Shatterproof (21 page)

“Wait!” Amy shouted back. “It’s connected to the tunnel wall. I don’t think Vesper One would be too happy if we destroyed it.”

“I guess we have to give it to them without reading it,” Dan said.

“No, we don’t,” Jake said. He looked at Atticus. “Do you have paper in your pack?”

“Of course, but I told you, I can’t do a trans —”

“We’ll do a rubbing,” Jake said.

Atticus looked at him in despair. “We don’t have charcoal.”

Jake stood up and pulled the old torch out of the wall. “Yes, we do.”

Atticus tore sheets of paper out of the notebook he always carried and slapped them on the slab.

“How long will this take?” Amy asked.

“Three or four minutes.”

“I’ll go up and see if I can stall them.”

“I’ll go with you,” Dan said.

Casper had the dagger in his hand. Bart and Aza were on their knees in front of him with their hands tied behind their backs. Aza was cowering into his father’s side, and Bart was doing his best to inch his son behind him.

“They climbed down a ladder from the sky,” Bart said. “And were on us before I could do anything.”

“It’s not your fault,” Amy said, tears pricking behind her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“Shut up,” Casper said. “Do you have the ‘Apology’?”

“Jake’s bringing it. It’s heavy.”

“What’s it written on?” Cheyenne asked.

“Salt.”

Dan’s head appeared from the hole and his eyes flashed over to Bart and Aza. “Don’t worry. The thing they want is right behind me.”

“It better be, or a lot of your friends are going to die,” said Cheyenne. She looked at Bart.

Atticus emerged from the hole next. Dan helped him over the lip.

“Where’s your brother?” Casper asked.

“Right behind me.”

Jake appeared with the salt slab. He balanced the ‘Apology’ on the edge as he hoisted himself out.

Cheyenne rushed over and looked at the slab with her flashlight. “It’s in Latin.”

“This thing’s heavy,” Jake said. “You’re going to have a hard time lifting it with one arm.”

“I’ll manage.” She reached for the slab.

Jake tipped it toward the opening. “Careful.”

“What are you doing, you idiot?” Cheyenne shrieked.

Jake ignored her and looked at Casper. “Cut them loose.”

“You’re in no position to dictate anything to us,” Casper said. “You’re forgetting that we have your friends. One call from me and a hostage dies.”

“You know what?” Jake said, his face like granite. “They’re not my friends. I’ve never even met them. But I do know that man and that boy. Free them or I’m going to tip this slab right back into the pit.”

“Jake!” Amy shouted. But the harsh look froze what she was going to say on her tongue.

“You wouldn’t,” Cheyenne said.

“Really?” Jake tipped the slab.

“Stop!” Casper said. With a quick sweep of his knife, he cut Bart’s and Aza’s flex-cuffs.

“Get the camels ready,” Jake said.

Bart and Aza untied the camels and made them
koosh
, or lie down.

“Mount up,” Jake said. “Here’s how we’re going to work this. I’ll be the last man on the camel. I’m going to take my hand off the slab and you’re going to have to balance it or it’s going to fall. It weighs over seventy pounds and it’s slick. You can’t lift it by yourself with one arm.” He looked over at the camels. Everybody was on board. “Here you go.”

He took his hand away and Cheyenne barely caught it. Casper rushed over to help her.

“See you later,” Jake said, swinging up in front of Amy.

Bart gave the command for
up
. The camels got to their feet and the small group took off at a run.

Behind them, Dan could see Casper pick up the heavy slab and walk off into the darkness with it.

“They must have a four-wheeler,” Amy said. They listened for the start of an engine, but there wasn’t a sound.

“Oh, one more thing,” Cheyenne said. Her voice came from somewhere above them.

“What the —” Dan couldn’t believe his ears.

“It was a ladder in the sky,” Bart insisted.

They looked up and saw an airship silhouetted against the stars.

“Remember this,” Cheyenne continued, “and then there were six.”

She and Casper started laughing.

“And then there were six!” Her voice faded away as the airship rose. “And then there were six!”

Evan Tolliver was asleep with his face on his keyboard after a miserable evening of trying to reach Amy without success. He woke up and stumbled into the comm center bathroom to wash his face. As badly as he wanted to hear from Amy, he hoped she didn’t Skype him until after the key dents faded from his forehead. He came back out and went directly to the espresso machine even though the last thing he needed was another shot of caffeine.

But coffee is the only thing keeping me functional.
He rubbed his bloodshot eyes.
Barely functional.

He stirred in a scoop of artificial creamer and way too much sugar and brought the golden elixir back to his computer terminal. As he was sitting down, the phone rang. Hot coffee spilled all over his hand and lap. He leaped up and grabbed the Bluetooth off the desk as he shook his scalded hand and tried to pull his boiling underpants away from his skin.

“Yes?” he growled.

“It’s Hamilton.”

Evan was glad it wasn’t Amy. After their last conversation, the last thing he wanted to do was snap at her.

“How’s Mumbai?”

“We’re leaving.”

“What about Luna?”

“She’s dead.”

“What?”

“D-E-A-D.”

“I heard you,” Evan said, forgetting all about his burns. First McIntyre and now Luna. Before he’d met Amy, he’d never known anyone who had died. Not even a distant relative. “How?”

“Jonah shot her.”

Evan sat back down.

“Are you there?” Hamilton asked.

“I’m here.” Evan had never shot a gun.

“There’s worse news. Much worse.” Hamilton hesitated. “Luna killed . . . Luna killed Erasmus.”

A wave of dizziness washed over Evan, and he couldn’t quite figure out how to respond. He had never met Erasmus, but he’d e-mailed him dozens of times each day. He’d become very fond of him through their exchanges. From what everyone had told him, Erasmus was an awesome guy.

“I’m so sorry,” Evan said. It sounded pitifully inadequate, but he didn’t know what else to say.

“It was horrible,” Hamilton said, his deep voice cracking. “But I can’t think about it right now. Just before he died, Erasmus asked me to do a data dump.”

“What kind of data dump?”

“From three cell phones. Erasmus’s, Luna Amato’s, and Milos Vanek’s.”

“Agent Vanek was there?”

“Yeah. We left him in the alley. It’s a long story. I don’t have time for the details. We’re about ready to take off.”

“Okay.” Evan forced himself to concentrate on the data. “Plug the phones into a computer and download the information. It’s easy. I’ll walk you through it.”

“I don’t have a computer.”

Evan frowned. “I’m sure there’s one on Jonah’s jet.”

“We’re not on his jet. We’re on a commercial flight in coach.”

“Coach?” Evan blinked. “People must be going crazy with Jonah Wizard in the cheap seats.”

“They don’t know he’s here. I got him pretty well disguised. He’s barely spoken since he shot Luna. I’m worried. I think he’s gone off the deep end,” Hamilton said. “Oh, no,” he groaned. “They’ve closed the door and are making us turn off our cell phones.”

“Wait! Where are you headed?”

“I better not say. Talk to you later.”

The line went dead.

Evan ran downstairs. He had to tell Sinead what had happened. Ian was sitting on the sofa with a Bluetooth in his good ear and a laptop on his lap.

“What’s the hurry?” Ian asked.

Evan glared at him. He wasn’t about to tell Ian anything. “Nothing,” he said.

Ian pointed at his pants. “You need to time your bathroom breaks better.”

“It’s coffee!”

“Right.”

“What are
you
doing?”

“Working, as you can see. Someone has to figure this whole thing out. And I’m making some progress.”

Someone has to prove that you’re a traitorous swine.

Evan cut through the kitchen, which was the shortest route to the guesthouse in back. Saladin slipped through the door as he opened it. He didn’t think about it until he heard Ian scream from the living room. Normally that would have made him laugh, but he was too stressed out to even smile.

Erasmus is dead.

He couldn’t believe it. He hurried across the backyard to the small house and burst through the front door without bothering to knock.

Sinead was sitting at her desk, working on her laptop. She snapped it shut and turned around. “What’s happened?”

“Erasmus is dead! Amy’s in Timbuktu! Hamilton and Jonah are on the run!”

“You better sit down and take a breath,” Sinead said. “Start from the beginning.”

It was almost five in the morning by the time Amy, Dan, Atticus, and Jake arrived at the Timbuktu airport. They were exhausted, but pleased. So were Mr. and Mrs.
Tannous. Even though the ‘Apology’ hadn’t been found in the manuscripts, Amy wanted to repay Mr. Tannous’s kindness with a ride to Morocco.

“Where to?” the pilot asked.

“Morocco,” Amy said. “After we get there we’ll let you know where we need to go next. Do we have Wi-Fi?”

“We will when we reach altitude.”

As soon as they were up in the air, Atticus and Dan unbuckled and started laying the rubbings out on the floor.

Dan stared at his cell phone, waiting for a signal. At twenty thousand feet the bars went full. He got a text, but it wasn’t from AJT. It was from Sinead.

Erasmus dead. Luna Amato dead. I have proof that Ian is the traitor. Have Amy call or Skype me ASAP.

Dan stared blankly at his phone, as if he couldn’t quite arrange the letters in his mind. As if something so awful couldn’t possibly be real.

Erasmus dead. He can’t be dead.

He walked back to where Amy was sitting. She was booting up her laptop, fussing through her papers the way she liked. For once she looked calm, relaxed, as if every waking second of their lives wasn’t a walking crisis. And Dan was going to shatter her hard-won calm.

“Amy?” he said, reaching down to touch his sister’s shoulder. And then he broke the news.