Outside beneath an early evening sky, Khoury could also hear the young boy’s screaming as he was escorted, or instead carried, from his room to a waiting vehicle outside the building.  It was one of the silver SUVs that had just brought the new group of children from the plane.

Khoury ignored the struggle and calmly brought a cigarette to his lips, inhaling deeply before letting the smoke back out through a long, slow exhale.

He watched as the SUV drove past, heading toward the west gate where sunset was nearing the horizon, highlighting the gently rolling desert terrain around the estate in all directions.  The scene was secluded and peaceful—if not for the screaming.

Khoury looked up when the figure of Layla Abo appeared, glancing around to ensure they couldn’t be seen from the main building.

“Where is Saad?”

“Where else?  Underground.”

Abo stepped closer.  “How is he?”

Khoury shrugged and took another drag.  “Close.”

“How close?”

“Closer than he admits.”

“We have to do something,” said the psychiatrist.  “Before it’s too late.”

“Not yet.”

“What if he dies?”

Again, Khoury shrugged.  “Then he dies.”

“But–”

“I told you, it doesn’t matter.  He either finds what he’s looking for, or he doesn’t.”

“If he finds it, it could be too late.”

“I doubt it.”

Khoury was far less worried than Abo.  The old man was weak, and not just from the disease.  Saad was pushing eighty, which meant that he was no match for someone like Khoury even in perfect health.

He didn’t know precisely what Saad was hiding in the bunker, but he did know that even if the man found what he was looking for, it would eventually belong to Khoury—one way or another.

“Then what do we do?” asked Abo.

Saad’s head of security looked at her, peering into the woman’s eyes.  Such a beautiful face, with a high level of intelligence to match.  But like most women, she still lacked strength.  Not just physical strength, but a more substantial kind.  That edge.  That toughness that only appeared in men, and a small percentage of those, the physical ability and a mental ruthlessness to do whatever was necessary when the time came no matter how grueling or gruesome.  To do whatever was necessary to get what one was after.

“We wait,” he finally said, inhaling again.  “Until the moment is right.”

“But if we act now, we can learn what he knows.”

“A man this paranoid always has safeguards,” he replied.  “Best to let him do the work for us.  We’ll help him find what he’s looking for, because he’ll need us more than ever if he does.”

Layla Abo reluctantly shook her mane of long dark hair but acquiesced.  They didn’t know what Saad was protecting, but they did know what he was looking for, what he’d been searching for, for a very long time.  And now, desperately.