Page 88 of Dead Drift

“We’re going to have a talk.”

Bedan’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat.

37

Luke and Declan entered the interrogation room that held Bedan. Luke had been informed the warehouse’s tunnel came out nearly a mile away. Ebeid no doubt had a car waiting and was now in the wind. Teams were combing Ebeid’s home and office at the Islamic Cultural Institute of the Mid-Atlantic, but there was no sign of him.

Luke’s injured leg throbbed, every nerve ending on fire, his whole being screaming to find Ebeid. They also needed to discover where the one missing truck was headed.

The three trucks that had been onsite when they’d arrived had been stopped before they could pull away, the drivers and guards now in custody and being questioned by Tanner. They’d then be questioned by Luke and Declan until put behind bars.

They needed to crack someone because they needed to know where the fourth truck was headed. Declan had put out an APB and set up blockades on all roads out of Baltimore, but depending on when the truck had left, it could already be out of the area.

Luke exhaled and kicked back in his chair, trying to give Bedan the impression they had the situation under control. They weren’t even close, but Bedan certainly didn’t need to know that.

“Where is Ebeid?”

“Fleeing the country, I suppose.”

“To where?”

“He didn’t say, but he told me we’d be long gone before my creation was unleashed.”

Luke interlocked his fingers. “Guess he left you behind.”

Bedan simply nodded, scribbling on the steno pad they’d provided in case he agreed to write out a confession.

“I suppose it’s a better fate than Kemel’s.”

“Indeed,” Bedan said casually.

Too casually.

He’d been searched, patted down, and wanded—and the only things that set off the alarm were his belt buckle and the metal rims of his glasses. He was clean, according to security.

Luke sat forward, resting his arms on the table. “Since he dismissed you so carelessly and left you for us, why protect his destination?”

“I told you. Ebeid did not reveal the details of our getaway.”

Luke narrowed his eyes. Bedan was hiding something. “You know more than you are saying.”

“Very well, I’ll tell you where Ebeid is headed—I have no more loyalty to him—but only after I share what I need to.”

“Which is?”

“The beauty, intricacy, and genius of the zenith of my career.”

“Your anthrax aerosol deployment devices?” Bedan may be brilliant, but he was a nutter.

“Yes,” Bedan said, leaning forward, his voice dancing with excitement. “But it is so much more.”

Luke bit back what he wanted to say and worked to get the answers he needed. “Please, go on. . . .”

He needed to find Ebeid before the man disappeared for good. They didn’t have much time, but it was clear Bedan wasn’t going to reveal what he knew before he was ready. Luke could read it in his eyes.

“Do you realize the significance of what I’ve created?” Bedan asked.

“A deployment device of biological warfare that falls into the weapons of mass destruction category?” The man was mad. Didn’t he realize the devastation his creation would wreak? The lives that would be lost? And here he was talking as if it were a piece of art.