Page 44 of Hawk on the Hunt

“That’s terrible.” Zara oriented herself, before pointing to a short corridor to her left. “This way.”

“Where are you taking us?” Tiger asked from behind her.

“To his hideaway office.”

“A hideaway office?” both Tiger and Dylan asked in unison.

“Yes, all senators have a private office that they can sneak off to if they want to work undisturbed. Some of them are huge, others feel more like a broom closet, and virtually nobody knows where they are. There are no signs on the doors, nothing.”

“Then how do you know where Johnson’s hideaway office is?” Dylan asked.

“His father showed it to me once,” Zara explained, “when he needed help with carrying something. And his son would know about it too. He mentioned to me only a few days ago that he knows the Capitol like the back of his hand, because he visited his father often when he was a kid and a young adult. He would assume that none of his staff knows about the location of the hideaway office. It’s the perfect place to hide something he doesn’t want to be found, including himself.”

She stopped in front of an indistinct door. They were on one of the upper floors of the rotunda. “This is it.”

“Is this the only entrance?” Tiger asked, keeping his voice low, though it wouldn’t be necessary. The alarm was still blaring in the building, and if Johnson was indeed in the hideaway office, he wouldn’t hear them over the noise.

“Yes.”

Dylan tested the door handle. “It’s unlocked. Zara, step over there; Tiger, on three.”

Zara watched the two as they looked at each other and counted silently. On three, Tiger ripped the door open, and Dylan rushed inside, Tiger hot on his heels. From her position in the hallway, she looked into the room, and realized instantly that Johnson wasn’t there.

She joined Dylan and Tiger inside the shoebox-sized hideaway office. There was a round window like a porthole that let the sun in, making the room bright and warm. Several of the built-in cabinets stood open, and files and folders were strewn about the desk and the floor. A small metal suitcase no larger than a lunch box lay next to one of the open cabinets. There were several indentations in the foam-lined container. Indentations large enough for discs or external hard drives.

Dylan lifted the case from the floor and placed it on the small desk. “You were right, Zara. He kept the data discs hidden here where they were protected well, and close enough for him to access in an emergency. He beat us to it.”

The disappointment in Dylan’s voice was palpable. Tiger didn’t look happy either.

“Damn,” Zara cursed. “I should have gotten us here faster.”

Dylan put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault. Without you, we wouldn’t even know who he is. So get those thoughts right out of your head, all right?”

She nodded reluctantly, wondering if there was anything else she could help them with. After all, of the three of them, she probably knew Johnson the best. She’d worked for him for a month. She knew some of his quirks and habits, some of his routines. Though she doubted that he would follow any of his routines today, given that he knew his plan had been thwarted—for now.

“Hawk, do you think he took the data to where the computer or the MRI machine is?” Tiger asked, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, if he wants to try again, he’ll need what he’s already built, right?”

Dylan nodded. “Yes, but Fox said that you guys have no lead on where he set up the new MRI machine after you all blew the one up that they’d put you in, right?”

“True, but that thing is big, and it takes a lot of juice to run it,” Tiger added.

Zara listened up. Something Tiger had just said triggered something in her brain. But what was it?

“We’ll have to get Fox or Michelle to hack into the utility company to see who’s using a lot of electricity. Wasn’t that how they found the other MRI machine in the first place? By checking for electricity usage?”

“I’ll call Michelle,” Tiger offered and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “She can start checking any utility bills registered in the senator’s name.”

Zara slapped her palm to her forehead. “That’s it!” Excitement coursed through her. “Now I remember.”

“You remember what?” Dylan asked, looking straight at her, while Tiger waited too.

“The utility bill. A few days ago, I was going through the senator’s mail, and I got this utility bill in his name, but it was for a property that wasn’t on my list belonging to either him or his father. And the bill was pretty high. So I brought it to his attention, and asked him if I should pay it or not.”

“And?” Tiger asked eagerly.

“Well, he said he needed to pay it from his private funds, and took it from me, even though I could have easily made the payment for him. Clara, my colleague, has checks for his private account, and normally prepares the checks for his signature.”

Dylan leaned closer, excited now. “Do you remember the address?”