The Anubis Plague полностью

“Please do. And tell Baahir that I’m sorry, will you?”

Zahra smiled, but she didn’t reply. Her attention wasn’t on her father anymore. She was looking past him, back toward the parking lot. A pair of blacked-out Audi S6 sedans pulled up next to her father’s Lexus, and a pair of ornery-looking men climbed out of each vehicle. Zahra was relieved to see that Timbo had shut, and presumably locked, the gate after escorting the Kanes through.

Zahra’s eyes snapped to her father and then back to the newcomers. She snatched his wrist and pulled. “Sorry, Dad. Change of plans.”

“What?”

“You’re coming with.”

His eyes widened, and he fought against her firm grip. “I’m not getting on that thing! I can’t go to Cairo!”

“Too bad!” she shouted, causing him to twitch. She extended a finger back the way they had come. “It’s either this or death by firing squad.”

He saw the men approaching them, and Zahra could see the confusion on his face. Two of the men were already checking out his car, while the two others were shielding their eyes from the sun and peering through the chain link fencing, looking for… them.

Zahra made eye contact with one of the men. “Dammit… come on, Dad!” She watched the guy alert his comrades, and the foursome charged for the main building.

The Kanes sprinted across the last thirty feet of tarmac, leaving Timbo in the dust. They practically leaped into the waiting Cessna and scuttled through the tight confines of the plane and into the first seats they could find. Typically, there should have been eight seats inside the cabin, situated in four rows of two. As of now, there were only four. The first two sections had been torn free to allow for more cargo space.

The Kanes fell into the new front row, sitting across the narrow aisle from one another. They swiftly buckled in, keeping watch on the doors leading from the main building to the tarmac.

“Cork!” Zahra yelled, spying movement in the cockpit. “Get us airborne — now!”

“Yeah, yeah, hold onto your cocks!”

Zahra had grown numb to Cork’s choice of words, but her father was about to get a crash course into the woman’s personality. Cork wasn’t what most people would call refined.

A muscular mass of flesh squeezed out of the cockpit and stood hunched beneath the low ceiling in front of the Kanes. Zahra didn’t pay the brash, African American Brit with a buzzcut and nose ring any attention. She was too focused on her father. His reaction was priceless.

“George Kane, meet Cork.”

Cork looked him up and down and then glanced at Zahra. “He single?”

George leaned closer to Zahra. “She knows I can hear her, right?”

Zahra bypassed the pilot’s inquiry and pointed out the window. “We really gotta go.”

The enormous woman turned and peered through the glass partition. She snorted back a laugh just as the foursome pushed through onto the tarmac. “That’s it, just the four of ’em?” She looked over her shoulder. “We’ve been in tougher scrums than this.” Cork reached for the door. “Might be a nice warmup, eh?”

“She’s not joking, is she?” George asked.

Zahra shook her head. “No, she isn’t, and no, she isn’t going anywhere, right?”

The pilot grumbled. “Killjoy.” Cork gave the advancing men one last look before reinserting herself into the cockpit. Her chair squeaked when she sat, protesting against her mass. “Alright, you two, hold on to your arses. Up we go.” She leaned around her chair and looked back into the hold. “Oi, new guy!” George glanced from Zahra to Cork. “Don’t get sick in my plane. That’s fine Corinthian leather you’re sitting on.”

George looked between his legs at the gigantic tear in the worn pleather chair.

There was nothing fine about it.

Cork throttled up the twin engines and pulled the Cessna away from the main building. It always surprised Zahra how smooth the Puss E. Galore moved. While the outside looked like a shitheap, the parts that mattered were finely tuned and well-maintained…sort of. George didn’t seem to notice any of the good that the flying machine offered. He was white-knuckling the armrests, eyes closed, teeth chattering. That, or he was praying to God not to die.

Probably both.

“What about fuel?” George asked, holding back his breakfast.

“Don’t worry about it!” Cork called back. “We should have plenty.”

“Should?”

Cork didn’t elaborate. The Cessna made it out onto the runway and without too much time wasted, she was given the all-clear from the tower, and they took off like a rocket. The rear engine spurted a bit, increasing George’s already atmospheric level anxiety. But just as quick as it sounded like it was dying, the engine kicked back into gear and roared in unison with its nose-mounted sibling. In seconds, they were airborne, and at the moment, safe.

Zahra laughed and patted her father’s shoulder. She could feel the tension in it.

“Hey,” she said softly. “We’re fine.”