Page 46 of Major

The two men turned, both with weapons in their hands.

“Where is it? Where is the crate?” yelled one of the men.

“Sorry, buddy, we have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Major. “But let me introduce myself, Dr. Fayek. I’m your son-in-law.”

Fayek stared at the man, shaking his head. He still had his pistol pointed at the men, but they had him outmanned and outgunned.

“No. She wouldn’t marry an American,” he frowned.

“No? Why? Because Egyptians are so honest and devout. Don’t fuck with me, asshole. I’d like to break every bone in your damn body for the pain you’ve caused my wife. All for what? Some fucking crate with a mummy. Pots. Cloth. She’s worth so much more than that.”

“You know nothing of this! Nothing! It is worth a lifetime of deaths and resurrections. It will change everything we know. Everything!”

“Because you believe it’s Jesus and Mary,” said Sebastian, staring at the two men. They both were wide-eyed, looking back at the men. How could they possibly know?

“You don’t understand. Where are the crates?” he asked again.

“Your guess is as good as ours,” said Major. “What did you do to the woman?”

“She was sticking her nose where it didn’t belong. We had to make sure we sent a message for her to be silent,” said Fayek.

“Not we,” said the other man. “Him. I didn’t touch her. I wanted to let her go.”

“Shut up, you fucking coward! You agreed to all of this!”

“I never agreed to hurt Elena or any woman.”

“Who are you?” asked Major.

The man shook his head, not wanting to give anything away. Fayek laughed, then jerked the man in front of him, firing his pistol several times. He was a shitty shot, missing all of them.

As they fired back, they hit the other man several times, watching him fall as Fayek slipped out the dock doors. Major kneeled next to him, holding his head.

“Who are you?” Tears fell from his eyes.

“Tell her I’m sorry. Tell her I didn’t know it all,” said the man.

“Who are you?”

“Get the crates. Someone took the crates,” he said with great difficulty. “Fayek is trying to destroy Christianity.” Major nodded but asked the question again.

“Who are you?”

“Efram. I was… Efram.” He uttered his name with his last breath.

“Shit,” said Sebastian. “Brix took Daphne to the jet. Doc is working on her now. She’ll be okay, but she looks fucking awful.”

“We have to find Fayek,” said Major. “Check this guy’s pockets and see if there’s another vehicle in the parking lot.”

“Oh, dear,” said an older woman, walking through the warehouse. “Our security company said that the alarm had been disengaged several times tonight. No one should be in here.”

Several security men were behind her, all pointing their weapons straight at them. The VG men raised their hands.

“We’re with a security agency. We were trying to stop this man and another, Dr. Fayek, from getting to the crates that you had.”

“The crates belonged to this man,” she said, pointing at Efram. “Where are they?”

“We don’t know. We arrived as Efram and Dr. Fayek were arguing about something. Apparently, the crates were gone when they arrived.” Major stared at the woman as she wrung her hands. “Ma’am, can you confirm what was in those crates?”

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