Something Swahili

Ed found it extremely strange that Ian hadn’t sent some kind of swat team to hunt him down as he stood in line at the departures in Egypt. Ed had decided against North Africa after Elizabeth had mentioned that may just be what the Oracle was expecting him to do, seeing as he had gone off the radar less than 24 hours ago.

            Instead, Ed had figured that meeting up with one of the runner that used to help them out on missions for the Agency would be a good place to start. It took him less than half an hour to track down the whereabouts of the runner while Elizabeth went to the loo at an Engine garage in Pretoria.

           

Ed had driven Elizabeth home where she had managed to get both of them a trunk full of clothes each, before anyone noticed that anything had been strange or weird.

            Only once, did Scars walk up to Ed’s car in order to ask him what he was doing back in such a hurry, to which Ed merely responded with a shrug. Fortunately Scars wasn’t too smart to know think farther than the tip of his already flat nose. He charged his phone in the car, but had long since taken the SIM card out and folded it in two before discarding it out the window of his car. He had to get a brand new SIM when he would eventually return.

It was strange to go out on his own like that. He hadn’t gone out on his own to do much of anything since he spent all his time tracking down Sarah’s killer, little less than ten years ago, and even then did he keep in constant contact with the Oracle.

           

Safu had been waiting for them in an old Toyota Cressida, a vehicle Ed hadn’t seen since his mother had owned one back in his youth. Ed put their baggage into the trunk of the car and opened the back door for Elizabeth before getting into the passenger’s side where he shook Safu’s hand.

            Safu had first worked with Ed and Ian in the days before Dev had joined the group, also handling all of the jobs that required brute force over anything else, though his specialty had always been in running – something that the Agency had slowly but surely stopped doing by the time of The Fall.

            Even as they drove into town and through the bustling streets of Egypt, Ed could see the Swahili Police badge that Safu had kept from his days before he was recruited. It was strange that he had been relocated to a country other than his home country, though Ed had never asked him why due to common courtesy –- if anyone knew about the darkness of the past, it was Ed.

            “You will be staying here,” Safu said as he parked next to a small inn. He had clearly chosen the most inconspicuous inn he could find for his old friend. “I live two blocks from here,” he explained, “if you need anything, never hesitate to ask.”

            “Thank you again, man.”

            “Yes. This is truly a beautiful country,” said Elizabeth as she shook Safu’s hand, who looked at Ed in strange delight before giving off a slight laugh and leaving. “Did I say something wrong?” she asked as she closed the door behind her and walked over to her suitcase that Ed had put on one of the beds.

            “You are strangely ignorant of the world’s problems,” Ed said just as delighted as Safu had looked. Ed then thought of telling her that it was extremely cute, but thought against it the moment it entered his mind.

            He had remembered what Ian had asked him – and if were to be brutally honest with himself, it did kind of make sense that Ian had asked him exactly what he had. He did think about it while on the plane, but never figured that it be a problem. It’s always a problem, you idiot, Ed thought as he then awkwardly made his way out of the bedroom and to the small bathroom.

            He washed his face and stared into the mirror a good long while. He had a small red dot had formed where his self-stitched shoulder touched his shirt, so he continued to pull the shirt off slowly so he wouldn’t injure himself too badly while doing so.

            The Egyptian humidity ringed true as the shirt clung to his back like a fly to flypaper, making it even harder for him to get the shirt off, even though it was already 8 o clock and the sun had long since set.

Elizabeth went through her things, but couldn’t help but wonder why Ed wanted her to come with. Sure, he had told her that it would bring her answers about her father, but if he really knew anything, why wouldn’t he have told her about it already? Instinctively, she passed a glance to Ed’s luggage on the other bed, and frowned at herself. She hoped that she had gotten him the correct sizes – though her brother was slightly taller than he was, her brother was also a lot less bulky and muscular.

            “Everything alright?” she exclaimed as she heard the tap water trickling slowly.

            “Yeah, I’m good,” Ed said from the bathroom. In truth, the cuts in his stomach hurt like hell, though it didn’t hurt like any random cut; it burned more, almost as if he had picked up an infection in the while it took for the cuts to stitch themselves up by means of ugly scabs. Fortunately it wasn’t the first time he had received cuts to his abdomen, and fortunately still, it didn’t look like it would affect the way his abs looked in any way.

           

That night, Ed made his way to Safu’s house where he got his Egyptian ID and passport from where Safu had kept it for him. Who knew that in eight years, Ed would return and ask for his help again? Ed knew that he owed Safu a great deal, and he would be sure to return the favour if ever it was necessary.

            “What are you going to do about the girl?” Safu asked as he handed Ed a beer. Safu had never married and neither had he shown any interest in someone of the opposite sex ever since his wife had died, also to the hands of an Others agent. “She seems fragile.”

            “Indeed she does. I don’t know – all she knows is that I can take her to her father, who she had been made to believe had died, though wouldn’t up to now.”

            “What are you doing in Egypt?”

            “I was headed to Angola,” Ed answered, “but she told me it may be a trick. I’m looking for leads – anyone who had received augmentations in the past five years or so. They seem to be disappearing one by one.”

            “An assignment?”

            “No,” Ed said with a smile and took a sip of the beer he thought to taste good, being of a brand he never even heard of. “A personal thing… If I find at least one survivor, I may be one step ahead of the Red Arrow.”

            Safu’s eyes widened, then relaxed slightly. “So the student finally goes up against his master.”

            “You could say that,” Ed replied. “I also believe that by being one step ahead of him, I will be one step closer to my girlfriend.”

            Safu nodded as if he understood, and took a few gulps of the beer in his hands. The silence that followed was soon broken as Safu explained what had transpired during the years Ed had last seen him. He also explained that the Red Arrow had made an appearance at a nearby university, after which three weeks later, one of the professors had disappeared.

            That meant that Ed was at the correct place, though he had to get out of there ASAP and make his way even more north as soon as he got all of his leads checked out on the death of the professor. It was then that he suddenly felt jealous about not having an AI of his own, like Ian had.

Ed had returned to the inn later that night and found Elizabeth already fast asleep in her bed. He then remembered the curfew they had to follow back at the Cage, and figured that she had grown so used to that schedule that it must be hard for her to try and stay up later. He didn’t want to think of when they had to change time zones.

            He undressed and slowly got into his own bed and then inserted a SIM into his phone that Safu had given him before he had left. He quickly typed a small message and hit sent, sure that Ian would receive it by the time he woke up the next day.