“Let me show you instead. May I put my hands down?”
Nicholas held his Glock at his side. “Go ahead.”
Amos went to the console, typed in a command, and what looked like security footage began to play. “This happened twelve minutes ago. I’m sorry, there’s no sound, never has been. My boss didn’t want it.”
Nicholas and Mike leaned in close. It looked like NASA’s Houston command center.
Mike said, “There’s Cassandra. She’s arguing with that old man—is that Jason Kohath?”
“Yes, he’s my boss and friend, the twins’ grandfather. Watch.” And he flinched when Ajax punched his grandfather in the head, knocking him to the floor.
Amos said, “I don’t know if he’s dead. I have medical training, but I’m afraid to go in alone. She and Ajax might kill me, too.”
They watched another man come in, saw that Cassandra was yelling, and then Ajax stuck his stiletto into the man’s chest. They saw him collapse over Kohath. Then Kitsune crashed through the ceiling vent, and they saw the vent hit Cassandra. They saw the fight, then the two guards marched in dragging Grant Thornton.
“After fifteen years without sound, I’ve learned to lip read. I didn’t understand everything, but Cassandra wants the other woman to open the vault, and she said something about the Ark being inside, which is foolishness. The Ark of the Covenant isn’t here, never was.”
“Then what’s in the vault?” Mike asked.
Amos said simply, “Secrets, but only Jason can tell you what they are. I cannot. We must hurry. If you come with me, I’ll take you to the control room. I can see how badly Jason is injured.”
Nicholas hesitated. It was simply too easy. “You could lead us right to Cassandra and Ajax.”
“I could have let you blow yourself up, but I didn’t. Listen, Captain Snelling alerted me, told me you were here to shut things down and rescue that man and woman.
“I know what those kids are—they’d dance in the world’s ashes after they blew it up. And it’s very possible they’ve killed a man I greatly respect. Please. I’ll take you there. I’ve got to help him.”
Mike raised her Glock when Amos reached beneath a counter. “What are you doing?”
He straightened quickly. “I have to get my medical kit.”
Nicholas opened the bag. Medical supplies, and handed it back.
Amos closed the bag and threw it on his shoulder. “I know I don’t need to tell you this, but be careful if you come face-to-face with those two. As for the guards, they’re well trained and will shoot first.”
They followed Amos into the heart of the volcano. It was quiet, eerily so. It took only a minute or two before they stepped into a large room, its walls covered with computerized screens. Amos hurried away to the man they saw lying on his back beside a huge desk.
Nicholas said, “Would you look at this, Mike, three hundred and sixty degrees of screens. Computer programs running, and there’s a satellite in space.” He cursed. “Mike, see the hurricane spinning toward Washington? And all that data running down the side? And on the next screen it shows an earthquake and tsunami warning.”
“There’s our earthquake,” Mike said, pointing. “Says here it measured six point six on the Richter scale, and was centered around five hundred miles northwest of here. There’s a tsunami warning for the Eastern Caribbean.”
“We’ve got to warn them.”
“Nicholas,” she said, pointing at the screen, where the warnings were running lightning quick. “They already know. Can you shut down the hurricane? Maybe disperse the tsunami?”
He gave her a crooked grin. “Why not?”
“Then we’ll find Kitsune and Grant and get out of here.”
Amos said, “Sir, I don’t know how you possibly think you can stop the hurricane and the tsunami but—” He shook his head, said to Mike, “Could you help me here?”
Mike went down on her knees beside Amos. He was holding Jason Kohath’s head in his lap, rocking him. “It’s really bad. I can’t do anything for him. Ajax hit him hard, most likely a bad bleed going on. We need to get him out of here, to a hospital. Poor Burnley is dead, God rest his soul.”
Nicholas was bent over the keyboard of the main computer. He yelled, “I’m sorry, Amos, you’ve got to hold tight.”
“Please, hurry.”
“Try to stabilize him, Amos. Mike, come here.”
Nicholas pointed to another computer screen. “Look, it’s the security feed. There’s Kitsune trying to open the vault.”
“But where are the twins?”
“Right behind you.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
Ajax Kohath stood in the entrance to the control center, aiming the ancient Colt revolver at them. “What do you think you’re doing? Get away from there, now.”
Nicholas said, “I’m undoing your work, mate. No hurricane for Washington today.”
Ajax laughed. “Go ahead, do your best, but you can’t stop it. You can’t stop anything, you don’t know how. I was worried there for a minute, but I see I fixed it—the hurricane is still headed where I set it to go. There’s no stopping it now, particularly by a stupid cop like you.” He pointed at the screen, where the huge storm spun, gathering more and more force. “The outer bands will hit the coast in a little over an hour. Two hours and Washington, D.C., will be leveled by the hurricane, your government will cease to exist, all your people will be killed. And you think you can stop it? You can’t, all you can do is watch it happen. How does that make you feel, Agent Drummond?”
Mike laughed. “You don’t realize who you’re taunting, Ajax. Nicholas is as much a computer expert as your grandfather. He can do anything.”
Nicholas wanted to smile at her incredible show of confidence in him, or bravado, he didn’t know which, but he didn’t, he kept eye contact with Ajax. Ajax was coming closer, and he let him. When Ajax was ten feet away, Nicholas knew he couldn’t let him get any closer. Even with that old Colt, it was possible he’d shoot him dead. He turned and slammed his hands down onto the main computer keyboard. The lights went out and the screens went blank and Nicholas was typing as fast as he could, shutting down the generator.
But the darkness only lasted another second. The lights came sputtering back on. Yeah, he was a real computer expert.
Cassandra came running into the control center as Ajax charged toward Nicholas, firing wildly. “No!”
Mike shot once, twice, at Ajax, missed him. Cassandra yelled and Mike turned and shot at her, but Cassandra ducked away. Nicholas yelled to Mike, “I’ve got this, get her.”
Before she ran after Cassandra, Mike turned and very deliberately aimed her Glock and caressed the trigger. Ajax’s Colt went flying out of his hand, hitting against a computer screen and spinning across the floor, nearly to Amos’s side. “I’ve got it!” Amos shouted.
Ajax cursed in English, then in Italian, and he was running toward Nicholas. Nicholas jumped to his left as Ajax came at him, beyond himself now with rage. Nicholas saw blood dripping from his hand. Mike had gotten more than the Colt.
Nicholas ducked and weaved and got himself to the other side of the main computer station and into the open room. Ajax drew up and grinned. “I won boxing matches, I could have gone pro. You think you’re so big and strong—you’re nothing to me.” He ran toward Nicholas, fists up, swerving, dancing lightly on his feet. Nicholas ducked a sharp punch.
“Sorry, mate, there are no Queensbury rules here.” Nicholas was on him, hit him with a left, a right, two forearm blocks, and a hard kick to the leg just above Ajax’s knee, then he spun to the left, his hands a blur as he rained blows upon Ajax’s face and neck. Ajax stumbled but he didn’t give up. He grabbed Jason’s chair, threw it at Nicholas. Nicholas moved quickly to his left, and the chair spun away, crashed into the bank of computer consoles.
“You’ll have to do better than that.” Nicholas wiggled his fingers at him. “Well, come on, you puking little nutter, let’s get this over with.”
>
Ajax moved fast, and Nicholas saw a glint of silver. He had a knife and wasn’t that a nice surprise? Nicholas hated knives, nearly impossible to come away uncut.
He let Ajax come closer, closer, let him jab out with the knife, and once, twice, three times, he managed to jump back at the last second. When Ajax stabbed out again, his arm fully extended, Nicholas leaped forward, caught his wrist between his hands, and twisted, hard. Ajax’s forearm snapped, the knife clattered to the floor. Nicholas kicked it away, then landed a hard right to Ajax’s face, splitting his cheek open. Then a spinning kick to the broken forearm. Ajax went down, hard, and hit his shoulder on the computer console. Nicholas kicked him in the head as he fell. The younger man’s head snapped back, his neck at an odd angle, and when he landed on his back, his eyes stared unseeing up at Nicholas. The fight had lasted only a minute or two, and he’d managed not to get cut. Nicholas straightened. “Amos, he’s dead. How is Kohath?”
Amos was staring at him. “I’ve never seen anyone fight like that outside of a movie.”
“Yes, well. You’d be surprised what you can do when your life’s threatened. How’s he doing?”
“Holding on, but we need to get him out of here soon.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And he ran toward the hall where he’d seen Mike disappear after Cassandra just as Grant Thornton came running into the control center. Nicholas recognized him instantly.
Grant took in Ajax’s dead body on the floor. “You’re Drummond. Follow me, we have to hurry. It’s Kitsune. Oh, yes, I’m Grant Thornton, and I know who you are, Nicholas Drummond.” He turned and ran back into the dark passageway, Nicholas on his heels. He saw Grant helping Mike back onto her feet.
Nicholas grabbed her arms, shook her. “Mike, are you okay? What happened?”
“I’m okay, really. Cassandra was hidden around a corner with a big block of wood in her hand. She clocked me when I got into range. Are we secure? Did you stop the hurricane?”
“I did all I could, but I don’t know. Ajax is dead. Grant, where’s Kitsune?”
“Up ahead. She’s still trying to open the vault. Cassandra will be nearby. I took out the guards and followed the fight. Thanks for coming for us. I was worried no one would ever find us, but Kitsune never doubted you’d come to us in time.”
Mike said, “We’ll pray we’re in time. Now we have to stop Cassandra.”
“The vault, it’s lined with explosives and Kitsune is trying to get it open with a bloody stethoscope. If she doesn’t open it”—he stared down at his watch—“in four and a half minutes, she’ll be dead. I’m going to kill that crazy bitch, then we’ll get Kitsune and get out of this death trap.”
Grant took off down the passageway, Nicholas and Mike behind him. Mike called out, “Why didn’t Kitsune run? Cassandra and Ajax were both in the control room.”
Grant shouted over his shoulder, “Cassandra told her she’d kill me if Kitsune didn’t get the vault open. Kitsune believed her. You know Cassandra will be in there, probably with a gun on my wife.
“Before I clocked my guards, I overheard Kitsune shouting out she’d already dialed in the first two numbers. There’s four to the combination, she’s halfway there.”
Nicholas said with absolute conviction. “She’ll do it.”
Grant turned then, grinned widely. “She told me about you two, told me how you managed to bring her down. And it’s obvious you know how talented she is. I don’t think there’s a vault in the world that can keep her out.”
Grant slowed. “The vault is around that corner, maybe twenty feet farther. We must go quietly now.”
Mike leaned down and pulled out her ankle piece, handed it to Grant. “It belongs to my father. Keep it safe.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
Cassandra had struck the woman agent as hard as she could, and she’d gone down. But for how long?
She needed to move, and fast. Her guards were both dead, necks broken by the thief’s husband. She’d left Drummond back there with Ajax, but she was worried. They’d somehow traced them here to the island. But how? She had to get to the vault before the thief realized no one was in the corridor guarding her.
She looked at her watch. Three and a half minutes for her to get the vault open, or they’d all be dead.
What had happened between Ajax and Drummond? Ajax was an amazing boxer, surely he could take down one FBI agent. She knew she should have stayed, but she couldn’t, she had to get back to the vault.
She leaned down and grabbed the guards’ guns and as many magazines as she could shove into her pants pockets and ran full out to the vault. If the thief got it open, then she wouldn’t need the guns. She knew the Ark was waiting for her to come, only her. It would open for her, the last of the Kohaths. It would surround her with power and flow into her and then she would rule the world, Ajax at her side.
Cassandra stopped, saw the thief’s face was glued to the vault door. She knew combination dial locks were straightforward, knew that when Kitsune hit the right number, the rotation of the internal wheel pack would line up and the gap would open, ready to be filled with the nose of the bar. Simple. The trick was to get all the wheels lined up, four times running. She wanted to yell at her to hurry but she forced herself to stay perfectly still.
Kitsune held the stethoscope inverted to the bell side, knew she was listening for the lower frequency clicks that would indicate the nose of the bar had slid into the wheel pack, and that number the dial was resting on was a part of the combination.
Kitsune had memorized the first two numbers—eighty-seven and twenty-eight—and now she was listening for the third. How much time did she have left, did Grant have left? No, she couldn’t think about that, she had to focus. She knew she was close—a gentle click started up and she knew she were nearly there, and she heard it, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, slight and tiny in the background, then suddenly a metallic slap indicated she had the third number. Her breath came out in a loud whoosh as she said aloud “forty-two,” wiped her sweating hands on her pants, then put her ear back to the stethoscope. She couldn’t have more than two minutes before the world exploded.
Cassandra knew time was nearly up. She ran toward Kitsune, screaming, “Get it open, get it open now!”
Kitsune didn’t move. “I’m nearly there. Stand quietly.”
“You have two minutes and ten seconds. If you don’t get it open, then we’ll all bloody die!”
“Be quiet.” Kitsune shut it all out, the possibility of dying, of Grant dying. She’d felt the earthquake and wondered what those insane twins were doing. Then she emptied her mind and lost herself back in the lock.
She could hear other noises now, but she was close, the fourth number was near to the last one, she turned the dialed one minute step at a time, bringing the dial back to zero, just past the ninety-eight, and then it thunked, loudly, and she was in.
“Get out of the way,” Cassandra screamed at her, and she shoved Kitsune to the ground, grabbed the massive titanium spindle wheel, pulled with all her strength, and finally the heavy door opened. She ran inside.
Kitsune stumbled to her feet, heard voices, Grant’s frantic voice. And Nicholas and Mike. They were here. She knew they’d come. Another kiss for Adam, this time for the tracker. She ran full speed away from the vault.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
Cassandra stood in a small antechamber. It wasn’t dark, lights burned in low lamps on the walls, turned on automatically when the door was opened. She went to the inner door and drew up short. There, carved into the metal, was the warning, the same warning on the cherubim’s wing. She knew, at last, her grandfather had lied, had been lying for years. He had the Ark and now Cassandra had found it.
Through this door lies a weapon of great power. Open it, and it will indeed kill.
There was a bar and she lifted it easily. The door swung open. It had been cold outside, but as she stepped into the small inner room, it was warmer, the air dry, to keep the Ark s
afe, that was the reason.
She closed her eyes, expecting a light of great brightness to appear, bathe her face, fill her mind and her heart. But there was no intense white light. Slowly, she opened her eyes. There was nothing at all. The room was more dimly lit than the outer room, and it was empty.
She stood dumbly, unable to believe the Ark wasn’t here. Had her grandfather managed to cloak it somehow, as he did the island and their palazzo in Italy?
She walked slowly around the room, hoping to feel it, and tripped. She looked down and saw a small Moleskine notebook, old, black, worn, but there wasn’t a speck of dust or mold on it.
Cassandra leaned down and picked up the book, and stilled. It was one of her mother’s notebooks, her mother’s name inscribed inside the cover. She brought it to her chest and held it there. She wanted to weep.
The light in the small room begin to dim, and the air grew even warmer. She turned slowly and looked back at the entrance. And there in the open doorway stood her mother, smiling at her, gesturing for her to come.
“Mama?”
And then she spoke, her beautiful voice so clear in Cassandra’s mind. “Quickly now, Cassandra, I need you and your brother to hurry, we’re going to be late for our flight. We’re going to the Gobi, we’re going to follow the trail Marco Polo went down when he took the Ark to Genghis Khan, and you and Ajax will be at my side. Isn’t this exciting? Hurry now, little dove. We need to gather up your brother and go.”
“Will I be able to ride a camel, Mama?”
Helen laughed, the sound like the ringing of bells in a cathedral, deep and beautiful, and Cassandra’s chest swelled. She’d made Mother laugh.
“Yes, you and Ajax, too. I will get you one with two humps so you can ride together.”
Cassandra wanted to ride a camel by herself, but she said nothing. She knew her mother never liked her excluding her twin.
Her mother walked forward, gently cupped Cassandra’s face in her hands. Cassandra could feel her warm, soft palms on her flesh, see her mother’s boundless love for her in her brilliant blue eyes. “I must caution you. Where we are going, it will be dangerous. You must promise me, Cassandra, that you will listen to me, to every word and obey me.”