Steve Berry - The Jefferson Key

Conspiratorialists had theorized for decades as to what really happened, and they would for decades more. But no one would ever know the truth. His father had been a true quartermaster.

Loyal to the end.

Maybe it was time he acted like one again, too.

He’d need a light.

He carried no flashlight, but one was upstairs, lying beside the two corpses.

He headed that way.

CASSIOPEIA ACCEPTED THE PHONE FROM HALE THROUGH THE bars.

“Make this short and convincing,” he said to her. “Just a nod of my head and she loses a finger.”

She snatched the unit from his grasp and dialed the number she’d memorized. Edwin Davis answered on the second ring.

“What’s happening there?” he asked.

“All is good. But I haven’t located Stephanie or Kaiser. This is a big place.”

“The shooting we heard?”

Hale clearly thought that the men who’d come were connected to her. After all, they’d arrived at the same time. Of course that was false, but on hearing that connection Davis might get the message.

“Our men made a mess of things,” she said. “They shot up the place, but ended up dead. The tactic didn’t work. I’m okay. Looking around, but the place is full of activity.”

“Get out.”

“I will. Shortly. Right now, I want a little more time. Sit tight.”

“I don’t like it.”

“You’re not here and I am. We’ll do this my way.”

A pause. Then, Davis said, “All right. Your way. For a little while longer.”

She ended the call.

“Excellent,” Hale said. “Even I believed you. Who was that?”

She kept silent.

Hale raised a hand, as if to say, One drop and her finger’s gone.

“NIA special agent. He’s in charge here. The men were ours, too, as you already know.”

Hale smiled. “Where’s Andrea Carbonell?”

“That I don’t know. She doesn’t check in with me. She gave us orders, we followed them.”

A man entered from outside armed with an automatic rifle and hustled over to Hale. He whispered something to his captain, then withdrew.

Hale relieved her of the phone. “A slight problem. The storm is passing, but a fog has settled in. The Pamlico is infamous for its fogs. This one will delay our departure for a short while.”

“Where are we going?” Stephanie asked.

“As I mentioned to you earlier, a sail on the Atlantic.”

Cassiopeia watched the doctor. Shirley wasn’t resisting as much since the call had been made and Hale seemed satisfied.

“More killing on the high seas?” one of the other captains asked Hale.

“Edward, I would not dare hope for you to understand. Soon our letters of marque will be irrefutable and all will be right with our world again. These three ladies are no longer useful toward that result.” Hale turned to Cassiopeia and Stephanie. “You must know that?”

“We have your man in Virginia,” Cassiopeia said. “In custody.”

She was hoping that might slow him down.

Hale shrugged. “Tomorrow our lawyers will visit him. He knows that he will be protected so long as his lips stay sealed. Nothing will lead here.”

She’d suspected as much, as had Edwin Davis.

“What man in Virginia?” one of the other captains asked.

“A loose end that had to be plugged, thanks to you three’s stupidity.”

“You’re going to regret having guns pointed at me,” another of the captains said.

“Really, Charles? What do you plan to do? Grow a backbone?” He turned back toward Cassiopeia. “So you’ll know, I had nothing to do with trying to kill Danny Daniels. That was their undertaking entirely. Foolishness.”

“And this is smart?” the captain named Charles asked Hale.

“This is necessary. Two of my crew are dead.”

Hale turned toward Shirley.

“No,” Stephanie yelled.

Hale nodded.

And bone snapped.

WYATT KEPT CARBONELL AHEAD OF HIM AND ALLOWED THE flashlight beam to lead the way. Water in the chamber was rising, now almost shin-high, the tide definitely coming in. He and Malone had caught it at its lowest. Carbonell was her usual cocky self, oblivious to the real danger, confident that her men would follow and watch her back.

“Is this where the British prisoners died?” she asked.

“No doubt.”

“This water is cold.”

“It won’t be long.”

He followed the same path he and Malone had explored, heading for the convergence of the three tunnels where the symbols awaited.

They found the Y-junction.

With his light he pointed out the four symbols ringing the walls and the fifth centered in the ceiling.

“Incredible,” she said. “It’s hidden here?”

Water poured from the chutes that opened about three feet off the floor. Salt foam formed, then dissipated, but the flow remained constant. Another set of chutes awaited at the six-foot point.

“The fifth symbol is high for a reason,” he said. “What we’re looking for is behind that top stone.”

“How do you plan to get to it?”

“I don’t.”

KNOX ADVANCED WITH CAUTION, CAREFUL NOT TO SLOSH THE nearly knee-high water, which appeared to be rising. He’d found the flashlight near the bodies in the fort’s upper level and was keeping the beam down since Wyatt and Carbonell were ahead of him.

He could hear them talking, beyond a bend twenty feet away.

He switched off the light and crept forward.

CASSIOPEIA KNELT WITH STEPHANIE BESIDE SHIRLEY KAISER, who remained in shock, her wound sutured and bandaged by the doctor. He’d also given her a shot for pain.

“I don’t want you to think me a barbarian,” Hale had told them.

They’d watched as Kaiser’s middle finger had dropped to the floor, her eyes alight with shock, her screams muffled by the tape across her mouth. Both she and Stephanie had felt her agony. Luckily, Shirley had passed out.

“She’s still dazed,” Stephanie said. “Do you think Edwin got your message?”

She realized that Stephanie would catch the lie she’d cultivated with Davis.

“Trouble is, Edwin is a cautious soul,” Stephanie said.

Not when it came to Pauline Daniels, Cassiopeia thought. Hopefully, he’d be equally as impetuous here.

“President Daniels is concerned about you,” she told Stephanie.

“I’m okay.”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

She saw that Stephanie caught the irritation in her voice.

“What did he say to you?” Stephanie asked.

“Enough.”

“I assure you, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“There are a lot of people saying the same thing. Yet we have all these problems.”

“What do you mean by that?”

She wasn’t going to breach Davis’ or Pauline’s confidence, so she said, “Stephanie, the Daniels’ marriage is a disaster. Obviously, you and the president have been speaking about that. Enough that he feels a connection with you. He told me that he thinks you feel the same. Is that true?”

“He said that?”

“Only to me. And there were good reasons to express it.”

Shirley moaned. She was coming around.

“That hand is going to hurt when she wakes up,” Stephanie said.

She waited for an answer to her question.

Stephanie cradled Shirley’s head in her lap as they sat on the cell floor. Hale and the captains were gone, as were all of the crewmen. The earless corpse had been dragged outside. They were alone, locked away, waiting for the fog to clear before they left.

“I don’t know what to think,” Stephanie quietly said. “All I know is that I think about him more than I should.”

The makeshift prison door opened and Hale entered.

“Good news. We’re off.”