Ifza sneered and bore daggers into Waleed’s eyes. The older man didn’t waver. His face was still soft and caring. He really did feel sorry for Ifza — for her life — her upbringing.
Waleed turned and slowly walked over to the left-hand wall of the bare room, though, Ifza now saw that it wasn’t as empty as she had originally thought. A small square table sat pushed up against the wall, and resting atop it were a corded phone attached to a landline, and a tiny rectangular box. It was hard to make out, but Ifza deduced that the object was some kind of speaker.
Waleed picked up the receiver.
“Who are you calling?” Ifza asked.
“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.
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.
He felt an impact of a small object on the ground around him, then another.
His reaction was met with realization. They were
