“You son of a bitch.” Alex felt a surge inside his mind — a storm of aggression building.
There was a sound like a bored sigh. “I could have turned her brain to liquid. I can do it to all of you. Do you need another display, maybe something a little more visual, perhaps to the other warrior woman? You like her, don’t you, Alex Hunter?” The voice had turned ominous. “Now, lower your weapons.”
“You don’t need to fear us.” Alex sensed something approaching. A wave of evil like he had never experienced in his life.
“I don’t fear anything. And so, we begin; 10 — 9–8 — 7–6… there will be no zero, Captain Hunter… 5–4…”
“Do it,” Alex said.
The small group lowered their guns.
“And now drop them to the floor.”
Alex let his fall, and the rest followed. Sam immediately squatted by Casey, lifting her head. The female HAWC groaned.
A vile smell began to fill the dark and ancient chamber, and then from deep within one of the alcoves a monstrous figure appeared. Its head towered above even the huge Sam Reid, and in the dim light they could see it held something, cradled gently in its arms.
It stepped out, and Alex heard Adira suck in a breath. She backed up, her voice so high, Alex barely recognized it. Her words — only in Hebrew — were muffled as her hand went up in front of her mouth.
“Oh God.” Casey was now sitting forward, her eyes blood-red from the brain trauma. She got to one knee. “You motherfucking son of a bitch.” She searched the ground for her weapon.
“Leave it,” Alex yelled, his eyes transfixed on the horror.
Sam just stood, arms at his side, his mouth open. The gruesome thing was dressed in a long shawl, like a surgical smock. There were patches of fluid dampening the material — some bloody, some yellowish, as if it had just slipped from an operating table.
Alex’s fists were balled, and his teeth were clamped so hard his jaws ached. In his head he could hear the screaming of the poor soul trapped forever in the living cadaver.
It was Eli, or parts of him. There were swirls of stitches holding the flaps of skin together, and only half of the face was the recognizable visage of the Mossad agent they knew. The other was a darker skin, and the eye a different color. The entire patchwork of flesh was sliced and rent with vivid scarring that wept no blood, as the flesh was as drained and dry as hung beef.
Eli’s eye rotated to fix on them, but there was no recognition there, no words formed by the tongue. Still, Alex knew the man was inside somehow, his soul trapped within the mechanics of the huge carcass.
“You used him… mutilated him,” Alex said. “You took him apart and then sewed him into this, monstrosity.”
“He serves me now.” The voice was amused, perhaps by the reactions on their faces.
Alex searched for its source, and for the first time, he looked away from the slack face of the giant. In its arms was a tiny figure, like a blackened doll. It was all gnarled and twisted, its eyes little more than yellowed slits.
“Jesus Christ. You little freak, you butchered him.” Sam had moved out and to the side.
Alex could guess what he was doing — the big HAWC was going to take a run at the thing. Use his body in a linebacker-type tackle to bring it down.
“Don’t Sam.” Alex knew the being was obviously able to project some sort of force with its mind, and Sam wouldn’t have made two steps.
“You are Jabir ibn Hayyan?” Alex asked.
“This is what is left of him.” Its yellow eyes narrowed. “The years, the centuries, have left little of the man that once was.” It sighed, but then its expression became sharper. “Ah, I feel your aggression.” The eyes seemed to glow. “No, not your aggression, Alex Hunter, but the other one inside you. It boils in its fury, and you hate it as much as it hates you. It is your weakness, and your strength.” It laughed, and it used its small claw-like hands to lift itself slightly, as if to see Alex better. “You were worth waiting for, Arcadian. Join me, and the others all go free. You have my word.”
“Join you like Eli there?” Sam said. “Just say the word, boss.”
“Stand down, soldier,” Alex said softly. He looked up at the ripped and sliced face of the giant figure. “Is that what you want? Another pair of hands, like that?”
Jabir ibn Hayyan’s hideous little face twisted into a grin. “The Zhayedan are no more than marionettes to do as they are told. But Alex Hunter, you will join with me, and me with you. I will supply the mind, and you will supply the body. What a pairing we will make.”
“And what happens to my mind — where does that go?” Alex asked, already guessing the answer.
“It will not be lost. It will come here, into this body, which you can keep.” Jabir ibn Hayyan looked up at Eli. “And this Zhayedan will carry you.”
“No way,” Sam said.
“Then you will all join me.” The thing leered at Sam, like a cross between a small monkey and a goblin. “Perhaps I will make another Zhayedan, this one just using all of you, sewn together. Won’t that be cozy? Friends bonded by war, become bonded by flesh, forever.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw Adira’s arm drop. He knew where she kept her throwing knives, and he edged in front of her.
“And if I agree, then you’ll let everyone else go.”
Excitement showed on its face. “Yes, yes.”
Alex could read the sense of excited anticipation in the tiny, gnarled features. But why did it need him to agree? If it was so all-powerful, why didn’t it just smash everyone in the room, and then simply take him? It must need his consent to be able transfer its mind, its essence, or whatever it planned to force into his head. It needed a willing offering.
He looked into the tiny decrepit thing’s eyes. Its face was like a shrunken head, as it hung in the hammock-like embrace of the monstrous being that had been Eli. There was something else that didn’t add up — if it was a true immortal, then why did it need them to drop their weapons?
Because it could be hurt, he realized. And if it could be hurt, it could be killed. He half turned.
“Everyone out.”
Sam shook his head. “Not a chance, boss, we can…”
“Now!” Alex’s roar filled the room. “Take your weapons and leave.” Alex felt the ancient creature about to object. “They’ll need to fight their way home.”
Jabir ibn Hayyan eased back, sneering. “Of course, I forget that mortals break so easily.”
Alex watched his group leave, each grumbling or casting deadly glances back at the deformed creature in the giant’s arms. Adira stopped at the heavy wooden doors.
“For what you have done to Eli, I promise you, you will finally know death.”
She immediately grimaced and held her head as blood gushed from her nostrils.
“Stop it!” Alex jumped in front of Adira, holding up both hands. “Please.” Adira fell to the ground, and Sam came back to help her to her feet.
“Get her out.” Alex looked hard at Sam. “Don’t worry, I’ll see you again.”
“But will it be you?” Sam almost growled. He lifted the Mossad agent as if she weighed nothing and left the room.