Against All Odds
rage. He knew exactly where Alex was headed with the conversation, but he needed to know if she was playing a hunch or had evidence.“I’m sorry,” he said calmly. “I don’t. I have no idea why I would feel anything other than sorrow over Thaxton’s death.”
She turned and walked back to their SUV, returning quickly with a file folder. Opening it, she pulled out a few documents and handed them to Thurman. He rifled through the images on the pages before returning them to her.
“Are these images supposed to mean something?” Thurman asked.
“Look at the time and date stamp on each picture,” she said, offering the papers back to him.
He showed her his palm and shook his head.
“I’m not into games, Agent Duncan,” Thurman said. “You either tell me what this is all about or I’m going to politely end our conversation and continue my jog.”
“We know you’re the one who called in the hit on Thaxton, your own son,” Alex said. “These are images of you that day running into Rock Creek Park a few minutes before a Russian assassin received a call across town, alerting him that he had a job.”
“I run in Rock Creek all the time,” Thurman said, “especially in the morning before I head to the Capitol Building. It’s well documented, so I don’t know what you’re attempting to prove with all of this.”
“I might be considerably younger than you, Senator,” Hawk said, “but I wasn’t born yesterday. We know what you did. And it explains your desire to expedite matters with the assassin. You wanted us to do the real dirty work for you, expunging all the evidence.”
Thurman reinserted his earbuds. “I don’t have time for this shit,” Thurman said. “Have a nice life.”
He turned his back on the pair of agents and returned to his jog.
Less than thirty seconds later, he was on the pavement, his face smashed hard against the concrete.
“What are you doing?” Thurman asked.
“I’m teaching you how we handle uncooperative suspects,” Hawk said before jerking Thurman to his feet. “We have a lot to talk about, Senator.”
* * *
HAWK DIDN’T BOTHER knocking Thurman out or even blindfolding him. The debate with Alex was a brief one, though they were divided on the issue. However, Hawk pointed out that Alex mostly just wanted to punch the senator because it would make her feel better. In the end, Hawk’s suggestion of handling Thurman less violently won out.
After five minutes into the ride, Hawk was regretting his decision as Thurman protested his treatment. He made threat after threat against them for the way they took him down and forced him into a car against his will.
“You do realize this is kidnapping, right?” Thurman asked. “Not only are you going to lose your jobs once I’m done with you, but you’re also going to prison. This kind of behavior is unacceptable on so many different levels.”
Alex turned around and glared at him. “You are aware that you are guilty of conspiring to have your son killed. I’m sure that if you ever get your day in court, you’ll have a difficult time climbing up to that moral high ground without significant cognitive dissonance.”
“I didn’t murder my son,” Thurman protested. “And I swear when I get out of here, I’m going to make sure you can’t even get jobs as mall cops.”
“We’ll see about that,” Alex said.
A few minutes—and several threats—later, they pulled into the driveway of a secluded home just outside the city. Hawk navigated into the garage and closed the door remotely before dragging Thurman inside the house.
He didn’t waste any time in restarting his intimidation campaign, which was falling on deaf ears. After having heard enough, Hawk turned around without warning and coldcocked Thurman in his left jaw. Thurman crumpled to the floor. Hawk lugged the senator into the basement and waited for him to regain consciousness.
Alex fished Thurman’s phone out of his pocket and connected it to her computer.
“What are you doing?” Hawk asked.
“I’m going to find out where he’s been recently, particularly if he ran right by the bathroom in Rock Creek Park where the pay phone is.”
“That still won’t prove anything definitively, will it?” Hawk asked.
“It doesn’t need to. We just need him to think it does.”
“Good thinking.”
As Alex harvested all the information from the senator’s cell, he started to awaken.
“What—where am I?” he asked groggily.
“You’re not where you should be, that’s for sure,” Alex said.
Thurman sat up and rubbed his head. “Where’s my—what the—”
“Yes,” Alex said, “this is your phone, and I’m pulling all the data off it to make sure you’re being truthful with us. I’ve been in this job long enough to know that not everyone tells the truth all the time.”
Thurman glared at her. “You can’t do that. Give me back my phone right now. Besides, nothing you get will be admissible in court anyway.”
“Who said anything about court?” Hawk asked. “We’re just trying to handle justice without all the trappings of the legal system, just like you prefer.”
“You still haven’t taken care of that assassin who killed my son, have you?” Thurman asked.
“When you’re tying up loose ends, it’s important to do it yourself,” Hawk said.
“It’s also important to find all the ends,” Alex said. “Apparently, you got a little sloppy—and lazy.”
“But don’t worry,” Hawk said. “We’ll make sure that all the ends are tied up neatly by the time we’re finished here.”
“I kid you not, after I get out of here …” Thurman said.
Hawk set his jaw. “If you make one more empty threat while you’re here, I’m going to knock you out again,” he said. “And that’s a promise.”
Thurman narrowed his eyes but remained silent.
“That’s a good boy,” Alex said. “Now, here’s your phone. Why don’t you go over a few follow-up questions I have for you pertaining where you’ve been recently.”
“I already told you that I was jogging in Rock Creek Park that morning that you have a picture of me,” Thurman said. “I go there all the time. I don’t