Set by Alessa Thorn

 

1

Once, he had been a god of the deserts, with the storms and fiery, red sands in his veins. He was a wild dog, a beast of cunning, strength and protection, annihilation and destruction.

Every night, he fought Apep, the demonic serpent of the Duat, to save the worlds and the petty gods that ruled them.

Set had been war on the wind and burning lust between the sheets. He had been worshiped, revered, feared.

Now, his typical day was reduced to guarding a group of drug dealers as they ran cocaine out of Cairo.

How the mighty have fucking fallen, he mused, stubbing out a cigarette in the hot, sandy street.

The world changed; stories became myths, and even those were more twisted than the waterways of the Nile. Set had seen Egypt change so many times throughout the centuries, he had lost count.

Currently, just about every city and nome, or district, in Egypt was run by a different government party, and the majority were puppets to gangsters or warlords. He never bothered to keep up with current power changes unless they affected him directly.

The only thing that time never changed was people. The strong preyed on the weak, the rich on the poor, and only power ever seemed to matter.

Set knew all about power because he was the strongest of them all. The men he worked with didn't need to know that. He tended to keep a low profile these days.

Only his boss, Kader Ayad, knew of his divine status, but he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut about it.

"Hey, he wants to see you now," a prison guard said from his booth at the front of Cairo prison.

Set ducked under the boom gate and made his way through security. They let him keep his phone because he was well-known, and they knew better than to try and take it from him. He relinquished his two handguns and an ancient khopesh sword that hung on his back.

Set was kind of pleased to see swords being used more often. Bullets were expensive, but blades could be used over and over. He liked his sword, and his back felt naked without its weight.

A guard escorted Set even though he knew his way around the labyrinth of cells. It was all for show; they were all ready to play pretend as if Kader Ayad didn't run the whole place.

Kader himself was a well-built man in his early fifties. His cell was bigger than everyone else’s, decorated with rugs and a proper bed. He had a desk with neat notebooks stacked in one corner.

"Ah, Set, it does my old heart good to see you," Kader greeted as the guard opened the cell door to let Set in. They shook hands, Kader acting like a benevolent father figure who was always worried that Set wasn't taking care of himself.

"Why don't you get yourself a decent house already?" Set asked him, leaning against the cool iron bars. He checked that the guards were gone, and they had some measure of privacy.

Kader chuckled. "You know as well as I that this is the safest place for me."

Set did know. He was the only one of Kader's men that actually supported him going to prison. It was a lot harder for his rival bosses to get to the richest man in Egypt if he was behind bars. It kept the killings in Cairo down, and that was good for business.

Kader owned the prison like he owned the judge who had sentenced him. Kader was kept comfortable, and he kept his business running as efficiently as he had ever had.

"So tell me what's on your mind, boss?" Set asked.

Kader scratched his graying stubble. "I have a problem, and I don't trust anyone to handle it but you."

"Sounds serious." He'd had Kader give him death squad orders with more cheer.

"It is. I received word this morning that Moussa Omar has...found my daughter."

Set cocked his head. "What daughter?"

It was rare that Set was surprised. He’d thought that Kader couldn't say anything that would shock him anymore.

"My daughter, Ayla, that I've kept hidden for the past thirty years. I don't know how that slimy shit found out about her."

"Does she know who you are?"

"Of course not! I'm a bastard, Set, but I would never do anything to compromise her safety or her mother, Amara. I loved them, so I walked away from them and kept them hidden." Kader raked his hand through his hair. Set had never seen him so shaken.

"I've kept tabs on her over the years, making sure she had enough money for school, that sort of thing. I never made contact with her, even after her mother died. Never wanted to risk it."

"How do you know the Adder is after her?" Set asked.

Moussa Omar had been the leader of their rival syndicate for the past five years. They had an uneasy truce with the Adder and his snakes, but that didn't stop both men from circling each other and wearing down each other's businesses.

They were a few insults away from a skirmish, and if Moussa killed a family member, it would be an all-out war.

"Abasi got intel from one of our spies that are working their way through the Adder's ranks. Moussa was boasting that he would topple our family as soon as he had Ayla. They are going after her tonight." Kader sat heavily on his chair. "This is the exact reason why I kept her a secret, so she would never be used as a bargaining chip."

"Looks like they have men in our ranks, too, if they have found out. Better get Abasi to plug that leak," Set said.

Abasi was probably the only other person Kader trusted implicitly. His second in command had been like a true son to him and was good at getting information out of people. Kader liked to say that Set was his hammer and Abasi was his scalpel.

"Where am I heading, and what information can you give me?" Set asked.

Kader opened one of his books and pulled out an envelope. He passed Set a photo of a woman wearing a white doctor's coat and an easy smile. Her long, curly brown hair was held up in a messy bun, her arms around a group of laughing children. Set took a picture of it with his phone and handed the photo back.

"Pretty. She must take after her mother," he teased. The old man managed a smile.

"She does. She's a doctor with Panacea. They are a Doctors Without Borders sort of setup, run on philanthropic funding. She's been working all over Egypt and Africa but is currently based on the malaria outbreak just north of Aswan," Kader said, pride in his voice. His expression clouded. "They said they are going to snatch her tonight. I need you to take the helicopter and get there first."

"How messy do you think it's going to be?" Set asked, mentally going through his inventory of weapons.

"I would like you to get her and get out of Aswan before they can reach her and cause a fuss. Panacea is important to her, and I want to keep civilian casualties at zero if you can." Kader's fatherly face slipped away, leaving only the cold mob boss behind. "If you encounter Moussa's men, you can be as messy as you like. He needs to know that there are some lines he can't cross without consequences."

"Understood. What should I tell the girl?"

"The truth, if you have to. Get her out of there. I don't care what it takes," Kader replied. "When things cool down, I'll set her up somewhere. Until then, she's your responsibility."

"You said this was an extraction, not a fucking babysitting job."

"Just do as you are told, Set," Kader snapped. He flinched at his tone and added apologetically, "Please do this as a favor to me." A favor carried a lot of weight in their world, so Set nodded.

"Fine. I'll let you know when it's done."

Set headed out of the prison and breathed a little easier as he slung his sword on his back.

He checked the picture on his phone, the doctor smiling up at him. He didn't know her, but he was sure she didn’t deserve the shit that was about to rain down on her.

Set climbed onto his motorbike and headed towards the airfield where Kader kept his helicopter and an excellent collection of weapons.

He grinned at the afternoon sky. He knew when a good fight was coming, and he could just about taste blood in the air.

Moussa didn't hire complete idiots. At least he wouldn't use the idiots for a job this important. Set would get in and get out before they knew he was there.

As for the doctor, how much trouble could she be?