Ghost Ship (NUMA Files 12)

“She’s getting soft,” he said.

“Well,” Sebastian said, “it’s to be expected. She’s not really one of us, is she?”

Laurent smiled. Both he and Sebastian had enjoyed taunting her when she was a child; it had been a game. They both knew who and what she was. They were surprised by what she became, how strongly she bought into the family. In many ways she’d always seemed intent on proving herself as if she knew deep down inside that she didn’t belong.

“You know her purpose as well as I do,” Sebastian continued. “They will find her body and that of two others in the downed helicopter. Burned perhaps, but considering the jewels and treasures they’ll discover on board, there will be no choice but to assume it is the three of us. You and I will escape in the tunnel and destroy it behind us. I have rigged the explosives to go off in an acceptable progression. The outer buildings first, then the wings of the mansion. And finally the control room and the tunnel. It will give us extra time to escape.”

Sienna Westgate sat with her children in a one-story windowless lodge that was the communal prison of the hostages and their family members.

In an effort to shield her children from any more pain, Sienna’s trip to Iran and then Korea had been called a vacation. She’d promised them she would come back quickly, though she obviously had no control over when or if she would return. And the feeling of her children’s tears had remained with her all during her absence.

Her arrival back at the compound was met with smiles and kisses, and she wrapped her arms around them so tightly that she almost squeezed the air out of them. But after a brief moment of euphoria, Sienna began to fall into a pit of despair. She could see that constant fear and stress had already taken its toll on them.

Elise had become withdrawn and quiet, the opposite of her outgoing nature. Her face looked pale and gaunt as if she weren’t being fed or was unwilling to eat. Tanner was worse. He had a fever and insect bites all over his legs. He quickly became demanding and angry. He wanted his father. He wanted to go home. He hated it there.

Sienna hated it too, but there was nothing she could do about it. She’d given in to her captors and done everything they’d asked—everything any of them had asked—all to keep the children safe and buy them some time. But now her spirit was beginning to weaken.

Video she’d seen of her husband talking to the press as if she and the kids had drowned was confusing and disheartening to her. He knew she’d been abducted. He was there. He’d seen it with his own eyes. She only hoped it wa

s a ruse and that rescue would eventually come, but she now doubted it. Especially after what she allowed to happen to Kurt and his friend in Korea.

Seeing them appear out of nowhere had been like a dream. But when Calista had gained the upper hand, Sienna had no choice but to obey her.

Her only solace was that, given another chance, she would make the same choice. She couldn’t face life knowing she’d chosen freedom and left her children behind. If they were going to die, she wasn’t going to let them face it alone.

The door to the room opened. Everyone looked up. Two of Brèvard’s men stood there. Calista was with them. “Sienna,” she said.

Sienna stood, but her children refused to let go, clinging to her hands, gripping her fingers.

“Don’t go,” Elise cried.

“It’s okay,” she said, “I’ll be right back.”

“Mommy!” Tanner was screaming.

Sienna dropped down to their level and squeezed them together. Tanner broke out in tears; Elise looked almost numb at this point. “I’ll be right back,” she told them. “Take care of each other.”

As Sienna stood, another woman, who was married to the hacker named Montresor, came to her assistance. “I watch them for you,” she said.

If there was one positive to this communal prison, it was that they weren’t alone. “Thank you.”

Sienna left with the guards and followed as they led her along the pathway from what had once been the servants’ quarters and up to the main house.

Sienna glared at Calista. “You must have a heart of stone.”

“If I have a heart at all,” Calista replied proudly.

Sienna dutifully climbed the steps that led to the main compound and from there was led through the security doors to the control room. She began to feel sick as she approached, knowing that Sebastian Brèvard would be waiting on the other side, ready to order her to use her skills and the offensive capabilities of Phalanx against a new target, as he’d done each night since her return.

A day would come when he asked her to do something truly evil and she would have to decide between her children’s lives and the lives of countless others. She almost prayed he would shoot her before then.

“Tonight’s targets are the power plants in California,” Sebastian said. “We’ll start with the regular ones. I just want a large rolling blackout. Think of all the coal and natural gas that will be saved.”

Sienna sat at the console as ordered and began to work. She’d long contemplated hiding a message in the code she was supposed to send. Someone smart enough on the other side might find it, even if it slipped under the noses of Sebastian and Calista. But the only message of any value would be to tell the world where she was and that was something she didn’t know.

Considering the climate, the strange birdcalls she heard at night, and some odd trees she’d seen in the distance, she figured they were somewhere in Africa. But that didn’t exactly narrow it down.

She settled in and did as she was told. For now, that was all she could do.