Page 179 of Secrets Beneath the Waves

“What if she’s looking for Oumar, but not for the reasons she says she is?” I speak my thoughts out loud before I even have them clearly formed. “Maybe she kidnapped Mariam, interrogated her, and is using that information to try to find Oumar.”

“It’s an interesting theory, if not a bit far-fetched,” Lizzie begins, shooting me a grin. “The woman clearly knows things about Oumar, plus she had your number.”

“Could he have gone into hiding? Be somehow compromised?” Graham asks.

“Maybe,” I say, “but if he is in trouble—and able—he would’ve come to me for help. Not gone into hiding.”

Lizzie sits back in her chair. “I’ve looked at Oumar’s file, but I’d like to hear your take on the situation, since Oumar is your asset. Maybe it will help us put the pieces together.”

“Of course,” I say, staring at my pizza and suddenly realizing I’m not really hungry. “Any specific questions?”

“Did you sense Oumar was afraid the last time you saw him?” Lizzie asks.

“I was worried about him, of course,” I say, “but I never imagined we’d be dealing with a situation like this.”

Because one of my jobs was to keep Oumar safe. And if he was to lose his life because I failed to do my job?—

“What were your concerns?” Lizzie asks.

“Basically, he was frustrated,” I say, reigning in my thoughts. “He didn’t feel that the information he was collecting and giving to the CIA was being used to actually stop the illegal arms dealing. He felt like things were moving too slowly. He’d even mentioned at one point that he just needed to try and shut them down himself. I told him that he needed to be patient and work with me.”

That was what I told Oumar, but I understood his frustration. Things always work slowly in government, and it wasn’t the first time I’d wanted to bypass the process and do things without having to deal with all the red tape.

“What if he was doing more than just passing on information? What if he was tampering with the supply chain?” Graham asks.

“Would he even have had that much power?” Lizzie adds.

“It’s possible,” I say, going over Lizzie’s question in my mind. “And he did tell me he was doing something that was going to change everything. I assumed it had to do with new intel he told me he was gathering, but maybe I was wrong.”

Graham stretches out his legs in front of him. “It would explain why someone might come after him.”

“Let’s go with that,” Lizzie says. “How would he have tried to shut down trade routes, or at the least sabotage them?”

I lean back on the couch. “He only spoke in generalities, but he could have changed shipping manifests, forged customs documents, or sabotaged vehicles. . . Basically, it would mean making sure there was a delay or breakdown en route. People would blame it on logistics, but it would cause issues.”

“And it would have made people mad. Even made enemies,” Graham adds.

Lizzie leans forward. “Could he have done some of these things?”

I nod. “It’s possible, though I thought I’d convinced him to be patient.”

“Who exactly would have been affected?” Lizzie asks.

“It’s complicated,” I begin, “but for starters, Oumar embedded himself in the Koumana Syndicate, a North African cartel run by a warlord named General Keïta who currently controls the majority of the illegal smuggling routes in and out of the Sahel. Oumar has been making his way up the chain, while slowly passing on information to us.”

“Definitely a dangerous position,” Graham says.

“Absolutely. The network is an alliance of both corrupt military officials and warlords who deal in arms and smuggling drugs, mainly in and out of North Africa. They aren’t exactly people you want to get on the wrong side of.”

“But apparently he did,” Lizzie says. “So what do we do now?”

“I need you to verify that Mariam is who she says she is,” I say.” I’ll go through the intel I’ve received from Oumar over the last few months and see if I can come up with a list of people who might have kidnapped him.”

“We also need to try and catch a few hours of sleep so we can function tomorrow,” Graham says.

I look at my watch and stand up, surprised at how late it is. “Agreed, but we only have a few hours to either prove—or disprove—that Oumar’s life is in danger, and if it is in danger, to find him.”

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