The Devil's Triangle (A Brit in the FBI 4)

The weather machine is a go. You must shut it down before it destroys Washington, D.C.

CHAPTER SIXTY

The Caribbean

The sun was high when Cassandra and Ajax landed in Cuba with their two prisoners. Both were awake, though Grant Thornton was still groggy from the drugs. Cassandra knew they were as dangerous as Nicholas Drummond, knew it would be smart to weigh them down and throw them into the ocean as quickly as possible, that if she didn’t kill them now, something bad would happen.

No, she was being foolish. She needed the thief, just as she had a feeling she’d need her husband for leverage. Then she’d take great pleasure in killing them both. There was nothing they could do to stop her.

It had been nearly a year since they’d last visited Grandfather on his island, but she always recognized the smell of the water and air, sweet and tangy, a lovely combination. Always before, it was as supplicants, but not this time.

They boarded the floatplane, secured the thief and her husband to the seats, and were soon airborne. The windows were open and the sea wind blew in their faces.

She said, “Ajax, you worked more of the trip over on Grandfather’s formula. Are you close? Have you figured out how to move the storm to Washington, D.C.?”

Ajax was sweating in the heat, tired and impatient. “I’m into his systems. I’ve learned how to intensify the storm, but that’s it. Getting it to go in the right direction is what only Grandfather knows. And those instructions are in his precious vault.”

“Then once we get the formula for determining directionality, you can make the storm strong enough to flatten D.C.?”

He nodded. “Without it, all I can do is force a heavy rainfall somewhere over the Atlantic. Hardly what we want or need.”

Cassandra looked over at the thief. The woman seemed to be focused entirely on her husband. Thornton was getting more clearheaded with the fresh wind in his face. They’d have to watch them closely, drug him again when they landed.

Cassandra found herself wondering if the thief had been awake and listening. Did she have any idea what Cassandra would demand of her?

Ajax was saying, “Grandfather is going to see I’ve intensified the storm, and he’s going to know I managed to get into his system.”

“Who cares? Soon now, he won’t matter. His last act will be to hand over the formula.”

Ajax looked down at the blue ocean gliding by beneath them. “We’ll be at the island soon. I hope you’re prepared.”

“Prepared for what?”

“Cassandra. Think. This coup has been simple so far. W

e’ve eliminated our father, the biographer, and Lilith. All of them are dead. But now we’re going to kill our grandfather, the only person left on earth who even begins to understand weather control. Once he’s dead, we’re on our own, completely. You must prepare yourself for this. Being alone, only the two of us. Are you ready to be alone?”

“Yes, just the two of us. Nobody to tell us what to do, nobody to question us endlessly. Oh yes, Ajax, I’m ready, more than ready.”

Ajax looked over at Kitsune and Grant. “Why have you bothered to keep them alive?”

She said low, “Grandfather’s vault. She can get into it if he won’t tell us the combination. Thornton? He’ll be our leverage. Then they’re dead. I think she’s perfect for the job, don’t you?”

He nodded. “Lilith certainly sang her praises. I sometimes thought Lilith admired her even more than she admired me.”

“Doesn’t matter now, does it? I never actually believed she’d be able to steal the staff from the Topkapi, but she did.”

Ajax tooks her hand, squezed her fingers. “Grandfather told me once he’d wired the vault with explosives. I asked him why, I mean, who would ever come close enough to break into his vault? He told me there were enemies festering all over the earth and it always paid to be prepared.”

Cassandra laughed. “I do hope the old fool was thinking about us.”

Ajax shrugged. “We’ll soon see, but honestly, I don’t think he’ll give us the combination. He doesn’t trust us. So we will have to use the thief. If she lives up to her reputation, if she does manage to disarm the safe, then all well and good. If not—then we’ll have to find another way, perhaps another thief.”

He looked out the window. “Get ready, it’s time to land and make our way to the island.”

She gave him a high five. “And kill that crazy old man.”

“Maybe he’s had a change of heart,” Ajax said.