The Priest of Giza

By: Jason Mallory

1

The evening air off the Sound was cold and damp. It didn’t seem to matter how much clothing you wore, the wind seemed to cut right through. It was an awful night to be out on the street.

As a result, Wysa Rorwe is a very busy person this evening.

Wysa is an attractive elven woman, with very striking features. She stands six feet tall, with a slender frame. Her hair is half way down her back, and is dyed jet black with several red streaks from root to tip. Her eyes are deep violet, and she has several piercings across her nose and left ear.

The homeless shelter that she worked at was nearly filled to capacity tonight. People of all races had come in, looking for a warm meal and a bed to sleep in. If things continued on their present course, people would be sleeping on the floor.

“Jerry, we need a couple more large beds.” Wysa called into the back room, with a slight Scottish accent.

“I’ll see if we have any more.” He replied.

Jerry was the owner of the establishment, and a kind-hearted soul. Wysa had met him by chance a few years ago. When she learned what he did for a living, she decided to help, both physically and financially.

“I didn’t know we had this many trolls in the area.” Jerry continued.

“I don’t think we do. I think other shelters are turning them away.”

Jerry emerged with a foldaway cot. “I’ll get this set up for our new friend. You see if he’s hungry.”

Wysa smiled and nodded. She returned to the entryway of the shelter and found the large troll patiently standing there, warming up after being outside.

“Are you hungry?” she asked him.

The troll nodded vehemently.

Wysa offered her hand to the troll. “Come with me then.”

The large troll smiled, lightly engulfed her hand with his own and allowed himself to be led.

“Wait here.” She said with a smile. The troll nodded and sat down in a large chair designed specifically for a person of his size. A table was close at hand, which also seemed durable enough to accommodate him.

She returned with a large bowl of hot stew and a glass of water, and set them on the table.

“Tank yous, pretty lady.” The troll said softly. The troll pulled his chair up to the table and leaned over his bowl, reaching for the spoon provided.

Wysa smiled. “You’re quite welcome.” She patted the big guy’s shoulder and left him to enjoy his meal.

“There are so many rewards for this job.” She thought to herself.

Her wrist phone rang.

She answered it quickly to avoid waking anyone sleeping nearby.

“Yeah?”

“Glasgow? It’s Zeyda.”

Zeyda was her fixer. He rarely called when he knew she was working at the shelter. Wysa ducked back into a backroom so there was less chance of someone hearing the conversation.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“I know you don’t like me calling you at the shelter, but I have a job that needs to be resolved sooner rather than later.”

“What kind of job is it?”

“It’s a personal favour, for a friend of mine.”

This was unusual. Zeyda never asked for favours. It really must be important to him.

Knowing that Zeyda was the main link between herself and her paycheck, she asked, “Where’s the meet?”

“In Cairo.”

Glasgow stood in silence, staring at the screen blankly for a few seconds. “Cairo? As in Egypt, Cairo?”

“Do you know of another one?”

“So, how will this work then?”

“I’ll arrange to have any equipment you need shipped across the pond, and book you a flight for tomorrow morning. My friend will meet you at Cairo International Airport and brief you on your arrival.”

Glasgow sighed. “Alright, because it’s you.” She teased. “They better have coffee on that flight though.”

Zaida disconnected without replying. Wysa went to where Jerry was setting up the bed for the new arrival, and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Jerry, I’m going to have to take a few days off for a business trip.”

Jerry was aware that Wysa was a runner. He was the only employee at the shelter that did know. She had to confess it to him when he got suspicious after she continually contributed large sums of money to the shelter after each “business trip”.

He nodded silently. He didn’t approve of her running. It helped the shelter though, and telling her he was opposed wouldn’t stop her anyway.

“OK, I’ll have Eliza come in to cover your shifts for the next few days.”

“Thanks, Jerry.”

Glasgow grabbed her coat, and braved the cold to go home and get some sleep before her flight in the morning.

2

Lights were flashing, music was blasting, people were jumping and alcohol was flowing.

Life was good.

Ying Tsuan danced her way around the club. She was carefree and having a great night. She had heard that her favourite DJ was coming to the Inferno tonight. So, she had paid the cover charge after arriving over an hour early to get in. Now she was amongst the gyrating masses of metahumanity, and loving every minute of it. This was one of the few times when racism was not always evident. Elves partied alongside humans, who partied alongside trolls. It showed that coexistence might be attainable one day.

Ying Tsuan was an ork, and had been subject to many racial remarks over the years. The fact that she retained several of her Asian features during her goblinization made her stand out even more. Her “fashion sense” showed her eccentricities. Her hair was literally a rainbow. She had a red band at her left ear, to a violet at her right. Her clothing was almost always camo print and tonight was no exception. The dress she wore was tactically cut to reveal enough skin to interested men, but there was enough present to hide her more obvious cyberware.

The current song ended and Ying made her way to the bar to replenish the sweat she’d been pouring out on the dance floor. She had spent a lot of time with a pleasant ork gentleman.

“Barkeep, Scotch and Soda!” she yelled over the din of the club.

“Put that on my tab.” Came a voice from behind her.

She turned and saw the ork she had been dancing with. “That’s awfully kind of you.” She stated.

“Think nothing of it.” He said, waving his hand dismissively.

Just then Ying’s cell phone vibrated on her wrist.

“Dammit. Hang on a second, K?”

“Sure.” The young man replied, proceeding to order his drink from the bartender.

“What is it?” Ying yelled at the phone.

A text message was her reply. “Slasher, it’s Zeyda. I have work for you. Go somewhere quiet so we can discuss.”

Great…

“Excuse me,” Ying said to her male companion “Can you hold my drink for me? I have to take this call. I’ll be coming right back.”

“OK, hurry back.” He said with a winning smile.

Ying hurried across the room to a secluded booth with some soundproofing so she could carry on a conversation.

Pushing the hold button, she angrily protested, “You sure know how to ruin an evening.”

“Hello to you too.” Zeyda replied sharply. “I have a line on some work. You want it?”

“Depends if I paid a cover charge for nothing tonight.”

“Your flight leaves tomorrow morning, so it won’t screw up your evening plans.”

“What about a meet?”

“The flight is for the meet.”

Slasher said nothing, but looked at Zeyda perplexed.

“A friend of mine abroad needs good runners.”

“Alright, I’ll do it. So, you need me at Sea-Tac tomorrow morning?”

“Bright and early.” the fixer replied.

“K, I’ll be there.” she said before hanging up.

Hurrying back to the bar, she found the gentlemen waiting, holding her drink. She was impressed. Normally they moved on…

“Hi there.” she said, taking her scotch and soda from him. “Where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?”

3

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

“Dude, sometimes you sicken me.”

Ryan laughed as he hit the switch to return the target to him. Today, he was dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt, and his brown hair was cut short. He always liked spending his Friday nights at the firing range with his buddy Jack. It was a great way to release steam and raise a point with Jack.

Jack wasn’t really his name. His real name was Daniel Jackson. At one time he was an excellent marksman for the UCAS Army. Then he got a little too acquainted with the bottle. Ever since, people called him Jack Daniels. His aim had degraded significantly. He was still better than your average John Doe, but nothing like the trained killer he was supposed to be. Now instead of firing guns, he sold them.

Ryan, on the other hand, had maintained his training since being placed in the reserves. That was why he had taken to shadowrunning. The army wasn’t using his skills, so he had to make a profit somehow. The days he wasn’t working out, refining his adept abilities or at the range were the days he ran. It had been a while since his last job, and he was getting restless.

The target returned with three bullet holes. Two of them dotted the target’s eyes, and the last was square in the chest.

“Remember when you could shoot this well, Jack?”

“You must be thinking of someone else.” Jack said, grumbling and returning to his stall.

Ryan shook his head. “Man, you have got to lay off the booze. If you drop dead from alcohol poisoning, where am I gonna get my gear?”

“So nice of you to hold me in such high regard…” Jack said as he put on the ear guards and squeezed off three rounds. He hit the retrieve button and they waited until the target returned. All three had struck the chest, and would have stopped the target.

“See, I can shoot just fine. I simply don’t show off like you do.” Jack countered.

“Ah, but these ranges aren’t a true representation.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“In real life, the targets move.”

Ryan’s cell phone rang.

“Hang on, Jack. Keep practicing.”

“Bite me.” was Jack’s retort.

Placing his earpiece in his ear, and holding the mic close to his mouth, Ryan answered.

“Y’ello.”

“Havana, it’s Zeyda. How have things been going?”

“Slow and boring. Glad you called me. What’s up?”

“I have a friend in need. You interested?”

“Better than sitting around here. Where’s the meet?”

“It’s in Egypt.”

Havana looked at the receiver on his cell phone, as if it were lying to him. “Say again, over?” he said, mocking military protocol.

“It’s in Cairo, Egypt. Your flight leaves tomorrow morning if you’re still interested.”

“Yeah, I’m in. Thanks for the call, Zeyda.”

Disconnecting, Havana set down his cell phone and started reloading his pistol.

“Jack, load up some more targets. I’m gonna get in a few extra rounds of practice today.”

4

Chris sat in his living room, watching the trid. It was nearly impossible to find anything to watch on Friday night. He had just returned from the gym, made himself a protein drink and was hoping to find something to watch. Instead, he found nothing but prime time tripe using up the airways.

Such was life.

After flipping past about 100 channels, he finally came across an Urban Brawl game in progress. At least it wasn’t a sitcom.

Stroking the black hair of his goatee, he leaned back in his chair, and thought whether sleep might be more entertaining. Nights like this were the worst. The clubs would be packed because it was cold out. He’d go for a jog, but he’d freeze his ass off.

Fraggin’ no win scenarios…

Thankfully, his telecomm rang. He spun it to face him and flipped it on.

There was no video at all, but a familiar voice said “Hey, Blender, ya busy?”

“Nope.” That was an understatement…

“Good, I need you for a job.”

“Sounds good to me. Where and when?”

“Cairo, tomorrow.”

Blender looked at the blank screen as if it had suddenly grown a head. “Kinda short notice, isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you on a plane tomorrow morning. You’ll meet my friend at Cairo International. I’ll get your gear there as well.”

“OK, I’m there.”

Blender leaned back in his chair and swallowed the last of his protein drink. An idea finally came to him. He extended the 7 blades in his left hand and checked to see if they required sharpening. His razors were okay, but his hand blade and spurs could use touching up. He flipped off the trid and rose to go to his workshop.

On his way, he stopped at a hutch that held several items of sentimental value. He cracked it open for the first time in a month. There wasn’t much in there, but he reached in and picked up a picture of his wife.

It was a picture of the two of them less than a month before a sniper had taken her away from him. His hair wasn’t quite as short then as it was now, and he was a little smaller then, due to the early stage of his career and not having as many implants back then as he did currently. She stood there, lithe and beautiful, her long blonde hair and ice blue eyes captured forever.

“I’m going out for another one.” he said absently to the picture. “This isn’t the one, but soon I’ll find the bastard that took you away.”

He looked at the smile on her face and smiled back. “Wish me luck.” He kissed the tip of his finger and touched it to the picture of his wife. He then set the picture up, closed the hutch, and went to sharpen his blades.

5

The next morning, Glasgow arrived at Sea-Tac Airport as the morning commuter traffic was nearing its peak. She walked to the front of the terminal, dressed like a tourist, carrying a duffel bag and a small suitcase. As she neared the entrance to the terminal, she noticed a black car up front, with a driver beside it holding a sign reading Mr. Z. Eyda. Smiling, she walked over to the car and tapped the trunk. The driver silently moved to the trunk, and opened it. Placing the duffel bag inside, she then closed the trunk and the driver handed her a bundle of documentation.

She leafed through it. It was a plane ticket to Cairo and a name. Saud. Nodding to the driver, she went into the airport to clear customs.

The guards at the terminal were their usual pleasant selves, making sure to pester her about her magical abilities, and triple checking her magical permits. Her masking helped tone it down to some degree, as they saw an uninitiated mage, and not her true level of power. Once through security, she sat by the gate, and drank a hot coffee from the local coffee counter.

She wasn’t there long before Blender arrived.

“Hey Glasgow. It’s been a while.”

She looked up at her friend and smiled. “It has been. What’s new?”

“Only this run.” He said, holding up a similar ticket bundle to what she had. “What about you?”

“About the same, really. Still putting a lot of time in at the 7^th Street Hostel. Zeyda sure didn’t give us much to work with on this one, did he?”

Sitting down across from Glasgow, Blender said, “No, he didn’t. I wonder whether he kept it vague so we would accept, and once we’re in Cairo, we’re kinda stuck.”

“That was my thought as well.” Havana said, walking up to the pair of them.

“Hey! What’ve you been up to?” Blender inquired.

“Nothing important.” He replied with a shrug. Havana sat down, pulled out one of his many Cuban cigars and lit up.

“Must you do that?” Glasgow asked distastefully.

“I can’t smoke on the plane, so I’ll have one now.” Havana defended.

Glasgow leaned back in her chair and tried holding her breath as much as possible. Blender had a chuckle at her expense.

The last to show was Slasher. She trundled in several minutes later, looking rather tired.

“Rough night last night?” Blender asked with a smirk.

“Just went out, that’s all.” She replied.

“You look like drek.” Havana commented.

“Nice to see you too, Havana. It could have been worse. If I didn’t have a blood filter, I’d be in a real bad mood.”

Glasgow shuddered at the thought of having metal implanted in one’s kidney to filter out extra toxins. The thought was appalling, but she tried her best to not show her distaste.

“Don’t think I’m being anti-social, but I’m gonna be sleeping on the flight across. I haven’t slept much.” Slasher stated.

“Not a problem. It’s not like we can have a tactical discussion on the run, considering we have no idea what it is yet.” Glasgow said in one breath, still trying to avoid inhaling Havana’s cigar smoke.

“If Zeyda’s got a personal favour he needs resolved, I’ll gladly do it. His friends have got us out of some pretty nasty stuff in the past.” Blender stated.

“I’m sure we all share that same sentiment, that’s why we’re here.” Havana chimed in, taking a short break from enjoying his cigar.

“Flight 163 to Cairo now boarding at Gate 42.” Came an announcement over the PA.

“Alright, that’s us. Let’s get this party started.” Glasgow said, while standing up. She watched with a smile, as Havana had to put out his cigar before boarding the flight. Handing the clerk their tickets, they hurried down the gate to their seats and settled in for the flight to Africa.

6

The flight across was mostly uneventful. There was a small incident when Glasgow requested coffee and was served soykaf, but aside from that there were no other incidents.

Upon their landing in Cairo, it was clear there was no preparing for the severe change of climate. As the four runners stepped onto the tarmac, an immense wall of heat assailed them. It was in stark contrast to the cold, damp air they had been growing accustomed to in Seattle the past few days.

Where most of the team was uncomfortable in the heat, Havana felt at home. He had spent several years in the Caribbean League, hunting the leader of a drug cartel, and had grown to like the tropical heat. The heat here was drier, but still comparable enough to make Havana feel at home.

They walked silently toward the concourse, where several security guards stood, visibly toting sub-machineguns and assault rifles.

“Security’s tight.” Blender muttered to his colleagues as they passed through customs with Zeyda’s passports. The team nodded that they agreed. Surprisingly, they passed through customs rather easily.

“That was odd. They have no shortage of guards with guns, but almost no questions were asked going through customs.” Slasher spoke in low tones.

“We look like tourists.” Glasgow offered “I could almost see the dollar signs light up in the customs official’s eyes when he saw the UCAS citizenship. Tourism must be big here.”

“Still, keep your eyes peeled.” Havana countered.

They nodded their agreement and went to the baggage carousel. Each runner grabbed their dummy bag full of clothes they never wore, and were heading for the car rental kiosk, when they saw the familiar sign of Mr. Z. Eyda being held by a man near the entrance.

Nodding her head toward the man, Glasgow stated “This way.”

The team walked toward the gentleman and introduced Blender as Mr. Eyda. The driver nodded and motioned for them to follow him. He led them to a limousine and opened the door so they could enter.

As they climbed in, they quickly noticed that they were not alone. A clean-shaven, clean-cut man in a charcoal gray suit sat near the front of the limo.

“Driver, let’s get going.” He ordered, with an Arabic accent. The glass partition rose up between the front and back, and the limo started to roll away from the terminal.

“Welcome to Egypt. I am Saud.”

“So, you’re Zeyda’s friend. I am Glasgow. My teammates are Blender, Slasher and Havana.” Glasgow introduced her friends, while conducting an astral scan of their new friend. He was mundane, and so far, was being honest with them. Though he did appear to be carrying a burden. Likely, one they were to resolve.

Saud nodded politely to each runner as they were introduced. “A pleasure. I realize this must be a strange way to operate for you, but I could not relay the specifics of the job to Zeyda over the telecomm. This is a very sensitive subject in my country at the moment.”

“We’ll try to be as tactful as the situation requires.” Blender provided.

“This is the trouble that I am faced with. A man calling himself Semoti has been defacing several Egyptian museums. He claims to be the reincarnation of one of Tutankhamun’s High Priests and says that, to restore the purity of Egypt, all relics from the tombs around Egypt must be returned to their rightful burial place. While the Egyptian government would normally ignore such ramblings, Semoti’s following is growing rapidly, and we’re afraid he is starting a terrorist cell within Cairo. Also, since he emerged, there have been numerous strange occurrences around the northern Nile River.”

“What kind of strange occurrences?” Havana inquired.

“People are disappearing from the streets of Cairo. There have been reports of mummies walking the streets at night. Of course, there are no credible sources for these sightings, and the police are treating the cases as kidnappings by Semoti and his followers. Several items of importance have been taken from museums. Almost every sarcophagus in the country’s museums has been stolen. The odd thing is there’s only been one witness to any of these thefts and he’s been discredited.”

“Who is he?” Glasgow asked.

“He was a security guard at a museum in Cairo. Since he started telling his story of what he saw, the museum had to fire him because he was scaring patrons.” Saud handed the team a picture of the man and directions to the museum. “There is also a museum in Alexandria that was robbed two days ago. Two items were taken. One was a scepter, believed to have been carried by Khufu in the 4^th Dynasty. The other is the Mask of Anubis, which was a death mask worn by priests of the 5^th Dynasty.”

“So exactly what is our job here? Retrieve the artifacts?” Slasher asked bluntly.

“Partly. Recover the artifacts from Semoti, particularly the mask and scepter. Also, eliminate Semoti. He is a threat to the government of Egypt and must be stopped.”

“Whoa, you want us to bump this guy off? I’m not sure we should get involved in your country’s problems. I can grab the artifacts no problem, but wetwork is a little harsh.” Blender stated.

“I understand your reservations. If you can bring Semoti in alive, that is fine, but I don’t believe he will come peaceably. So, I present you with the option. Bring him in alive, or kill him if he resists.”

The team exchanged questioning glances. Should they take this job? It was unlike Zeyda to set them up with a wetwork job. He hated wetwork as much as the team, unless he felt the guy truly was a definite threat.

After a lot of quiet contemplation, Glasgow asked, “What’s the payment?”

“50,000¥.”

After receiving subtle hints from her teammates, Glasgow nodded to Saud. “OK, we’ll do our best.”

Saud visibly relaxed. “Thank you. Zeyda has given me his personal assurances that you are some of his best runners. I believe you’ll complete the job.”

He knocked on the partition and the vehicle sharply turned and sped off in another direction. Looking through the tinted glass, the runners could still see the airport. They had been driving in circles around the airport in case they rejected the run.

“I’m taking you to a nice hotel in the center of Cairo. I’ve also taken the liberty of setting up a vehicle for your use while in my country.”

“Thank you, Saud. We appreciate that.” Glasgow said.

“Would it be possible for me to acquire a Linguasoft for this country somewhere?” Slasher asked.

Saud looked confused. “Linguasoft? I’m not entirely sure what you mean, but I will see what I can arrange.”

Slasher nodded in appreciation.

The rest of the trip to the hotel was spent making small talk with Saud. The team learned that the Egyptian government employed Saud, though in what capacity was withheld. They also learned that he was an accomplished helicopter pilot. Since Slasher had some experience with helicopters, the two of them talked shop until the limo stopped at the hotel.

The door was opened and the heat from outside flooded into the car. The team hadn’t even realized the air conditioning was on, but now that the door was open, they missed the cool air already.

Saud handed the team an optical chip. “On this chip is a map of Cairo and major highways in the area so you can find your way around. My number is on here as well, so you can keep me appraised on what’s happening.”

Slasher took the offered chip and slotted it into her chipjack. She quickly perused the contents and thanked the Johnson.

The team stepped out of the car and into the bright sunlight. The driver handed them three keys. Using extremely broken English, he told them that two were for the rooms and the third was for the car. They thanked the driver, and he smiled, climbed into the car and drove off.

The car was a classy BMW. It kind of stuck out, as it was far more expensive looking than the others in the lot. Their rooms were no exception either. They were spacious and cozy. Their belongings, that they had shipped through Zeyda, were already in the rooms. The team spent the last of the daylight hours prepping their guns and equipment for the coming job.

7

“Are we ready to go?” Glasgow asked her roommate.

“I think so.” Slasher replied.

Glasgow had stashed away a Predator in the small of her back and had her monofilament edged chakrum hanging from its belt hook at her side. A titanium chain mail style glove protected her throwing hand from injury. She wore a bulletproof vest and hid everything under a leather longcoat.

Slasher hadn’t opted for subtlety. She had two Predator II’s holstered at her sides and an HK-227 slung over her shoulder. Her body was protected by a Camouflaged full body suit. It was times like these that Slasher really looked like some form of twisted mercenary.

There was a knock at the door followed by a muddled voice saying that they had a delivery for them. Slasher concealed herself, keeping a close eye on the door as Glasgow opened it. On the other side was a nervous employee of the hotel. He held an optical chip in his hand, which he promptly offered to Glasgow.

Taking the offered chip Glasgow thanked the young Arabic man and slipped him a few nuyen.

Slasher stepped out from her hiding place. “I hope that’s what I requested.”

“Test it.” Glasgow said, tossing it to her cybered teammate.

Slasher popped out the chip with the map on it, and inserted the new chip. Shortly afterwards, she started speaking in Arabic.

“What was that you said?” Glasgow said with a smile.

As the chip popped out, she said, “It’s the Linguasoft alright. I think we’re set to go.”

There was another knock at the door.

“You ladies decent?” came Blender’s voice from the other side.

“Yeah, you can come in.” Glasgow said, while rolling her eyes.

“Damn. You take all the fun out of walking into a girl’s room.” Blender joked as he and Havana strolled in. Both of them were well armed. Blender had at least two pistols and an Ingram Smartgun, underneath his armoured longcoat. On his back was the Monosword he liked to carry. Havana was armed similar to Slasher. He carried two pistols, an MP-5 sub-machinegun and he wore a camo full suit, complete with beret and a cigar clamped between his teeth.

Glasgow chose to ignore Blender’s comment. “OK, we need a plan of attack here. As long as it involves getting coffee somewhere, it’s a step in the right direction.”

Blender laughed at Glasgow. He had told her numerous times that she needed to cut back on the coffee, or the caffeine would keep her from sleeping or relaxing. She hadn’t listened to him. It truly amazed him how addicted to the stuff she was.

“We have enough power between us, I think we should split up and check out the two avenues that Saud gave us.” Havana suggested.

“Not a bad idea. Two of us can check out the security guard and the other two can truck out to Alexandria to see what they can learn.” Slasher mused aloud.

“OK. Slasher and Havana, you guys talk to the security guard. Blender and I will head out to Alexandria and scope out the museum.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Blender, I’m driving. Keep your eyes open for a coffee shop.” Glasgow said as she turned toward the door.

Shaking his head, Blender simply said, “Yes, Ma’am.”

8

Havana and Slasher decided to walk to the guard’s house. It had taken a little money to find where the guy lived, and it turned out that he lived not far from his former place of employment. The team had decided to leave the larger guns in the car. Each runner concealed one pistol on their person for personal protection, but the remainder of the weapons were stored in the trunk until they tracked down Semoti.

Slasher and Havana didn’t talk much on the way. They had started out a bit rough when the team first assembled. Havana was prejudiced against Orientals. Mitsuhama was responsible for his family’s death, though he didn’t know why they had them killed. The fact that Slasher was Chinese and not Japanese was lost on Havana at first. But they had quickly learned that they each had their own talents, and they finally found something they had in common. They both hated Mitsuhama. It was a commonality that allowed them to see past their differences and work together as a team.

“So what’re we gonna ask this guy?” Havana asked as they walked.

“I hope that he’ll tell us exactly what he saw that day, and maybe that’ll give us something to work from.”

“And what if he doesn’t speak any English?”

“I have this.” Slasher stated while revealing the Linguasoft chip.

“Cool. So what do I do? Stand there looking tough?”

“I guess. Keep an eye open for any signs of trouble. If this guy really did witness something important, the people behind it may want to keep him quiet.”

“Will do.” Havana concluded with a nod.

The two of them walked in silence until they were in front of the guard’s house.

“Here we go. Let me know if you notice anything.” Slasher said to Havana before walking up to the house.

“Not a problem.” He replied.

Slasher slotted the Linguasoft and walked up to the house. She knocked on the door and patiently waited until the door opened. A man with salt and pepper hair and a slight gut answered the door.

“If you’re with the police, my story hasn’t changed any.” The man said in Arabic. Slasher was mildly confused that this gentleman spoke Arabic but looked European, until she remembered that England used to rule Egypt a hundred years ago or so.

“I’m not with the police, sir.” Slasher said politely in smooth Arabic.

“I’m not selling my story to the tabloids.” He said, and began closing the door.

“Sir! I’m not with the tabloids either.”

The man paused. “Then, what do you want?”

“I’m heading up a private investigation into the disappearances in Cairo recently. The local police don’t seem to want to consider possibilities that fall into the area of far-fetched. It’s incredible what magic and spirits can do these days.” Slasher rambled. She had no idea if what she was talking about made any sense, but if she didn’t understand magic while working with a mage, she was certain this guy wouldn’t either.

“Yes, I suppose it is. You think magic was behind that mummy I saw?”

“Perhaps. Could you recount for me what you experienced?”

The man reopened the door and stepped outside into the cool night air. “I was doing my rounds during a late night shift. Everything seemed in order until about 1 am. I heard a noise coming from the Ancient World exhibit, so I went to check it out. Just as I was about to walk into the exhibit I heard glass exploding.”

“Glass exploding?”

“Well, it sounded like it had buckled and blown apart, or something. It was a loud bang with a lot of glass.”

“OK, I think I follow you.”

“I walked in the door, and I see shards of glass all around the exhibit floor. The central piece in the exhibit was a sarcophagus with mummy included. The lid of the sarcophagus was open and the corpse was walking around the exhibit! I couldn’t believe my eyes that a 3000-year-old corpse was walking around the museum. When it saw me, it charged in my direction. I panicked and I passed out. When I came to, the police were there and the alarm was ringing. Apparently someone, or something had smashed through the front doors. I explained to the police what I saw, but they wouldn’t believe me. For some reason, the cameras weren’t working that night and there were no other witnesses. They accused me of not doing my job and letting someone steal the mummy. As a result, they fired me. They never even examined the evidence.”

“What evidence would that be?” Slasher asked.

“The case the mummy was in didn’t have a shard of glass in it. It all blasted outward. How could someone smash open the case without sending shards into the display case…it’s impossible.”

Slasher was certain something was going on here, but with no evidence to back him up it was a hard story to accept.

“Why were the cameras off?”

“I never found out. I wanted to ask the camera operators myself, but they threw me out before I could.” The man said

“OK, then, we’ll find out for you. Something sounds fishy. We’ll let you know what we learn.”

“Thank you.” The man said. He sounded relieved to have some one act on his statement.

Slasher walked away from the guard’s house toward Havana. As she walked, she removed the Linguasoft.

“So, what’s the deal?” Havana asked.

“We need to make a trip to the Cairo museum. I think he was set up as a fallguy, which means Semoti may have friends at the Cairo museum.”

“Alright then, let’s go ask around.”

9

Glasgow drove quickly across Northern Egypt to Alexandria. Not as nicely represented as Cairo, the city was full of history and therefore was brimming with tourists eager to spend their money on a replicated chunk of history.

It didn’t take long for the two runners to find the museum. It was right in the heart of the city, and was one of the major tourist attractions in the area. After circling for a parking spot for several minutes, they parked a good distance away from the museum and walked to the front doors.

It cost them 5¥ each to get a pass to roam the museum for the day. After studying the map of the museum, Glasgow and Blender took two different routes to arrive at the Ancient Egypt exhibit.

Glasgow arrived first, taking the most direct route to the exhibit. She looked around the enormous room, taking in the gaudy, over-exaggerated Egyptian motif for the room. Several artifacts from around the old Egyptian empire sat behind thick glass for tourists to `Ooooh` and `Aaaah` at. She pretended to be interested in one particular piece from Tutankhamun’s Dynasty. Soon afterward, one of the tour guides approached her.

“Find something you like?” he asked pleasantly.

“Yes, this is a fascinating piece. Was this artifact used by Tut?”

“No, but it was used by another Pharaoh of his era. This item over here is from Tut’s tomb.” He said, gallantly waving over to a small display case toward something that resembled a large hunk of rock. It was supposed to be pottery.

“Interesting.” Glasgow mused aloud, which seemed to put a smile on the guide’s face. Off to her side, she noticed Blender saunter into the exhibit at the other end. He quickly nodded to Glasgow and then immersed himself in the wall displays near the 3^rd Dynasty.

“It’s such a shame that Tut’s belongings have been defiled as they have been.” The guide said to her.

The statement definitely grabbed Glasgow’s attention. She concentrated on her dual perception so she could read his moods. “Oh? How’s that?”

“Because King Tut has become somewhat of a legend worldwide, his belongings have been scattered across the globe. They belong in his tomb. It was wrong for an Englishman to disturb the tomb of a Pharaoh.”

The guide’s aura showed signs of dislike at the thought of disturbing a tomb of a Pharaoh, and even anger.

“But studying those artifacts has taught us so much about the ancient ways.” Glasgow offered.

“They could have been studied from within the tomb, or at the very least, within Egypt. There was no need to disturb his rest by stealing from him after death.”

The man was very confident of what he was saying. Glasgow nodded. She didn’t understand his convictions, as she wasn’t really tied to any country’s past. But some could consider him a patriot, so adamantly upholding their past. Someone could use that to his or her advantage.

“Did I hear correctly that items were stolen from the museum not long ago?” Glasgow asked.

“Yes, items were taken. I hope the person that holds them now respects them as much as he claims.”

A spike of nervousness fired across his aura. But there was also…a sense of pride.

“What?”

“Have you been watching the news?”

“No, I don’t speak the local language.”

“A man named Semoti has claimed responsibility, and claims to want to return the items to where they belong. If he keeps his word, I agree with the idea.”

He was definitely hiding something.

“Well, it’s a shame they were stolen. I was looking forward to viewing them.” She looked up and saw Blender examining the empty display cases.

“If Semoti is doing what he promised, they weren’t stolen. They are being returned to where they belong.”

Glasgow smiled and nodded at the guide. “Thank you for showing me the pottery. I probably wouldn’t have noticed it.”

“Many don’t, they only see the priceless-looking artifacts. Have a good day, and be sure to examine the lowly looking artifacts. Sometimes they’re the most interesting.”

“I’ll do that.”

Glasgow turned and left the exhibit, walking past Blender and dropping a subtle nod. Blender suddenly lost interest at the object he was examining and followed her out. The two of them walked through the neighbouring exhibit of hieroglyphics as they talked lightly between themselves.

“So what did you find out?” Glasgow asked Blender.

“The cases weren’t broken into. The glass is old and the lock unsophisticated. Someone had the key and simply opened the case.”

“That definitely fits with my suspicions.” Glasgow said with a smirk.

“Really? What did you find out?”

“The guide I was chatting it up with seems to share a lot of sympathies with Semoti, and when I mentioned the robbery he seemed to get nervous. He also seemed to have a lot of pride over it as well.”

“Sounds a little fishy to me.”

“Exactly. I’m going to sneak into the employee area and see if I can snag the camera feed for the night of the robbery.”

“I’ll try to keep an eye open for signs of trouble.” Blender offered.

They walked around the museum, looking for employee doors that looked like a security office.

“That looks promising.” Blender pointed out, while in the Evolution exhibit.

“It’s got a maglock on it, though. We’ll need to get past it.”

“No problem.” Blender said.

Glasgow began weaving mana through her mind, and after a quick look around to see if anyone was looking, she completed casting her improved invisibility spell.

After a light groan from a little drain, Glasgow whispered “Ready when you are.”

Blender walked up to the door and knocked vigorously.

An irate employee opened the door, revealing numerous monitors behind him. “What?”

“Ummm, which way to the nearest bathroom? I’m kinda desperate.” Blender asked, portraying a slight state of panic.

The man stepped outside the room, holding the door open. “Go down this hall, toward the European exhibit, and there is a small hall to your right. The bathrooms are there.”

“OK, thanks.” Blender said and ran in the indicated direction.

Shaking his head, the employee went back to work. The moment he had stepped out of the door to point Blender in the direction of the bathrooms, Glasgow had ducked into the room. She silently waited in a dark corner until he stepped back into the booth and resumed his watch of the monitors. She found her way into a backroom where all the security feeds were stored.

“OK, where’s the ones from this past week…” she muttered to herself as she perused the enormous rack of chips.

As she figured out the sorting system, she finally found the row she was looking for.

“Figures…”

The chip for a few nights ago was missing.

Glasgow returned to the room where the guard sat. He looked as if he was drifting off. She weaved a Chaos spell in her mind and launched it at the guard. While he was confused, she slipped out the door. Subsequently, she dropped both her invisibility and chaos spells and strolled nonchalantly in the direction Blender had run off to.

She found him in the European exhibit, near the bathrooms.

“Learn anything?” he asked her.

“Someone has already taken the chip from that night.”

“Maybe the police have it.” He said

“Possibly, but not likely.” Glasgow stated distastefully. “Why didn’t you meet me part way back there? Now we have to back track to get near the exit.”

“I had to use the bathroom. You think I’m that good an actor?”

Glasgow shook her head. “Let’s go and wait by the employee entrance outside. I want to have another chat with that guide after hours.”

Blender smiled. “I think that sounds like a good idea. I’ll call the other guys and see what they’ve dug up in Cairo.”

“No, you go get food and coffee. I’ll call the others.”

“How many cups of coffee does it take to meet your quota?!” Blender inquired, dumbfounded.

“Blender, I have a headache and I need caffeine. Just do this for me, OK?”

“OK, but only cause you’re a friend and you’re hot.”

“Go, before I shove a lightning bolt up your…”

“I get the picture.” Blender said, raising a hand defensively and smiling. “I’ll meet you out back.”

“Uh huh.” Glasgow said. She turned away from her teammate and began walking toward the exit.

10

“This place closes soon. We need to learn whatever we can quickly.” Havana said as they approached the front doors of the Cairo museum.

“My main priority is to talk with the guy who manned the cameras that night. All the evidence of the mummy incident here has been cleaned up, so we have to go with that for now.” Slasher replied.

“They’re not going to let us waltz in there and interrogate one of their security guards.”

“I’m hoping Saud can pull off a favour for us.”

They pushed open the doors to the museum and strolled over to the main desk.

“Good evening. What can I help you with?” the woman behind the counter inquired.

“Hi, we need to talk with the head of security here.” Slasher stated bluntly.

“Uhmmm…One moment.”

The woman got on the phone and began talking rapidly in Arabic. Slasher stood impatiently, looking around at the impressive entryway to the museum.

After a few minutes, a large man in uniform walked up to the two runners. “What do you need to talk to me about?”

“I need to find out who was on camera duty the night that mummy went missing, and have a chat with them.”

“Under whose authority?”

“The government’s.”

“Do you have proof of that?”

“If you’d be so kind to give me a phone, I’ll connect you with my proof.”

The secretary behind the desk placed a telecomm unit on the desk. Slasher quickly punched in Saud’s number.

Saud’s face appeared at the other end, and looked surprised to see Slasher’s face.

“You can’t be done already…” he said.

“I’m afraid not, but I need access to the cameras here at the Cairo museum, and the head of security requires proof that I can access the records.”

“Put him on.”

Slasher motioned to the head of security to approach the telecomm. As their conversation was getting started, Slasher’s phone rang.

“Slasher here.” She said in a low voice.

“Slasher, it’s Glasgow. How’s your investigation coming along?”

“Something’s up here at the Cairo museum. We’re getting the security clearance to do some snooping.”

“Yeah, something’s going on here in Alexandria as well. The theft of the artifacts appears to be an inside job.”

“What better way to steal stuff than to have friends in the right places.”

“Exactly. There’s about to be a shift change here, and we hope to interrogate a suspect. Keep us posted on your progress there.”

“Will do. Best of luck.” Slasher finished before she disconnected.

“…I understand.” The security guard finished. He hit the disconnect button and turned to the runners. “What was it you required?”

“Who was working the cameras the night that mummy was stolen?”

“Sirrul was working that night. In fact, he’s covering the night watch again tonight.”

“Can we meet him and ask him a few questions?”

“This way.” The man said and led the runners through the museum.

He unlocked a security door and ushered the runners inside. Inside the camera booth was a large, greasy, Arabic man who barely fit into his uniform.

“Sir? Is there a problem? And who are these people?”

“These people are investigators from the government. They have some questions for you, Sirrul.”

“Regarding what?”

“Your rogue mummy.” Havana stated.

“The one that John said `got up and walked away`?” Sirrul asked with a chuckle.

“That’s the one. He says the cameras didn’t pick up what happened. Why didn’t they record the images?” Slasher began.

“The camera was broken. I spent a good chunk of the evening in here fixing it. When I finally got it working again, it was all over.”

“How did you fix it?”

“It was a broken wire. I had to replace it.”

“OK, I’m a bit of an electronics buff, can you show me what you fixed?” Slasher asked.

Sirrul’s smirk dropped. “There are a lot of wires in there. It’ll be hard to pick out one wire in the whole pile.”

“You did it once, you can do it again, right?”

“Uh, right.” He said. Sirrul kneeled in front of the control panel and began pulling on a service panel. It screamed as it opened, as flakes of rust fell from the hinges. Dust billowed from the wires.

“Lot of rust and dust for something that was accessed just a few days ago.” Slasher commented.

Sirrul was visibly perspiring. “Well, there’re a lot of really old things in a museum. Dust comes with the territory.”

“Perhaps…” Slasher said, as she got down on her back to look up into the panel. As she looked around she saw lots of wires, all with an equal amount of dust, and wear on the wires. There wasn’t a single new wire in the bunch.

“I don’t think you’re being totally honest with us, Sirrul.”

“I am not lying.” He defended. Havana noticed he was getting very jumpy and his eyes kept darting back and forth between the two runners.

“If you had indeed gone into this panel, you would have seen that the wires for the cameras are bound together in several trunks. To change wires, you would have had to unravel the trunk and correct the problem. Then you’d re-twist the trunk back together.” Slasher spun her body so she could look up at Sirrul.

“These trunks haven’t been disturbed in years.” Slasher finished.

Sirrul snapped. He reached for his sidearm and drew it as quickly as possible. However, with Slasher’s wired reflexes and Havana’s magically enhanced reaction, the runners had their guns drawn and leveled at the guard before he even saw it happening. He leveled his gun at Havana with unsteady hands. The security head stood dumbfounded at this turn of events.

“Drop the gun, Sirrul.” Havana ordered.

Sirrul stood trembling, with his gun leveled at Havana.

“You have two guns pointed at you. You can’t win this one. It’ll make things easier for you, if you lower your weapon.” Slasher said from the floor.

Sirrul looked down at Slasher and saw her on her back, with her gun leveled up at him. Seeing the opportunity, Havana moved. He reached forward and applied a quick wristlock, forcing Sirrul to drop his gun.

Slasher got to her feet, while Havana restrained the guard.

“So, where can we find your friend, Semoti?”

“I don’t know.”

“Really? You wouldn’t be lying again, would you?”

“I am not lying, I don’t know where he is.”

Slasher extended her retractable spurs. “I’m still not convinced. Try harder.”

“I know that he has some form of magic. He was in here a week ago or so, but I never met the guy. He…he wanted me to open the case to the sarcophagus, and shut down the cameras for a few hours. I did that and left. I don’t know what he did to the mummy, but, the night that John was working, that same corpse got up and moved. It broke right out of the case, and just walked right out of the museum. I saw it leave, but I was told that if I said anything, I’d be killed. I swear I never met the guy, and I don’t know where he is. I don’t wanna die…”

“If you give that statement to the police, I’m sure they’ll protect you the best they can.” Slasher said, retracting her spurs.

“I’ll keep an eye on him until the police get here.” The security chief said to the runners.

“Thank you.” Slasher said to the chief. “Havana, you call the police. I’ll let the others know what we’ve learned.”

11

Blender sat patiently in the car, watching Glasgow from the rear parking lot. They had left their cell phones on, so he could eavesdrop on the conversation.

The guy they were waiting for finally emerged from the back door of the museum.

“Hey!” Glasgow yelled to him as he popped out.

He spun around, scared at first, but when he saw Glasgow’s smiling face he smiled and strutted up to her.

“Hey. What’re you doing out here?”

“Waiting for you.” She said with a warm smile. “You seem to be really into your job. You enjoy history?””

“Nah, just Egyptian history. That’s why I work here. I love being surrounded by pieces of our country’s golden past.”

“I can understand that.”

“Could I interest you in a drink? There’s a great nightspot not far from here.” He prompted.

“Perhaps. Let’s start walking, and we’ll see how I feel when we get there.” Glasgow said to the man.

The two started walking toward the club the guy had mentioned. He occasionally tried picking up the pace as they walked, but Glasgow’s pace never wavered.

“So what do you think of this Semoti guy, anyway?”

The guide looked a little uncomfortable about the subject. “Ah, I’m kinda impartial. He’s perceived as a criminal, but if he does what he says he will, I agree with his ideas.”

“Do you work at the Egyptian exhibit all the time?”

“Yup. It’s a great job, so I go every day.”

“I noticed the empty displays in your area today. Is that where those stolen artifacts were taken from?”

“Yeah.”

“How’d they get them out of there?”

“Smashed the glass and grabbed them.” He replied, dismissively.

“Really? The glass looked kind of old on them.”

“How would you know?”

“Sealant around the edges wears away, scratch marks, and the like. That’s not thin glass either. The lock was old too. I figured they must have a key to open the cases.”

“That’s not possible.” He defended. “There are only a couple copies of those keys.”

“Could you get one of them?”

“I don’t carry one, no.”

“I didn’t ask if you carry one. Could you get one if you wanted to?”

The man stopped walking. “What is this? An interrogation?”

“No. I piece together theoretical situations. It’s sort of a hobby of mine. In theory, could you get one of the keys?”

“In theory, I could, I suppose.”

“You have any friends with security?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“I thought I saw you chumming it up with one of the guards earlier in the day, that’s all.”

The man was getting very apprehensive. “Yeah, I got a friend in security. He went to school with me.”

“Cool.” Glasgow said. A quick glance behind her saw Blender trailing a good distance behind them in the car. With a quick hand signal behind her back, she signaled Blender to circle around in front of them. With Blender’s enhanced vision, she didn’t worry about him noticing. Sure enough, Blender turned to go back around the museum.

“Hey, I heard a rumour at the museum today….” Glasgow said.

“Oh, what kind of rumour?” he asked, hoping it was a change of subject.

“I heard that the camera footage of the Egyptian exhibit for the night of the robbery has gone missing. Isn’t that strange?”

The man stumbled a bit. “Where’d you hear that?”

“Around.” was Glasgow’s abbreviated reply. “I think it’s kinda weird that someone would steal the artifacts, then go to the security office and steal the camera footage too.”

“Ummm, yeah…”

“Unless the thief had a friend in security…”

The man froze. “You think I stole the artifacts?”

Glasgow stopped. “It’s possible, in theory.”

“That’s a pretty big accusation.” He scolded.

“Perhaps, but the pieces fit.”

“Who are you?”

“A friend of the Egyptian government.”

Without further prompting, the guide sprinted off.

“Blender, I need you!” Glasgow yelled at her phone as she ran off after the fleeing suspect.

She began forming a stunbolt spell as he ran between two buildings toward an adjacent street.

“I’m going to try and take him down, meet me on the street for a pick up.”

“I gotcha.” came Blender’s reply.

She threw the stunbolt at the running man. He staggered and stumbled as it impacted him, but he didn’t go down. He continued running in his disoriented state right, onto the street.

A sickening crunch echoed down the street as the guide ran right in front of a speeding bus. His body careened down the street as the bus’ brakes locked up and screamed nearly the length of the block.

“Drek!” Glasgow exclaimed at the sudden loss of her suspect.

Blender pulled up at the mouth of the alleyway in the car, and unlocked the passenger side door. Glasgow stamped her foot, and climbed into the car, resigned.

“There wasn’t anything we could do. Let’s go before the police show up.”

Glasgow hung up her cell phone and lay back in the seat, her fingertips on her temples.

“My headache’s back.” Glasgow muttered as Blender pulled away from the alleyway and turned around, away from the accident.

“What now?” Blender asked after a brief period of silence.

“We should see if Slasher and Havana have had any more luck than we have.”

Glasgow’s cell phone rang.

“There’s timing.” Blender commented.

The tired mage flipped open her cell phone. “Glasgow here.”

“We have some information from a security guard that assisted the theft of the mummy here in Cairo. Apparently, Semoti is a mage of some sort.”

If Glasgow was surprised it didn’t show. “So did the mummy walk out of the museum?”

“That’s an affirmative. Apparently, the security guard in charge of overseeing the cameras arranged a blackout for a few hours so Semoti could perform some form of ritual on the body.”

“Voodoo.”

“Pardon?” Slasher asked, confused.

“Houngans can put spirits inside a dead body, and the spirits can use the body as a vessel. Typically, the body can’t be long dead, but I don’t know how it applies to preserved bodies. Or he may have learned some way to animate bodies that have been dead longer.”

“While this is fascinating and all, we still don’t know where this houngan is hiding. The guy swore up and down that he doesn’t know where he is. I’m afraid our lead in Cairo is gone.”

“We have one more lead here in Alexandria, with a security guard who was a friend of our first suspect.”

“What did you learn from bachelor number one?” Slasher inquired.

“I believe that he smuggled the artifacts out of the museum himself, with the help of a security guard. I can’t learn more from him, as he was rapidly united with the front end of a tour bus.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, well, it’s been a long day. I have a headache, and I just want to go to bed. We’ll meet you at the hotel.”

Slasher smiled. “Roger that. See you in a bit.”

12

The four runners sat in Glasgow’s hotel room and exchanged stories about the day.

“I’m just glad this day is over.” Glasgow said. She had become a little more sociable after taking some painkillers to help cope with her drain-related headache.

The telecomm beeped with an incoming message.

“I asked for that one, didn’t I?” Glasgow muttered as she pushed the button to receive the call.

There was no voice at the other end. Only a text message addressed to the team.

“We need to meet. There is something very important we need to discuss. There is a bar not far from the airport to the North. I will meet you there in a few minutes. Saud.”

“I don’t like it much. It’s vague, and it’s a text message. Something’s totally wrong.” Havana suggested.

“Agreed. Either he couldn’t risk being overheard when he placed the call, or it may not be from Saud at all.” Glasgow said. “What do you guys think?”

“Though I don’t like walking into a trap, we should go just in case the message is legitimate.” Blender stated.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“OK, let’s get our stuff. Arm yourselves lightly. We’ll be in public.” Glasgow ordered.

13

The team had no trouble locating the bar. It was the only one that far outside of the downtown area. The title was illegible (in a foreign language) and it looked like a dive. The front of the bar had a grimy picture window all the way across, that may as well have been a wall, as it was no longer transparent.

“Interesting setting.” Slasher muttered.

“Hey, the bar you worked at was no prize.” Blender said, trying to goad the ork.

It worked. “It was an ork bar. In case you haven’t noticed, ork businessmen are a short commodity, and the few that exist don’t have much. George did the best he could with what he had. Then Renraku destroyed the place…”

“Sorry, Slasher, I was just yankin’ your chain.” Blender apologized.

Slasher was still agitated, but she dropped the subject.

“Hang on guys. I’m going to scout the place astrally.” Glasgow said.

Slasher propped up the elf as she projected from her body and crossed through astral space into the bar.

There were many auras in the bar. She recognized one as Saud’s, who seemed rather uncomfortable in his surroundings. A lot of the bars patrons were in hyper-stimulated states of mind, probably from excessive booze or other substances. They were feeling everything from lust to depression to anger. Some of the patrons had cybernetics, but there were no mages present.

Glasgow returned to her body. “No magic present, but a few with cyber. There are so many mixed emotions in there, it’s hard to tell if any of them are a threat.”

“I’ll watch some of the guys with cyberware, if you’d like.” Blender offered.

“Good idea. You and Havana find spots near that window. Two are in the front corners of the building. The others are in the middle of the bar.”

“We’ve gotcha covered.” Havana said, patting his sidearm.

The four runners walked to the door at the side of the building and pulled it open. Glasgow almost threw up.

“What the hell is that stench?” she said through clenched teeth.

“Did something die in there?” Havana said, while coughing. These were the times he cursed his enhanced senses.

“No, it smells like old puke.” Slasher commented, emotionlessly. “You’ll get used to it after a few minutes.”

“I hope I never have to get used to it.” Glasgow said as she stepped inside.

Blender and Havana made their way towards the window, avoiding any of the mysterious stains on the floorboards.

Glasgow was barely two steps from the door when a Muslim man approached her in a drunken swagger.

“Hey babe, where you been my whole life?” He slurred.

“Bugger off.” Glasgow said as she walked past him.

“Hey, no need in bein’ disrespectful. I’m your guy.” He said, as he followed her.

Slasher clamped an arm onto his shoulder and spun the drunk to face her. With a slight `snickt` sound, she extended one of her spurs and held it under the guy’s chin. “Leave the lady alone. She’s had a rough day. And so have I.”

The man looked at the muscular ork woman holding a blade to his throat and sighed. “OK, OK. Ya can’t blame a guy fer tryin’.”

Slasher retracted her blade and followed Glasgow, towards Saud.

“Thanks Slasher.”

“No problem. I did it for a living for a long time.” Slasher said, shrugging.

Saud saw them approaching and rose from his barstool. He walked over to them, throwing apprehensive glances at the people around him.

“You guys sure did pick a strange place to meet. Do you know how…”

“Wait a second. We got a message saying you wanted to meet us here…”

“FOR THE PHARAOHS!” came a cry from several people in the bar, as they rose to their feet drawing sub-machineguns from under their jackets.

Patrons immediately hit the deck, save a few, who were too hammered to realize what was going on. Blender and Havana had found a table near the window, and when the people they were watching cried out as they rose they sprung into action.

One of Semoti’s goons in the middle of the bar brought his weapon to bear first, squeezing off a burst at Glasgow and Saud.

“Get down!” Glasgow yelled, as she dove at Saud to knock him out of the way. She felt a bullet slam into her armoured vest at the same time her shoulder hit their Johnson. The two of them fell to the ground in a heap. Slasher quickly drew her Predator and fired at the shooter. The two bullets slammed into the attacker’s chest and sent him over his table. He hit the floor hard, sending his gun scattering.

Blender reached his man just as he was bringing the sub-machinegun up to fire at Slasher. He planted a kick on the shooter’s wrist, forcing him to drop the gun. With a quick move, Blender’s spurs were extended and he slashed across the thug’s chest. The zealot looked down at his wounds, and then looked up at Blender, as the samurai plunged his spur into the man’s chest. Blood rolled down his chest as his legs gave out, and he collapsed to the floor.

Havana was a blur of motion, and the zealot never saw him coming. Havana ripped the sub-machinegun from the guy’s hand, and delivered a solid punch to the guy’s face, sending him reeling against a wall.

“Don’t kill me!” the man pleaded.

“I’m not going to kill you.” Havana said, as he pinned the man to the side wall of the bar. “I have a couple questions for you, and you’re going to answer them for me, yes?”

The man nodded that he would.

“Excellent. Once we’re all done with your friends, we’ll have a chat.”

The fourth attacker rose up and leveled his Uzi at Slasher.

“Oh drek…” Slasher said when she saw the weapon point at her. She dove to her side to avoid the spray. The bar behind where she had stood splintered and the bartender hiding behind it took a round and went down.

“Slimy sack of drek…”

Springing back to her feet, she grabbed a barstool and hurled it at the shooter. It caught the goon in the shoulder and spun him away from the bar.

There was a sharp report of a pistol, and the final shooter fell to the ground with a bullet in the head. Blender lowered his smoking sidearm. “Shoot at my friends, and I’ll shoot at you…” he muttered to no one in particular.

“Glasgow, are you alright?” Slasher asked as she ran to her friend’s side.

Glasgow groaned but looked up at the ork. “I’ll be OK. I’m gonna have a nasty bruise, and I’ve got a pretty good headache going right now, but I’ll live. Saud needs a hospital, but I think he’ll pull through.”

Slasher looked down at their Mr. Johnson. He had taken two bullets in the upper chest. Glasgow had used a Heal spell to slow the bleeding, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet.

“We’ve gotta get out of here before the authorities show up. Saud was able to give us a limited immunity, but without him able to vouch for us, we’d be arrested real quick.” Blender suggested as he neared the bar.

There was screaming from the opposite end of the bar. Havana was trying to restrain his hostage, who was screaming in pain and clutching his wrist.

“What the hell’s wrong with this guy?” Havana asked.

“What did you do to him?” Blender asked.

“I didn’t do anything! I was restraining him and asking a few polite questions when he started screaming.” Havana defended.

Glasgow quickly perceived the astral plane. There was a cyber implant in his wrist that seemed to be infecting his body with something. Then she saw something she had failed to notice last time. A watcher spirit hovered over the bar, watching everything progress. With a quick thought Glasgow lashed out and destroyed the watcher.

“There’s an implant in his wrist that’s killing him.” Glasgow informed her team.

“It’s an auto-injector.” Havana offered. “I fought a drug cartel in the Caribbean League years ago. They did something similar. Troops who knew a lot about the operations were implanted with an auto-injector. The injector was filled with cyanide or atropine, or some other lethal compound.”

Havana released the soldier and he dropped to the ground lightly convulsing, and rapidly weakening.

“There was a watcher in here. The moment he opened his mouth, whoever was controlling that watcher must have activated the injector to keep him silent.”

“There’s nothing to be learned here. Let’s get out of here before the cops show up.” Blender reiterated.

“OK. Let’s get some sleep and get a fresh start on this tomorrow.” Glasgow agreed. She desperately wanted to sleep off this headache.

The runners quickly fled the bar and drove back to the hotel. Feeling the day was a near total loss, the team wordlessly returned to their rooms to crash.

14

The next day passed slowly. It was even hotter than the day they arrived. Slasher and Havana waited in the hospital near Saud while Glasgow and Blender checked out the last remaining lead in Alexandria. They showed up an hour and a half later with no good news.

“The security guard has gone missing.” Glasgow stated.

“Missing?” Slasher asked, surprised. “Just vanished?”

“Not at home, not at work…nobody who knows this guy has any clue where he is.”

“So where does that leave us?” Havana inquired

“It leaves us here, hoping Saud has something new to provide us with.” Glasgow stated. “How’s he doing?”

“Much better. The hospital is allowing him to do his job from here until he fully recovers.”

Slasher’s cell phone rang.

“Slasher here.”

“It’s Saud. Could you bring your team in here?”

“He wants to see us.” Slasher said to her teammates.

The four runners walked down the hall to where Saud was resting. He had a computer terminal on his lap and a stack of papers on the nightstand beside his bed. His shoulder was bandaged up, but he seemed to be going about his business as if nothing was wrong.

“Ah, good, you’re all here. I found some interesting information during my time here.” He addressed the team.

“Finally, some good news!” Glasgow said to the room.

“First off, the people in the bar who attacked us were all listed as kidnapping victims. Apparently, they all staged their abductions and went to serve Semoti. They were implanted with stolen cyberware to ensure they’d keep their mouths shut. Auto-injectors filled with enough cyanide to kill three grown men.”

“You gotta love forced loyalty, neh?” Havana joked.

“I also think I have narrowed your search parameters.”

“Do tell.” Blender said, showing his interest.

“Since I was in recovery for a while I had a few buddies of mine run some criteria through our databases. I had them run a cross reference of museums between here and Giza, and museum thefts in the same area. Every museum between here and there has had something taken in the past several days. Except one in Giza.”

Glasgow smiled. “This guy definitely seems to have an affinity for museums. Have any of the missing artifacts suddenly appeared in Giza?”

“No they haven’t, but this place may be a front for his operation. It’s the Giza Museum of Antiquities. It’s a tiny little place, barely worth the price of admission.”

“It’s worth a look. We’ll check it out.” Glasgow said with a smirk.

“Keep me informed.”

“We’ll do our best.”

15

It took the better part of an hour to reach Giza. The heat rising off the road was distorting the surrounding backdrop, but even still, the shape of the ancient pyramids were visible on the horizon. Without the Mediterranean Sea nearby, the heat seemed even more repressing.

“If I ever say I want to retire to some place warm, remind me of this run, OK?” Glasgow commented, as the car entered the city limits of Giza. The team laughed at her comments.

It took another half hour to find the museum, partly because they drove past it the first time. The building was unassuming, and poorly labeled.

“OK, two people go in for a recon during the day, and if we see anything interesting, we come back this evening a little better prepared.” Glasgow suggested.

“Sounds like a plan. Who’s going in?” Blender asked.

“I say Glasgow and Havana go in. They can go in looking like tourists, and not have any cyberware showing.” Slasher voted.

Everyone agreed with the logic. Glasgow and Havana reluctantly removed their body armour and sidearms, trusting their safety to their acting and their magical gifts. Blender rolled the car down the street so it was out of view from the museum.

Glasgow had stripped down to a tank top and shorts, where Havana was in a short sleeve shirt and khaki Bermuda-style shorts. Havana offered his arm and Glasgow looped her arm through it.

“Now don’t you get any ideas…” Glasgow prodded.

“Do I look like Blender?” Havana countered with a smile.

Glasgow squeezed Havana’s hand briefly and laughed. “I’m glad you’re here.”

The two strolled up to the front door and pulled the mostly glass door open. The air smelled recycled, but at least it was air-conditioned.

They saw what looked like a ticket sales counter up ahead, so they strolled up to the rather portly woman behind the desk. She smiled and started talking away in the local dialect.

“Oh, I don’t speak that language.” Glasgow said while giggling.

“Oh…My English is not good. I will try. How many?”

“Two tickets, please.” Havana said to the woman.

“Two?” the woman asked, while looking across her countertop for something. Probably a translation guide.

“Two.” Havana repeated while holding up two fingers.

“Ah, yes!” the woman said, and quickly printed off two passes to the museum. “That is ten.”

Havana offered his credstick, which was quickly slotted and the money was removed.

“Have nice time.” The secretary said with a phony smile.

“You too.” Glasgow said, continuing with the airhead act.

When Saud had told them it was barely worth the cost of admission, he hadn’t been kidding. The museum was about the history of Giza. After the burial of the pharaohs, there wasn’t much worth noting.

“Oooooh, this is pretty!” Glasgow said while pointing at some obscure piece of rock in a display case.

“Somehow, I don’t think they’ll let me buy it for you, sweetie.” Havana returned.

The newlywed act seemed to be having the desired effect on the guards. After first checking out Glasgow’s body, they usually kept a safe distance away, so not to be put out by the couple’s overly visual affections.

“If I am visually molested by one more security guard, I’ll have to hurt someone.” Glasgow muttered to Havana.

Havana stifled a laugh. “You may get your chance later. So what have you seen using that magical sight of yours?”

“Every one of the employees here has one of those auto-injectors built into them. I think we’re in the right place.”

“I’ve noticed that they’re all carrying heavy pistols. Most security forces use a light pistol at best, usually a dart pistol. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill rent-a-cops.”

“Have you seen anything else?” Glasgow asked.

“Oh, honey you have to see something.” Havana said in a louder tone, and led Glasgow by the hand towards the Ancient Kings exhibit. He walked straight to Tutankhamun’s section.

Though he pointed at the display case, he whispered in her ear. “Look down.”

Glasgow subtly cast her eyes to the ground. On the floor in front of the King Tut section were numerous scratch marks.

“Scratch marks…So, this section comes away from the wall?”

“That’s what I’m thinking.” Havana said.

“Sweetie, I have an idea!” Glasgow said louder than necessary. “Let’s go back to the hotel!”

Havana smiled broadly. “Ready when you are.”

Glasgow led Havana by the hand to the exit. Several of the security guards looked at Havana with pure jealousy. The adept just smiled as he walked past them.

Once the two “lovebirds” were out of line of sight from the museum, they stepped into the alleyway, where Blender and Slasher were parked.

“So, what did you find out?” Blender asked as Glasgow climbed into the car.

“There’s definitely something in there. Those were Semoti’s guys playing the rent-a-cops in there. They had the injectors, and large weapons. There also appears to be a hidden area behind one of the exhibits.”

“So, I take it we’re returning after business hours?” Slasher said with a smile.

“Yes, we are. And they’re going to pay for eyeballing me so much.” Glasgow said, speaking quietly at the last part.

“Can’t say I blame them.” Blender said under his breath.

“Sorry, what was that you said?” Glasgow said with a smirk, as she started snaking a hand around the sammy’s throat.

“Uh, I can’t say I pity them….” Blender said while studying an interesting pattern in the ceiling fabric.

“Yahuh…just drive, cyber-boy. We need to kill some time.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Blender pulled out of the alleyway and went looking for a place with a pool table and synthahol.

16

The team found a shoddy old pool table in a run down bar on the Southern side of Giza. As per usual, Havana won almost every game using his enhanced perception. The team grabbed a greasy meal at some out of the way restaurant. Then, as the sun set, they made their way behind an old building to slip into their armour and equip themselves for work

“It’s time to get serious.” Havana said as he cocked his MP-5 in the back seat of the car. The team was closing in on the museum. The temperature had dropped dramatically since the sun had gone down. After the heat of the day, it felt like it had fallen below zero degrees.

“At least I’ll feel more at home in the cool air.” Blender said as he sheathed his monosword while standing outside the museum.

“Everyone ready?” Glasgow inquired.

Everyone nodded affirmatively.

“OK, lets go.”

The team walked up to the front door of the museum. Naturally, the door was locked, though there appeared to be people inside.

“Slasher, do your thing.” Glasgow prompted.

“Do what thing?” Slasher asked, perplexed.

“You’re our lock picker, so pick a lock.”

“I hack maglocks. This is an old tumbler style lock.”

“Improvise.” Glasgow said, smiling and shrugging.

Slasher studied the front doors, and the old lock. After a few preliminary checks for security, she simply smashed in the window on the door and reached in to unlock the door from the inside.

“That wasn’t very stealthy.” Glasgow scolded.

“You told me to improvise.” Slasher defended, as she drew her sidearm. She quickly secured a silencer to the barrel and opened the door. “I’ve got your back.”

All the team’s members drew their sidearms, and attached silencers before stepping inside.

Prior to their arrival, they had agreed that they would take the most direct route to the Tut exhibit. Havana led the way.

They hadn’t made it out of the main lobby before Havana froze. He gestured to the team that there were guards waiting for them on the opposite side of the nearby doorway. After running with Havana on numerous missions, they trusted his instincts. He had acquired a ‘sixth sense’ for detecting ambushes, while training in the jungle, and it had saved them numerous times.

Blender switched his cybereyes over to thermographic vision, and was able to make out two heat signatures on the opposite side of the walls. The walls were obviously too thin to shield their signatures. With a couple quick hand gestures he motioned to Slasher to take one side of the door and he took the other. A quick check showed the walls were made of drywall. Blender weakened the wall by tracing a circle in it using his fingertip razors and then punched clean through the wall, closing his hand around the guard’s throat on the other side. The guard tried to scream in surprise, but the enhanced strength in Blender’s cyberarms closed his airway nearly completely and a shallow rasp was the only noise he made.

The second guard sprung from his position and ran through the doorway, where he was promptly drilled by Slasher’s arm. The clothesline stopped the guard in mid stride, dazing him long enough for Havana to move in and deliver an uppercut to his chin. The guard went down in a heap.

Blender pulled his arm back through the wall and the guard on the other side fell to the ground unconscious.

Both guards down, Havana signaled the all clear and the team proceeded deeper into the museum.

The adjoining room was dark, save for the light of a security camera. The runners’ presence was already known, so they paid no mind to it and simply picked up the pace.

“Hold it!” a voice behind them ordered.

The team stopped moving and turned to see a guard leveling his pistol at them. Glasgow muttered some archaic language under her breath, and just as the guard was reaching for his transceiver, he stopped, clutched the sides of his head, and collapsed to the ground.

“You have to teach me that sometime.” Blender whispered.

“Not likely.” Glasgow whispered back with a smile. She then motioned for Havana to continue onward.

The next room held the exhibit in question. Two guards toting sub-machineguns guarded it.

“There’s almost no security around. What’s going on here?” Blender asked no one in particular.

“Either Semoti has no idea we’re coming, or he’s confident in his men.” Glasgow suggested.

“Or, he wants us to try and reach him.” Slasher posed.

“In any case, we need to see what’s behind that display. How do you want to go about this?”

“Keep fatalities down, if possible.” Glasgow urged.

“We’ll need your help.” Blender said, signaling to Havana.

Glasgow conjured up a Chaotic World spell and hurled it at the two guards. Its effects were evident immediately, as the guards began aiming their guns skyward at nonexistent objects.

Blender and Havana charged into the room. Colliding with the distracted guards, they brought them to the floor and subsequently pounded them into unconsciousness, without a single shot fired.

“Less than elegant, but it worked.” Slasher said as she and Glasgow walked into the room.

The four runners flanked the Tut exhibit and began pulling at the fake stone display. A section of the false wall slid away from the real wall, revealing a hatch and ladder leading downward.

“I guess we’re going down.” Blender said, as he looked down the shaft and saw light at the base. “Ladies first.”

Slasher shrugged and began climbing down. Glasgow followed after her. Blender looked at Havana and smirked. “I said ladies first.”

“Watch yourself. I may have to beat you.” Havana said, before climbing down.

Blender chuckled lightly before climbing down the ladder to the room below.

17

“Well, isn’t this quaint…” Blender muttered as he stepped off the ladder.

The room before them was quite large, and the walls were done up to look ancient Egyptian, complete with hieroglyphics. In the center of the room were seven half-pillars, rising up from the floor in a U-shaped pattern. They didn’t seem to have a purpose other than for decoration.

“OK, there’s nobody here to meet us…you would have thought they’d have a welcoming committee for us.” Slasher said aloud.

“Keep your eyes open.” Glasgow said as she made her way across the large room.

As they neared the first pair of pillars, the sound of stone grinding filled the room and the massive columns descended into the floor.

“Did someone step on something?” Havana asked, looking around for a trigger.

“I didn’t see anything.” Blender said, scanning the room as well.

As the pillars sank all the way down, level to the floor, four small doors opened in the walls, and four very large snakes fell in through them. As they reared back in their agitation, it was readily apparent that they were cobras.

“Any bets these things are rather unpleasant?” Blender said, as he squared off against the snake closest to him

“Let’s not find out.” Havana stated, as he grabbed his pistol from his holster.

The snakes were quick. Everyone fired at his or her snake repeatedly, but every bullet missed.

Havana watched the snake intently, anticipated how it would move, and with the next pull of the trigger, blew the snake’s head clean off.

Blender had tried to do the same, but his snake had reacted differently. Its eyes had become illuminated and it swung its head from side to side. Blender’s gun barrel slowly lowered to the floor, as the movements hypnotized him. Slasher fired at her snake repeatedly but each time it managed to get out of the way, as it subtly made its way over to Blender.

“They’re teaming up…” Havana mused to himself. He had never seen snakes behave this way before.

“Blender, fire.” He reminded the sammy.

Blender never moved.

“Blender?”

No reply.

Slasher’s snake was nearing striking distance of Blender. With a quick decision, Havana raised his pistol and fired at the dancing snake. It flew into pieces and Blender shook off his disorientation.

“Blender, your left!”

Blender spun left, extending his spur. The snake lunged at the armoured samurai. The spur extended straight through the head of the attacking cobra. The cobra spasmed at the end of the spur, the venom still visible as tiny amber beads at the tips of its fangs.

Blender breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Havana.”

“Null sheen, chummer.” Havana said with a dismissive wave.

A bright flash of light filled the air. As everyone turned, Glasgow stood near the charred corpse of the final cobra. She had fired her Predator at the snake several times and missed each time. In frustration, she hit it with a lightning bolt.

“Let’s keep going.” She urged her team.

They stepped between the next pair of pillars, and they began sinking into the floor, like their predecessors.

“Get ready for anything.”

Hatches opened in the roof over their heads and two large objects fell into the room. Once they hit the floor, the team quickly learned what they were. Scorpions, and very large ones. Their bodies were over a meter long.

“Where did they get these things?” Blender asked aloud, as he leveled his pistol at a rapidly moving scorpion.

Havana and Blender opened fire on it, killing it quickly. The second one had landed almost on top of Slasher, and it had quickly clamped down on her leg, right above the ankle. The sharp claw sank deep in her skin, and blood began staining the leg of her armoured clothes. Slasher cried out in pain as the stinger lashed toward her, but she raised her hand and caught the thing’s tail before the stinger made contact. The muscles in the scorpion’s tail were strong, and were pushing toward Slasher ever so slowly.

“Glasgow, I could use some help here. Zap the damn thing.”

“I’d hit you as well.” Glasgow protested.

“Well, I don’t know…”

Glasgow reached to her side and grabbed her chakrum from its hook. With a quick flick of the wrist, she hurled the circular blade at the scorpion. It struck near the base of the tail and severed the appendage entirely.

Slasher tossed the heavy tail aside. She extended her spurs and slashed away at the base of the claw that held her leg. It didn’t take long to free herself once she stopped worrying about the poisonous barb on the creature’s tail. The claw fell lifelessly to the floor, and Slasher finished the job by pulling out her pistol and blowing a hole through its head.

Glasgow knelt beside Slasher to inspect the wound. “This looks pretty deep. I’ll do what I can to fix it.”

“Much appreciated.” Slasher said through gritted teeth.

After a few seconds, Glasgow stood up and went to retrieve her chakrum.

“Feels a little better.” Slasher stated. It was still bleeding, but she felt like it would take her weight a little better.

“It should allow you to complete the run and get to a hospital.” Glasgow replied. She looked a bit tired.

Seeing the last row of three pillars, Blender stated “Looks like we have one more trial. Are we ready?”

Everybody nodded. Slasher limped up to the row of pillars. “I wonder what kind of nastiness is waiting for us now.” Then she noticed a strange sound from inside the pillars.

She jacked up the hearing in her cyber ears. It sounded like something was moving inside.

“Slasher? What’s up?” Havana inquired.

“I think there’s something alive inside the pillars.”

Glasgow changed to astral sight. There was definitely an aura from within the three remaining pillars. On closer inspection, it was thousands of very small auras.

“It’s a horde of insects or something.” Glasgow stated.

“Oh, charming. I say we bolt for the doorway at the far end of the room.” Blender suggested.

“Since these things are probably not good for our health, I agree.” Glasgow stated.

“I’ll try to keep up.” Slasher said as she readied herself to run.

The team bolted for the opposite side. As they passed the row of pillars, one side of each pillar popped open and spilled their contents across the floor. Thousands of scarabs began fanning out in search of food.

Havana risked a look back. “What the hell are those?”

Glasgow glanced back. “Those are very bad. Keep running!”

Blender reached the doorway first. He barely paused long enough to turn the handle and open the door. He held it open as his fellow teammates ran through. The scarabs were right on Slasher’s heels as she dove through the door and yelled “Close it!”

The scurrying of the insects was shut out with the closing of the door. Not a single insect got through. All of the runners were breathing hard after sprinting across the wide-open room.

“So what were those things?” Havana asked between breaths.

“I think they’re called scarabs. They’re flesh eating bugs.” Glasgow replied.

The rest of the team looked at her and then at the door.

Wincing at the fire burning in her leg, Slasher said “I guess we’re finding a different way out of here.”

The runners looked at the room they were now in. It was a large open room, made of some form of carved stone. Another door was directly across from the one they had entered through. On either side of the new doorway were two large sculptures; one of Horus and the other of Anubis.

“Having old Gods guarding his doorway won’t save him now. I’m pissed off.” Havana stated. The team seemed to share his sentiments.

They advanced toward the new doorway. About half way across the room the statue’s chests exploded outward to reveal a new threat. Sentry guns.

“Drek!” Blender exclaimed, as he raised his sub-machinegun and opened fire on the guns. He quickly began side-stepping to his left to get out of their arcs of fire. Havana soon followed suit.

The sentry guns opened fire. Bullets sprayed where the runners had stood only seconds before. Glasgow had dove aside and cast an Invisibility spell on herself to hide herself from the guns sensors. Slasher sidestepped and limped off to the side as quickly as her wounds would allow.

Glasgow began charging up a lightning bolt just as a second burst from the Horus gun tore through Slasher’s shoulder. The ork went down from the force of the hit, clutching her shoulder from the white-hot pain within.

The lightning bolt streaked across the room and struck the sentry gun. Sparks flew as electricity arced across its surface, and shortly thereafter, shorted out. With one gun out of the way, Blender and Havana concentrated their fire on the last gun. A bullet grazed Havana, as the hail of bullets that struck the sentry gun tore it apart.

Glasgow ran to Slasher’s side again. Blood ran down her arm, and it didn’t appear she had much strength in her right arm.

“Get out of here. You have a run to complete.” Slasher urged.

“I am not leaving you here.”

“Damn straight you’re not.” Slasher stated, with as strong a smile as she could muster. “However, I won’t be much good to you in my current condition, and it wouldn’t help the team to have our mage nearly passing out before she finds our objective.”

“The drain won’t be too bad.”

“I’m not willing to risk the team’s welfare so that I might have some use of my good arm. Fix up Havana, and go finish the job. If you’re OK after the job’s done then come back for me. I’m not going anywhere.”

Glasgow bowed her head. She knew Slasher wouldn’t let up when she had set her mind on something. She walked to Havana and patched up his graze with little effort. The team took a moment to reload their partial clips before continuing. Slasher was content to reach across her body and grab her pistol with her left hand.

“You take it easy, alright?” Blender said to Slasher.

“I got your back.” Slasher said, waving the pistol.

With a moment’s hesitation, the team, now down to three, stepped into the next room.

18

The room they entered was an impressive sight. The entire room had been carved from the earth. There was a large clear area just inside the door. The floor was covered in an elaborate rug, which looked like it was centuries old. After a brief thought, the runners realized that it likely was centuries old, given all the artifacts stolen recently.

Eight sarcophagi lined the walls, four per side of the entryway. The entryway was easily 50 meters by 50 meters.

There were stairs before the runners as they entered. The floor rose up, each level getting slightly smaller than the next, until it crested some five meters above them, where a lone figure sat on a throne. The figure wore the Mask of Anubis and carried the Scepter.

“Semoti!” Glasgow addressed the masked man at the top of the stairs. “By order of the Egyptian government, we hereby place you under arrest. Surrender at once!”

Semoti rose out of his throne, and stood tall at the top of the stairs. He had to have been seven feet tall!

The eight sarcophagi burst open and eight mummies began shambling toward the runners.

“We’re supposed to try and protect the artifacts…” Glasgow said aloud to her team.

“In a contest of them and us, I pick us.” Blender stated, as he drew his monosword.

Resigned to destroy the attacking mummies, Glasgow drew her chakrum and wielded it as a handheld blade. Havana raised his MP5 and opened fire on the closest zombie.

What followed was a twisted dance routine of blades and bodies. The two monofilament blades repeatedly sliced through the ancient corpses, slowly rendering them unable to move.

Soon, the three runners stood over a pile of dusty bones. The mummies had been all but destroyed. Disappointed that they had destroyed a piece of what they were trying to preserve, the runners resolutely turned back toward the houngan at the top of the stairs. They were surprised to find that he had received reinforcements. During their fight with the zombies, soldiers had entered the room from somewhere behind Semoti. They had formed a firing line at the top of the stairs and were leveling sub-machineguns down at the floor below.

“Find cover.” Glasgow ordered.

They needed no further prompting. The runners ran in different directions; Glasgow ran left with Blender, while Havana went right. The moment they ran for shelter, the troops opened fire. Blender could feel the stone of the floor shattering behind him, as pieces of it struck him in the back of his legs.

“Inside the coffin!” he yelled.

“Hopefully this isn’t an omen.” Glasgow stated, as she ran headlong into the sarcophagus.

The rate of fire coming from the top of the stairs dropped once the runners had concealed themselves inside the ancient artifacts.

“OK, I don’t think they’ll risk damaging the goods, so we occasionally pop out and pick them off, alright?” Blender suggested.

“Sounds like a plan. Make sure your shots are accurate. If we leave them be for too long, they may decide one or two of these things are acceptable losses and open fire. And these won’t take too much punishment.”

Blender knocked once on the side of the coffin as an affirmative. He popped out and squeezed off a burst from his Smartgun. The bullets struck home on one of the guards and he fell down the stairs clutching the holes in his chest. The guards closest to him fired at where Blender stood, but caught nothing but rock.

Glasgow stuck her head out to assense Semoti. He was indeed Awakened, and since they had walked into the room, he had erected astral and armour spells around himself. He seemed content to watch and let his fanatics do the fighting.

Havana had seen Blender’s action and copied it, by popping out and squeezing the trigger on his MP-5, taking down a guard.

“Blender, Semoti has raised several barriers to protect himself from harm. You and Havana take care of the lackeys, I’ll try to damage Semoti’s defenses.”

“You got it.” Blender replied. He flagged Havana and used exaggerated hand signals to convey the order across the large room. The adept nodded, and continued sniping the guards.

Glasgow charged up a powerful lightning bolt, keeping back inside her hiding place. Electricity arced across her slender fingers with greater frequency as the mana accumulated and built within her. She spun and hurled it at the houngan with a blinding flash. The bolt slammed into the armour and was pulled away from the magician’s body.

“Damn!” Glasgow cursed at her spell’s failure to overwhelm the armour.

Suddenly, a wave of disorientation washed over Glasgow. She forgot where she was and whom she was with. A person beside her was making a lot of noise, and it irritated her. She was about to act on the compulsion to stop the noise, when as quickly as it came, the sensation left.

“Glasgow, get back!” Blender yelled, as he saw their mage stagger out of her hiding place in a stupor. When she didn’t immediately respond, he stepped out and pushed her back inside the sarcophagus.

Pain exploded in Blender as bullets ripped through his left leg. All of his strength left the limb and the samurai collapsed to the ground.

“Frag, that hurts!” Blender screamed, as he clutched his bleeding leg. Three bullets had passed through his leg, and they had done significant damage.

“Drek!” Havana said, as he sprang from his hiding place and fired at the remaining guards. He dropped a couple guards as he ran to Blender’s position.

Despite the pain, Blender continued laying down cover fire.

Havana reached Blender’s side and tried to help the sammy get behind cover. “How bad is it?”

“It fraggin hurts, that’s for sure. I think it shattered a bone. I can’t put any weight on it.”

“Alright, with any luck Glasgow can do something for that. For now try not to get shot.”

“Gee, do ya think?” Blender spat his retort.

Glasgow popped out and squeezed off a couple rounds from her Predator to drop the last guard. Havana rose from his position beside Blender and stared at Semoti, his MP-5 leveled at the magician’s head.

“Eat this.”

He pulled the trigger and watched as his bullets harmlessly bounced off of the magical armour. Semoti pointed a finger at Havana and a lightning bolt lanced across the room and struck the adept square in the chest. Havana managed to hold his ground, but still fell to one knee, as his armour blackened at the point of impact.

“Havana, are you OK?” Glasgow asked.

“Will be…” Havana gasped. “Just knocked the wind out of me…”

Glasgow had had enough. All her friends had been hurt, and this guy appeared to have no remorse. She stepped into the open and locked on to the aura of the houngan’s armour spell. Using all of her abilities, she concentrated on dispelling the armour.

To her satisfaction, it vanished. Immediately afterward, her body was racked with drain. It felt as if someone was hammering rivets into her brain. Her ears were ringing, and the room seemed too bright all of a sudden.

Though her consciousness wavered slightly, she managed to say “His armor’s gone. Fire.”

“With pleasure.” Havana said through gritted teeth. He rose up, with his MP-5, and fired. The bullets stitched up Semoti’s chest, spraying the throne behind him in blood. His body was nearly lifted from the ground by the impact of the bullets, as he fell backward onto the throne. His body lay lifeless at the center of his kingdom, as the scepter fell from his grip to the floor.

19

The team looked at each other. All were in a sorry state. Havana had brought Slasher up into the throne room after Semoti had been defeated. They all sat on the floor, bleeding and comparing wounds. Glasgow had acquired a nasty nosebleed from the accumulated drain, and was in no position to try and heal her teammates. She was on the verge of passing out. Slasher was still bleeding considerably, but was still comparing her wounds with Blender’s. Havana had a large burn mark on his chest, but seemed to be the most intact of the team.

“I’m going to go up past the throne, and see if there’s another way out of here.” Havana said. “You guys stay here, and I’ll bring help back, alright? You guys need to try and keep going.”

“I got lots of blood left yet. Just go.” Slasher dismissed.

Havana nodded and ran up the stairs and beyond, outside the others’ line of sight. He found an adjacent set of tunnels that offered new insight into Semoti’s plans. In it were training facilities, barracks and an expansive selection of guns. All of this connected to an abandoned sewer tunnel system under Giza.

Havana got back to the surface and phoned Saud to inform him that the mission was complete, but that they needed a cleanup crew, as well as medical attention for their team.

When he led the teams of medics and policeman through the tunnels back into the throne room, all three of his teammates were unconscious, but alive. The artifacts were salvaged and the team was taken to Cairo’s largest hospital to get the best care the government could provide.

20

“Hey guys! How are you holding up?” Havana said as he walked into the hospital room where Blender and Slasher were recovering.

“A little better now that the bullets are out of me.” Slasher said. “They had to tweak my Smartlink in the one arm a bit, but it seems OK now.”

“How’s Glasgow?” Blender asked.

“She’s OK. She just needed sleep and some fluids. She’ll be here in a bit.”

Shortly after, Glasgow poked her head into the room. “Hey everyone.”

“How are you doing?” Slasher asked the much happier looking mage.

“Good.” Glasgow stepped into the room, holding a steaming cup of coffee.

“Why am I not surprised?” Blender stated, shaking his head.

Glasgow sat down at a chair at the foot of the beds and sipped on her coffee.

“So, our take home cash has been reduced.” Havana stated.

“Oh? By how much?” Slasher inquired.

“After the Linguasoft and the Hospital stay, we’re down to 35,000¥.”

“It’s still a respectable amount, I suppose. It’s nearly 9,000¥ apiece. It’ll cover cost of living until the next job.”

“So when are we departing?” Blender inquired.

“Our flight leaves tomorrow morning.” Havana replied. “By tonight, you guys will be off the IV’s and discharged. You’ll have to have your regular doc check the bandaging every now and then.”

“Thank God. I like the doctors here, but the food is even worse here than at the Seattle hospitals.”

The team chuckled. Life was pretty rough when you could actually compare the quality of food in one hospital to another.

“So about the mummies that were destroyed? How is the public taking it?” Blender was almost afraid to ask.

“The media has blamed Semoti for all damage of ancient artifacts, largely due to government intervention. We’re off the hook.” Havana stated.

“Well, it’s nice that we won’t be mobbed, I guess.”

Glasgow knocked back the last of her coffee. “Havana, let’s go.”

“Yeah, alright.”

“Hey, where are you guys going?” Slasher asked.

“Since we spent so much time trying to preserve artifacts, we figured we should go and see a few. We’re going to tour a museum, and go check out the pyramids while there’s still daylight.”

“You’re just going to leave us here?” Blender asked, with a disbelieving smile.

“Yup.” Glasgow said, grinning as she turned to leave.

“You suck.” Blender said.

Glasgow turned to her recovering teammates and winked. “See you at the airport.”

Slasher and Blender lay back in their beds and shook their heads.

“I’m going to remember this…” Slasher stated.

Blender laughed. “I’m going to sleep the afternoon away. I’m going to sleep most of the day. And on the flight home, if they try to sleep, I want to be wide awake to keep them up the whole way home…”

“Good idea.” Slasher stated.

The two runners rolled over and tried to sleep away the last of their stay in the hospital to prepare for the flight home.