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“I can’t believe you lived there for that long and this was the first fire,” Dave said at his apartment.

“We had fires before, but this was the first one that did any real damage,” DM said. He was looking for a full popcorn kernel in the microwave bag.

“So how’s Rachel?” Dave asked taking the movie off pause. The gunfire started up again.

“She’s not happy with me,” DM admitted as much to himself as to Dave. The dark man dropped heavily into the chair.

“Why’s that?” Dave asked.

“Because I won’t tell her where I went or what I did,” DM said not bothering to watch the movie.

“I shouldn’t bother asking should I?” Dave said.

“I wouldn’t be able to tell you anyhow,” DM said. He was wearing what cloths he had taken with him to Hong Kong, it was all he owned.

“Sucks to be you,” Dave said. “So what is the word on your apartment?”

“The landlord will have everything back the way it was in about two weeks, then I can start buying all new stuff,” DM said sadly. “I don’t even want to think about how much that will cost me.”

“Oh please you don’t need money,” Dave said in reply.

“But that doesn’t mean I like to spend it,” DM said with a smile.

“What aren’t you saying about what happened, wherever you went?” Dave gave the dark man a suspicious look.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” DM said getting a little nervous.

“We’ve known each other for most of my life, and okay a fraction of yours, but there’s something about what happened that had nothing to do with national security.” Dave said thinking.

“What makes you think I went someplace dealing with national security?” DM asked.

“Oh my God you did it with another woman!” Dave yelled out with a laugh.

“I can neither confirm nor deny your suspicion,” The dark man said not being able to meet his friend’s eyes.

Dave was smiling wide. “Was she good?”

“Oh yeah,” DM said before he could stop himself.

“Really, okay on a score of one to a hundred, hundred being the highest, was she in the top fifty?”

“Yes,” DM said without thinking.

“Top seventy-five?”

DM thought for a moment then answered, “Yes.”

“Wow,” Dave said getting the information from his friend. “Okay is Rachel in the top fifty?”

“Yes,” DM said with little thought.

“Is Rachel in the top seventy-five?” Dave asked thinking he knew the answer.

It took the dark man a moment to think about the answer to the question. It was all subjective, but he wanted to be honest with his friend, “No.”

Dave pursed his lips, and then the door buzzed. “Pizza’s here,” Dave said getting up, “Give me your wallet.”

“Why should I? You’re the host,” DM asked.

“It’s a symbiotic relationship, now hand it over,” Dave said with his out stretched hand.

DM gave him his wallet and went back to the movie. His thoughts were on Lucy and Rachel. Two women, and one man is not unheard of, but was always against his personal views. He always thought that if there were three people in a bed one of them was being left out. The smell of hot pizza woke him from his daydreaming.

“Damn you really need to clean your bathroom once in a while,” DM said coming out of Dave’s lavatory.

Dave sat at his computer with the internet up, “I’ll keep that in mind. I had a feeling with you being gone for so long and no longer having a computer you might want to check your e-mail on my computer.”

“Thanks I might just do that,” DM said sitting down at the computer.

“By the way did you want your wallet back?” Dave asked holding up the square of leather.

DM snatched back his wallet from the grinning man. “Thanks,” DM said then realized what was in his wallet, “you didn’t snoop through it did you?”

“I most certainly did, but no worries I won’t tell anyone you went to Hong Kong,” Dave said grinning.

“Gee thanks,” DM said logging onto his own account. “A little privacy please.”

“Oh sure,” Dave said slinking back to the movie and the cool pizza.

DM pulled up his e-mail and found junk in most of it, and then one from Gloria in Vegas. She was doing fine, and the car was great. Much to his surprise there was one from Lucy asking if he made it back safely. DM replied to Lucy in a long letter telling her about the fire in his apartment, and how he was living with Rachel, but she was unhappy about his secrecy. It felt good to just get the stuff off his chest in a letter. He ended the letter with ‘I love you’.

When the dark man finished with Dave’s computer he logged off and dropped down again to watch the rest of the movie. For the life of him DM couldn’t get Lucy out of his mind. Was she really a tease, or did she really love him. For that matter did he really love her?

“Hey zombie, you want to watch another movie?” Dave was asking waving his hand before DM’s face.

“Oh sure just pop in anything,” DM said not caring about movies.

“Hey I know my collection isn’t as large as yours was, but it’s all I’ve got.” Dave said picking out a mystery movie. “So what’re your plans until your apartment is ready?”

DM thought for a minute. “I guess I’ll be with Rachel until then. I have to make little wooden carvings for Saint Valentine’s Day. I guess that’ll occupy my time while they rebuild my place.”

“If you and Rachel ever have a big fight and you need a couch to sleep on mine is always here for you, pal,” Dave said sounding serious.

“Thanks I appreciate that,” DM said thinking he might just have to take Dave up on his offer.

In the morning DM returned the ugly yellow car and got his own back. It smelled of fresh plastic and someone had moved the seat so he had to put it back where he liked it, but it felt good. He drove over to the lumber store again and again got the wood he would need cut to reasonable sized blocks. With the back of his car full of wood he went over to a knife shop he knew about and got six good wood working knives and a whetstone. Back at Rachel’s he started carving.

“What happened to my floor?” Rachel called out when she saw the pile of sawdust on the floor around her kitchen table.

“I’ll clean it up promise. I just want to finish this one, and then I’ll make this floor spotless,” DM said to Rachel trying to concentrate on the wood carving in his hand and talk to her at the same time.

“I’d hope so. I love you, and I know you’re not a slob, but please try not to make a mess,” Rachel said in an unhappily compliant.

“You don’t like it dirty?” DM asked with a smile that Rachel knew he was referring to sex.

Rachel was not amused. She turned her back on him and went into the bedroom. She closed the door with more force than necessary, and DM knew he was in trouble.

He got up and went to the door to the bedroom, “I’m sorry I don’t mean to act like an ass.” He paused knowing that one step of apology at a time. “How was work?”

“Shitty!” Rachel yelled out. She came out of the bedroom with a large tee-shirt, on any other woman but on her it was strained, and a pair of jeans that were special ordered for her size as not to cut off the blood circulation to her feet. “Can you believe I get yelled at for something that wasn’t my fault?”

“What happened?” DM asked concerned. He put his arms around her, and although she didn’t want him to hold her and did try to make him stop, she only tried once, and then gave in to him.

Rachel sniffed like she was crying, “I think there’s a spy in our firm.”

“Oh?” DM asked guiding her to the couch and sitting her down.

“We drew up a contract for a company who wanted to buy out another company, but then when we presented the contract they said they just got a better contract from the company they were going to buy, so they deiced to sell to them. Dark, most of the words were exactly the same but the names were different. Someone has been into our computers or in the company itself. Of course who do they blame me?” Rachel yelled out like a little child.

DM put Rachel’s head down on his shoulder and comforted her. “Do you want me to look into this?” DM asked.

“No this is my fight.” Rachel said. “I’m going to find out who the mole is, and then if he’s still alive when I’m done with him I’ll expose him.”

“I’m here for you babe,” DM said.

“I know and I’m glad. You’re always ready to drop things for people who need you,” Rachel said with love in her voice. “I’m glad I’m one of those people who need you.”

DM kissed her forehead. She was making her snoring sound, and DM realized she was asleep. Then it hit him that she was awake most of the night, and now she had a long stressful day, so if she fell asleep she had that right. The dark man gently moved her so she lay on the couch and covered her with a blanket on the couch.

As silently as he could DM cleaned up his carving mess. Rachel didn’t stir. He then carefully he started cooking dinner. It was the least he could do for the woman who was giving him shelter, and food, and love. Chicken stuffed with applesauce, with stir fried vegetables on the side, and twice baked potatoes were on the menu for that night. DM gently roused Rachel and she quickly realized that he had cooked. She smiled up at him with love in her eyes.

“JR this is Dark Mateus,” DM said into Rachel’s phone.

“Dark it’s good to hear from you. I heard your apartment had a fire. Are you okay?” The old priest sound concerned more than usual.

“Oh sure I was out of town at the time. I just wanted to let you know that I’m working on the carvings, but I don’t know if I’ll have all of them done by the time you want them,” DM said with some regret.

“Extenuating circumstances my friend, as long as you are okay. Do you have someplace to stay?”

“Yeah I’m with my girlfriend for the time being,” DM said. He looked out the window to his apartment and saw that they were already installing new windows, probably to keep the wind and snow out so they could work.

“I’ll assume that you are sleeping on her couch,” The old priest said knowing different.

“I also wanted to ask you something?” DM asked timidly.

“What is it my son?”

Just then the dark man’s satellite phone beeped. “Oh I’m sorry I have to get this. I’ll ask you later. Good-by.”

“God be with you my son,” JR said and he too hung up.

DM turned on his phone getting use to pressing the buttons. “Hello?”

“Dark this is General Sanders, how are you?” Ethan asked not sounding serious about the last part.

“To be honest not that well. There was a fire in my apartment complex and my place was destroyed,” DM said having a feeling Ethan already knew that.

“Sorry to hear that, then you really wouldn’t mind going on another mission?” Ethan asked.

“I guess not,” DM said looking down at the only three wood figurines he made.

“Good then go get cloths for a trip to Egypt. I’ll call tomorrow with the details. Oh and if your apartment is destroyed you can always consider moving here to Washington,” Ethan said dropping a hint like a daisy cutter bomb.

“I will think about it sir,” DM said lying.

“I’ll call tomorrow in the morning, be ready to leave,” Ethan said.

“Sir I don’t have access to my computer any more, so you can’t send the information on travel that way.” DM said.

“I realize that. You should know better than anyone else that there were plane trips before computers. I’ll call tomorrow.” With that Ethan hung up with more force than necessary.

DM felt like an idiot for questioning Ethan’s ability to adapt to situations. Then DM realized that Egypt was a big desert, and he needed cloths for that. With a sigh he resigned himself to have to go spend money. DM hated the mall, even during the daytime when only old people and mothers with small children were about. Still it was the best place to get a wide variety of cloths. Three hours later he was leaving the mall with five changes of cloths, and he hoped they would last him for a while.

“You went to the mall without me?” Rachel stood accusing when she got back from work and found DM folding freshly washed cloths.

“I had to,” DM said knowing he would have to say why, “I needed to get these cloths so I could wash them and pack them before tomorrow morning.”

“And what happens tomorrow morning?” Rachel asked even more accusing.

DM realized he was in trouble, “I’m going away on a mission.”

“Oh like hell you are. You just got back,” Rachel said accusingly

DM stopped with his cloths and went to Rachel. He hugged her, and she didn’t struggle away. “I don’t want to leave, but I have to,” DM said with her in his arms, “You know I wouldn’t leave you if I didn’t have to. They wouldn’t call for me if they didn’t need me.”

“Are you going to try and call me?” Rachel asked.

Then DM realized that he hadn’t called Rachel the entire time he was in Hong Kong, “If I am permitted a call out I will.” Rachel hugged back, and then went to help him fold his cloths. She did this so he wouldn’t see her crying, but he did anyhow.

At the Delta counter at the airport DM asked for his ticket, and was handed one. This was the first time in a long while that DM had a ticket waiting for him at the counter. It was a little unnerving for him to just go to the counter and hope they had the little slip of paper waiting for him, but they did, and he was on his way to Washington DC.

“Ah Dark did you have any trouble getting here?” Debby asked as he came in the office.

“The cab had a hard time getting in through the front gate, but otherwise no trouble,” DM said shutting the door behind him.

“I heard about your apartment, I am so sorry. If there’s anything you need just ask,” Debby said.

“The only thing I need is the guys rebuilding my apartment to work faster,” DM said with a weak smile as a joke. “Is General Sanders ready to see me?”

“Not at the moment, George is in there,” Debby said. “Have a seat take a load off. Tell me about Lucy.”

DM blanched for a moment, “You know about Lucy?”

“Honey,” Debby put her hands under her chin and smile at the dark man. “I know everything, or that’s what I tell my kids. When I read your report, compared it to Ben’s, and then read China’s report, and figured it out. So how many times did you sleep with her?”

“I wouldn’t be a good idea to lie to you, would it?” DM said to the homely woman.

“I can see a lie even before you say it, so try telling the truth,” Debby said with a smile.

“We did sleep together once. I slept on her couch once too if you’re counting,” DM said trying to make it sound like nothing.

“If you keep this up you’ll start being called James Bond,” Debby said as a joke.

The intercom on her desk buzzed. “Debby has Mateus shown up yet?” Ethan asked

“Yes sir he is here in your waiting room right now,” Debby said into the intercom.

“Good send him in,” Ethan said.

Debby gave DM the thumbs up and into Ethan’s door. DM stood and went into the office. The lights were on and George was standing in front of Ethan’s desk. George was in a brown and tan suit and looked very uncomfortable. That and there was a very large black, blue, and purple bruise over his right eye. Ethan was hunched over his desk going through one of the drawers.

DM stood beside George, but the bruise over his eye kept distracting him. Before the dark man could say anything George got to him first. “Shut up,” George said in a one syllable exhaled breath.

Ethan looked up at that point, “Mateus it’s about time you got here. George was just informing me of your added involvement in the Las Vegas situation a few weeks back. He neglected to tell me the only reason why Qi did not go through with the sale of the nuclear weapons was because he was in jail thanks to you. George in the future I expect you to put all information you have in your reports. Do not selectively choose what you want to put in. George you are dismissed.”

George just turned and walked around DM and out Ethan’s door. As soon as the door was closed DM couldn’t contain his curiosity anymore. “How did he get that bruise?”

“I have no idea,” Ethan said not caring. “Take a seat. Dark I don’t think anyone has bothered to tell you what we do here.”

Seated DM decided to say what he thought. “You do all the cases no one else will touch, and keep them secret. You are the epidemic of the secret government agency.”

“Close, but that is a good guess,” Ethan said admitting the truth to DM. “First off we are not a secret. Anyone in the government knows about us. We do all the cases that are odd or strange, but we also do the cases that are to be closed silently. We also work on cases that there wouldn’t be enough evidence to warrant a true investigation. This department also covers things up for various national security reasons.”

“Like the night clock,” Dark Mateus said butting in.

“Exactly like the night clock,” Ethan said. “And also like the case I’m about to send you on. You’ll be working with Frank on this one. You’re going to Cairo, Egypt and covering up something an American archeologist found so an Egyptian and British archeologist team can uncover it.”

The dark man kept his mouth closed. He didn’t want to say that it was wrong, but it didn’t seem right. “May I ask why we’re letting an Egyptian and British team find something that is rightly found by an American?”

Ethan took a deep breath. “It is felt that the Egyptian and British governments have helped us out so much in the past few years that we should do something for them in return. I’ve been told that this find will change the history of ancient Egypt forever. Don’t’ worry as a way to make amends for our little cover up we are going to fund the American archeology team for the next fifteen years.”

“I guess it would be all for the best wouldn’t it.” DM said resigning himself to the idea he was a pawn.

“Good this should be a short quick job. You and Frank will go to Cairo, take a helicopter out to the dig site, do your thing, and then make it back to Cairo. Then a quick drop off for the CIA. You’ll be back in three days, four at the most.” Ethan said.

“I get to ride in a helicopter, cool.” DM said amazed.

Ethan did not look amused. “Go find Frank, he’ll fill you in, and act your age.”

“Dust?” DM said as a joke leaving the office. He was expecting something thrown at him, but it didn’t happen. The dark man stopped off by Debby and asked the most pressing question on his mind, “Debby, do you know how George got the black eye?”

“Sure, his boy hit him in the eye with a baseball, by accident,” Debby said in the tone of good gossip.

“George has a boy?” DM was shocked.

“And a wife, can you believe it? He was trying to teach his seven year old how to throw a baseball. Things didn’t go very well,” Debby said.

“Well one mystery solved, so where’s Frank?” DM asked.

“He’s in the blue lab bugging Nina,” Debby said turning back to her paperwork.

“Okay I’ll find it,” DM said opening the other door.

“You go play detective,” Debby said with a wave of her hand.

It wasn’t hard to find the blue lab, it had a blue door. He was unsure how to proceed, so he just opened the door. “Please let me have some gadget?” Frank was begging Nina.

Nina was an early thirty year old woman. She was average height, with an average bust line. She had brown hair pulled back in a pony tail. He brown eyes were behind gold wire rim glasses. She was the most normal woman anyone could expect, except for her white lab coat with a large scorch mark on one side of the coat.

“You always destroy the gadgets I give you,” Nina complained. “Name one gadget that you brought back.”

“I brought back that mini rocket launcher?” Frank said.

“After you dove through a sewer with it. The entire thing was crap. We couldn’t even salvage the rocket,” Nina complained.

“Am I interrupting something?” DM asked.

“Dark make him stop asking for any of my gadgets,” Nina said to the dark man.

“No make her give me a gadget,” Frank said to the dark man.

DM looked at the two crazy people, “I’m not going to make either of you do anything. Are we ready to go?”

Frank was sulking, “As soon as Nina here gives me the package for the CIA operative, we’ll be ready to go.”

Nina walked down the lab to a file cabinet. “So Dark, I hear that your alter ego John Doe got a death certificate that is so cool,” Nina said unlocking the cabinet.

“So was I when I went into the morgue,” DM said getting a smile from Nina. “So you’re the gadget woman around here are you?”

“She’s not only the best gadget woman around here, but in the entire building,” Frank said. “She’s supposed to be a field agent but she never goes out.”

“I do too,” Nina defended herself. She pulled out of the file cabinet a small potato sized package and gave it to Frank.

“When?” Frank demanded.

“It was a while ago,” Nina admitted, “It was warm, and the trees were green. I think.”

“Ha see she never goes out. You owe me a gadget,” Frank said.

“I owe you nothing. Now get out of my lab,” Nina said pushing the two out the door.

“When does our plane leave?” The dark man asked.

“Three hours, and then I get to breathe in all those great exhaust fumes of Cairo,” Frank said sounding like he was planning on enjoying himself.

The plane touched down with a hard thump. “There went my spleen,” Frank complained.

“I lost my lunch back in Spain,” DM admitted.

“Let’s just find our rental, hit the Hilton and I’m going to crawl into my bed and sleep until morning,” Frank said. “I hate airports and airplanes.”

“You go ahead and sleep I have someone to visit,” DM said.

“Who?” Frank asked.

“Just an old friend,” DM said giving nothing away.

Night rolled over the city making everything seem as dark as it was dirty. There were few lights on in the city, and even fewer made it to the small Catholic church with the small graveyard next to it. The dark man weaved his way through the wind blown grave markers knowing where to go. A small limestone headstone that no longer had the name on it, and only one person knew who rested below the ground.

“Hello old friend,” DM sadly said putting flowers down on the smooth headstone. “It’s been a long time since I was here, but you never changed. I have a problem. I don’t know which way to go. Should I still fight for the little man who can afford me, or fight for the country in which I love? You always said that God loves freedom, and that I was an agent of God. You did your best to try and make me a priest didn’t you?”

DM wiped his eyes from tears that formed there. “I wish you were still around. Somehow you always knew the right thing to say, and here I was over a hundred years old and you were still wiser. I haven’t said yet but I have two women in my life now. One I’ve had for a while, and the other is new. I wish I could tell you all the positive things about each, but words escape me. I love them both for their own individual reasons. Why does life always have to be so complicated?

“I tried to make my life simple, but complications always seem to butt in. What did you call me, the left foot? I am the part of the body that is always covered up. I am never recognized and am usually forgotten. Yet I am crucial to the function of the body. Is that why I have been thrust in with Ethan’s group? Am I once again going to be a useful shadow? Should I stop it? I miss you Owen. I miss you so much.” Drying his tears DM walked away from his dead friend.

“So where did you go last night?” Frank asked the dark man. Frank had on a white cotton suit that made him look uncomfortable, but fashionable.

“I went to see the grave of the person who converted me to Catholicism,” Dark Mateus said. He had on loose black cotton pants and a shirt of Egyptian cotton with the top third black, the middle third natural cotton color, and the bottom third black.

“Sounds like a good story. You can tell it to me later, our copter is here.” Frank said as the egg shaped flying craft touched down before them. It was white and blue on the outside, and the inside was stuffy and hot from the large windows and the engine just behind the cockpit.

“Have I mentioned I’ve never been in a helicopter before?” DM asked yelling at Frank.

Frank on the other had crouched low from the wind of the rotors. “You may have said something like that why? Are you scared of dying?” Frank gave DM a wicked grin and climbed aboard.

DM followed and soon felt that the weight of the craft was no longer being supported by the skids, but by the quickly turning blades over head. They moved so fast he could see through their turning shadows and see the bright blue sky.

“Welcome to Abydos,” A young man with red hair and predominate freckles said greeting them. “We were wondering if you were going to fly that thing around a few more times to cover up our burial site.”

“Sorry, we were having a hard time to find a place to land,” Frank said shaking hands with the young man.

“I know that’s why we usually take a boat or cars to and from Cairo. I’m Peter Johns by the way. If you’d like I can bring you to Doctor Fish,” Peter said indicating a distant tent.

“That would be excellent. I’m Frank and this is Dark,” Frank said not giving the last names.

“If you’d like to come this way I’ll give you the low down on what’s going on,” Pete said and they followed. “Just a little back ground Abydos is the burial capital of ancient Egypt, and I mean ancient. The only known grave sites of the First dynasty are here. This is literally the birth place of modern culture. We uncovered a wall when digging an exploratory trench and we believe we’ve found a Pharaoh that lived between Djer and Wadj. You have no idea who that is, so these were some of the very first kings of human kind.”

“We were sent to verify you found something important,” DM said trying to get them on track. There were dozens of armed guards about with wicked looking machine guns ready to fire if they thought necessary. After the two hour long helicopter right it was good to be stretching their legs, if it only weren’t so hot. The snow was still falling in Chicago and the dark man was sweating like a pig over a fire.

“We did, but I can’t talk about it here. Dr. Fish is better at it anyhow. She’s the one who found the important pieces,” Peter looked so happy and excited. It made DM a little uneasy to know he was going to be destroying his possible glory.

There was a tent set off to the side, and there were four guards around the tent looking mean and angry at everyone. Peter stopped off and told the guards that Frank and the dark man were with him, and he held open the tent flap for them. Dr. Fish was a woman, who could have been beautiful twenty years ago. Now she was old with graying white hair. Her face was a mass of leathered wrinkles that made her face look like a satellite photo of mountains. Her blue eyes were starting to film over by cataracts. She had on a loose natural colored cotton outfit that let the heat out, and the cool air in.

“Hello gentlemen, Peter get our guests something to drink. Please have a seat.” Dr. Fish gestured to the cloth folding chairs behind them.

The pair took a seat while Peter came back with two glass bottles of ice cold tea. “Thank you.” They both said to Peter. “Dr. Fish I understand that you found something important?”

“Important!” Dr. Fish yelled out. “Sir I have found something that will shake the very foundation of Egyptology. It was quite by accident, but while sifting through the broken pieces of pottery that workmen used as scraps to write on I found this.” From behind her Dr. Fish brought out a small shard of pottery. Like holding a butterfly she cradled the shard with both hands, and gently put it on a cotton cloth resting on the table.

DM and Frank looked at it closely. It was the broken piece of pottery, and the outside was decorated with the figurines of humans. It was hard to make out at first, but when the light hit the piece just right they could see it. A line of men holding onto a line, that turned dramatically upwards at a thirty degree angle after coming in contact with some round object. The line then went off the piece of pottery and then down again to a large block of stone.

“That’s a pulley,” DM said in a soft whisper of awe.

“We believed so,” Dr. Fish said with a large grin.

“This site was from, when three thousand BC?” DM said trying to draw up his memory.

“It was about that time the site was first made, yes. If that isn’t enough proof for you we also found this,” Dr. Fish brought out a small wooden box and opened it. She removed the cotton balls around two small ivory objects. One object was flat with a hole in it near the middle, and on one end was a small ivory hook, but then was broken off. The other object was like a wheel with a deep groove down the middle and two prongs on either side with small holes at the end of the prongs.

“Oh my God that’s a pulley,” DM said in shock. Frank tried not to show he was confused.

“The nice part is since it is ivory we can carbon date it,” Peter said excited.

DM looked over at Frank and he gave him the nod. Using his powers to control people’s minds DM took charge. “Please tell me who knows about these discoveries?”

Compelled to obey, Dr. Fish spoke first, “The head of the Egyptology department back at the university, the dean of the department of history at the university, and Peter here.”

Peter spoke but didn’t have much to say, “I have told no one of our discovery.”

Frank whispered to DM, “The two at the university alerted us to this, so they’re safe. Go ahead and tell them to hide the parts.”

DM took a deep breath to make his commands, “Dr. Fish and Peter Johns I want you to hid the pieces you have found in an area where you are not digging, and will not dig in the future so someone else who is digging in the area will find them. You will also destroy any evidence such as notes, photographs, or video tape that show these pieces ever existed. As soon as the pieces are hidden you will forget they ever existed. The memory of them will be wiped from your mind. While you are doing this you will act normally, but tell no one what you are doing and why. You both will forget why we were here other than we were to inspect your work. You will forget that you were told these things.”

“We should go now,” Frank said.

DM nodded his head, and left the two stunned Egyptologists in the tent. While the copter was warming up Dr. Fish and Peter were making a small fire of notebook pages just outside the tent. As they lifted off no one waved to them, and that made the dark man feel better than if they had.

“That went well,” Frank said when the copter landed in Cairo. The smog was thick and there was a thick cloud of fumes hanging in the air.

“I feel dirty,” DM said not meaning true dirt.

“Well you can take a shower at the motel after we drop off these bugs to the CIA guy,” Frank said not catching on. The rental car was still parked where they had left it, but the interior was so hot that they had to let it air out before getting in.

“I don’t feel right about making them forget about something they had rightfully found,” DM complained.

“Relax the information will be discovered, and that Dr. Fish will have fifteen years of funding for her projects,” Frank said testing the interior of the car.

“That’s the only reason why I agreed to do that.” DM didn’t bother to test the heat in the car, and got in. The seatbelt was burning hot, but he put it on anyhow. Frank got in and as soon as he touched the belt he pulled back his hand waving it in the air. More carefully he put it across his waist. “So who’s this guy we’re going to see?”

“The caterer to the Russian consulate here in Cairo is on the US payroll. We finally got the mini microphones so he can record what goes on in his office, and the CIA asked us to drop them off while we were here,” Frank said blasting his horn and narrowly avoiding a crash. The roads of Cairo were worse than in New York, and every vehicle on the road had dents or missing fenders or both.

“Can I ask you a question?” Frank asked.

“Sure,” DM said not feeling any secrets.

“Why don’t you have sex with every hot chick you meet?” Frank asked with both hands on the wheel and a silent prayer on his lips.

“I tried that, and found there was more to life than a sexy woman to put my dick into,” The dark man was honest with his friend. It was true he did have sex, a great deal of sex, but he found that life was more than about bodily pleasures.

“Never talk to my wife then,” Frank said with a smile and then a tire squealing stop. “We’re here. If we hurry we might even be able to leave this evening.” The sun was dipping down, and the hottest part of the day was over. Now the air would start to cool, but the smog would keep most of the heat in the city, and Frank didn’t want back to the cold air of Washington.

The building was a cinderblock building with white tiles on the outside, and a large window in front. Through the window rows of empty tables could be seen with chairs upside down on them. The window in the blue wood door said Kafele Minkah Café, and below was a closed sign in two languages.

“He shouldn’t be closed,” Frank said suspicious. “Let’s go around back and see if he’s there.”

“Did he know we were coming?” DM asked.

“He was supposed to, but the CIA may not have sent the message yet,” Frank said quietly. He was moving silently now, and looked like he was ready to spring at any moment with his legs slightly bent.

The back of the building was bare cinderblocks and the door was again wood, but the blue paint was pealing. “Shouldn’t I take point?” DM asked.

“Right you come back to life, go ahead,” Frank said.

The dark man stepped up to the door and knocked. No answer. He gave Frank a shrug of his shoulders and Frank returned the expression. DM turned the knob on the door, and the wooden plank moved inwardly on silent hinges. The interior was dark, and there was an air of old cooking. With careful steps DM walked into the kitchen. Nothing was cooking, and all the pots and pans were where they should be when the end of the day’s work was done. There was no sign of anything alive except for a cockroach crawling in the corner.

The heat inside was making both men sweat as they looked around. The shook their heads at each other to tell the other they had found nothing. Then they came to a set of stairs leading up. DM again took point into the dark still building. What sunlight there was made the dust visible through the windows on the second story. As DM poked his head up over the edge of the floor he saw Minkah, dead. His body was flat on its back with a large slit across his throat. The blood had pulled in and dried up. The smell of decay was starting to make its way into the room. He had been dead for a number of hours.

“He’s up there dead, no one in sight,” DM said to Frank.

“Shit,” Frank said following DM up to the second floor.

The two looked from the dead body of the fat Egyptian to each other. Then as if someone had blinked and the world had changed Frank had a red line appear under his chin along his neck. His eyes went wide with pain and he grasped his neck as blood flowed through his fingers and gurgled up his mouth. The dark man too felt something on his neck, and found that he too had his throat slashed. He felt the pain then. Frank went down first to his knees and then to the floor.

With effort DM tried to stop the blood flow from his own neck, but it was useless. He turned and saw a man standing in the dark corner. He was short, but looked about thirty years old. His skin was the color of a native, and his head was shaved completely bald. He was in a loose cotton shirt and pants. His arms were crossed and his right hand held a curved dagger. On his left hand around the middle finger was an odd looking iron ring. He looked down at the dark man with a smile on his face. As DM’s vision began to tunnel down to a point the bald man stepped up to the dying man and spoke English in a low gravely voice, “Die you American shit.”

Darkens enveloped DM’s eyes and then his mind, and again as so many times before he died. There was nothing at first, but the feeling of being cold. It was a dripping cold that could only be found outside at night in a desert. DM opened his eyes painfully and found he was out in the desert. He tried to breathe and found something in his throat. He gagged, and the plug did not move. He knew that if he didn’t take a breath soon he would die again, and everything would start over again. DM gagged again and the mass in him moved slightly. The ground and the night were swimming around each other as he gagged again and the mass slipped out of his lungs. Making it to his hands and knees the dark man gagged a final time and the dark mass of dried blood and mucus dropped from his mouth.

Breathing with relief DM fell to the sandy ground. His breathing was ragged but was coming back to him. His head was clearing and he was coming back to his senses. He spat out what was left in his mouth as he remember what had happened to him. FRANK! The thought of his friend jerked him up and looked around. Frank was there, on his back, and no longer alive.

DM hit the ground with his fist angry. What blood was in him rushed to his face as he cursed every god he knew. Once again he was alive while someone else was dead. With unsteady legs DM stood up and walked over to him. He was still warm, but that could have been from the desert sun. DM tried to speak to his dead friend, but when he tried a harsh buzz came out and it hurt. The dark man cursed again that he couldn’t even speak. Off in a little distance Kafele Minkah lay face down in the dirty sand.

DM checked his pockets and found them empty except for his keys. On the ground near DM and Frank were their wallets, mostly intact except for the missing cash. That’s when DM realized his satellite phone was gone. So much for the hope of rescue the dark man thought to himself.

Dark Mateus stood up to look around to where he was. Fifty feet away was the rental car, and only one tire was flat. So whoever it was who took them to the desert got a flat so he left the car DM surmised. He went over and opened the truck where the spare tire was, and inflated too. It was hard for DM to take off the flat, and put on the spare. He was dizzy from the lack of blood and water, the sand didn’t support the jack well, and the moon was on the wrong side of the car to produce light. Still by the time there was the first hint of sunlight on the horizon the tire was on.

As gently as possible DM put Kafele Minkah and Frank into the trunk of the car and headed for the distant lights he was hoping was Cairo. Much to DM’s amazement the spare tire held all the way to Cairo. All the while DM was trying to talk. It was harsh and ruff, but he was starting to make some kind of words out of his mouth. The heat was getting to him, dehydrating him even more. Thankfully it wasn’t hard to find the American embassy since there were so many American style restaurants around it, and the huge American flag helped.

The morning wasn’t even starting and the guards at the gates looked like they had been there all night. One teenage boy came to the window of the gate and gave the dark man an odd look. DM’s neck was still covered in blood, but it was flaking off now. The black top of his shirt hid much of the blood, but the white middle showed the brownish red quite clearly. “May I help you?” The guard asked.

DM coughed with a dry broken throat and then squeaked out, “I am Dark Mateus I work for General Ethan Sanders. Entrance is what I desire.” It was an effort getting the words out, and he was feeling weaker by the minute.

“What did you say?” The guard asked wanting to make sure he hear correctly.

DM on the other hand was about to pass out and didn’t have time for that, “Check the trunk.” Then he passed out with his head landing on the car horn.

“Don’t move,” The woman in a white doctor’s coat said to the dark man when DM opened his eyes. “It’s amazing you’re even alive.”

“Water,” DM squeaked out. He looked around and found himself in a small medical style room. He was on a bed with an I.V. quickly dripping saline solution into his arm. There was something around his neck and when he reached up to touch it he felt gauze and a thick bandage. The doctor was a fat short woman with brown hair and a happy pudgy face with small dark pig eyes.

She turned back around with a plastic cup in her hand and slowly poured the liquid to his lips. He gagged a little as his dry throat absorbed as much water as reached his stomach. “Careful, maybe we should start with ice chips.” The doctor said taking the water away.

DM didn’t have time for that, so he grabbed the water cup and drank it all and forced himself not to gag. He did that a third and fourth time and then the doctor started to relax when he didn’t even have to try not to gag, “Did you check the trunk?”

The doctor was more concerned with her patient than what was in his car, but she realized that well-being was both metal and physical. “Your trunk was checked and we did find the two bodies. Both were killed in the same way I would expect you to have been killed. I have no idea how you’re even alive.”

“That makes two of us. I need a secure line to the states,” DM demanded.

The doctor was not happy taking orders, but she finally did, “Wait here I’ll get someone.”

In seconds the doctor came back with another woman. She was in her early thirties wearing a dark red power suit, high heals, and no makeup. She was quite handsome and had an air of power around her with her stone like face. “I’m Mary Smith Mr. Mateus, how may I help you?” The tone of her voice was hard and stern. She may be female, but she wasn’t a lady.

“I need a secure phone line to the United States,” DM said in a sure voice. “I’d also like this I.V. out of my arm.”

The doctor took care of the I.V. while Mary talked with DM, “First off I would like to know which General Sanders you told the guard about.”

“He is the head of the office of homeland security division 919 at the Pentagon,” DM said getting the feeling Mary already knew which Sanders.

Mary on the other hand didn’t look happy. “So this is terrorist related,” She accented the ‘is’ as if trying to confirm something so she could win a bet.

“I can not discuss that with out talking to my superiors,” DM said. He looked down at his arm as the doctor slipped the needle out under a cotton ball. She bent DM’s arm so he could hold it there until it clotted.

Mary was trying to be difficult and doing a very good job of it, “I’m not sure I should let you have an outside line if you are not going to give me more information.”

If the dark man could use his power to make her give him a phone he would have, but he knew his powers were dead for a while so he had to be tactful, “Lady I don’t even know if I am in the American embassy right now. My partner is dead. Our contact is dead. I almost died. If you do not get me an outside line right now do you really think it will look favorably on you when it comes out you stopped me from talking to my superiors?” The dark man could have said more, but his throat hurt and Mary looked like she had given in.

“Okay I’ll give you five minutes. Come with me,” Mary turned and walked off.

DM wiggled his way out of the bed and followed. His arm was still bent holding the cotton ball as he caught up to Mary. She didn’t speak to him, and he saved his voice for Ethan. The halls of the embassy were huge and elegant with marble pillars about and expensive looking oil paintings hanging everywhere there wasn’t a plant. It looked more like a palace than a piece of America.

They stopped by one door and Mary opened it to show a conference room with a large table in the middle with chairs around it, maps on the walls, and books on low shelves. There was a black phone on the table and that’s what DM headed for. “Press nine and then one and then dial the number complete with the US area code.” Mary said without emotion.

DM took a seat in one of the swivel chairs and found the padding quiet comfortable. He picked up the phone and then looked up at Mary who still stood at the doorway. “Excuse me,” DM said looking at her. Mary snorted at being snubbed and left with the expression on her body of being hurt. DM didn’t move until he heard the thick door close shut and the latch catch.

DM dialed the number for Ethan’s office. He did some mental calculations compared with the clock on the wall. It would have been about seven in the morning at Washington, and he had hoped someone was in the office. He was in luck.

“Office of homeland security division 919, how may I help you?” Debby said with a smile into the phone.

“Debby this is Dark Mateus, I have a problem.” He said.

“Oh dear aren’t you in Egypt?” Debby asked.

“Still, but the problem is Frank is dead and the CIA man we were suppose to meet Kafele Minkah is dead too. They killed me, but I came back to life.” The dark man felt spent. He was tired, and hungry and thirsty. This was not a good way to come back to life.

“Oh dear,” Debby said. “Ethan should be on his way here. Let me patch you into his phone.”

There were several clicks and a waiting of a few seconds then Ethan came on the line. “Frank’s dead!”

“Yes sir,” DM said trying to swallow. “He and I both had our throats slashed and then dumped in the desert along with the CIA man Kafele Minkah.”

“Do you know who did it?” Ethan asked. The sound of a powerful engine came through the phone as he gunned it forward.

“No sir, but if I saw him again I would recognize him. Sir I also believe he used some kind of temporal magic or science,” DM said hoping his boss would believe him.

“What makes you say that?” Ethan asked suspiciously.

“Both Frank and myself found ourselves with our throats slashed. The only way I saw the man was he wanted to mock me as I died. I saw a strange iron ring on his finger at that time. Unless the man can move at the speed of light, which I suppose is possible; I believe the ring has something to do with it.”

Ethan grunted at that. “Alright here’s what I’m going to do. I’ll send Nina and George out there to meet up with you. I want you to find this guy, find out who he works for, learn how he knew Kafele Minkah was a CIA spy, and find any more science or magic he has and confiscate it.”

“Sir may I suggest you also bring in Pierce McKullen?” DM said. His throat was like sand paper mixed with acid.

“Why?” Ethan asked.

“He has knowledge of both magic and science, and he was Frank’s friend,” DM said. He so wanted to stop talking for a while and just drink water until he was sick, but work had to be done.

“Okay I’ll give him a call. You are at the US embassy, right?” Ethan asked.

“I suppose so,” DM said his voice was giving out again.

“That’s what the caller ID says, so stick around there until George and Nina get there. I’ll make a few calls to get everything cleared. Oh and don’t let George boss you around.” Ethan hung up quickly.

DM struggled to his feet and went to the door. Mary was waiting for him. “Well it’s about time I gave you an extra thirty seconds,” She sounded like that was a favor. “I’ll show you to your car and you may leave.”

“I have orders to stay here and wait for backup,” DM said.

Mary looked like she was going to claw his eyes out. “Where do you get off telling me what to do?” She yelled at his face. She was taking it personally from the dark man’s point of view.

“I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care,” DM said with a stoned face expression. “I will wait for backup here, and then we’ll go someplace else if I so offend you.”

Mary came up close to him. She was so close he could smell the soap she had used that morning. “You do not offend me, what you are offends me.”

This didn’t come as a shock to DM so he kept his expressionless face to the woman. “And pray tell what am I?”

“You are a middle eastern spy who killed two agents,” Mary said with a sneer.

This did come as a shock. How could she think that he, the dark man, could possibly be a spy who killed Frank and Kafele Minkah? “I suggest that you change your tone and attitude, quickly.”

“Do you think that it is a surprise that one CIA operative is dead, one OHS American is dead, and you a middle eastern just happen to be alive?” Mary hissed.

“I am not middle eastern. I am an American, and proud of it. The fact I am alive is information you are not privileged to,” DM said angry at the woman and wishing is persuasion power was still with him.

“Oh I’m not high enough am I,” Mary said with a scrunched up angry face.

“No you’re not,” DM said dead serious.

“Mary,” A call came from down the hallway, “We just got the call he’s clear. Anything he wants he gets.”

Mary did not look happy. “I want you out of my embassy as soon as possible.”

“If you have a warehouse or even an empty building we could use as an HQ we won’t be in your embassy any longer than it takes to assemble,” DM said.

“Fine,” She said through clenched teeth. Mary walked off with long stiffed legged strides. Her high heals clacked on the ground echoing down the hallway. She didn’t look back.

DM asked around and found a money machine and got some cash. Then he was happy to find the cafeteria in the basement. The hunger pains didn’t start until the second bowl of chilly. By the end he was stuffed, and the drinking fountain was his new best friend. All the time he was eating he was thinking of how he could do what Ethan had ordered him to proceed.

He went back up to the ground floor and found the receptionist far more likeable. She had brownish red hair and a slim figure. “May I help you Mr. Mateus?”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a deck of cards would you?” DM asked with a smile.

“I do, and may I also suggest a new shirt,” She said with a friendly smile.

DM looked down at himself and realized he was still wearing the shirt with the blood all over it. He graciously accepted the deck of cards and a tee-shirt with a large American flag and an ‘I Love America’ printed on it. It may not be a very good shirt to spy around in, but it wasn’t covered in dried blood.

“Doctor I would like to apologize about my behavior earlier,” DM said to the doctor in the medical room.

“Don’t worry about it. I understand that you almost died, and should have,” The doctor said with a smile.

“That is on a need to know basis how I’m still alive,” DM said.

“That’s okay I heard you work for OHS 919 so I understand, really,” She smiled at him. She was friendly and DM didn’t notice that before.

“I hate to ask, but I will be out of here soon, and I may not be back to change the dressing on my neck. Could I trouble you for some rolled gauze?” DM asked politely.

“Sure, and if you need anything else just ask,” She said with a smile hading over three rolls of gauze.

DM was seated at a lone table in a far off corner out of the way. He was playing solitaire waiting, and hoping that his voice would heal quickly. He didn’t notice much that was going on around him, until he heard a familiar voice.

“YOU!” Pierce McKullen said at the end of the hallway. He was walking quickly at him. He had on his familiar gray hooded sweatshirt over a white shirt, and blue jeans. He looked angry and the black backpack was barely hanging on his shoulder by the one strap. “I understand I have you to thank for bringing me here.” He acted angry.

“Yes thank you for coming.” DM said gathering up his cards.

“This is not a problem,” Pierce said easily loosing the anger. He slipped off his backpack and pulled from it a laptop computer. He turned it on and loaded up a program on the hard disk. The image of a blank face came up. “Here get to work on that man you saw. I’m going to see Frank.” Pierce walked off leaving DM to work.

Fifteen minutes later Pierce came back somber and sad. “Frank was killed with a single cut across the throat. I think the knife was slightly curved. He died quickly. What have you got?”

DM turned the laptop around to show the bald man he had seen. “This is the guy, but he didn’t have eyelashes.”

Pierce looked at him with dubious eyes. “No eyelashes eh?” Pierce moved the curser and clicked them of. “You sure this is the guy?”
DM looked and was sure of it. “Yeah that’s the guy.”

“How good of a look at him did you get?” Pierce asked wanting to make sure.

“While I was dropping dead I saw him, and I also heard his voice,” DM defended himself. “I’ll know him for sure even if I only hear him.”

“Well if you’re sure,” Pierce said. He pulled out a small printer from his backpack and hooked it up to the laptop and printed out three copies of the face. “Where’s your phone at?”

“I don’t know, the guy must have taken it from me,” DM said feeling guilty.

“That’s a start,” Pierce said sounding hopeful. He started fishing around in his bag. “As long as they didn’t take off the battery pack we can track it.”

“What?” DM was confused.

Pierce gave him a smile. “It’s a satellite phone, and a GPS transmitter. So I can pinpoint it to two feet.” He pulled out a yellow box and punched in a few buttons. “Give it a second.” Pierce powered down the laptop and put it back in his bag.

“How did you get here so quickly?” DM asked.

“I flew,” Pierce said unconcerned looking down at the LCD screen on the yellow box.

“Is that your power?” DM asked still trying to figure out what Pierce’s powers were.

“That’s it I flew like a super hero, and not the more likely scenario I came on a jet plane,” Pierce said. “Oh it’s done. I don’t suppose you have a car?”

They left word with the receptionist that when George and Nina arrived to head to the building that Mary so graciously set up. With DM driving they set off for where Pierce directed. It was a small seedy looking pawn shop with every manner of object, item, machine, and tool in the world. Also somewhere inside was DM’s satellite phone.

“Hello.” Pierce said walking into the store. Behind the counter was an old wrinkled man who looked like any second he was going for a shotgun under the counter. DM came in silently behind the young detective, but was clearly noticeable in his tee-shirt.

“May I help you?” The old man asked.

Pierce pulled out his phone and dialed DM’s number. Somewhere in back the satellite phone beeped. “That would be my phone,” DM said in a low menacing voice, or tired to with his ruined vocal cords.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” The old man said trying to act innocent.

“Did the guy who brought in the satellite phone look like this?” Pierce asked lifting up the composite DM had made.

The old man’s face went pale, “That could have been the guy.”

“And did the phone have my blood all over it?” DM asked.

The old man’s face went even whiter, “That man did bring in the phone and another. Please don’t turn me in.”

“Give back both phones, and the man’s name,” Pierce said.

“I am sorry I do not know the man’s name, but I have heard he hangs out at the bazaar.” The old man wasn’t reaching under the counter any more. “I also have the listening devices he brought in with him.”

When they were out of the pawn shop Pierce was driving. DM was playing around with his phone to see if anything is wrong with it. He pulled out his list of phone numbers and called Frank’s phone in his other hand. He was happy to see the light come on to say they phones were still secure. “I think that shirt of yours is what scared him,” Pierce said indicating DM’s American flag shirt.

“I should stop off at the Hilton and pick up new cloths before finding this guy,” DM admitted. “We can also put the CIA’s bugs in a safe place.” They swung by the hotel and DM changed into black comfortable cloths that were much more comfortable in the heat of the day.

The bazaar was a massive sea of people moving in their own direction. Pierce had to shoo off throngs of little children who were begging him for money, or trying to sell trash. DM kept his eyes open looking for the bald man. The anger at him for killing Frank made him desperately want to find him, and kill him quickly. Every bald head he saw DM took a good look at him.

The heat of the day was weighing down everything and everyone in the bazaar, and most people were finding shade and trying not to move. DM and Pierce on the other hand were walking around looking for the bald man. DM wiped his brow to clear the sweat from his eyes, and when he did he saw the bald man. Down a long alley the bald man passed by quickly. DM instantly knew it was him, and took off running.

At the end of the alley the dark man saw the bald man a few yards down the street walking away from him. “That’s him.” DM said.

“Are you sure?” Pierce asked not wanting to make a mistake.

“Oh yes that’s him, see he’s wearing that iron ring on his left hand.” DM said pointing out the metal band.

Then the bald man stopped. He was looking at a fruit stand across the street. Almost unnoticed by the two men watching he clenched his left hand. Then he shifted. He was standing in the same place, but the position of his body changed in less time than it took to blink. In his right hand was an apple. The apple was not there before.

DM and Pierce looked at each other. That was odd, and instantly they knew that they were dealing with someone with magic powers. This was going to be tricky.

“How do you want to deal with this?” Pierce asked.

“How you’d normally deal with someone who raped my sister and your betroth,” DM said and ran at the bald man. The centuries DM had lived he learned how to fight, and punch and take someone down with one blow. That’s what he did then. With one hard packed mass of muscles in his fist he hit the bald man across the jaw and upper part of the face taking him down with a brain that hit the inside of the skull.

“You bastard!” DM yelled in Arabic.

“What’s going on here?” A local police officer asked in Arabic as he ran up to the dark man and the fallen bald man.

“This man raped my sister!” DM screamed in Arabic pointing at the downed man. Just then Pierce walked up next to DM and looked down with anger at the floored man.

“Do you know who this is?” The police officer asked Pierce in Arabic.

Pierce gave a confused look to the police officer. “I’m sorry I don’t understand Arabic,” Pierce said in English.

The officer tried again in English, “Do you know who this man is?” He pointed down at the man who still was not moving.

“Yeah he’s the one who raped my fiancée,” Pierce said through clenched teeth. He was a good actor.

The officer looked back at DM. The dark man spoke up, “Father wants to speak with him before we take him to the authorities.”

The officer nodded his head in agreement. “Just be sure he makes it to the station alive,” The officer said before turning away and walking off.

DM slipped the iron ring off the bald man’s finger before hoisting him up. Pierce helped out and they took him to the car. Just to make sure they tied him up before dropping him in the very hot trunk. They cleared out anything he could have used to free himself, and then they headed for the embassy.

They met up with George and Nina even before they made it to the building. They were waiting for them outside leaning on their rental car. Nina looked uncomfortable being outdoors. George looked angry and mad and worse with the black eye. They were told by Mary to wait outside and they had been waiting for a while. In silence, except for the man in the trunk, they two cars drove to the building set up for them.

George and Pierce took him into the building. It was a normal looking white washed brick building that was two stories tall, but there was not second floor. Inside it was empty except for two small rooms with single doors, and one large room that only had light from small windows high up on the walls. There was a heavy wooden chair in the corner, and Nina dragged it over to the middle of the room.

When the bald man looked up at who kidnapped him he stopped struggling when he saw the dark man. The bald man’s eyes went wide seeing DM was alive. There was fear in the bald man’s eyes.

“Make sure he’s tied tight,” DM said taking authority. “Then leave so I can talk with him.”

“Where do you get off telling us what to do?” George demanded.

DM looked at George like he was a whining child. “I was the one who watched my partner die, so I get to talk to him first,” The dark man said in an angry voice. DM found a bucket near a water faucet and filed the bucket up to a certain level. After making sure that he was tied tight Nina, George, and Pierce left the building.

“Who are you?” The bald man asked in English.

“I’m the man you tried to kill. You really should have made sure I was dead,” DM said putting the bucket down on the ground.

The bald man swallowed. “You were dead,” He choked out in English.

“Then how am I standing here?” DM paused to look at the man. He looked so scared, and that’s the way to torture a person. “You had better confess or I’ll make you confess to everything,” DM said walking around the tied up man.

“Confess to what you American shit?” The bald man was brave, if also stupid.

“We’ll get to that after I’m done,” DM said unconcerned. “First I need to torture you. You killed my friend, and tried to kill me, so now I’m going to make you beg for death.”

“Torture me all you want I’ll never talk.” The bald man was stupid.

DM got up to the man’s face and whispered in a deep voice, “Child when I’m done you won’t be able to stop talking.” He backed up and strode around while he explained what he was going to do. “It’s funny but the two tortures I have lined up in my mind, one is nothing like what it was suppose to be, and the other is exactly what it is supposed to be but has changed in popular view over the years.”

DM pulled out the deck of cards. “I’m sure you’ve heard death by a thousand cuts. Well the Chinese came up with the concept, and truthfully they never got past one hundred twenty cuts, but that kills a person. It’s cutting away a little piece of a person at a time. A nasty little Italian showed me his death by a thousand paper cuts. You see you stimulate the pain nerves with the swipe of paper, or in this case a playing card. What’s more if done properly you don’t even spill a drop of blood. Not only that, but you have an entire body to work with. It feels like you’re being skinned alive. It’s like you are being burned and the flame won’t go away. I should know. I had it done to me.”

DM picked up the bucket of water and put it down again. “The other torture is the water torture. This isn’t a steady drop after drop to a person’s head. I have no idea who came up with that, but this is the old and far more painful way. First we make your head the lowest part of your body. We shove linen, or I have gauze, into your mouth, and pour water down the cloth. To keep yourself from drowning you have to swallow, you can’t help it. Thus you swallow the gauze too. Then while it sits in your stomach it sucks up the acid. Then the pain starts when I draw out the acid soaked cloth. It feels like swallowing molten metal, and the pain doesn’t stop as it eats away at your insides. If done properly I can draw the gauze out of your stomach twenty times before I use up all the water. I can only use eight quarts of water since any more your stomach will fill up and the water will start to go into your lungs.”

DM turned to leave but looked back at the bald man. “Think about that for a little bit. I’ll be back to see if you want to confess.”

DM walked out of the building to find Nina, George, and Pierce sitting in the shade. George jumped up. “I’ll get the information out of him.”

DM stood before him, and would not let him pass. “You will do no such thing,” DM said. “Getting information out of someone is something I’ve had three lifetimes of experiencing doing. I’ll get the information, just let me work.”

“Why should I?” George demanded. His black eye had turned green and was yellow at the edge.

“Because I am not yet an employee of the OHS so the US government is blameless if I interrogate the subject,” DM said. George saw the logic so sat down in the shade.

“Should we ask how you’re going to get the information out of him?” Pierce inquired.

“No, in fact why don’t you three go out and keep yourself busy while I work. I’ll call if I find out anything,” DM said.

“I’d rather stick close,” Nina said. Her glasses were shining the sunlight right on the dark man making him seem almost angelic.

“If you don’t hear the screams you can’t testify I tortured him,” DM said serious.

“We didn’t just hear that,” George said standing up and going to his car.

“We’ll be back in a few hours,” Nina said following George.

Pierce looked at the dark man. “Need some help?” Pierce asked with an arched eyebrow.

“No get out of here. This is something I hope no one has to see,” DM said sadly.

“Good thing I brought my homework,” Pierce said hefting his bag. He tossed the dark man two packets of beef jerky and a bottle of water. This made DM smile. Pierce was a good kid.

The dark man walked back into the building. There was a smell in the still dark air. It was a smell only few could detect. It was the smell of fear. The bald man looked up at him when he entered. “You want me to confess to killing that American spy. Fine I killed the pig,” The bald man said with a sneer.

“Child, he may have been an American, and he may have been a spy, but whoever said he was spying for America?” DM asked in a low voice. “The Egyptian government can recruit Americans to spy on the Russians just like any other country.” The look on the bald man’s face was one of shock and a touch of horror. DM spoke normally, in an almost friendly tone, “So which would you like water or cards?”

The bald man looked away. When he didn’t say anything DM did for him. “I think I’ll do the death by a thousand paper cuts. That way if you don’t tell me what I want to know I can always rub vinegar or salt into your serrated skin, and made you scream more.”

“What do you want to know?” The bald man asked in a whisper.

“We’ll get to that,” DM said taking out the ace of diamonds.

The first five swipes of the card on the bald man’s left arm made him laugh. After twenty swipes he prisoner just snorted. After DM had swiped the card one hundred times on the bald man’s arm he was clenching his teeth. On the one hundred ninety-sixth cut from the car the bald man finally gave out a cry of pain. The blood filled in the split skin from the card, but did not flow as it clotted in the air. The entire left arm of the bald man from wrist to shoulder looked like one large raw bloody wound. Involuntary tears were starting to roll down the cheeks of the murderer.

Dark Mateus stood up with a smile down at the man tied to the chair. Silently DM opened the bottle of water, now warm, that Pierce had given him. He tore into the first pack of beef jerky never taking his eyes off the bald man, and not saying a word.

“What do you want to know?” The bald man asked as the pain was filling his mind.

DM knew what he was feeling. His arm was on fire, and that fire would die very slowly, but before the fire would go out there would be more pain. The skin covered the entire body, and DM could make his whole body burn, and then he could turn the card and make his skin burn in another direction. The bald man wasn’t close to breaking yet, but he was close. So the question was where to cut next.

Dramatically DM put the ace of diamonds away and pulled out the two of diamonds. The bald man struggled in the chair as DM approached. He knew pain was coming, and wouldn’t stop until he talked, but he had no idea what he was to talk about.

“I killed Kafele Minkah!” The bald man blurted out before DM could get to him.

This made the dark man pause with the playing card in his hand. He looked at the bald man with a curious look. Then like nothing had changed he swiped the card on the bald man’s head, just above the left eye. The swipe was a bit too deep because the blood welled up and was starting to form a single rolling drop of blood. The second swipe over the right eye was just right to hurt. The bald man screamed as DM did a rapid swiping along the back of the bald man’s head.

“What do you want?” The bald man cried out in Arabic.

DM didn’t answer but cut the man even more. He was breaking, but was not all the way there. After two more swipes the man broke into a million jumbles of pieces, and he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

“My name is Umi Chatha,” The bald man said crying. DM snorted at the name because it meant life ends. “I live in apartment 12 in the building on the west side of Al Geish Street south of before it crosses Port Said Street. I was born thirty-one years ago. I’m sorry. I’m sorry! I’M SORRY!”

“Shut up,” DM said. “Did you know that your upper lip is so sensitive that you can’t even snap a thread against it?”

“What do you want to know?!” The bald man was sweating and crying and the salt was making his wounds that much more painful.

“How did you know Kafele Minkah was a spy?” DM asked in English.

Umi swallowed and said in broken English in a quiet voice. “I went through his things one day and found spy equipment. He had a microscope to read microdots, and a tape recorder with a microburst function. I figured he was a spy and then you and the other man came in speaking American English.”

“Enough,” DM said quickly and sternly, “Who do you work for?”

Umi looked confused so DM slashed one of his ears with the card. “I’m sorry I don’t work for anyone!”

“I don’t believe you!” DM said as he walked around to the back of the chair, and slashed the back of Umi’s neck.

“It’s true!” Umi cried even more as the tears fell down his face. “I don’t work for anyone. I’ve used the ring to steal money and whatever I want.”

DM pulled out the iron ring. It wasn’t even decorated, but was so well preserved that there wasn’t even a speck of rust on it. The ring was just a band of iron that could have been nothing more than a gasket. “How did you use it?” DM asked.

“I put it on the middle finger of my left hand, make a fist, and time stops for everyone and everything but me. Make a fist again and time starts back up again. Please don’t hurt me! It’s the truth!” Umi cried.

DM looked doubtful, but inside he knew that it was probably the truth. He slipped it on his left hand, on his middle finger. It felt odd wearing a ring on that finger, but he made a fist. Sure enough all sound stopped, the dust stopped floating in the sunlight, and Umi stopped breathing.

DM walked around enjoying the fact nothing moved until he moved it. He let go of the playing card, and as soon as it left his fingers it froze in the air. He brought his hand close, but the card did not move until he touched it. He walked over to the bucket of water from before. It was still in the bucket, but when he put his hand in the water the water in the bucket moved. DM took his hand out of the water, and the drops fell from his hand, but when they were a hand span from his fingers they froze in the air.

He made a fist again and the water droplets fell down to the bucket. “Impressive, but where did you get it?” DM asked slipping the ring of his hand and putting it into his pocket.

“I found it,” Umi said quietly. DM slashed his other ear. Umi cried out. “It’s true I found it at Dra‛ Abu el-Naga‛ where Amenophis the first has been entombed. Go to the West Valley in the Valley of the Kings and look for a fake rock. The entrance is behind.”

DM was out of his league, but had hopes someone would know what Umi was talking about. “How many more magical items are there in the tombs?” DM asked.

“I’m not sure, but I found the ring translated what it said on the jar. The ring fell from space and could stop the sun. I tried it on and found out for myself,” Umi said.

He was starting to relax, and that was something DM couldn’t allow. He slashed both sides of Umi’s head. “I don’t believe you. How did you know where to look?” The dark man asked in a deep voice. He could tell he wouldn’t be able to control the man just yet.

Umi cried while he spoke, “I was one of the diggers when a group of American’s wanted to dig a ditch in hopes of finding something. We found a pot piece, but the Americans said it was nothing and tossed it away. I followed the clues and found a hidden entrance to Amenophis’ tomb.”

DM stood tall over the crying man. “Torture is not a very good way of finding out what we want to know, but this is verifiable information. If we find the entrance we’ll just turn you over to the local authorities for killing Kafele Minkah and my partner. If we can not find the entrance to the tomb then I’ll just have to come back and talk to you some more. Of course even if I do find it I might just come back and talk to you some more, with the suit of spades.”

The dark man checked to see that one of the back rooms of the building was empty of anything that could be used to escape. The room didn’t even have a window, and the ceiling was too high to reach. The door on the other hand could be a problem. It was just a door that could be opened from the inside. Then the dark man figured out what he could do to keep Umi inside.

DM tied Umi’s feet together and then untied his wrists and dragged him to the room. He tossed Umi in and closed the door quickly. It would take Umi a second or two to untie his legs, but that was all the time DM needed to close the door, and then wedge coins between the door and the jamb. In a few seconds Umi was trying to open the door, but the latch was wedged so tightly by the coins that the door could not be opened from the inside until someone from the outside removed the coins.

“Sit tight I’ll be back after I check your story,” DM said to the closed door.

He walked out of the building to the fading light of evening. He felt drained and weak. DM kept up a strong front before Umi because he had to, but now that it was over he felt he could collapse with good justification. He looked around for where Pierce, Nina, or George could be, and didn’t see them anywhere.

“Nina’s at Umi’s apartment,” Pierce said suddenly appearing behind the dark man. DM gave a jump when Pierce spoke in the low voice almost a whisper, but still forceful enough to shock him. “George is on his way by helicopter to the Valley of the Kings.” DM looked at Pierce realizing that the young man was watching him during the torture. Pierce’s demeanor changed to one of happiness. “So a nasty little Italian taught you that, eh?” Pierce said letting the dark man know he had been watching from the start.

DM lowered his head in shame. “I wish you didn’t have to see that,” The dark man said in shame.

“Why? You didn’t do the bad things I’ve read about like attaching electric wires to his genitals,” Pierce said. “Besides he’ll heal to the point he won’t even have scars. I mean how many times I have had a paper cut, but in a week there isn’t even a mark I can’t even count.”

DM sighed Pierce was a good kid. “So what do we do now?”

Pierce smiled at the dark man. “Dinner?”

They walked across the street to a small restaurant with a large front window and large comfortable seats. It was still early in the evening so there were few customers inside. They got a booth at the front of the building so they could look out the front window to the building where Umi was residing.

“How long was I in there?” DM asked not realizing how late it was.

“Almost four hours, and I’d like to thank you for that. I got my homework done in that amount of time,” Pierce said with a smile.

DM shook his head and the waitress came by and took their order. After she went way DM sipped the water she had put down on the table. “When I was tortured by that nasty little Italian they drugged me and gagged me,” DM was shivering with the memory as he talked. “When I came to I was tied to a big metal chair, and still had the gag in my mouth, so I couldn’t use my power. That man cut me all over my arms, legs, back and face before he removed the gag. I was a broken man by then. I would have told him anything at that point, but I still had enough wits about me to say to him, ‘drop dead’ and down he went.”

Pierce sat back listening to the story. “So you can make people die with two words?”

“I am not happy about that,” DM said. “By the time the guards came to check on me I had recovered enough to escape, and made it back to friendly lines with what I knew.”

“When was this?” Pierce asked.

“In the early years of World War Two I was a spy for the US,” DM said. “After the war I decided to disappear, and wiped my ID from just about every government record.”

“You did a good job. It took me a while to find out anything about you or what you can do.” Pierce said. He sipped his drink to indicate that he was done with that conversation. “Iron ring is magic, wow.”

DM pulled it out of his pocket and fingered it. “From what I remember the Egyptians didn’t know how to recover iron from the ore, so this probably came from fallen meteorites.”

“Cool, I never knew that,” Pierce said genuinely impressed, “Can I try it?”

DM didn’t see any harm so handed the ring over. “Put it on the middle finger of your left hand.” The dark man was going through the motions as he described them. “Then make a fist and it should stop time.” When DM made a fist with his left hand Pierce stopped breathing, and stopped period. He wasn’t moving at all. DM looked around quickly and found nothing was moving. The dark man’s eyes went wide with fear. Why was everything frozen?

Dark Mateus forced himself to calm down and sat down again in the chair. He breathed slowly. He was telling Pierce how to use the ring. He was describing how to put it on, and make a fist. DM’s eyes shot open and made a fist with his left hand, and instantly the world was moving again.

Pierce froze with his fingers still slipping on the ring. He was looking at DM with suspicion on his mind. “Did you just shift position?” Pierce knew something was wrong.

“Try using the ring,” DM demanded of Pierce.

Pierce fully slipped on the ring and made a fist of his left hand. Nothing happened. Pierce tried making a stronger fist with his left hand, and nothing happened. Pierce looked up at DM. “You absorbed the magic in this ring?” Pierce said it more as a question than anything else.

DM made a fist with is left hand and again the sounds stopped. A car was frozen flying in the air after hitting a bump in the road. The waitress was in mid stride walking to their table with a tray full of food. The dust did not stir and the world did not turn. DM made a fist again and the world returned to normal for him.

The waitress set the food down before her customers and left them with a friendly smiled. “Oh shit,” Pierce said out loud at the dark man.

“You took the words right out of my mouth. I guess it’s a good thing I’m immortal,” DM said. He was trying to put a happy face on a bad situation. He had been alive for over seven hundred twenty-eight years. He could control people with his words. He recovered from any injury completely. Now to add to that the fact he could stop time and move about in it. This made him supremely depressed. “As if I didn’t have enough time on my hands I can now stop it.”

“Okay I take it you absorbed the magic, but how?” Pierce asked.

DM shrugged his shoulders. “Frank once described me as a magic sponge,” DM said with a shrug, “so I guess that’s just what I am.” Just then DM’s satellite phone beeped.

“Nina here, I’m at Umi’s place. He must have been really into this Egyptology stuff. He’s got maps and crap of that nature everywhere,” Nina said over the screams of a baby in the background.

“Is there a pottery piece somewhere about?” DM asked.

There was a pause and for a moment the dark man thought something was wrong. “Do you want a pottery piece or jar?” Nina asked.

“Both,” DM said.

“Here they are, yeah I’ve got them. Are they important?” Nina was a lab rat not a field mouse.

“Yeah, bring them back so we can call General Sanders and ask what to do next,” DM said.

“Right see you soon,” Nina said.

“By,” DM said pressing the buttons to disconnect the call. Almost as soon as he did that his phone beeped again.

“It’s me,” George’s bitter and angry tone came over the phone. “I found that fake rock, now what?”

“What does it look like?” DM asked.

“I looks like a hole in the side of a hill, what’s it suppose to look like?” George asked in a condescending tone.

“Can you cover the entrance up with real rocks?” DM asked politely.

“Yeah sure, then what do you want me to do, oh master?” George was an angry bitter man, but did do a good job.

“Come back here so we can discuss what to do next with General Sanders,” DM said and cut off George before he could beat him to it.

Pierce had almost finished his meal while DM was on the phone. “You forgot to tell them something.”

“I didn’t forget,” DM said serious, “I’ll tell them in good time.” DM inhaled his food and they paid the check. The pair then walked across the street again to the building. “I wonder what General Sanders will want us to do with Umi?”

“If I had to guess I’d say Ethan would want him to stick around here until your voice heals and then make him forget the magic and the spying,” Pierce said opening the door for the dark man.

DM nodded this thanks and walked into the building. Instantly he knew something was wrong. The smell of fear was gone from the air, and replaced by the smell of death. “Shit!” DM cried out and ran to the door where Umi was residing behind.

Pierce already had his throwing knife out and flicked the coins out letting them fly into the dark building. DM threw in the door and it hit against the head of Umi Chatha with a sickening soft thump. The blood was all over the room, on the walls and in a large wet pool on the floor with Umi in the middle. His wrist was torn open with ragged strips of flesh still clinging to the red ragged appendage. His teeth were scarlet with the blood from his wrist.

“He severed his wrist with is own teeth,” Pierce said in disgusted shock.

“This is why iron masks were invented,” DM said remembering some long forgotten knowledge of how such an act was prevented centuries before.

They shut the door and waited outside for the rest of their team. Nina showed up first, and was shown Umi. It was hard for her to grasp that a man would or could do such a thing. George showed up and when he saw the body he just gave a grunt. The four of them agreed to go to the US embassy and discuss the situation with Ethan.

“WHAT!” Ethan cried out when he heard that Umi was dead and how he died.

“Yes sir he gnawed on his wrist until he severed the artery and he bled to death,” Nina said into the speaker phone. They were in the same room that DM was in earlier, and thankfully Mary was nowhere to be found to give them a hard time.

“Shit,” Ethan swore, “Okay what else.”

DM spoke up, “We also found the Egyptian site where he obtained the ring that allowed him to freeze time for everyone but himself. He had a pottery piece that directed him to the location.”

“Do we have the ring?” Ethan cut in.

DM’s spine went cold as ice. “Yes sir we have the ring, but it doesn’t work anymore,” DM said tall and fully ready to catch hell. Everyone looked at DM, but only Pierce wasn’t shocked. “When I tried on the ring during the interrogation of the prisoner,” DM began, “I must have absorbed the magic of the ring. Sir, I can freeze time for everyone and everything but myself.”

There was a very long pause where no one spoke or breathed. For a moment DM thought he had accidentally froze time, but then Ethan spoke through the speaker phone, “Okay here’s what we’re going to do. Nina sanitize Umi’s place and destroy the pot the ring was found in. I don’t want any shred of evidence he even lived there. George take care no one will ever find Umi’s body. Mateus that dig you went to yesterday give them the location of where Umi found the ring. Pierce stick around I want to talk with you. Get going.”

DM excused himself and then found the helicopter pilot from the day before. In the dark of night it was hard to navigate, but the dig sight was easy to find for the lights from the tents. The wind was picking up and it was getting cold, so when DM showed up at the main tent they offered him hot tea. DM declined the tea and gave a bull shit story of the day before wanting to know if they had found anything significant. Then he showed them the pottery piece Umi had found. They were instantly interested and thanked DM for giving the piece to them. He left with a smile on his face and thick cotton of sleep in his head.

They had agreed to meet back at the embassy when they had finished, and DM found Pierce asleep on one of the benches in the dark building. Before the dark man could relax into an uncomfortable sleep Nina showed up. She said she just finished with a little bonfire out in the desert. A little later George came back looking as grave and spiteful as ever. Pierce woke up when George gave his legs a kick.

Pierce relayed the information that they were to all head back to the states, that night. For a moment DM wondered if the quick recall had anything to do with Pierce still being in college, but didn’t voice it. Frank’s body was to be shipped over the next day for burial a few days later that the dark man didn’t intend to miss. DM did have the feeling that Pierce was leaving something else out, but didn’t press him on the issue.

Pierce and the dark man landed in Washington, but only as a layover before their flight continued to Chicago. Pierce was unusually quiet, and no matter how DM tried he couldn’t make him talk.

When they landed at the airport and had made it out to the parking lot Pierce finally spoke. “Give me your keys.”

DM looked at him like he was crazy. “Why should I?”

Pierce’s face was flat and emotionless, “Just give me your keys, I’ll drive.”

DM took his keys out of his pocket. All DM really wanted was to go back to Rachel and fall sleep in bed next to her. He was about to ask Pierce what he was up to, but the look on Pierce’s face stopped him. Reluctantly DM tossed him his keys. The snow was ankle deep and on DM’s car it was piled up so they both had to wipe it clean while the engine ran.

“So where are we going?” DM asked as they were on their way.

Pierce didn’t say anything for a moment. “We’re going to see detective Green,” Pierce said with no emotion.

This didn’t make sense to DM. “The question of why comes to mind,” The dark man was not in the mood for games.

Pierce took a deep breath as if bracing himself. “Rachel has been shot.”

DM’s eyes went wide and his entire body tensed at that news. “Is she okay?” DM asked. Pierce didn’t answer. Pierce didn’t move. The car was not moving. The world was not moving. DM realized he had accidentally made a fist with his left hand. He’d have to watch that later. He made a fist with his left hand again and the world again turned. “Is Rachel okay?” He wanted to hear that she was okay, that her big body had stopped the bullet and it was just going to be a mark on her arm or leg, but in his heard DM knew differently.

“No,” Pierce said sorry, “she didn’t make it. Ethan told me to take you straight to the police station. Green is the investigating officer, so we’re going to see him to get the details.”

Tears were making the dark man’s vision blurred. Rachel was dead, and he didn’t want to believe it. She was always so strong, and large. She couldn’t be dead. This had to be one of Pierce’s sick jokes. How could Rachel die from being shot?

Pierce parked the car and DM realized that they were already at the precinct. Pierce guided the dark man up to Green’s office and sat him down. It was the dead of night, but Green was still there. He was waiting for them.

“Thanks for coming as soon as you could,” Green said to both Pierce and DM. He had a somber tone to his voice of consoling the living of the dead.

“What happened?” DM squeaked out behind tears he was trying to hold back.

Detective Green pulled up a file to read from it, but he didn’t need it. The case was something he’d been working since Rachel had been shot. “Three days ago at about ten o’clock at night Rachel Dodd went to the Last Stop convenience store. While at the register paying for her purchase an unidentified male came in with a shotgun and shot Rachel and the man behind the counter, both in the face. Then he opened the register and took all the money and fled the scene.” Green closed the file with a somber and slow motion.

Dark Mateus didn’t even hold back the tears any more as he cried. He was leaning forward with his hands on his face. He hurt more than any time in the past century. The pain of loosing someone was tough, but loosing someone because they were shot in a senseless robbery while the person was in the prime of their life was worse than anything imaginable. He couldn’t breathe, and he felt his heart having a hard time pumping. He sobbed and cried before the two men like a little child.

“I’m sorry for your lose,” Green said. “We do have a video tape. If you can identify who the person might be it would help.”

DM sat up sobbing and nodded his head. He didn’t trust his voice to say anything. He could feel his slit throat with each sob, and he took solace in the pain.

Detective Green turned on a combination TV and VCR, and pulled from a desk drawer a VHS tape. The image was of the convenience store in black and white. The man behind the counter was little older than a teenager with wild greasy dark hair, and a loose baggy flannel shirt.

The tape played in real time without sound as the door to the store opened the unmistakable figure of Rachel walked in. She waved hi to the worker and disappeared from the camera’s view. A few minutes later Rachel came into view again with toilet paper and cans of stew in her arms. She smiled wide at the employee and they chatted while he rang up the items.

It was so unreal watching the man dressed all in black come into the store. He had on black winter coat, black pants, black gloves, and a black ski mask. In his hands was a pump shotgun. Rachel was the first to notice him. DM cried even more as the shotgun blast went off only a foot from her face. The dark matter went everywhere as her enormous body fell with her knees giving out and folding under her. With the gun already cocked again the black clad man pointed the shotgun at the employee and took him out with another shot square to the face.

DM was crying and didn’t see the rest of the footage. The man opened the resister and took the money and ran for it. What both Pierce and Green saw, but DM didn’t was how the man did it. The resister was the kind that a key had to be turned to open the money tray. When the employee went down the key was attached to a ring on his wrist, but when the murderer opened the resister he pulled a spare key from under the counter, like he knew where it was. Not only had he known enough to lift up the money tray and get the large bills and checks out from underneath.

“Dark,” A woman called out from the hallway.

DM looked up at the sound for a moment thinking it was Rachel. Then he saw who it was, Lucy. She had on a thick red winter coat, and her hair was a mess around her head. She threw open the door to Green’s office and ran to DM. She hugged him hard, and he did likewise.

Lucy was there for him, DM thought. She was in his arms when he needed someone the most, and he loved her for it. He needed love. He needed her love.

Pierce looked at detective Green, and he did likewise. They went out of the office and left the two people to cry together.

“What are you doing here?” DM asked Lucy when he stopped crying enough to talk though his sobs.

“I heard what happened and knew you’d need someone,” Lucy said.

Through the fog of his brain a thought entered the dark man’s mind. “How did you know?”

Lucy pulled back and smiled at him. Her narrow eyes and round face still glowed in the artificial light of the police station, and she was more beautiful than before. “You should never make a call from an embassy if you want it secure. Oh I’m missed you.” Lucy hugged DM and he squeezed her back.

“I needed you. I didn’t know what I needed, but it was you,” DM said not realizing he was saying it out loud.

“I’m here for you. I have a week off, for you,” Lucy said with a smile.

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