Page 89 of Building Courage

Tucker stared at the cell phone. Ahmad’s father was an attaché to a diplomat. If he contacted him, he could set the ball rolling at the embassy in Washington and then urge the embassy to contact the San Diego police to start looking for his son.

He turned to find Brynn watching him.

“They’ve taken him, haven’t they?”

“Not necessarily. He may be in hiding.” Even though he said it, he didn’t believe it.

“Not without his phone.” Her eyes looked a little glassy, her skin pale.

“He may have dumped the phone, thinking they might be able to track him through it.”

She bit her bottom lip.

“I’m going to make another phone call to see if I can get Ahmad’s father’s number.”

Brynn nodded. “I’ll go out and get my overnight bag.”

Tucker punched Sam’s number.

Sam answered his call immediately. “What’s up?”

“Do you remember Ahmad, the young guy who acted as a translator for us aboard the Sea Dragon in Saudi Arabia?”

“Yeah, I remember him.”

“He applied for a visa to come to CONUS to work here. Brynn and I ran into him a few weeks back. I called his phone today, and his uncle answered. He’s been missing for three days. They haven’t filed a police report.”

“Why not?”

“I think they’re afraid to get involved.”

“Exactly what would they be getting involved in?”

Leave it to Sam to cut to the heart of things. He took some time to explain how Brynn had done the shoot aboard the Aurora and how Ahmad had approached her, then him, with his suspicions about his co-worker and the men aboard the Titan.

“I told him to just monitor the situation from a distance and be careful.”

“Why were you calling him?” Sam asked.

“A woman’s body washed ashore a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to warn him to be careful. Brynn was taking a picture of our first ocean dive and captured a picture of the boat behind us. She used a program on the photo to enlarge and clarify it. A man aboard the cabin cruiser was attacking a woman in the photo. This happened a couple of days before the body was discovered.”

“Fuck!” Sam exclaimed.

“She dropped the photo off at the police station today.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. He didn’t want to go through explaining the whole Martin situation. “While she was at a friend’s apartment down the hall today, someone broke into her place and stole the backup drive she saves all her work on.”

Sam was silent for a moment. “What do you need?”

“Ahmad’s father works for the Saudi Arabian Ambassador in DC. I don’t believe the uncle I talked to has contacted him about the situation. I think he needs to know that his son is missing, but I don’t know how to contact him.”

“Let me make a call, and I’ll call you back. What’s his father’s name?”

“Siraj Bilal.”

“Where is Brynn?” Sam asked.

“She’s here with me. They didn’t take anything but the drive, but once they gain access to it, they may come calling.”

“You said the police have the pictures she took.”

---