Encrypted (69 page)

Not wanting to look like she was gloating, she only nodded rather than rub his nose in it.

“So clever,”
Lino
stated. “Yet ever so predictable.”

It was Ronnie’s turn to study
Lino’s
features. What in the hell did he mean?

“U
h-
oh,” Quirk said into her ear.

“U
h-
oh, what-o?” Ronnie asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

* * *

Quirk gulped as three gunmen entered the room. This was not part of Ronnie’s plan. The men were dressed up all snazzy in their medieval attire. Kind of like being assaulted by
people in
a very mean Renaissance Fair… in a mad scientist’s lair. Clearly
,
they had orders not to attack so close to the precious vaccine vaults, but how long would that last?

“I guess we must have triggered some kind of alarm,” Quirk said into his
mic.

Ronnie didn’t respond. She didn’t have to. He knew her too well.

Either she pulled something out of the hat, like right now, or they were all dead.

At the least I got to meet the pilot
, Quirk thought.

With a sigh, he waited for Ronnie’s response. That woman
had
better live up to all the
Robin Hood hacker
hype
.
O
therwise
,
he was seriously going to haunt her in the next life and beyond.
Way
beyond.

* * *

Zach hel
d the man in a chokehold
,
waiting until he fell unconscious. Taking advantage of the chaos in the courtyard, Zach backed another step into the stoop. Even with the disarray as the men roused from their
Tasing
, looking about as sure of themselves as Zach, it wouldn’t take them long to spot the guy in the fatigues. Spot him,
and
the
n
kill him.

Hence
,
the guy in a chokehold. Finally the man slumped, unconscious. Rapidly Zach stripped the man of his medieval
-
style uniform and donned it himself. Although from the plain tan color to lack of insignia, Zach had nabbed himself a page or squire. Not great.

How was he going to break into the security room as a lowly page?

Lowly or not
,
he needed to head across the courtyard and make his way into the upper turret. Zach wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to do in the security room. That part of the plan was still a little vague. Actually
,
a lot was vague. The only thing that stood out in sharp relief in Zach’s mind was the look of relief on Ronnie’s face. That was going to just have to get him through everything else.

Stepping out from the stoop, Zach was met with a lot more activity than a few seconds ago. Men were regrouping into their squads or whatever knights called themselves. He’d better hightail it.

“You!” a shout called from behind.

Zach was loath to see who called him, but with dozens of armed men between him and the tower, he couldn’t exactly make a run for it. Turning on the heel of his leather boot, Zach faced the man who had flagged him down. This one was dressed in full silver armor with a bright red cape flowing behind him. Okay, so that’s what a knight was supposed to look like.

The guy didn’t even give Zach the once
-
over. He handed him a thick parchment with a wax seal. Zach recognized the symbol as one of the angelic script. “Take this immediately to the war room.”

Zach accepted the scroll.

“Make haste!” the knight barked.

“Yes, sir,” Zach said
, and
then thought better of it. “
My
lord
.
I mean
, my
liege.”

The guy must have thought Zach’s awkwardness was still from the
Tasing
,
for the
k
night grabbed him by both shoulders and gave them an urgent squeeze. “Godspeed to you.”

As Zach set off, unnoticed by the growing th
r
ong of guards, he realized
that
maybe being a page wasn’t such a bad thing
,
after all.

* * *

Lino
slowed his pace
,
savoring the startled
-
doe look in the whore’s eyes. Her soaked garments hung from her frame like ratty doll’s clothing. Truly
,
she
seem
ed
just another cog in the wheel now. No arrogance or bravado.

He took a step closer, but she did not take
one
back. The distance they’d kept
was
melting beneath the downpour.
Lino
stepped forward again. Now he could see the details of her anguish. The lines that crept out from under the lenses, the deep furrow of her brow.

The spearhead felt good in his hand
.
T
he blade
was
stained with Brother
Loubom’s
blood. Soon
,
another’s blood would anoint the sharp edge. This average, broken spear would find a place in the Hidden Hand’s new shrine. A legacy to
Lino’s
contribution to
a
world ruled by God’s mighty fist.

Was that a twitch of her lip? He glanced down to her hands. Those fingers, even though down at her side in apparent defeat, still flexed.

What was
the
heretic up to? Or did it matter? He would finish her before she could cast her digital magic.

“You will feel the
h
eavens
’
wrath,”
Lino
sneered as he took another step.

“Actually?” Ronnie said, not sounding cowed at all. “You’d
best
be the one to maybe watch your back.”

Lino
followed her gaze up the black tumbling clouds over them. From the bruised sky
,
a beam shot through, hitting the castle’s edge,
and
then sweeping toward them. He retreated from the laser that cut the stone like butter.

“Guess Reagan got some things right.”

* * *

Ronnie watched the blank expression on
Lino’s
face. Guess the Hidden Hand wasn’t big on U
.
S
.
history.
Lino
truly looked at her
as though
she’d actually performed magic.

But she couldn’t pay too much
attention
to the guy
,
since keeping that “Star War
s
” laser turned on and
on-track
took some doing. No wonder they couldn’t get the damned thing to work. It was like trying to herd a thousand feral cats, all burning at a thousand degrees Celsius.

Sending an
X
-ray laser generated from a satellite had been a brilliant, bold, and completely unrealistic endeavor in the seventies. Now
,
though? With her lines upon lines of containment code and algorithms upon algorithms to compensate for the variation in energy output? That strategic defense system was cranking out some serious joules.

And wasn’t it fitting to use the laser
-
defense system against the world’s greatest threat, the Hidden Hand?

* * *

Quirk clutched the vials to his chest as the chamber began to shake. Great. Now
an earthquake. His luck just couldn’t get much worse, could it?

But wait. They were in Maine
,
of all places
—
not Los Angeles.

His guards looked
at
one another
, and
then
at
the huge glass cases that flanked them. Yeah, Quirk wouldn’t want to be them if they came tumbling down. Then the ceiling began to smoke as dust flew of
f
the rock from a single pinpoint above the guards
’
heads.

Then the limestone turned a bright yellow, then orange, before a stark red beam punched through the ceiling. Once through the stone, it burned through the refrigeration units, vaporizing huge swaths of vaccine. Men scattered for cover as glass cracked and shattered.

If that wasn’t an
X
-ray laser, Quirk had never seen one. Well, of course he had never actually seen one
,
since they weren’t supposed to exist, but damn if it wasn’t an
X
-ray laser.

If this wasn’t a true miracle
, what was
? The Re
a
gan Strategic Defense System worked. Quirk actually owed Ronnie an apology.

Then the laser arced to the back wall, cutting a perfect passage to the sea. The roar of the ocean filled the chamber as an unnatural lightning swept across the sky
,
angling back to the castle. Unfortunately
,
the guards noticed the escape route and raised their weapons. Hopping over to the exit, Quirk put
his flippers
back on. Someone really needed to put Velcro on those things.

Shots rang out as Quirk dove out
of
the hole. Sea spray filled his nostril
s
right before he hit the water. Bullets streaked all around him as
he swam
deeper and deeper
, like a mermaid.
They were all just very lucky that Quirk had a swimmer’s body.

* * *

The laser swung back around, slic
ing
through the stone, cutting a swatch between
Ronnie
and
Lino
. The man stumbled back as the crevice opened, loose rock crumbling underfoot.

The
haughtiness
returned to
Lino’s
eyes. He clutched the spearhead in his hand, backing
away
several steps. Ronnie knew that he was not retreating. He was regrouping for a jump. Ronnie had no weapon. She couldn’t swing the laser back around so quickly if she tried. And it had a far greater task at hand
—
making sure
that
no one followed Quirk and the vaccine.

Ronnie looked down at Francois, blinking away tears mixed with raindrops. He had been so brave at the end. Would she be
that brave
when that knife was buried in her belly?

Ready or not, she was about to find out.

Lino
crouched, preparing to make his dash
,
when a deafening
crack
resounded. The corner of the castle tilted as if
it
were nothing more than a
foam
toy. The section that
Lino
stood upon wavered, swaying back and forth.
Lino
delayed long enough that the laser made its way back in his direction.

No matter
.
T
he man gritted his teeth, snarling at Ronnie. But the gap became wider and wider. The laser got closer and closer.
Lino’s
muscles bunched as he sprint
ed
toward her.

Perhaps he thought
that
he could beat the laser. But
Lino
didn’t realize that the colored core of the laser was only one quarter the diameter of the actual energy beam. The rest was invisibl
e to the naked eye. Hence
,
the “X
-ray” part of the laser’s name.

Mid-leap,
Lino
was
caught in the intense energy field of the beam, screaming as the skin was burnt from the entire right side of his body. As the corner of the building fell away,
Lino
tumbled with it.

Ronnie stood in the rain, trembling at the sudden silence.

CHAPTER 33