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The white outline of a man sauntered past on the screen of the radar imager. When he passed, Eddie said, “Give him a minute to get out of the hall.”
Instead, the figure returned and faced the door, cocking his head at where the missing lock should have been.
“We’ve been made,” MacD whispered.
“We can’t let him warn the others,” Eddie said. He put his hand on the door handle. Murph moved back, and MacD raised his crossbow. “Ready?”
MacD nodded.
Eddie yanked the door open and was greeted by the shocked face of a ship’s crewman, identifiable because he didn’t have the muscled build of a guard.
The man instantly threw his hands in the air when he saw the crossbow. MacD grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him inside. Murph closed the door.
Eddie frisked the man. He held a radio in his hand, but he had no weapons. Eddie took the radio and gave it to Murph, who clipped it to his belt.
“Is anyone else with you?” Eddie asked.
The man shook his head. The surprise on his face was now gone. He eyed them warily.
“Why are you on my ship?”
“Your ship?” Eddie said. “Are you the captain?”
The man’s lip curled into a vicious smile. “I guarantee you’ll never get off this ship alive.”
MacD chuckled at the man’s bravado. “That sounds like something a captain would say.”
“What is your cargo’s destination?” Eddie asked.
“Somewhere on this island.”
“That narrows it down,” Murph said. “Any more details on the location?”
“Why should I tell you anything?”
MacD shook his head in disbelief. “In case you didn’t notice, buddy, we’re the ones with the weapons.”
“And that’s supposed to scare me? You have no idea what my employer would do to me if I told you anything.”
“You mean Salvador Locsin?” Eddie said.
The captain’s expression of defiance faltered, but he said nothing.
“Yes, we know who your boss is,” Murph said. “Surprise!”
“And we know you’ve delivered cargo to a dig on a small island,” Eddie said. “What island?”
The captain hesitated, then his resolve completely evaporated. “I’ll tell you,” he said with a quavering voice. “But take me with you. Locsin tricked me into this job. You can make it look like a kidnapping. It’s the only way I’ll get away from him. His men are animals.”
Eddie had heard a similar story from Dr. Ocampo and the scientists from the lab, but the captain’s transition to trembling captive seemed too abrupt. He looked at MacD and Murph. “What do you think?”
“He might have some useful intel,” Murph said with a shrug.
MacD peered at the captain with a furrowed brow. “Ah don’t trust him any further than Ah can throw a moose.”
“Neither do I,” Eddie said, “but leaving him here to rat us out isn’t a much better option. He goes with us.”
Without another word, MacD pulled out a zip tie and clasped the captain’s hands behind his back while Eddie improvised a gag from a portable tourniquet and gauze in his med kit.
