Page 57 of Leading Conviction
Callie nodded and Nora answered out loud, “Yup.” She popped thepat the end and tilted her head with a smile, challenging him to scold her for their decision.
He trusted these people with his life. But thiswasn’this life. It was Hannah’s, and he’d never trust her safety in anyone else’s hands again.
“But… it’s her father—”
Nora grimaced and Hannah’s soft hand reached for his. He hadn’t even realized he was pointing accusingly at Callie and Nora until Hannah brought his hand underneath the table with hers.
“We have a lot to talk about on that front,” she murmured.
“What do you mean?” Hawk felt his face twist with confusion.
“There are things I haven’t been… open with you about. Concerning my relationship with him.”
The edges of Hawk’s vision faded at the sight of the shame on her face coupled with the implication behind her words.
He sucked in a breath before whispering, “Hannah—”
“Later?” she pleaded softly. “I’ll tell you when I’m ready. I swear.”
Hawk nodded once, knowing in his churning gut that he was going to hate whatever it was she had to tell him. The worst came to mind, but if she wasn’t ready to open up yet, then he had to move past it for her sake and for the sake of the meeting.
He tapped his lips, trying hard as hell not to let his mind dwell on every conversation he’d ever had with Hannah in an attempt to decipher the signs he’d missed. Instead, he focused on his team and the fact that Hannah’s soft hand still held his underneath the table.
He cleared his throat and addressed the rest of the room. “Okay, so what did we learn?”
Wes pushed his glasses up before speaking. “Well, in looking for the General’s location, I was able to track videos across Atlanta, starting with surveillance footage that hadn’t been autodeleted at the compound. Rookie mistake, if you ask me, by the way. If you have an autodelete sequence or any systemwide commands, then you have to make sure every single camera and device is connected to the coding, or else the whole thing is for nothing—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Snake.” Phoenix waved his hand. “Enough with the techno mumbo jumbo and all that blah, blah, blah.”
Wes glared at him.
Phoenix at least had the decency to look chagrined and his tan face reddened. “Sorry…Wes. Being an asshole is a force of habit. Can’t expect a man to change in a week.” He cleared his throat and nodded toward their comms sergeant. “Go ahead. I’ll shut up.”
“Thank you for trying.” Wes whirled his chair around to face the computers and continued on, pointing to a specific screen. “You know how we found tire track marks at the back entrance of the General’s compound? I did some cross-referencing with vehicles in old footage and the tread pattern and I was able to figure out what the General was driving. You guys won’t believe it. It looks likeVladis the one cartinghimaround.”
“Really?” Phoenix’s voice rose at the end.
Wes nodded emphatically. “I know. Weird, right? But check it out.”
He pulled up a video of a black van in a gas station with Vlad in the driver’s seat and one of his men pumping gas into the vehicle.
“Hold on…” Wes muttered and typed on the keyboard until the image enhanced and magnified to show—
“Is that the General tied up in the back of the van?” Callie asked.
Sure enough, the General could be seen, clear as day, through a small sliver between the seats, gagged and his hands taped up in front of him.
“The fuck?” Draco grumbled. “That Vlad bastard has kidnapped his own boss now?”
Draco and Vlad had a particularly nasty history. The Russian had attacked Draco and Nora almost a year and a half ago. In the struggle, Nora was kidnapped and Draco was shot and fell into a coma. If it weren’t for the lifesaving drugs the team had confiscated from the General’s enterprises, Draco would still be a husk of the soldier he once was before his coma, or worse.
The “or worse” was what kept Hawk up at night. He hated the General, but because of his team, Vlad was on Hawk’s shit list too. Anyone who fucked with his team, fucked with him.
“Does that mean my… um, theGeneralhas been usurped, in a sense?” Hannah asked. “There was something the hitman back in Mexico said. I didn’t understand it then, and in the blur of everything, it slipped my mind. But when I asked him if my—the General was in charge, he said ‘everything is different now,’ and something like ‘everyone under the old boss has to go.’”
Rage welled in Hawk’s veins at the memory of seeing Hannah fight for her life. He tapped his finger against his lips, unable to do anything more to get the energy out at the moment.
“Damn, if the General isn’t in charge, then who is?” Jason asked.
