“That would be great,” he said while giving her a knowing look.
Fine, he figured out she was still attracted to him. So what?
She marched to the break room and brewed two cups of coffee, added cream to his, and returned to hand him the mug, making sure not to touch his fingers or look into those bottomless walnut brown eyes.
He took a seat in the chair by her desk and propped his leg on his knee. She could feel him watching her over the coffee mug as she settled into her chair. Maybe he was thinking about the fact that she remembered he liked cream in his coffee. She ignored him, booted up her desktop computer, and sipped the rich coffee as the hard drive churned to come alive. Her phone rang, and seeing Mack’s name, she put him on speaker.
“Evan’s with me,” she said by way of answer.
“Then you’ll both get to hear my report on today’s interview with Barzani.”
Eager to hear what he had to say, she sat forward. “How’d it go?”
“Slippery fella,” Mack said. “But we finally got him to admit the client who booked the container was American.”
“American?” Evan asked. “Seriously?”
“That’s what he said, and it was when Sean tripped him up on a question that it came out, so we think it’s legit.”
Kiley liked knowing this information, but it wasn’t enough to take action. “I hope you either got his records or a warrant for them.”
“Warrant.” Mack sounded offended that she even asked. “Sean and I already served it, and we’re reviewing the files now.”
Evan leaned closer, his attention rapt. “And?”
“Here’s the thing. Barzani’s business is set up with electronic records only, and his top clients are listed in his files by code numbers, not names. He knows who each code belongs to but claims he doesn’t have them written down anywhere, and he won’t produce the client information.”
“Tell me you got him to give it to you,” Kiley snapped, regretting letting the pressure get to her the minute the words came out so harshly.
“Gonna take a judge to compel him to reveal it.”
“Sorry I bit your head off,” she said. “I know you’re doing your best.”
“Yeah we are,” Mack stated, and she could easily envision him fixing a tight stare on her. “And Eisenhower’s working on getting the judge to rule on it. Problem is, Barzani’s got a slick lawyer, and it’ll likely take time.”
“Time is one thing we don’t have,” Kiley said, making sure not to sound panicked in front of Mack and Evan even if that was how she felt.
“Exactly,” Mack said.
“Waleed’s American,” Evan said. “You think this might tie back to him?”
“It’s a good possibility,” Mack replied. “But right now that’s only speculation.”
Kiley wanted to slam her fist on the desk. She needed something to go their way. Desperately needed something—anything. The clock was ticking down and they’d made little to no progress. “What about the ship manifest? Did that tell us anything?”
“A couple of things actually, but the only relevant item is that the container took on fresh cargo at a Cape Town port.”
Evan clutched the edge of the desk, his fingers turning white with the pressure. “What cargo?”
“It’s not something that was officially recorded, but we obtained all port footage, and this video caught a grainy pictureof two guys loading two crates. We’ve thoroughly reviewed all the documentation and video. Found nothing else, but Eisenhower’s got our foreign contacts looking for the dockworkers.”
“There weren’t any crates in the container,” Evan stated.
“Maybe they off-loaded them at another port,” Kiley said.
“Possibly.” Mack paused for a long moment. “We have no footage showing that or, like I said, anything else.”
Kiley sighed. “Have you located any information on the Amari brothers?”
