Cassandra gave her a long look. “We’ll be in the corridor. Do not even think, for one second, I won’t hesitate to kill your husband, should you not get it open.”
Kitsune laid her hands on the metal and felt the earth move under her feet.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
Mike, take the wheel. I’ll get the rope to tie us to the dock.”
Mike steered the boat toward the dock and stared at the green jungle. It looked impenetrable, so thick it crowded against the white sand that covered a beach at least twenty feet wide. Off to her left were spectacular bare rock cliffs that had shifted over the years, spilling boulders onto the beach. This could have been a paradise, not a hideaway away for a mad genius.
As they motored into the natural harbor, the air grew cooler. She continued to search the beach, and saw a narrow path that led to a door.
“There’s no one here.”
“In the jungle, perhaps, but there are cameras on every pylon, and one farther in, above that metal fire door. If anyone is watching, we’ve certainly been spotted by now. No hope for it. Cut the engine.”
Nicholas threw a rope to the nearest pylon, anchoring the boat to the dock.
As their feet hit the sand beach, Mike felt a tremor, then another and an
other, gentle, like rolling waves. She instinctively reached out and grabbed Nicholas’s arm. The ground they were standing on shook harder, and she braced her feet wide. Then nothing.
She saw Nicholas’s face had gone white.
She ran her tongue over her dry lips. “This isn’t okay, Nicholas. It’s tremors. You know volcanos are almost always related to a fault.”
“I’m thinking it’s related to the Coil, maybe a malfunction. But whatever it is, we have to hurry, Mike.”
When they reached the fire door, Nicholas turned the handle. “Luck is with us, it’s unlocked.”
“I don’t like this, Nicholas. No guards? And Captain Snelling told us a man named Amos would be here, he’s the one who controls entry and exit, but I’m not seeing anyone.”
A man’s deep voice came from behind the door. “Don’t open that door or an explosive will blow you to bits. That door is a dead end. I have to bring you in. If you look to your left—”
Hidden in a vine-covered wall was a door with a window. The voice said on a chuckle, “Pretty good camouflage, don’t you think? Not that we’ve ever needed it. I’m going to open the door now, and don’t worry, I don’t have a weapon.”
Nicholas hoped the man wasn’t lying. The door opened a crack and they saw a small bald man with bushy white eyebrows step quickly back and stick his hands in the air.
“Get back, into the room. You’re Amos?”
Amos’s eyes never left Nicholas’s as he inched himself back against the wall, his hands still up. It was a security office, and it was empty except for the three of them.
Nicholas looked over at a control board, but didn’t recognize much.
Amos said, “This is where we run the dock. I developed all the protocols. If someone unwanted bypasses the other security measures and gets too close, I can trip them up here. It’s only happened three times since I’ve been here, fifteen years now.”
Mike asked, “Why didn’t you let us open the door and blow ourselves up?”
“Let me show you instead. May I put my hands down?”
Nicholas held his Glock at his side. “Go ahead.”
Amos went to the console, typed in a command, and what looked like security footage began to play. “This happened twelve minutes ago. I’m sorry, there’s no sound, never has been. My boss didn’t want it.”
Nicholas and Mike leaned in close. It looked like NASA’s Houston command center.
Mike said, “There’s Cassandra. She’s arguing with that old man—is that Jason Kohath?”
“Yes, he’s my boss and friend, the twins’ grandfather. Watch.” And he flinched when Ajax punched his grandfather in the head, knocking him to the floor.