34. April 8th

APRIL 8TH

Waters

He flinchedas if a bullet had struck him through body armor. He couldn't help it.

Did she say what I think she said?

His hands were on her forearms, pulling her stranglehold from him. Out of the corner of her eye, he registered that her computer screen had gone completely dark. Midas heard her admission and was politely cutting everyone else from the moment.

I owe that man a lot of tequila.

Her arms went limp, her eyes on the floor. She was too embarrassed to face him.

Both of his hands reached up to Kubrick's face. It felt like there was a slight tremor in them as they brushed stray hairs back behind her ears. The silence was deafening as they continued to caress her face, his fingers tracing the lines of her furrowed forehead, the cheekbones flushed red with her admission, the tense lines of her jaw as she ground her teeth in embarrassment, and the seam in the frown of her lips. The same hands framed her face between the palms, his thumbs brushing away the tears falling from her eyes. "Kubrick," he exhaled. "Kubrick, look at me."

She closed her eyes and turned her head.

His hands turned her face back to him, but she refused to open her eyes. "Kubrick, please," he begged.

Her tears came harder, afraid to hear his protests to her confession. And her tears were his undoing. He'd only seen Kubrick this defeated once before, and it twisted his insides today as much as it had that day before they left for Roatán. No, worse this time, because these tears she was shedding were over him and something he'd said at one time and no longer meant.

No, the truth is I never meant them. I used them like a shield to keep my heart from breaking if something were to happen to her. And it no longer matters what God thinks. I can't stop this, even if I tried. Even if I wanted to. Come what may.

He had to stop her tears. Make her understand. But even more than that, he needed to believe what she'd said.

In a fluid motion, he stood, swept her up into his arms, then gathered her close on his lap in the chair she'd just been removed from. One hand curled around the back of her head. "Kubrick. Look at me right now. Please. I need you to look at me."

Reluctantly, she opened her eyes.

His voice, when it came, was desperate. "Say it again."

She inhaled. "Wh-what?"

He brushed away more tears. "Please. Say it again. I need to make sure I heard you right. So say it again."

She searched his face. She must have seen that he was serious instead of angry. "I love you," she whispered.

His forehead bent to hers, his lips a breath away from hers. "Again." He stopped breathing.

"I love you. I'm sorry," she apologized. "I know I wasn't supposed to—"

A finger touched her lips, keeping her from apologizing further. He withdrew his finger and used that arm to curl around her waist. He pulled her tight, his face buried in her neck beneath her ear. Only when she was as tight to his body as he could get her did he breathe. "Again, Kubrick. Say it again," was his muffled plea.

She clutched him tightly. "I love you, Waters."

A ragged sigh escaped him as if he was holding back tears of his own.

His watch beeped.

Waters pulled back, and his hands framed her face again, his thumbs swiping away more tears. "This isn't finished. Right now, I need you to dry your eyes, baby. Midas has something for us."

She inhaled deeply and nodded her head that she was ready to hear what Midas had.

"Go ahead, Midas," Waters called out, but his eyes never left hers.

The screen came back live, and Midas appeared. TB, Demon, and Nemo were gone from the screen, but God's square remained. "Sorry, you two. My timing is shit, but there was no package at the shipping store in that box. There was just an envelope."

"Did Steel open it?"

"Negative. Wanted Kubrick's permission first."

"You've got it, Midas. Open it," she ordered.

Eyes still on each other, foreheads touching, Waters' thumbs stroking her jawline, he heard the sound of ripping paper and something sliding out of it. A low whistle came from Midas at whatever he was looking at. "Umm, Kubrick?"

She sniffled, shaking herself free of Waters' gaze, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hands. "What is it, Midas?" she asked, turning to face the screen.

Waters directed his attention to the screen as well, one arm sliding down her back to rest around her waist, the other crossing her lap and gripping her opposite thigh. He had a sneaking suspicion she was going to need physical support in addition to mental.

"Who is this?" Midas turned the single sheet of paper in his hand to face the screen. It was a five-by-seven photograph of an Egyptian woman standing in the middle of the open plaza before an Egyptian tourist site.

Kubrick leaned forward to get a better look. The woman wore a white gauze dress and a sunhat. Her face was turned in profile and lit up with a beautiful smile, eyes shining. She shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know. She's beautiful."

Waters squinted, looking more at the background than the woman. "That's the Temple of Philae."

She looked closer. "You're right. But I don't understand." Her face depicted true puzzlement over the picture.

Midas pulled the photo back, scanned it, and it popped up on their screen in the lower right corner. "Look at the bottom of the frame."

A shadow showed at the bottom of the photo, the outline of a person holding a cell phone to take a picture. Kubrick leaned in further to the screen, her frown deepening. "Midas, can you blow the photo up?"

"Again, with the silly questions. Any particular portion you want enlarged?"

"Her eyes."

Midas zoomed in tight on the eyes of the girl. They were a golden-brown, lighter than normal for an Egyptian woman.

"No," Kubrick whispered. "It can't be."

"You know her now?" Waters asked.

"She's older, obviously. But I think that's Zahra Kader."

Midas' keys were clacking in the background, and another photo popped up on the screen. It was a casual, large group photo of mostly adults who were laughing and toasting the camera. Some were clearly Egyptian dignitaries, but others were clearly civilians, including Kubrick's adoptive parents.

Waters couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. There was his woman perched piggyback on an older teen, her index and middle finger in a "V" shape over his head. The adopted siblings appeared to be in the Egyptian embassy's courtyard. Her signature blonde ponytail was in a braid that was wound around her head like a hairband, blue ribbons waving in the breeze, but the edge strands were just as flyaway then as they were now. And the smile was full of absolute joy. She had always been beautiful. And it was also clear from the laughing face of Ka-Bar trying to look backward at her that he adored his adopted sister.

"Well, aren't you just as cute as a button," Midas chided.

"Zoom in on the girl two over on Ka-Bar's left," Waters ordered.

"Your wish is my command," he quipped. Instantly, the picture enlarged to a young Egyptian girl's face, her eyes focused on something to her right. Then, he put the two photos side-by-side on the screen.

"It is Zahra," she whispered.

"Who's Zahra, baby?" Waters asked.

"She's… well, she was… my brother's girlfriend. I think. I was ten in this picture, so as far as I was concerned, she was. I caught them kissing once." She smiled at the memory. "I thought Ka-Bar was mad at me when I teased him about it. He actually shook me until my teeth rattled. Made me promise never to breathe a word to another soul. He made it sound like he'd be killed if anyone knew. So dramatic." Her smile faded. "But my ten-year-old heart couldn't bear the thought of losing my beloved big brother, especially after all I'd already lost. So I kept my promise." She shook herself out of the bad memories. "We left the embassy shortly after that picture was taken. James, our adopted dad, was sent back to New York, and that was the end of our stay in Egypt until Ka-Bar's home base became Cairo."

A low whistle came from over the monitor. "Bossman, we've got potential problems."

Waters frowned. "What is it, Midas?"

The photographs disappeared and were replaced with a newspaper article. The story was in Egyptian, approximately six months old, but the photo was Zahra in an olive hijab and a fashionable yet modest matching robed dress of the same color with gold accents. "The article is about her being missing. And that's not all." Another picture appeared on the screen.

Kubrick inhaled.

Waters swore.

Zahra appeared in a photograph holding her very pregnant belly.

God spoke up. "We found the package, gentlemen."

Four hours later,Waters was still online with his team, coordinating all efforts. Kubrick had nearly collapsed from the adrenaline rush and shock. Demon had realized it was coming, so he left his post in the medic trailer and brought over a sedative to give her. Once it had been administered, Waters lay with her until she was asleep. When he returned to the War Room, it was to see that TB and Nemo had shown up.

"How long until everyone comes back to the house?" TB asked.

"The actors are out with the second unit director doing some distance shots. We have a couple of hours, maybe. Sunset tops."

"We lost Big Bird in all the excitement. Do we have any idea where he is?" Nemo asked.

"Not our concern right now," God barked. "Focus."

Waters was gazing intently at the screen, but he didn't appear to be looking at anything in particular. "Something's wrong."

"What do you mean?" God asked.

"If Zahra and the baby are the package, then why did someone break into Kubrick's trailer and then the house here?"

"Maybe they wanted the picture," Nemo suggested.

"Doubtful. Wouldn't whoever is looking for them know the package was a person and whom they were looking for? We're missing something. We've got to be." Waters blew out his frustration with a loud exhale. "And how do Big Bird and all the film stuff fit into this? Nothing makes sense."

"I don't know that we're going to get any answers on any of this until we locate Ka-Bar," God admitted. "Finding Zahra and Ka-Bar are the primary objectives now. The only objectives. It's time to regroup."

Waters looked at the television screen and God's black box with suspicion. "What do you mean ‘only'?"

"Exactly what I said. We need to regroup. Reassess. The objectives have changed. It seems to me that Ka-Bar wanted us in Kubrick's life to help her get to this package. Now that we know what the package is, the course of our work has changed. I want you back on a plane and at the office in twenty-four hours."

Waters" skin went cold, and he felt like his heart had both stopped and pounded with a deadly tattoo at the same time. "No," he whispered.

"Don't fuck with me, Waters. Get your ass in gear and get back here. The more people on this now, the better."

"We can't just leave Kubrick here by herself with that shitweasel."

"While I appreciate that you're concerned over your lady director, she is no longer the center of our work. She's a strong woman. Before she knew you, she was dealing with fuck-alls like him and doing just fine." God paused briefly. "Get back here. That's a direct order."

God disconnected from the video chat. Everyone in the room stood in silence, looking to Waters with concern and for direction. Even Midas on the screen was unsure how to proceed.

And this is why you told her not to become involved. That this was only temporary. You couldn't even follow your own directive. Instead, you followed your dick. Dumbass.

"Jesus Christ," someone whispered.

"Boss…" He wasn't sure which man tried to address him, but he had to shut it down quickly.

They all saw this as some sort of fantasy. You let them suck you into it. You knew better. You knew this was coming. You just thought you had more time.

Grinding his molars and tensing his body, Waters barked out orders, "Pack. We leave at first light."

There was an inhaled gasp.

Waters went to the corner where he stored his gear and began repacking. The men stood stock still, looking between themselves, not wanting to believe this was happening. Without looking up, Waters barked, "What are you waiting for? You heard the man. Get your asses in gear."

With a final look at each other, the men began to file out of the office in silence. Demon was the last to the door.

Jesus, I actually fell in love with her. This hurts worse than any physical wound I've ever had. There's no way I can leave her unprotected.

"Demon."

The Irishman stopped and turned to look at his boss. He said nothing. No expression on his face. Just waiting. Waters still didn't look up. "You're staying."

Demon's green cat eyes were solemn. "Copy that."