“Your brother. I want to ask him a question.”
Ifza’s eyes were wide. “What? How?”
Waleed gave her a small grin. “You don’t think you’re the only one with connections, do you?” He began to dial. “Let’s just say that not everyone inside the Scales of Anubis agrees, wholeheartedly, with Khaliq’s vision of death.”
“And my brother?” Ifza asked. “What are you going to ask him?”
Waleed brought the receiver to his ear and gazed at Ifza. “I’m going to ask Khaliq how much you mean to him.”
The door burst open, and in marched a pair of thickly built men. One reached forward and latched onto Ifza’s head, gripping it tightly. Ifza shouted, but quickly had something jammed into her mouth by the second newcomer. The gag had one specific purpose. She wouldn’t be able to alert her brother of her situation.
Her brother answered the call, his voice booming through the small speaker. “What!” It was obvious to see that he was in the middle of something.
It made Waleed smile. “Hello, Khaliq.”
“Waleed…” Khaliq’s gravelly voice was overflowing with anger, and slightly tinged with annoyance. “How did you get this number?”
Waleed chuckled softly. “Oh, you know, I have my ways. Let’s just say that not everyone in your cabal is as loyal to you as you think.”
“What do you want?”
Waleed leaned against the wall next to the phone. “Isn’t it obvious? I want to negotiate.”
Khaliq laughed. “You have nothing to offer me, Waleed.”
Waleed eyed Ifza. “How about your sister?” The elder Ayad sibling didn’t reply. Waleed used Khaliq’s silence to his advantage and pushed the man more. “Your team failed in their attempt to destroy my operation, as did Ifza. And the reason she was left alive was—”
“Because you are weak.”
Ifza’s eyes left Waleed’s and locked in on the speaker.
“You couldn’t do what needed to be done.”
Waleed made sure Ifza was paying attention, and he stepped in between the speaker and the understandably confused woman. When he spoke, he did so deliberately and calmly.
“Sparing someone’s life is not weakness, Khaliq. Even a person, such as your sister, doesn’t deserve to die like a stray in the street.” He took a deep breath, already knowing the answer to his upcoming question. “Will you give up your quest to save your sister’s life?”
Khaliq didn’t hesitate. “I will not.”
Ifza turned away from Waleed, tears streaming down her face. He could, quite literally, see her world come undone. Everything she had believed in — killed for — was wholly based on her loyalty to her brother. It seemed the dedication had only gone one way, though.
It broke Waleed’s heart.
He stepped back over to the corded phone and hovered his hand above the speaker button. “See, Khaliq, I am not the weak one here. You are.”
Waleed hung up.
He walked over to Ifza and gently removed her gag. “I am sorry.” Without another word, Waleed left the room, closing the door behind him.
Chapter 78
Baahir
Baahir slipped away, moving quickly but quietly. Once he was out of direct sight, he picked up his pace and slid down the steep side of the natural pyramidal formation. He was lost in his adrenaline-enhanced escape, and before he knew it, he was back on flat ground.
Baahir didn’t know how far he’d get before anyone noticed that he was missing, but he was hoping it’d be far enough. He ran for the edge of town, pumping his arms hard. His legs burned like crazy.
The explosion at the peak of Gebel Dist wasn’t all that loud from where Baahir currently was. He looked over his shoulder and watched as a smoke plume shot into the sky.
Baahir pictured the ruined seal. Bastards.
He felt an impact of a small object on the ground around him, then another.
What the hell?
His reaction was met with realization. They were shooting at him. Baahir began moving in serpentine patterns, never heading in one direction for too long. A half a mile from town, the gunfire stopped. With the pause, Baahir slowed and straightened out his trajectory. He fell into a steady jog, trying to decide on his next course of action. He had no phone, and no ID of any kind. Baahir had been relieved of his possessions shortly after arriving at The Pharaoh's Lounge.
Need… to find one, he thought, breathing hard.
Baahir stumbled, pausing against a lone boulder protruding from the sand. He turned to face Gebel Dist and spotted something he dreaded. A lone figure was nearly to the bottom of the formation, and if he had to guess who it was, he reckoned it was Ajmal. Though, the real question wasn’t who had been sent, it was whether or not the person had been instructed to bring Baahir back to the temple seal or silence him.
At this point, given everything Baahir had just said to Khaliq, he wouldn’t be surprised if the man hunting him was doing so with a kill order in his back pocket.
Knowing my luck, yes. Yes, he does.
Chapter 79
Zahra
Weight issues delayed Zahra and the others longer than expected. The Puss E. Galore wasn’t built to handle six grown adults, plus their gear. Cork was confident she could get them airborne but wasn’t sure how high or for how long.
Ali had supplied Zahra, himself, and two additional men with parachutes. Zahra’s was already secured to her body, fitting tighter than she remembered. She had clocked a decent number of hours skydiving, but it had been quite a while. Since her army days, in fact. Her nerves weren’t buzzing from the prospect of jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft — but from jumping out of a sixty-year-old, overloaded Cessna.
What could go wrong? she thought. Then, she visualized herself pancaking into the desert.
“Okay,” Cork called out from the cockpit. “It’s now or never!”
Ali glanced at his men before turning to Zahra. She nodded.
“Take us up.”
The pilot groaned. “I was afraid you’d say that.” She powered up the engines and slowly pushed the Cessna’s thrust lever forward.
They chugged along the runway, getting to takeoff speed in the nick of time. The nose lifted, then the rest of the plane. Cork needed to continue to apply more speed while also pulling back on the yoke. If the Puss E. Galore didn’t properly respond, Cork would have to make a tough decision, and either push the Cessna harder, or find a nice, sandy spot to put her down.
Zahra gripped her armrest harder. The whine of the twin props grew louder. Cork wasn’t in the business of giving up.
Luckily for them, the old bird didn’t fail them.
Cork visibly relaxed. The tension in her shoulders subsided, as did her grip on the yoke.
“How high are you taking us?” Ali asked, shouting over the noise.
Cork shrugged. “High enough so we don’t bonk a pyramid.”
Ali’s eyes darted to Zahra. “It would be suicidal to jump from that altitude.”
The archaeologist smiled, implying that Cork had been joking. She faced the window and look out over the landscape.
At least, I hope she’s joking.
Chapter 80
Khaliq
The beautifully carved seal over the doorway was now gone, obliterated by plastic explosives. There were stairs beyond the smoldering opening, and Khaliq was anxious to start exploring inside.
But the seal wasn’t the only thing missing from the ancient space.