Day of Doom (3 page)

This statement sent chills through allthe hostages. Were they going to die? Orwere Amy and Dan?

But one of them, Ted, saw anopportunity, even with his very bad

eyesight.

The hostages trudged out of their prison, unsure of what the future would hold.

As Fiske Cahill passed one of theguards, the man said, “You talk big for anold fart.” It was the same man who had

told them they were moving.

“Big talk
 
this
,” replied Fiske as he whipped around and landed a side kick right into the guard’s gut, sending him flying back against the wall and slumping to the floor. Fiske bent down and

whispered to the battered man, “That was for Alistair.”

As other guards converged on him, Fiske  straightened  and  said  simply, “Terribly sorry about that. Lost my balance. Happens to old farts all the

time.”

He walked on, with his head held

high.

The command center in Attleboro was a

lonely place. Only Ian Kabra and Evan Tolliver were there presently. They were both working hard, but they also felt disconnected from the action. And Ian was

particularly gloomy because his sister was a hostage, and it didn’t seem like there was any way to get her back.

Has my mother won?
 
he thought.

Evan pounded his keyboard like

some rocker pianist. He kept stopping to adjust his Coke-bottle glasses, which partially obscured his deep blue eyes. Evan lived for computers. In fact, he could not live without them.

He looked up. “Success!”

“What?” asked Ian.

“Hacked Sinead’s e-mail account. Think I hit the jackpot. Well, at least it’s something we didn’t know before.”

Ian looked over Evan’s shoulder at

the string of e-mails on the screen. He read quickly. “Right. Well now, she’s e- mailed back and forth with this Riley McGrath chap.” Ian read some more of the e-mails. “He’s a park ranger. Looks like she had a bit of a romantic thing for him. However, I’m not interested in Sinead’s love life. And I don’t quite see how that

helps us.”

While Ian had been reading, Evan had switched over to another computer.

“Here’s how. I looked up Riley McGrath. Pretty difficult for him to be emailing Sinead.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because he’s been dead for ten years.”

As Ian stared quizzically at him, the cell phone they kept at the command center buzzed.

Ian looked at it. “I don’t recognize that number.”

“Better answer it,” said Evan. “The only people who know this number are people we probably need to hear from.”

Ian answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Who is this?” the voice asked. Ian

thought he recognized it but wasn’t sure.

“Who is
 
this
?” asked Ian.

“Is this Attleboro?”

Ian put the cell phone on
 
SPEAKER
 
so

Evan could hear.

“Exactly who would like to know

that information?” asked Ian in his stiffest

British accent.

“This is Phoenix Wizard.”

Ian and Evan gaped at each other. Could this really be Jonah’s little cousin? It certainly sounded like him.

“Phoenix, Ian and Evan here,” said Ian. “Can you tell us exactly where youare?”

Evan chimed in, “But first, are youall right?”

When Phoenix next spoke his voicewas shaky and both Evan and Ian could

hear tears behind the words.

“I almost got killed when I was escaping,” Phoenix said. “It was really scary. I don’t know how I made it through. I thought I was going to die.”

Now both Ian and Evan could hear the little boy sniffling. Next a small sob escaped his lips.

“Right, Phoenix. This is Ian. I want you to take two deep breaths for me. Can you do that?”

“I can try.”

“Good. Two deep ones. Let me hear them.”

They heard two long breaths and then Ian said, “Brilliant, Phoenix. Best deepbreaths I’ve ever heard. Now, I know yourordeal has been simply awful, but itwould be very helpful if you could just

pull yourself together and tell us what happened.”

Evan added, “And that way we can come and help you, Phoenix.”

“Precisely,” said Ian. “You needn’t be alone anymore. We will come to your aid with alacrity.”

“That means really fast,” said Evan, giving Ian an annoyed look.

After a few more sniffles and another long breath, Phoenix said, “After I escaped, I managed to get to a road. A man gave me a ride in his truck to a motel. I’m calling from there.”

Something seemed to occur to Ian and his face turned ashen. “Right. But where are the others? Is my sister, is she . . . ?” Ian shouted this last part into the phone.

Evan gripped his shoulder. “Justchill, dude. Let’s hear what he has to say.”

In a lower voice he said, “And let’sverify it
 
is
 
Phoenix.” In a louder voice hesaid, “Phoenix, what are your cousin’stwo favorite words?”

“
 
Word
 
and
 
bro

.   With
 
yo
  
and
 
fly

close behind.”

“That’s Phoenix,” said Ian.

Phoenix said, “I was able to get

away  from  the   Vespers.   I’d  been wandering through the mountains for a long time before I reached that road.”

Evan said calmly, “We’re really glad you’re okay, Phoenix. But can you tell us exactly where you are?”

“In Washington State. Near the Cascade Mountain Range.” He gave them the exact address of the motel. “If you get

here, I can lead you to where the others are. I know right where it is.”

Evan said, “Just hold tight, Phoenix. Hide as best you can. And don’t talk to anybody. We’ll be there as fast as the plane will take us.”

Ian  added  in  a  nervous  tone, “Phoenix, when you managed to escape, was everyone, was Natalie . . . ?” He again couldn’t finish.

“They were all alive,” said Phoenix.

“Okay, thanks,” said Ian. “Thanks a

lot.”

As soon as the phone went dead, Evan fired off an e-mail to Amy telling herabout the call. But it bounced back.

“Crap,” snapped Evan. He tried

again with the same result.

“I’ll call her on the mobile,” said

Ian. But the call would not go through.

“What the heck is going on?”exclaimed Evan.

“We’ve got to reach Phoenix beforethe Vespers do,” said Ian. “We’ll try tocontact the others on the way. Now let’sjolly well get a move on.”

In five minutes they were packed andout the door. Two hours later they were ona flight to the state of Washington.

The Acela train was running smoothly onits way to DC. Amy, Dan, Jake, and Atticus were occupying a four-persontable in one of the train cars. Dan hadgone to the café car to get some food andhad brought back snacks and drinks for theothers. The room service meal seemed

like a long time ago, though it really hadn’t been. They were all at an age where the calories seemed to be burned

up as soon as they passed the lips.

They had opted for the train because the earliest flight they could get out of New York would not have gotten them into DC faster than the train. And the train

would carry them into Union Station, which was only a short cab ride away from the National Museum of American History.

Amy had just put down her bottle of water when her phone buzzed. She picked it up and looked at the incoming text. Her face froze.

Dan, who had been watching her,said, “Vesper One?”

She nodded and handed him the

phone so the others could see the message.

Would you like to see the hostages one last time?

Vesper One had helpfully provided apassword-protected link on the web.

Amy drew a long breath and readiedher laptop. The train was full, so theydecided to go out into the vestibulebetween train cars, where they could havesome privacy. Amy carried her laptopwhile the others fell into step behind her. It was like they were marching to see anexecution. The dread was clear on each oftheir faces.

They huddled in the vestibule while Amy hit the link on her computer screenand then put in the password.

They drew closer when the screenfired up, and the dread on their facesdeepened.

The remaining hostages were linedup in a row. They looked dirty, beaten,

battered. There was duct tape over their mouths and their hands were bound behind

them.

Alistair wasn’t there, of course, and neither was Phoenix. Amy and the others knew Alistair was dead and that Phoenix was missing and probably dead as well.

A robotic voice came on over the laptop’s speaker. It was Vesper One. His tone was one of unabashed triumph.

“I just wanted to thank you for all of your help. I consider you my partners in bringing about the victory of my family over yours. Indeed, over the world. Without your valuable assistance in gathering the elements I needed, my plan would never have succeeded. I want you to keep that in mind over the short period of time you have left to live.” The voice

paused and then continued, “Oh, and in case you haven’t figured it out for yourselves, I am officially going back on our deal to release the hostages once you provided me with all the elements. Lying is just what we Vespers do. And we do it so well. Makes life so much easier.

Ciao.”

They all looked at one another, thefury evident on each of their faces.

“I want to kill that guy,” snapped Dan. “And then bring him back to life andkill him again. And keep doing it until hejust disappears to
 
nothing
.”

Unfortunately, he said all this right asa conductor walked by. When the manlooked at him oddly, Dan pointed to thecomputer and said, “Uh, fantasy footballleague. My guy totally blew it.”

“I   feel   your   pain,”   said   the conductor.   “My   guy   threw   four interceptions. I’m thinking about becoming a hockey fan.”

As he walked off, Dan glanced back at the screen.

Atticus pointed at it. “Look.”

They all stared at where he was pointing.   The  hostages  couldn’t  say anything because of the duct tape. But their eyes were visible. And one of the hostages  was   doing  something  very interesting.

Ted Starling was blinking. But he was doing so in a highly unusual way.

It took Atticus a few moments to

realize why. “He’s blinking Morse code.”

Atticus grabbed a notepad and pen from his jacket and watched the screen.

“Amy,” he said. “Back it up a little.”

She did, and Atticus watched as Ted blinked and blinked and blinked.

Atticus started scribbling on his pad while the others watched.