CHAPTER X

Traveling eight hours on the back of a camel was not the exciting adventure Hollywood had told me it would be. Dehydrated food, stale water, sticky sweat mixed with the burning sun, gritty sand, and camel stench does not make a pleasant cocktail. By the time the sun was swallowed by the line of haze in the distance and darkness crept out to greet us, my butt was screaming angrily at me, my tail had rubbed raw against the saddle, and my nose was burning even with the layers of sunscreen on it. It annoyed me to no end that Levins seemed perfectly at ease with her worldly international agent attitude; nothing fazed her. Well, she didn’t have a tail to deal with.

“Are we going to take a break soon?” I called forward into the dusky evening.

The silhouettes of the two women straightened. With a grumble that sounded like a garbage disposal Eshe’s camel came to a halt and waited for mine to catch up. Eshe lifted her veil, her face kind, and responded, “We can stop in ten kilometers.”

My heart sank, my face falling with it. At the rate we were going it would be another hour and a half on this bag of lumpy fat covered in hair. How did Aaron expect me to get there before he did? Even if he had to take a boat here, with the time we were making he’d probably beat us.

Bob snorted as if he sensed my peevishness.

Levins, who had wrapped her veil around her head and sat poised on her camel like the queen of Sheba, smirked. “What’s the matter, Connelly? This case getting too hard to handle? Maybe there was a reason we hadn’t brought you up to the CIU.” She spat on the ground and flicked the reins. Her camel lurched forward.

“Piss off,” I muttered. My father’s accent slipped into my voice, but I was too tired to think of a better insult. That was a pretty mean comment even from Levins. I didn’t care that she also had been on a camel for the past eight hours and was probably as tired as I was, didn’t mean she needed to be a bitch. Tears threatened in the corner of my eyes, and I blinked furiously, Levins could not know she made me cry. I lowered my head and let my camel fall behind the others.

Maybe Levins was right, I was in way over my head. I thought about the intensive training O’Meara and Shirako had gotten a few months back when they were promoted to the CIU and wondered if I had gotten it too, if it would have in any way prepared me for this trip. I fingered the gun holster under my shirt. What the hell was I going to do to help Kels? I had basic combat and target training when I first started at SITO, but I had never been in a real fight. All I was doing was relying on Eshe to have a plan, and she could potentially be leading us into a trap. Levins and I were sitting ducks. Levins probably knew that I was useless and was regretting her decision. But she had no other choice, I hadn’t given her one. I am a damn idiot.

I sulked as Bob continued carrying my poor buttocks over the desert, and evening turned to night. The stars began to pop out, until there were so many they glittered across the sky. It was a moonless night, so the stars ruled in all their twinkling beauty. I tried to forget my scraped raw tail and stared up into the eternal heavens as our camels plodded on. Poor Kels. Poor Aaron too, he must be frantic. Stiffening my resolve, I wiped the drying snot off of my nose. At least I was trying to do something. I knew deep in my heart that Aaron had sent me for a reason. I fingered the orange construction paper in my pocket.

“We are coming Kels,” I murmured. The stars winked back at me.

Levins must have heard me. She turned slightly in her seat to look back. It was too dark to see her expression, but I sensed her thoughtful reaction. For the next hour and a half, even though the skin on my little tail was burning and my legs, thighs, and buttocks were in agony, I didn’t say another word. On and on our animals carried us, our bags, our weapons, our bodies, our hopes, our fears, our determination, through the sand and darkness as endless as the sky above.

Finally Eshe held up a hand. “I think our camels need to rest.”

Right. Our camels need the break. Gratefully I pulled mine to a halt beside Levins. She didn’t look at me, staring into the horizon. The world was still and dark, the smell of sandy salt wafting by on a chilly breeze, the stars glowing so close it seemed possible to reach out and touch them. Goosebumps prickled over my skin.

“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered so softly I almost didn’t catch it. I was glad I did, it made her seem a little softer.

Eshe was on the ground and unpacking before I had taken another breath. I turned back to the present reality. I was ready to get off of Bob and from the sound of his grumbles he was ready for me to get off him. I looked down at the ground that seemed very far away.

“So…” I wasn’t sure what to say. Levins was now watching me. I was tired of being an amateur in her eyes.

“Like this Connelly.” She pulled on her camel’s reins. I watched as her camel kneeled down, folding the bottom legs underneath and settled onto the ground. Even with her tiny frame Levins easily slid off onto the ground. Surprised and gratified by the unexpected extension of friendliness, I tried to copy her. Unfortunately Bob was not as graceful as the other camel, or more likely I jerked the reins wrong, and he lurched down to his front knees. I tumbled over the side as his back legs folded under, and I lay sprawled on the sand. Bob settled into a folded position and chewed cud contentedly over me.

I picked myself up. Levins was bent over laughing, even Eshe was smiling. I shrugged; at least I was off of that damn beast. Rubbing my tail, I grimaced.

Eshe was watching me. “Do you hurt?” she asked.

I wasn’t sure how to explain my problem with my tail to an angel that may have never met a daemon before. “Well, uhm, it’s my tail. I think it may have been rubbed a little raw with the ride.”

“I will look,” she said.

Ignoring my protests she advanced forward. With Levins still bubbling with laughter in the background, and feeling somewhat like a child, I let Eshe pull down the back of my jeans. She shined a small penlight on the seven inches of throbbing skin. I craned my neck around to see the angry red strip down my tiny tail. “Just so you know, most daemons have much longer tails and they are prehensile,” I said, feeling the need to defend my species’ reputation.

Eshe ignored my comment and pressed lightly on the wound. I winced.

“I think I have a thing to help,” she said.

Levins looked on curiously, as Eshe brought out a few jars from her saddlebags. “Misha, do you know how to make fire?” Eshe asked her with a gentle reprimand.

Flustered Levins stopped staring and got busy with the request, as Eshe applied soothing balm on my tail.

“I’m a half-daemon, that’s why the tail is so short,” I said, still concerned that Eshe would have the wrong impression of daemons after seeing my pitiful excuse for a tail.

“I know,” she said and continued applying the balm. “What does pre-en-syl mean?”

I explained to her how daemons could wrap their tails around things. She was impressed, and I felt a little pride in my species.

The noise of Levins starting a fire from the supplies found in the bag sent by SITO filled the silence. I felt my body relax as the balm eased the painful burn.

“All done,” Eshe said, flicking off the penlight.

Gingerly I pulled up my pants. “Wow, thanks. It feels much better.”

She nodded and began unpacking camp. All I wanted to do now was flop down on the ground and relieve my tired muscles, but I wasn’t about to let the others see how pathetic I was feeling. With as much false energy as I could muster I joined setting up. As we unpacked, I was amazed at the efficiency and thoroughness of Levins’s contacts in Cairo. They had provided all of the necessary equipment to spend the night in the desert. For the first time a sense of competence stole through me, we were SITO agents after all, we could help Kels. We were going to rescue Kels.

The fire blazed merrily by the time the bedrolls and the stuff to make dinner was unpacked and the camels were fed and watered. I groaned in pleasure as I finally sat down, and was happy to see Levins breathe a sigh of relief also when she settled down across the fire from me, proving she was human too. Eshe, however, was indomitable. The woman began making dinner and boiling water for tea. Levins caught my eye and raised an eyebrow, silently asking if we should help. I shrugged in response, but neither of us moved. It didn’t seem to bother Eshe who quietly hummed to herself while she worked over the flames, her wrinkled face shining in the light.

The spicy stew Eshe passed around in paper bowls had a mystery meat, but it was delicious. Quietly we slurped the oily red liquid out of the tin bowls and sopped up the rest with hunks of bread. When we were finished Eshe passed around steaming cups of water, the tin cups reflecting the flames.

“We can share shai’ again,” she said. “I am sorry but we have to use powdered milk.”

I wrapped my hands around the cup, grateful for the warmth. The temperature had fallen sharply with the sun’s disappearance. Eshe handed me a small box. The two days staying with her had made me an expert in making shai’. I pulled out mint leaves from one bag and crumpled them into my glass, proudly observing Levins copying me, for once. A spoonful of sugar and powdered milk later, I was breathing in the sweet minty earthy scent of the drink. The tension of the day lessened, and we sat engulfed by the dark sea of sand and twinkling stars accompanied by the occasional camel rumble.

“So what’s our plan?” Levins broke the quiet that had fallen over our small campsite.

We both looked at Eshe. She unfolded a small map of Northern Egypt and flicked on her penlight. She pointed to a small dot in the middle of the desert west of the Nile and east of the Libyan border. “This portion of the Sahara desert is called the Great Sand Sea, it is almost uninhabited by sapiens.” Eshe’s pencil traced between the line labeled Al Betrol Road, where we had rented the camels, to a dot in the middle of the desert. “This is where the temple is.” She pressed firmly on the dot. “We are here,” she said pointing at a blank spot of desert. My heart thumped a little louder. We were in nowhere land. Suddenly the vast night sky felt oppressive.

“Why would anyone want to live out in this God-forsaken place?” Levins asked what I was thinking.

Eshe looked up at us. “Because here, angel can fly,” she said quietly.

Her answer stunned me. But when I thought about it, it made so much sense. Images of many angels flying over the desert muddled my head. I could picture Aaron soaring above me, fierce free and strong. My heart fluttered.

“It’s the same reason daemons still live high in the Himalayans,” I whispered. “They can be wholly themselves. The normals who catch glimpses of them call them Yetis.”

Eshe nodded at me. Levins wrapped her arms around her legs and stared into the fire.

“It is still dangerous to live in the desert. We still fight her moods for our lives. But less dangerous for angels than for you others. We still get lost, but we are able to see from the air the closest oasis,” Eshe said.

“I am not one of you others,” Levins growled. I winced knowing how much that comment must have hurt her.

Eshe flicked off the penlight and leaned toward the small half-angel.

“We have done you a great wrong, no?” she asked softly.

I held my breath waiting for the usual Levins outburst. To my surprise she remained silent.

“I am sorry to say something wrong,” Eshe said. “Our people out here do not see the others, the mixed. When I was a child I only knew angels. My family wanted to be with only angels. Please forgive me. I am ignorant.”

Levins didn’t answer. Slowly she pulled up the back of her burka over her shoulders to reveal two long thick scars that gashed across the thin muscular back.

Eshe gasped softly. “Oh my child, who did this to you?”

“Ignorant people,” Levins said. Her expression was grim.

“I can look?” Eshe asked hesitantly holding up a hand.

“Go ahead.”

I watched, fascinated as Eshe flicked her penlight back on and ran her fingers over the lumps of scar tissue.

“How many years did you have when this happened?” Eshe asked.

“Eleven. My mother passed away, and I was snatched up by her asshole bigot of a brother and sold off to some crazy daemon purists. They did this to me as a message to all us halfers.”

“So there are daemons who follow Moloch?” Eshe asked.

“No, not Moloch, but they’ve got their own set of crazy,” I piped up. I had gotten one or two “rehabilitation” pamphlets from daemon purists. It left a bitter taste in my throat.

Eshe rummaged through her salves and held up a tiny bottle. “I cannot undo this great wrong, but I help with scars and soften the tissue.”

Levins’s eyes grew wide before she looked away. “I’ll try anything.”

My heart squeezed as I watched the older angel gently rub ointment onto the younger half-angel’s scarred wingless back. “What about your father, Levins?” I asked. I was curious to know more about Levins, since it seemed she was in a sharing mood.

“Just some one night, drunk, fool sapien that was so wasted he didn’t even notice my mother was anything different from the other whores he had fucked,” she snapped. “Of course when my idiot mother realized she was pregnant at eighteen and by a sapien no less, her family disowned her and she was out on the street.”

“Shhh, child relax,” Eshe murmured. Levins drooped over her knees, the burka bunching around her neck. A small tear on her cheek sparkled in the light of the fire.

“Not all angels are cruel, most are just ignorant,” Eshe said, still rubbing the ointment on the scars. “It is sad. The Anakites have spread the word of Moloch far in this time. People are scared.”

“Ignorant or not, we have to reach Kels before those crazies can do any more damage.” Levins clenched her fists. “I do not wish my pain on any child,” she said fiercely.

Eshe finished rubbing the cream on Levins’s back and wiped her palms on her burka.

Confusion and relief crossed Levins’s face. “It feels calmer back there,” she whispered.

Eshe smiled. “After we save the child and we go back to Cairo, I will give you more of this ointment, use it once a day, your back should start to feel way much better.”

I was in awe of this woman, and I was glad she was an influence on Aaron, it meant he would be good to women. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment when I realized I was thinking of Aaron like that. I should be more concerned about where he was at this moment, if he had made it on a ship, if he had found a flight out of somewhere, if he had been caught by SITO, not wondering what he would be like in a relationship.

“Thank you,” Levins interrupted my thoughts. She was speaking to Eshe.

Eshe nodded and returned to the map. Flipping it over, she sketched a large square with an even larger circle around it. “The night watch of the temple is far, maybe even to here.” She pointed to the edge of the circle. “The temple is hidden in the desert because it is a part of the desert.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The Anakites, how do you say, dig? Out of the ground and hills. Like in Jordon.”

“Oh you mean it is carved out of the desert cliffs?” Levins clarified.

“Yes, yes, but the way in is only high.”

“That’s why they’ve been such sneaky fuckers to find!” Levins looked thoughtful.

“About an hour away is a place we can leave the camels. We must go in dark and slow and small so we do not be seen.” Eshe drew an x a distance away from the outer circle. “This is where we can place the camels, and wait for dark.”

“Are the camels going to be okay on their own?” I asked. I had grown a little fond of Bob and didn’t want to see him abandoned in the desert.

“They will be fine,” was Eshe’s amused answer. “Of most important is to not be seen. At night the temple sends out patrols looking for curious or lost “other” people. These people never return home. We cannot use any kind of light to help us find our way or we will be one of those people.”

I shivered, this was sounding more and more unappealing, but in a way it was a little exciting. I thought of all the biblical figures that had angels who guided their way in the desert and shook my head. Sapiens had no idea.

“How long has this temple been around?” Levins asked.

“Hundreds of years ago it was in Jordon. They build here because there were too many others. It is the center for the Anakites when the Great Disappearance happened,” Eshe responded.

“The great disappearance?” I asked.

“When all angels left the others.”

“Oh, we call it the Great Immigration,” I said.

Eshe nodded. “I believe I can find us to the temple. But after,” she paused.

“Then what?” Levins pressed.

Eshe shrugged. “I do not know,” she said. “I am not a SITO agent.”

Levins and I looked at each other. This was where we came in. I felt a little thrill to realize I was a SITO agent.

“Connelly can I count on you to follow your superior?” Levins fixed me with a stern gaze.

“You can count on me,” I said with satisfaction. She could count on me to follow orders, no playing the stupid rebel anymore. My stomach twisted and I realized that was all I had been doing, playing the stupid rebel without a cause. If I hadn’t been so damn stubborn with Starks, I might have ended up working on Code Reds sooner and been more prepared to handle a case like this one. Aaron would not have ended up in the position he was in, Kels probably would still be safe in California, and this case would be no more than a sting on the Anakites.

“No wonder Starks didn’t want to promote me, or put me on Code Reds,” I said aloud. “I managed to fuck everything up in the first one I stumbled onto.” I buried my head in my hands, all of the guilt that I had kept at bay crashing over me. Someone put an arm around me.

“Sarah, be concerned about Kels. Once he is safe then allow yourself to feel guilt or what you need to feel,” I heard Eshe’s soft accent from far away, but it was Levins who finally penetrated my dark thoughts.

“Kid, now is not the time to lose confidence,” she said. “Starks kept you in the CPU because you are a talented CPU agent. Yes you have a stubborn pigheaded attitude and an ass of an ego, but that was not the reason. Hell if it was, none of us would be in the CIU.”

The arm moved away. I lifted my head, and Levins leaned over. “Do you want to know what Starks did on his first assignment in the CIU?” she asked with a wicked grin.

“Please be something amazing,” I said.

Eshe shook her head and began cleaning up the dishes. I could tell she was curious also from the way her concentration wandered from the task at hand.

“It happened about fifteen or so years ago. Starks was sent undercover to mix in with a group of normals whom SITO suspected were dealing in kidnapping and killing daemons in the name of their religion.”

I nodded. Although I had still been a kid, I remembered my father talking about how a priest from Utah had somehow convinced a group of sapiens that he was not crazy and devils really did exist. They had called themselves the Evil Cleansers and had created havoc across the western U.S. faster than SITO could clean up after them. “They were finally taken down in California right? Was that Starks?” I asked.

“Well yes and no, SITO finally managed to pull off a PR stunt big enough to discredit the guy. He was put in the loony bin and as for his followers, they were shady enough characters that most of them got nailed for other offenses. Starks however, had nothing to do with it,” said Levins.

“What did he do?”

She chuckled. “On his second day undercover he got in a bar fight.”

I deflated. “That’s it?” That wasn’t anything compared to the troubles I was causing.

“Oh that’s only a small bit of it. You see, he was trying to beef up his reputation with the guys in the group so they would trust him more, so he picked a fight with one of the members. Turns out, the member he chose was,” Levins paused choking back laughter.

“Was?” I asked impatiently.

“Was the other undercover agent in the group!” Levins collapsed in laughter. “The guy had been working with the Evil Cleansers for MONTHS! He thought Starks was just doing a bit. Got one hell of a surprise when he was knocked out cold on the bar room floor. The investigation was set back for weeks!” She stopped laughing and took a deep breath. Still smiling she looked at me. “So you see Connelly, you are not the only one who has pulled a stupid stunt.”

I couldn’t believe it. Starks, the indomitable boss, the chief man, the youngest to be promoted to full manager of a SITO office, even Starks had fucked up. I wasn’t sure it made me feel better about my own mistakes, but it did make me feel better in general.

The hundred questions that filled my head about Starks’s day in the sun were interrupted by Eshe’s quiet interjection, “Okay, enough of this, we have a big day tomorrow, let us try to get some sleep.” She had finished cleaning the campsite and was moving toward the fire.

“Wait, before we go to sleep we should first go over more logistics,” Levins said, holding up a hand to stop Eshe from banking the fire. “We need a game plan for after we get to the temple. Eshe, tell us what you know about the inside.”

Eshe sighed heavily and looked us regretfully. “I am sorry that I cannot be of more use. I have only been in the Anakites’ temple a few times; once for my daughter’s marriage, then again for the birth of her first child,” she trailed off.

The silence that followed was awkward, nobody wanted to remember that first child was the man we were going to face. I remembered the picture of Rahab Levins had showed me. His sharp eyes were seared into my brain, eyes that would stop at nothing, including murder. I remembered Aaron’s tone when he spoke of his older brother, the dreadful hollowness that swallowed his voice. Rahab was not someone I was looking forward to coming face to face with. I wondered if we could possibly accomplish this mission without having to meet him. Maybe because he was the leader, so high above the others, maybe just maybe to rescue Kels we would just need to get through his underlings. I wished with all of my might that this were true, even if I didn’t really believe it.

The wrinkles on Eshe’s face deepened with sorrow. This time it was Levins who put her arm around the older angel.

“What about the second child?” I asked hesitantly, willing Eshe to think about something else.

Eshe’s lips lifted briefly in an almost smile. “Aaron was different, I think everyone know this. My Hatshe knew Rahab was lost, but she saw something in Aaron, something her husband did not notice. Yes, I was there for the birth of Aaron. After that, I went back only few times. Jonah did not like me. He believed I was bad influence.” Eshe straightened her shoulders proudly.

Jonah and Hatshe, Aaron’s parents, I mused. “What an interesting name, Hatshe.”

“It was short for Hatshepsut, the first female pharaoh. Our family has always had strong ties to the Egyptians. We migrated here over two thousand years ago.”

“You can trace your family that far back?” Levins sounded impressed.

I definitely was impressed. “That’s a lot cooler than mine. The closest my mother’s ancestors got to royalty was as servants, cleaning up after some Swedish duke’s bathroom, taking out the trash, that sort of thing,” I said.

Eshe caught her breath and excitedly muttered something in Arabic.

Levins and I looked hopefully at her.

“I have an idea.”

As we snuggled down into our bedrolls for the night, Eshe explained about the one entrance to the temple that was close to the ground, the place where the Anakites dumped their garbage. She also emphasized the most dangerous part of the journey was getting to the walls of the temple before we were spotted by the overhead patrol. Once at the walls we could flatten ourselves against them and remain camouflaged from overhead, as there was no ground patrol of the temple. We would be able to scoot around the outer wall to the gate where the temple’s trash was picked up and buried out in the desert. It wasn’t the most secure plan, but it was the best we had. I hadn’t thought about the difficulty just physically getting into the temple. All of the main entrances to the Anakite temple would be high up. Only angels were expected to use them. The idea of climbing up the side of the temple, exposed and helpless to be picked off by any good marksman made me shudder, and I hoped the garbage entrance was as low as possible and as dark as possible.

The fire died down, and I lay awake thinking, staring up at the moonless sky. The vastness of the universe stared back at me. The stars were so brilliant in the inky blue-black curtain that I was surprised they didn’t light up the earth more. No wonder early humans worshiped so many gods. This night sky could not be explained in any other way.

By the small sounds coming from nearby I could tell Levins was not asleep either.

“Levins, you awake?” I whispered.

“Yeah?” her whisper floated back.

“Do you think we’ll save him?”

There was a pause.

“We are going to give it one hell of a try,” she responded finally.

I took a deep breath and sank back into my thoughts. Give it one hell of a try circled through my mind, until it was swallowed by the darkness and I drifted off to an uneasy sleep.

The next morning I was woken by the sounds of Eshe breaking camp. My joints screaming angrily, I rose stiffly from my sleeping bag. The sun was just peeking over the horizon. I was surprised Levins hadn’t kicked me awake, must be a good sign we were finally reaching an understanding. Perhaps she trusted me a bit now. My muscles slowly warmed up as I packed up my things and fastened them to the ever cud-chewing Bob.

My tail heavily padded with gauze from the medic bag I settled on Bob who grumbled and swung his head side to side as if arguing with me about leaving camp. Firmly I kicked him forward. If Levins and I could reach an understanding then Bob and I could too. Sensing my determination Bob moved forward to follow our companions already disappearing into the haze of the desert dawn. I settled into the saddle with a sigh, prepared for another long journey through the ceaseless sands and merciless sun.

Hours later I had zoned out watching the figures in front of me bobbing up and down through the unchanging scenery. I couldn’t figure out how Eshe had any idea which direction we were going with her tiny old-fashioned compass. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but sand; sand-colored rocks, sand-colored horizon, sand-colored everything. I was tired of it, and I think Bob was too. But somehow Eshe knew which direction we were going, and we continued on without stopping or changing direction.

When the sun was fully overhead, things in my head had started to get a little strange. I decided canteen water and dried jerky mystery meat was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted, and I loved my sweat, the sweat that cooled me down just the tiniest bit. I didn’t even mind Bob’s smell, because I knew that helped him remain cool, and now that we were buddies, I wanted him to be as comfortable as I was not. After all it was just us, in this together, rolling up and down, up and down through the sand. At least my tail was better, even if my ass was still grimly sore.

As my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and my eyes squinted through the grit, I began to forget what we were even doing here and lose myself in the monotony of sand, sand, camel sweat, and more sand. The world was me, Bob, the two specks in front of us, and the never-ending desert. That’s all it was and all it would ever be.

When the sun had fallen low in the sky and Eshe waved her arm, it took me a moment to understand what was happening. Suddenly the world snapped back into place; Kels, angels, SITO, the mission. I nudged Bob into a partial trot to catch up with the others. Eshe pointed to a mound of sand in the distance that led into a rocky enclave. My heart pounded loudly in my chest. We had arrived. Even if I couldn’t make sense of anything, and there was nothing but desert in every direction, I knew somehow, we had arrived.

“That is the place we leave camels,” she said.

My heart sang; we made it through the desert! We were going to get Kels!

We reached the small rocky enclave just as the sun was sinking. Bob rumbled with something I could only call relief when I gave the signal to kneel down.

“We wait for night. To go to the temple. We will hide in the dark from the patrol,” Eshe said. She tied the camel’s rein to one of the jutting edges of the enclave and motioned us to do the same. “Angels fly, looking for others near the temple. We will be caught if we go now. The moon is with us, no moon tonight. Allah with us, we will not be seen.”

My chest tightened at the idea of running from someone as big and powerful as Aaron roaming the air, looking for trespassers and swooping down on us.

“They will shoot first and ask questions later. Many sapiens ‘lost in the desert’ were not lost, they were killed. Anakites like their secrets,” Eshe said as if she read my mind.

Levins nodded, unsurprised. I swallowed. This was a lot more than I had bargained for. Then again, I wasn’t really sure what I had bargained for. I had, after all, wanted to be a super agent. I thought of Kels, lost and alone, trapped by those monsters and of Aaron, the helpless father who had put his faith in me. I straightened my shoulders in determination. God help me, I was going to do something.

Levins clapped me on the back. “You all right Connelly?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I responded. I didn’t want her to see how nervous I was. I looked away, out into the horizon that had just swallowed the sun. The line where the sky met the earth was a brilliant threatening orange, foretelling of the danger we were about to put ourselves in. I shivered and turned back to my companions.

“Sarah, this is for you.” Eshe handed me a dusty brown bundle. A full-length cloak unraveled in my hands. “To help hide us in the darkness.” She pulled out two more. Levins looked at her questioningly. “I make them, a friend gave me the cloth. They are the color of the sand. Will blend more than our hijab.”

I remembered the impatience I had with Eshe while waiting for her in Cairo and felt ashamed. She had really prepared us for our quest, as good as Levins’s contacts at the Cairo SITO office had.

“Thank you Eshe, for everything,” Levins said, her voice making it clear she agreed with my thoughts.

“We leave most things here. It is only an hour walking to the temple. Maybe two hours for us because we move slowly. Bring just water and weapons. Your phones will not work, and that machine you name GPS either.”

“No man’s land,” I murmured.

Eshe looked at me. “No sapiens land,” she corrected gently. “Misha, we change no?” as she said this, she was gathering the long skirt of the burka and pulling it over her head. I admired her wings as she stretched them out with a grumble of happiness. She was still lithe and slender for her age. Levins eyed her wings enviously before tugging off her own burka. They both pulled on tight fitting pants. The gray light of pre-darkness illuminated Eshe’s silhouette as she carefully wrapped a wide bandage like ribbon around her waist and rebound her wings to her back.

“What if you need to fly away suddenly?” I asked abruptly.

Eshe looked at me calmly. “No one I go in with, or anyone I wish to come out with, can fly.”

I gave her a warm smile. The woman was incredible. The more I got to know her the more I believed Aaron had been telling me the truth, she was our ally. Is that because you so desperately want to believe he is a good guy? I shoved the thought away.

“Okay let’s get this show on the road,” Levins said.

Together we watered the camels and unpacked only what we needed. I slipped my phone in my pocket, just in case it worked and I could call for help. Levins caught me and wryly smiled, as she patted her own phone shaped pocket. I strapped my gun under my arm and pulled out a long knife that fit inside the pocket in my boot. Brass knuckles went in the other pocket, as well as a specially designed wing gripper. I fingered the curved shape that fit nicely in the palm of my hand, remembering Levins’s lesson on how to subdue an angel.

“Right were the wing meets the back muscle,” Levins said, watching me.

I drew in a deep breath and nodded, shoving the wing gripper into my pocket.

Eshe shuddered. “Those weapons are terrible.”

“Exactly,” Levins said with an evil smile. It was Eshe who looked away this time. I was reminded that Eshe was not a veteran SITO agent, despite all of her knowledge and planning for this mission. She may have never even been in a fight. I looked over at Levins. Cool and collected, her stony expression seemed devoid of fear. It made me wish for all of her knowledge and experience to fortify me for what lay ahead. She had faced dangerous people like this before and survived, more than once. I didn’t know if it came down to it, if I could use any of my weapons on another being. I thought of Kels and fiercely told myself that I could.

“Once we leave this shelter we be quiet,” said Eshe. “Noise travels in the desert. I lead and watch the skies. You, especially you Sarah, keep your heads down and watch me. If I go to the ground, you go to the ground, yes?”

“Why is it more important for Connelly to keep,” Levins paused. “Oh, right.” She snickered. I felt my pale face flush. The white skin would be a beacon for anyone looking down from up above.

Eshe ignored our reactions. “Now we wait,” was all she said, and sat down cross-legged, her back to us, looking out in the direction of the temple. Levins and I settled down near her, giving her some space, and looked in the same direction. The time was near. We meditated in the dusk of the evening, waiting for complete darkness.

Bob blew out a noisy breath and the first star broke out over the horizon.

I pulled out the orange ripped construction paper that had Kels’s drawing on it and stared down at the faded crayon lines of the two stick figures holding hands and tried not to cry. This was it, our only desperate chance. I put the drawing back and looked over at Eshe. The lines of her face seemed deeper in the fading light, and I was struck by pity for her. Her only daughter had married into a dangerous game out of pride and had died because of it. Her two grandsons were pitted against each other with her only great grandchild dangerously stuck in the middle. My family problems were nothing in comparison to hers.

I missed my parents and regretted not having called them before I left on this mission. I might never come back, and for all the distance between us, I knew deep down that they really loved me and would be devastated if I were gone. Only a selfish daughter wouldn’t call. I vowed if I made it out of this, I would make more of an effort with them.

I looked over at Levins’s outline in the dark. She was deep in thought, staring out over the horizon. She wasn’t too bad to work with after all. I should have listened to her. I also vowed to be nicer to Starks, he really wasn’t that bad of a boss. I missed Johnny, my little grub, who would take care of him and Quinn? I wondered what Galina was doing right now, if she was thinking about me at all. Maybe she was thinking about Aaron, or maybe not, after all she had only met him one time. Of course after I had met him one time he had filled my thoughts so maybe she was. I hoped Aaron had found a way to get here. I knew better than to think he would make it on time, but still I hoped.

“It is time,” Eshe said softly, interrupting each of us out of our reverie. She stood up and brushed herself off. Sure enough the sky was pitch-black, dotted with billions and billions of brilliant stars. Levins and I scrambled to our feet. The sand-colored camouflage cloaks were shook out and wrapped close around our bodies.

I patted Bob on the nose. “I hope to see you again old buddy,” I whispered. Bob huffed a breath out his nose and chewed his cud. I took that as he wanted to see me again too. Somberly I pulled the hood of my cloak tight and lowered my head.

We moved out into the open, Eshe in the lead, Levins a close second, and me trailing behind. The back of Levins cloak and sandy trail she made were the only thing in my vision. We walked slowly through the sand, our booted feet sinking with each step. Since I was bringing up the rear I trailed my long cloak behind me, smoothing our tracks in the sand. At first I did so carefully, anxiously covering each and every indentation. After a while I realized the fine sand filled in most of the marks itself, so I moved a little faster.

Eshe halted and motioned us to come close. We huddled together. She pointed at Levins to watch the sky and caught my gaze, directing it to the horizon. We had arrived to the outer circle that Eshe had drawn in the sand the night before. From here on in there would be eyes above us, and we needed to keep ourselves out of their line of sight.

We picked our way across the sand. It was ponderously slow going with each footstep twice as heavy as normal and each movement carefully quiet and each breath laboring with anxiety. When the figure in front of me suddenly dropped to the ground, I froze. Then, my heart roaring in my ears, I dropped too. Eshe had seen something in the sky. Did I drop in time? Did they see me standing like an idiot in the middle of their territory? Did I just ruin the mission? Levins is gonna kill me. I lay perfectly still, the smell of cold sand filling my nostrils, my heart beating like a hummingbird’s wings. There was an angel flying above us, looking for trespassers like us. We were sitting targets lying in the sand cowering. If any of the scouts saw us, we were goners. I fought every screaming instinct that told me to look up, to see the enemy, and to run as fast I could in the other direction.

I was pretty convinced hours and hours had passed, but it was probably only a few minutes later that I heard a slight rustle and risked a peek at the other two. Eshe was slowly standing up. I could barely see her wave her hand at us in the darkness. Quietly Levins and I rose, and the slow procession forward began again. I ground my teeth, spitting out sand, chewing on my tongue as we walked in single file to what was now beginning to look like our doom. That passing angel had just made the dangerous reality of what I was doing very very tangible. We slogged on through the sand and the only thing holding me together was knowing Levins was a few feet ahead of me and Kels was close.

The second time Eshe spotted danger in the skies; I was no better prepared for the heart-pumping, gut-wrenching fear that filled my body, as I lay curled up tightly under my cloak, trembling in anticipation. Sand filled my nostrils and I struggled frantically to control my body’s reaction. The last thing I needed was to sneeze, again, Levins would kill me.

The third time we dropped to the ground I could actually hear the pulsing whooshes of wing beats right above us. Rigid in a ball under the cover of my cloak, I tried not to breathe, scared that any sound, any movement would give us away. We would be chased down and shot liked hunted animals. I imagined the wild-coiled fierceness behind Aaron’s eyes and the hardened muscles and sinew of his frame on someone else, someone who hated who I was. My heart fluttered violently. No one should be hated and be in such grave danger just because they were different. That kind of prejudice didn’t make any sense. That was why SITO existed, to protect people from that kind of hatred. Although we could not stop the prejudice, we could fight it. And that’s what Eshe, Levins, Aaron, myself, Starks, even Shirako and O’Meara, were doing, we were fighting it. My panic lessened as my anger grew. I would fight it even if it meant risking my life. I stopped trembling.

The sound of the angel overhead disappeared. We rose from our hiding and moved forward again. Slowly, carefully, we shuffled our way toward our goal. I had gotten the hang of walking with my head down, with my eyes raised almost into my skull, so I could see a little farther ahead than just Levins’s back. We walked painstakingly slow. Like snails we oozed along. The sand grew coarser as we went along, which meant more work for me clearing our path. I worked fearfully, fretfully swinging my head back and forth between looking ahead at my leader and behind at our tracks.

We had to hide ourselves from the overhead patrol so many times I lost count. Eshe had warned us the Anakites were protective of the temple, but I had not fully understood what she meant until my knees ached from all of the falling down and getting up, my heart threatened to burst in my chest, my eyes burned, and my throat was dry. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.

Finally Eshe stopped, but did not drop to the ground. I looked up briefly beyond her and felt dizzy. Looming ahead of us was a mountain, riddled with holes. I had thought the pyramids of Giza were impressive. I was wrong. This was three times the size of the pyramids. It was built into the desert, so it blended into the landscape. The mountain spanned as far as the eye could see, gently rolling, mimicry of the natural earth. If I hadn’t known to look for it, I wouldn’t have seen it. It was huge. I had an unsteady sensation that we were no more than annoying gnats buzzing around, to be sooner or later smacked down into a tiny splat of guts.

Our leader collapsed onto the ground. Levins and I did the same. My knee hit the ground with a raw thud, and I gritted my teeth to stop the scream of pain. Three agonizing moments later I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder and a soft breath on my ear. Eshe had crawled over to me. “When I say run, run for that wall, do not get up or look up, just run,” she whispered so soft it scarcely registered in my ear. I lifted my head slightly and squinted through the darkness. A barely visible wall circled around the temple, before fading into the sandy background.

I murmured an assent. The calm I had found earlier deserted me. I was terrified now that I had seen the actual temple. It was big enough to house hundreds, no thousands, of angels. This would not be a get in and get out mission. The thought of even choosing where to begin searching for the kidnapped child in that massive overgrown fortress overwhelmed me. Yet we had to find him, rescue him and get him out again. It was a suicide mission.

“GO!” The hiss startled me out of my fearful haze. I propelled forward blindly. I was never a fast runner, but in that moment I sprinted harder than any professional runner. So hard I almost knocked myself flat off of the wall when it appeared too quickly in front of me. I pressed myself against the wall in relief, panting heavily. Seconds later I could hear the heavy breathing of the others joining me. We stayed like that, straining to hear any shouts of discovery.

All was quiet. The first step in our mission was complete. The grainy surface of the wall pressed against my sweaty cheek and my pulse hammered in my ears. I took a deep breath and regretted it as I inhaled the dusty grit that had been released when we slammed into the wall. I desperately swallowed a cough. A drop of sweat slid down my forehead. I didn’t want to move. Eshe began moving and Levins followed. Frozen, I watched the two of them pull farther and farther away. Levins looked back at me and her eyes flashed, breaking my trance. I started after them.

Inch by inch we shuffled toward our destination, our bellies scraping against the lumpy wall, following Eshe’s lead. I smelled the garbage exit before we reached it. Eshe had said the Anakites had little waste, because they reused and recycled so much that Greenpeace would be jealous. It made sense. As the society was hiding from the world, hiding colossal garbage dumps that grew over time would be difficult, even if the U.S. did a pretty good job of it. From the smell of things I didn’t quite buy the Anakites were as clean as Eshe claimed. I was not looking forward to slogging through whatever belonged to that smell. Humans, whatever species, were dirty creatures.

In front of me Eshe slid out of sight. Trying not to panic, I shuffled on, pressed against the wall. Levins disappeared a minute later, but this time I was able to see the small indentation that turned into a square opening in the wall. The hole opened into a large man-made cavern. Inside was a shallow pit the size of a small lake. It was filled with garbage. A dump. It was a giant dump in the middle of the Egyptian desert. The air was turgid and hot with the smell of putrefaction. Levins pinched her nose shut. We watched with reluctance, as Eshe calmly began picking her way down.

Levins turned to me, her eyes spelling murder. I swallowed and followed after Eshe. Piles of rotting food and mold-covered objects were more desirable than that look from Levins. At least there was no human excrement. Eshe had explained there was a fully functioning sewer system running under the temple. She thought it would have been a better way to slip in, but she didn’t know where the entrance was. We could have been wading through piles of shit right now, if she had known how to get in. I sent a silent thanks to whatever higher power had allowed us to avoid that.

Eventually I realized there was a path of sorts that wound around the small hills of trash. I guessed even a dump needs to be maintained, and angel wings probably didn’t have the stamina to hover over the heaps of rubbish for the tedious task of garbage sorting. I worried about walking over the beaten path and risk running into one of the workers, but Eshe pressed on, so I followed. It was the middle of the night, so hopefully they were all in bed.

I had finally gotten used to the smell and was starting to relax, when Eshe paused. My entire body roared back into a nervous state. What was going to happen next?

It didn’t take long to figure out there were no doors leading out of the garbage pit. There was a squat rectangular looking thing that appeared to be an entrance, but there was no way to open it. We couldn’t get to the temple from here. I looked anxiously at Eshe who looked perplexed. Levins, still a little behind, pointed up the sheer face of the wall. We backed up. There was a ledge with a door hovering almost three stories above us, and there was absolutely nothing to tie a rope to, so we could climb up. For the first time since I had gotten to Cairo, the calm expression on Eshe’s face disappeared. She looked defeated. We were stuck. I cursed the Anakites, SITO, Aaron, the Smyths and my own stupid self in my head. Fuck all of it. I sat down and buried my head in my hands. How were we supposed to get inside?

Something jabbed me in the back. Levins had kicked me. I glared up at her. She crooked her finger, the fury in her eyes reminding me that she was in command and smarter about this kind of situation than me. I scrambled back up, wondering what she had planned. She turned to Eshe and flapped her arms. Eshe’s response was an angry one at first. Flapping one’s arms at an angel was a serious insult, as serious as calling a daemon a devil. But then the older angel turned thoughtful, as Levins continued to pantomime: after flapping her arms, she motioned being picked up. Then she flexed her bicep and pretended to be tugging a rope. She looked like she was playing a crazy game of charades. If we hadn’t been in such a grave situation I would have laughed.

Eshe seemed to understand what Levins was hopping around about. She dropped her cloak, and the careful wrapping job around her torso came off in an instant, and the large velvet wings fanned open. They glistened even in the low gray light of the underground dump. This time Eshe pantomimed running and scooping. Levins nodded.

Fascinated and a little confused, I watched as Eshe walked several paces away from us. Her back muscles flexed in and out, like she was breathing heavily. The wings spread out from either side of her waist and lower shoulders and followed the rhythm slowly, working faster and faster. As the wings flapped, she began running until her feet left the ground. Gradually she pumped higher and higher until she was above the ledge. Full of envy and wonder my eyes followed the graceful arc. My species could only dream of flying. She swooped down a little and slowly flew closer to the ground. Still far away, she turned to face us, wings pumping. I was so in awe I forgot the original purpose, until Levins tapped me on the back.

“You’re supposed to hold me up so Eshe can lift me straight from your arms rather than try to pick me up from the ground and lose her momentum,” she whispered. I turned, confused, and she flung one arm around my neck and shoulder and crouched down. I barely had time to grasp what she had said before she swung her small body neatly up into my arms. Eshe flapped steadily toward us. Before I could blink, there was a whoosh of air, and I could smell the heavy sweat of the angel before she lifted Levins out of my arms and up to the ledge. Then I understood, Eshe was not strong enough to lift Levins straight off the ground, but with enough momentum she was able to carry her from my arms. I wondered if Aaron could lift a person straight off the ground.

Levins threw down the rope and pointed to her foot. This time I did blink. What the hell? She jerked the rope impatiently and lifted her foot, pointing at it again with fervor. I took a deep breath and tied the rope to the bottom of my foot. Grasping it with both hands, I sent a prayer to all the gods I didn’t believe in and hung on.

Turned out, Levins’ biceps were strong enough to haul me up in a rope, with the help of Eshe straining above. Once we all were on the ledge, we waited for Eshe to catch her breath. Her torso was still thrusting in and out heavily, and sweat poured down her face. I sniffed the particular smell that emanated from her. It was half human sweat and half something else, almost sweetly sulfuric. Maybe that was why I found Aaron’s scent so intoxicating. It was something all angels had. Slowly Eshe’s torso muscles stopped pumping, and she was able to straighten. She smiled wryly at us. “I am old,” she mouthed. I shook my head and gave her thumbs up. Once her wings folded back in, she wrapped them up again, and we tested the door. It was unlocked. Eshe slid out first and then waved the coast was clear. One by one we came out into a dark space. The door shut behind us.

We were inside the Anakite temple.

Eshe flicked on her penlight, her face was worn and drawn. Even Levins looked strained. The light flashed through the dark, revealing an empty passageway hollowed out of rock. There was a line of canvas-covered carts parked off to the side; garbage collection carts, which explained the rectangular door. Eshe looked at Levins who sighed heavily. We had figured out how we were going to navigate the temple unnoticed. It was not going to be pretty, and it was going to be smelly.

I climbed inside the cart, cursing our good luck. Even though it was empty, a stench that could only be identified as garbage stench, lingered. Levins followed me, stepping on my foot on her way in. I wasn’t sure it was an accident. Eshe settled the canvas cover above us, and I dry-heaved in the confined air ripe with rotten smells. With a rumble we were off, blindly being taken by the grandmother of the head of the Anakites to the heart of the Anakite headquarters, where no one from SITO had ever been before.

I curled my knees into my chest, blind in the dark and trying not to touch anything as the cart bumped along. I could hear Levins hiss after one particularly hard knock. After many more jolts and hard bumps and a few heart stopping pauses and low mumbled sounds, the cart stopped and the cover was lifted.

“We are in a closet,” Eshe whispered. Levins and I stumbled out of the cart and hastily brushed off the bits of trash clinging to our cloaks. Eshe flicked on a flashlight, and I blinked in the sudden light. With pursed lips, Levins plucked an old orange rind out of my hair. I grimaced and looked around. We were in a small room carved out of the same rock as the garbage dump cavern. Three more canvas garbage carts lined the back wall, but the room had a pleasant familiar smell I couldn’t quite name. The rest of the walls were lined with shelves that held random stuff. We were in a storage room.

“Is that how we came in?” I asked, pointing to the door in the front of the room.

Eshe shook her head. She pointed to a small square opening near the back of the room. “I pushed us in through there. I think that other door leads into the House of Moloch, where the ceremony will be.”

I shuddered at the name, Moloch.

“Do you think it is wise to talk?” Levins whispered.

Eshe nodded. “The priests sleep at night. There are guards, but they also sleep.” She smiled and mimicked the picture of a guard asleep with his head back and mouth open. “They didn’t see me.”

Levins rolled her eyes. “Sounds like they’re doing a great job.”

“So, what now?” I asked.

“Now we find the child,” Eshe said. “To find him we figure out how they treat him now. If bad he will be at the prison cells, if good, he will be with Rahab.”

How he’s being treated. I shuddered.

“So we split up,” Levins said.

Eshe nodded. They both turned to me with their expressions uncomfortable.

“What?” I asked.

“Remember how you swore to obey my orders?” Levins asked.

“Of course,” I responded. I straightened proudly. She was going to give me my first solo mission. I clenched my hands into fists, trying not to look nervous.

“Stay here and do not leave under any circumstance.”

Her response knocked the wind out of me. I just stared at her open-mouthed.

Eshe laid a hand on my shoulder. “Sarah, you are too other to be out walking in the temple. It is too dangerous,” she said gently.

I shook her hand off. I knew that, but I had figured by the time we got here, it wouldn’t matter anymore. Weren’t we supposed to charge out and rescue Kels in a blaze of guns and glory? How was Levins going to blend in? Sure she was dark, but she was also tiny.

“There are some small angels, so Misha is okay if she wears hijab.” Eshe read my mind.

“If you are seen, you endanger the entire mission. This is not the time to be a hero.” Levins’s eyes bored into mine.

I sank inside myself. They were right.

“Okay,” I said.

Levins nodded, satisfied. She turned to Eshe. “How do I get to the prison?”

I struggled with my feelings of bitterness and shameful relief, as the other women held a whispered discussion. It was established that Levins would search the prison, and Eshe would snoop around Rahab’s quarters to see if she could pick up any information. They would both meet back here and once Kels’ location was known, go get him.

“Connelly,” Levins said. “You will wait here for us, hide behind the farthest cart there in the far back. Three soft taps on the back door means it is us. If neither of us returns in twenty-four hours, I want you to get into one of these carts and leave the same way we came in.”

“But what about Kels?” I spluttered. “We can’t just leave him here!”

“After twenty-four hours be too late,” Eshe said. “Remember, the rites are tomorrow night at midnight. Either we find Kels before he is brought to the altar of Moloch, or we fail.”

The pain in her eyes struck my heart. I had chosen to forget. I was so certain we would be successful I hadn’t let myself think we might not be. I couldn’t imagine returning to SITO and to Aaron from a failed mission with the stain of a little boy’s death on my soul.

“If it comes to it, don’t let our sacrifice be useless,” Levins said. “If those bastards do manage to get away with this, and Eshe and I go down, someone needs to inform SITO what is going on here and where they are hiding.”

I choked back my emotions, looked her in the eyes and nodded. She grasped my hand and shook it firmly.

“You are a good agent Connelly, make me proud,” she said gruffly.

Eshe gave me a strained smile and switched off the light. They slipped out the square cubby door leaving me alone in the darkness. I felt my way to the back wall and slid down behind a cart. The day-glo of my watch proclaimed; May thirty-first, two a.m., exactly twenty-two hours before the Rites of Moloch. There were twenty-two hours to save a little boy from being burned alive.