Like his father and grandfather before him, Khaliq believed in a very specific and unusual subject matter that many had laughed off, including other members of his bloodline. In the generations since, his family had formed a coalition of radical extremists — devotees to their cause.
To Khaliq, and those that followed him, Anubis wasn’t just the fabled death god of Egypt. He was a real historical figure, a man. He was an archaic scientist who had been ahead of his time. Like Noah and Merlin, Anubis was thought to have been a real person whose myth and legend had been built up and expanded over time, eventually becoming the larger-than-life tale that seemed utterly fictitious.
Khaliq believed there
Still, there was a looming issue. The place where Anubis was said to practice his trade had been lost to time through multiple wars, and famine, and even disinterest. Some of the Ayads had given up on their calling and buried anything to do with Anubis.
But a devout few even claimed to be Anubis’ direct descendants.
“Which makes us gods!” Khaliq’s grandfather once told him.
The family’s deep-seated patriarchal beliefs spanned millennia. Khaliq took it to another level and introduced outsiders with the same hardcore views, recruiting men from all over the Middle East, Northern Africa, and Eastern Europe. He even enlisted the service of a few women. Khaliq had no time for the traditional, sexist practices of the area. The handful of women he had employed were equals to him based on their beliefs, and because they had proven themselves to be the most dangerous of them all, having the ability to hide in plain sight. There were advantages of having female agents planted in places like Egypt. A veiled woman was hardly ever perceived as a threat.
He grinned. Khaliq had put together quite the army. It was an organization that several law enforcement agencies had tried to shut down over the years, but to no avail.
He filled his thick, barreled chest with air and released it slowly.
His cellphone vibrated across the nearby nightstand. He growled and snapped open his intense, dark eyes. Meditation was the only thing that kept him under control and focused. If it were up to Khaliq, he’d march downstairs and slaughter every single one of his patrons. If they weren’t directly helping his cause, they were nothing but a speed bump of meat and bone.
Khaliq could be slowed down, but he would
The buzzing nuisance was too much to ignore, and he angrily snapped his attention to it. The caller’s name intrigued him, and he decided to take a break from his exercises to answer it. Seated in a classic lotus position, Khaliq uncrossed his legs and climbed off his bed, slipping back into his expensive, black silk shirt. He picked up the phone and reflexively ran his other hand over his thick beard and clean-shaven head, discouraged to feel a slight prickle of hair. He’d need to shave the latter before long.
“Speak,” Khaliq demanded, his baritone voice booming through the device.
The man on the other end stuttered.
Khaliq’s right eyebrow rose. “Yes?”
He was aware of the construction project, and the discovery that was made there. And it just so happened that Khaliq had a trusted man on the ground to keep an eye on things. Throughout the years, his family had found similar temples all over Egypt, though they had successfully kept the discoveries hidden from the public. Unfortunately, none of the temples they found had provided any additional information other than what they already knew.
“Is it there?” Khaliq asked, forcing himself to stay calm. It had been a lifetime of searching. Could this be it? Had they finally found it?
“Engravings?”
Khaliq’s whole body tensed. “The scroll? It speaks of the scroll?”
