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Chapter ten
ZAYN
Icouldfeelthe energy pulsing as soon as we stepped into the remains of the city. It radiated out from the temple, rippling through sand and stone alike like a pebble cast into still water. I looked over at West to see if he felt it too, and by the grim look on his face, I knew he did.
“Are we too late?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Either way, we need to find her and get her out of here as quickly as we can. I don’t care if we make noise doing it, I just want her out and in the air.”
“Then I suggest we search the camp first,” I replied, checking to make sure my pistols were concealed. “She may still be oblivious to her location.”
West nodded and set off in the direction of the camp. I’d brought the four-wheel drive truck as far up the access road as I could, but I knew there had been bad storms in the area recently, and the road looked like it had sustained some serious damage. It became practically impassable beyond a certain point. We left it there, and I tucked the keys under a fold of loose leather at the side of the driver’s seat, making sure the others knew where to look. We’d been in several tricky combat situations before, and not knowing what we were going into, I wanted to make sure any one of them could drive out of here if they needed to.
We set off along the road, avoiding the deep cracks and piles of earth. The head torches revealed our location to any who might be searching for us, but in our present human condition, they were an unfortunate necessity. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to reach the camp. It lay silent and dark, and I glanced around, looking and listening for anything out of the ordinary.
“She could be sharing a tent with someone,” Jack suggested to West. “Can you get a sense of her anywhere?”
West looked around then closed his eyes. After a moment, he shook his head and opened his eyes. “No, I just can’t—fuck. I need the abilities we get when we aren’t human to find her before she does the thing that gives us all our damn abilities. How fucking ironic is that?”
“Then we fall back on human skills,” I reasoned. “We wake someone up and ask them!”
Jack nodded and headed for the nearest tent. He was about to call through the canvas when West held up his hand, and Jack froze.
West turned and walked silently through the tents. For such a huge guy, he moved with deadly stealth, a dark shadow like a big cat stalking its prey. He paused next to one of the tents, glanced back at us, then turned and tapped on the fabric. He bent and murmured something, then tapped again. After a few moments, the tent unzipped and an unruly head of dark hair poked out of the opening. In a flash, West grabbed the guy’s shoulder, pulled him up and out of the tent, and put a pistol to his head. The guy stumbled to his feet and froze when he realised what was happening. West said something in his ear, and the guy nodded slightly. They moved forwards, passing between the tents until they met us in the middle by the tables.
I looked him up and down. He had a slender and wiry frame, pale skin, like he never saw the sun, wire-rimmed glasses, and delicate hands made for holding quills and paints rather than swords. He was stammering something to West, and his eyes were wide like a creature caught in headlights. I grinned and looked over at Jack, who caught my eye and stifled a smile, pressing his lips together.
“I do beg your pardon, but I absolutely must insist you tell me what is going on! How dare you drag me around like this. Why, do you know who—”
“Oh, can it,” West replied. “Enough of this bullshit.” He stashed the pistol back in the harness, and the skinny guy immediately started backing away. West covered the distance in two steps and grabbed the guy’s shoulder. “I suggest you sit down.”
“I don’t think I will, thank you. Who do you think you are to tell me what to do, to demand things in such a way—” West rolled his eyes, and this time instead of grabbing his arm, he took the guy’s face between his hands and leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the other man’s. The guy fought, but West held him in place, closing his eyes, and almost immediately, the struggle ceased. The guy stood stock-still then brought his hands to his head, not trying to tear West’s away, but clasping at his skull. I winced, remembering the pain of being awoken all at once like this. Usually, the memories would flow back in a steady stream of dreams and memories and knowledge, and you would remember who you were, but having those memories ripped from wherever they hid was a painful process. I had been through it a couple of times myself, and I didn’t wish it on anyone.
West released him, and the man staggered, his knees collapsing under him. West caught him under his arms and helped him backwards a few yards until he could sit on one of the benches. The guy leaned forward, his head hanging down as silent sobs tore through his body. I glanced around at the tents, hoping there were no light sleepers. West placed his hand on the man’s back, murmuring quietly. After a few minutes, the sobs ceased, and I saw his shoulders slump in acceptance.
He looked up, and his eyes shone with wetness in the darkness. “I brought her here. She came to me at the university, and I actually brought her here! Forgive me.”
“There’s nothing to forgive. You couldn’t have known,” West murmured, dropping down to perch on the bench beside him.
“I should have known! She stood right there in front of me. We sat and talked right here on this table only a few hours ago. I should have remembered something. I should have taken her away.”
“No offence, Sebastien, but I’d like to have seen you try. She may be smaller this time around, but her spirit is still there. We’ve lost her twice now, and that’s with West and me guarding her.”
He gave me a weak smile. “It’s Wesley now, Dr. Wesley Price. I have a doctorate in archaeology and Egyptology.”
“Ha!” I gave a short laugh. “Well, that was damn close to the original!”
“You can talk!” Jack scoffed, then he turned to Wesley. “Zayn here runs a mobile phone shop by day and is a gun-runner by night!”
I shrugged. “Came in handy though, didn’t it? And to be fair, I only started the gun-running after the memories returned, because I thought it might be useful.”
“How did you go from mobile phones to gun-running?” Wesley asked, and I grinned.
“I joined up with the Egyptian army for a while, and then I went freelance afterwards for a few years to make the right, or rather the wrong, kind of contacts.”
“This is all very interesting, but can we get back to why we’re here and catch up later?” West interjected, standing up. “I’m assuming she’s safe in her tent somewhere and hasn’t found the shrine yet. Your memories would have been coming back already if she had, but the hatay could still sense her, and I imagine there’ll be quite a large number in this location, so we need to keep this quiet.”
I nodded. “Let’s grab her and get out of here.”
