Day of Doom (11 page)

Amy said, “Your sarcasm is duly noted, Dan. But seriously, we have to have a plan.” She looked at Jake.

He so desperately wanted to please her, Dan thought, that Jake might just put on a cape and try and fly off the train carrying Amy in his manly arms.

Instead, Jake said, “I’m not sure we can form a plan, Amy.”

This surprised Dan. And the others.

“Why not?” she said, frowning.

“Because   we   don’t   know   theconditions on the ground there. If we putthis elaborate plan in place and then getthere and everything is different from whatwe thought it would be, we’ll instinctivelytry and execute our plan. And of course itwon’t work. I think the best we can do is

get out there, do some recon, and then just wing it. Let the conditions we confront dictate our plan for us.”

“So, we go in naked and blind?” exclaimed Dan.

“I didn’t say that,” replied Jake. “My point is we need to be flexible. We need to be able to zig when they think we’re going to zag. We have to let our plan fit the facts, not the other way around.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” said Amy, again smiling warmly at Jake.

It also made a lot of sense to Dan, but he said nothing because he wanted to throw up at the way the two were looking at each other.

Really, what’s the big deal about love, anyway?

In a sleeping car two down from them,someone else was thinking about a plan. Isabel Kabra sat in her chair and looked

out the window. She believed that she had her son, Ian, back on her side. But even if he was fooling her, it didn’t matter. Her plan was in place. And she had the luxury, unlike Amy and Dan, of knowing the

conditions   on  the   ground   at  their destination. The grounding of all flights had been very inconvenient for her, but there was nothing she could do about it.

She cursed her bad luck at having missed an opportunity to kill Amy Cahill. Really, the girl had used up more than her nine cat lives.

Isabel had no idea that two cars

down Amy Cahill was thinking of the best

way to beat her and the other Vespers.

But that would change.

And very soon.

Ian Kabra was walking slowly down thedimly lit hall. He was being escorted tosee his sister, Natalie. His emotions wererunning high right now. Seeing his motherlike that, being given an order to kill. Andnow going to see his sister for the firsttime in seemingly forever. Well, it wastaking its toll. He took a deep breath,trying to hold it together. And at the sametime,  Ian  was   forming  a  plan. A

potentially brilliant plan. But also a potentially disastrous one.

Nothing like a spot of pressure,
 
he told himself.

He had been told that Natalie had

been separated from the others so that he could meet with her privately. A few seconds later a door opened and Natalie was standing there.

For all of their shallowness —  such as a wild affection for Prada, Armani, and other fashion legends —  and although they rarely admitted it, Ian and Natalie deeply cared for each other. Ian was now sixteen, handsome, and the son of a billionaire. He lived in London, enjoyed the finer things in life, and had gone from the dark side to the light. Part of this had to do with his crush on Amy Cahill. She had saved his

life, even though she had known at the time that his mother had set the fire that

had killed Amy’s parents. That had struck something deep in Ian. It made him want to be a better person. He was not his mother, nor did he ever want to be.

Ian gazed at his sister. She was thirteen now. Not yet a woman, but no longer a child. She was pretty and accomplished and even more enamored of being rich than Ian was. But that would change, he thought, as she grew up.

He raced to her and held her tightly. Tears fell from both of them.

“I’ve missed you so much, Ian.” She squeezed him so hard that he could barely breathe. But it was okay. He squeezed her back. The hug lingered, but there was a reason for this. Ian knew that they were

being observed. So when Natalie started to pull away, he held her tighter.

And he started to whisper in her ear. Within thirty seconds he had told her of his dilemma. She squeezed his hand to let him know she understood. When they drew apart they looked wide-eyed at each other.

Ian smiled, trying to show her that it would be okay. When, in fact, Ian was feeling more doubt about his ability to pull this off than he had about anything else he had ever attempted. In some ways, it was far easier to be bad than good.

When you’re bad, you don’t care what happens to anyone other than yourself.

When you’re trying to do good, you have to worry about everyone.

They were surprised when Casperprodded them out of the room without anexplanation.

They walked together hand in handdown the hall, the lurking hulk of Casperright behind them. Then Casper wasreplaced by other guards who marched upand took charge. Casper was obviouslynot expecting this, but sullenly backed offwhen one of the guards held up his gun. The guards led Natalie and Ian down thehall to a door. One guard opened it andmotioned Ian and Natalie to walk in. Theydid, and the door closed and lockedbehind them.

Ian was about to ask where the

hostages were when the lights went out and a voice boomed, “What are you doing here, Ian?”

As the voice stopped ringing in hishead, Ian had an epiphany.
 
I bet that’s Vesper One. If he didn’t know I’m here,then that could only mean that mymother and he are not really workingtogether. More to the point, it means thatmy dear, homicidal mother is workingagainst him and for her own purposes. Asusual. She plays second fiddle to no one. And I very much doubt that she’s dyingof anything other than the acid that runsthrough her veins instead of blood.

All the rage and anger and hatred that Ian had for his mother coalesced into a

single, divine purpose. Never fancying himself an actor, he was about to put on the performance of a lifetime.

Ian cleared his throat and said, “I’m here because my mother ordered me to

come.”

The voice did indeed belong to Vesper One. It once more boomed, “Your mother ordered you? I didn’t think you took orders from her anymore.”

“I didn’t. But she can be quite persuasive, as I’m sure you know.”

“And for what purpose did she order you here?”

“To kill one of the hostages. To prove my loyalty.” This was easy to say for Ian, because it was the literal truth. And what he was about to say was just as truthful. He drew a deep breath and squeezed his sister’s hand more tightly.

“In case you didn’t realize it, my mother plans to dominate the world. And she wants my sister and me right beside her when she does it. We’re her family

and we’re the only ones she trusts.”

Ian paused and waited for a reaction from Vesper One. When there was none, he went on. “My mother warned me about others seeking to take control from her. She said there was a person out there claiming to be Vesper One. But of course my mother is Vesper One and always has been. She’s the smartest of the Vespers. The most ruthless. It’s her destiny to rule the world.”

“Really?” said Vesper One from out of the darkness. “
She
 
is Vesper One?”

“Of course.” Ian swallowed. It was

rather unnerving having a conversation with what seemed like a disembodied

voice. “So when you go and report to her

as   her
 
subordinate
 
she will explain everything to you. And then she’ll

probably have some orders for you to carry out. Are you Vesper Two, or perhaps Three? It’s quite difficult to keep the underlings straight.”

Ian had said that just to dig the knife in deeper.

He waited for the voice to speak but there was just silence.

He continued, “And just so you know, Casper and Cheyenne and Sandy are working closely with my mother. So you can take orders from them as well. They have only one goal in mind: to help my mother rule the world as the true Vesper leader.”

“I see,” said Vesper One. “And have you picked the hostage you want to kill yet?”

The lights came back on and Ian

could see all the hostages blinking and staring at him with unfriendly eyes. He had no idea where they had come from.

“Have you, Ian?” said Vesper One with amusement. “Perhaps poor little blind Ted Starling?” A spotlight hit Ted and he looked away.

“Or maybe the old fart, Fiske Cahill?”

The spotlight swung to Fiske, whojust stood there defiantly. He yelled, “Justcome close enough and I’ll show you howhard an old fart can hit.”

Vesper One continued, “Or perhapsyour own dear sister?”

The   spotlight  beam  landed   on Natalie. She put up a hand to shield hereyes from the brightness.

“I . . . I haven’t quite made up my

mind yet,” said Ian lamely.

“Well, you’ll need to do that soon. Wouldn’t want to disappoint your dear chief Vesper mother.”

The spotlight was turned off and the room went dark again.

Everyone waited a bit, but the voice did not come back.

Fiske Cahill called out, “Ian, you lay one hand on any of us and I’ll knock you right out of your Prada.”

“For your information, I’m wearing Ralph Lauren,” snapped Ian. He drew closer, groping in the darkness. He whispered, “And it was just an act. I’m on your side.”

“Right!” barked Nellie. “We all heard what you said about killing one of us.”

“I had to tell my mother that or she

never would have allowed me in here. I

wanted to get Vesper One and my mother doubting each other instead of focusing on us.”

Ted whispered, “That’s actually asmart strategy.”

They all drew closer in the dark untilthey were standing next to one another.

“Is everyone okay?” asked Ian.

“Everyone except Alistair. He’sdead,” said Fiske.

“I know,” replied Ian quietly. “It’ssimply shocking. What did he die of?”

“Being brutalized by a bunch ofcowards,” snapped Fiske.

“Is   Amy  okay?”   asked  Nellieanxiously.

“I know that she barely survived an

attack from my mother.”

“What are you doing here?” barked Fiske.

“Evan and I flew out here to join up with Phoenix. He got a call through to Attleboro when we were there.”

“Phoenix made it out? He’s okay?” exclaimed Reagan. “We thought he died in the fall.”

“He was perfectly all right until we all were captured by the Wyomings and Sandy. Hamilton and Jonah are prisoners, too,” said Ian miserably. “They’re locked in a room close to this one.”

“Hamilton?” said Reagan. “Is he all right?”

“For now. Like all of us. But I can’t believe that will last. Something’s going on out there. Planes are having a hard time

flying. I think it might be tied to the Vespers’ plan somehow.”

“Where   are   Amy   and   Dan?” whispered Nellie.

“On their way. At least I think they are. The only question is, will they be in time?”