Invisible Death

Of Mice and Man

"Bismillah! In the name of Allah, what was that!?"

Before Samihah Shah could say another word, either in Farsi or English, Adam, pain pouring down his eyes, touched her lips with his fingers, silencing her. "Bugs," he whispered in Farsi. "Surveillance." He paused, closed his eyes and breathed deep, fighting the nausea that was threatening to overcome him.

"They're coming," he said, releasing Samihah's lips and rubbing the silver ring on his right hand with his thumb. With his left hand, Adam leaned heavily on Samihah's shoulder. He was panting; speech was difficult, coming in gasps. "Don't let them set one foot in here without a full sweep of this place." He stopped again and caught his breath. "Stop them at the door, and do this." He made a circular motion with his hand that seemed to encompass the whole bungalow. "They will know what to do." Another pause. "Samihah, please, get me some ice."

Adam let go of Samihah's shoulder, turned around, staggered to one of the two bedrooms and entered the private bathroom, slamming the door behind him. From the sitting room, all the way out of the bedroom, the Iranian woman heard him retch and lose all the food he had forced himself to eat and compliment. She had tried her best to do the same, but the company she was keeping, the first visit to that sickening, beyond Freudian Genomex clone... And the look of complete manic madness in Kenneth Harrison's eyes... All that had tied up Samihah's stomach in knots. She could barely look at her plate, let alone eat from it.

"Ken Harrison is completely insane," she thought while she emptied ice cube trays on a towel. "He has to be stopped! Allahu Akbar! Those poor people!"

The sound of hurried steps in the porch snapped her out of her reverie. She left the ice soaking the towel and ran to the French doors, blocking Shalimar's path just before she entered. With her left hand palm out in the classic "Stop!" gesture, Samihah made a circular motion with her right hand and her eyes, encompassing the whole bungalow. Without a word, Shalimar nodded. The feline looked at the elemental coming up the steps, pulled two silver cell phone-like boxes from her purse, handing Brennan one of them. They snapped open the boxes and split, dividing the bungalow between themselves and checking the readings and beeps the box gave out. Every time the beeping accelerated, they attached a small metallic chip to the place, either a wall or lampshade, anything, and the beeps calmed down.

Grabbing the ice-filled towel, Samihah ran to the bathroom door and knocked. "Are you all right? I have the ice."

Adam opened the door and leaned against the frame. Taking the makeshift ice bag from Samihah with two hands, he placed it against his forehead and breathed hard for a few minutes, hoping the cold fabric would give him a modicum of relief. He couldn't open his eyes, the dimmed light in the room felt like a searchlight to his pounding head, the smallest noise was a needle in his brain. He took a few tentative steps and felt a hand on his elbow, guiding him to the bed. The same hand helped him sit down, then lay against propped up pillows. The headache he had brought back from that Byzantine torture chamber was so overpowering that even Shalimar's whisper of "All clear" made him cringe. He tapped his hand against the bedside table, trying to turn the lampshade off. The same hand, Samihah's, stopped him and he felt the bungalow slowly plunge into darkness. Adam could only open his eyes when nothing but the moonlight bathed the room.

"Good Lord, this is the worse migraine headache I've had in my life."

A large, heavy hand, Brennan's, landed on his shoulder, making him wince. "Sorry, man," apologized the elemental, "but what happened to leave you in this sorry state?"

Adam took his time to answer, relishing in the perception that the pain was starting to subside. "The most... horrifying demonstration of sadistic pleasure and lust for power a person could witness can have that effect."