Pandemic

Glenda noticed that the agent rested a hand on his belt just behind his holstered gun. Though she had crossed this border often, it was the first time she realized that unlike their Canadian counterparts, American customs agents were armed.

The handsome young agent pulled back from the window. Not only was his blue uniform similar to a state trooper's, but he swaggered like one too as he walked around to the trunk of the car. He tapped on the back window and flagged the occupants inside.

"Oh, for goodness' sake!" Marvin huffed. "We'll be here forever!"

Riveted by the minidrama unfolding in front of her, Glenda ignored her husband's impatience as she watched the doors of the sedan open and a young couple step out.

"Figures!" Marvin heaved a sigh. "Look what we have here. A couple of them."

"Them, who?"

"A-rabs. Now we're going to have a search. Why they let those people come over here in the first place, I will never—"

"Give it a rest, Marv," Glenda said distractedly as she studied the young couple. They both wore jeans and light jackets. The young man was of average build. He stood stiffly immobile by the trunk, and he only removed his sunglasses when the customs agent tapped by the side of his own eyes and pointed at him.

In contrast to her husband — at least Glenda presumed the couple was married — the woman kept in constant motion, looking like someone desperate for a bathroom. Short and squat with a thick shock of curly black hair, she glanced around constantly. The one time her eyes met Glenda's, she dropped her gaze straight to the ground.

"Look, Marv, the poor dear is nervous as a virgin on her wedding night," Glenda said and she reached over and tapped her husband on his fidgeting hand.

"Probably has good reason to be," he grunted. "Bet they have forged papers. Or maybe they're carrying a bomb."

"Oh, Marvin!" Glenda sighed and shook her head.

The customs agent slammed the trunk shut. He signaled something to them with his index finger, and the young couple climbed back into their car. "He's letting them go through after all that?" Marvin said as if it were a personal insult.

But after passing the booth, the white car immediately turned off to its right. Glenda watched as the car circled back and passed them heading in the opposite direction toward Canada. "They're turning them back," Marvin said. "Good."

"Racist." Glenda shook her head at her husband. "Well, I feel sorry for them. That poor girl is going to be beside herself next time she tries to cross the border."

POLICE HEADQUARTERS, CAIRO, EGYPT

Sergeant Achmed Eleish sat at his desk, hidden in a cloud of cigarette smoke, reading the incomplete dossier. Its content was so bland that it could have documented the military career of any undistinguished officer. But from what Eleish knew of Major Abdul Sabri, his career had been anything but undistinguished.

When his informer, Bishr Gamal, had whispered Sabri's name from a phone booth in downtown Cairo, Eleish felt a chill. Gamal had refused to expand much on the revelation, demanding more money and a more secure line of communication. However, he had told Eleish that Sabri had been frequenting the Al-Futuh Mosque and seen often in the company of Hazzir Al Kabaal.

What was a secular army officer with a reputation for ruthlessly crushing Islamic radicalism doing at an Islamic mosque? Eleish wondered. He reached for the file again, hoping to glean a clue.

Even for an Egyptian Army Special Forces officer, Sabri's file had been censored beyond usual. There were months, even years, missing. And the mentioned postings told very little of his activities. Some of the content was outright contradictory. In Alexandria in the early nineties, it said he had been assigned to port security, which did not fit at all with his Special Forces branch of the army. And after the Luxor massacre of 1997 (where sixty-eight Western tourists were gunned down by Muslim extremists), Sabri had been allegedly entrusted with assuring "tourism safety" for the pyramids of Giza. Eleish couldn't picture Sabri standing outside the Great Sphinx shepherding tourists around like a traffic cop. He could only infer that Sabri played a role in the largely successful hunt to track down and kill the masterminds behind the massacre.

The last entry was the oddest part of the file. Dated six months earlier, a single line stated that Sabri had voluntarily resigned his commission. Eleish did the calculation in his head. It meant that Sabri had resigned after twenty-three years of service, two years shy of the highest level of military pension that all officers sought. It made no sense.