Lucky me, he thought, spotting Rahal stomping by.
The betrayer was the one leading the charge here. He was screaming at everyone to find Baahir, even going as far as threatening the other men with their lives if they failed. If it were anyone else, Baahir would have laughed the claim off as an empty threat. But this was different. Rahal and his boss weren’t people to be trifled with. Abbas and Ghazzi’s deaths were a perfect example of that. If Agent Rahal was as cold-blooded as recent history would suggest, then a man like Khaliq would surely be just as bad, if not worse, than Satan himself.
Baahir pushed aside the images of his future torture when a set of boots stopped three feet in front of his nose. Luckily for him, the wind was howling through the parking lot. His heavy breaths were masked, but for how long? The man standing before him spoke.
“Anything yet?” It was Rahal.
He received a chorus of disappointing ‘nos.’ Only then did Khaliq move. He marched his way over to Rahal and Baahir’s position. Baahir held his breath and waited to see what would happen.
The thought terrified him. The stories surrounding the Scales of Anubis weren’t heartfelt ones. Everyone involved with them was supposedly violent, obsessive, and manic beyond reasoning.
During Baahir’s extensive research into the group, he discovered an account by one of their followers after capture describing what the leadership supposed. At this point, there was no reason to think that Khaliq didn’t believe the same. The family alleged themselves to be blood relatives — descendants — of Anubis. The organization functioned as if they were the death god’s real-life scales of justice, weighing the hearts of mankind against Ma’at, truth. From what Baahir knew, the Scales of Anubis found everyone who opposed them and their mission to have “heavy hearts” and therefore be unworthy of entering Duat, the underworld.
And Baahir was the next to be judged.
What about the jar? Baahir’s instructions to Zahra were hasty but warranted. His reasoning was sound. If she destroyed what Khaliq’s men sought, then maybe they would leave her alone.
Beams of light ignited all around Baahir. He would have leaped to his feet and run, but he was trapped beneath the truck. Someone reached beneath the automobile and latched onto his jacket’s collar, ripping him out from under the vehicle. Baahir and the scroll went rolling, bouncing along the asphalt like a ping-pong ball. He landed flat on his back and hurriedly rolled onto his hand and knees. Baahir climbed to his feet and took off running but collided with an unmovable object. Through strained eyes, he saw that the barrier wasn’t one constructed of brick and mortar. It was made of flesh and blood, and it was the last person he wanted to meet up close.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Khaliq asked, staring down at him with a carnal smile.
Terrified, Baahir curled his knees and the scroll into his chest. His protection of the artifact didn’t go unnoticed. The unarmed boss stood tall and crossed his arms. Baahir recognized the look of a man putting together a plan. Khaliq stepped closer and knelt into a catcher’s squat.
“I see that you appreciate the scroll as much as I do.”
Baahir didn’t say a word. He just tightened his grip around it and waited.
Khaliq’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll make you a deal, Dr. Hassan.” The man said Baahir’s last name with disdain. Why? “You can come with us and, if you behave, you may participate in what we have planned.”
“And what is that?” Baahir asked, voice soft. “What do you have planned?”
“Something that you might just live through.”
Khaliq never once broke eye contact.
It didn’t matter what it was. If Baahir wanted to see the next sunrise, he was going to have to play ball. Baahir wasn’t sure what stunned him more, the fact that the leader of the Scales of Anubis knew who he was, or the fact that he was trying to recruit him into the fold. Baahir’s gut — his emotions — told him to shout “No!” and spit in the man’s face. But his logical mind overruled him. If Baahir agreed to help, maybe he could delay Khaliq until help arrived? Either way, he needed to know what was going on, and why the group, all of a sudden, wanted to include him.
“Why me?” Baahir asked, speaking softly.
Khaliq stood and reached out a hand. Slowly, timidly, Baahir accepted the offer and was hauled to his feet. “Because, Dr. Hassan,” Khaliq replied, squeezing hard, “I need every learned individual I can find. And few have dedicated as much time to the subject as you.”
Just wonderful, Baahir thought, sighing.
“The Temple of Anubis is on the horizon.”
Baahir cocked an eyebrow up. “The ‘Temple of Anubis?’ We found that already.”
“No, you just found the scroll’s resting place.” He held out his hand and waited for Baahir to take it. “I thank you for that.”
“Uh, yeah, no problem.” Baahir had never felt so uncomfortable.
When they parted, Khaliq’s eyes locked onto the tube in Baahir’s hands. “With this, I will find the temple and fulfill my destiny.”
“A map?” Baahir was shocked. “You need my help to read a map — written inside the original Book of the Dead?”
Khaliq gave him a wicked grin. “Yes, but I also need an insurance policy against your sister, just in case she decides not to cooperate with my people in London. Speaking of which…” He glanced at his watch. “They should be at the museum by now.”
Zahra wasn’t one to simply roll over when trouble arose. If anything, the tougher and more ruthless the conflict became, the harder she fought back. Whoever had been sent to steal the canopic jar from Zahra was about to get a rude awakening into the woman that she was. Baahir had never seen his sister in action, but he knew what she was capable of. Even now, he was sure that she was devising an effective counterassault.
Rahal’s phone rang. The agent answered it, and quietly conversed with the caller. The conversation was short, and he ended the call. “Khaliq, we should go before—”
Khaliq drew his pistol and shot Rahal in the head, dropping him where he stood. The agent’s blood splattered in all directions. Some of it reached Baahir. With shaking hands, he wiped away a droplet from his cheek, and returned his attention to Khaliq.
“W — why?” Baahir’s voice was barely audible.
Khaliq turned toward him, gun dangling by his leg. “Fahim was no longer of any use to me. Let this be an example of what happens when someone makes themselves expendable.”
Baahir knew what he had to do. “I–I’ll help you.”
Khaliq holstered the weapon. “Smart man. Come, we have much work to do.”
Chapter 19
Zahra
“What do we do, Zahra?” Grant asked, his voice shaky. Based on the look on the younger man’s face, he wasn’t being stealthy. The college kid was terrified, and could barely speak.
Unfortunately, the only answer Zahra could come up with was, “Uh…”
She had no clue. The impending attack on the museum had caught her wholly off guard. She was in a setting that she never thought she’d have to defend, though she’d thought about it before. The fact that the Scales of Anubis had been able to cut the power so effectively told her that they were more than a group of gun-toting thugs. These guys knew exactly what they were doing.
Zahra needed a weapon, but England’s strict gun laws prohibited a civilian from owning a pistol. Not that something as silly as the law had ever stopped her… She possessed a handful of firearms but kept them in a hidden safe inside her home…along with an array of knives. She perked up at the thought and dove into her desk. Unbeknownst to anyone at the museum, she kept her favorite blade in her office when it wasn’t on her person.