Page 90 of Dead Drift

“It looks like he wrote . . . Niue.”

He couldn’t believe he was thinking this, but . . . Thank you, Bedan. He’d given them Ebeid’s intended destination.

He looked to Declan.

“I know,” Declan said. “Go. I’ll find the truck.”

Luke nodded and clasped Declan’s shoulder before racing down the hall, ignoring the searing pain in his leg.

“Head to BWI. I’ll have a jet waiting,” Declan hollered to him.

“If you talk to Kate before I can call her, tell her I’ll be back—and that I love her,” he hollered as he headed for BWI—and Niue of all places.

38

Declan met Tanner as she exited interrogation room three. “Any luck?”

“Not with that one.” She looked past him. “Where’s Luke?”

“He went after Ebeid.”

She frowned. “But one of the trucks got away. We have to assume . . .”

He squeezed her hand. “He knows we can handle it.”

“Does Kate know he left?”

“Not yet.” That was one conversation he wasn’t looking forward to. “Shall we head into interrogation room four?” That room held the guard of the third truck. So far, all the men, according to Tanner, were holding out, believing they were serving a higher purpose, and they were willing to face the death penalty for terrorist actions against the United States, but maybe, just maybe, Declan prayed, they’d get some answers out of the last man.

Lord, we’re walking in here as a last hope. We need to know where that truck is headed, and we need to stop it fast. Please help us. We’re desperate for your help.

They entered the room and introduced themselves.

“And you are?” Declan asked.

They were still running facial recognition and fingerprints through the system, as none of the men had any identification on them.

The man simply stared back at them.

Tanner asked him again in Malay, and his eyes fluttered.

“You speak Malay?” the man asked.

“Yes, and you speak English.”

He nodded.

“I’m Tanner.”

“Abdul.”

“Abdul,” she began, “can you—”

A knock sounded on the door.

“Excuse me.” Declan stood, answered, and took the file from the clerk.

“Abdul Megat,” Declan said, reading the report they now had on the young man seated across from them. Twenty years old, according to his driver’s license. Why had it taken the system so long to find him? He scanned the list of aliases. That’s why.