Page 105 of August

He took a seat, flipped open the file, and passed it to her. The first page was an image of Zain’s driver’s license photo. Of Lebanese descent, Zain and Rami both had olive-toned skin as well as thick facial hair and a similar bone structure, but their eyes were drastically different. Zain’s were golden whereas Rami’s were blue. August slid out the page with the side-by-side images.

Dana’s expression turned serious. “Who is this?”

“Zain. Rami’s brother.”

She inhaled sharply. “The missing one? Did you find him?”

August shook his head. “No. But I want to. I know Rami’s looking, and I think we need more people on the case. I had a contact working on this, but he doesn’t think he can do more than he has, and this photo is two-and-a-half years old. I want something recent before I present this to Rami.”

Sympathy filled her eyes, and she picked up the picture. “You want my help?”

“I think we need your help.” He tilted his head. “You were FBI.”

Her mouth twitched and she blinked. “Yeah. That feels like a lifetime ago, but I still have colleagues I can reach out to.”

She swished her lips to the side then tucked her long, dark hair behind her ear. “Tell me more. When did he go missing?” She picked up a pen and a notepad.

August scratched his head. “Uh, about three years ago.”

“Where?”

“Middle east. He was working a black-ops mission and was kidnapped.”

Her intense eyes fixated on him. “And they don’t know who took him?”

He shrugged. “Terrorists.” He cleared his throat. “They murdered his whole team but, for some reason, took him.”

“Wow,” she mouthed. A stunned breath followed. “This is wild,” she said, flipping through the pages of the file.

“Think you can help?”

She flashed a smile. “No promises, but leave it with me.”

August got to his feet. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” He paused at the door. “Look, Rami doesn’t talk about Zain much. I think he’s afraid of a dead end when it comes to finding him. So maybe don’t mention it unless we get a solid lead.”

“Of course. Say hi to Gigi for me.”

“I will. She’s got Parmesan chicken cooking, so I need to head home before it gets cold.”

Dana chucked. “That sounds a helluva lot better than my leftovers.” She gave a little wave. “See ya Monday.”

For a moment, he watched Dana. She spread out the pages of the file on her desk, an earnest look in her sharp and determined gaze. August hoped to hell Taschen was right about how skilled she was.

If so, they might just have a shot at finding Zain.