Day of Doom

by David Baldacci

  Part of him had wanted to write, I love you. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He shook his head. Life just should not be this complicated.

  The reply text came back almost immediately.

  Good job, Dan. I love you. And I hope to see you and your sister soon. Dad.

  Dan texted back, Okay, but if you’re a Vesper, you’re going down, too!!!

  Dan put his phone down and continued to stare out the window. It was very dark now. And the train slowed to twist and work its way around some hills like a snake over an obstacle course. They entered a tunnel and things became darker still.

  Amy looked at him. “I say we have a powwow to discuss what we’re going to do to kick the Vespers’ butts.”

  “Sounds good to me,” said Dan, avoiding the urge to glance at his knapsack, where the serum was located.

  Amy picked up her phone and sent a text. A minute later there was a knock on their compartment door. She opened it, and Jake and Atticus came in and sat down.

  Atticus said, “The weird happenings around the planet are getting worse. All planes are still grounded. The militaries around the world are also having to coordinate to make sure that no computer-guided warships or nuclear missiles go astray.”

  “Go astray!” exclaimed Amy. “A nuke going astray?”

  Atticus looked at her. “Well, they’re all computer-controlled systems these days. And computers are particularly sensitive to changes in magnetic fields and the overall polarity of the Earth. Accidental launches could happen.”

  “Well, let’s hope they don’t,” said Jake. “We have our hands full as it is.”

  Amy gave him a warm smile at this comment and Jake looked back at her all goofy-eyed.

  Dan saw this exchange and wrinkled his nose. Really, their timing sucked, he thought. He said, “Okay, we’re here to come up with a plan for when we get to the West Coast. All we need to do is hook up with the others, find the hostages before they’re killed, locate the Doomsday device, destroy it, and capture Vesper One and all his team. Any thoughts? Anybody? Come on. How hard can it be?”

  Amy said, “Your sarcasm is duly noted, Dan. But seriously, we have to have a plan.” She looked at Jake.

  He so desperately wanted to please her, Dan thought, that Jake might just put on a cape and try and fly off the train carrying Amy in his manly arms.

  Instead, Jake said, “I’m not sure we can form a plan, Amy.”

  This surprised Dan. And the others.

  “Why not?” she said, frowning.

  “Because we don’t know the conditions on the ground there. If we put this elaborate plan in place and then get there and everything is different from what we thought it would be, we’ll instinctively try and execute our plan. And of course it won’t work. I think the best we can do is get out there, do some recon, and then just wing it. Let the conditions we confront dictate our plan for us.”

  “So, we go in naked and blind?” exclaimed Dan.

  “I didn’t say that,” replied Jake. “My point is we need to be flexible. We need to be able to zig when they think we’re going to zag. We have to let our plan fit the facts, not the other way around.”

  “That actually makes a lot of sense,” said Amy, again smiling warmly at Jake.

  It also made a lot of sense to Dan, but he said nothing because he wanted to throw up at the way the two were looking at each other.

  Really, what’s the big deal about love, anyway?

  In a sleeping car two down from them, someone else was thinking about a plan. Isabel Kabra sat in her chair and looked out the window. She believed that she had her son, Ian, back on her side. But even if he was fooling her, it didn’t matter. Her plan was in place. And she had the luxury, unlike Amy and Dan, of knowing the conditions on the ground at their destination. The grounding of all flights had been very inconvenient for her, but there was nothing she could do about it.

  She cursed her bad luck at having missed an opportunity to kill Amy Cahill. Really, the girl had used up more than her nine cat lives.

  Isabel had no idea that two cars down Amy Cahill was thinking of the best way to beat her and the other Vespers.

  But that would change.

  And very soon.

  Ian Kabra was walking slowly down the dimly lit hall. He was being escorted to see his sister, Natalie. His emotions were running high right now. Seeing his mother like that, being given an order to kill. And now going to see his sister for the first time in seemingly forever. Well, it was taking its toll. He took a deep breath, trying to hold it together. And at the same time, Ian was forming a plan. A potentially brilliant plan. But also a potentially disastrous one.

  Nothing like a spot of pressure, he told himself.

  He had been told that Natalie had been separated from the others so that he could meet with her privately. A few seconds later a door opened and Natalie was standing there.

  For all of their shallowness — such as a wild affection for Prada, Armani, and other fashion legends — and although they rarely admitted it, Ian and Natalie deeply cared for each other. Ian was now sixteen, handsome, and the son of a billionaire. He lived in London, enjoyed the finer things in life, and had gone from the dark side to the light. Part of this had to do with his crush on Amy Cahill. She had saved his life, even though she had known at the time that his mother had set the fire that had killed Amy’s parents. That had struck something deep in Ian. It made him want to be a better person. He was not his mother, nor did he ever want to be.

  Ian gazed at his sister. She was thirteen now. Not yet a woman, but no longer a child. She was pretty and accomplished and even more enamored of being rich than Ian was. But that would change, he thought, as she grew up.

  He raced to her and held her tightly. Tears fell from both of them.

  “I’ve missed you so much, Ian.” She squeezed him so hard that he could barely breathe. But it was okay. He squeezed her back. The hug lingered, but there was a reason for this. Ian knew that they were being observed. So when Natalie started to pull away, he held her tighter.

  And he started to whisper in her ear. Within thirty seconds he had told her of his dilemma. She squeezed his hand to let him know she understood. When they drew apart they looked wide-eyed at each other.

  Ian smiled, trying to show her that it would be okay. When, in fact, Ian was feeling more doubt about his ability to pull this off than he had about anything else he had ever attempted. In some ways, it was far easier to be bad than good.

  When you’re bad, you don’t care what happens to anyone other than yourself.

  When you’re trying to do good, you have to worry about everyone.

  They were surprised when Casper prodded them out of the room without an explanation.

  They walked together hand in hand down the hall, the lurking hulk of Casper right behind them. Then Casper was replaced by other guards who marched up and took charge. Casper was obviously not expecting this, but sullenly backed off when one of the guards held up his gun. The guards led Natalie and Ian down the hall to a door. One guard opened it and motioned Ian and Natalie to walk in. They did, and the door closed and locked behind them.

  Ian was about to ask where the hostages were when the lights went out and a voice boomed, “What are you doing here, Ian?”

  As the voice stopped ringing in his head, Ian had an epiphany. I bet that’s Vesper One. If he didn’t know I’m here, then that could only mean that my mother and he are not really working together. More to the point, it means that my dear, homicidal mother is working against him and for her own purposes. As usual. She plays second fiddle to no one. And I very much doubt that she’s dying of anything other than the acid that runs through her veins instead of blood.

  All the rage and anger and hatred that Ian had for his mother coalesced into a single, divine purpose. Never fancying himself an actor, he was about to put on the performance of a lifetime.

  Ian cleared his throat and said, “I’m here because my mother ordered me to come.�
��

  The voice did indeed belong to Vesper One. It once more boomed, “Your mother ordered you? I didn’t think you took orders from her anymore.”

  “I didn’t. But she can be quite persuasive, as I’m sure you know.”

  “And for what purpose did she order you here?”

  “To kill one of the hostages. To prove my loyalty.” This was easy to say for Ian, because it was the literal truth. And what he was about to say was just as truthful. He drew a deep breath and squeezed his sister’s hand more tightly.

  “In case you didn’t realize it, my mother plans to dominate the world. And she wants my sister and me right beside her when she does it. We’re her family and we’re the only ones she trusts.”

  Ian paused and waited for a reaction from Vesper One. When there was none, he went on. “My mother warned me about others seeking to take control from her. She said there was a person out there claiming to be Vesper One. But of course my mother is Vesper One and always has been. She’s the smartest of the Vespers. The most ruthless. It’s her destiny to rule the world.”

  “Really?” said Vesper One from out of the darkness. “She is Vesper One?”

  “Of course.” Ian swallowed. It was rather unnerving having a conversation with what seemed like a disembodied voice. “So when you go and report to her as her subordinate she will explain everything to you. And then she’ll probably have some orders for you to carry out. Are you Vesper Two, or perhaps Three? It’s quite difficult to keep the underlings straight.”

  Ian had said that just to dig the knife in deeper.

  He waited for the voice to speak but there was just silence.

  He continued, “And just so you know, Casper and Cheyenne and Sandy are working closely with my mother. So you can take orders from them as well. They have only one goal in mind: to help my mother rule the world as the true Vesper leader.”

  “I see,” said Vesper One. “And have you picked the hostage you want to kill yet?”

  The lights came back on and Ian could see all the hostages blinking and staring at him with unfriendly eyes. He had no idea where they had come from.

  “Have you, Ian?” said Vesper One with amusement. “Perhaps poor little blind Ted Starling?” A spotlight hit Ted and he looked away.

  “Or maybe the old fart, Fiske Cahill?”

  The spotlight swung to Fiske, who just stood there defiantly. He yelled, “Just come close enough and I’ll show you how hard an old fart can hit.”

  Vesper One continued, “Or perhaps your own dear sister?”

  The spotlight beam landed on Natalie. She put up a hand to shield her eyes from the brightness.

  “I . . . I haven’t quite made up my mind yet,” said Ian lamely.

  “Well, you’ll need to do that soon. Wouldn’t want to disappoint your dear chief Vesper mother.”

  The spotlight was turned off and the room went dark again.

  Everyone waited a bit, but the voice did not come back.

  Fiske Cahill called out, “Ian, you lay one hand on any of us and I’ll knock you right out of your Prada.”

  “For your information, I’m wearing Ralph Lauren,” snapped Ian. He drew closer, groping in the darkness. He whispered, “And it was just an act. I’m on your side.”

  “Right!” barked Nellie. “We all heard what you said about killing one of us.”

  “I had to tell my mother that or she never would have allowed me in here. I wanted to get Vesper One and my mother doubting each other instead of focusing on us.”

  Ted whispered, “That’s actually a smart strategy.”

  They all drew closer in the dark until they were standing next to one another.

  “Is everyone okay?” asked Ian.

  “Everyone except Alistair. He’s dead,” said Fiske.

  “I know,” replied Ian quietly. “It’s simply shocking. What did he die of?”

  “Being brutalized by a bunch of cowards,” snapped Fiske.

  “Is Amy okay?” asked Nellie anxiously.

  “I know that she barely survived an attack from my mother.”

  “What are you doing here?” barked Fiske.

  “Evan and I flew out here to join up with Phoenix. He got a call through to Attleboro when we were there.”

  “Phoenix made it out? He’s okay?” exclaimed Reagan. “We thought he died in the fall.”

  “He was perfectly all right until we all were captured by the Wyomings and Sandy. Hamilton and Jonah are prisoners, too,” said Ian miserably. “They’re locked in a room close to this one.”

  “Hamilton?” said Reagan. “Is he all right?”

  “For now. Like all of us. But I can’t believe that will last. Something’s going on out there. Planes are having a hard time flying. I think it might be tied to the Vespers’ plan somehow.”

  “Where are Amy and Dan?” whispered Nellie.

  “On their way. At least I think they are. The only question is, will they be in time?”

  Vesper One had returned to his chambers to mull over what Ian had told him. Some of it was surprising. Some of it he had suspected. He finally made a decision. Well, he actually made two decisions.

  He had an ace in the hole with Isabel. She was a true Vesper, meaning the only person she looked out for was herself.

  The other decision was easy enough to implement. It was time to move the hostages, including the additional five they had just collected.

  He didn’t want them to miss out on the finale. They all had to be there.

  And in his heart, black as it was, he knew that Amy and Dan would be in attendance as well.

  Atticus had been right.

  That was just the way it had to end.

  The Capitol Limited train pulled into Chicago’s Union Station at a little after eleven o’clock the following morning. Dan yawned and looked out the window. He had slept better than he thought he would in the top bunk. A few times the train rocked so hard that he had to brace himself against the wall, but other than that the gentle swaying had let him forget the danger they were heading toward and allowed him to get some much-needed rest.

  He looked down from his high perch and saw his sister sitting in the chair. She’d washed her face in the tiny collapsible sink and changed her clothes in the little bathroom in the compartment that also housed a shower. Their bags were packed and ready to go. Dan saw that she had laid out some clothes for him to wear.

  She looked up and saw him staring at her. “They apparently have to back into the station,” she said. “So it’ll take a little longer. Time for you to wash up and change your clothes.”

  “What about food?”

  “We can get some breakfast in the station.”

  While the train was doing its last bit of maneuvering, Dan washed up and changed into fresh clothes. He had kept his knapsack containing the flask with the serum in it next to him while he slept. He put this over his shoulder and followed Amy down the narrow corridor and out of the car, after the conductor announced it was time to detrain.

  As soon as they were on the station platform, Jake and Atticus joined them. Jake looked sleepy while Atticus seemed energized.

  “Okay,” Amy began. “We have quite a while before the train leaves for Seattle. We’ll get some breakfast, try to contact the others, and get up to speed with any new global developments. I’m assuming the Internet connection inside the station will be better than it was on the train.”

  “Let’s hope so,” exclaimed Dan. “I’m going through information withdrawal.”

  Jake yawned.

  Amy looked at him and smiled. “Not enough sleep?”

  “Not enough something,” he replied. “I’ll feel better after I eat.”

  Dan found a food court inside the station. He was coming back to get the others when he saw it.

  Or rather, her.

  Oh, no, thought Dan.

  He ran ahead, grabbed Amy’s arm, and pulled her down a side hall. He motioned for Jake and Atticus to follow.

  “Wha
t is it?” Amy asked in an annoyed tone.

  Dan poked his head around the corner and said, “Look.”

  They all peered around the corner. Atticus gulped. Jake did not look sleepy anymore. Dan simply looked furious. And Amy thought once more of how close she had come to dying.

  Isabel Kabra and her guards were marching down the main hall of the station.

  Dan whispered, “Here she is, trying to destroy the world, and she’s marching around like she owns the place. While we have to hide from her.”

  Amy nodded. “It does seem pretty unfair. But we have to hide from her because she’ll definitely try to kill us if she gets the chance.”

  “Criminals have it so easy,” complained Dan. “No moral dilemmas, no soul-searching. Just kill, kill, kill.”

  “Do you really want to be a criminal?” asked Amy, staring hard at him.

  “I didn’t say that,” replied Dan indignantly. “My point is it’s harder to be the good guys.”

  “And better to be the good guys,” added Atticus.

  “Well, of course you’d think that,” said Dan. “You’re a Guardian. You come from centuries of good guys. It’s part of your DNA.”

  Jake said, “She’s heading into the first-class lounge. Which means we can’t go in there.”

  “Great,” said Dan. “Criminals get first-class lounges and we get zip. Fast food and hard chairs.”

  “Look out,” said Jake. “One of her goons is coming this way.”

  “Scatter,” said Amy.

  They all turned and moved away in different directions. They let the man pass and then regrouped at a spot far removed from the first-class lounge.

  There were big windows in the train station near the food court. As they hastily ate breakfast, Dan continuously glanced out the windows.

  “That is like no sky I’ve ever seen,” said Dan.

  The others glanced out of the windows. The clouds were formed into shapes that were most definitely not ordinary. The color of the sky was a pale yellow, but there were undertones of darker colors all around that one also did not associate with the sky.

  “There’s nothing we can do about that right now,” said Amy. “But we have to put together a plan for Isabel.”