The third floor contained the room beneath the dome. Only the north and south staircases led there. Malone was clearly drawing him that way into a confined space.
Not today, Cotton.
He crept away from the stairs to the end of the corridor and peered out into the entrance hall. The woman had taken cover on his side of the room, behind a table, near the front windows and door. He aimed the gun above her head and obliterated a set of eighteen-paned windows directly behind her.
HALE DEBATED WHAT TO SAY IN RESPONSE TO COGBURN’S THREAT. For the first time, he saw a semblance of backbone in one of these men.
So he opted for the truth.
“I am solving the cipher,” he told them.
“How?” Cogburn asked, clearly not impressed.
“I made a deal with the head of NIA.”
MALONE STOOD JUST INSIDE AN OCTAGON-SHAPED ROOM WITH bright yellow walls, crowned by a dome and a glass oculus. Circular paned windows in six of the walls allowed bright morning sun inside. Little smoke had, as yet, drifted to this floor.
He debated how best to confront Wyatt.
Gunfire erupted below.
KNOX KEPT HIS COMPOSURE, BUT WHAT HE’D JUST HEARD SENT a chill down his spine.
Carbonell was playing every angle. Squeezing him. Dealing with his boss. Had he been compromised? Was that why he was here? He readied himself to react, but Hale still held a gun and he was unarmed.
“What kind of deal have you made?” Bolton asked Hale.
“The NIA has solved the cipher.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Surcouf asked.
“There is a price.”
The other three waited for him to tell them.
“Stephanie Nelle has to die for us to obtain the solution.”
“Then kill her,” Cogburn said. “You’re always chastising us on being blood-shy. What are you waiting for?”
“The NIA director is not to be trusted. And we can, of course, only kill Ms. Nelle once. So that death has to produce the desired results.”
Bolton shook his head. “You’re telling us you can end this simply by killing that woman in the prison? We’ll all be safe? Our letters of marque fortified? And you’re playing games?”
“What I am doing, Edward, is assuring that, if that happens, we will indeed be safe.”
“No, Quentin,” Bolton said. “What you’re ensuring is that you will be safe.”
CASSIOPEIA CROUCHED LOW, USING THE TABLE AS COVER.
Two retorts.
Close by.
And the windows behind her shattered from bullets.
She recovered and sent a round in reply, aiming for the spot in the fog where she’d spotted muzzle flashes.
BY ELIMINATING THE SET OF WINDOWS BEHIND THE WOMAN, Wyatt had provided her an easy escape route. They stretched six feet from the floor, like doors, an easy matter to step through.
But she wasn’t leaving.
He aimed his next shot at the table she was using for cover.
On the fourth round, he might not be so generous.
MALONE HAD TO RETURN TO GROUND LEVEL AND SEE ABOUT Cassiopeia. She and Wyatt were engaged in a gun battle. But the south stairway, to his right, the one he’d used to ascend, was not the way. He decided to head to the north side of the building and the second set of risers.
He quickly found them and descended.
CASSIOPEIA DECIDED THAT RETREAT WAS THE SMART MOVE. TOO many bullets, too much smoke.
How many assailants were there?
And why had Cotton not answered?
She fired another round, then darted out the open frame behind her, leaping from the portico.
WYATT SAW THE WOMAN FLEE AND DECIDED TO DO THE SAME.
Malone was surely on his way back down.
Enough of this.
MALONE FOUND THE FIRST FLOOR. A SHORT HALL TO HIS LEFT led back to the entrance hall, but he avoided that and stepped into what appeared to be a dining room.
A large parlor opened through another doorway, the interior walls dotted with paintings, the exterior lined with draped windows and a set of doors, the air inside consumed by swirling smoke.
He entered and peered through another set of glass doors, back out into the entrance hall.
CASSIOPEIA ROLLED ONTO THE PORTICO, STAYING LOW, ADVANCING to the shattered window.
She had to get back inside.
She came to her feet and pressed her body close to the outer bricks, then slipped into the smoke-filled hall.
Her gaze raked the murky scene.
On the opposite side, beyond a set of glass doors, in another smoke-filled room dotted with windows and portraits, she caught movement.
She aimed and fired.
HALE’S PATIENCE ENDED. THESE THREE IMBECILES HAD NO conception of what was required to win this war. It had been that way from the start. Hales had always dominated the Commonwealth. They were the ones who’d approached George Washington and the Continental Congress with the idea of coordinating the privateers’ offensive efforts. Before that, vessels had operated independently, doing what they pleased when they pleased. Sure, they’d been effective, but not like what happened after they unified under a single command. Of course, for their trouble Hales derived a specified cut from every seizure, partnering with privateers from Massachusetts to Georgia, ensuring that attacks on British shipping continued unabated. Surcoufs, Cogburns, and especially Boltons had been there, but had not done nearly as much as what the Hales did. His father had cautioned him to cooperate with his fellow captains, but also always to keep a distance and maintain his own connections.
You can’t rely on them, son.
He agreed. “I’m about sick to death of being accused and threatened.”
“We’re sick to death of being kept in the dark,” Bolton said. “You’re making deals with the same people who are trying to put us in prison.”
“The NIA is our ally.”
“Some ally,” Cogburn said. “They’ve done nothing to stop any of this. They then cultivated a spy within the company and interfered with our move on Daniels.”
“They solved the cipher.”
