“Spuyten Duyvil,” Lucy said.
“What?”
“Spuyten Duyvil is the name of the place you just mentioned,” Lucy said. “My dad once told me a story about it.”
“I like stories,” Andy said. “I wish my mother had read me stories. I…uh oh, he’s coming back. Good-bye, Lucy, find a way to make him stop.”
“Good-bye, Andy,” Lucy replied.
Kane scowled. “I hate being called Andy. And I thought I told you to take your fucking clothes off.”
Kane was interrupted by a knock on the door. “What is it!” he shouted.
The terrorist who’d escorted them back poked his head in. “The Vatican has the money ready to transfer, but they are demanding that we release the Pope first,” he said.
Kane glared at Lucy, then reached out and grabbed her by her hair. “Oh are they,” he yelled as he pulled her out of the room and began walking back to the cathedral. “We’ll see about that.”
When they reached the altar area, Kane shoved Lucy over next to the Pope, who grabbed her hand. “Are you all right, my child?” he asked.
Lucy smiled. “Yes. I’m not afraid,” she said.
“Good,” the Pope said with a smile. “Because I am.”
Kane said something to Azzam, who said something to the largest of the terrorists standing near the Pope. The man immediately pulled a large knife from a sheath behind his back. With one hand, he cupped the Pope’s chin and pulled his head back, with the other he placed the knife at the pontiff’s throat.
Kane jumped down the stairs and ran over to the camera crew. “Roll ’em,” he screamed as he grabbed the microphone.
“Okay, assholes,” he said. “I told you no breaking the rules. Send the money NOW! Or I’ll fucking roll the bastard’s head down the steps of St. Pat’s.”
The cell phone of the terrorist who had brought him the news rang. The man listened and then nodded to Kane. “It’s done,” he said.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Kane shouted. He took out his own cell phone and called Emil Stavros. “Is it there? Give it a second…okay, good.” Speaking back into the microphone, Kane was calmer. “Okay, just a little misunderstanding. But let’s not have any more of those. In the meantime, get the plane ready, and we’ll all get through this just fine. And as a gesture of goodwill for you coming to your senses, I’m going to send out your Agent Hodges and Lucy Karp. She will be unconscious but unharmed. When she wakes in a couple of hours-after my colleagues and I are long gone with His Pontificy-she will have the information on how to defuse the bombs we have set in the cathedral, and then everyone can go home. See, I’m not such a bad man.”
Kane indicated to the camera crew to cut. He then walked up to where Lucy had been fidgeting beside the Pope. “Well, my love,” he said to Samira. “It’s time we parted ways.”
“I am heartbroken,” Azzam said. “Are you sure you don’t want to remain with me to share the glorious end to this adventure?”
Kane smiled. “No. You see I have a new love…Miss Lucy here,” he said. “And we’re about to embark on our honeymoon with several hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank. Now, if you’d perform the honors.”
Azzam produced a hypodermic needle and started to walk to Lucy, who turned to Kane. “Please, I won’t give you any trouble if you let me say good-bye to my dad,” she pleaded.
Kane looked ready to deny her request but got an odd look on his face and nodded. “Sure, one last good- bye between father and daughter. But mind you, no kissing the cowboy. I’m the jealous sort.”
Lucy walked down the stairs to the aisle where her father sat propped up against one of the pews, holding a makeshift bandage made from Ned’s shirt on his head. “Do whatever it takes to stay alive, I will get you,” he said as she knelt to kiss him on the cheek.
“I know you will,” she said, then bent as if to kiss him again. “Kane’s taking me to the Hudson by way of Spuyten Duyvil from Columbia’s boathouse. The plan is to blow this place up when he’s gone.”
Lucy stood and leaned over to kiss Ned. “You are not going to do anything to stop him from leaving with me,” she said. “After that, it’s all fair game, cowboy. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Lucy,” Ned said. “I’m going to marry you when this is over.”
“Ned, you are definitely going to have to choose a more appropriate time to propose,” she said and wiped at the tear that trickled down her cheek.
“Okay, okay, break it up,” Kane said. “I told you, no mushy stuff with the cowboy. He’s yesterday’s news.”
Azzam walked up to Lucy and deftly stuck the needle in her arm. Kane caught her and laid her on the floor. “All righty, then,” he said. “Now you better work me over a little. After all, Agent Hodges wouldn’t have let himself get captured without a fight.”
Azzam smiled. “With pleasure.” She struck him in the mouth with a fist that nearly knocked him over.
“Ouch, good one,” he said, spitting out a tooth. “Now, a couple more, and we’ll call it a day.”
Five minutes later, the doors of the cathedral opened and Agent Vic Hodges staggered out-bloody, one eye swollen closed, his clothes torn-with the unconscious Lucy Karp in his arms. He made it halfway down the steps before sinking to his knees. Two members of the NYPD SWAT team scurried from the police barricade; one of them took Lucy from him and the other helped him to his feet and to a waiting ambulance where Police Chief Bill Denton, Special-Agent-in-Charge Jaxon, Clay Fulton, and assistant director of Homeland Security Jon Ellis waited.
“I think she’s okay,” Hodges said. “Kane said she’d wake in a couple of hours.”
“What can you tell us about the situation inside?” Denton asked.
Hodges shook his head. He started to choke up. “It was a setup,” he said. “Someone on the inside stashed guns. Most of my team and the Swiss Guard never knew what hit them.” Tears sprang to his eyes. “I’m sorry. I fucked up. Azzam was with the nuns’ choir. I never saw her until it was too late. A lot of people, including some civilians, are dead because I messed up.”
Ellis stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder. “That’s all right, kid,” he said.
“No it’s not,” Hodges said. “I tried to get to my gun, but next thing I knew it was lights out. I’m still feeling a little woozy.” As if to prove his point, his knees buckled again.
Ellis looked at the paramedic standing by the back of the ambulance. “Got room in there to get my boy checked out?”
The paramedic nodded. “Sure. The girl’s out of it, but she doesn’t seem to be in any distress,” he said. “Still, I’d like to get going.”
Ellis helped Hodges to the back of the ambulance. “Go get that head checked out. We can debrief you later. I’ll send one of the boys by to keep you company.”
“I’d rather stay, sir,” Hodges replied.
“That’s an order,” Ellis said. “Whatever happened in there wasn’t your fault. Now get out of here.”
With that, Hodges climbed in the back of the ambulance. The paramedic was about to close the doors when Fulton stopped them. “I think I’ll ride along,” he said. “I’m not much use here, and I’d like to be there for Lucy when she wakes up…especially if things go bad inside.” He looked at Hodges. “You don’t mind, do you?”
Hodges looked at Ellis and then back to the big detective. “Not at all,” he said. “I’m sure Lucy will want you there.”
35
“Watch her hands,” Giancarlo said.
“What?” his brother, Zak, replied. “Watch whose hands?”
Giancarlo said, “Watch Lucy’s hands.”
Like a good part of the rest of the world, the twins were camped out in front of their television watching the events as they unfolded at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. At the moment, a large man was holding a knife to the throat of the Pope while their sister stood somewhat to the rear but still in view.
