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Mike’s head jerked up.
“What do you mean you’ve gotten rid of Caliban? Who’s Caliban? You mentioned him before.”
“Stop the pretense, Claire.” Correll laughed, a short bark of a laugh. “If you’ve been keeping company with a Prospero agent, you know all about Tempest and Caliban.”
“Who is he, and if you got rid of him, how is he still sending these emails to you?”
“Hell if I know. The power of a technology I don’t understand. In fact, you know Caliban very well. He was your archnemesis at one time.”
As dizziness swept over her, Claire gripped the edge of the counter. “You can’t mean CIA director Haywood.”
“Believe it or not. I took him out, using one of his own superagents to position myself for the takeover. I didn’t want to be forever looking over my shoulder. He doesn’t matter anymore. Tell your Prospero agent to back off, or your son dies.”
Mike reached out and pinched Claire’s chin between his fingers. Her gaze locked on to his and he nodded.
“I’ll try, Spencer. All I can do is try.”
“You do that, Claire, because if our plot is foiled, Ethan dies, just like his father before him.”
Claire squeezed her eyes shut, and a burning fury raced through Mike’s veins.
“The Christmas Day plot will go off as planned. You have my word.”
“I’d feel more comfortable about your assertion if I didn’t already know you for a lying bitch, just like your mother.”
“I think you’re the one who lied to my mother.”
“Oh, I admit to a few fibs, but she told me all her assets would be mine when she passed away. She even got an attorney to lie to me. Imagine that.”
“Then I guess you murdered her for nothing.”
“Not nothing, Claire, just not everything. Let the plot go as planned or lose your son.”
He cut off the call, and Claire buried her head in her arm, her shoulders shaking. “He did it. He killed my mother, and now he’s going to kill my son.”
“He’s not going to kill Ethan.”
She rolled her head to the side and stared at him through red-rimmed eyes. “What’s one boy? What’s one little boy compared to a plot to destroy the White House and take over the world?”
“I’ll save Ethan, Claire. We’ll do both. I’ll rescue your son and then we’ll foil the suicide bombing.”
“Ethan’s in Colorado. How are you going to do both?”
He stood up and stretched, extending his arms to the ceiling. “I’m only going to do one—save Ethan. That’s my number-one priority. You’re my number-one priority.”
And he’d never been surer of anything in his life.
Chapter Sixteen
The red-eye flight landed in Denver at the break of day. Jack had pulled some national security strings to get them on the flight at the last minute, and then he’d delved into Correll’s claim that Jerry Haywood had been Caliban.
Mike picked up the four-wheel-drive rental and they took off for the mountain town where the Chadwicks lived. The snowy landscape flew by in a white blur. They’d exchanged one white Christmas for another.
“Are you sure this will work?” Claire trapped her fidgeting hands between her knees. “How do we even know for sure that Lori is involved?”
“Gut feeling, Claire. Something bothered me about her exchange with Correll in the dining room.”
“But she doesn’t have to tell you anything. They’ll kill her if she does. I’m sure she knows that.”
“After tomorrow, Tempest will see all its plans come to nothing. Correll won’t be in a position to get back at anyone.” Mike turned up the defroster and rubbed the inside of the windshield with his fist.
“Will Prospero be able to root out all the Tempest superagents? Or will another Caliban rise in the vacuum?”
“I’m not sure, but the agency will be crippled all the same, and if the CIA under Haywood had been protecting Tempest all this time, that will all come to an end.”
“If Lori doesn’t talk, if we can’t get to Ethan—” Claire traced a pattern on the passenger window “—what happens? You won’t be able to stop Jase and Liam from nabbing Ali-Watkins and thwarting the attack...even if you wanted to.”
