To the naked eye, the missing chemical resembled nothing more than a harmless volcanic stone. Baahir knew it well.
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
He didn’t have another option. If he denied the man, he’d die here and now. But if he accepted the
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.
Baahir would keep his head down and do what he was told.
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
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.
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.
