Betrayal (28 page)

Or a frown, Cassi thought, depending on your perspective. “With the marina for its front teeth?”

“And the house as a dimple.”

Cassi continued to study the marina as Wiley masterfully maneuvered the forty-eight foot yacht toward an iron berth. The last time she had been here, she had been with Odi. Odi would come this time too, but this time she would be against him.
 

Wiley drifted in alongside the dock, gave the twin engines a second of reverse, and put the motor in neutral. The Norse Wind halted as though on wheels. “Are you sure you want me to leave, Cassi? I would much rather stay. I don’t feel good about leaving you here alone.”

The woman in her yearned for him to stay, but today the agent prevailed. “I am sure. I have to handle him myself, one-on-one.”

Wiley shook his head. “What if he doesn’t give you that chance? What if there’s a bomb waiting up there, like the one he left at your aunt’s cottage? Or what if he changes MO’s and uses a sniper rifle?”

Cassi looked down at the sea to hide the doubt in her eyes. “I’m not just his twin sister, Wiley. I’m also a profiler. I’m convinced that Odi won’t do that.”

“How can you be so sure when you don’t even know his motivation? He has obviously changed. Who knows what happened to him over there. Maybe he’s hearing voices or taking his orders from a dog.”

Wiley was playing to her emotions effectively. She knew that she had to keep it professional or she might crack. “Because whatever his reason, the first killings show that this is very personal to him.”

“We don’t know that,” Wiley shot back. “I’m not a defense contractor. Even if the others were personal, this one could be different.”

“I appreciate your concern, Wiley. Really I do. But we agreed on this hours ago, and you promised to let me do this my way. I’m getting off the boat now. I don’t want to see you again until this time tomorrow.”

Chapter 49

Asgard Island, Chesapeake Bay

O
DI
FELT
AN
adrenaline kick as the rising sun crested the island bluff and sent rays of golden light through the bulletproof windows. He knew it would not be long now. Wiley was a creature of habit.

Odi had given up on trying to guess Ayden’s intentions for the Creamer in order to focus on a sure thing. He could not allow a traitor like Wiley to assume the second highest office in the land, but he could not expect to stop him either—at least not with political or legal means. Wiley was far too rich and powerful for conventional measures like that. Fortunately, Odi was an unconventional kind of guy—and he still had a Dasani bottle full of Creamer.

He bent over to touch his toes, holding the stretch for a ten-count to warm his muscles. Wiley did not heat the manor house at night. Odi was not surprised. Despite his wealth, Wiley struck Odi as the traditionally frugal New-England flannel-pajamas-and-thick-comforter type. That really sucked when your body was as sore and cold as Odi’s was after his pounding midnight Jet Ski ride. But he was not complaining. He had come a long way to reach this final phase. After weeks of struggle, he had just one battle to go.
 

Odi studied the room through the crack in the closet door. This was something he had not been able to do in the dark of the night. Wiley’s enormous study looked exactly as it had the one time he had visited with Cassi. Windows along the east side of the room, a long aquarium along the west, with a sixty-inch screen on the far wall and a suite of matching black-leather furniture in the middle.

At the far end from where Odi hid, a bar occupied one corner and a large glass desk the other. Behind the desk a Plexiglas lectern faced out the window. Odi had asked Wiley about the lectern’s odd placement. “It helps condition me to ignore diversion and distraction,” Wiley had explained. “Both are key to Beltway survival.”

The lectern was the focus of Odi’s attention now. It was the lure that would draw his rat to the trap—sometime soon from the sound of it, he noted. The pipes had just come to life. He guessed that Wiley was taking a shower.

He caught sight of the large remote control next to the marble ashtray on the end table, the one Wiley had used during their last visit to activate the panic room. He should have hidden it as a precaution, Odi realized, but he did not want to risk retrieving it now that he knew Wiley was awake. It probably didn’t matter anyway. There was no button you could push when you had a bomb in your belly—except perhaps game over.

Odi was still contemplating the irony of setting a trap in a panic room when Wiley walked in. That was quick, he thought, but then Wiley had obviously come straight from the shower. He was wearing Scottish flannel PJ’s and a thick white robe with a hood that made him look like a prizefight boxer approaching the ring. He supposed the analogy was suitable. The lectern was a politician’s arena.

Wiley crossed the study to his practice lectern without so much as a glance toward the closet, and began to practice for his upcoming
PoliTalk
appearance. “It’s a pleasure to be back on
PoliTalk
, Jim.”

Odi slipped silently out of his hiding place.

“I’d like to be the bearer of good news today,” Wiley continued, “but from where I sit the situation looks bleak.”
 

Odi raised two Berettas toward Wiley’s back and said “It does indeed.”

Wiley said nothing in response. He just froze.

Odi thought he detected a tremble. “Look at me,” he commanded.

Slowly, very slowly Wiley turned around while using his left hand to remove his hood. First Odi saw the voice recorder, then he saw the face. The person in the bathrobe was Cassi.

Chapter 50

Asgard Island, Chesapeake Bay

“C
OME
ON
,
SHOOT
him,” Stuart whispered, staring at the security monitor. “Shoot the bastard.”

“You’re dreaming,” Wiley said without averting his eyes. “Cassi’s not going to shoot her brother. There was a chance that he might have shot her in the back thinking she was me. Then we might have gotten really lucky and seen him shoot himself after discovering his mistake, à la Romeo and Juliet, but that chance is gone. It’s up to us now.”

They had just watched Odi’s Berettas slip from his limp hands to the floor as Cassi produced a Colt .45 from her bathrobe pocket. Now the twins were just standing there, her tears flowing, his mouth agape, neither knowing what to do next.

Stuart said, “You better get over there now before they figure things out,” but Wiley was already gone.

~ ~ ~

Wiley wondered how it had come to this as he slipped out of the security closet and slunk down the hall. He knew the answer of course. He had made a Faustian exchange, his soul for the Oval Office, when he committed to The Three Marks to do whatever it takes. He realized now that he had been a fool to think that he could pull it off without genuine sacrifice—as had they.

Peering around the doorway, Wiley could see Odi’s back and the top of Cassi’s head. She was holding her brother in a supportive embrace, although the Colt remained in her hand.

Cassi spotted Wiley as he entered the room and she backed away from her brother.

“What is it?” Odi asked, obviously studying her face before turning to look around.

“I couldn’t leave you alone in your time of need,” Wiley said, before Cassi could comment. “I was worried. I’m glad to see that you’ve got things under control. Shall I leave the two of you alone?”

Before Cassi could reply, Odi interjected, “Shoot him now. Don’t let him get to my guns.”

Wiley almost smiled when he heard Odi’s words. It was as if he was reading from Stuart’s script.

Odi’s guns lay on the floor in front of the closet. They were a yard to Wiley’s left, and a full twenty feet from the Carrs. Wiley held up his hands. “Hey, I’m not the one who came here to shoot anybody. In fact, I’m the only one walking around unarmed—and this is my house.”

“Don’t listen to him Cassi,” Odi interrupted. He has killed lots of people, including Derek, Flint, and Adam.”

Keeping his voice soft and in check, Wiley said, “You’re sick, Odi. Deranged. Mentally ill. What happened to you over there in Iran? What did they do to you?”

As he spoke, Wiley watched Cassi look back and forth, her face a mask of anguish and apprehension. Sensing her indecision, he held out his hands and said, “Let’s diffuse this situation. We don’t want anyone doing anything stupid.” He slowly bent down and grabbed the barrels of each of Odi’s Berettas between thumb and forefinger without taking his eyes off Cassi’s face. Moving slowly, he walked over to the aquarium and dropped the automatics in, saying “sorry about this, guys,” to the fish. The Berettas sank quickly through four feet of water and clanked against a white coral reef at the bottom.

Wiley said, “Why don’t we all sit down and talk.”

Cassi looked from Wiley to Odi to Wiley again. She blinked once and then walked toward Wiley with the Colt raised in her hand. Her face was puffy and her eyes were void of expression. In that moment, Wiley realized that he had underestimated the strength of the love that bound the twins. He had bet that Cassi would prefer to believe his trauma-victim explanation over Odi’s deeply wounding truth. He had lost.
 

Wiley’s mind raced through alternatives as Cassi drew closer. He could bolt from the room, or he could try to snatch the gun, counting in both cases on her reluctance to shoot him. As she closed the gap he decided on the latter. He wanted this mess to be over. Just before he pounced, Cassi transferred the Colt to her left hand, grabbing the barrel between thumb and forefinger.

Odi yelled, “No!” as Cassi held it up to her left and added it to the fish’s collection. “Yes,” she said, obviously trying to keep her voice calm. “Let’s sit.”

As Wiley stared at the three weapons resting impotently on the floor of the tank he felt a surge of relief and a wave elation. He had won.

Chapter 51

Asgard Island, Chesapeake Bay

C
ASSI
LOOKED
OVER
at Odi through tear-soaked eyes, afraid that her heart would break. Although upset at first, she was now glad that Wiley had broken their agreement and returned early. She did not want to go through this alone. She dropped her weapon in the tank where it settled next to Odi’s and then walked over to the couch. Wiley followed.

Odi looked back at her from the other side of the room, his face a mask of desperation. She felt an inexplicable surge of guilt, followed by a sense of foreboding. He walked slowly toward the armchair with his feet shuffling and his head bowed low, the epitome of a beaten man.

In a split second, he changed everything. As Odi drew beside the chair he scooped the marble cigar ashtray off the end table and whirled around like he was holding a discus. He completed one full turn and then launched the rock straight into the center of the aquarium.
 

The enormous glass panel cracked into a spider’s web as the ashtray soared through. There was a catastrophic crash followed by the sound of three hundred gallons of furious water and a hundred doomed fish spewing onto the beige carpeted floor. Cassi and Wiley both shot out of their chairs as the living rainbow began to thrash and flop.