Waters of Lethe, Book 2

59. Run of Luck

A week ago today, Jai was exactly the one Scott suggested to accompany the two of us on the next mission in Cairo. All of my excitement of seeing the city, the pyramids, the giant sphinx had flew out the window as soon as Scott made his decision.

"He really doesn't want to work with me—" I began, only to have Scott hold up an impatient hand to shush me.

"I've already talked with him, and he's agreed to join you," Scott said, annoyed slightly, as if he were remembering the conversation of trying to tell Jai that he really had no choice either. He would work with whoever the hell Scott told him to work with, and he'd do so with a smile on his handsome, angry face.

As I fell back behind Alex, stealing a glance at Jai behind us, I realized how hard this mission might be. We were on a hunt for one person out of millions in the city, only having a few identification characteristics of the girl we were trying to find. It was odd to me that Scott was sending Alex and I on missions during intense brain monitoring, not to mention the declining amount of details we were given about each mission, like he were testing our abilities to track and retrieve. I knew, though, that we couldn't fail this mission. Not after failing the mission last week in Ghent. We would leave Cairo with the girl, one way or another.

It only sucked that she was here until Tuesday, two days from now. Which meant our window of opportunity to seize her was getting smaller by each passing second, each passing minute, each passing hour.

Alex dipped his head inside a small restaurant, forcing Jai and I to follow.

I hadn't said so much as two words to Jai since we'd stepped on the plane in Toronto to venture overseas, and I wanted to keep it that way. He made me uncomfortable, and not in a good way.

"What are you doing?" I asked Alex. "We don't have time to eat."

"It's noon, and we've been walking since six this morning," he pointed out, "which means I haven't eaten in forever, basically." I slid into an empty booth next to a window so that we'd have an open view of the crowded street outside, the vendors, and, more importantly, a possible glance at our target if she were to pass by. I barely registered Alex sitting beside me or Jai sitting on the opposite side of the booth to face us. Menus were laid out in front of us and the boys quickly picked them up. My brain shut itself off from the world, closing me off from my surroundings all together. I propped my chin on my hand and stared out the window, getting lost in the colorful traditional dresses that were being sold close by.

I was hungry. I was so, so hungry. Hungry to get the target that we were here to find, as if I needed to make a point to Scott. I didn't realize it until I thought about it now, but leaving Ghent without a target did something to me, made me feel like a failure. I didn't know if it made Alex feel the same way, but it did a number on me. I didn't even want to know what Jai thought about me now. Maybe that I was dumb or incapable of doing anything right. Who knew?

I scanned the people outside as they walked by, searching for a brown haired girl, brown eyes, five foot nine inches tall, muscular in the way that looked as if she played soccer. Nineteen years old. American. My eyes hopped from face to face as I felt the world disappear from around me, save the faces outside, like it did when I slipped deeper and deeper into concentration. Coherent voices turned into muffled gibberish. Colors blended, faces got sharper. The sun overhead seemed to shine light just on the faces I searched. I was vaguely aware of someone's voice a foot away from me. I jumped when Alex elbowed me in the lower ribs.

"Hey!" I said, a little too loudly.

He threw his hands up halfheartedly. "Sorry." A smile curled the edges of his lips while Jai rolled his eyes and spoke to the waitress who was taking our orders. Alex's eyes lingered on mine, connecting us while Jai spoke. I knew what he was silently asking, and I shook my head.