Grant was yelling, “The clock that’s tied to the explosives, it hasn’t stopped! We’ve only got one minute and ten seconds.”
Cassandra knew it was a lie, another vision, and Grant Thornton was dead, he had to be, the guards would have killed him. But hadn’t she seen the guards were both dead? None of this was real. But her mother’s notebook? She saw it in Drummond’s hands, but no, that couldn’t be right.
It was a vision, like the others, but—
Cassandra screamed and charged at them.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
Mike yelled, “Grab her! We can’t just leave her here. Hurry.”
Kitsune grabbed Cassandra, slapped her hard, once, twice. “Snap out of it!”
Cassandra stopped struggling. She stood still. She raised her hand to her face and rubbed where Kitsune had struck her. She said in a singsong voice, “Are you here to arrest me? Because I’ve committed murder? But not all of them, I swear not all of them.” She rounded on Nicholas. “Give me my mother’s notebook.”
“I don’t know anything about your mother’s notebook.”
“You have it! I saw it, you have it!”
“We don’t have time for this.” Nicholas cuffed the screaming Cassandra and threw her over his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here. Go, go!”
Grant slammed the steel vault door shut, and they ran.
Moments later, the explosion knocked Nicholas forward, and he lost his hold on Cassandra as he fell into darkness.
He didn’t know how long he was out, but he came to when he felt Mike shaking his arm. “Nicholas, are you all right? Come on, come on! Come back to me.”
He shook his head, focused his eyes on Mike’s face above him. “Mike?”
“Yes, I’m here. Are you all right?”
“I’m okay. Where’s Cassandra?”
“I don’t know. The explosion, there’s so much dust. Grant was trying to find Kitsune, and I was looking for you.”
Cassandra was gone.
They ran back to the control center. Nicholas grabbed Mike’s arms. “I don’t know where Kitsune and Grant are, but they can take care of themselves. Mike, you go on, get out of here. I see the storm’s going to hit Washington very soon. I’ve got to try to shut it down.”
“Agent Drummond,” Amos shouted. He was still on the floor holding Jason
Kohath in his arms.
“Hang on, Amos.” He said to Mike, “Get everyone out, now. I’ll follow.”
“You swear?”
Amos shouted. “The vault blew?”
“Yes. Cassandra got loose. Do you know where she is, where she might go?”
Amos shook his head.
“You and Mr. Kohath are going with Mike.”
“Not yet. Jason is trying to say something, come quickly.”
Mike and Nicholas came down on their knees on each side of him. Amos was leaning close. “It sounds like—yes, he’s saying ‘palm, eye, command X.’ I don’t know what that means.”