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“You saw the news a couple of days ago—the sand blizzard into Beijing from the Gobi Desert? He’s responsible for that.”
They still didn’t believe him, and Nicholas couldn’t blame them. “Listen, we have to hurry. Come on, mates, make up your minds.”
Snelling nodded. “Okay, we’ll stay here, wait for you. A couple of things you need to know or you will very likely die. The computer systems will reset the exterior wall once the boat’s signal registers—it pings as we pass through, that way, they’re sure it’s us sailing in and out. If we don’t ping the system, a storm unlike anything you’ve ever seen will roar up, and you’ll go down. You can sail through the barrier, or fly over it, and if you aren’t identified as a friendly, you are turned away, so to speak. The old man doesn’t like surprises and he doesn’t like strangers.” He frowned. “But something’s not right. The island shouldn’t have popped up so quickly, it’s something the old man never does. I think the twins have taken over. When they arrived with the man and the woman, we knew something was up. I suggest you both be very careful.”
Once they were transferred, Nicholas gunned the boat forward.
The ocean was turbulent, and Mike was having a hard time keeping her feet under her. She hung on to the railing for dear life. She forgot the headache, the hits of nausea, the nibbling of fear at being on the water, that was all for yesterday, now, today, she flung back her head, felt the wind tear her hair, make her eyes tear. “It’s a trampoline! I love trampolines!”
Nicholas wanted to hug her, but instead he pushed the engines as fast as they would go. Both he and Mike stared at the gorgeous green island drawing closer and closer.
“It’s amazing,” she shouted over the wind. “Look at that volcano in the middle. It’s Fantasy Island.”
Nicholas said, “Both Rafael and Captain Snelling were surprised the island appeared so quickly. That makes me think that Jason Kohath is indeed no longer in command. This smacks of Cassandra and Ajax, and they don’t know the protocols. They’ve taken control and are running things now.”
“Do you think they’d actually murder their own grandfather?”
“To be honest, I don’t think anything they could do would surprise me.”
“There’s a reason they brought Kitsune and Grant with them. They need them to do something for them. What is it?”
He shouted back, “We’ll find out. Who do you think would come out alive if you put Cassandra and Kitsune together in the ring?”
“Kitsune,” Mike said without pause.
Nicholas agreed. They saw a huge crevasse in the mountain, a natural cove that sheltered an elaborate dock. Nicholas slowed, tightened one hand on the wheel, the other on his Glock.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
Ajax was fast. He grabbed Kitsune’s hair as she scrambled away, yanked her off her feet. She landed hard on her back, right next to Cassandra, who was sitting with her palm to her forehead trying to stanch the flow of blood.
Ajax stood over her, an ancient Colt revolver in his hand, probably his grandfather’s gun. Kitsune watched Cassandra tear off a piece of her knit top, make it into a bandage and press it against the cut. Only then did she turn to Kitsune. She reached out her hand and lightly stroked her hair. “You could have pulled it out, Ajax, all that beautiful hair.” Without another word, she slapped Kitsune. Kitsune wanted to attack, but she heard the click of the Colt revolver and didn’t move. “Now that I’ve got your attention, tell us how you got out of that room.”
“Through the air vent.”
Both twins looked up and in that instant, Kitsune leaped to her feet, stomped hard on Ajax’s instep, and sent her fist into his throat.
His gun went flying out of his hand to spin across the smooth stone floor. He grabbed his throat, gagging, but she hadn’t hit him hard enough, she hadn’t collapsed his trachea.
Cassandra scrambled to her feet, grabbed the wooden chessboard and came at her. Before Kitsune could run, Ajax was on her again. She ducked his fist, but it landed solidly against her shoulder, spinning her around. Cassandra lifted the chessboard over her head, ready to smash it over Kitsune’s skull.
Kitsune went in fast, head-butted Ajax in his stomach and knocked the air out of him, sending him stumbling backward. She saw Cassandra in her peripheral vision, blood trickling down her face from the cut on her forehead, and she was swinging the chessboard madly back and forth in front of her. Kitsune only had a second. She spun around, ducked down, even as Cassandra swung the chessboard and came up behind her. She lashed out with her foot, right into Cassandra’s back, the force knocking her into her brother, sending the two of them crashing against the computer station, arms flailing as they tried to regain their balance.
Keyboards went flying. The huge screens on the walls started changing, showing numbers, equations, diffe
rent land masses, merging, splitting apart, like cards shuffled by a madman.
A warning Klaxon began, quickly built to an earsplitting crescendo.
Kitsune saw a satellite turning lazily in space, then a beam of orange light shoot away into the darkness. The next screen showed the orange beam hitting the earth.
“What have you done?” Cassandra screamed at her over the siren. “Stop it, Ajax, stop it! We don’t know if it’s going to Washington now, it could be going anywhere. Stop it!”
Kitsune didn’t wait, ran toward the hallway and stopped cold. Two men were marching Grant between them. He was barely conscious, and they had handcuffs on him again. Blood trickled down his chin from a cut on his lip.
She should have stayed. Together they could have taken these two goons. But they’d had weapons, probably came into the cell with them. Grant hadn’t had a chance.
Cassandra yelled to them, “Kill the man if she moves!”
