by Jon F. Merz
Salah clapped me on the back. “This way, my young friend.”
Zero and I walked with him around the vehicle and headed directly toward the largest of the three massive pyramids that sat before us. Seeing them up close made me feel even smaller and at the same time, my appreciation for the incredible amount of work it must have taken to build them grew immeasurably. I put my hand out to touch the side and feel the coarse stone on my skin; it was like touching thousands of years of history in a single breath.
Salah saw what I did and chuckled. “They are truly incredible, are they not?”
“I’ve never seen anything like them before,” I said. It was the truth as well. I’d never had the pleasure of being in Egypt before and seeing something I’d only ever seen pictures of was truly awe inspiring. I just wished I had more time to explore them. But a job was a job and we were there on business. Although, honestly, after running into Murad and his goons, I didn’t think it would be a good idea for me to come back here anytime soon. Far better to disappear and leave him wondering what had happened to us than risk his wrath, especially since he was no doubt looking for payback after what Salah’s men had done.
Salah led us toward an opening at the base of the pyramid. A small amount of light spilled from the opening and I felt my heart beat increase a little. Were we going inside the actual pyramid?
We had to duck to avoid hitting our heads on the entry, but as soon as we stepped in, the roof shot away from us and we stood in the antechamber. It was a little warmer inside and for a moment, I just took it all in. Zero stood a few feet away from me with his hands held loosely in front of him. I couldn’t tell whether he was in awe also, or if he suspected something might be happening that could jeopardize us.
Salah smiled at me. “Did you ever think that you would come to Egypt for money and end up inside of the greatest pyramid ever created?”
“Not at all,” I said.
“I remember when I first saw them as a child and my heart was filled with wonder and awe at the sight. I still love coming here although now it is not as exciting as it used to be. But they still have much to teach us.” He smiled at Zero. “Come with me and we will see Nadi.”
We followed Salah down a side corridor and then turned left. It grew warmer as we walked and I marveled at the hieroglyphics on the walls. It was hard to imagine building this pyramid so many years ago. In some ways, I felt like I was taking part in some sort of ancient ritual. Or starring in an action adventure movie.
We stopped outside of another chamber; Salah paused and turned to us. “Now gentlemen, at last we have arrived at our meeting spot. I apologize in advance for any shock you may experience upon seeing Nadi. He is…a bit of an acquired taste.”
And with that, Salah led us into the chamber. Two armed men stood there next to a sarcophagus. The sarcophagus was closed. Salah nodded at the men. “Open it.”
They slung their rifles and moved the top piece of the sarcophagus aside just a bit. Then they stepped back.
Salah motioned for us to come forward. “It’s all right. Really.”
Zero shot me a look but what could we do but go forward? I walked up and saw a small man inside the sarcophagus. He was still very much alive, but his face showed the signs of having been horribly beaten. His hands were tied in front of him and his feet were bound as well. There was a gag in his mouth and when he saw us, he started whining as much as was possible with the cloth keeping him from making any sense.
Zero took a quick glance and then eyed Salah. “I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here, mate. Would you mind explaining it to me?”
Salah shrugged. “It’s actually rather simple. Nadi there in the sarcophagus has gotten a bit too big for his britches. So we had a bit of a shuffling of power. A coup as it were. Led by me. With my men backing me up. We killed Nadi’s men and assumed command of his organization.” He smiled. “Now we run things.” He sighed. “Unfortunately, Nadi has thus far resisted all of our attempts to get him to tell us several key players in his organization. Specifically who he contacts on the other side of the Iron Curtain to obtain his money.”
“That would seem to be kind of important,” said Zero. “How come you don’t know it already?”
Salah shrugged. “Nadi has been most austere with giving away too much information, preferring to keep it close to his chest. Perhaps he never trusted me. I do not know.”
I nodded at the sarcophagus. “How long have you had him in there?”
“Only a day,” said Salah. “Your arrival in Cairo was most fortuitous, as it enabled us to speed up our plans and at the same time, perhaps we can help each other out.”
“Help you out?” I asked. “We came here looking for money. We don’t want to get involved in any internal problems you guys might be having.”
Salah nodded. “I understand. However, there will be many times in life where we do not always have the luxury of picking and choosing with such discretion, no? And in this case, I would be most appreciative if you and your brother could find a means of getting Nadi there to talk and give us the information we require.”
“Why us?”
Salah laughed. “You’re Irish. Everyone has heard of the marvelous things you have done to the British with electric drills and chunks of concrete. We’d only like to have you do the same to Nadi there. I feel confident that after a few minutes of the sort of torture you are known for, he will gladly give up his secrets if it means a release from the pain.”
“And what happens to him after that?” asked Zero.
“We will kill him, of course,” said Salah. “We can’t very well keep him alive, can we? He’d lay about plotting his vengeance and we can’t have that. After all, we have a business to run.”
I glanced at Zero. The look on his face told me that he didn’t like this any more than I did. How the hell were we supposed to torture someone inside a pyramid?
“Well, we don’t have any of our tools here,” said Zero. “And to be honest, torture is not really our thing. The IRA are the ones who do that shite. We prefer to blow stuff up.”
“And shoot people,” I said. “Torture doesn’t really help anyone out. Most of the time, people will say whatever they think you want to hear just to get it to stop and you end up with a whole lot of unreliable information.”
Salah frowned. “I disagree. I think torture can be a marvelous thing if implemented correctly.” He smiled. “And as for equipment, we are truly fortunate that we are at one of the largest archaeological sites in the world. My men have already located a drill that will be suitable for going through Nadi’s kneecaps. It’s just a matter of running the electrical lines so you have power. Once we find a suitable generator and crank it up, I think we’ll be able to get started.” He paused. “That is, unless you gentlemen would rather leave now without a single dollar for your trouble.”
I didn’t think they’d just up and let us leave and I knew Zero thought the same. We had to play this out.
“We’ll do our best then,” said Zero. “But you’ll have to take his gag off if you want him to talk.”
“Certainly,” said Salah. He told his men to remove the gag and instantly Nadi started babbling in Arabic and English, cursing Salah and then telling us to help him. Zero walked over to him and punched him in the side of the jaw just hard enough to shut him up.
“As far as I can see,” said Zero. “You’ve gone and fucked yourself up pretty badly. My brother and I are here for money and if the only way we’re going to get it is by drilling out the inside of your kneecaps, then that’s exactly what we’ll do. But don’t worry, mate. We’ve never done this before, so I’m sure we’ll make a big mess of it. Might be wise to save yourself the time and misery and just tell Salah what he wants to know now instead of subjecting yourself to what we have planned for you.”
Nadi spit in Zero’s face. “You can’t kill me. And I will find you and your brother once I have killed these traitors. And when I find you, I will make your lives a l
iving hell.”
Salah started giving orders to his men and as he did so, Zero leaned forward closer to Nadi and said simply, “Cha’harash.”
The color immediately drained from Nadi’s face. Zero had simply said the word ‘sanction’ in Taluk, the ancient language of vampires. It was enough to make Nadi pass out from fright.
Salah turned and looked at Nadi. When he saw that he was now unconscious, he smiled and looked at Zero. “What happened to him?”
“Seems like the thought of having a drill go through his leg might just have scared the sense out of him,” said Zero. “I’m sure he’ll come around soon enough. In the meantime, can we settle on our amount?”
“Of course,” said Salah. “I am more than happy to give you every cent of what you asked for. But we will need Nadi’s contact information in order to get the money. Without that, I’m afraid I have nothing to give you gentlemen.”
More of Salah’s men came into the chamber now, dragging a variety of equipment behind them. I saw them running electrical lines and connecting them to other lines that ran back out of the chamber toward the front of the pyramid entrance. Another two men brought in a variety of drills and laid them on the chamber floor.
Salah pointed at them. “I’m sure that one of these will suffice?”
Zero knelt and looked at them. “They would seem to be sufficient. Although, again, we haven’t done this before.”
“I have faith,” said Salah. “After all, money is a terrific motivator, is it not? For all of us. Once we have Nadi’s information, we can get the money. You’ll have your bit and I’ll have mine.”
“And what happens if his people come after you?” asked Zero. “I’d imagine they have a relationship with Nadi. They might view you as a threat.”
“Only if they know that we killed him,” said Salah. “Once you are done extracting the necessary information, we will bury his body far out in the desert where no one will find him. Then we’ll simply tell his contacts that he died. It will be fine.”
“If you say so,” said Zero.
Salah clapped his hands. “Well, let’s get started gentlemen. I must confess, I’m quite anxious to see this in action.”
12
I watched as Zero picked up one of the heavy industrial drills and hefted its weight, trying to get a feel for properly holding it. After a second or two, he made sure it was plugged in and then switched it on. The motor began turning instantly, filling the chamber with an intense angry whine.
Nadi came to pretty quickly after that, his eyes wide and white as he looked around and sussed what was going on. He immediately began struggling but Salah’s men held him down. I moved over and assisted because Nadi was a vampire and far stronger than either of Salah’s men probably expected.
He writhed and kicked, trying to make sure we couldn’t hold him still. Zero frowned and looked at Salah, speaking over the din of the drill. “We can’t do this if he keeps moving like that. I don’t want to accidentally cut an artery and have him bleed out before he can give up the information he has.”
Salah motioned for him to switch off the drill and when Zero did, he walked over to Nadi and smiled.
“Now, listen, old friend: you can either go through this most excruciating ordeal or you can simply give us the information we need now and save yourself heartache and pain.”
“You’ll kill me anyway,” said Nadi.
“Well, yes,” said Salah. “I’m afraid that’s rather unavoidable at this point. I can’t have you remain on the scene and potentially disrupt my new business. You’d prove to be a real thorn in my side. I wouldn’t put it past you to come after me with more men than I can field. So really, it’s just self preservation. Don’t take it so personally. However, I really do need that information. So, you can either go through agony now, or give me what I need and we can kill you quickly and painlessly.”
Nadi sniffed. “You can’t kill me.”
“Oh, but I can,” said Salah. “And I will.”
Nadi’s eyes went to Zero and then to me. Then he looked back at Salah. “No, you can’t. I can’t be killed like that.”
Zero’s eyes widened slightly and he stepped forward and punched Nadi again hard in the jaw, snapping his head back. Salah held up his hand but Zero leaned over Nadi until his face was mere inches from it. “You’d better tell Salah what he needs to know otherwise it’s going to get really loud in here from all of your screams.”
He stepped back and turned to one of Salah’s other men. “Get some rope and a few stakes from around here. We’ll tie him down with his legs extended. Then it won’t matter if he struggles or not.”
“No!” Nadi nodded at Zero. “He’s a vampire. He’s come to kill me to make sure that I don’t reveal the existence of my race.”
My stomach sank. Nadi had just done the unthinkable. I couldn’t believe I heard him say those words in the presence of humans. It was something I’d never experienced before.
Fortunately, the effect on the chamber full of humans was to only produce laughter. Salah looked at Zero who had quickly also flushed the look of disgust from his face and replaced it with a smile that gave the impression he thought Nadi was completely insane. And since Nadi would have said anything to save his own skin, his words carried about as much weight as him insisting the world was flat.
In the meantime, the men Zero had directed to find more rope and stakes returned. They put these at four points on the floor of the chamber and moved back. Zero now directed the men and me holding Nadi to position his body.
We moved Nadi, who was still writhing and swearing up and down that Zero was a vampire, between the stakes and held him down on the floor. One of the men standing free grabbed Nadi’s right arm and yanked it up toward one of the stakes where he tied the rope first around the wrist and then around the stake, drawing the rope taut until Nadi’s arm was stretched straight out at an angle. Then he did the same to his other arm.
The more he did, the less Nadi was able to struggle. And the rope was heavy enough that it held him fast despite his vampire strength. I assumed Nadi hadn’t had a chance to get any blood since he’d been betrayed.
Now the men moved to pull Nadi’s legs out to the angles and keep them straightened. Nadi kicked one of them in the face and I heard a crack. The man fell back and away, but I was on Nadi so fast that he didn’t have a chance to take advantage of the momentary freedom he had before I grabbed his ankle and jerked his leg out.
Nadi’s eyes flashed to my face. “So, you’re one, too.”
Salah shook his head. “Had I known you were this crazy, I might have moved against you before this.” He chuckled. “Vampires, huh? That’s a novel attempt to get out of dying, I’ll grant you that.”
“It’s the truth,” cried Nadi. “I wouldn’t lie about this. I’m a vampire, too.”
Zero gave me a look as if to say, “we can’t let this guy keep talking otherwise he’s going to say something that just might ring true to these guys and then we’re in a world of shit.”
Salah sighed. “Really.”
“I can prove it.”
Zero laughed out loud. “I’ve heard just about enough from this guy.” He hefted the drill again. “We’re ready to start.”
“All I need is some blood,” said Nadi. “I can prove that I’m a vampire.”
Salah shook his head. “Fortunately, I am in a position to grant you that.”
Nadi quieted down. “You will?”
“Of course,” said Salah. And then before either Zero or I could react, he grabbed the drill, switched it on, and then plunged it right into Nadi’s right kneecap, the bit grinding through the skin and ligaments causing Nadi to scream with such ferocity and shock that the entire chamber echoed with his gut-wrenching agony.
Blood spilled everywhere as bits of Nadi’s kneecap tore apart and flew about the room. After a few seconds, Salah removed the drill and killed the motor. The drill bit, dripping dark blood now, spun to a stop and went quiet but Nadi con
tinued to scream. Only after a minute did he try to calm down and suck oxygen back into his lungs.
Salah eyed Zero. “Forgive me. I hope you don’t mind me taking the initiative. I grew weary of his ridiculous antics.”
“Be my guest,” said Zero.
Salah looked at Nadi. “There, now, you see? Plenty of blood. Isn’t that what you were asking for?”
“I…need…the blood…of someone else,” said Nadi. He was hyperventilating it looked like and the color had also drained from his face.
To be honest, I wasn’t feeling particularly well myself. I’d seen some nasty stuff before but watching Salah hollow out Nadi’s kneecap was something new and not something I particularly wanted to continue to witness. But I couldn’t balk now. I couldn’t show how repulsed I was. Salah clearly thought the use of the drill was something cool and he hefted it again, showing Nadi the bloody drill bit.
“You see how much of your blood it released? I’ll bet you’d like a taste, wouldn’t you?”
Nadi shook his head. “My own blood won’t help me and it won’t prove anything.”
“No? That’s unfortunate.” Salah switched the drill on again and Nadi began screaming instantly. I saw Salah position the drill bit over another part of Nadi’s knee and then slowly exert pressure until the drill bit into the skin and started tearing through the ligaments again.
Between the whine of the drill and the screams coming from Nadi’s mouth, the entire pyramid complex must have heard us. We couldn’t afford to have Nadi screaming like this for much longer. We might have been removed from Cairo, but I felt certain there would be police in Giza who would come around if someone called them to report crazy screams coming from the pyramids.
Salah switched off the drill again as he removed it, setting it on the ground. A bit of sweat dripped from his brow and he wiped it away before kneeling down next to Nadi. “Now, old friend, I hope you can see just how truly serious I am about getting that information. I have no problem continuing this ordeal until you have very few portions of your body left that have not been drilled through.” He smiled. “In fact, I only started with the kneecap to give you an idea of how serious I am. I’m well aware that even though you are in excruciating pain right now, there are other areas that might induce much more agonizing results for you. You only have to give me the information I require and I will release you to your death.”