But it wasn’t these images that scared Baahir. It was the LIDAR — the ‘light detection and ranging’ — images. These high-resolution images weren’t just run-of-the-mill images — they had been created with technology that was prohibitively expensive, then rendered on machines that most individuals couldn’t dream of using, much less owning.
It told him that Khaliq had friends in high places. Someone had supplied this madman with images that no one — outside of the Egyptian government itself — should have.
Probably one of his benefactors, Baahir thought, recalling some of the things that Khaliq had told him. He had comrades with money who had helped him build the Scales of Anubis headquarters beneath The Pharaoh's Lounge.
Baahir leaned around the driver and spotted a sign for Bawiti — a town of 30,000 inhabitants nestled within the lush, fertile lands of the Bahariya Oasis. A handful of historical discoveries had been made in Bawiti over the centuries. Tourism was now a major source of income for those living in the town, supplementing jobs that were typically only viable in the iron ore industry.
Khaliq pointed off to their left, and their driver clicked on his blinker to notify the vehicles behind them that they were pulling off. The destination: A gas station.
“What are we doing?” Baahir asked, speaking up for the first time since being loaded into the back of the SUV.
No one replied. They just turned into the station and stopped. Once all three vehicles regrouped, Khaliq turned and faced Baahir.
“What do you know about the tombs discovered in Bawiti?”
Baahir was forced to pull the answer from the far reaches of his memory. “Qarat Qasr Salim… It is of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest of 525 B.C.”
“Correct, and what of the people entombed here?”
Baahir opened his mouth to answer but balked. He didn’t know. He knew of the discovery here, but his depth of knowledge was vague as to who it belonged to.
His non-answer made Khaliq smile. “It belonged to a very wealthy Saite merchant who also happened to be a family member of ours.”
Baahir wasn’t going to argue the whole ‘blood doesn’t always make family’ thing again. He had accepted that the Ayads were his relatives. The quicker he moved on from the revelation, the better his mental health would be.
“And you think this is where our entrance is?” Baahir asked.
“I do,” Khaliq replied.
“You do?”
“Yes,” Khaliq nudged the driver, and he got them moving, “it is said that our ancestor was close to finding Anubis’ temple, but—”
Baahir put it together. “But the Persian invasion halted his search. You think our predecessor buried his findings with his body, don’t you?”
Khaliq smiled and faced forward. “I do.”
Baahir looked out his window. Another question — a potential obstacle came to him. “If that’s true, wouldn’t it have been found by now?”
Khaliq laughed softly. “No, future scholars did not look hard enough.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because men like that proceed with caution and preserve the find.” Khaliq gazed over his shoulder. His eyes were alight. “I would have flattened the landscape to find it.”
Chapter 65
Zahra
The ominous wording Wally had used to hint at what lay beneath the SSC had spooked Zahra, big time. As they descended the stairs within the faux containers, she casually slid her right hand into her jacket, just beneath her shoulder holster, pretending to hold her, truthfully, sore ribs. That wasn’t what she was doing, however. Zahra was keeping her hand close to her Glock.
Come on, Wally, Zahra mentally willed, don’t do anything stupid.
Wally had helped them, and seemed admirable and trustworthy, but even some heroes had ulterior motives.
It was confusing to Zahra, too, why people were that way. Wally didn’t feel like the Deadpool-Venom antihero type, but then again, some people were willing to get their hands very dirty in the name of what was good.
What they believed was good.
Some people, like Zahra, had their limits. She could never take an innocent life. The people she had killed over the years deserved it, or at the very least, had it coming, eventually. Human life was something to cherish. It crushed Zahra to have to resort to violence. Unfortunately, there were people that could only be stopped through deadly force. The Scales of Anubis, for instance. None of them were going to just lay down their arms because Zahra asked nicely. Fanatics like that would happily die for their cause. It’s what made extremist organizations so dangerous. It wasn’t the way that they operated. It was the fact that they had zero problems dying to do what they believed was right, no matter how many innocent people died in the process.
Zahra could never be so coldhearted. She looked at her father, then Wally and Ali. She pictured what she would be like if she had been raised in a place like this instead of the United States or England. Her influences had been much different, even with her mother being murdered at such a young age. She still had her father to teach her what was right and wrong. George had done his best with both Zahra and Baahir, but hadn’t been the loving, consoling parent.
Mom was.
“Are you seeing this?”
Cork’s question caught Zahra off guard. She looked up at the taller woman, confused by what she said. Cork glanced back and forth between Zahra and the room they had just entered.
“Earth to Zahra.” Cork softly patted Zahra’s cheek. When she didn’t reply, the pilot grabbed her face between her thumb and forefinger and turned it to the left. “Look.”
At the bottom of the hidden staircase was a second bustling shipping and storage facility, only this one handled goods of an illegal variety. Everything weapons related was represented below the Suez Shipping Company. What really caught Zahra’s eye were the RPGs hanging along the right-hand wall. They were a match to the one that had been used to take down the Port Said lighthouse.
“Geez…” Zahra said, turning and staring at Wally. “So, this is how you got all your money?”
He shrugged. “If you want to make a living selling weapons, I suggest you do so in the Middle East.” Wally glanced at his son. “Lots of clients here.”
Ali nodded, then started shouting at the group of men standing around doing nothing. The younger man’s mousy demeanor had flipped on its head once they had entered the underground sanctum. As Wally had said, this was his son’s domain.
George didn’t have anything to say. He just stood there dumbfounded.
“You okay, Dad?”
He didn’t answer.
Zahra was worried that all of this was going to mentally break her father. This was a world he had never really been a part of. Her mother’s past was something George had accepted, but not one he had participated in all that much. Once she had faked her death and come stateside, all George needed to do was love the woman.
“I’m sorry you have to be here.”
He closed his eyes and turned his face up. He released his tightly clenched fists and blew out a long breath.
George turned and faced his firstborn. “Well, that makes one of us.”
Zahra didn’t know what to say. So, she stayed silent and allowed her father to explain.
“Zahra, this is our family’s history, regardless of if we choose to accept it or not.” He looked out over the facility. “I was too late to the party, but I’m here now. I didn’t trust you at first — I thought you were being reckless.”