Page 124 of The Atlas Maneuver

She stopped outside the tent for a moment at one of her favorite spots, a cluster of low shrubs beside a solitary palm that had been planted by her father. She crouched and removed a few dead fauns from the flower bed. One thing she’d learned from her father had served her well.Anything you could not be absolutely sure about, take no chances with.

But this she was sure of.

She reentered the air-conditioning and checked to make sure Lana and Kelly were still in their seats. Both were. She’d assigned one of the hired security guards to keep a watch on them both in her absence. That man stood to the rear of the tent, just inside one of the entrances, his attention on the crowd. She passed him and walked toward the main table, retaking her seat beside the president of El Salvador on one side and Kelly on the other.

Give it a minute or two, she told herself.

Then head for the podium.

COTTON DROVE INSIDE THE COMPOUND AND PARKED. HE QUICKLYassessed the lay of the land and noted a variety of multistory buildings with lots of windows. Beyond the tall one ahead he spotted a glow of light above its roofline. More armed guards appeared, surely alerted by the gate sentries.

“Is the event there?” he said, pointing and sticking to French.

One of them nodded, saying it was inside the main garden.

“Where did the tent company park their van? We need to see it.”

Thankfully no one had, as yet, questioned why an American man and a Japanese woman were working with the DST. But apparently, the car and its light, his attitude, and the automatic rifle he produced from the back seat were enough to convince them.

They followed the guards around the buildings to a small courtyard that seemed to be acting as a parking lot for the night. A façade of four floors with deep-set widows rose to one side, the outer wall on the other. Several cars were there along with a white van with VOYAGEZ &AMUSEZ-VOUSstenciled on the side in red. They approached with caution, he to one side, Aiko to the other, the remaining two guards standing back, weapons ready.

Cotton banged on the rear doors.

No reply.

He grabbed the latch and opened one door.

Aiko freed the other.

Empty.

Just some tools.

No weapons. Nothing that pointed to a bomb.

“Where are the people who came in this van?” he asked the guards.

“Most likely at the tent.”

“How many came?”

“Four.”

“Take us to them,” he ordered.

CHAPTER 71

CASSIOPEIA STOOD BACK AND ALLOWEDKRISTINJEANNE’S TEAM TO DOtheir work. They’d cut all power to the building, including a backup generator, and discovered that the door to the vault was wired to electrocute anyone who touched it. The voltage and amps were obviously more than sufficient to kill. Surely there was a way to disarm the trap, and it most likely had something to do with the key Townley had concealed, but they did not have the time to learn more. Jeanne’s team was specially trained in gaining access to vaults and, during their examination, discovered that the door itself was made of copper, plated with stainless steel. Both excellent conductors of electricity. With all power off to the building the idea was that any other traps would be rendered useless.

Except, of course, if they ran off batteries.

To be sure, the key they’d discovered was inserted back into the lock at ground level and turned to the off position. The bodies of Townley and Citrone had been removed and stored in one of the other refrigerated rooms. Those would be dealt with later. The main mission at the moment was discovering what was inside the vault.

Battery-powered lights were brought down and illuminated the door. Torches were being used on the keypad. Once the steelcovering was breached her people could then see about bypassing the keypad entirely and releasing the lock.

“We’re going to take the Bank of St. George down,” Koger said to her. “All of them are going to jail.”

“Your superiors might have a different opinion,” Cassiopeia pointed out.