Page 11 of Hawk on the Hunt

Dylan nodded, taking in the information quickly, knowing he had lots to catch up on. “You’re sure he’s not the head of it?”

“Absolutely. He’s not a precognitive like us,” Yankee insisted. “I was close enough to him. I would have felt it.”

“No tingling then,” Dylan said to himself. “And why do you all think that our enemy is a precognitive?”

“He has to be,” Ace said. “The kind of information he has can only have come from somebody who knew about the program, and who has the same skills we have. He knows things he couldn’t otherwise have known. And he knows that the only people who can stop him from achieving his goals are us.”

Dylan nodded. “Let’s assume your assumptions are correct, then you’re saying that he’ll try to catch as many of us as he can in order to feed our brain scans to his machine, and those he can’t capture, he’ll kill so there’s nobody to stop him. Is that about it?”

“That sums it up,” Ace said with a nod.

“Do you know what he’ll do with the quantum computer once it’s done?”

Ace shrugged. “World domination?”

“Start a war?” Yankee threw out.

“End democracy as we know it?” Tiger suggested.

“Take your pick,” Fox said with a one-shouldered shrug. “Whatever he wants to do with it, it will lead to a terrible tragedy.”

Yankee nodded. “The doomsday visions. I’m assuming you get them too, Hawk?”

“I do. Only in my sleep though. Not during waking hours like my other visions. I always found it odd.” Dylan shrugged. “But I never had anybody I could ask about it.”

“Well,” Tiger said, “now you do.” He motioned to the others. “We all have visions of massive explosions, all taking place in the D.C. area, we think. And we only get these visions during sleep, like regular nightmares.”

It confirmed what Dylan had been seeing too. And these nightmarish visions were becoming more frequent. “I don’t see an explosion. I only hear the loud boom. Then dust raining down on me, smoke filling the corridor I’m running in, screams of others fleeing… Carnage everywhere. But I can’t tell what building I’m in.”

Ace pointed to Fox. “Fox has figured out that he’s in Smith’s house in Fort Washington when the explosions occur. I’m somewhere at a military airport, seeing Marines carry a coffin from or to a plane, when the explosion hits.” He tipped his head in Tiger’s and Yankee’s direction. “They’re both somewhere near the Capitol when it happens.”

“I see the White House, when there’s an explosion behind me,” Yankee added.

“And I actually see the Capitol blow up,” Tiger said.

“Hmm.” Dylan rubbed his neck. “Does that sound like the plot of Designated Survivor to you guys?”

Ace looked at him. “It’s a possibility. But that leaves too many things to chance. No, I think Jones is too smart to do something so dramatic.”

“Hold on,” Dylan said, suddenly remembering something Ace had said only moments earlier. “Fox, you’re in Smith’s house, I mean, John Bancroft’s house? And you know where it is? Have you—”

“I’m way ahead of you,” Fox interrupted. “We put him under surveillance when we identified him a few months ago. He works for the CIA, some managerial position. But so far, we haven’t seen him meet with Jones. Most likely they only talk on the phone.”

“I’m assuming you’ve got a trace on Bancroft’s phone?”

Fox nodded. “We do. But he’s using a burner to communicate with Jones, and we haven’t been able to hook onto it yet.” He gestured to the many computers in the room. “We’re well equipped, but some things are even beyond my capabilities.”

“Yeah, and Michelle’s,” Yankee added with a laugh.

Dylan listened up. “Who’s that? I didn’t know there were any female Stargate agents.”

“You’re right, there aren’t any,” Ace said with a grin at Fox. “But Michelle isn’t an agent, she’s Fox’s girl, and a pretty smart ex-hacker. Not sure what we would do without her. You’ll meet her later.”

Dylan shot up from his chair and snapped his gaze to Fox. “Your girlfriend knows about this? What the fuck, man! She could be putting us all in danger! Zulu didn’t say anything about civilians being involved in this. That changes everything.”

“Hawk, sit your ass back down,” Ace said with an authoritative tone in his voice. “All our girlfriends know what we’re doing here. And they’re helping us any which way they can.” He pointed to Tiger. “Without Olivia, Tiger’s girlfriend, we would have never figured out Smith’s real identity. And if Michelle didn’t have such stellar hacking skills, we wouldn’t have made such good progress in identifying what Jones is planning. Or in financing this whole operation with money from people who deserve to be robbed.”

Slowly, Dylan sat down again. “So, Olivia and Michelle, they’re helping you?”