Day of Doom (6 page)

compass  to   a   friend   of  his.   His descendants donated it to the Smithsonian

in the early 1930s.”

She took it out of the black case. “Itcost about five dollars back then. Lewis

purchased   it   from   a   well-known instrument maker, Thomas Whitney. It has a silver-plated brass rim and the box is mahogany. It also has a leather carrying case. It’s a very handsome piece.”

Amy and the others crowded around for a better look, but none of them could see anything helpful in the object.

On a cue from Amy, Jake and Dan used their cell-phone cameras to take shots of the compass.

Amy said, “Can we see the bottom of

the box?”

“Funny,” said Dr. Gwinn. “That

woman asked the very same thing.”

She turned it over, and Jake and Dansurreptitiously took photos of it with theirphones.

Amy leaned closer to look at the box. She said, “Is that writing on there?”

Dr. Gwinn looked more closely. “Yes. It seems to be a series of numbers

scratched into the surface, although it’s been worn down over the years, of course. No one has ever been able to figure out what they mean. It was probably just a notation that either Lewis or Clark made during their journey. And the wooden case made a handy place to do so, I imagine.”

Amy glanced at Dan. They both knew that Lewis and Clark had been members of

the Tomas branch of the Cahills. The Tomas were known for their stubbornness

and the fires in their bellies. They had

landed men on the moon, and Lewis and Clark had fought their way to the Pacific coast. Amy doubted that they would have scratched some meaningless numbers into the back of a compass box that William Clark had made sure would survive over the centuries.

Dan said, “Did the woman write the

numbers down?”

Dr. Gwinn glanced at him strangely. “Why, yes, she did.”

“Thanks   so   much,”   said  Amy. “You’ve been a big help.”

“In fact, we almost had a disaster,”added Dr. Gwinn.

“A disaster?” asked Amy. “What doyou mean?”

Dr. Gwinn looked chagrined. “It wasmy fault, really. I shouldn’t have let that

woman hold the compass. She dropped it. It bounced under the display case over there. But she was able to get under the table and retrieve it. I checked it over.

There was no damage, thank goodness.”

Amy and Dan looked at each otherbut said nothing.

As they turned to leave Dr. Gwinnsaid, “You all were a lot nicer than shewas. I hope you win your competition.”

Amy and Dan turned back andtogether said, “Me, too.”

Talking the whole time, the four excitedlyleft the museum.

Jake and Dan showed the others the

pictures they’d taken of the compass, front

and back.

“Can you enlarge your image so we get a better look?” Amy asked Jake.

He nodded and did so. They fixed their gazes on the photos and kept commenting on various ideas and theories

as they walked along.

So preoccupied were they with this that they didn’t see the four black SUVs screech to a stop on the street next to them until it was almost too late.

The doors opened and men poured

out.

One leaped at Amy, but the six-foot-two-inch Jake leveled him with a textbook

football tackle. The man flew backward and crashed into two other men climbing out of one of the SUVs.

Amy shouted, “Scramble, now!”

“Go, Att, go!” yelled Jake at his little brother.

The   four  ran  off  in  different

directions. This was a maneuver that Amy had had them practice for a long time. Four different directions meant that their

pursuers would have to split up, too. And it increased the odds that at least one of

them would escape.

As Amy sprinted away she glanced across the street and saw Isabel staring at her with unconcealed hatred. When Isabel saw that Amy had spotted her, she turned and ran off down an alley.

Amy quickly formed a plan and slowed down to let the two men chasing her catch up. Amy had trained hard to become a world-class fighter. But even with all that work she still had doubts

about her combat abilities. Even now she

could feel the nerves building inside her. But she didn’t have time to be nervous or

doubtful. So she just let her training take

over.

When the men were about to grab

her, Amy executed a spinning kick right to the first man’s knee. Her blow bent it

backward and the man screamed and went down to the pavement. Amy knew that when you took out the knee, you took the fight right out of an opponent for two reasons. First, he couldn’t stand anymore. And second, it hurt him too much to think about fighting.

The second man slowed and started to pull his gun. Amy never let him get there. She went low, supporting herself on one arm, pivoted, and hit the man with a whip kick, lifting his feet from under him. He crashed back on the pavement. Before he could begin to rise, Amy finished him off with two hard elbow strikes to the jaw.

Then she was up and running hard

after Isabel. The woman was not going to get away this time. She was probably the only leverage they would ever have over Vesper One. Amy flew down the alley.

There was no way the older woman could outrun her. Amy could sprint like a gazelle. She was thinking, too, that despite what Ted’s Morse code had implied and what they had learned previously, Isabel might very well be Vesper One. If she was, they could use her to turn the tide and wreck the Vespers’ plans to destroy the world. At the very least they could find out why Isabel was so interested in the

compass.

Amy started to slow down as the alley   grew   narrower,   darker,   and definitely more sinister. It was like day had turned into night here. She stopped

when she rounded a corner and found that the alley was a dead end. She was staring up at a brick wall that was six stories high.

But what had happened to Isabel? There was no door, window, or fireescape. Nothing.

But, no, there was something.

A big blue dumpster.

Amy assumed her favorite martialarts fighting stance. She took a few stepsforward. She was confident that she couldkick Isabel’s butt, but Amy had to admitthat Isabel terrified her. After all, this wasthe woman who had burned Amy’s parentsup in a house and had very nearly killedher and Dan a slew of times. Even nowshe could feel the cold dread spiking upher spine. And her mouth was so dry it

was like someone had stuffed it full of

cotton balls.

But now was not the time for hercourage to fail. She had to keep her witsabout her. Amy knew she would have tobe wary of poisons, a staple of the Lucianbranch. Isabel might have a hidden needlein a ring, or perhaps embedded in hershoe. Whatever the case, Amy would beready. This was one-on-one. And she wasgoing to take Isabel down, finally. Sheballed up her courage and prepared toface one of her worst nightmares: Isabel Kabra.

“I know you’re here, Isabel, so you might as well just come out now.”

Amy didn’t think her words would have any effect on the woman, so she was surprised when Isabel Kabra stepped out

from behind the dumpster and held her

arms up.

“I guess you’ve won this round, Amy Cahill,” snarled Isabel. “But the plan will go on, even without me.”

“I don’t think so, Isabel,” Amy said, looking at her cautiously. She didn’t trust Isabel as far as she could throw her, which was not very far at all. “We’re going to use you to destroy the Doomsday device Archimedes designed.”

“So you know about that, do you?”

“No, but now I have confirmation of it, thanks bunches.”

Isabel looked furious at having given this key element away, but then her malicious smile returned. “You can’t win, you know.”

“I was about to tell you the same

thing.”

“We seem to have a standoff.”

Amy pulled a pair of zip cuffs fromher pocket. She had brought these with herfor just this sort of situation. “Not really. Get down on your knees, hands behindyour head, fingers interlocked.”

“And if I don’t?”

“If you don’t, you’ll be very sorry. And your perfect hair will no longer beperfect. That’s a promise.”

“You didn’t think I was going toactually fight you myself, did you?”

“I don’t see anybody else here.”

Isabel   clapped  her  hands.   Thedumpster opened and three large menclimbed out and quickly encircled Amy.

Amy froze, her limbs quivering withfear. This had been a trap all along. And

she’d fallen right into it like an idiot.

“Say good-bye to your life, Amy Cahill,” gloated Isabel. “I’m sure there will be a few people who will miss you, misguided though they are.”

Amy eyed Isabel. “We know you’re not Vesper One. You’re not smart enough. And you’re predictable. The Vespers never would have elected you as their leader. You’re strictly the B-Team.”

Isabel glared darkly at her but said nothing.

“You’re too into your stupid fake charities. They needed someone with real vision.”

“I have vision,” declared Isabel heatedly. “I have more vision than anyone.”

“You’ve got nothing. Even your kids

wised up and realized you’re an idiot. An evil one, but still an idiot.”

“The world will find out how smart I am,” shouted Isabel.

“The only way to do that is for you to become Vesper One. And that will never happen.”

Amy watched Isabel closely. She could almost see the wheels spinning inside the woman’s head.

“Well, unfortunately, Amy, you will not be around to see my triumph.” She nodded at her men. “Kill her. Now.”

The men drew closer. They did notassume fighting stances. They merelypulled   their   guns   out,   which  hadsuppressors attached to the muzzles, andpointed them at Amy’s head.

Amy took a deep breath as she stared

at the Sig Sauer 9mm pointed at her.