The Anubis Plague полностью

Zahra snorted out a laugh. “God, no, Dad! Geez… But I do know a few private collectors who will buy almost anything I bring back with me.”

“And then sell it on the black market!”

It was a gray area that Zahra lived in — that even fewer people knew she partook in. “What they do with it is their own business. I get paid and turn that money into jaunts like this.” She motioned around her. “Believe it or not, archaeology doesn’t pay all that well, Dad.”

George let out a tired laugh. “Yeah, tell me about it. Speaking of which, do you have enough to finance all this?”

She tried to hide her smile. “I have a little bit saved, yes.”

“What is ‘a little bit?’”

Zahra found something else to look at and faced away from her prying parent. “Let’s just say that we won’t have any problems any time soon.”

Zahra had put together quite the savings account. It wasn’t enough to retire on at her age, but she was well-off enough to never have to worry about going broke. This trip, however, felt like it could push that statement to the test. There was no way this was going to be a fast, in-and-out kind of mission. Even now, based on their current flight plan, they still had another stop between Barcelona and Cairo. Cork was going to need to get some shuteye down the road too. Having a dreary pilot wouldn’t benefit anyone.

Twelve minutes into their taxi ride, the Kanes unloaded outside of a strip mall. There found everything from a small café to a laundromat to an electronics store to a supply outlet. The cabbie had done his job perfectly and brought them to a smorgasbord of useful places.

They climbed out. “Hey, Francisco,” Zahra said, leaning down toward the driver’s side window.

“Please,” he said with a shit-eating grin, switching to adequate English, “call me, Frankie.”

Zahra leaned in close, never once losing contact with the man’s eyes. “Okay, Frankie, I’ll make you a deal.” She tossed her hair for good measure. “Wait for us here, and I’ll give you an extra fifty bucks. I promise we won’t be long.”

Frankie’s grin turned into a beaming smile. “For you, senorita, I’ll do it for forty-five.”

Zahra stood and gave the cabbie a playful wink. She turned and gave the cabbie a chance to ogle her ass before she was met with the disapproving gaze of her father. She had never seen the man look so sick, even aboard the Cessna.

“What was all that about?” he asked, following Zahra to the café.

“That, what?” she asked. George crossed his arms and gave her the most dad look ever. It worked. Zahra melted under his laser-like gaze. “It was nothing, just a successful negotiation to retain our driver for the duration of our stay.”

George rolled his eyes. “You were flirting with him for a favor.”

“Of which, I’m paying him for. It’s a win-win for both of us. The fewer people that know we’re here, the better off we’ll be. It would be foolish to think that Khaliq doesn’t have eyes and ears everywhere.”

Her father’s serious demeanor cracked. He agreed with his daughter. George opened the café’s front door and glanced back at the cabbie, who was still eyeing his little girl’s butt. “I still don’t like it…”

Zahra snickered. “I never said you had to li—” She was hit with a blast of perfuming espresso, and she instantly forgot everything she was about to say.

It was exactly what she needed. Her father too. George looked terrible and ready for a nap. There’d be plenty of time to sleep on the Cessna if he could calm himself down enough to do so. Zahra could sleep through anything. It was a gift of hers, and it paid off when she was out in the wilds.

“Two cortados, please.” Zahra hadn’t enjoyed a traditionally made cortado in years. The woman behind the register motioned to Zahra’s bruised face, asking who did that to her. Zahra waved the lady off. “I’m fine, believe me, I don’t look nearly as bad as he does.” Zahra raised her bruised knuckles. That got a wide smile out of the stranger.

The barista gave Zahra a basket of delicious-looking churro bites, on the house, to go along with their espresso drinks. Zahra felt like she was in heaven, and based on the way her father stared longingly at the churros, so did he.

The Kanes sat quietly and enjoyed themselves. It had been a long time since the two of them had done something like this together. Not the defying death part, but the traveling the world part. Zahra and George used to go on thrill-seeking escapades all the time between them moving to England and Zahra joining the army. Baahir had come along because he was forced to do so. Zahra never saw it as a chore, like her brother. She truly loved the adventurous lifestyle.

The next time someone spoke up, it was George, and he asked his daughter something unexpected. “Why do you work for the museum?” Zahra opened her mouth to answer but didn’t. Her father took her silence as permission to press her. “You’re obviously smitten with this part of the job, and I can tell you’re good at it, based on the things you’ve told me.”