by Layton Green
Nomti was rushing towards him, which surprised Grey. He wasn’t surprised Nomti hadn’t shot him, because using a gun in such a public place was a last resort. But Grey thought Nomti would at least hurry behind Veronica and hold the knife to her throat, which is what most criminals would have done in that situation, and yell at Grey to get on his knees. Instead Nomti had let his knife clang to the floor and come straight at Grey. Grey didn’t know what the hell the guy was doing, nor did he care. The other man was watching, both a gun and a knife in his hand.
Grey met Nomti halfway. He wanted to disable him and get behind him as fast as possible. Use him as a shield, or as leverage, before he got shot or stabbed in the back.
Nomti spread his arms wide. He was leaving Grey the one option Grey didn’t want in this particular fight: frontal engagement. Grey would have to cause maximum damage very quickly.
Grey shot his hand at Nomti’s throat. Nomti didn’t have much space between his head and his shoulders to begin with, and he was already holding his chin down as a good fighter does, tightening the neck muscles and protecting the throat. Grey struck him, but the strike was ineffective.
But from Nomti’s stance Grey already knew he was protecting his throat, and Grey’s second strike scored. As Nomti wrapped his arms around Grey, Grey jabbed the fingers of his left hand into the pulpy nest of Nomti’s right eyeball. Nomti turned his head before Grey could wrench it out.
Nomti screamed, an ugly, throaty sound, but he also tightened his arms around Grey and carried him to the floor like a rag doll. Grey couldn’t believe Nomti hadn’t let go. No one held on through an eye gouge that serious.
Nomti landed on Grey with a heavy thud. He put his hands around Grey’s neck and squeezed. Grey gasped; it felt like five men were squeezing his neck.
Grey did a quick assessment of his options, and wrapped his left hand around Nomti’s pinky. He peeled back the isolated digit until it snapped, then pressed a finger into the same eyeball he had already gouged. Nomti screamed again, and this time he let go.
The fight had already lasted too long. Grey snaked his limbs around Nomti’s body and rose with him. He grabbed the back of Nomti’s head with one hand and threw liver shots with the other. Nomti tried to counter with a straight right, and Grey brush-blocked it aside. Grey grabbed the front collar of Nomti’s shirt with both hands, deep behind the neck. He crossed his hands with a scissoring motion, applying a front choke.
Nomti gagged and clutched for Grey’s hands. Grey head butted him and held the choke. This bastard was going out.
Grey tried to swivel to put Nomti between himself and the man he saw in the corner of his vision, the one coming at him with the raised knife. Grey let go of Nomti, but it was too late. The knife slashed at a downward diagonal, an amateur thrust, but one Grey didn’t have time to avoid.
Grey heard a loud shattering sound, and the knife cut Grey a glancing blow and clattered to the floor. The man with the knife staggered. Stefan stood behind him, holding the shaft of a broken beer bottle.
A number of things happened at once. While Grey’s attention had been diverted Nomti threw a low punch straight into his groin. Grey’s knees buckled, and he saw the man he had thrown into the wall coming at Stefan with a raised knife. Stefan held the shard of bottle out in front of him, and they faced off.
The other thing that happened was a police siren disrupted the jungle-like atmosphere. Everyone hesitated for the briefest of seconds, the reality of a civilized world having intruded upon the primal scene.
Grey recovered and went for Nomti, but someone hit Grey in the back of the head with what felt like the butt of a gun. Grey pitched forward, and two of the intruders hit and kicked him as he fell. Nomti stomped on Grey’s head and grunted a command. All three men went for the door. One man raised his gun on the way out, but Nomti screamed at him and he lowered it. Nomti slung the man Grey had knocked out over his back.
Grey tried to stand, and stumbled. Stefan looked like he was about to chase after the men, then went to Grey. Grey pushed him away and lurched to his feet. He limped into the hallway and saw the men cramming into the elevator. The door closed before Grey had taken two steps. He started after them, then looked back at Veronica in the chair.
He spit out a curse, and smashed his fist into the wall.
– 40 –
Veronica started screaming as soon as Grey took the duct tape off her mouth. “I’ll kill that bastard! I swear to God I’ll kill him, I’ll put a bullet between his fucking eyebrows—”
Grey hushed her and she collapsed into his arms.
Three cops burst into the room, one kneeling over Utah’s unconscious body. Grey rushed through a description of what had happened. One ran out the door and another got on the radio.
Grey stroked Veronica’s hair and told her they were gone, they were gone. She couldn’t stop shaking. Grey walked over to the cop that had stayed. “Make sure they print everything.”
The cop nodded. “Ambulance and forensics are on the way.”
Grey saw Stefan slouched in a corner, arms folded, looking at the room with hooded eyes. Grey met his gaze with a hard stare.
• • •
Veronica was released soon after they arrived at the hospital. Her main injuries were to the spirit. Grey had a cut above his left eye, a shallow knife cut along his left arm, an extremely sore groin, and a huge knot on the back of his head. He didn’t care about his injuries. He wanted Nomti and his friends in a locked room, right damn now.
A different cop escorted them to a downtown hotel with a view of Ground Zero. Veronica had called a lieutenant she knew from another precinct. He was out of town, but had arranged for police protection for the night.
They met in Grey’s room, Veronica and Stefan filing in with troubled eyes. Veronica, clad in sweats and a long-sleeved nightshirt, slid onto one of the double beds. Stefan took a seat in the desk chair, and Grey sat on the other bed with his back against the headboard, a packet of ice pressed against the back of his head.
No one spoke for a few moments. Grey pushed himself off the bed with a soft groan and stood next to the window, his eyes on the brown sedan parked outside. “It’s time for some decisions.”
“I still cannot believe it,” Stefan said. “I cannot believe they came. When will this stop? How will this stop?”
“Those are the right questions,” Grey said. “And I don’t think I like the answers.”
Veronica traced a finger along her upper chest and looked away. “So what do we do? You have to tell us, Grey. This is your world.”
Grey put his hands on the windowsill and looked outside again.
“I can return to Bulgaria,” Stefan said. “I can hire men. But I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to live in fear.”
“I can’t live like that,” Veronica said. “Not knowing when someone will come to my apartment again. God, that man’s a sadist. I’ve never seen a look in someone’s eyes like that before.”
Grey swore to himself. He could watch his own back, but Veronica and Stefan might not survive another encounter. If Stefan hired enough men and stayed out of sight and waited long enough, he might be okay. Might be. But Veronica, in New York? He had no idea how many men these people had.
He didn’t like Veronica’s choices. Not at all.
“These men, they’ll do anything,” Stefan said. “They want their secret protected at any cost.”
“You got that right,” Grey said.
“But I think there is a solution.”
Veronica sat up, and Grey’s eyebrows lifted. “I’m open to suggestions.”
“What’s the one thing that will ruin a secret? That will make it irrelevant whether or not any of us know?”
“Exposure,” Veronica said. “But how? I thought they destroyed everything in the lab?”
“True.” Stefan crossed his legs and looked from Veronica to Grey. “We find more, or we find the research. We find it and we go public.”
Grey frowned. “S
o we find or steal more of this liquid, and what, we put it on the six o’clock news? And tell the world how we got it?”
“Maybe an anonymous source mails it to me, with a note explaining where it came from, and I make it national news,” Veronica said. “Maybe we’ll have some photo ops to go along with it and some fingerprints from NYPD. The Egyptian authorities will have to do something about it.” She smiled a cold smile. “I rather like this idea.”
“Not sure that I do,” Grey said. “There’s the revenge factor, after we do it. Not to mention we’d have to find and steal more of this stuff, if there’s even any left. I was thinking more along the lines of going to Cairo myself and finding some evidence to put these people away, while you two go on a long vacation at an undisclosed location. I’ll take care of the problem at the source. These men are taking orders from someone, and I think we know who it is.”
Stefan’s smile was hard. “And I know how to find him. Do you remember the man I told you about, the one who delivered the package?”
“You know who he is?”
“He didn’t leave a name, but he left a way to contact him. An email address. He told me should I ever need anything delivered, I could contact him there.”
“Why not just contact that other guy, Dorian?”
Stefan looked embarrassed. “I don’t contact him. He contacts me.”
“I see.”
“This other man, I got the impression he was very good at what he does. I suspect he can lead us to where we need to go, or at least to Dorian.”
“And Dorian can help?”
“He knows the source, at the least.”
Grey compressed his lips. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“There’s a price on my assistance with this man. I go to Egypt with you.”
“That’s a bad idea.”
“I will not live in fear.”
“Just get in touch with him.”
• • •
Fifteen minutes after they left Grey heard a soft knock. He approached carefully. “Who is it?”
“Me.”
He opened the door and Veronica stood before him, still in her nightshirt, without the sweats. “I don’t think I’m ready to be alone yet.”
They went to his bed. She lay on her back with her head in his lap, and closed her eyes. Grey’s hand hovered over her head, and then he reached down and stroked her hair.
“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“Of course.”
“If you hadn’t, I… I don’t want to think about it. Not ever.”
“It didn’t happen, and it won’t.”
“Unless he comes back.”
“Not if I’m here.”
“What if you’re not,” she whispered. “You can’t always be here. This isn’t some stalker. These men are killers.”
“I’m here right now. We’ll figure this out.”
“I’m terrified.” Veronica’s voice was low and venomous. “I want him to pay. He made me feel like I was… his. I thought I was this strong person and then he was standing over me with that knife and I wanted to give him whatever he wanted. I wanted to die.”
“That’s just how he gets off. Don’t think about it.”
She fell silent, and he continued to stroke her hair. She turned over and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m going to kiss you,” she said.
His hand stopped moving. She sat and put a hand on his cheek and drew him to her. She found his mouth and pressed her body against his. He tried to disengage, knew she was emotional from the attack, but she wouldn’t let him. He relented and put an arm around her back, squeezing her close.
She pulled away and gripped his hair. Her tongue flicked across his lips. “God, I want you,” she whispered.
He leaned forward as she took off his shirt. He saw her eyes rise at his tattoos. “We’ll talk about those later.” She ran a hand along his back and felt the scars intertwined with the tattoos. “And these.”
He pulled her nightshirt over her head and caressed her breasts, gently avoiding the shallow crust where the tip of Nomti’s knife had pressed into her. “You have a beautiful body,” he murmured.
She purred and arched as he massaged her. She ran her fingers down his chest. “You’re too skinny,” she said, her voice low. She pushed him on his back and crawled on top of him. She snaked out of her underwear and pulled off his jeans.
They swam and sank and then drifted in the thick hot sea of their lovemaking. When they finished he held her by the dim neon glow filtering through the window, and Grey could see the cop parked outside.
Dawn came much too quickly.
– 41 –
Grey rose while Veronica was still asleep. He stared at the silken fan of her blond hair on the sheets, her cheekbones, her leanness and milky skin. She was undeniably attractive, but despite himself, he started to think about other times and about another girl. Why wouldn’t thoughts of Nya just go away? Why did he have so little choice in the matter?
He grabbed a long-sleeved shirt and stepped into a pair of dark jeans. He took his cell and padded to the hallway. It should be a good time to catch Viktor. He dialed.
“Cesc?”
Grey took a deep breath and told Viktor everything. Grey could visualize Viktor sipping his absinthe, swirling the information around in his formidable mind.
Then it was Viktor’s turn to fill Grey in. Grey put a hand out and leaned on the wall. “What’re we talking about here? Who are these people?”
“I have to confess I’m still uncertain. I have a call pending with an Egyptologist in Cairo. She’s reputedly the expert on Nu.”
“What if I spoke with her myself? In person?”
Grey didn’t think Viktor would approve of the idea of an Egypt trip. He assumed Viktor would advise Veronica and Stefan to report the incidents to the police, and obtain as much personal protection as possible. Grey and Viktor were not in the bodyguard business. But Stefan had saved Grey’s life, and become his friend. And Veronica…
“I can’t just leave them,” Grey said. “I know it’s outside our call of duty, and I don’t expect to be paid. But I’m going to Egypt to try to sort this out. I have to get the hit called off, or put someone behind bars, or expose this. Something.”
“When do you plan to leave?”
“Soon. There’s a contact we’re trying to find, the guy who delivered the test tube to Stefan. Stefan sent him an email last night. I should know something later in the day.”
“But either way you plan to go to Cairo.”
“Yes.”
“Then I shall meet you there.”
“Professor, I can handle—”
“We work together, unless the assignment doesn’t warrant both of us. This one clearly does.”
“This is my side of the game, not yours. You’re not in the line of fire right now. There’s no reason to put yourself in it.”
“Those are my choices to make. And it most certainly involves my expertise. I’ve developed an interest in this Al-Miri. Think of it as a new case. What is the Latin? Pro bono?”
Grey tapped his fingers against the wall, then sighed. “We need to keep as low a profile as possible when we get there. We should stay separate for the time being.”
“Agreed.”
“Don’t poke around outside the museum. We know too little about these men.”
Grey could hear the amusement in Viktor’s voice. “Is my new employee giving me orders?”
“I just don’t want you to put yourself in danger. When do you plan to leave?”
“Tomorrow.”
• • •
Grey met Veronica and Stefan for breakfast in the small restaurant attached to the hotel.
“I received an email this morning,” Stefan said, “from our messenger. He agreed to meet.”
Grey poured two creamers into his coffee. “Where?”
“Today, five p.m., in front of Madison Square Garden.
“He�
�s in New York?”
Stefan shrugged. “Or somewhere close. He told me to come alone.”
“No way.”
“It’s rush hour in the middle of Manhattan. He knows my face, I know his. I’ll have my phone, and you can wait nearby.”
Grey took a long sip of his coffee. Veronica crossed her legs in her seat and said, “What did you tell him?”
“I contacted him as instructed last night, and included my email address. We exchanged a few emails this morning. I told him it was essential that we talk concerning the package he delivered. He asked me where I was, I told him New York, and he told me where to meet.”
Grey stroked his chin. “Let me go in your place. You can describe him to me.”
“He won’t meet anyone but me. He was adamant.”
“Tell him no.”
“I’m going to meet him.”
Grey rolled his eyes. No one wanted to listen to him. “I’ll be around the corner. Put me on speed dial and don’t look around like you know I’m there. For God’s sake stay in the crowds.”
– 42 –
Jax hated the thought of this meeting with every ounce of his anarchical soul, but he was running out of options. The bikers had followed him south, but somehow those Arab bastards had caught up with him at the Mexican border, and Jax couldn’t risk a scene with border patrol. He had to ditch the bikers and head back north in the middle of the night.
He’d only been a few hours from New York, on his way to a midnight hike across the Canadian border, when he received the email. Maybe this guy knew something, maybe he didn’t. Jax had to try something. He had finally gotten in touch with Dorian, and Dorian didn’t know a thing about these people besides the fact that Siti had been a scientist with New Cellular Technologies. Dorian had no reason to lie, and he certainly wasn’t scared of talking. Dorian did the scaring in Cairo, not the other way around.
Jax tossed his coffee cup. It was time for something stiffer.
He preferred to meet in the city; it was far easier to get lost in a megalopolis than in the countryside, unless one knew the countryside intimately. And he had yet to be approached in a crowd. These people, whoever they were, preferred the shadows.
