Encrypted (66 page)

“Just a few more.”

Ahead of them, Ronnie opened a door, but did not go through
it
. “Oh my…”

Zach rushed forward with his gun up
,
yet even he stumbled to a stop. “What the…
?
”

Francois cautiously took the next three steps to join his companions. Now he could understand their shock. He might have been equally stuporous had he not had this scene drilled into his head since childhood.

Before them lay what seemed to be the perfect recreation of the Khan’s great tent. Silk lined the walls and ceiling
,
making it seem as if they were out upon the Steppes. Rugs covered the stone floor, so thick they made you believe that there was grass beneath the wool. The attention to detail
,
though
,
was not why the others had faltered.

It was the mummified bodies positioned around the tent. On the throne sat the great
-
grandson of Genghis Khan. His serving women huddled in the corner. The only two bodies standing were the Hidden Hand’s master
,
and
,
standing before the Khan’s throne was
,
of course
,
the boy who killed the world,
Travanti
. Even now
,
in death
,
his pale, pale blond hair
shone
against his withered features.

The Hidden Hand sanctified this moment
—
when they sealed their first victory by convincing the Khan to throw his infected dead over the fort’s walls. An act that set human civilization back centuries
,
if not millennia. But their plan had worked
—
perhaps better than even they had imagined. The devastation
that
the Black Death wrought took its toll on even the Hidden Hand.

They did not seem to notice the irony that the boy-man
Travanti
actually died of the plague. Their medieval attempts at vaccination
were
somewhat rudimentary at best.

Francois was ashamed to say he did not
d
enounce
and reject
the Hidden Hand when he learned of their plan to scourge the earth with the Black Death. Or when he learned they would take the coward’s way out and receive the inoculation themselves. No, it had been when he discovered that
Travanti
had died only a few weeks later of the plague. As a matter of fact much of the Hidden Hand leadership fell.

The news had struck Francois like a bolt from the sky. As if God himself had shaken Francois to bring sense into him. The Hidden Hand had unleashed hell on earth, yet it had consumed nearly all of them. Their attempt to create a new world order
was
shattered by the very plague they let loose to destroy the
old
world order.

Suddenly, in that moment of realization, the Hidden Hand’s power seemed so very petty. Children playing at a game best left to
G
od. The width and breadth of the Hidden Hand’s cruelty and delusion became crystalline. From that spark of clarity, Francois had spent every waking second, and many in his dreams, working to undo the Hidden Hand’s scheme.

And here he was
—s
tanding within the recreation of the cult’s most sacred moment.

Francois took his spear and slashed viciously at the silk.

“How could I guess you would come to defile the womb?”

The sinister sweetness told Francois who spoke the words long before the curtain parted to reveal the latest golden
-
haired child of the Hidden Hand.

Lino
.

* * *

Zach’s gun went up, but Ronnie knocked it back down. “No.”

Lino
cocked his head. “How did you know?”

Ronnie had absolutely no idea what the guy was talking about
,
but every minute they were debating, they were alive. Normally she would have had faith Quirk was listening and researching what in the hell
Lino
was talking about, but now, she was on her own.

“You wouldn’t have walked in here if you didn’t have countermeasures,” she answered
,
trying to exude a confidence she did not have. Not while her mind whirred. Out of all the places in this damned castle, how did he find them?

The man who wanted to kill off three quarters of the world’s population smiled that really obnoxious smile of his. “The lightest element, yet so very effective.”

Zach clutched his gun. “What
is
he talking about?”

“Hydrogen,” Ronnie answered at least reasoning through one of the variables. “Hydrogen gas
,
to be specific.”

“Wouldn’t we smell it?” Zach pressed
,
clearly itching to shoot the man
who
stood before them.

Ronnie shook her head. The Hidden Hand were deranged, but had some serious scientists on their side. “No. It is an odorless, colorless gas that is possibly the most explosive in the world.”

Lino
, almost graciously
,
nodded. “It started leaking into the room when you overrode the lock.”

Damn it. Of course the freaking Hidden Hand would have physical countermeasures. This was, after all, their freaky secret shrine featuring mummies.

“One shot,”
Lino
stated
.
“Actually
,
one little spark will set off an explosion even greater than a grenade.”

He wasn’t exaggerating. Not in the least. Even at
4
percent concentration of hydrogen in the air…

“Who does that?” Zach asked.

Well, um, Ronnie didn’t bother to voice that Quirk had installed such a system into their latest safe house in Micronesia. Of course
,
theirs would only
have
incapacitated the intruder.

“If it’s odorless and colorless,” Zach
said slowly
through his clenched teeth. Not shooting
Lino
seemed to be taking its toll. “How in the hell do we know that he isn’t bluffing?”

Lino
,
however
,
did not seem
to be
bluffing at all. “Look at your fingernails.”

Since Zach wasn’t about drop his stare from
Lino
, Ronnie glanced down
at
his hand.

Sure enough
,
the tips of his fingers were blue. There was adequate hydrogen in the room’s air to start dislodging oxygen from their red cells. Forget about not being able to fire a gun
—
or even risk metal hitting stone that would throw off a spark that would ignite the room. Soon
,
they would get dizzy and disoriented,
and
then suffocate. Hydrogen caused death about ten times faster than carbon monoxide.

Zach
,
though
,
had a distinctly different take on their
predicament
. “Then the prick can’t come after us
,
either. A kind of hydrogen stalemate.”

“Ah, but I have a way out,”
Lino
grinned as the door behind
them
l
atched closed. “I wanted to stay to watch you slowly suffocate. To watch God take from you his gift and sanctify our mission.”

Ronnie’s head was spinning
,
but she didn’t think it was from the hydrogen.

“I say we take the chance,” Zach suggested, finger on the trigger.

“Um, remember the Hindenburg?” The FBI agent’s eyes flicked over to her as she continued. “Now imagine that explosion contained by stone.”

Zach was a bright enough guy to realize that wouldn’t be good. At least not yet.

The entire surface of her glasses, even the cracked parts, displayed every fact regarding hydrogen. She’d never missed Quirk more. He would have had this data down cold. Come on, the gas that exploded on the Hindenburg? That was Quirk’s wheelhouse.

* * *

Zach noticed Ronnie’s fingers
s
top their frantic air-typing as her face clouded over. Then
,
like a binary switch
,
those digits flew again.

“Francois?” she asked.

“Yes?” the Frenchman responded glaring the whole while at
Lino
.

“How about you turn that spear around and go at him with the wooden end
?
”

The older man looked
at
Ronnie
as though
he was surprised
that
he’d been the one tapped. She nodded. Francois then fixed
Lino
with a vicious smile. The Hidden Hand’s golden hair boy didn’t seem any too pleased, but equally seemed determine to not be intimidated.

“A single spark,”
Lino
said
,
low and slow.

Guess
Lino
wasn’t quite as ready to go up in flame
s
as one might assume a hard
-
core “bring on the Apocalypse” kind of guy would be. Was Ronnie trying to leverage this fact? Or did she
have
something else in mind?

Francois didn’t seem to be thinking past “go at him,” though. However
,
the Frenchman did have enough presence of mind to turn the spear around as he charged
Lino
. Grabbing a piece of firewood from the cold brazier,
Lino
defended himself, clearly trying to angle back to the door from which he arrived.

The two men struck and parried, dancing cautiously on the other side of the room.

“What’s the exit strategy?” Zach asked as Francois was knocked back. The guy had the heart of a lion, only he didn’t quite understand
that
he wasn’t exactly in full-
maned
form anymore.

Ronnie got that look in her eye. “We are going to make some rain.”

As
per
usual
,
Zach had absolutely no idea what she meant
,
and
as
per usual
,
he was just going to ride it out with her.

“Open my pack and grab the largest piece of equipment in there.”

Keeping his gun aimed at the fighting men, Zach
knelt,
and
,
one-handed
,
opened the bag. “What does it look like?”

“Doesn’t matter. It just matters that it is big,” Ronnie said as she typed.

Um, that made no sense whatsoever. What did
,
though
,
anymore? Zach fished around and came up with an octagonal
-
shaped do
o
hickey device. He couldn’t even guess at its use.

“Got it.”

“Great,” Ronnie said glancing over. “Open the plastic latch, but don’t open it, okay?”

Zach wasn’t so sure it was okay. Following Ronnie’s instruction meant holstering his gun. And with the crack of wood and groan of impact, he wasn’t so sure how much longer Francois could keep
Lino
at bay.

“Kind of time sensitive here,” Ronnie reminded him.

He had trusted her so far. If she wanted a plastic box opened, he might as well open it. “You going to tell me what we are doing?”

“Toss it up there,” Ronnie responded. “Have it smash against the stone as high up against the wall as possible.”

“But
—
”

“On my count. Five…”

* * *

Francois doubled over as
Lino
brought to bear his wooden log. Francois
’
reflexes were not what they once were and this young man before him was fresh to his strength. Which is why Francois allowed himself to stay doubled over longer than need be. There was prowess and then there was wisdom. Let the young whelp bask in his power. Let him overreach.

“You know
w
hat they knew?”
Lino
said, circling Francois. “They knew you to be a Judas. They followed you to find the other betrayers.”