17
Less than five minutes after leaving Finn’s bedside, Joe was in his SUV. For a long moment he sat, staring out the window, collecting himself for what he knew he had to do. It wasn’t just that he had to bring down Finn’s torturer; that was only a beginning. To keep Finn safe, to make sure that Finn and Drew had any kind of a chance to live their lives without constantly looking over their shoulders, he was going to have to take this all the way to the top. He was going to have to go back to Pakistan, the country he’d promised himself he’d never set foot in again.
Taking a deep breath, he keyed on his earpiece. “Talk to me, Pixel. Tell me you have a track and ID on the guy we’re chasing.”
“Copy, Morrissey,” Pixel’s voice came back over the channel. “I managed to get a clear picture of him before he slipped drone coverage. There’s no record of him entering the country, at least not under his real name, but an alert from Interpol says that he’s Jalal Emani, a Pakistani national who trained with al-Qaeda. His last known whereabouts were in Pakistan, and he’s associated with the human trafficking ring that you and I both have had run-ins with.”
The information came as no surprise to Joe. He started the SUV. “Good. Send a picture of him to my phone, would you? And where did you lose him?”
“Just north of Lake Wheeler. There was a report of a stolen car in that area about ten minutes after I lost him. Police put out an APB for it, even though they weren’t sure it was him, but it was found ditched just south of Cary.”
“Got it.”
And suddenly Joe did have it. He knew where the guy was headed, knew what his plan must be. He didn’t tell Pixel, and he was sure that Finn hadn’t reported in to Herc yet. Right now he and Drew were the only ones who had the information, and Drew was safely back with Finn. That meant only Joe still had a slim chance of catching the guy before he escaped.
Without hesitation, Joe steered the SUV out onto the road and then pushed the accelerator to the floor.
* * *
Drew didn’t like leaving Finn, but he knew that Finn wouldn’t be able to concentrate on recovering from his injuries if he was worrying about Joe. Whatever the big merc was
planning,Drew was going to have to figure it out and try hard to get there in time.
He left the hospital, annoyed but unsurprised that Joe had already taken off in his SUV. Since Drew had ridden with him to the hospital from where they’d found Finn, that left him without transport, at least temporarily. He tried hailing Joe on comms, but Joe didn’t answer.
It seemed it was time for a backup plan. “Pixel! Joker here. Can you have someone bring a vehicle to the hospital for me? And tell me where Morrissey is?”
There was a moment of silence before Pixel spoke up hesitantly. “Herc is en route, but the GPS in Joe’s earpiece says he’s still there. He’s maybe fifty yards north of your present position.”
Drew glanced north, where the parking lot stretched out, almost wall to wall with cars, despite the lateness of the hour. “Hang one.”
He hurried northward, covering the distance quickly. “Pixel, I don’t see him or his SUV. Are you sure you have the right location?”
“I’m positive,” Chris confirmed. “Look a couple of yards east.”
A suspicion formed in Drew’s mind, one that was confirmed a couple of minutes later when he found what he was expecting. Bending down, he picked up Joe’s discarded earpiece. “Pixel, Joe ditched his comms. Do you have GPS on the SUV?”
“Negative. It’s been turned off.” Chris sounded puzzled. “Why would he do that and toss his earpiece Do you think he was carjacked?”
“No, I think he did it on purpose.” Drew frowned down at the device in his hand. “What was the last communication you had from him?”
“About fifteen minutes ago. He asked for an update on the fugitive, and I gave him the ID of Jalal Emani, who probably stole a car and abandoned it near Cary. He acknowledged the info, and that’s the last I heard from him.”
Shit. Obviously Joe had figured something out, or at least thought he had, and he was headed to where he thought Jalal Emani was going—and Joe didn’t want company.
“Joker, this is Herc.”
The voice in his earbug was much deeper than Chris’s and held a ring of command that had even a seasoned officer like Drew straightening his spine in response. “Copy, Herc. Are you almost to the hospital?”
“Two minutes out. Stay where you are. Pixel sent me your location, and I’m headed to you.”
Drew chafed a bit at the delay, but mostly it was because he needed to be moving, even if he didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t know the Raleigh area as well as Joe did, so he wracked his brain trying to figure out what must be driving Joe on.
Almost precisely two minutes later Cade Thornton pulled up in one of the big SUVs that was virtually identical to the one Joe was in. Drew opened the passenger door and got in.
“What’s the status?” Cade asked, as he headed back toward the hospital entrance. “Finn called and reported that he thought Joe was planning to bug out, and it looks like he was right. But where could he have gone? We lost the guy.”
“I don’t know.” Drew frowned in thought. “Pixel said he told Joe about the abandoned car and that’s when he must have ditched his GPS. South of Cary, he said. What’s up that way?”
