1. He arrived at sunset.

The flight from Luxor is four hours. This gives him time for the meeting and to return before others realize his absence. The vacation was a good idea, even if interrupted by work. With his job, one was never on vacation, only moments away from the next crisis. And unlike all those stupid business people who don’t know Chinese, he knew better. The word crisis in Chinese does not use the characters danger and opportunity. That interpretation is wishful thinking. If a former President, Vice-President and Secretary of State believed that myth, then he had some wonderful opportunities for those morons. And people wonder why the U.S. foreign policy is a disaster. Morons in, morons out, means moronic policies for everyone. No one understood this better than he did, given he worked in a clandestine service. Only he worked for the U.K. and not the U.S. Same morons, different accents.

His favorite interpretation of crisis is what a friend told him. The two Chinese characters also mean death and machine. That is a better way to imagine crisis. “Crisis is the death machine coming for you. How do you like crisis now, you administrative nitwit?” The man said to himself. These were thoughts he had in this type of situation. He is in Khartoum, meeting an unknown contact, yet the person claimed to have vital information. Despite being on vacation, his boss insisted he go, since he was close. Next time he would not choose somewhere like Luxor in the Middle East. His next vacation would be to an island where they have never heard of cell phones. But you see, the Chinese characters for cell phones can also mean dog and leash. Or stupid and sucker depending on how gullible you are. He should make a Chinese dictionary chock full o’ such saying. He could make a bundle. Need a motivational Chinese word; just use his dictionary.

His contact would meet him in the public market across from a police station. Even if a setup, at least he had a chance. After using several tricks to lose anyone following him, the agent is certain no one followed behind him. All cities are like mazes, and anyone not familiar with a place is easily confused. Luckily, he had visited Khartoum before and had studied the city. He even considered himself something of an expert. There are too many stories of agents not knowing a city when the situation went bad. This would not happen to him. If the op goes wrong, he had a dozen different ways to disappear. No one would follow him unless he let them.

He turned off the main street and into an alley. Few used this street and is one way to be certain no one follows him. After walking a short distance, he knew no one was behind him. He would follow the zigzagging course of the alley, and this would lead him right to the meeting point. The information better be useful. This is one aspect of his job that sucked. The person he is meeting likely lives in Khartoum and is going from his home to the meeting place. The asset might need thirty minutes, an hour at the most, while he has to spend hours on a plane. At least he is in Luxor and only four hours away. From London, he is ten hours away at best and twenty-eight hours away at worst since there is no direct flight. Still, four hours to get to a meeting means his contact better have some useful information. But one is never certain until the meeting, which should not last long. If so, he will be in Luxor in time to catch some sleep and continue his vacation. He smiled as he thought this, when a sharp pain tore into his stomach. He looked down at his stomach.

“What the?”

After putting his right hand on his stomach and seeing the blood, he wondered how anyone could be aware he is here. He watched as a man came towards him. How could this man guess his route? By now, he is on his knees, but he still looks down in wonderment at the bullet holes in his stomach. Even if the other man didn’t have a gun, he would not have long. This is an alley few people use, and no one would find him anytime soon. It is still light out, so who would be so bold. The muezzin is starting the call to prayer. Are these the last words he would hear? A person who did not believe in God hearing the announcement to say prayers to God? As the man with the gun comes closer, he bends over, so his face is visible for the first time.

“You,” the agent says before two more bullets tear into his body.

2. Aisha woke to pain pounding in her head and a dry mouth. What had she been drinking last night? She did her best to avoid alcohol, but sometimes her husband insisted. This always made her mad. Why should he care if she did or not? Especially if… never mind, she thought. It is pointless getting mad about it now. She leaned up and sat on the bed for several minutes until motivated to move. Despite her sluggish body and throbbing head, Aisha found the sink, a glass and a bottle of water. After drinking the contents, she found medicine for her head. Falling back onto the bed, Aisha tried to remember what she drank that might have given her such a headache. The trouble, she realized, is that her memory of the night before is a bit spotty. In fact, her memories after four p.m. are non-existent. How is this possible? Her head hurt too much to consider such questions now. Soon, she fell asleep, and when she woke, she is  better.

Once she woke, she looked around for her husband, but he was not there. He had not slept in the bed. Had she thrashed around so much that he needed to sleep somewhere else? Looking around the room, she wondered where he had gone. Her watch said 7 a.m., and her husband was seldom up so early on vacation. They had been here for two days, and he refused to get up for their morning tours. Since he is up, does this mean he would go today? Aisha paused for a moment. She was not feeling great, but she did not want to miss today’s excursion. Today she had booked a tour to the Valley of the Kings, a place she had always wanted to visit. When she was a child and had first learned of Ancient Egypt, the pyramids amazed her. Why had anyone gone to such an effort? Burying people at all seems like a waste, so building such moments for one person is crazy. Various pharos based their lives around building structures bigger than previous rulers. To Aisha, pyramid envy sounds like a form of male penis envy but for the ruling class. Despite the time, money, and effort spent on these buildings, little is known about many of these leaders. What if these rulers were alive in the afterlife, how would they feel knowing their moments remain, but their names are forgotten?

After leaving her room, she walked to the lobby and looked for her husband. He is not down here. Where did he go, she wonders? Oh, well. Either he is here on time, or he misses the trip, and since he paid for it, it is his loss. It still surprises her he agreed to such a trip. He did not like the desert or ancient history. Although she had asked many times, he had always refused to visit Luxor. She had given up on ever going until one day he comes home and says he planned a trip to Luxor. This surprised her, and she wondered about his ulterior motive. He had never let her choose their vacation. Why were they going to Luxor now? And where was he? Maybe he is using Luxor as an excuse for his job. He comes here under the guise of vacation but is actually working. Whatever. She did not care what he did, she only asked that he tell her if he would join her on these tours. How would she know if he was in trouble? This is the middle of the desert, after all.

After waiting in the lobby for ten minutes, the tour van pulled up. Aisha walked to the van, and as she did, she saw herself in a mirror. Knee-length tan shorts, a white tee-shirt, a tan safari jacket with a hat similar to what Indiana Jones wore. She shook her head as she looks like the typical female research assistant in all adventure movies. Getting in the van, she noticed all the men look at her legs as the women scowled. Aisha scowled too when she glanced again at her clothes. Her husband kept tight control over what she wore. At some point, she learned the term trophy wife, and she realized she is a trophy wife for a government official. He likes her getting looks and made sure her clothes showed off her body, but never in a scandalous way.

Her father was controlling, but in the opposite way. She grew up in Pakistan, and outside of her house, no one ever glimpsed her body. What would her father say if he saw her now? He would blame her and claim that is what one should expect of a whore. Her father loved calling her a whore whenever he was mad at her, but the first man she kissed was her husband. How did that make her a whore? In a way, her father is right. This man appeared and offered her father enough money, so her father gave her away. Her husband paid this fee, not because of her sparkling personality but other features. She suspected that the man that would become her husband had somehow set up a camera in her bathroom. All Aisha knows is that he came to visit and had a modest viewing of her. Later, she noticed an object not in the bathroom before. Once she finished with her shower, she intended to mention this to her father, but forgot. On the first visit, her future husband seemed interested but reserved. The next day, he was very interested in her. All that had happened between the two was her shower. At first, she imagined such an idea crazy, but after the wedding, she moved to Washington D.C. and noticed how men looked at her.

All this flashed through her mind as she found a seat in the back of the van. The last row is empty, and once she was there, she prayed there would not be anyone else joining them. A few minutes later she found her wish granted, as her hotel was the last stop. Everyone else in the group talked amongst themselves, but she remained silent. She preferred if no one spoke to her. In a van of this size, no husband said a word to her. By the end of the day, several men would find her while being without their wives. They would smile and make small talk before making some joke about sex in The Valley of the Kings. Something terrible like, “Let me show you my king, and I promise to make you feel like a queen.” 

Aisha stayed away from her fellow passengers and avoid crowds the best she could. Being in such a place is almost a religious experience and requires solitude. One could not contemplate the splendor the ancients created with chatter about. Hearing someone babble about it being too hot or cold or the food at the hotel being inedible annoyed her to no end. One did not come to the Valley of the Kings for good hotel food or nice weather. If you want to graze like a fat cow in nice weather, take a cruise. The benefit of her husband’s spur-of-the-moment decision is that they are here in the low season when the weather is hot. This meant fewer tourists, but more crying about the heat. People visiting should take a quiz and sign a waiver. The average summer high in Luxor is 41°C (105°F). Is this hot? If you answered ‘yes’ you pass this quiz. Now you must sign this waiver agreeing to not mention the heat. If you violate this agreement, they will deport you to Sudan. Aisha smiled as she thought about this, while also making sure no one was around. For some reason, most men interpreted her smiling as a sign to chat her up.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I am laughing because I was thinking about all the lame lines you will use on me in an attempt to get me into bed.”

Instead of laughing at this remark, which she intended to be funny, Aisha frowned. Why is she so jaded? Her life might not be perfect, but it could be worse. Her marriage is the best of a bad situation, but she must admit her father is cunning. He is a low-level government official with little hope of advancement or improving his station. At first, her father cursed his luck at having a daughter. When he realized he had a beautiful daughter, he used her beauty to turn the tables on custom. Instead of providing a dowry for her, he would sell her off to the highest bidder. This would enable him to send his two younger sons to university and have a little leftover for himself.

The irony is that aside from looks, she also received the brains. Her brothers were idiots and stumped by any question starting with why. Why is learning math important? Because math teachers need jobs. This is an answer one of her brothers gave her once. But what should one expect of those two? Her father was lucky in that her mother, both beautiful and brilliant, fell in love with him. According to her grandmother, they had a beautiful marriage until her mother’s tragic death. Aisha was seven when her mother died and remembers her mother fondly. Two years later, her father remarried, but he did not do as well the second time. Or perhaps he did better. His wife is pretty but stupid, which her father appears to prefer. This second wife does whatever he wants without question and treats him like a king. Still, the joy he previously enjoyed was not there. Despite what her stepmother and brothers put her through, she did not blame her father. Besides, they were not smart enough to trouble her. Aisha pretended to obey her stepmother and then did what she wanted. If she had been angry at her family, she would not have made sure her husband sent the monthly check.

Her father would love a trip like this and appreciated wonders such as these. As much as Aisha loved being here, she wished she had a time machine to watch construction unfold. What is missing now? How might this have looked long ago? Even seeing these with Napoleon’s troops would be amazing. Still, being here is more amazing than she imagined. At times, pictures capture the beauty of a place such as a sunset, but not here. It’s hard to take in these surroundings all at once. Outside a tomb, there is the beautiful texture of the desert. The hills and mountains cut and cross one another and are the ideal place for hiding secrets. Yet no matter how remote, tomb robbers would discover most of the burial places. Did these mighty leaders realize that despite their power when alive, in death, they are little more than a chance at wealth for those with so little?

At the hotel, Aisha is exhausted from all her walking, and at times, running around the valley. To her surprise, only one man tried a line on her, and based on his age, he might have been single. Instead of speaking and encouraging him, she held up her hand and pointed to her wedding ring. By the time the van returned her to the hotel, the sun had dipped below the horizon. Aisha glance around the lobby as she entered, but her husband was not there. In the room, there is no sign of him. This causes her concern, but she is more focused on getting the dirt off her body. The two biggest disadvantages of living here in the past would be hard for her to deal with. First, she would need a shower at least once a day. Living here and going days or weeks without a bath is inconceivable to her. Second, the incessant sand would become too much. Sand infests every corner here, including the food. As a result, people’s teeth ground down, even affecting someone her age. In today’s world, this is not a problem, and her shower is one of the best she ever had. By the time she finished, the sky is dark, but her husband is still not there. She might have waited for him, but now she is hungry. As she is passing through the bar, she spots her husband. From the way he is sitting, she knows he has been drinking, and the glass in his hand is not his first. She is almost to him before he notices her. When Aisha reaches him, he looks up.

“Hey,” Naveed said.

“Hey, can I join you?”

“Sure.”

“Do you want another?”

Naveed looked at his glass and gulps down the remaining scotch.

“Sure.”

Aisha motions to the bartender.

“Can you pour him another of whatever he is having and bring me a bottle of sparkling water?”

The bartender nodded. Aisha did not speak, as her husband is seldom like this. The bartender returned with the drinks as Aisha waited.

“One of my colleagues, Robson Lanebridge, was killed last night.”

Naveed studied her as he said the name.

“That’s horrible. What happened?” Aisha wondered what expression her face made. She tried to push the name out of her mind and instead focus on her husband’s words.

“I can’t say much except he was meeting an asset in Khartoum, and something went wrong.”

Aisha was not sure what to say, so she remained silent.

“Do you want to hear the weird part? Robson and his wife are staying in this hotel. I ran into his wife last night as she was looking for him.”

Aisha looked shocked at this news.

“Wife? That’s horrible. Do they have children?”

“No, but his wife is devastated.”

Did Naveed put emphasis on the word wife, or had Aisha imagined this?

“There is a flight leaving in a little while, and I will escort Emily, his wife, back to London. I tried getting a seat for you, but the flight is full.”

“That’s ok. I can fly back tomorrow.” Aisha held her breath as she waited for his reply. She knew this was what he expected her to say, but the idea of three more days here alone excited her.

“That would be great,” Naveed said. “I meant to find you earlier, but I stopped for a drink which, as you can see, has turned into a few.”

Naveed glanced at his watch, and his look showed he had lost track of time. “I need to go, sorry.” He kissed Aisha on the cheek and left.

Aisha looked down at her water and said, “I will not cry. I will not cry.” Somehow she kept the tears in. Once she accomplished this, she ordered a salad at the restaurant despite not being hungry. Still, she needed to eat. By the time she finished and returned to her room, her husband is gone, along with any hint he had been there. The two of them had very different styles of organizing a hotel room. Naveed kept all his clothes neat in his suitcase, including toiletries. He even made the bed. Aside from his suitcase, you would never guess a person is staying in the room. Aisha is the opposite. She took all her clothes out and hung them up.

This lead to the only time she had seen Naveed blush. Since Naveed picks out her clothes, he also picks out her underwear. Being a guy, he goes for what he finds sexy, unlike a woman who usually prefers comfortable. Sure, all women have sexy bras and panties, but these are everyday wear if Naveed is your husband. On this occasion, Naveed was attending a conference, and she was with him. Aisha had left underwear on the bed of their hotel room. For some reason, Naveed’s boss came to their hotel room, and the first thing he saw was her bra and panties on the bed. The boss looked at them, frowned, and cleared his throat. Naveed turned red, but before he replied, Aisha walked over and picked them up.

“Naveed, how many times have I told you about not leaving your clothes lying around? You never know who might stop by.”

Aisha realized she should not have said this, but she couldn’t resist. Naveed’s boss let out a roar of laughter, and from then on, behind his back, the office called Naveed The Cross-dresser. Naveed would snap at her later, but even he admitted that her timing was perfect. Aisha’s biggest source of danger is her mouth, as sometimes she speaks first and thinks later. When she does this, everyone laughs, but the joke embarrasses someone. She does this most often to the men in her life and is always making cracks about Naveed or her father. Occasionally, she made remarks about her brothers, but they never got the joke so she saw this as wasted effort.

Now though, Aisha is in a hotel room alone and as if her husband was never there. She sat on the bed, but instead of reminiscing about the past, she stared at her phone. If she will return tomorrow, she better find a flight. This, despite having the room for three more days.Plus, changing her ticket would be expensive. She called the airline, and a reservation agent explained, to her amazement, that all flights are full for the next two days including several that are overbooked. The other option is to spend forever flying all around Europe before arriving in London. One flight with various airlines would take so long that she would not arrive until after her current flight.

Aisha did not care what her husband said, she was not doing this. After hanging up with the airline, she called her husband’s phone and said she hadn’t found a flight yet. When she finished, she took a shower, and the tears began. In the shower, Aisha had one of those moments when all one sees are the troubles in one’s life. But when she finished crying, she felt better and thought about all she would do over the next few days.

The next day she woke early refreshed and enjoyed the day. She loved being alone and not having to worry about what her husband might say or do.

When she arrived at the hotel, two odds events occurred. As she entered the lobby, the receptionist motioned her over.

“Excuse me, Miss Khan, your husband left this.”

She was about to remark that she is Mrs. Khan, but before she spoke, the man handed her a passport. Without thinking, she opened to the photo page and saw a picture of her husband.

"Thank you,” she said before looking at the name. As she walked away, she studied the name on the passport and sees it was not her husband’s. Then she realizes the passport is not blue like all United States passports, but green. This passport is from Pakistan. Flipping through, she noticed this passport took several trips between the U.K. and Pakistan. Her first thought is that this must not be her husband’s passport, but someone’s else. On the photo page, she studies the face to be certain the picture is her husband. After close study, she decided the picture is of her husband. If so, why does he have another passport?

She knows he works for the CIA, but would the CIA give him a Pakistani passport? Naveed was not born in Pakistan but in the United States. His parents spoke Punjabi at home, but Naveed never spoke the language like a native. He knows the language well but could not pass himself off as someone from Pakistan. Plus, he knew almost no Urdu, Pashto, or any of the dozens of other languages spoken in Pakistan. In her country, it is unusual to find someone that only speaks Punjabi and English. Not that the average person is fluent in dozens of languages. Rather, most are fluent in one or two but possess a basic knowledge of two or three other languages. Aisha, with a bit of effort, became fluent in English, Urdu, Pashto, and Punjabi. She learned Farsi because her grandmother lived near the border with Iran. Arabic is the one language she studied on her own so she could read the Quran. Once she married, she started studying French. The process is going along, although she is not yet fluent in the language. It always amazes Naveed how many languages she knows. It amazes her that people from the United States only speak one language, and some not even that one very well.

Given Naveed’s lack of language skills, it seems dangerous to give him a passport from Pakistan. So why the passport? He might claim he is a citizen but has lived in the United States all his life. But if he admits this, he negates the reason for using such a passport. Then she had another idea. Did Naveed use this passport when going to other countries for work? What if he did when he went to Khartoum? She studies the passport but does not find a stamp for Sudan, but several are hard to read. How could she figure out if Naveed went there?

As she is standing in the lobby, looking over the passport, a man approaches her.

“Excuse me, do you have a minute?”

Aisha had seen the man approach from her peripheral vision, but did not notice his face until she looked up. The man looked like her husband.

“Sure, shall we sit over here,” Aisha said, pointing to chairs in the lobby. As they walked, she noticed his gait. Aside from the way he walked, this man might have passed for her husband, and this gave her a bad feeling.

Once they sat down, the man spoke.

“Your husband hired me to do some work for him, but my cousin, who works here, told me he left last night. He never paid me for my services.”

“Ah, how much does he own you?”

“Five…”

“Don’t lie,” Aisha said, surprising herself. She is not sure why, but she knew the man was about to lie to her.

“I, uh, meant two hundred pounds. Sometimes I get confused with my numbers in English.”

“That is ok, I understand. I will give you the money providing you tell me what you did, and you do not lie to me again.”

The man nodded his head in understanding before speaking.

“I think your husband hired me to impersonate him.”

“Why do you say, ‘you think’?”

“He never gave me those exact instructions, but he asked me to go to various places. He specifically wanted me to wave to a certain woman. She had a reservation at the restaurant, and I was to hang around until I spotted her. As she walked towards the restaurant, I was to smile and say, ‘hi’ as I passed her.”

“What did she look like?”

“She is British and has blonde hair, medium height, and with a nice body.”

Is this Robson’s wife or someone else? Why is this woman important? “Anything else?”

“No, that is all.”

“How did my husband find you?”

“My cousin, who works at this hotel, saw your husband and told me there was a guy here that looks like me. I didn’t believe him until he introduced us. The similarities are amazing.”

“I thought so, too, when I first saw you. The biggest difference is how you walk. My husband injured his right leg, so his gait is a bit unusual and stands out to me.”

“I doubt anyone, but you would notice the difference.”

“You are probably right. Thank you for the information. Here is your money. Can you please write down your phone number and email address so I can contact you if I have questions?”

“Sure,” the man said.

After the man left, Aisha went back to her room, more confused than before. Work might explain the passport, but why an impersonator? What is Naveed up to? Was he using this man as an alibi while doing something else? Was he in Khartoum with Robson? Did he barely escape with his life while another did not? And after all this, he cannot tell his wife about what happened. If Naveed flew to Khartoum and was back so soon, he must have chartered a flight. Whether he did shouldn’t matter to her, but now she is curious. Aisha never realized how curious she is until she read A Curious Mind by Brian Grazer. As she read this book, she was continually saying, “Yes” or “Exactly” or some other form of agreement. Aisha is too curious not to wonder about what her husband did that night. In the morning, she would check chartered flights.

Despite having hiked all day, she was no longer tired after her shower. She could not stop thinking about the odd discoveries. There were also a few tears, but not as many as yesterday. She is starting to question that part of her life as well. After her shower, she considered what she would do when she returned home. Aisha did not meet many of Naveed’s co-workers, but she had met one named Adam McCluskey. He is a few years younger than Aisha and is smitten with her. She is careful around him and not just because it is unkind to lead others on. Adam works for the NSA as a hacker. Having someone like that mad at her would make her life even more complicated than it is already. Luckily, Adam knew she is married and is the shy, nerdy type that does not cause trouble. Would Adam be able to help her? One always hears about how a spy’s life is full of lies, but why lie to a spouse? Some of what Naveed says seems unnecessary. If this is his passport, and he goes to Pakistan frequently, why hasn’t he told her. Aisha has asked him about travel, and he claims all his trips are to Washington, D.C., but this now looks like a lie. But why lie to her?