Rats scurried along the sides of the narrow street just ahead of them as if to clear the way of obstacles. They quickened their pace.

"But why Nefi ? She's just a baby."

"No, she's not. She has a connection to the wild things that the rest of us don' t have. More importantly , she inherited some kind of mission that we don' t understand yet. Nekhbet presented her to the gods the night of her birth and said the Child would always be under her wing. But I can' t see what good it' s done. It hasn' t kept her from being kidnapped."

They were almost running now.

"I know a way to the gate that won' t attract any attention. This way." Najya pivoted right onto the Al Wad and left on the Aqabat Tekeyah. "We have to go across the Temple Mount."

Inside the grounds of the Dome precinct, Valerie felt less visible.

Though the vast open court off to their right was bathed in light, and the golden dome itself shone, the row of trees along the north wall behind the lamps af forded them cover . Where they ran on hard-packed soil they made speed, but where they met stone, they had to slow to keep from slipping. The rain and infestations of the previous day had made every exposed surface slick with slime.

Then they were on open ground again, grass-covered, exposed, but no one apparently bothered to guard empty space. Somewhere a dog barked but, mercifully, not for them.

"There it is." Najya halted suddenly, panting. "The double portal,"

she said between breaths. "Still waiting for the Messiah."

It rose high and dark overhead, more a massive stone tower than a gate and scarcely welcoming, for man or god. Its two inside portals were covered by rusted iron gates that stretched from ground to archway.

Valerie shone the fl ashlight beam through the bars into a cavernous space. Two rows of columns supported the roof, and nothing inside moved. "There doesn't seem to be any place to hide people. Is there a warden's room anywhere that I can't see?"

"No, only a stairwell to the roof."

Valerie ran the fl ashlight over the entire gate. "Look, the lock' s been cut. I guess that gives us our answer. They're here."

Najya tugged vigorously on the iron rim. The gate swung toward them with a metallic groan, scraping along a groove that had been made earlier.

* 200 *

Vulture's Kiss Inside the gate chamber the fl uttering and squeaking in the darkness told them that small creatures fl ed from them along the fl oor and overhead. The columns cast ominous shadows that moved like wheel spokes as the fl ashlight beam swept across them. Against the far wall, the outline of the exterior gates curved over their two walls of bricks.

Valerie tried to imagine the hall fi lled with joyful celebrants shouting and throwing palms as the Messiah entered. The pretty image was diffi cult to sustain in sight of the grime on the walls and the smell of mold. The whole city smelled musty now, she noted, since the vermin-fi lled rain.

"There's nothing here...and no place to hide," Valerie concluded.

"Except in the stairwell, over there." Najya pointed toward a narrow door in the farthest corner. They shone the light beam through the doorway and, pivoting around, up the stone staircase. Then they heard it. Laughter.

"So. You solved the puzzle," a male voice called down to them in English. "Well, it wasn't a very diffi cult one. Come on up." The faintly accented voice sounded familiar.

As they climbed the stairs, Valerie drew her pistol and held it behind her. She stepped out onto the rooftop, her foot slipping out from under her for a second on the slimy surface so that the fl ashlight beam went wild. Then she caught her balance.

For a moment she saw only a black form silhouetted against the paler night sky. Valerie swung the light beam on him.

"What the hell?"

* 201 *

47.

Ils sont Sacrifi es Najya walked toward the hulking fi gure in the fl ashlight beam.

"Harry? What is this? What are you doing?"

"Hello, Najya. You're looking good. How' s your new girlfriend treating you?" He moved slightly to the side of Auset, who was tied up at his feet. Nefi squatted petrifi ed and silent next to her mother , clutching her arm.

Najya stopped, her eyes seeming to measure the distance between Harry and herself, between him and the edge of the roof. "You haven't answered my question."

Slightly ahead of her , Valerie also stopped, acutely aware of the fact that she and Harry both had guns. But hers was pointed at him from a distance while his was pressed directly against Auset's head. "What's this all about? What do you want?"

He laughed out loud. "So many questions." He turned his face into profi le for a moment, like a preening fi lm star. "You still don't recognize me, do you? Well, I always was the handsome younger brother. Volker was the odd one, and ten years older."

"Brother?" It took Valerie a moment to absorb the information.

"Volker Vanderschmitt had a brother?"

"Yes, I'm surprised he never mentioned me." For a second, the sarcasm left his voice and he seemed disappointed. "W ell, no matter. The important thing is that he knew what you were-and how dangerous- and he died trying to stop you." He raised his free hand to shield his eyes. "Take that light out of my face or I'll shoot it out."

She dropped the beam to his chest, and by the ambient light she could still see both his face and his crouched victim.

Auset sat effectively immobilized, her hands tied under her knees.

A cloth gag covered her mouth, though it looked as if she'd managed to work her jaw halfway free. She watched the exchange between Valerie and Harry, but made no sound.

Valerie concentrated on his face. He was better looking than his * 202 *

Vulture's Kiss Akhnaton-faced brother, but his cold, dead expression seemed far more ominous than Volker's aloofness.

"But you must know , he died in a sandstorm outside El Khar ga.

There was an investigation afterward. It was in all the papers."

"He was eaten by vultures," he answered in a monotone.

"I'm sorry about that. But it's what happens in the desert."

"He followed you there, but you came back, and he didn' t. Don't lie to me like you did to all the others. I know the real strory . You were under his authority, but you didn't like it. Instead you went on a rampage, and when he tried to rein you in, you killed him and left him for the vultures. Did you think there would be no consequences?"

"Rampage? What are you talking about? It was nothing like that."He seemed only then to take note that she pointed a pistol at him. "Put that stupid gun down. Kick it off the roof, or I'll put a bullet through her the way I did Derek." At the word "her" he pressed the tip of his automatic to the side of Auset's head.

Jolted by the murder confession, Valerie searched for alternatives and found none. No matter how accurately she aimed, it would not be good enough, while his shot would be deadly. She laid her pistol down in front of her and nudged it over the edge of the roof with her foot. She heard Najya exhale in a sigh that spoke for both of them. Now all they had were their wits.

"He was killed in a sandstorm," she persisted. "I wasn'

t even there. And besides, what have Auset and her baby got to do with what happened to Volker?"

He snorted. "Did you think this was all just a little vendetta?

Revenge for the family honor? Oh, no." He expanded his chest and set his pelvis forward like a gladiator stepping into the arena. Morituri salutant, she thought, ironically, but he was there to do the killing, not the dying.

"I know about this sick little religion you're trying to get started.

Animal worship. Something we left behind us thousands of years ago.""How do you know about that?" Valerie was astonished. "Your brother didn't know anything about it. Nobody does."

He smiled coldly , obviously pleased at being able to surprise * 203 *

her. "Volker wrote me about you stealing the mummy . He was sure something strange was going on, and he was getting close. That's why you killed him, isn't it?"

She shook her head. "You've got it all twisted around."

He continued, ignoring the remark. "After I found out about it, I began to do a little research. About the excavation, about you, and one thing led to another. I've been following you for two years." He tilted his head back, to deliver the last blow . "I even read your demented manuscript."

"My chronicle? That's not possible."

"Of course it's possible. How many drafts did you go through and discard before you submitted it?"

"You went through my garbage?"

"Never mind how I got it. But it revealed everything about you and your fi lthy cult."

His words hit her like a blow to the chest. He was the fi rst person, the only person, to read her revelation. He was the test case. "But if you read the manuscript, then you know how your brother died. You know everything! You know about Rekemheb and the coming of the gods!"

Her head began to swim. Was her chronicle so inept that it could convert no one-just another fantasy novel on the market? She would have been humiliated if fear had not taken up all the room in her mind."Yes, your lunatic fantasy . It made my skin crawl to read it. I smashed your mummy just to prove nothing would happen, and I was right. You didn't even notice. To get you here, I had to move down the list to the next one in your little family of perverts. Two of you queer, and this one..." He pushed Auset's head again with the gun barrel.

"Fornicating with a black man. And your talking animals. Do you think anyone is going to believe that crap?"

She tried another tack. "If it' s such crap, how is it harming you?

Why are you so worked up about it?"

"Because it' s evil, and somebody will always fall for it. For generations my family has fought for the right-in the military , the government, even in the church. I may have been slow to accept the family mission. I was a weakling, a pretty-boy . But Volker's death changed everything. It made me a man-a man who had the courage to deal with you and your sort."

* 204 *

Vulture's Kiss "My sort?" She tried not to look at Auset, but out of the corner of her eye she could see that she was slowly changing position, preparing something. Harry didn't notice.

"Yes, all of you 'rights' screamers. Immigrants, feminists, eco-terrorists, homosexuals. Now your little cult wants everyone to become atheists and worship animals. You won' t be satisfi ed until you've dragged us all down. Someone has to stop you."

"Stop us from what, exactly? We haven't done anything." She was stalling now, letting Auset do whatever she was planning.

"From increasing your disgusting little cult. No more children of Rekemheb-no more cult. It's as simple as that."

He glanced toward Najya. "Sorry you had to get mixed up in this, but you were a very good lure. And now you've gone and become a believer, haven't you?" He shook his head. "Women are so gullible."

Najya seemed dazed. She stared at him, engaging him. Nothing in the world seemed to interest her at that moment but Harry. "Yes, it is a pity. We had something good there in Cairo, didn't we?"

Auset, meanwhile, had drawn up one leg until her knee touched her chest.

Najya's voice went dark and velvety, and the still night air carried it to him. "All I believe in is my work.

You should know that by now. But Cairo was good. I'd hoped we could do another assignment together." She edged sideways, causing him to pivot around and put Auset directly behind him. "It's a shame we can't..."

Valerie saw the ploy and edged to the right as well, holding his attention.

He was clearly fl attered, just enough to be off guard for a moment, and as he tilted his head again for his reply , the gun barrel dropped a few centimeters. "I guess there's something about a real man. Women always like-uff!"

Auset's foot had shot out suddenly , knocking his leg out from under him. He caught himself right away and only went to one knee, but in the few seconds it took him to refocus, they were on him.

Their combined force threw him backward onto the ground. He still held the gun but could not raise his arm. Valerie lay across the right side of his chest and grasped his wrist. She pounded it on the brick until he lost his grip and the pistol slid off his palm to lie between little pink shoes.

* 205 *

Furiously, he arched his back and managed to roll toward the left, but Valerie and Najya still held him fl at to keep him from scrabbling back toward the weapon that lay at the feet of the child he planned to kill. Auset thrust her chin out and freed her mouth from the gag. "Pick it up, darling," she said, sounding both soothing and ur gent. "Ummi says it's all right to touch. Pick it up, habibti."

Timidly, Nefi grasped the gun with two hands by the barrel and held it in the air like a tomahawk.

Harry was on hands and knees now, dragging himself toward her.

His outstretched hand was a few centimeters from the little feet. "Throw the gun over the edge, darling. Throw it away . It's nasty. Bisurah!

Bisurah! " Auset urged.

Thrown of f balance by the weight of the gun, Nefi toddled awkwardly toward the edge. "Be careful, don't go too far," Auset called after her "Put it on the ground, habibti, and push!"

Harry rolled onto his back again and managed to free one arm. He delivered a powerful punch to the side of Valerie's head, stunning her, then slid out from under her and Najya and fl ung himself toward Nefi .

He snatched the pistol by its handle with a grunt of triumph, but his momentum carried him to the edge. He tried to crouch again to slow himself, but the mold-covered bricks gave him no purchase, and he fl ailed as fi rst one foot, then the other slipped over the edge. In a last desperate movement, he grasped Nefi 's arm and pulled her with him into dark, empty space.

* 206 *

Vulture's Kiss

48.

Heartbreak Nightmarish. They hurled themselves down the stairwell to the inner gate, then dashed along the inside of the city wall all the way to the next opening at the Lion's Gate. Hysterical, inconsolable, Auset staggered behind them, gasping, her incoherent sobs reduced to a desperate wet breathing. The run seemed to take forever.