Dez

 

Gripping the tickets in my clammy hands, I stood at the bottom of the marble staircase, watching as people hurried in from the cold through the heavy front doors of the MFA. Gazing around, I was surprised at how crowded it was tonight. Or maybe it was just the entrance. Or was there an exhibit I didn't know about? Some event? I should have checked the calendar…

A deep “Woah,” interrupted my thoughts. Tugging at my collar, I glanced next to me to see a guy staring in slack-jawed amazement at the front doors, his buddy following suit.

Without even having to look, I knew who’d walked through the front doors. I heard the tell-tale click-click of heels on marble and I turned to see Soraya sauntering towards me. Her eyes were completely focused on me, paying no heed to anyone else and then she smiled. My brain went fuzzy for a second, then I shook myself and smiled.

“Hi, Soraya,” I said, gulping a little.

Now that she wasn’t undercover, all her personality and glamour was on full display. It was dazzling and I suddenly felt horribly out of my element. What the hell would we talk about?

“Dez, you did not buy the tickets,” she said, zeroing in on my hand.

I handed her one, hoping it wasn’t completely soaked through. “Apology gift.” I'd been feeling rotten the last few days about treating her so coldly. What did I know about undercover protocol as an Anubis agent? I was usually with them when they were breaking the rules.

“Shouldn’t I be buying you one of those?” Soraya asked, bumping me with her shoulder as we went up the stairs to the coat check. “How about dinner?”

I took her long black coat at the counter and shook my head. “No, I don’t think–”

“That’s a yes,” she said, smiling at me, then the coat guy. I had to clear my throat to get him to take her coat, which I’d been holding out to him for a good twenty seconds.

“I’d say yes,” he interjected. “You gonna give me your coat, bud?”

“Oh,” I said, hastily shrugging it off and handing over my scarf as well. My face was heating as I silently said, can’t throw stones at glass houses. “Thanks.”

"So, where's your favorite part of the museum?" Soraya asked, her lips quirking with amusement. She was a wearing a teal turtleneck sweater with an oversized collar coming down to her thighs, black tights, and knee-high black boots. Her braids had been swept up into a bun and light blue studs twinkled in her ears. It was hard not to stare at her.

“This way,” I said, leading her up to the rotunda and down a hallway to the right.

Wandering through the airy, spacious rooms made up of the Art of the Ancient World collection, I eyed the old statues but really watched Soraya out of the corner of my eye. She was beaming and light-hearted, the first time I’d really seen her like this.

So, this is the real deal, huh? Wow.

Then I caught myself. I couldn’t be thinking things like that.

Soon we found ourselves in a high-ceilinged room, dominated by a massive arch and she walked up to the dark gray granodiorite statue of a woman smiling serenely on the room, her hands gracefully folded upon her thighs, one clasped around a lotus blossom.

“Lady Sennuwy,” I said. “A wife of an important governor in the Middle Kingdom.” When Soraya glanced at me, every inch expectant, I slowly continued, “The pose is actually done in the style of the Old Kingdom. Regal, yet simple. She was found, along with her husband, in the tomb of a Nubian king who ruled long after their deaths. And it was also much further south of than where they lived. It’s unknown how they wound up there.”

“Perhaps the Nubian king liked her smile,” Soraya suggested with one of her own.

“Or how she was hailed in the halls of Osiris,” I said, gesturing at the base of the statue. “See here, along the base and the chair, you can see the glyphs that sing her praises. Or the lotus in her hand, signifying the reincarnation cycle. Life and death were woven together tightly in that age.” I went on and on, Soraya egging me on with questions until I straightened and gave her a look.

“What?”

“You don’t have to do that, Soraya,” I said, stepping away from the Lady Sennuwy, and moving about the room. “Humor me.”

“Dez,” she said reproachfully. “I get that you don’t know me, but that’s not who I am.” She snorted. “I don’t humor. I love your passion and I am actually into history.” She waved her hand around the room. “Especially ancient Egypt, the old Gods and the rise and fall of kingdoms on the Nile.” We passed a statue of Bastet, the cat goddess and she smiled. “I even have a tattoo of this pretty feline. It was the first one I got.” She let out a rueful laugh. “And if anything, you’ve proved to me that I could stand to read so more books about Egypt.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling slightly ashamed. “My bad.”

“No way! But if you feel bad, come on,” she seized my hand, “tell me more.”

Grinning a little, we walked through the next exhibit, Soraya peppering me with questions and bit of her own knowledge. We wound up in a bit of an argument about the meaning of a glyph, one I found myself enjoying and she laughed suddenly.

“I feel like this is the real Dez,” she said triumphantly, echoing my thoughts from earlier.

My mind flashed to the stolen Anubis gear and the late, dark nights spent on rooftops. “I’m an open book,” I said, a little too easily. “No secrets here.”

“I didn’t say anything about secrets,” Soraya teased and I rubbed my neck. “But good to know you’re keeping them. That makes things more fun, huh?”

“No, I’m not,” I protested.

“Please,” Soraya said. “Don’t goad me into trying to figure them out.”

“If I did, there’s no way you could,” I said with a smirk.

Soraya tilted her head, a wide smile on her face as she lidded her eyes and said, “Sure.”

“Heh,” I said in a breathless voice. “Well, it’s a good thing I don’t have any.”

“Good thing,” Soraya echoed in a casual tone.

“Would you want to go see the art exhibits in the newer wing?” I asked hastily.

Soraya nodded and I let the way out of the bottom level, dimly lit basement containing sarcophagi and paintings whose eyes seemed to follow you to the noisy, brightly lit courtyard where a 42-foot-high statue of what looked like lime green icicles drew the eye. Soraya let out an amazed laugh as she stared at it.

“This museum is great,” I said with a grin. “Goes out of its way to pack a punch.”

“I’m getting that impression.”

After we’d exhausted the first floor, I excused myself to go the bathroom. My phone had been buzzing for the last fifteen minutes straight and once in a stall, I looked down at it to see Beni had called or texted almost fifty times. What the hell?

Fingers flying, I texted him back and his response was an immediate: GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!

“Are you kidding me?” I muttered, shoving the phone away. Of course, this had to happen tonight. Casting around for an excuse, I decided on a version of the truth.

Walking back to Soraya, I saw her gazing out of the floor to ceiling glass wall that made up the East side of the museum. The city beguiled and twinkled in the fog, but I only had eyes for Soraya. She’d been right to twist my arm for this evening. We’d had a good time and I was honestly sorry to cut it short.

A guy brushed past me and I glanced at him in irritation, before my phone buzzed again.

ARE YOU COMING? THIS IS SERIOUS DEZ!

Geesh, Beni, keep your pants on, I can’t teleport, I texted him, before opening an app to call a car. Then, I looked up to see the guy who’d sideswiped me was leaning on the wall, talking to Soraya. A hot, bitter feeling rose up in my throat.

But as I got closer, I heard Soraya say in a cutting, clear tone, “That’s nice. You can run along now.”

“Aw, don’t be like that,” he replied.

Soraya turned and gave him a once-over, causing him to flinch. “Bye.”

His arm shot out and grabbed hers. “Listen, bit–”

I moved so fast I almost wondered if I’d lied to Beni when I said I couldn’t teleport. Pushing him away from Soraya, I was conscious of a squeezing sensation in my chest. It was taking a lot of self-restraint not to throw this guy through the plate glass windows. Or let Soraya at him.

“You do not want to finish that sentence. And as my girl just told you, run the hell along.” I was breathing hard. “But first, apologize, or I’m calling security.”

He was weedy and only came up to about my chest. At first, he seemed to swell and scowl, but then, as I glared him down, he seemed to get a better idea.

“Sorry,” he murmured, before slinking away.

My teeth grit as I watched him go and Soraya walked around to stand in front of me. “Soraya, I apologize. Maybe we should have told security.” Then I blinked. “And obviously I know you can handle yourself, but that was uncalled for. I-I just reacted.”

Soraya didn’t say anything and I found myself growing nervous under her scrutiny.

“No secrets, huh?” she finally asked, a smile touching her lips. “I wouldn’t have taken you for the brawl in a museum type. Or maybe it’s just that we all contain multitudes.”

“Quoting Walt Whitman,” I said. Wow, that’s pretty sexy. Damn, maybe it’s a good thing this evening is getting cut short. “And of course, I’d brawl in a museum if it was called for.”

“Usually I’d break your arm for intervening and not letting me teach a jackass like that a lesson, but I’m gonna say thanks.” She fluttered her eyelashes and I smiled at her nervously. “You wanna get out of here and get dinner?”

“Yes,” I said, without thinking. Then my phone buzzed. “Actually, I can’t, I’m sorry. Something urgent just came up and it can’t wait.”

“It can’t?” Soraya asked, arching a brow.

Of course, it can, I wanted to shout. “No, I apologize.”

“Hmm, okay. You're not off to squire some other girl around some other museum, are you?" she asked as we began to walk down the hall and I laughed.

“No,” I said. “Believe me, I don’t want to leave. And you should stay – see the rest of this wing.”

“Won’t be as much fun without you, Dez,” she replied as we stopped and faced each other. For a second, it seemed like she was hesitating, too. Then she seemed to shake herself and said, “But go ahead, go along. I can see in your face it’s important.”

Nodding, I stifled the urge to tell Beni I’d see him tomorrow and said, “Have a good night.”

“See you,” she called as I walked away.

Beni, this has better be good.

 

“Get in here,” Beni said as I stood on the doorstep of his ridiculously fancy Chestnut Hill home. “What took you so long?”

“I was out, Beni. You couldn’t have worse timing,” I said, scowling.

“Oh, a girl, damn,” Beni said, looking temporarily rueful. “Well, unless you get in here and we figure out what to do with this, you won’t have to worry about girls anymore. None of us will.”

“What?” I asked, a pit of unease forming in my stomach. Beni was beginning to freak me out. He never got ruffled like this. Even when I was bleeding and losing my mind as we flew to Morocco, he’d been almost indifferent.

Sighing, he led me into a living room overflowing with maps and opened books. A large TV was hung on the wall and it was currently black, the pause symbol in the center of it.

“This is ‘im?” asked a mumbled, gruff voice. A man in a beat-up coat regarded me, small and stocky. He was drinking straight from a whiskey bottle and belched. “Looks too polished.”

“Hello to you, too,” I said dryly.

“Desmond Devoy, meet Merv. He’s one of my friends who’s ah, a bit of an entrepreneur.”

So, a crook, I thought, glancing at Beni.

“You can tell the lad I’m in and out of the black market, Beni, won’t hurt ‘im,” Merv chuckled.

“Merv recently came across some interesting footage and instead of selling it to interested buyers, he brought it to me,” Beni said, picking up the clicker and aiming it at the TV.

“Yer not payin’ me?” Merv asked in an outraged tone.

“Hush,” Beni said. “We’ll talk about that later.”

Standing behind the couch, I rested my hands on it, watching as Beni hit play and a jerky series of lines danced across the screen. Then it cleared to a patch of earth, before swinging up and my eyes went wide. It was somewhere in the middle of a jungle or a forest. The background was too blurry to tell. But the foreground told everything.

It was of people and hybrids in cages, the people cowering as the hybrids went berserk. I gripped the back of the couch, having Bear Valley flashbacks. Then, two heavyset men stepped forward and positioned themselves on either side of one the shrieking hybrids.

It looked like a deformed cross between an ape and a spider, its limbs jerking and fanged mouth opened in an endless roar. She’s pushing the boundaries too far – this is far worse than…

I gasped. The caged had been opened and the hybrid shot out. But before it could get far, it reared back, clawing at its neck as its body writhed and shook. It was wearing an electrical collar.

The camera moved slightly to the left and there, standing with a delighted expression on her face, was Lilian Frost. She was flanked by Rasoir and Parasite, each of whom watched the hybrid with almost a bored kind of look.

Eventually, the creature gave up and stopped flailing, panting on the ground. She took a step forward and it darted back into its cage. After that, the footage cut and then it was later in the day.

A man was kneeling on the ground, gripping his knees and Frost was pressing a syringe into the back of his neck. It reflected gold in the sunlight and I watched as the man’s eyes flashed with umber. He stood up, breathing hard and it was then I saw the collar around his neck.

Frost stepped back and a lion shifter attacked him. My stomach had clenched with helpless horror, but then I saw the collared prisoner was fighting back. Fighting the lion and then he shifted, turning into a black wolf, snapping at the lion. But before he could attack, he was hit with an electrical shock and fell to the ground, shifting back and gasping.

At that moment, a heavy, guttural voice began speaking and Frost looked over, replying in the same language. It wasn’t one I was familiar with, but I knew it was Asian-based.

“Where is this?” I asked as the film abruptly cut out. “What are they saying?”

“Laos. The man was asking how much,” Beni replied. “And Frost was saying she hadn’t decided on a price yet. Then she asked him how much he’d been willing to pay.”

Silence.

“They are weaponizing shifters,” Merv grunted. “This is bad for business. That cuckoo lady is going to send us all to hell. My friend who got this said she also has pills to increase the strength of shifters, better than steroids and ways to create shifters. Or those poor beasts.”

“Wait,” I said, with a dawning realization. “The man she was talking to – he was…”

“He wasn’t a shifter, no, but a warlord from somewhere in that area,” Beni replied grimly.

“Holy shit,” I wheezed, suddenly feeling completely out of my element. “We have to tell–”

“We can’t,” Beni said, hitting play again. “Watch in the background.”

Forcing myself to watch again, I saw the scene play out and then my eyes went wide. Anubis shifters wearing gear. One of them without a mask on, his dark hair shining in the sunlight, but with his back to the camera.

“Could it be…?” I asked, even though I knew what the answer was.

“No, lad,” Merv replied. “My friend knows SOA. They were the real deal and they were there to make sure the transaction was protected. I would have buried myself in the middle of nowhere if Beni here hadn’t told me SOA already knows there are traitors in their midst.”

“This is bad,” I said in a low voice.

“You think?” Merv replied. “First thing tomorrow, I’m heading for the mountains.”

“There won’t be a safe place left on earth if she goes through with this, Merv,” Beni said sharply. “And you know it. Hence why you brought this to me. She’ll start wars between inanis and shifters, shifter and shifter. Holding the threat of hybridization over both.”

I was holding onto the couch so hard, it was starting to hurt. “We have to tell someone in SOA, they have to be prepared.”

“That’s why I called you here, Dez,” Beni said, striding forward and pulling a flash-drive out from the side of his TV. “You know the right people – you have to get to LA and get this to them.”

“I can’t leave Boston,” I said. “I’m so close – I just found the new warehouse the other night.”

“Lad, if they don’t get a heads up, they’re gonna be sorely outmatched,” Merv pointed out.

“Maybe they already know,” I argued faintly, sick at heart.

“Someone has to tell them and it can’t be either of us. It has to be someone they trust,” Beni said gently. “I understand why you don’t want to leave, but Dez – when I told you I’d keep an eye out, I had no idea this is what would turn up.”

I nodded and held out my hand for the flash-drive. Suddenly, a gray-eyed woman with a wide and alluring smile winked at me inside of my head. “You’re right,” I said. “I’ll take care of it.”

“You’ll go?” Beni asked with relief.

“No,” I said and they both stared at me. “I’ve got someone better in mind.”