Encrypted (68 page)

Lino
stalked along the edge of the roof, eager to meet this betrayer hand to hand. So much preparation had been made for this day. None could spoil it. God’s word would be uncontroversial. Who could challenge the Hidden Hand once it completed its stunning act of faith?

Francois, less sure-footed than before, stepped onto the roof of the castle. The area had originally been fortified as a helipad, but the men had taken to using the flat surface as a training ground. Given the lack of retaining wall and sheer drop, three stories down, the danger added some excitement to morning exercises.

Lino
knew each and every crack in the stone underfoot. Each spur of rock that might trip one unaware
s
. And what of his opponent?

While fury seemed to burn in the traitor’s veins, exhaustion etched his features. Long
,
gr
a
y hair matted by rain framed a craggy visage. Wrinkled and old. Burnt out by a life dedicated to thwarting God’s will. To think that once this feeble, failing, faltering man had once occupied
Lino’s
position. No wonder the Hidden Hand’s success was only borne now.

Still
,
Francois strode toward him as the woman lingered in the doorway. Once he dispatched the old man,
Lino
had a delicious plan awaiting her. He might be able to be lenient
with
Francois. The burden of carrying God’s will weighed heavily. Most could not bear it without cracking. For Brother
Loubom
,
Lino
would send him swiftly to his maker. The woman
,
though? The infidel? She would feel God’s wrath…personally, and intimately.

But first
,
he must dispatch the old man.

Francois spoke over his shoulder to the woman. “May I use the steel end?”

“Go for it,” the woman remarked as she typed against the stone wall.

The old man tossed the spear, catching it
in
midair, then tucking the shaft under his arm, preparing to strike.
Lino
would need no weapon other than his hands. He allowed Francois to lunge and commit to strike. Stepping to the side,
Lino
n
ot only avoided the attack, he
brought his elbow down at the bend of Francois’ arm, knocking the spear to the side.

A perfect opening. Spinning,
Lino
brought his hand
and
base of the palm forward, slamming into Francois’ solar plexus.

Only
,
instead of the old man dropping to the rain
-
soaked ground, it was
Lino
who had
to stumble back.

* * *

Francois looked down at the vest Ronnie had provided. A perfect handprint was at the center, etched in gr
a
y metal. The fabric had become steel under
Lino’s
thrust. A blow that should have shattered Francois’ sternum nearly broke
Lino’s
hand.

For perhaps the first time in his young life,
Lino’s
face registered shock. His eyes dilated as he clutched his hand to his chest. So the whelp did feel pain. Francois pounced as
Lino
shook out the injury.

Francois stabbed forward with the spear
,
trying to gouge the wound from the stone knife
.
H
owever
,
he missed
Lino’s
midriff. Instead
,
he only tore
his
clothes. As
Lino
pivoted away, Francois yanked the spear back. The sharp edge
was
equally capable of cutting on the way back. This time the blade caught skin, tearing a thin line of red across
Lino’s
side.

The boy’s head snapped around, his glare piercing.

Not feeling quite so immortal?

The boy was nothing if not persistent
,
though.
Lino
twisted, bringing his leg around, slamming his foot into Francois’ knee. The joint buckled
,
forcing Francois to use the spear as a crutch.

A backhanded slap from
Lino
split Francois’ lip. Blood spew
ed
across the slick stone. Francois brought the spear around low, trying to trip
Lino
.
but the younger man jumped over the wooden handle then danced out of range.

Near
ly
panting, Francois let the cold rain soak into his skin. He had not come up here to this rooftop thinking he would ever leave the castle. All
Lino
had to do was outwit Francois’ aged joints.

So with each swipe, Francois forced
Lino
closer and closer to the ledge.

To end one, the two must die.

* * *

Ronnie typed like a madwoman. Really, really mad. As rain streaked her glasses, adding a watercolor effect to the screens, Ronnie cracked the last firewall. She was in. She had the controls. Or at least
,
she thought she did. Once she rang this bell
,
there would be no un
-
ringing it. She would reve
a
l to
Lino
and the Hidden Hand her entire plan.

If Quirk wasn’t doing what he needed to do… If Zach wasn’t in position... If she did this and it didn’t work…

Well, the world would
end
. No, it was worse than that. The world would descend into the medieval hellish vision of the Hidden Hand. It was never good when you seriously considered that the dead could turn out to be the lucky ones.

So intent on her next course of action, Ronnie didn’t hear the shift in the fighting.

“
Pendre
!” Francois called out.

Ronnie turned to find
Lino
leaping toward her. The rain and wind blew his linen jacket open. And
she would have
considered
his graceful movements beautiful if he had not been leaping at her.

Ronnie tried to get out of the way, but slipped on the wet rock. It all
felt like
slow motion.
Lino’s
look of pure hatred. Her frozen muscles. Even if she green
-
lit her plan right this second, it couldn’t save her
—
or the world.

Then Francois was there, tackling the younger man. The two men hit the stone right in front of her. Ronnie scampered out of the way as
Lino
sprang up with Francois
,
rising more slowly.

“Run!” Ronnie yelled. Francois’ part was over. Now it was up to her.

Either the older man did not hear
,
or chose to ignore her. He lunged at
Lino
,
who easily avoided the strike
,
then brought his arm down, breaking the spear in half. Catching the blade in,
Lino
lashed out.

“
No
!” Ronnie yelled as the blade drove deep into Francois’ stomach.

The old man clutched at the spear
,
almost seeming to want to keep it in his abdomen, but
Lino
jerked the blade out. The older man teetered
, and
then
fell, l
anding facedown. The rock
s
around Francois pooled with bright red blood.

Lino
did not even try to hide the savage pleasure he took from killing an old man. He stood in the downpour, spear tip pointed toward her.

“How does it feel to know
that
you are defeated?”
Lino
asked.

Ronnie tore her eyes
away
from Francois. She could
do
nothing for him but finish their shared goal. Get the vaccine. Save the world.

“Defeated?” Ronnie asked
,
typing again. “Um, awkward. We are on the cusp of victory.”

Lino
stepped toward her
as she stepped away. “You will never get to the vaccine repository.”

“Me? No. Zach? No,” Ronnie said as she hit her earpiece. “Quirk?”

“Yes?” a rather annoyed voice said into her ear.

She’d never been so glad to hear her prickly assistant before.

* * *

Quirk shoved on the metal case, trying to get it through the hole he’d cut in the limestone. The damn thing was an inch wider than the stupid opening.

“Um, did you actually want something, Ronnie? Because I am a little busy here.”

Leave it Ronnie to want to chat just when he was about to get the hell out of Dodge with the vaccines and antiserum. He looked back at the rows upon rows of refrigeration units that lay in the subterranean chamber. The Hidden Hand was ready to inoculate a whole bunch of new followers
—
that was for sure.

He was supposed to grab as many cases as he could, but the one thing they couldn’t predict was how large the special carrying cases would be. They had assumed standard briefcase size. Instead
,
the Hidden Hand had, as always, gone jumbo. How the hell was he going to get the vials out?

Quirk peered through the opening he’d blasted. Not bad
,
although he probably shouldn’t give up his day job. And he didn’t have time to set more charges.

Stepping to the side, his wet suit squeaked as he tried once again to get the entire case through. It was futile
,
though. Sighing, and glad that Ronnie could hear his distress, Quirk opened the case and removed the smaller plastic cases.

“I expected a slightly warmer response to the fact that I was, in fact, still alive.”

* * *

Ronnie was ecstatic Quirk wasn’t just alive but as whiny as ever. The only problem with showing her assistant her full relief was the minor detail that
Lino
stalked her. She needed to keep him distracted for just a few moments longer.

Lino
tossed the spearhead from hand to hand. “You think with your degrees and your science to be above God’s will.”

She kept pace with
Lino
, moving in a clockwise fashion. A slow dance that would have been sure to end in her rather quick death, if
,
you know, she wasn’t
her
. Ronnie just needed to keep that blade away from her neck for a bit longer.

Data flowed down her glasses on the left and angelic script flowed down the right. Somehow science and the divine were going to have to get along for at least a few seconds.

“You realize your problem with this whole medieval part two thing, right?” she ba
i
ted him. Hopefully
,
she was
keeping him more interested in her words than
in
her jugular. “Each castle, like each firewall
,
has its
back door
. Its fatal flaw.”

Lino’s
smile only grew. “And you think you’ve found mine?”

“Oh
,
yeah,” Ronnie smiled right back. “We are walking off with your vaccine as we speak.”

His eyes flickered across her features as a frown settled. “Never.”

“The cavern?” Ronnie prompted. “The airtight, surrounded by rock, theoretically impenetrable, cavern?”

Lino
gripped the spear shaft
,
his boastful twirling meeting its end. Rain beat down upon both of them. The wind threatened to blow them both off the side, yet each stood root
ed
in place.

“How,” he hissed.

Ronnie shrugged, even though she impressed herself with the plan. “The sea caves.” She looked out over the castle’s wall to the raging sea beyond. The base of that sheer cliff was pocked with small alcoves created by millennia of battering waves. “It was only a matter of some properly positioned C4 to break through into the vault.”

“All this was a ruse
,
then?”
Lino
asked
,
picking up the pace
again
. “You pretended to assault the upper layers of the castle to throw us off the scent of your man down below?”