“Athena. Nice Greek name to go along with our crazy Kohath twins.”
“At least we know where it’s going—to D.C. But I’m wondering why it hasn’t already plowed into the coast. Why are they waiting?”
“Maybe the twins don’t know how to do it.”
“That would mean another Kohath. Near Cuba.”
Adam said, “Could be. Nicholas, I’ll sure feel better when we find a way to stop it. It’s on screen one, the tracker is screen two. If you’re up now—?”
“Yep, it’s my turn. Look at Louisa, she’s smiling, must be a really nice dream she’s having. Go on, Adam, get some sleep.”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen, not when the pot’s coming to a boil. I couldn’t sleep now anyway. Only two hours until we land. The financials are almost ready, too. I’ve been running some variables that match up the stock shorting to specific completely unexpected storms in the last five years. And yes, I’m seeing a pattern. Not enough to fry them, but still, we’re on the way.”
“You can tell me everything after you get some rest. At least close down your brain for five, Adam.”
Adam saluted, went back to a seat, put in his earbuds. Nicholas wasn’t surprised when he was out in under a minute.
Nicholas watched Kitsune’s tracker. Could there be another Kohath near Cuba? Was this the connection between Italy and Cuba? He should call Zachery, but not yet, no, not just yet.
His cell phone dinged a message from Ben.
Sending you some fascinating reading. Kohaths believed they discovered Atlantis. Stay tuned, there’s more that might tie into where you’re going.
When his cell dinged an incoming email, Nicholas scrolled down the pages Ben emailed him, and read:
There appears to be an underwater city off the coast of Cuba, discovered in the fifties. Alexander Kohath, that’s Cassandra and Ajax’s great-grandfather, was big into the Atlantis legend, was one of the world’s preeminent Atlantis scholars. And naturally, because he was a Kohath, he believed the Ark could be there. According to his journal, they found this city off of Cuba on a dive and had been working on ways to get down to discover more—they actually cooked up a deal with the British government to use their military submarines for exploration. But then the Cuban Missile Crisis happened in 1962 and the whole area was shut down.
Was it Atlantis? Photos they claim to have taken show large pyramids and even a sphinx. Guess what? They had a satellite Genesis Group office there for a while, so at least Cuba as a destination for the family to use as a bolt-hole makes some sense.
And this is where the weather machine comes in. The Kohaths have be
en creating storms to make money for over a century. It’s as simple as that. I’m sure you know most of this already.
But here’s what I’ve been able to sort out from St. Germaine’s notes and David Maynes’s letters he gave her. Appleton Kohath and Tesla fell out because Kohath wanted to use the weather machine to get money to fund his digs, and he saw the machine—Tesla called it “the Coil”—as an easy way to do so. In 1913, they invested in several companies—insurance, construction—then hit the Great Lakes with a storm. Horrendous damage. And here’s how the scam worked—the companies Kohath had invested in were hired to repair and rebuild throughout the area, and became incredibly wealthy, thus paying out huge dividends to their investors. The Kohaths have been refining the weather machine ever since.
They make money on both ends, playing the market, owning reinsurance firms and huge construction conglomerates. Concrete, especially. When a hurricane knocks down half a city, someone has to rebuild, and there they are, ready to fill the void. They short stocks of companies in the areas there will be damage, make money on their losses. And that’s just the financial side of things, the science is ever freakier.
Tesla’s Coil was pretty elaborate in the beginning, and Kohath spent years testing all the different ways he could monetize the Coil. As the Coil was perfected, as the science behind it got better, the ways to make money were refined as well. You already know their broker, Landry Rodgers, is a Brit living and working in Singapore. He’s been on the Kohath payroll for the past twenty years, making them tons of cash, buying and selling and investing, taking advantage of the disasters they bring about. Unconscionable stuff.
Here’s the Kohath family tree for five generations. I thought it would make more sense to you if you can see the actual players.
Appleton Kohath
• b. 1881 d. 1953
• From Richmond, England
• Married 1908 Genevieve
Their son
• b. 1917 Alexander d. 1969
• Married 1939 Babette
Their son
• b. 1941 Jason