Day of Doom

by David Baldacci

  “The ring?” said Fiske. “What would the ring do?”

  “Well, I call it a ring, but I think it was more properly described as a gear.”

  “That’s exactly what it is,” said a voice.

  They all turned to see a young man in a black suit standing within fifteen feet of them. He was holding something.

  He said, “One more piece to the puzzle. The final piece, in fact.”

  Fiske shouted, “Who the bloody hell are you?”

  Nellie said, “I recognize the voice. From the room where we met up with Ian.”

  Fiske looked wildly back at the young man. “This can’t be. You? You’re . . .”

  “Damien Vesper. Not exactly at your service. More precisely, at your demise.”

  Nellie said in a frightened voice, “Then you’re Vesper One?”

  “I am indeed,” said Damien. “And I hope you hold my image in your mind as your last dying thought.”

  Fiske looked swiftly around. He could sense others in the darkness, creeping toward them. He took one step back. The others followed his lead.

  Buying some time, Fiske said, “So, let me guess. This little thing here is your invention?”

  “Mine and Archimedes’,” said Damien. “One must give credit where credit is due.”

  “And what does it do?” asked Fiske.

  “I’m Vesper One,” said Damien smugly. “Or Damien Vesper, if you prefer. So what do you think it does? Make everyone happy and fulfilled?”

  “So mass destruction, then,” said Fiske wearily. “Why can’t you Vesper types ever think outside the box? It’s always plague this, complete annihilation that. It really is very tiresome. Have you ever considered therapy or, at the very least, anger management?”

  Damien was unfazed by the sarcasm and didn’t respond. But what he did not realize was that Fiske had coiled up the long chain that had been used to immobilize 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 he knelt next to his sister.

  There’s so much blood.

  He’d also seen how hard Amy had hit 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. That door 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 can already feel it coagulating. I’m good.”

  “Not so fast,” said Dan. “How many fingers am I holding up?” He held up three of 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 trust me. I don’t deserve it. I was wicked and I was wrong. But I did what I did because I thought it would be the best chance for my brothers to get better.”

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

  Dan said, “Hey, if you two are finished gabbing, we’ve got a freaking world 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 all the 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 features sort of goofy.

  Though she believed she had made her boyfriend decision, the whole Jake-Evan thing had been pushed into the recesses of Amy’s mind simply by necessity. She glanced over at Jake and saw him staring at her standing there with her arms around Evan. She quickly let Evan go and stepped back, her cheeks reddening.

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

  “She’s fine,” said Jake, stepping between 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.”

&
nbsp; “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 off her. “I am not a Vesper. I’m an Ekaterina through and through. And my only concern now is finding Ted. And to do that we have to defeat the Vespers.”

  Hamilton and the other former hostages gazed at her with unfriendly expressions.

  Amy stepped in. “Sinead saved our lives back on the train. We wouldn’t be here except for her. We have to trust her.”

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

  “Fine,” she said. “And I’ll be watching you.” She turned to Evan. “How is Ted?”

  “He’s okay,” said Evan. “He’s gotten really 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 can understand that. But I want you all to know that 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 zone right under our feet. The Doomsday device must be located here. Somewhere.”

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

  Amy said, “Exactly. She wasn’t in on the plan. She’s Vesper Two, but wants to be Vesper One, obviously. And Vesper One is just as obviously having nothing to do with that. They clearly don’t trust each other.”

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

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

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

  Amy said, “We have to find the others. 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 were both still lying on the floor, unconscious. But as he watched, he saw them start to stir.

  Casper sat up, groaning and massaging the back of his neck. Then Cheyenne came to and put her head between 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 Casper. “The dude can hit.”

  “And Fiske Cahill is a master at martial arts,” said Cheyenne. “He’s not some punk like you.”

  “Well, regardless, it’s now time to pay the piper, as they say.”

  Casper and Cheyenne stood and faced Sandy.

  She said, “And what exactly does that mean?”

  “It means exactly THIS.”

  Sandy’s hand shot out of his pocket. In it was a spray can. He hit the button and a concentrated stream of air hit Cheyenne in the face.

  “Hey!” yelled Casper. He lunged forward as his sister fell to the floor.

  The spray next hit Casper in the face. A second later he lay paralyzed next to Cheyenne.

  Sandy stood over them and smiled triumphantly.

  “Such silliness. Did you really think you could have beaten us?” He put his hands on his hips. “And they say weathermen aren’t tough. HA!”

  His phone buzzed. He answered it.

  “Yes, I understand. It will be done. Disloyalty cannot be tolerated.”

  He put the phone away, grabbed Cheyenne’s arms, and started to slide her from the room.

  “Away we go to your doom,” said Sandy. “I’m really starting to enjoy myself.”

  Isabel stopped walking, turned, and looked behind her. Her men stared resolutely back at her. They were good men, loyal to her, but there weren’t that many of them. Vesper One would have far more assets than she.

  She stared down at Atticus, who was looking up at her with hatred.

  She kicked him. “Stop looking at me like that, you little nothing.”

  “I’m not a nothing. I’m the last Guardian!”

  She laughed and kicked him again for good measure. “Yes, the great and good Guardian. My prisoner. Soon to be dead. How powerful you are.”

  “I would advise you to give yourself up. It’s your only chance.”

  She laughed again. “Well, you have courage, I’ll give you that. But it is far outweighed by your complete and utter stupidity!”

  Isabel looked in front of her, trying to figure out where to go next.

  “So where’s the Doomsday device?” asked Atticus, peering up at her again.

  She shot him a furious glance. “What do you know about that?”

  “Pretty much everything.”

  “You can’t possibly.”

  “Now who’s being completely and utterly stupid?”

  She kicked him again, harder.

  He straightened back up, shrugging off the effects of her latest blow. “You’re getting soft. Barely felt that one.”

  She grabbed him by the collar and slammed him up against the rock wall.

  “What do you know about it?”

  He looked at her, understanding settling over his features. “Wow, he didn’t tell you? Amazing. Vesper One must have a problem with his second-in-command.”

  “Shut up! Now, tell me.”

  “What do you want me to do? Shut up or tell you?” he said imperturbably. “I can’t do both.”

  She shook him, lifting his heels off the floor with her rage.

  “Do not be impertinent. Talk. Now!”

  “Well, it’s Archimedes’, isn’t it? One of his inventions. It uses the corollary strength of nearby subduction zones to create a massive power surge. It’s already been initiated.”

  “And you know that how?” s
coffed Isabel.

  “Uh, duh. Why do you think you had to take a train here as opposed to a plane?”

  “So that was the reason? I suspected, of course. Something is going on.”

  “Well, we more than suspected, we knew. It’s messing with the magnetic polarity of the Earth.”

  She stared at him curiously. “And that’s bad?”

  “Are you kidding?”

  She snapped, “I am first-rate with poisons. A genius, in fact. I’m an amazing code breaker. I didn’t have the code to get into this place, but solved it. I have drunk the Lucian serum. The only one in the world to have done so. I’m in my late forties but look like I’m thirty-three. And on my good days and depending on the light I can pass for midtwenties. But I am not, and never have been, brilliant in the physical sciences.” She shook him again.

  Atticus said, “Uh, TMI, but that’s okay. To answer your questions, reversing the polarity of the Earth’s poles I would put squarely in the category of utterly and irreversibly catastrophic, not simply bad.” He stared at her. “You gave a speech at the train station about AWW.”

  “I believe in it,” Isabel declared.

  “Uh, yeah. That goes in the ‘what the crap, you think I’m that stupid?’ category. But listen, even if you want to capitalize on the catastrophic damage to look like some savior, it won’t matter.”

  She looked at him darkly. “Why not?”

  “Hello? I’ve already told you. When you mess with the polarity of the Earth then there will be no more Earth. If there’s no Earth I’m not sure how you can be the savior of it. Just employing standard logical reasoning, you understand.”

  “You’re a fool.”

  “Okay, and so what does that make Vesper One? He wants to destroy the world. Where is he going to live? Where are you going to live? Got a moon colony we don’t know about?”

  Atticus didn’t really know what Vesper One’s plan was. But he had an incentive right this instant to make the “Doomsday” argument sound very real.

  Isabel smirked. “He is not going to destroy the entire world, you idiot.”

  “Okay, which part gets to survive? This piece of terra firma will be no more when he cranks the sucker up.”