Day of Doom (23 page)

Damien was unfazed by the sarcasmand didn’t respond. But what he did notrealize was that Fiske had coiled up thelong chain that had been used toimmobilize them in the truck and wound it

around his waist. Now his hand dipped to the chain and gripped one end of it.

Damien said, “And now I think it’s time for you to become hostages once more. But I can promise you that your imprisonment this time will be brief.”

“Oh, yeah?” piped in Reagan. “And why is that?”

“Because there is no reason to

imprison the dead,” replied Damien nastily.

“Touché,” said Fiske. “So very predictable of you, Dame.”

The figures in the darkness rushed

forward at the same time that Fiske uncoiled the chain and, using it like a whip, felled four of the guards who had emerged to try to capture them.

“Go,   Cahills!”   screamed  Fiske. “Fight to the death!!”

All five of them, including the mostly blind Ted Starling and the wounded Nellie, charged ahead to try to do just that.

Dan looked like he might be sick as heknelt next to his sister.

There’s so much blood.

He’d also seen how hard Amy hadhit the door. He was terrified that she had

broken her neck or even her skull. If so, what could they do to help her? They were inside a mountain in the middle of the Rockies and there were probably Vespers lurking all over the place.

“Amy? Ames?” he said quietly, gently applying pressure to her shoulder.

Jake was kneeling on the other side of her while Sinead stood behind him, disbelief on her features.

“Is she . . . is she dead?” asked Sinead. “She . . . she can’t be. Not Amy.” Sinead started to weep.

“No, I’m not dead,” said Amy as she very slowly sat up, rubbing her head.

Dan was so relieved he almost

fainted.

Jake hugged her. “Omigosh, Ames, we thought . . .” His voice trailed off as he pulled away and looked at her, tears in his

eyes.

She continued to rub her head. “Believe me, I was thinking it, too. Thatdoor was hard. Luckily it wasn’t as hard

as my head.”

“But all that blood!” exclaimed

Sinead.

“Scalp wound,” said Amy matter-of-factly. “They bleed like crazy. But I canalready feel it coagulating. I’m good.”

“Not so fast,” said Dan. “How manyfingers am I holding up?” He held up threeof them.

“What fingers?” said Amy.

Jake and Dan exchanged terrified glances.

“I’m only kidding, guys,” said Amy quickly. “Geez. Get a grip.”’

Sinead   used   some   cloths   and sterilizing spray from Amy’s knapsack to clean up her wound.

As Sinead wound the last bit of gauze around Amy’s head, Amy said quietly, “I

heard you start to cry when you thought I was dead. There would have been no

reason for you to fake that if you thought I was gone.”

Sinead didn’t answer right away. Finally she looked at Amy, her eyes reddened and swollen. “I’ve regretted all the awful things I did. I chose the Vespers over the Cahills. That was not only wrong, it was stupid. The choice between good and evil should be an easy one. The fact is, I’ve always been envious of you, Amy. You’re perfect. You have everything. But that was my problem, not yours.”

Amy shook her head. “I’ve always been a little jealous of
you
, Sinead.”

“Me? Why?”

“You’re so smart and so focused. But

of course no one’s perfect, are they?”

Sinead zipped the knapsack back up. “I don’t expect you to forgive me or trustme. I don’t deserve it. I was wicked and Iwas wrong. But I did what I did because Ithought it would be the best chance for mybrothers to get better.”

Amy looked over at Dan. “I guess ifthat had happened to Dan it wouldn’t havebeen an easy decision for me, either.”

Dan said, “Hey, if you two arefinished gabbing, we’ve got a freakingworld to save here.”

Sinead rose and held out her hand to Amy. She gripped it and stood.

Amy said, “Are you ready to do this, Sinead?”

Sinead smiled. “I’m ready to go allthe way.”

Jake started to pull the pistol from

his waistband, only it wasn’t there.

“Where   did   it   go?”   he   said

frantically.

“I think it got sucked out by the train,” said Dan.

“Great, so we’ve got no weapon.”

“We’ve got our brains. And each other,” declared Amy. “I’ll take that over a hundred guns.”

“You’re right, Amy,” said Sinead. “We can beat them with our wits. And our teamwork.”

“Well, you’ve got more team to work with now.”

They all turned when they heard the

voice.

Peering around the corner was Evan.

“Evan!” exclaimed Amy.

He stepped out and was followed by

Hamilton, Phoenix, Natalie, and Ian.

Amy ran up to Evan and hugged him.

He looked down at her, his featuressort of goofy.

Though she believed she had madeher boyfriend decision, the whole JakeEvan thing had been pushed into therecesses of Amy’s mind simply bynecessity. She glanced over at Jake andsaw him staring at her standing there withher arms around Evan. She quickly let Evan go and stepped back, her cheeksreddening.

He said, “It’s so great to see you.” He paused. “You’ve got blood in yourhair. And you’re all bandaged. Are youokay?”

“She’s fine,” said Jake, steppingbetween them. “Right, Ames?”

“I’m fine, Evan,” she said. “Thanks for your concern,” she added, giving Jake a weird look.

“Wow,” said Dan. “Are we super glad to see you dudes.”

“Not as glad as we are to see you,” said Natalie. “It sucks being a hostage.”

“Where are the others?” asked Jake.

“We split up. Five and five,” explained Hamilton. “We heard noises and came this way. We thought it might be Vespers, but luckily it was you.”

“So the Vespers are here?”

“Cheyenne, Casper, and Sandy are,” said Ian. “We know that for sure. We fought them and ran for it. But there are others.”

“Including Isabel,” said Amy. “We saw her sneak in here.”

“She  has Atticus,”  added  Jake miserably. “And if we don’t get him back fast, I’m afraid we never will.”

“How is Nellie?” asked Dan quickly.

“Wounded, but doing all right,” said Hamilton. “She’s got a lot of spunk.” He suddenly stared at Sinead with unfriendly eyes. “What is she doing here? Isn’t she the enemy?” He put a big hand on her shoulder.

“I’m here to find my brother,” said Sinead stiffly.

Hamilton said, “Yeah, right. As we understood it, you were Vesper Three, just two notches down from the big guy. You did a lot of bad stuff. I mean a lot.” He

turned to Amy. “I’m not buying this act. She’s lied to us too many times. She’s a Vesper through and through.”

Sinead ripped Hamilton’s hand offher. “I am not a Vesper. I’m an Ekaterinathrough and through. And my only concernnow is finding Ted. And to do that wehave to defeat the Vespers.”

Hamilton  and  the   other  formerhostages gazed at her with unfriendlyexpressions.

Amy stepped in. “Sinead saved ourlives back on the train. We wouldn’t behere except for her. We have to trust her.”

Hamilton shook his head. “Well,excuse me if I don’t.” He pointed a fingerat Sinead. “I’ll be watching you.”

“Fine,” she said. “And I’ll bewatching
 
you
 
.” She turned to Evan. “Howis Ted?”

“He’s okay,” said Evan. “He’s gottenreally good at hearing and sensing things.”

“But he’s with the others?” said Sinead in a disappointed tone.

“Yeah,” said Evan. “But I’m sure they’re okay.”

Hamilton scoffed, “You’re suddenly concerned, Sinead? Didn’t you help have him kidnapped?”

“Ever  since  my  brothers   were injured, all I’ve wanted is to help them get back to normal. I worked with whoever would help me do that.”

Hamilton looked at Amy. “See, we can’t trust her.”

Sinead   said,   “I   guess   I   canunderstand that. But I want you all to knowthat Vesper One is going to kill Ted. Therefore, I am not his ally anymore. I’m

your
 
ally.”

Jake cut in. “We can’t just stand here

yapping. We have to find Att and the others. And we have to stop the Vespers.”

“Do you guys hear that?” said Dan suddenly.

They all froze and listened.

Footsteps were coming down the hall. Well, not exactly footsteps. More like people marching.

“We better get going,” said Amy. She looked at Hamilton. “Whichever way you guys came from, let’s go the other way. Maybe we’ll be able to hook up with the others.”

“Good idea,” said Hamilton. “Come on, Let’s go.”

They slipped into a corridor and made their way swiftly down it. The sounds of the marching faded away.

Amy said, “We think we know why

Isabel is here.”

“Why?” asked Evan.

“There’s a massive subduction zoneright under our feet. The Doomsdaydevice   must   be   located   here.

Somewhere.”

Natalie said, “But if my mother hadto go to the museum to figure that out . . . ?”

Amy said, “Exactly. She wasn’t in onthe plan. She’s Vesper Two, but wants tobe Vesper One, obviously. And Vesper One is just as obviously having nothing todo with that. They clearly don’t trust eachother.”

“Smart of both of them,” added Sinead dryly.

Dan said, “The point is, Isabel ishere to try to take over. I just know it.”

Sinead said, “With Isabel and Vesper One going at each other, it might give usan opportunity.”

Amy said, “We have to find theothers. Come on.”

She hurried down the hall and

everyone followed.

Sandy awoke first and rubbed his head. He slowly got to his feet and eyed Cheyenne and then Casper. They wereboth still lying on the floor, unconscious. But as he watched, he saw them start tostir.

Casper   sat   up,   groaning   andmassaging the back of his neck. Then Cheyenne came to and put her headbetween her knees. She looked like she

might be sick.

“Well, that was simply brilliant,” snapped Sandy as he hovered over them.

Casper looked up and snarled, “Shut up. I didn’t exactly see you fighting.”

“I saw you running away, in fact,” added Cheyenne. “Vesper One will not like that when we tell him.”

“My goodness, you two are so out of things it’s extraordinary, it really is. You’re going to go to Vesper One and complain that I didn’t fight well enough even though you two, who were brought

on  for  your   supposed
 
muscle
, were defeated by a bunch of kids and one old man!”

“Hamilton is
 
not
 
a little kid,” barked