“Okay,” said Dan. “I have one.”
“What is it?” asked his sister.
“We wait until the train is moving really fast on its way to Seattle and then we open the door and throw Isabel off.”
Jake looked at Amy. “That’s actually not a bad plan.”
“I could go for it, too,” added Atticus.
“It’s a terrible plan,” said Amy.
“What?” exclaimed Dan.
“Isabel being here is actually great for us.”
Dan said, “Amy, do you need to have your brain checked? The last time you ran into that witch, she nearly killed you.”
“I know that. But now we have the upper hand.”
“Why?” asked Jake.
“Because she doesn’t know we’re here. Which means we can use Isabel to lead us to the hostages.”
“How?” asked all three of the guys in unison.
“Why do you think Isabel is on this train?” she said in a tone of I can’t believe you all are that dense.
Amy continued when none of them seemed prepared to answer.
“She’s on the train heading to Seattle. To hook up with the Vespers. She had to take the train just like we did, because the planes aren’t flying. If we follow her, she will lead us right to the hostages. We won’t have to waste time tracking them down. It’s perfect.”
The three guys looked at one another. Jake said, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Atticus concurred, too.
Dan was the last to nod in agreement, but his thoughts were already elsewhere. He touched his knapsack, where the flask of serum was hidden.
He would be prepared, he told himself. Whatever happened, the Vespers were not going to win.
And the world was not going to end.
Not on my watch, Dan told himself. Not on my watch.
“Are you scared?”
Amy looked over at Jake as she asked the question.
They were hiding out in the cavernous train station. Atticus and Dan were in another part of the building, keeping out of sight of Isabel and her cohorts. They kept in contact via texts. Amy had thought it smarter to split up. That way all of them could not be captured together.
She and Jake were in an old supply closet that had a broken door lock. They figured no one would be coming in to get supplies because the room was empty. They felt safe, at least reasonably so.
Jake sat on the floor while Amy perched against a wooden shelf nailed to one wall.
He said, “I guess I’d be a moron if I wasn’t scared.”
She nodded. “And we both know you’re not a moron.” She smiled to show she was just kidding.
He grinned back. “It’s nice to know you can keep things light when surrounded by danger and the potential for the destruction of the world.”
“Hey, girls like to laugh,” she said.
“I hope I get lots of chances in the future to make you laugh, Amy.”
He rose and leaned back against the wall opposite her.
“You’ve made me laugh in the past,” she replied, looking uncomfortable.
“Like I said, I’m talking about the future.”
She blushed and looked down. “Jake, you know that I really like you.”
“But I hear a but coming.”
She looked up. “But.” She smiled miserably. “But it’s not that simple.”
“Meaning there’s Evan?”
“Evan’s a great guy, too.”
“I know he is. And I know it’s not an easy decision, Amy. But at some point you have to make one.”
“Now, in the middle of all this? That’s hardly fair.”
He moved a little closer. “There’s nothing fair about love, Ames. It doesn’t run on a neat schedule. You can’t turn it on and off.” He paused and added, “At least I can’t.”
“Jake —” she began before he put up a hand to forestall her comment.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about this, Amy. And saying what’s in my heart now makes a lot of sense actually, precisely because we’re in the situation we’re in.”
“You mean because we might not make it out alive?”
He nodded and drew another inch closer. “So here goes. I could make it all ooey-gooey and sappy, but that’s not how I feel, Amy. What’s in my heart is clean and simple and straightforward.” He drew himself up to his full height, towering over her even as she shrank back a bit.
“I love you, Amy Cahill. I’ve known it for a long time. Maybe from the moment I saw you. And my feelings have only gotten stronger.”
Amy’s eyes began to tear up. “Oh, Jake.”
“You don’t have to answer me back. But now I’ve said it. So whatever happens, you’ll know.”
She flung herself into his arms and held him tight.
“Jake, I love you, too. I think I’ve known it for a long time as well.”
They looked at each other, their faces, their lips barely inches apart.
And then they kissed.
When they drew apart he said, “You’ve just made my whole life.”
“I was sort of thinking the same thing.”
Jake grinned and said, “Pretty weird place and time to discuss the future. An empty supply closet in the middle of a train station, while we’re waiting for the world to maybe end. So for an encore let’s go find a dumpster and really start getting serious about our relationship.”
Amy laughed. “See, you just made me do it. Laugh.”
He grinned and held her tighter. “You think we’ll make it through this?”
“If we stick together, I think we have a good shot.”
“I’ll stick with you, Ames. Whatever happens I’ll have your back. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I do. And I’ve got yours.”
It was stuffy in there. Amy could feel herself growing warm. And this made her think of something not quite so pleasant.
“Jake, if anything happens to me —”
He gripped her tighter and said, “Amy, don’t.”
“We have to be realistic about this, okay? So if anything happens to me and I don’t make it out of this alive, can I count on you to take care of Dan?”
Jake looked down, his eyes moistening. Amy noticed this and she felt her eyes tear up, too.
“I will take care of Dan. You have no worries there.”
“Thanks.”
“Will you do the same for Atticus?”
“Of course,” she said in a hushed voice.
“But I want you to know that I will die for you, Amy. I will die so that no harm comes to you.”
She blushed. “I know,” she said in barely a whisper.
“Can we stop being so depressed now?” he asked.
She hugged him back. “Yeah. Sounds good.”
Jake was starting to kiss her again when Amy’s phone buzzed.
“I better get that,” she said.
“Can’t it wait?”
She pulled the phone from her pocket and glanced at the screen.
“It’s Dan.”
Jake was still holding her. “Just one more minute.” His lips dipped to hers.
She jerked back.
“Hey, my kiss wouldn’t be that bad,” complained Jake.
“It’s not that. Something’s going on in the center of the station. Dan said to come now!”
She raced out of the storage closet.
Jake stared at Amy wearily, then hustled after her.
Sometimes a guy just can’t win.
A voice was booming over the station PA system.
Jake had caught up to Amy before she reached the center of the station.
“Amy, what’s going on?” he asked. “Who’s that talking?”
“Over here,” said a voice.
They both turned and saw Dan motioning to them from a corner of the long hall. “This way,” he said urgently.
They ran over to him. Atticus was also there.
“This way, quick,” said Dan.
; “What’s that loud voice?” asked Jake as they ran along.
“It’s coming from a press conference,” said Atticus. “Loudspeaker system piped throughout the station.”
“It’s being held in the middle of the station,” added Dan.
“A press conference? Who’s holding it?” asked Amy.
“You’re never going to believe it,” exclaimed Atticus.
“These days I’ll believe anything,” she countered.
“It’s Isabel Kabra,” replied Dan. “She’s holding a press conference on AWW. This should really be good.”
As they ran toward the center of the station, the voice grew louder and louder.
He stood in front of a large, ornate mirror that hung on one wall and studied himself. He wasn’t tall, at least in stature. About five-six. His hair was brown and wavy. His build was slight. But he was wiry, with more strength inside him than showed from his frame. His features were sharp, pugnacious — some would say ratlike. But people who thought he resembled a rodent were just jealous. And besides, what he looked like was just wallpaper.
What counted was what was on the inside. He came from a long line of great men.
“My name is Damien Vesper,” he said to the reflection, and as the words came out of his mouth he smiled and his chest swelled with pride.
“And my father was Damien Vesper.”
He smiled again.
“And we are both directly related to the first Damien Vesper, who gallantly battled and defeated Gideon Cahill all those centuries ago.”
His smile now spanned his face as he recalled his family’s domination of the Cahills.
At least, that’s how the Vespers saw it. And that was the crux of it. Vespers were winners. They always had been and they always would be. Which meant the Cahills, despite their wealth and status, would always be losers.
He had risen to be Vesper One at the tender age of twenty-three, not by birthright, although that should count for something, but rather by ability. He was, simply, the most ruthless of all the Vespers, willing to do anything, kill anyone, to accomplish his goals.
He lifted his sleeve, revealing the large burn on his arm. It was ugly, still painful, but he wore it as a badge of honor. He could take the pain. He could bear the wounds, because he came from greatness.
But as spectacular as his bloodline was, he planned to surpass them all to become the greatest Vesper of all.
He turned away from the mirror and continued to turn things over in his head.
Damien Vesper was superb at brooding. He found it useful to think things through. Also, he liked to be alone. He did not care for people, really. Which was one reason he had no qualms about killing lots of them. For him, most people didn’t deserve to live. They were useless, pathetic losers taking up precious space on a chunk of rock moving in slow circles in the solar system around a boiling mass of energy called the sun. For Damien Vesper, it was time to do some serious pruning of the human race. And he now had the means to do so.
He had constructed this little chamber as a personal retreat. It actually was built to mirror the private chamber of King Louis XVI. The little king married to the beautiful Marie Antoinette was a favorite model for Damien. He liked the king’s arrogance, his disregard for others. He liked his unquenchable thirst for power and the fact that he did not care in the least who was hurt by it. This was a world where one had to look out for oneself. And those who were clearly superior to others must have no reservations about exerting that superiority.
However, he did not want to share the king’s fate. Being beheaded by guillotine by French revolutionaries was not how he wanted to leave the world. He was not afraid of death. He simply wanted to go out on his own terms.
He rose and looked out the window. What was staring back at him was stark and foreboding. It had truly begun. Damien had imposed his will on the very planet. The strange-looking sky, the unpredictable winds, magnetic fields gone haywire: Mother Nature herself was under his power.
But now there were decisions to be made. Disloyalty could not be tolerated. Ian Kabra had given Damien, stupidly enough, valuable information about his mother. Damien had always harbored doubts about Vesper Two. It was a known fact that if anyone rivaled him for sheer, audacious, unbridled ambition, it was Isabel Kabra. Yet the foolish woman should have worked harder to maintain the secrecy of her ambitions. She was acting as though Vesper One were incompetent.
She thinks she can take advantage of me because I’m young and she believes me unfit to lead the Vespers. She will find out how wrong she is. I am young. But I am more than qualified to lead. Indeed, it is my destiny. And she will not rob me of it.
He would need to purge the traitors from his ranks. It actually wouldn’t be that difficult. Damien knew what lurked inside other Vespers. He knew how they thought, how they reacted to situations. What they feared. He knew all this because he was a Vesper like no other.
Yes, he would take care of those who sought to destroy him. But then his thoughts turned to Amy and Dan, his sworn enemies. The Cahills were weak. In the end, they would be no match for him. But other Vespers in the past had fallen to overconfidence. He would not give them a chance to strike him a mortal blow. Indeed, thanks to them he had all that he needed to complete the Doomsday device. The world was already feeling the effects of the machine, though Damien had not fully engaged it. The ancient Archimedes invention was a true marvel. Its destructive power was nearly unimaginable.
I look forward to seeing what it can really do.
Damien walked to the door. He had something to do. Something very important. Then again, everything he did was important.
Soon the world would know very well what Damien Vesper was capable of. They soon also would know of his greatness.
From a safe distance, Amy and the others were watching in disbelief as Isabel did her thing.
“The sheer gall of that woman never ceases to amaze me,” said a goggle-eyed Amy, as she watched Isabel perform for the crowd gathered around her.
Isabel’s amplified voice boomed out while a large sign painted with the letters AWW hung behind her on the makeshift stage.
“Dark days are coming, my friends,” said Isabel, who stood in the center of the stage with a microphone in hand. “Things will be happening that you will not understand. I don’t understand them, either. One look at the skies will confirm that an apocalypse is upon us. There will be no guarantees exactly what the future will bring. But one thing I can guarantee you, my friends, is that I, Isabel Kabra, and my organization, AWW, or Aid Works Wonders, will be there for you.”
Some people in the crowd started to clap and cheer.
“Hey,” said Dan. “Those are Isabel’s guys.”
“They’re there to get the crowd fired up,” said Amy. “It’s an old trick.”
“And it’s working,” added Atticus.
The rest of the crowd indeed began cheering Isabel as she continued telling them all the good she would do for them.
After she finished speaking, a flock of reporters rushed the stage and started asking Isabel questions. She faced them with a big smile and an attractive tilt to her head.
One reporter asked, “What danger do you foresee, Ms. Kabra?”
She turned to him and looked directly at a large video camera that another man was holding. “If one could foresee danger, it would largely cease to be a danger,” said Isabel smoothly. “What we will need to be is vigilant, diligent, and persistent.”
“Anything else?” asked another journalist.
“Of course. The most important element of all. Leadership. I will be happy to serve. I want all of you to look to me when the time comes. Remember who warned you. Remember who guaranteed that she would be there for you. Even the loss of one life cannot be tolerated. It’s far too precious.”
“I’m going to vomit, I swear I am,” said Dan from his hiding place.
“I’m right there with you,” said Amy. “‘Far too precious’? Just yesterday she was
trying pretty hard to end one life. Mine!”
Atticus pointed to a large window. “Look!”
They all turned to gaze out.
“What?” asked Dan.
“I saw a bolt of lightning,” said Atticus.
“So?” said Dan dismissively. “It does happen, you know. It’s called a storm!”
At that moment another bolt of lightning appeared in the sky. Only it was shooting upward, not down to the earth.
The others stared, openmouthed, while Atticus gazed pointedly at Dan.
“Oh,” said Dan sheepishly. “That’s, uh, that’s not good.”
“Ya think?” exclaimed Atticus.
An announcement was broadcast over the station PA system.
“They’re calling our train,” said Amy. “Let’s go. But make sure Isabel doesn’t spot us.”
They took great pains to make sure they got on the train without Isabel or her people seeing them. However, they were so focused on Isabel that they failed to see someone else watching them. As Amy and Dan got into one car and Jake and Atticus into another, this person climbed aboard a car that was in between them.
Sinead Starling pulled her hat down low and took her seat for the long ride ahead.
“Stupid train,” exclaimed Jake.
He and Atticus were sitting in Amy and Dan’s compartment. Jake was working on his laptop but his Internet connection kept failing.
“How can something like this happen in the twenty-first century?” he wanted to know.
Amy was looking out the window at the passing scenery. With all the worries she had, Amy seemed at peace. It might have been the beautiful landscape she was watching as the train made its way to the West Coast. Or it might have been that she was resigned to whatever fate would befall her. Perhaps she didn’t really even know for sure.
She said, “I sort of like the train. At least you can see things you can’t at thirty-five thousand feet.”
“Yeah, but apparently you can’t get a solid Internet connection,” complained Jake. He looked at his screen. “Okay, I’m back on. Excuse me while I do some digital sleuthing.”
Dan, who was watching Amy watch Jake with a lovey-dovey expression, rolled his eyes, sighed, and sat back in his seat. Dan could tell this was going to be a very, very long ride. He snatched a glance at Atticus. He really liked Atticus, but the last official Guardian on earth could become very stoic on occasion. This appeared to be one of those occasions as he silently looked out the window.
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