Sand and Bone

Marcus's lungs burned as he ran along the perimeter of the resort, his dress shoes slapping against the paved path absurdly. At forty-seven, sprinting away from a board meeting was not the dignified behavior of a CFO, but dignity had left the building approximately three minutes after Richardson opened his mouth.

The Great Pyramid rose in the distance, a geometric impossible against the violet twilight. Some primitive part of Marcus's brain recognized the ancient monument, but mostly he saw the corporate org chart—a pyramid scheme where he'd spent two decades climbing toward a peak that kept receding.

"You're asking me to lay off forty people," Marcus had said, his voice trembling with that specific wobble of middle-aged rage. "Before Christmas."

Richardson, the new CEO from Chicago, had leaned back, chin up, that look men get when they've never been hungry a day in their lives. "It's just business, Marc. Don't take it personally."

He was still running, sweating through his bespoke shirt. The desert air tasted of dust and expensive cologne. His phone buzzed in his pocket—Richardson, almost certainly. Or Elena. They'd bought the villa in Tuscany last year, buried themselves in renovations, in each other, in a life they'd postponed for two decades of running toward something they couldn't name.

The Cairo office called him "The Bull" behind his back. Tenacious, stubborn, impossible to distract once he locked onto a target. He'd been proud of that nickname once. Now he wondered if bulls ever got tired of charging at things that didn't matter.

Marcus stopped running, bent double, hands on his knees. His heart hammered against his ribs like something trapped. The pyramid shimmered in the heat rising from the desert floor. Five thousand years of kings who thought they'd live forever, reduced to tourist attractions and capitalist retreat venues.

He straightened up, pulled out his phone, and turned it off. Then he walked back toward the resort, toward his room, toward the packed bag he'd stashed there yesterday afternoon. Elena was waiting. She'd been waiting for a long time.

The corporate pyramid could collapse without him. The bull would not charge again.