The Cairo Connection: A Lawson Vampire Mission (The Lawson Vampire Series)

by Jon F. Merz

  Nadi nodded at me and Zero. “These men are here to kill me for exposing the secret existence of vampires to you. I swear it.”

  Zero shook his head. “I don’t think you’re going to get anything useful out of him. Why don’t you just let me shoot him and be done with it?”

  “We cannot conclude our business if we don’t have the information I require,” said Salah. “I would hate for you to have come all this way and have to return without accomplishing your objective.”

  “I’m sure you’ll find a way to contact his people,” said Zero. “There can’t be that many money men in the world who would have access to Soviet backers.”

  Salah sighed. “Perhaps you’re right. I could make some inquiries at a variety of places around the area. Perhaps Beirut.” He sighed and stood. “I would much rather have the actual contact information, though.” He placed a hand on Zero’s shoulder. “But I don’t begrudge you feeling as though this is futile and unnecessary. If you and your brother wish to leave, then that is fine with me.”

  I knew what Zero would say before he even said it. There was no way we could leave without knowing that Nadi was dead. And with him spouting off all about vampires, now, more than ever, we had to make sure that his rants had done nothing to convince the humans here in the chamber that he was being truthful about our existence.

  The mission had gone from a simple termination of Nadi to one of containment. And by containment, Zero and I both knew that anyone in this chamber with us was going to have to die.

  We simply couldn’t take the risk that anyone would recount what had happened here and possibly get curious enough to start investigating it.

  “I’d rather we go home knowing the money will be there when we arrive,” said Zero. “We’re here with you until you get what you need.”

  “All right then,” said Salah. He looked at Nadi. “Last chance, old friend. “Give me the information I need and I will end this for you right here and now. Otherwise, I’m giving serious thought to running that drill right down through your groin. And I think it’s safe to say that the pain you’ve felt thus far will pale in comparison to the agony you’ll experience having your testicles drilled through.”

  Nadi shook his head. “Don’t. I beg of you. Not that.”

  “Then tell me what I need to know.”

  Nadi paused. “I can prove it to you.”

  “Prove what? I don’t need proof. I need names. And how you contact them.”

  “Not the money thing,” said Nadi. “I can prove to you that I am a vampire and that these men are here to kill me.”

  For a moment, Salah said nothing. Then he leaned back and sighed. “All right then. Prove it.”

  13

  “I can grow my teeth,” said Nadi. He looked at Zero and me. “Can’t I, gentlemen?”

  Zero don’t even flinch. He grabbed the drill from Salah and switched it on, plunging it deep into Nadi’s thigh which resulted in Nadi screaming bloody murder as the drill bit tore into the quadriceps muscle and spilled blood and skin everywhere. Zero drove the drill deep and it was only barely perceptible when I heard the sudden sound of gunfire erupting from some place out of the chamber and closer to the entrance of the pyramid.

  Zero heard it, too and switched off the drill, leaving Nadi gasping for breath as he tried his best to recuperate from the assault. “What was that?”

  Salah now heard the sporadic gunfire coming from outside of the chamber. He motioned to his men. “Go see what’s happening. Now!”

  Zero threw the drill down. “If there’s gunfire outside, that can only mean one thing.”

  “Murad,” said Salah. “Somehow he found us.”

  I looked at Zero. “How could that be?”

  “I don’t know,” said Zero. “But there’s no other explanation.” He glanced at Salah. “You said you had this entire site locked up, right? That no one would ever report what happened here?”

  Salah nodded. “I paid everyone off with very generous bribes.”

  “Then it’s got to be Murad. He’s the only one with enough firepower at his disposal to even field a team capable of handling this situation.”

  I looked at Zero. “What do we do?”

  Zero glanced at Nadi. The message was clear: we needed to find out from Nadi who was protecting him on the Council and then we needed to make sure that Nadi didn’t do anything that might in any way compromise the existence of the vampire race. But how could I get that done with Salah still in the chamber?

  We needed a diversion and Murad just might be the only person who could provide it right now. One of Salah’s men came rushing back into the chamber. “There’s a team of men outside. They’ve taken out five so far.”

  Salah shook his head. “Dammit. How many of them?”

  “At least a dozen.”

  “Murad.” Salah shook his had and looked at Zero. “I’m afraid this night is not going to end the way I thought it would. I must apologize in advance, but if we both make it out of here alive, then perhaps we will do business again in the near future.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” asked Zero.

  “It means good-bye,” said Salah. He took out a pistol and fired twice into Nadi’s chest. The bullets tore open his sternum, but I knew that Nadi would heal rapidly from the wound. The only thing that could really kill him was wood being introduced into his blood stream.

  Salah lowered the pistol but kept it close enough in case either Zero or I had any ideas about tackling him. Then he looked at his man and said, “Get me out of here.”

  They rushed out of the chamber leaving Zero and I alone with Nadi. Zero raised an eyebrow at me and I nodded. We both knelt over Nadi. Already, the entry wound from the bullets was starting to close up. Despite the wounds to his kneecaps and thigh, those were also healing quickly. It was fortuitous that Murad had shown up when he did, but even still, we had scant time to work with. And we needed information.

  “All right,” said Zero quietly even as more gunfire rang out in the distance. “You know why we’re here.”

  Nadi nodded. “You’re Council lapdogs, of course. Here to punish me for breaking the laws of our people.”

  “Smart guy,” I said.

  “If you kill me, the Council will know. And they’ll come after you.”

  “What makes you say that?” asked Zero.

  “Because there’s no way this was sanctioned.” Nadi grinned. “You’ve gone rogue. And when the Council finds out, they’ll have your heads instead of mine.”

  “Only if they ever find out,” said Zero. “And trust me, I have no intention of ever letting them know.”

  “What about your young friend here? He’s too young to be a cynical veteran like yourself.”

  “Don’t be too sure about that,” I said. “I’m plenty cynical. You might say it’s in my blood.”

  Nadi laughed. “You’ll fold as soon as they start questioning you.”

  “If I had any fear of that,” said Zero, “there’s no way I would have asked him to help me with this.” He looked at the drill. “You very nearly gave up everything we are to these humans. For what purpose?”

  “You’re going to kill me,” said Nadi. “What did I have to lose?”

  “The last bit of honor and integrity you might have had,” said Zero. “Thanks for making our jobs that much easier.”

  “As if you would have spared my life,” said Nadi. “Don’t patronize me.” He turned his head away. “Look at what you’ve already forced me to endure. You’re a sick bastard. Savage even.”

  “Better we did it than risk you telling everyone about us.” Zero eyed him. “You know we have to do what we have to do. But before that happns, you’re going to tell me all about your relationship with the Council.”

  “I’ll do no such thing,” said Nadi. “You’re better off killing me now.”

  Zero nodded at the drill. “You want me to do what Salah was going to do? Run it through your balls? Completely immasculate you before we k
ill you? Trust me, I can make this last an awful long time. I don’t like doing this stuff, but you’d better bet that I won’t hesitate if it means protecting the secret of our people.”

  Nadi looked at the drill and I could see him starting to waver. After all, Zero had already used it on his thigh. And Nadi knew that Zero didn’t lack the willpower to use it. The question was, would he give up the information we needed?

  “Come on, Nadi,” I said. “You know he’ll do it. Do you really want to feel that much pain before you check out?”

  He looked at me. “Who are you anyway? You seem far too young to be involved in something like this. Have you even graduated from training yet?”

  “Don’t worry about him,” said Zero. “Worry about me and what I’ll do to you if you don’t give up the goods. Tell me who protects you on the Council.”

  “You’re the one they call Zero, aren’t you?” Nadi smiled. “Don’t look so surprised. I’ve made it my business to keep tabs on as many Fixer operatives as I can. And with my contacts, it’s not the difficult.”

  Zero switched on the drill and then switched it off. “This is the last time I’ll ask you, Nadi. I’m not fucking around here. Give me the name of the person you contact on the Council.”

  “On one condition,” said Nadi.

  “What’s that?”

  “You let me go.”

  Zero chuckled. “No, that’s not going to happen.”

  “Then I’m not telling you a damned thing,” said Nadi. “Do your worst on me. I’m not some weak old fool.”

  “Your screams sounded real enough earlier,” I said. “You saying those weren’t truly genuine?”

  Nadi blanched a bit. “No, that was real.”

  “And you really want to go through that agony again? For what? You’ve already outed our people to a bunch of humans. What’s the point of clinging on to the secrecy of the person who protects you on the Council?”

  “I swore on my life to never reveal their identity,” said Nadi.

  “To what end, though? You’re going to die. That’s not in question. So why continue to honor your pact with someone who doesn’t even care enough about you to help you when you ned it most?”

  The sporadic gunfire ceased. Zero put a finger to his lips and replaced the gag in Nadi’s mouth. Nadi protested the move, but there was nothing he could do about it. I killed the lights knowing that it wouldn’t hurt our ability to see in the dark. Outside the chamber, I could hear footsteps. Probably six men. The odds weren’t great and I didn’t like the idea of killing Murad or his men, especially when it might mean a whole lot of repercussions. For one thing, I’d probably never be able to come back to Egypt ever again if even the slightest hint of my identity ever leaked out.

  There was also the question of whether Salah had made it out or not. He was a loose end that would need tying up before we could call it quits on this op.

  I heard footsteps getting closer. Zero moved to the entrance opposite of where I was positioned. He held up his hand to signal me when we should attack whoever was coming toward the chamber.

  Then the footsteps stopped.

  I caught my breath and felt my heart hammering. This op was getting a lot more stressful than I’d expected.

  “Gentlemen, please exit the chamber immediately with your hands raised so I can see them and ensure my men don’t get nervous and accidentally shoot you.”

  Zero lowered his hand. I knew immediately that we wouldn’t be fighting our way out of this one.

  “Two coming out,” said Zero.

  “Slowly,” said the voice. I knew already it was Murad. It had that same growl to it despite the acoustics in the pyramid.

  Zero ducked out of the chamber first and I followed.

  Outside, Murad stood behind six heavily armed men aiming automatic weapons at the both of us. Murad smiled. “So nice to see you all again.”

  “What took you so long?” asked Zero. “We expected you hours ago.”

  “Did you now?” asked Murad. “And why would you expect me?”

  Zero nodded at his pocket. “I’ve got something in there to show you. Do you mind?”

  “Go ahead,” said Murad. “Slowly.”

  Zero reached into his pocket and then withdrew his hand. He tossed something small to Murad who caught it and held it up.

  “You left one of those in my back pocket when you had us in your custody earlier,” said Zero. “It’s pretty small but I found it anyway.”

  “Well, aren’t you just full of surprises?” asked Murad. “You knew all about this but didn’t think to tell your hosts? That’s rather intriguing, isn’t it?”

  “I didn’t tell my host because you promised to bury us in the desert if we betrayed you. And after what Salah’s men did to your boys, I don’t want to find myself on your bad side.”

  “That’s wise,” said Murad. “I’ve already taken my vengeance for my men on the majority of the henchmen I found outside the pyramid.” He paused. “However, where is Salah himself?”

  “You don’t have him?”

  Murad shook his head. “No, I do not.”

  Zero glanced at me. “There must be another way out of here. They couldn’t have gone out the way we came in.”

  Murad frowned. “Don’t lie to me, Ian.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” said Zero. “All we want to do is get out of here and head for home.”

  “And what about the man you were trying to find? Nadi was it?”

  “He’s inside but he’s stark raving mad. Claims to be a vampire. If I were you, I’d leave him to die here in this place and be done with it.”

  “A vampire?” Murad smirked. “That’s certainly a novelty. Perhaps I do want to speak with this man after all.”

  “Salah used a drill on him,” said Zero. “It’s not a very nice sight.”

  “I’ve seen worse,” said Murad. “By my own hand even.”

  “Your choice,” said Zero. “Mind if me and my brother get going?”

  “Don’t you want to stay?”

  “Not really.”

  It was then I heard the whisper of something far off. I thought I knew the sound and even as my brain figured out what it was, I was already diving to the floor of the pyramid as the bullets started ricocheting all around us.

  14

  The soldier closest to me took a round to his head and went down spinning from the impact. As he did so, his gun - a Misr, the Egyptian version of the AKM - slipped from his grasp and clattered to the ground close to where I was crouching. I caught it up and started to bring it to bear when another gunshot tore into the housing and rendered it useless. I tossed the gun away and looked at Zero as he was currently motioning me to follow him further down the corridor away from the chamber we’d been inside with Nadi.

  More bodies fell around us and I took off running, scooping up another AKM as I did so. Behind us, we could hear the shouts as Murad tired to direct fire at the new threat. But too many of his men were dying and I knew Murad would be coming after us if he had any sense. Sure enough, I heard his footsteps behind me as he fled the gunfire himself. One more soldier came behind him but just as Murad reached the turn in the corridor, the soldier took a round to the back that shattered his spine and went down.

  It was now just Murad, me, and Zero. Somewhere behind us, came the threat. And worse, we’d let Nadi behind.

  I paused to catch my breath. The pyramid’s interior reminded me of a maze. Corridors that branched into dead-ends and then into other corridors. The place was a maze. Ahead of me, I could see Zero at a junction trying to figure out which way to turn. Murad huddled next to me.

  “Did you see who it was?”

  I eyed him. “I thought you and your boys had this place bottled up. Whoever it was went right through your soldiers like they were nothing.”

  Murad frowned. “I’ve lost far too many good men today. Thanks to you.”

  I sniffed. “We’ve got nothing to do with this. If you’d managed your int
ernal security better, this would never have happened.”

  Murad didn’t say anything to that point. “So now what?”

  “Now we try to find a way out of here, reevaluate our position, and take out whoever is threatening us.” I nodded. “You still armed?”

  “Huh? Oh yes.” Murad reached into his side and pulled out his pistol. He racked the slide and got a round into the chamber. “I’m a good shot.”

  “I hope so,” I said. I glanced over my shoulder at where Zero still stood debating with himself. “Anything?”

  Zero pointed to our left. I knew what he was thinking. There had to be a way out that had been used by Salah to evacuate when Murad’s men made their appearance. It was just a matter of finding it. That’s what Zero was doing: looking for any signs that people had come through here recently. As soon as he had it, we’d be off.

  In the meantime, I refrained from showing my head around the corner. Murad started to look but I pulled him back.

  “You don’t want to do that.”

  “He can’t make that shot,” said Murad. “I’ll be fine.”

  “You really want to trust your skull to that fool assumption?”

  He must have heard the tone in my voice because he stopped moving. “How will we know if he’s coming or not?”

  I nodded at the walls that cast shadows from the light back where the chamber with Nadi was.. “We’ll see their shadows before they get close.”

  “Got it,” said Zero softly.