The Tomorrow Heist (18 page)

“What do you mean ‘forget about my speech,' Mr. Corsair?” Umi demanded over the radio. “And where have you been for the past hour?”

“I'm only going to say this once,” Alex said. “Things are not what they appear. Your little plan has been upended. Maggie isn't ex-­MI6; she's here on assignment.”

“Assignment? What assignment?” Umi asked, sounding more than a little alarmed. “How long have you known this?”

“She's onto your plan, or part of it, at least. And she's got the CIA involved,” Alex said. “Guarantee me passage off this death trap, and I'll help you. And I don't fancy spending the rest of my life on Ashita.”

“There's no way the CIA could be on board without my knowing about it, I assure you,” Umi said.

“They're not only on board, they're steering your bloody ship!”

“Tanaka? That fool? That's not possible,” Umi said. “The storm—­”

“Is easing. He played you with a rigged automatic pilot. And your figurehead of security is running around—­”

Alex felt the cold steel of a gun barrel against his neck.

1:15
P.M.

J
ONATHAN
PRESSED
THE
barrel of his gun harder into Alex's neck, then reached over him and took the radio out of his hand. He frisked Alex with one hand, taking the gun he found and sticking it in his belt.

“I always wanted to be a figurehead,” Maggie said, holding one of the zip ties that Jonathan had been using to “convince” the passengers who didn't buy the flu story. She snapped it taut in front of Alex's face as Jonathan kept his gun against Alex's neck and relieved him of his cell phone.

“Suits you,” Jonathan said with a smile. He liked bantering with her. It felt familiar, but they didn't really have time for this.

“It's not what it looks like,” Alex finally said, seeming to get his composure back after being caught red-­handed.

“Then why don't you—­”

Alex made a move to disarm Jonathan while he was talking with a back-­swinging elbow, but Jonathan easily dodged it. Then, to his surprise, Maggie punctuated the escape attempt with a punch to the side of Alex's face that came from her knees. Alex crumpled to the ground, out cold.

“Jesus,” Jonathan said.

“Now
that's
what a proper figurehead would do. God, that felt bloody good,” Maggie said, rubbing her knuckles.

“You pulled your punch back in my room,” Jonathan said. He put his gun away, rolled Alex over, and put the plastic tie on his wrists.

“Not really. He just pissed me off more. What's our time like?” Maggie asked.

“Less than fifteen minutes. Maybe,” Jonathan said.

“What do you mean, ‘Maybe'?”

“If Umi didn't know you and Tanaka were onto her before, she sure as shit does now. If it's an option, she could release the gas early,” Jonathan said as they muscled Alex's body into a storage closet.

“Nothing we can do about that now. Let's get these last four ­people inoculated, then we can worry about us,” Maggie said.

“
It is on a timer,
” Tanaka said from Jonathan's implant. “
I listened in on a conversation Umi and Morgan had. Being on a timer is the only way they can make sure all the gas gets released simultaneously. And you have exactly thirteen minutes left.
”

“Right,” Jonathan said to both of them. He was still wondering what Alex had meant when he'd said to Umi, “
She's onto your plan, or part of it, at least.
” What was the other part?

“So now that we don't have a diversion, any ideas?” Maggie asked.

“No way we can take them from a single point, but if we came at them from both ends of the corridor at the same time . . .”

“Brilliant,” Maggie said. “I knew you weren't just a pretty face. You head down the other end. Let's synchronize our watches.”

“I'll give you two minutes. And mark.”

“See you in two,” Jonathan said, hurrying down the hall. When he was far enough away from her, he tapped behind his ear. “Tanaka, you there?”

“
It's an implant, Jonathan. I'm always here.
”

“Right. Then you heard our plan. I've just got a minute. Alex said something about the gas just being
part
of Umi's plan. Any idea what he was talking about?” Jonathan reached the end of the corridor and took up position, keeping his eye on his watch.

“
At first we thought the ship assault was her whole plan, but conversations I heard made it clear there was something else—­something big—­that comes after the gas attack. No specifics, though, sorry. If I hear anything else about it, I'll let you know,”
Tanaka said.

“All right. Watch yourself. Umi knows you're with us, now. She doesn't seem like the kind of woman who forgives betrayal easily.”

“You're right about that. But in our favor, she's got an ego bigger than her ship. I doubt she thinks anyone can beat her in anything.”

“Let's hope she's wrong,” Jonathan said, taking out his gun. He pulled the slide back and loaded a round into the chamber. Then he watched the final seconds tick by and rolled once so he was flat on the ground with the gun in both hands pointed down the corridor.

He squeezed off two shots at the two guards closest to him. One hit the first guard in the shoulder and the other caught the second guard in the hip. They both howled and dropped, but were still trying to raise their guns. Jonathan heard other shots but stayed focused on his targets.

“Drop your weapons! Now!” Jonathan shouted. The guard with the ruined hip complied, dropping his gun and falling back in agony. The other guard ignored the order and started firing. The ground around Jonathan erupted in destruction as the machine gun carved a path across the carpet toward him. The rapid-­fire echoes stopped just before they reached him. The guard flopped forward with a gaping hole in his forehead, Maggie standing behind him, her gun still smoking.

Jonathan looked farther down the hallway and saw that Maggie's guards were lying motionless on the ground, bullet holes in their foreheads, as well. He got up and moved down the hall toward the guard he'd wounded. Maggie was lining up a kill shot as he did.

“No, wait!”

Maggie stopped. “Why?”

“I've got some questions for this one,” Jonathan said, relieving the wounded man of his machine gun.

“Why would he tell you anything?” Maggie demanded.

“Look around. They don't have masks with them,” Jonathan said. “He's going to tell us everything we want to know. Because if he doesn't, we're going to tie him up right here and let the gas have him.”

“What? You wouldn't do that. Come on!” the guard said in English between winces over his wound.

“Try me,” Jonathan said, turning to walk away.

“Wait! Fine, I'll tell you what you want to know. Anything. Just don't leave me here!”

“So much for seasoned mercenaries,” Maggie said.

“Look at him. He's a kid. I doubt he's ever seen any action before,” Jonathan said. The guard didn't correct him. “The others are the same. Look.”

Maggie looked as confused as Jonathan felt. “If these guards aren't Morgan's inner circle, then where the hell are they?”

“My money is on wherever Umi and Morgan are. Sub, maybe? But first things first, you go take care of these last four passengers,” Jonathan said, handing Maggie the injection gun.

“Why me?”

“They were locked in their rooms under guard and they just heard gunshots outside their doors. Even if they would have listened to me before, they sure won't now. But they'll listen to you. You vetted them, reassured them of the security measures and safety of the conference. They know your face.”

“Right,” Maggie said. She headed for the first door, knocked and in less than thirty seconds was inside talking with the dignitaries. Jonathan crouched beside the wounded guard.

“What's your name?”

“Darren Pirkl, sir,” the kid managed.

“Okay, Darren, tell me about Ashita. And I'd make it fast if I were you,” Jonathan said, tapping his watch with his gun and making a face like he was choking. Darren didn't find it funny at all.

“They don't tell me much,” Darren said, wincing. “I know the old lady is going down there before the gas attack.”

“
Down
there?”

“They've been taking stuff somewhere with the subs for months. Someplace called Ashita.”

“There's more than one sub?”

“Well, there used to be. One of them broke down. It's off to the side of the moon pool behind some partitions. You'd have to know it was there to even see it. They've just been using the other one, lately.”

“You haven't been down there?”

“No, only Mr. Morgan's elite guards go down.”

Maggie emerged from the stateroom.

“Two down, two to go,” she said hurrying to the other door. “You get anything out of him?”

“Oh, yeah. We've learned that a sub is broken and there might be a place called Ashita ‘down' somewhere.”

“In other words, nothing,” Maggie said. The next two dignitaries finally opened the door but it took Maggie almost a full minute to get them to let her in.

“You heard her, kid. You're not telling me anything that's going to make me want to get you out of here.”

“That's all I know! I swear!”

“Have it your way,” Jonathan said, standing up and heading away.

“Wait! Uh, the big guy. I saw some big guy climb out of the moon pool wearing scuba gear!”

Jonathan's chest tightened, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “What big guy? Describe him.”

“He was big, like I said. And blond. Only wearing wetsuit shorts after he took off his gear. And he was . . . all scarred up.”

“What else did you see? Where did this guy go?”

“He didn't go anywhere. He looked real tired. Then Mr. Corsair snuck up behind him and hit him with a pipe. Knocked him out. Or killed him. I don't know, which.”

Jonathan couldn't believe what he was hearing. Lew? On board?

“How'd you see all this?” Jonathan asked. He partly wished the kid was lying but also knew that if Alex had seen the kid, he'd probably be dead by now. Darren looked away, like he didn't want to say any more. Jonathan lunged at him, grabbing a fistful of his uniform. “How'd you see it!”

“Okay, okay! Me and a ­couple of the other guards used to go into the busted sub to smoke weed. We made a bong out of one of the rebreathers. And the sub keeps the smell from getting out. We were in there when we heard the big guy flop out of the moon pool. I stuck my head out and peeked around the partition. I saw the whole thing.”

“Where is he now? The big guy.”

“Mr. Corsair put him in a big crate, then had a ­couple of the other guards load him in the working sub. He told them to take him there.”

“Take him where?”

“To Ashita. If he's alive, the big guy is on Ashita. That's all I know. After they left, we took off and swore each other to secrecy. We knew what Mr. Corsair would do to us if he found out we were there.”

“Do to you? What exactly is Corsair's job?” Jonathan said. The guy was obviously not MI6, or if he was, he was dirty. But the way Maggie had talked, Corsair had only been on the ship as long as she had.

“I don't know about official job, but he's Ms. Tenabe's enforcer. You do something to cross him, and you disappear. One of the guards told a story about seeing Corsair on deck with one of the scientists a few weeks ago. He shoved a knife in his neck and tossed him overboard like he was flicking a cigarette butt away. He's crazy.”

“How long has he worked for her?”

“He was here before I was. At least a year. Now how about getting me out of here?”

“Corsair,” Jonathan said between clenched teeth. He let go of Darren, stood up, and headed for the end of the corridor just as Maggie was coming out of the final suite.

“And we're done. Hey, where are you going? Jesus, what's wrong, Jonathan?” Maggie said.

“No time. Zap the kid. I'm going to have a little chat with our asshole in the closet,” Jonathan said.

He grabbed the door to the closet and threw it open. The closet was empty. Alex was on the loose.

“Fuck! Tanaka, did you get all that?”

“
Jesus, yes,
” Tanaka said.

“Can you get a message out to Fahd? Find out if Lew left the
Atlantis Explorer
?”

“Not possible. Like I told you, I don't know anything about the communications jamming equipment. And anybody who does is locked up in a room waiting to be gassed.”

“Goddamn it! Jonathan shouted, slamming the butt of his gun into the bulkhead.

“Uh, who are you talking to, Sport?” Maggie asked, eying Jonathan like he'd lost his mind.

“
Jonathan. Jonathan!
” Tanaka shouted.

“What?”

“
You've got less than five minutes before the gas is released. We can deal with this after the gas clears. Right now, you've got to get your mask!
”

“No time,” Jonathan said, knowing there was no way he could get to his room in time. And it wouldn't help Maggie anyway, there was only one mask there. Tanaka had the other. If they didn't want to spend the next twelve hours asleep, they had to get out of there. And fast.

“
Shit,
” Tanaka said. “
Okay, get your asses up on deck and as far away from enclosed spaces as you can. The wind's coming from the west. I'll turn the ship. Get to the starboard helipad. And I mean right to the fucking rail. Go!
”

Jonathan dropped the messenger bag and started to run, but realized he had no idea where the starboard helipad was. Then Maggie grabbed him and slammed him up against the wall.