"I'm a cop," Berkfield said. "You need to start reading Miranda and explain--"
A gun butt to the side of his head stopped his words.
"This ain't local, it's federal," the lead searcher said through his black ski mask. "Homeland Security--after the Patriot Act, we don't have to tell you shit. Anybody else got any stupid questions?"
Guardians watched a team of twenty masked men peel off from the group in search of Damali, and cringed when they heard the weapons room door get kicked open.
"You see this arsenal in here!" a voice down the hallway shouted.
"Fucking Pentagon Web site up on monitors!" another shouted. "Bingo!"
"Bring it all as evidence," the leader said, motioning with his chin to dispatch more men. "Where's this Neteru chick, huh?" He leaned in toward Bobby and Dan, and yanked Dan's hair back.
"She's not here," Dan said, grimacing from the pain. "She left to go talk to somebody, okay? Now get off me!"
A gloved hand jerked Dan's hair again to make him fall. Bobby was drawing sudden breaths of rage, but knelt, unable to assist his friend.
"But we didn't do anything wrong!" Krissy shouted, trying to lift her head off the rug as she was shoved down hard and fell. "Hey!" Berkfield shouted. "That's my daughter!"
"Don't put your hands on her!" J.L. said between his teeth while a gun barrel dug into his cheek, forcing his head to the floor.
"The kid just wants to know what charges we're up on," Shabazz said, receiving a gun butt to his stomach for the question.
When he dropped, Big Mike almost stood, but a Glock nine to the temple made him slowly go back down on his knees.
"Easy, big fella. Don't be crazy," one of the restrainers said.
Inez tried to edge toward him on her knees, her eyes sending silent daggers to the gunman who'd put a nine to Mike's temple.
"She left," Juanita shouted. "She went to go see her man's mother!"
When a gunman nodded and yanked Juanita's ponytail back, two men shoved Jose to the floor. "Hurt her again, and it's on!" Jose shouted.
"You believe this little tamale?" one guy said, forcing Juanita's head back so far she almost fell.
Multiple two-way radios sputtered with static. "All clear! She's not in the house."
"We just want to know what you want," Marjorie shrieked.
"Some people wanna have a talk with you about these experiments you're about to conduct." The lead invader laughed hard in a mocking tone. "Your asses are screwed. We picked up everything off satellite intercepts of your coded message conference call with a buncha rogue clerics--religious fanatics. So let's go see some people who are very curious about your interest in Cairo setting something off and breaking into places with a link from here... just some folks who wanna know about all this Egyptian theory shit you're kicking around. All right?"
CHAPTER NINE
I am due at court," Cain said in a bored voice, beginning to walk along the opposite side of the long pool to collect his blade. "If you do not get dressed, you will not be permitted to go with me."
"Well, like I told you," Carlos said, keeping up with Cain's leisurely strides, "I ain't staying here by myself."
"You have nothing to fear," Cain said, his tone weary as he fastened a low-slung gold belt and sheathed the blade against his hip.
"I'm not scared of nothin'," Carlos said, his voice beginning to escalate with frustration. "But you ain't leaving me here to be lion bait, or some other foul--"
"Then get dressed," Cain commanded. He folded his arms over his chest and waited. "You gonna make me?" Carlos said, folding his arms to match Cain's stance.
Cain shook his head and stepped down into the pool. Carlos braced for the attack, sure that Cain was crossing the divide between them. But suddenly Cain stopped and submerged himself beneath the blue energy-filled space and was gone.
Dumbstruck, Carlos spun around, expecting Cain to suddenly materialize in a sneak attack. But soon it became apparent that he'd really gone. Growling lions tore his focus away from the strange pool and sent it ricocheting around the room in search of a weapon. But rather than two snarling sphinxes entering the chamber to attack him, a long-legged dark beauty strode toward him in a white Grecian gown.
Initially, he didn't know what to make of her, and he backed up a bit, just in case she transformed into something deadly. After where he'd been, he wasn't about to allow a pretty face or a voluptuous body make him sloppy.