It didn’t help. Hardly feeling calmer than he had been before, Baahir opened his eyes and stopped breathing altogether.
Before him on the dry-erase board wasn’t a map, as he thought there would be, but jumbled directions were pointing to a place in the middle of nowhere, far west of Giza. It wasn’t much, but given enough time, Baahir knew Khaliq would find it.
To the left of the location was something that made Baahir’s stomach sink.
It took him a moment to understand what was written there. Not hieroglyphics — not Egyptian of any sort.
It was a chemical equation.
He was no chemist — he couldn’t read the equation clearly. But it was obvious what it must be. It had to be.
He was staring at a chemical compound. A recipe.
And it was missing a component, judging by the blank, underlined space to the right.
Baahir knew exactly what would fill that space, as well. It was the same thing these people had been looking for.
To the naked eye, the missing chemical resembled nothing more than a harmless volcanic stone. Baahir knew it well.
It was the chemical inside the stone itself.
A corded, landline phone rang somewhere behind Baahir. One of the scientists hurried to answer it, quickly conversing with the caller before holding it out for Khaliq. Baahir stepped away from the dry-erase board and eyed the Scales of Anubis leader. He spoke softly, making it all but impossible for Baahir to snoop. He did hear Khaliq say one thing, though.
“You have it?”
Baahir’s skin went cold. The only way for them to have acquired the jar was to have gone through Zahra.
His chest constricted. “No…”
Khaliq finished and turned. “Excuse me?”
“Zahra?” Baahir asked.
The larger man shook his head. “I am sorry. She put up a good fight until the explosion.”
“Explosion?”
Khaliq nodded. “And fire.”
Baahir stumbled away. His sister, a woman that, until now, seemed indestructible, had been taken out by a goon like this.
He growled. “You son-of-a-bitch. I’ll—”
Khaliq stepped toward him. “You’ll do what?”
Baahir backed down. There was nothing he could do now. His sister was gone, and he was being held captive by the man responsible for her death.
“Join us, Dr. Hassan.”
With tears streaking down his face, Baahir laughed at the ridiculous request.
But Khaliq wasn’t joking, and it wasn’t a request. “Join us… or share her fate.”
He didn’t have another option. If he denied the man, he’d die here and now. But if he accepted the invitation and became involved in Khaliq’s heinous plan, could he ever forgive himself? Could he live with the consequences?
He looked between the table and Zahra’s murderer, then nodded.
“Wonderful,” Khaliq said. He motioned to the back of the cavern. Situated against the wall was a row of cots. “Get some rest. You begin your part of the work at sunrise.”
Baahir turned and sauntered off. The tears kept flowing. He didn’t care.
He fell onto the first cot he came across and closed his eyes, picturing his sister’s mischievous grin. Her face began to fade with the incoming sleep.
No! Baahir’s eyes snapped open. No, Zahra is alive. He sat up and took in his surroundings. He sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve.
Whining and mourning will not change anything, he knew. I choose to believe she is not dead.
Baahir would keep his head down and do what he was told.
She’ll be here, he thought. She’s going to come.
Chapter 32
Zahra
Just a few miserably short hours later, Zahra climbed out of Dina’s Prius, and they said their goodbyes. Zahra was exhausted to the point of staying completely silent on the ride back to the museum.
“Thank you, Dina… really,” Zahra said, sticking her head inside the lowered passenger window. She gave her a loving kiss on her cheek and squeezed her hand.
Dina yawned and waved the gratitude off. “No worries, Z. It’s not like I’m going into work today anyway.”
“Yeah…” Zahra was saddened to hear that the museum was closed indefinitely to both patrons and staff members, though the latter should be returning shortly as long as the damaged portions of the structure were still sound enough. Fortunately, Dina could do a lot of her job from home.
“You going to be okay?”
“We’ll see,” Zahra replied. “Let me know what happens here, okay? I’m not sure when I’ll be back in town. This situation might take a while to fix.”
Dina’s face fell.
“Right, well, see ya later, Dina.” Zahra winked and walked away, car keys in hand. For good measure, she tossed them into the air and whiffed when she tried to catch them. The miss was on purpose, of course, and it got a chuckle out of her nervous friend. It made Zahra laugh too.
Dina pulled away but stopped and shouted out her window. “Hey, I forgot to ask! Where you headed now?”
Zahra turned around but kept walking backward. “To find answers.”
“Where?”
She paused and sighed. “There’s only one person that can help me right now.”
“Who?”
“I… ” Zahra looked away. It was better than Dina didn’t know. “I’ll talk to you later. Thanks again.”
And with that, Zahra climbed into her nine-year-old, black Toyota 4Runner and pulled away. It wouldn’t take Dina a lot to figure out who Zahra was going to see. Zahra’s path had been plainly laid out in front of her. There was only one person now who could give her the answers she sought — a man who had hidden them from her for years.
My entire life, Zahra thought, feeling her heart rate pick up. She had believed everything Ifza had said inside the museum. Why would the woman have lied to Zahra after going through all the trouble to steal the canopic jar?
Because it wasn’t a lie.
It would take Zahra an hour to get to her destination, so she’d have to get moving. Every minute wasted was another minute Baahir and Grant, and possibly the world, lost.
Zahra pulled onto Gower Street and picked up the speed, quickly remembering the firearm she had in a bag in her backseat. Zahra snarled, frustrated, and kept it a mile an hour below the posted speed limit. For good measure, she reached behind her and repositioned the backpack to the floor behind her. The casual speed was pure torture for someone who notoriously liked to move fast.
“Dammit!” Zahra was stuck behind a two-door beater. Today was not a day to be late.
She needed to see her father, right away.
Chapter 33
Zahra
It had been months since Zahra had last seen her dad, and she had never visited him while in her current condition. Some of the bruising had subsided since the morning, but a little of it had also come to the surface with gusto. She now sported a subtle black eye. Her left cheek was tender, and she had another headache just starting to poke its ugly ass out. A pair of aviator sunglasses hid some of the injuries. They also helped with the rising brain pain.
George Kane lived in a modest flat less than a quarter of a mile to the south of River Thames. Half a mile north of the river was his place of employment, Oxford University. Zahra hoped she’d catch her father before he left for work. She checked her watch and cursed herself for being so careful on the roads. This was life or death, and she should have been driving like a woman possessed, and not like, well, her dad.