Douglas Preston: Cold Vengeance

He heard the bridge door being unbolted, then unlocked. It opened. Immediately, Pendergast kicked it back, knocking the mate senseless with the butt of his handgun while Esterhazy rushed the captain, jamming his weapon into his ear. “Down!” he shouted. “On the floor!”

“What the—?”

Esterhazy fired the pistol to one side, then put the muzzle back against his head. “You heard me! Face down, arms spread!”

The captain dropped down to his knees, then lay prone, stretching out his arms. Esterhazy turned in time to see Pendergast tying up the mate.

He walked over to the helm, keeping his pistol trained on the captain, and throttled the twin diesels back into neutral. The boat slowed on its way to coming to rest in the water.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the captain cried. “Where’s Falkoner?”

“Tie this one up, too,” Esterhazy said.

Pendergast stepped over and immobilized the captain.

“You’re a dead man,” the captain told Esterhazy. “They’ll kill you for sure — you of all people should know that.”

Esterhazy watched as Pendergast went to the helm, scanned it, lifted a cage enclosing a red lever, and pulled the lever. An alarm began to sound. “What’s that?” he asked, alarmed.

“I’ve activated the EPIRB, the emergency position-indicating radio beacon,” Pendergast replied. “I want you to go below, launch the tender, and wait for me.”

“Why?” Esterhazy was disconcerted at how suddenly Pendergast had taken control.

“We’re abandoning ship. Do as I say.”

The flat, cold tone of his voice unnerved Esterhazy. The agent disappeared off the bridge, heading to the lower decks. Esterhazy went down the stairs to the main saloon and to the stern. He found Constance there, waiting.

“We’re abandoning ship,” said Esterhazy. He pulled the canvas from the second tender. It was a 5.2-meter Valiant with a seventy-five-horsepower Honda four-stroke outboard. He opened the stern transom and threw the windlass into gear. The boat slid off its cradle into the water. He cleated it at the stern, climbed inside, started the engine.

“Get in,” he said.

“Not until Aloysius returns,” Constance replied.

Her violet eyes remained gazing at him, and after a moment she spoke again in that curious, archaic way. “You will recall, Dr. Esterhazy, what I told you earlier? Let me reiterate: at some point in the future, in the fullness of time, I will kill you.”

Esterhazy snorted in derision. “Don’t waste your breath on empty threats.”

“Empty?” She smiled pleasantly. “It is a fact of nature as ineluctable as the very turning of the earth.”

ESTERHAZY TURNED HIS THOUGHTS TO PENDERGAST and what he was up to. He had his answer when he heard a muffled explosion below. A moment later Pendergast appeared. He helped Constance into the tender, then leapt in himself as another explosion shook the yacht. A smell of smoke suddenly filled the air.

“What did you do?” Esterhazy asked.

“Engine fire,” said Pendergast. “The EPIRB will give those still alive on board a sporting chance. Take the helm and get us out of here.”

Esterhazy backed the boat away from the yacht. A third explosion erupted, sending a ball of fire into the sky, streamers and burning bits of wood and fiberglass raining down around them. Esterhazy turned the boat and throttled up as much as he dared in the ocean swell. The boat pitched and yawed, the engine rumbling.

“Head northwest,” said Pendergast.

“Where are we going?” Esterhazy said, still nonplussed at Pendergast’s tone of command.

“The southern tip of Fire Island. It will be deserted this time of year — the ideal place to land unnoticed.”

“And then?”

The boat ploughed through the medium sea, up and down, riding the swells. Pendergast didn’t say anything, did not answer the question. The yacht disappeared in the darkness behind them, even the flame and black smoke that poured from it growing indistinct. It was dark all around, the faint lights of New York City a distant glow as a low-lying mist covered the waters.

“Throttle down to neutral,” Pendergast said.

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

Esterhazy did as ordered. And then, suddenly, just when a swell swayed him off balance, Pendergast seized him, slammed him to the floor of the tender, and pinned him. Esterhazy had a moment of déjà vu, when the agent had done the same to him at the Scottish churchyard. He felt a gun barrel press against his temple.

“What are you doing?” he cried. “I just saved your life!”

“Alas, I am not a sentimental man,” said Pendergast, his voice low and menacing. “I need answers, and I need them now. First question: why did you do it? Why did you sacrifice her?”

“But I didn’t sacrifice Helen! She’s alive. I could never kill her — I love her!”

“I’m not talking about Helen. I’m talking about her twin. The one you called Emma Grolier.”

Esterhazy felt sudden, massive surprise temporarily overpower his fear. “How… how did you know?”

“The logic is inescapable. I began to suspect it as soon as I learned the woman in the Bay Manor Nursing Home was young rather than old. It was the only explanation. Identical twins share identical DNA — that’s how you managed a deception that could persist even past death. Helen had beautiful teeth, and her twin obviously did as well. Giving her twin the one filling — matching it to Helen’s — what a work of dental art.”

“Yes,” said Esterhazy after a moment. “It was.”

“How could you do it?”

“It was either her or Helen. Emma was… very damaged, profoundly retarded. Death was almost a release. Aloysius, please believe me when I tell you I’m not the evil man you think I am. For God’s sake, if you knew what Helen and I survived, you would see all this in a completely different light.”

The gun pressed harder. “And what is it that you survived? Why did you arrange this mad deception?”

“Somebody had to die — don’t you see? The Covenant wanted Helen dead. They thought I killed her in that lion attack. Now they know differently. And Helen is in extreme danger as a result. We’ve got to go to ground — all of us.”

“What is the Covenant?”

Esterhazy felt his heart pounding. “How can I make you understand? Longitude Pharmaceuticals? Charlie Slade? That’s just the beginning. What you saw at Spanish Island was a mere sideshow, a footnote.”

Pendergast remained silent.

“The Covenant’s rolling up their New York operation, erasing their U.S. footprint. The big boys are coming into town to supervise. They may be here already.”

Still Pendergast did not reply.

“For the love of God, we have to get moving! It’s the only way Helen will survive. Everything I’ve done has been to keep Helen alive, because she…” He paused. “I even sacrificed my other sister, damaged as she was. You have to understand. This is not just about you, or about Helen, anymore. It’s bigger than that. I’ll explain all, but right now we need to save Helen.” His voice broke into a sob, quickly suppressed. He seized Pendergast’s jacket. “ Can’t you see this is the only way? ”

Pendergast rose, put the gun away.

But Constance, who had been silent, now spoke. “Aloysius, don’t trust this man.”

“The emotion is genuine. He’s not lying.” Pendergast took the wheel, throttled up, and directed the boat northeastward, toward Fire Island. He glanced toward Esterhazy. “When we land, you will take me directly to Helen.”

Esterhazy hesitated. “It can’t work like that.”

“Why not?”