Buzz!
Two thirty in the afternoon.
The flight from New York landed smoothly at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington D.C.
Half an hour later.
Traveling light, Hawk walked out of the airport behind him, then came up to a taxi, pulled open the rear door, and got in. He gave the young Black driver in the front seat, who had turned to look at him, the address of a motel in Quantico.
The young Black driver nodded, started the meter, then stepped on the gas and drove away from the airport.
Although the Marine Corps base and the FBI academy were both in Quantico, that did not mean ordinary people could not go there.
Ordinary people simply could not freely enter military-controlled areas.
But Quantico itself—the town surrounding the base—was still open to the public.
Any disciplined person possessed extraordinary drive, let alone a man like Hawk, who had persisted in throwing ten thousand punches every day for a thousand consecutive days.
Hawk's drive was unprecedented and unmatched.
He had walked out of the Osborn Bio-Industry building that morning, then appeared at the airport by noon to buy the earliest flight to Washington.
Hawk had not even gone home to grab a few changes of clothes.
Fortunately, he had spent the entire previous night studying satellite maps of Quantico and had roughly mapped out what he needed to do to retrieve his Gamaneon from Quantico.
Otherwise, Hawk would probably have been like a headless fly after getting off the plane, with no idea which way to go.
Plan A.
Sneak in if possible.
But if I'm discovered, switch straight to Plan B.
End it quickly!
Sitting in the backseat of the taxi, Hawk silently ran through the plan again. Then he gathered himself and turned to look at the scenery outside the window.
Then...
Without giving anything away, Hawk glanced at the young Black driver in front of him and pulled out the phone he had forgotten to restart after turning it off for the flight.
The phone quickly powered on.
A string of text notification chimes immediately sounded.
Hawk raised an eyebrow. Just as he was about to unlock it and see what junk message his carrier had sent him this time, a low voice sounded inside the car, accompanied by a black gun barrel extending from the front and aiming at him.
"Don't move. Give me your phone."
"..."
Hawk fell silent.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
No, wait.
I came to Quantico to rob someone. How the hell did I get robbed right after landing, before I even made it to Quantico?
Fuck!
This is the capital, isn't it? Is public safety worse than New York City?
In an instant.
Hawk's impression of Washington D.C. dropped to rock bottom.
The young Black driver kept driving as he looked at the apparently stunned Hawk through the rearview mirror and spoke in a low voice. The black gun barrel even waved slightly. "Don't move. Give me your phone."
Hawk came back to himself.
"Do you want me not to move, or do you want me to give you my phone?"
"..."
The young Black driver fell silent for a moment after hearing that.
The next second.
He seemed to snap.
"Motherfucker, stop talking and give me the—"
Ring ring ring!
Just as the young Black driver snapped, Hawk's phone began ringing.
It was Gwen.
Hawk blinked at the only number saved in his contacts.
He had only saved one number on this phone.
Just as he had said before, there was no need for him to pull out his phone. He did not need to call anyone, and no one would call him.
Uh...
Except Gwen.
Looking at Gwen's incoming call, Hawk answered directly and put the phone to his ear.
"Hello..."
"..."
The young Black driver snapped.
Through the rearview mirror, he watched Hawk completely ignore his "equalizer," not hesitate in the slightest, not even bother putting on an act, and simply answer the phone right in front of him. He snapped completely.
The next second.
The young Black driver slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a screeching stop. Then he twisted around in his seat and reached toward the back.
"Motherfucker, I'll fucking—"
Thud!
"Ah!"
"..."
On the other end of the call, Gwen, who had just been about to speak, blinked when she suddenly heard what sounded like a scream coming from Hawk's side.
"Was someone screaming, Hawk?"
"...Yeah. Some passerby was playing a movie. He was probably watching some violent action film."
"I think so too. That scream sounded exactly like someone getting their ribs broken."
"Uh..."
Hawk remained bent over, one hand clamped over the young Black driver's mouth as he pressed him against the Control Console. He looked at the spot on the driver's ribs that he had just struck. "You can tell where someone was injured from their scream?"
Gwen laughed on the other end.
"Of course. My dad is a police captain. Let me tell you a secret: even new officers might not be as professional as I am."
"...I can tell."
Hawk was speechless.
What else could he say? A top student was a top student. They learned everything faster than everyone else, and did it better too.
Just then.
Gwen's laughter became bright and cheerful.
"I'm teasing you. How could that be possible?"
"...All right, I believed you."
"By the way, why was your phone off? I called you so many times, but couldn't get through."
"What is it?"
Hawk maintained his bent posture, one hand covering the young Black driver's mouth to stop him from screaming, while the other held the phone as he spoke with Gwen.
"Come downstairs."
"What?"
"Dr. Connors knows you were fired. He also knows you took the blame, and he felt bad about it, so he prepared a gift for you. But I couldn't reach you by phone, so I came over. Aren't you home?"
Having already driven her yellow Carola to the bottom of Hawk's new apartment building, Gwen pressed a hand against an envelope resting on the passenger seat while poking her head out to look at Hawk's new apartment building.
After hearing that Gwen was already downstairs at his apartment, Hawk could not help falling silent for a second or two before reacting.
"Right, I'm not home. How about you take it back first and give it to me when school starts?"
"I've already gotten out of the car."
After closing the car door, Gwen walked toward Hawk's new apartment building and said, "Your place is on the top floor of the apartment building by the road, right? Your window is open. I'll go in through the fire escape and leave it at your place."
Hawk was dumbfounded.
It was not strange that Gwen knew where he lived. After all, she had been there when he filled out his information for the job, so she might have seen it.
But...
"How did you know?"
"I saw the shorts hanging in your window."
"Uh..."
"You've worn those pants for three years. And if I remember correctly, they weren't shorts before, were they? I think you cut them into shorts in tenth grade."
"All right, that's it. I'll just leave it at your place. I need to hurry back too."
"..."
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