hawk knew North Korea didn’t have the expertise in handling the weapons and would see them as useless.

Using Dr. Z’s device, Hawk altered the navigational controls on the missile. Then he stripped a handful of wires out, rendering the nuclear capability of the weapon inoperable. If the North Koreans thought that Russia sold them a bill of goods, it’d be even better for the U.S. interests. Putting two of America’s biggest enemies at each other’s throats was little more than a pipe dream in Washington. But it’d become a reality when Kim Yong-ju ordered the missile strike, and the military would launch a dud. Accusations would fly and Russia would be blamed for the failure.

When Hawk finished, he pulled his cap down low across his brow again and walked toward the gate to exit the facility. His heart was pounding as he approached the guard.

Right as Hawk passed through the exit, a man shouted for him. Hawk stopped and turned around.

“Is your shift up so soon?” the soldier asked in Korean.

Hawk glanced down and saw blood leaking through his uniform. Thinking quickly, he feigned a cough and answered in his best Korean with a gravelly voice. “I don’t feel well. I think I have a virus.”

The man waved dismissively at Hawk, who put his head down and trudged away.

When he reached a safe distance from the harbor, Hawk found a back alley where he could change. He then hiked in the direction of the most eastern point of the Sonbong harbor. Once he was back in the woods, he pulled out the commander’s phone and dialed the number demarcated as Big Earv.

Hawk waited as the phone rang. After the sixth ring, the call went to voicemail. Hawk cursed under his breath before sitting down on a rock. Until Big Earv called him back, Hawk was stranded.

He paced around to pass the time, but that only made him more nervous. Any minute, the woods could be crawling again with North Korean soldiers. If Hawk stayed hidden, it wouldn’t be an issue. He couldn’t help but think about Alex.

He took a breath and pulled out his phone, checking it again to see if Big Earv had called him.

Still nothing.

The sun started to rise across the water, increasing the difficulty for Hawk’s escape across the water. He decided to call Alex and let her know that he’d at least succeeded. And he also wanted to find out how she was doing.

But when he called her, she didn’t answer.

Bridger, Montana

ALEX SPLASHED WARM WATER on her face after brushing her teeth. She squinted before taking a moment to study herself more closely, her green eyes unable to mask the redness in them. She’d cried more in the time since Hawk left than she did at any other point in her marriage. The stress of him leaving was heavy. But if she was honest, she was torn.

Raising John Daniel was tough, so much so that on most days she considered tracking terrorists all over the globe with her life on the line to be an easier task. She took a deep breath before tying her hair up in a messy bun. She walked past John Daniel’s room before stopping and peeking inside. For a moment, she lingered in the doorway, watching him sleep peacefully.

Maybe it’s not so bad.

Alex couldn’t help but sense an enormous amount of guilt just for feeling that way.

Surely no other mother feels this way about her own children.

But she wanted to get back in the game. And even though she wasn’t playing a pivotal role in Hawk’s mission, she craved the action, the intensity, the adrenaline rush that accompanied being within minutes of thousands of innocent people dying before your team stops it. The pros far outweighed the cons, and she wanted back in. But how?

John Daniel required constant attention. He’d be starting school in the upcoming fall, but could she really handle the rigors of hunting terrorists and exposing conspiracies against the U.S. government in between PTA meetings, feeding the horses, and helping John Daniel with his homework every night? She wasn’t sure she could, but she was willing to try.

However, she hadn’t yet expressed to Hawk her desire to return to the field, who had repeatedly shared how happy he was with their new lifestyle. Yet part of Alex remained empty.

She closed the door to John Daniel’s room and walked down the hall, determining to tell him upon his return.

Alex ambled into the kitchen, where she picked up the radio and tried to raise the security team patrolling her property.

“Kyle? Xander? How are things looking out there?” she asked.

A few seconds passed and there was no answer.

“Kyle? Xander? Don’t play games with me, gentlemen.”

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Kyle’s smooth voice emanate from the speaker.

“We’re both here,” Kyle said. “In fact, I’m looking at Xander right now.”

“How come he can’t answer me himself?” she asked as she heated up a kettle to make some tea.

Kyle chuckled. “He’s taking a leak.”

She giggled and shook her head. “When I check in and ask for a status update, whether your bladder is full or not or even in the process of being drained isn’t something I care to know.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” Kyle said. “Just trying to remain open and transparent for everyone.”

“It’s just a bit much,” she said.

“Roger that.”

“I’m going to bed,” she said. “You two have a nice night.”

Alex took the kettle off the burner as it started to whistle and poured the water into a mug. She dunked the tea bag inside and turned off the burner. After shuttering all the blinds around the house, she shuffled back to her room.

She grabbed a book to read and then eased into her bed, covering herself with satin sheets. Hawk hated sleeping on them, complaining about how he slipped around all night and one time slid completely off the side. But she loved the sheets. And with him gone, she pulled them out again.

She lit a candle and started reading a book in her favorite Clive Cussler series. She sped through the pages, the tension losing some of its bite for someone who’d been through far more hair-raising adventures than Dirk Pitt. However, she was thankful that she wasn’t stuck in the cold like Dirk, mushing across the Arctic.

She stopped and glanced at the gas fireplace in the corner of the room. A faint smile spread across her face as the flames danced behind the glass. Everything was as it should be—except for Hawk. She needed him propped up in the bed next to her while he thumbed through a gun magazine.

A half-hour passed and she started to get sleepy. She finished the rest of her tea before returning the mug to the kitchen sink.

As she did, she heard a creak in the floorboard and darted down the hall to look for John Daniel.

“John Daniel?” she called out in a hushed tone. “John Daniel?”

She was almost at his door and then just went all the way in and peeked in on him.