Against All Odds
and lumbered inside so he could immediately inspect the flash drive.Drumming his fingers on the desk while the computer whirred to life, he looked at his phone to see he’d missed another call from Alex. He decided to call her as soon as he finished perusing the information Lee Hendridge had compiled.
Blunt opened the first file he saw, which was a large spreadsheet. He scrolled down a long list of names, many that he recognized. Next to each one was a brief description of their country affiliation followed by their duties and sphere of influence.
He then opened another document and started reading what appeared to be the introduction to Hendridge’s big bombshell of a story. Blunt’s mouth fell agape, and he promptly broke his promise. Instead of calling Alex back, he dialed Rebecca Paris’s number.
“Ms. Paris, this is J.D. Blunt. I was able to retrieve a flash drive from the locker at Union Station. We need to talk.”
CHAPTER 21
Varadero, Cuba
RETURNING THE MISSILES back to his hotel room, Hawk wasted no time in discussing strategy with Alex about the possible whereabouts of the fourth missile. With President Young scheduled to go on stage at the Oscar Fuentes rally in less than two hours, they needed to locate the missile before it was too late.
“Well, obviously we can’t track this missile the way we did these others,” Alex said. “But we know that missile was in that same hotel room.”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Hawk said.
“I hope so.”
Hawk winked. “How’s your Spanish?”
* * *
TEN MINUTES LATER, Alex was dressed to the nines as she exited their room.
“You sure you can pull this off?” Hawk asked. “If you get caught, you know the Cubans are going to throw us in prison.”
“At least we’ll be in prison together.”
“I doubt that.”
“A girl can dream, can’t she,” Alex said with a chuckle.
“Let’s just make sure it doesn’t end up that way.”
Alex took the universal key card from Hawk and used it to access the basement floor on the elevator. Once there, she followed the signs to the security office.
Alex took the card and the lead. She unlocked the door and strode into a dark room where two men sat staring at a bank of video monitors.
One of the men spun around in his chair, eyebrows arched as he spoke.
“May I help you?” he asked in Spanish.
“I hope so,” Alex responded in Spanish, her accent flawless. “I am Maria Olivar from the corporate offices of Telestar Systems. We’re here to inspect your security system and make sure the equipment is working properly.”
The man furrowed his brow. “I didn’t receive any advance notice that you would be here,” he said. “Just let me verify that with my supervisor.”
“Don’t go through all that trouble,” Alex said. “I won’t bother you more than a minute or two. It’s just a routine checkup.”
The man sighed. “Fine. What do you need to see?”
“I want to see if the cameras are functioning properly along with the playback features.”
Alex scanned the labels on all the monitors until she identified the twelfth floor cameras. “Can you move the camera in the upper right corner onto the main screen?”
The man punched a few buttons on his keyboard, sending the feed onto a large screen.
“Run this footage back to four hours ago,” she said.
The man obliged.
“Now fast forward,” she said.
After a few seconds, a woman appeared on the screen, exiting the twelfth floor room. She was toting an odd-shaped piece of luggage along with a more traditional roller bag.
There it is.
Alex noted the woman looked somewhat familiar.
Glancing at the time stamp on the screen, she requested the man move the parking garage cameras to the main screen, splitting it into four, and backtrack to a couple of minutes after the woman had left her room.
“This doesn’t seem like a routine checkup to me,” one of the men said. “Most of the time, there are other diagnostics your company runs.”
“We have multiple methods we employ while assessing our equipment’s functionality,” Alex snapped.
The woman was captured putting the two pieces of luggage into her trunk and leaving. She exited north out of the garage onto the main street.
She memorized the car’s license plate number along with the make and model.
“You really need to upgrade to HD cameras,” Alex said. “These images are still sufficient, but you won’t be able to identify anyone definitively.”
The man chuckled. “Most people come here so they won’t be identified.”
“I see,” Alex said. “Well, thank you for your time.”
As Alex turned to leave, the door opened, and a tall man wearing a bowler hat strode inside.
“What’s going on here?” the stranger asked.
“I’m Maria Oliva from the Telestar Systems corporate offices, and I’m just leaving,” Alex said.
“No, you’re not,” the man said.
“Excuse me,” she said, trying to slide past him. “I must be going.”
He shifted over, blocking her path. “You’re not going anywhere until I figure out who you are.”
“I already told you that I’m—”
The man glared at her. “Stop lying.”
“I’m not lying. I’m—”
“You’re not with Telestar, because I am.”
Alex’s eyes widened as the man whipped out a gun and trained it on her. “You’re coming with me,” he said with a growl. “We’re going to straighten this out elsewhere.”
CHAPTER 22
Hard Rock Stadium
Miami, Florida
SENATOR THURMAN WALTZED out onto the stage covering the area that was the end zone during Miami Dolphins games. A thunderous applause erupted as the song “Country Must be Country Wide” blared on the loudspeakers. His longtime relationship with President Young resulted in an invitation to introduce him at the Oscar Fuentes rally. With the country’s seemingly unstable political situation, including the recent death of the former president, voters were registering all over the place in polls when asked their preference for which party should be running the country. And no incumbent was going to leave anything to chance.
Thurman was grateful he wasn’t up for re-election for another four years, but he was happy to help his