by Layton Green
“I am prepared.”
“You don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.”
“No, you don’t. Weapons have their place. But don’t underestimate the human body. It’s the most versatile short-range weapon on earth.”
Jax gave him a flat, disbelieving stare. “I beg to differ. I’ll take a gun or a knife any day, whatever the range.”
Grey took off his shoes. He tossed one aside and moved to an open area in the center of the gym. He tossed the other shoe to Jax. “The advantage to a knife is that it cuts from any angle. It’s a very effective weapon, much more effective than a gun in close quarters. The shoe’s the knife. Come at me. If you touch me with any part of it, you win the fight.”
Jax snorted. He looked at the shoe, then back at Grey. He set down his towel and the short wave, gripped the shoe by the heel, held it in front of him, and crouched. Grey waited, hands relaxed.
Jax lunged at his midsection. Grey stepped off to the side, fluid as a snake, and threw a brush block just above Jax’s elbow. The brush block deflected the thrust just enough to allow Grey to get past it, without disrupting Jax’s forward momentum. Before Jax had time to react, Grey straightened his forearm and caught Jax across the throat. At the same time he pushed in on Jax’s lower back with his other hand.
Jax collapsed like a card table, dropping the shoe. Grey kicked the shoe away, then sat on Jax’s stomach and put his knees on Jax’s arms.
Jax coughed from the blow to the throat and tried to sit, but he was pinned by Grey’s hold. Grey allowed himself a small smile when Jax wasn’t looking. He really didn’t like mercenaries.
“Ah, lesson learned,” Jax said. “I will never bring a knife or maybe even a bazooka to a fight with you.”
Grey helped him to his feet. “Sometimes demonstrations are the only effective teaching methods.”
“And what exactly was the point of the lesson, sensei, except to embarrass the hell out of me? I know we haven’t exactly hit it off, but that was downright rude.”
“We’re going to be putting ourselves in harm’s way together, if things go badly maybe fighting together. We need to be on the same page. Stefan and Veronica aren’t fighters. You are. I need to know who I’m fighting next to.”
Jax said, “And what wondrous things did you learn about me?”
“You’ll pull the trigger.”
“Damn right.”
“But you don’t like doing it.”
Jax picked up his towel and the shortwave. “I’ve been there. I know what it does to you. But if you didn’t like it at all you’d have a different job. You could make a lot of green with those skills, you know.”
“As a mercenary? I’m happy with my job, thanks.”
“Go ahead and look at me like you’re my guidance counselor while you straddle that line. I’ve never willingly harmed an innocent.”
“You think you can’t harm someone through money, or inaction, or arms transactions, or whatever else it is you do for people?”
“You have no idea what I do,” Jax said. “For all you know I’m a modern-day Robin Hood.”
“So are you?”
Jax grinned and spread his hands. “I know where I stand. Maybe one of us has lost his way, maybe one of us is fooling himself. But who is it?”
Grey gathered his shoes. “I’ll see you in the restaurant.”
– 48 –
“There is a legend of a lost oasis,” Professor Hilton began, “in the middle of the Great Western Desert, between Dakhla and Siwa Oasis. Until you’ve been there, you’ve no comprehension of how isolated this area of the world is. This is the same part of the desert where the Persian army of Cambyses, a force of 50,000 men, disappeared in a sandstorm in 524 B.C.E. and was never seen again.”
“There are many stories of lost oases. Zerzura in particular comes to mind.”
“Not of a lost oasis that was underground.”
Viktor’s eyebrows rose, and she took a sip of her tea. “The legend tells of a god that lived in an underground lake hidden in the desert, in a cavern hidden behind a limestone formation shaped like a gate. The mention of the gate must have been added at a date later than origin, of course.”
The corners of Viktor’s mouth curled. “Of course.”
“The rest of the legend is quite brief: it tells of how drinking from the waters of this lake led to extreme longevity. The lake was small, and only the chieftains knew the location. The god of the lake only permitted the chieftains to drink once a week, to preserve the waters.”
“A legend remarkably similar to the various elixir of immortality myths of other cultures.”
“To be sure, but again, there’s always a beginning. I was also told by these tribesmen that the lake was once the source of an underground river, that it was aboveground in the days when the gods walked the earth, that this river once fed four other rivers, and that these four rivers watered the earth. They referred to the source river which stemmed from the pool, of course, as the river of life. Sound familiar?”
“The four rivers of the garden of Eden. And I’m well aware of the theories that the garden of Eden was once located in Egypt, and that the four rivers flowing out of Eden were the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Nile, and an unknown river, and that all four once connected somewhere in the Sahara.”
She clapped her hands with childlike delight. “You stole my thunder.”
“I also see elements of Babylonia. Gilgamesh sought Utnapishtim, who possessed the secrets of immortality, at the mouth of the four rivers.”
“The commonality of certain myths is indeed remarkable: the flood stories, the elixir of life, the resurrections, just to name a few. It makes one wonder, doesn’t it?”
“And what happened to this legendary lost oasis?” Viktor said.
“The most commonly accepted version revolves around a greedy chieftain. The god of the lake was angry at the chieftain for abusing the water of life, so he struck the chieftain with a bolt of lightning, cursed his family line, and hid the entrance to the oasis with a giant sandstorm.”
“I have a colleague who’d be most interested to hear of this particular legend.”
She looked at him as if trying to gauge his sincerity. “Then there’s the version I posit. That there once was, and perhaps still is, an underground lake in the desert that served as an object of worship. There’s certainly geological evidence in support of water still existing beneath the desert, trapped in caves. The entrance to this particular pool might have simply been lost, buried by an earthquake or shifting sand dunes.”
Viktor nodded slowly. “That’s within the realm of believability. Thus, your thesis: the early peoples of the desert were animistic, their gods were the sun, the stars, the sacred rocks, the oases. The concept of Nu sprang from these peoples and, more specifically, from the worshippers of the god of this lost underground oasis.”
“Roughly, yes.”
“And the eternal life portion of the legend?”
She opened her palms and shrugged, a slow grin spreading across her face. “Maybe the ancient chieftains had good genes.”
“Was your thesis published?”
“Not that version, no. No one wants to consider the implications of such a link on established doctrine.”
Viktor considered the information. Intriguing, but ultimately unhelpful. “An interesting thesis, and I thank you for sharing it. If you have another moment, I’d like to discuss your conversation with the police.”
Dr. Hilton’s mouth formed a protective oval. “How did you-”
She cut off as she followed the flick of Viktor’s eyes to her desk, where a fax had been carefully placed beside the phone. At the top of the fax was a logo, a golden sword piercing a globe, which matched the logo on the Interpol identification card Viktor had extracted from his wallet and was pushing towards her.
• • •
Grey changed into a black T-shirt and linen pants. When he arrived at the staid dining room, everyone was already seated around
a table, dabbing at a platter full of exotic hors d’oeuvres. He already felt uncomfortable. He took a seat next to Veronica, and she avoided his gaze.
Jax said, “There’s the man I wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.”
Grey took a menu from the center of the table. “I miss anything important?”
“I was just telling the group about the email I received from Dorian.”
Grey looked up. “You got a response? You didn’t mention that earlier.”
“You were too busy asserting dominance.”
“What’d he say?”
“He’s willing to meet,” Jax said. “Two grand in Euros, cash, just to get the party started. Can you believe the nerve? The Euro? What happened to the underground value of the dollar? It’s a brave new world, I suppose.”
“I’ll take care of the funds,” Stefan said.
“I accept your offer,” Jax said. “He wants to meet tomorrow night, in the City of the Dead.”
“Say what?” Veronica said.
“It’s a common location for doing business in Cairo you don’t want anyone to know about.”
“So it’s not really a cemetery?”
“Sure it is, love. An enormous cemetery where a bunch of poor people live and shady transactions happen pretty much by the second.”
Grey couldn’t tell if Jax was joking or not.
Veronica said, “I suppose we’re meeting the contact at midnight?”
“Ten, and no need to be brave,” Jax said. “I have to take Stefan, and it’s a rough neighborhood, so I suppose I’ll take dark and dangerous along also. I need you here, just in case.”
Veronica looked back and forth between Jax and Grey. “Just in case of what?”
“We might need a pretty girl to stroll in at the last minute, in case negotiations stall.”
“Are you always this annoying?”
“I find humor’s the best way to relieve tension. Otherwise I’m quite charming, or so I’m told.”
“He’s right,” Grey said. “It’s too dangerous. I’ll have Viktor stay with you while we’re out.”
“They found us before,” Veronica said. “What are the chances they know we’re here?”
“Extremely low,” Grey said, “as long as Stefan’s right about the shortwave. Our aliases are tight. None of this means we let our guard down, but we’ve bought ourselves a few days.”
They finished the meal in relative silence. Stefan had been pensive for most of the conversation, and Grey wondered if he was thinking about his son. Stefan pushed his plate to the side and stood. “Good night to everyone. The jet lag, I believe, is winning the war.”
Grey stood as well. “I’ll walk up with you.”
When they were out of earshot Stefan said, “We must be careful with him.”
“I agree. He’ll jump ship in a heartbeat, even if he’s watching our backs. So we need to make sure he’s never watching our backs.”
“We will watch each other’s backs.” Stefan clapped him on the shoulder. “Sleep well, my friend.”
• • •
Jax gave Veronica a cockeyed glance. “Looks like we’re the last two standing. I don’t know about you, but I could use a nightcap. Care to join me at the Explorers Club?”
Veronica glanced at the stairs, then turned back to Jax and sighed. “Why not?”
They wandered into a wood-paneled room with a long gilded bar and photos of British explorers. Veronica ordered a glass of Cabernet from a willowy Egyptian bartender she wanted to smack for having such flawless bronze skin. Jax went for a gin martini.
Veronica watched him. Confident, worldly, easy-going, flat out good-looking. He also had that international man of mystery thing going for him. The verdict: great for a one-night stand, horrible for a relationship of any sort. Despite the allure of the dangerous type, which leads to a false sort of love, Veronica knew the one thing that really gets to a woman, whether she likes it or not, is a man of integrity.
Damn Dominic Grey.
Jax was giving her that lopsided grin again. She supposed that worked on most women. It was working on the bartender, and she had to admit it might have worked on her had the situation been different.
“So which small town in which unimportant state are you from?” Jax said.
“Excuse me?”
“Oklahoma’s my dirty secret. I was just wondering what yours is.”
“I live in New York. As in New York City, New York.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I must be getting drunk,” she said. “Is my Kentucky accent coming out again?”
“It’s your walk. You’ve got that strong sexy sway that isn’t city-bred. City girls are daintier.”
“I’m not dainty? So what am I, plodding? Lumbering? Bovine?”
“I meant it as a compliment. I should cut my losses and move on, shouldn’t I?”
“Why don’t you just forget the seduction bit, because it’s going nowhere, and tell me why you left Oklahoma.”
He chuckled. “You’re some kind of woman.”
“So what was it? A girl? Military brat?”
“Same thing you’ve got, I guess, just a bit more extreme. I was bored. Joined the army after high school, and never looked back.”
“What about your family?”
“I’m adopted, and let’s just say nobody was fooled.” He downed the rest of his martini and signaled to the bartender. “I’m cursed with high tolerance.”
“Have you been back?” she asked.
“Once, before my foster parents both died of lung cancer.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry they had to go like that, but like I said, I just got the luck of the draw at the adoption agency. I had more in common with some of the animals at the Des Moines zoo, and they never let me forget it.”
“No childhood friends, class reunions?”
“I got larger and the world got smaller, if you know what I mean. It’s hard to go back to Big Danny’s Bowl and Buds once you’ve left. If I never see another cow I’ll be ecstatic.”
She laughed. “That I understand.”
He raised his glass in salute. “We’re in Cairo now, right? And what about this elixir thing? Is it for real? A modern day fountain of youth?”
“The literal fountain of youth doesn’t exist. You can’t reverse aging. What’s in this test tube, at least according to Stefan, is within the realm of science. A possible answer to cellular senescence. I don’t know what the long-term effects of such a thing would be. Nobody does. I can tell you they’d be earth-shattering.”
Jax leaned in. “You’ll do anything for that story, won’t you? You don’t even care about the contract on your life. We’re the same, you and I.”
“We’re nothing alike.”
“Is that why your eyes shone like the Eiffel Tower when I mentioned the elixir?”
She took a long drink.
“We’re from the same place,” he said, “with the same kind of drive. Mine’s a different poison, but the end goal’s the same.”
“I can assure you we have very different goals.”
“We want relevance, love. Nothing more, nothing less. To be noticed. Not by anyone else, no, that’s a byproduct. We want to be able to notice ourselves.”
She didn’t answer, and he laid a hand on her arm. “They’re closing shop. Why don’t I buy a bottle off our girl here so we can continue this party upstairs?”
She looked down at his hand. She felt a warm tingle in her arm, and it spread throughout her body, an inebriated shiver of pleasure.
• • •
Grey had been tossing and turning for an hour. Now someone was knocking on his door, and he or she wouldn’t stop. He grunted and threw on a pair of jeans. He heard Veronica mutter, “I know you’re not asleep.”
He opened the door and she shoved him against the wall and kicked the door shut. Her mouth found his, and then her tongue, warm, insistent. Alcohol and perfume had formed a sensua
l union, and his own lingering inebriation ushered in the scent. She grabbed him from behind and pulled him tight.
He put his hands on her shoulders and forced her back. He tried not to look at the pleasing little arcs at the corners of her mouth. He opened his mouth and she put a finger on his lips.
She traced her nails down the front of his chest and smirked. “I’m not really interested in anything you have to say right now. I don’t want to hear about your confused feelings,” she reached down and slowly pulled off her sweater, “your philosophical bullshit,” she reached back and unhooked her bra, “your sense of honor,” she unzipped her pants and stepped out of them, “or any past loves you haven’t seen for months.”
She undressed all the way, then pressed into him. He felt the milky softness of her breasts curve and flatten against his skin, and he groaned as she kissed him. This time he reached for her.
She peeled off his jeans and reached for the light. He stopped her. “I want to see you.”
They fell to the floor, and she came up on top. He entered her, and she clutched his chest and arched.
• • •
Veronica was in the shower when Grey woke just after dawn. A few minutes later she emerged, pale and glistening, a towel wrapped around her head. She sat next to him on the bed and stroked his hair, her voice pensive. “What if these scientists really have discovered the elixir of life? What would it mean to relationships? Would you still marry someone if you knew you were going to live to two hundred? Two thousand? Two million? It would change everything.”
“Men have been asking that question for centuries,” he said wryly.
She gave him a playful punch. “If what’s in there is even half what Stefan says it is, then the world as we know it will change. Not to mention the economic inequalities it will cause. Who gets it? How much do they get? When do they get it? Something like this could lead to class wars on a scale never seen before.”
“Doesn’t the whole concept contradict everything we know about biology? If we’re programmed to reproduce and die and that’s about it, how can nature allow for such a thing?”
“We don’t know how nature will respond. Every time we make gerontological advances, nature throws some new disease at us that makes the previous life-threatening diseases look like a stubbed toe. Something like this… it’s breathtaking. A scientific advance that could rival the supremacy of nature.”