Day of Doom (7 page)

I’m sorry, Dan. But you’ve got to keep going. You’ve got to stop them. You’ve got to.

Amy closed her eyes and prepared to

die.

Just at that moment, they all heard it.

Sirens erupting all over the place. They heard cars squealing down the alley,sirens blasting. They heard doors openingand then slamming closed. Rushing feet,voices calling out tactical orders. Thecrackle of walkie-talkies. The sounds of

gun slides being racked back. And then the thudding sounds of a helicopter in the sky. A PA system blared out: “This is the police. Put your weapons down now and come out with your hands up. There is no escape.”

Isabel screamed at her men, “Get me

out of here now!”

The men quickly pushed aside thedumpster, revealing a manhole cover. While her men covered Amy and theoncoming cops with their guns, Isabelslipped down into the hole. Her menquickly followed. The last one slid theheavy cover back into place with a clang.

Amy rushed forward and tried to liftthe cover but she wasn’t strong enough. She turned back to the sounds of the cops,which had grown ever closer. She quicklythought about what she would say to them.

Then Dan poked his head around the

corner.

Amy looked at him, stunned.

“Dan?” She looked behind him.

“Where are the cops?”

He held up his phone. “I doubledback and saw what was happening. Idownloaded an action movie onto myphone and played the scene where the SWAT team comes in to save the day. With my amp upgrade and movie-quality,modified speakers on steroids, it soundedlike the real thing, didn’t it?”

She smiled. “Yeah, it did. You’re afreaking genius.”

She   walked  over  to  him  andsqueezed him tight.

“I love you, little brother. And thanksfor saving my life.”

The two stood there for a longmoment just holding on to each other. Tears slid down Amy’s face because sheknew how close she had come to never

seeing her brother again.

And tears slid down Dan’s face

because he realized the very same thing.

The bus pulled to a stop outside the motel. It was designed to look like a Swiss skichalet, although there was no snow andthus no skiers. Ian and Evan stepped offthe bus, the only passengers to disembarkhere. The bus pulled off and they stoodthere looking around.

Ian said, “This truly is the middle ofnowhere.”

“No, where they’ve got the hostages

is the middle of nowhere,” Evan pointed out. “To them this would be paradise.”

Ian looked at him guiltily, no doubt thinking of his sister. “You’re right. Let’s go find Phoenix.”

As it turned out they didn’t have to. Phoenix found
 
them.

Before they even reached the frontdoor of the motel, Phoenix rushed over tothem from a shadowy corner.

“I’ve been watching for you,” heexplained.

Evan was startled when Phoenix

hugged him so tightly that he thought his already queasy stomach might give back whatever was in it. But he also realized

that Phoenix was just a kid and had just been through an ordeal that would have paralyzed most adults.

Both Evan and Ian noted that Phoenixwas dirty and thin and looked like hehadn’t eaten in weeks.

“It’s   okay;   you’re   not   alone anymore,” said Evan, patting him on the back.

“Quite right,” added Ian. “The light cavalry is in position and we’ll be calling up reinforcements in no time. It’s time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.”

Evan said, “Phoenix, are you hurt?”

“Just bumps and bruises and some cuts from when I fell. And from crawling around the countryside. The mountains have lots of sharp edges.”

Evan, once more noting Phoenix’s emaciated look, said, “Let’s get you something to eat. You can tell us everything then. Okay?”

Ian added, “Right. A bit of food andyou’ll feel so much better.”

Phoenix looked torn. He was indeedhungry, but he was obviously also thinkingabout the other hostages. Finally, his bellywon out.

“Okay, but let’s hurry.”

They walked into a small restaurant

just off the lobby and sat down at a table.

Outside, the vehicle was mostly hiddenbehind a large tree but still had a clearview of the motel’s front entrance. Sandy Bancroft, the intrepid weatherman andalso Vesper Four, was driving. In the frontpassenger seat was the malicious andhighly dangerous Cheyenne Wyoming,

also known as Vesper Six.

“So that’s where our little one got to,” commented Sandy.

“Stunned that he was able to escape,” groused Cheyenne, looking accusingly at Sandy.

“My dear girl, these things happen. But we have now reacquired the wayward youth and we can execute our plan. In fact, it’s much better now.”

“I guess I see that.”

“Two additional hostages. As Vesper

Six
 
I would very much hope that you
would
 
see that.”

Cheyenne cast him a dirty look. “Don’t push it, Vesper
 
Four.
 
No one diedand made you supreme being.”

“True, so very true. We all knowwho our leader is, don’t we, Cheyenne?”

He glanced at her with a gleefulcondescension. She merely looked away.

“How do you want to do this?” sheasked.

“The plan is set,” Sandy said sharply.   “Just
 
execute
 
the plan. No deviations, my dear. None!” He did not sound the least bit nice or charming now.

A sullen Cheyenne climbed out of the vehicle and walked off to “execute” the plan.

Inside the restaurant, Phoenix had justfinished telling Ian and Evan everything heknew.

Evan said, “Okay, that’s very helpful.

Now let’s fill you in from our end.”

Evan and Ian took turns telling Phoenix all that had happened while hehad been a hostage.

Evan said, “We haven’t heard backfrom Amy and the others yet. But I e-mailed them about hearing from you. Theyknow we’re out here. I’m sure they’ll behere soon.”

Ian studied Phoenix. “You’re sure

that the hostages are okay? And
 
Natalie
?”

“Everyone is sort of like me. Hungry, dirty, dinged up, but okay. Well, Nellie got shot. But she’s okay, too.”

Evan’s phone buzzed. He looked at the long text, his eyes widening as he did

so.

“Amy and the others were attacked in DC by Isabel and her goons. They barely got out alive.”

Ian groaned. “God, I hate my mother. What happened?”

Evan read over the text once moreand explained why the others were in DC.

“They went there when we told them Isabel was on her way to Washington,” headded.

“But Lewis and Clark’s compass?” Ian said curiously. “My mother was interested in that? Why?”

“Amy doesn’t say. She also says that they think Riley McGrath is Vesper One, but that’s not his real name.”

“Well, we know that,” said Ian. “We found out about him when we hacked Sinead’s e-mails. Riley McGrath was a park ranger. And he’s dead. Vesper One just assumed his identity. Doesn’t really help us much. He probably has lots of

identities.”

“She also said that Hamilton and

Jonah are on their way here. We’re towait and meet them.”

“Jonah is coming?” said Phoenix. He idolized his famous cousin, though he didn’t think much of his songwriting abilities. In that, he wasn’t alone. Many people, while acknowledging that Jonah had a great voice, didn’t like his songs. But millions of others did, so he was a superstar. It was just how the world worked.

“Yes. And they might get here faster than we did. Jonah has his own plane.”

“We have to hurry,” said Phoenix. “Right now all the hostages are okay, but that might change.”

They both looked at him.

Evan said slowly, “Uh, Phoenix, Iguess you don’t know.”

“Know what?”

Evan looked at Ian, who said quietly, “Alistair is dead, Phoenix. I’m sorry.”

Phoenix looked at both of them, smallclusters of tears gathering in his eyes. “Alistair’s dead?” He looked like hemight start sobbing. “But he was okay thelast time I saw him.”

“I’m sure he was,” said Ian. “I’msorry to have to be the one to tell you.”

“He might have just given up,” said Evan quietly. “Sometimes people do.”

Phoenix covered his face with hishands and wept softly. Evan lookednervously around the restaurant to see ifanyone was watching, but luckily no onewas. He dipped a napkin in his glass of

water and gave it to Phoenix to wipe his

face.

“I know it’s hard, Phoenix. But we have to keep moving on, to help the other hostages.”

Ian was about to say something else when he looked up and said, “That was extraordinarily fast.”

The others turned and saw Hamilton

and Jonah rush in, spot them, and head their way.

They all hugged one another and shook hands. Phoenix gave Jonah a particularly   hard   squeeze   and   the international superstar hugged him back just as tightly.

“Good to see you, big guy,” said Jonah.

“Yeah,” said Phoenix happily, the

tears still shiny on his face.

“How’d you get here so fast?” asked

Ian.

“Private wings,” said Hamilton. “It’s definitely something I could get used to.”

“Was it really bumpy?” asked Evan.

Jonah said, “Yeah. I thought we were going to crash a couple of times. I asked the pilot about it. He said his instruments went nuts. He finally had to fly and then land the plane manually, and even then he said it was a nightmare.”

They all sat and Evan filled them in on what they knew.

“Aren’t you Jonah Wizard?”

They all looked up at the tall, plump, middle-aged waitress who stood in front of them.

Jonah inwardly groaned as she gazed

at him in adoration. But he smiled and said convincingly, “Actually, I get that a lot. But I’m not Jonah Wizard. Can’t even

carry a tune.”

“Really?” she said, though her tone was not disappointed. “I think you are Jonah Wizard.” She turned to the others.

“And you’re Evan and Ian and Hamilton and of course poor little Phoenix.”

They all stared up at her in astonishment.

She pulled aside her apron, revealinga gun in her right hand.

“And   that’s   a   Cobra   .45

semiautomatic chambered with wicked Silvertip ordnance that will blow very large holes in all of you. So unless you want extra perforations in your heads, I suggest you quietly follow me outside.

Now!”

The boys stood and walked outsidewith the waitress trailing them.

There was a van parked there. In thedriver’s seat was Casper Wyoming. Sandywas in the passenger seat.

“Excellent work, Cheyenne,” he said.

“Cheyenne!” exclaimed Ian as heglanced back at her.

She whipped off her wig, popped outcolored contact lenses, and spit out cottonballs from her mouth. “A little bodypadding to add twenty pounds, face puttyto make wrinkles, and voilà, evensomeone beautiful can be made to lookugly,” she said.

“You are ugly,” shot back Phoenix. “On the
 
inside
 
.”

She grabbed his collar and threw him

in the van.

She pointed her gun at the others. “Get in. Now!”

They all climbed in and Cheyenne shut the door. The van’s windows were

tinted so no one could see them. Casper drove off, while Sandy covered the others with his gun. Cheyenne used zip cuffs to bind the guys’ hands. Then she put hoods over their heads so they couldn’t see where they were going.

“Excellent,”   said   Sandy.   “I’m impressed with how well our little operation went. But then again, the opposition was particularly amateurish and thus underwhelming.” He looked at Ian. “You know, Ian, your mother would be so disappointed that you turned against the Kabra family.”