"Joseph didn't try to kill us," Laika said. "It was someone inside Joseph. But it was
Joseph
we had to shoot."
Tony had just begun to dribble more water into Joseph's mouth, when Joseph took in a quick, harsh breath. The air stayed in his lungs for what seemed an eternity, then rushed out again with a force that startled them all. Again he gasped in a ragged breath, held it as though his body was being restored by it, and expelled it.
Then his breaths began to come more easily, though the exhalations seemed almost like shudders. Though they had not pulled away Joseph's torn shirt, Tony could see that no new blood was being added to that which already soaked the cloth. The bleeding had stopped.
"That's it," Tony said, "just keep breathing, just keep it up . . ." He unbuttoned Joseph's shirt and saw that although his chest hair was matted with blood, the bullet wounds were not visible. It was as though they never had been.
In another minute, Joseph was breathing normally, and he looked at Tony and Laika and Molly and Skye, his face filled with agony. "He had me," he said, with the same faraway quality that had cloaked Laika's voice at first. "I couldn't fight. I tried, oh God, please believe me, I did try, but I couldn't . . . it wasn't any use. He
had
me . . ."
Then he looked at the cup Tony was still holding, and a rocky smile came over his blood-caked mouth. "You did it," he said. "Thank God. I found out . . . from Mackay . . . that it was what kept them from growing old. When I was . . . lying there, I remembered the legends, how it could restore the dying to life. I hoped you'd give it to her, but I never thought you'd give it to me. I thought you'd believe I turned."
Laika knelt next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We know you," she said. It was all she needed to say.
Joseph reached out for the cup, and Tony handed it to him. He looked at it carefully, studied the water in it, then poured it out into one of the few still unbroken teacups on the coffee table. Then he ran his hand over the inside. "I didn't notice before," he said, "but it's textured. Like there's a coat of varnish, or whatever they used back then, over something textured that's lining the cup. Like . . . like cloth." He poured the water from the teacup back into the wooden cup, then looked up at Molly, "The same kind of cloth that was in the casket? The same kind as the Fairy Flag?"
Tony held up a hand to quiet Joseph, even though he knew it was like trying to get a genie back in the bottle, or the prisoner back into a lead-lined cell. "It doesn't matter," said Laika, as if reading his thoughts. Then she looked at Molly and Skye. "You've both seen so much now that you'll have to know the truth." She touched her chest, drawing her blouse back together. "I can't bullshit my way out of all this."
B
ut maybe she could bullshit her way out of
some
of it
, Laika thought. There was no point in telling Skye everything, although he had to know about the Prisoner now. "We've been getting hints of something since our earliest assignments together," she said. "Nothing definite enough to report—just things that we've stored in the backs of our heads."
Then she told Skye about the indications that a powerful prisoner had been held for a long time under deep security, and of their suspicions that he might have been freed and was working with the owner of Castle Dirk, Colin Mackay. Then she looked at Joseph to fill in the rest. She was anxious to hear what had happened to him, and she knew that they were now stuck with Skye, for better or worse.
"This prisoner," Joseph said, "is at the castle. That's Castle Dirk," he added for Skye's benefit. "We've been investigating it on the possibility that the recent manifestations might be coming from there. Colin Mackay is the owner, the son of a Sir Andrew Mackay. We were able to search the castle before Colin Mackay took possession, and what we found in the cellars indicates a connection to the Knights Templar. That's where we found the cup as well."
Laika was glad to hear Joseph's spin. If Skye knew they had found the cup back in New York, he'd know they were withholding more than just suspicions from him.
"Our research into the family and the castle," Joseph went on, "indicates that both Mackays are incredibly long-lived. The cup's the reason, whether it's the Holy Grail or just because it's treated with some radioactive substance with . . ." He looked at Laika, then down at his own torn shirt. ". . . I hate to say it, but
miraculous
curative powers. And a greatly increased life span."
Skye stood up and walked to the cup, which he picked up and examined. Then he smiled and drank from it, emptying it entirely. "I've learned never to look a gift horse in the mouth. If it's true, wonderful. If not, well, it's only water." He looked at Molly and Tony. "May I offer you a drink?"
Tony shook his head abruptly, and Molly ignored the question. Instead, she got to her feet. "Look, I don't pretend to know what's going on here, but I want to know something. Joseph, you were there the night of the last prison break, and you were captured. I just saw the photo—that's why I came over here this morning, to find out just what was going on, but I couldn't ask point-blank, with Mr. Skye here. Now it seems as if everything's out in the open, so I can ask. And I do so with the full force of the British government behind me. How did you escape from that prison, Joseph? And what do you know about the recent terrorist acts against England?"
Joseph glanced at Laika, and she inclined her head slightly, telling him to go ahead and tell them all the truth. After all, she wanted to know as much as anyone.
"I escaped from that prison by walking through walls, hand in hand with this prisoner I've been telling you about." Laika noticed Skye's body tense. "He calls himself Mulcifer, and he freed the terrorists, too. He joined with Colin Mackay as part of his nationalist group, but I don't think Mackay is in control anymore. Mulcifer is controlling Mackay's men the same way he . . . controlled me."
Molly shook her head and raised her hands in the air as if in disbelief. "What are you talking about, hypnosis?"
"No," Joseph replied. "Hypnosis is bullshit. This is the real deal. I don't know how he does it, whether he implants his brain waves directly into your brain or what, but when he says jump, you ask how high. It doesn't work on everybody. Bloodlines have a lot to do with it. Mackay, for example, is untouchable."
"Okay, okay," Molly said. "So what you're saying is that the people at the castle are the terrorists, the ones who are responsible for the bombings?"
"That's rather obvious, isn't it?" said Skye. "I have another question, Agent Stein. Why did this . . . Mulcifer, is it? . . . Why did he help you escape from prison?"
"He wanted me to find the location of some nerve gas the British government had stored away."
"And did you?" Molly asked angrily, as if she knew the answer.
"I didn't have any choice. But there's no way he's going to be able to get to it."
"What do you
mean
," Molly said, "you didn't have any goddamned
choice
? Are you telling me that you gave away my country's secrets to terrorists? Were you tortured, Joseph?"
"No, Molly. I was
told
."
"All right, I've had enough of this." Molly picked up her coat and walked to the door. "Your immunity has just stopped dead. I'm calling in an anti-terrorist strike on that castle. We're going to capture those men and this Mulcifer you're talking about, and put him in a good English prison and see how fast he walks out of it."
"T
hat will
not
be a good idea," Skye said. "Please. Just sit for a moment, and let me explain something to you, Inspector Fraser. To
all
of you." Skye gestured graciously to the chair Molly had left, hoping that she would sit down. Otherwise, he might have to shoot the stupid bitch. To his relief, Molly slowly returned to the chair and sat, her gaze warily on Skye. "Thank you. Now, I want all of you to know that I know a great deal more about this Prisoner, this Mulcifer, than you suspect."
Skye's mind was whirling over what to tell and what to leave out. The primary consideration now driving him was that he must come into contact with Mulcifer. Now that he had finally found him, the last thing Skye wanted was to have the British government get their hands on him.
He had aligned himself with this man Mackay's nationalists, a no doubt small and underfinanced group, despite the magnificent coup they had pulled off with the destruction of London's greatest landmarks. Still, if what Stein said was true, that had been mostly Mulcifer's doing. If Mulcifer had fallen in with Mackay so quickly, how much more quickly, then, would he be likely to join a man like Mr. Stanley, who already had immense power and wealth? Together they could achieve
absolute
power, power in which Skye would share.
And now something was different. Now Skye would not only share in the power, but inherit it. He had seen the power of the cup, and if it had made the Mackays live far beyond their normal spans, why should it not be true of him as well? He would be Stanley's man for another twenty, thirty, forty years. By then he and Stanley would surely come up with an idea of how to get rid of Mulcifer, or at least of how to contain him again.
Then, when Stanley finally died, everything he had would be Skye's, not just for a few years, but for centuries, as long as he was able to keep violent death away. With the power he would have, it would be tricky, but power could buy a lot of loyalty.
But none of these dreams would come true unless he stopped this woman now.
"There is far more to this affair than terrorism," he said calmly. "I know that with the recent attacks upon London, it seems to you that ending such threats as quickly as possible should be your first priority, but there is far more to consider. Not to overdramatize, but the fate of the world could be at stake here. There are tremendous forces at work, and I truly believe that I am the only person who fully understands the situation, and that I can put a stop to it without further bloodshed, if I can only meet with Mulcifer and talk to him in private."
"For God's sake," Molly Fraser said in disgust, "how do you expect me to believe that? You've only just learned as much as I have!"
"On the contrary, I've had knowledge of this person long before we ever put this current operation together." He looked at Laika and the others. "I couldn't tell you anything about it, though. National security reasons, of course."
"Of course," said Agent Harris, with a snide look on her face that Skye would have quickly wiped from it had it not been for Fraser's presence.
"So if you will remain silent on these matters for the next forty-eight hours, that should give me enough time to meet with Mulcifer and defuse and resolve the entire situation."
"No bloody way," said Molly Fraser, standing up again. "I'm reporting to MI5 now. Even if I fully believed you, which I don't, I cannot delay my response at the request of foreign intelligence agents, as you damned well know."
"Then," Skye said, getting slowly to his feet, "I'm afraid we have no other course but to make you the next prisoner in our little drama." He turned to his operatives. "Take her into custody, and search her for weapons."
"You wouldn't dare," Fraser said.
"I would dare much more," Skye said, "for my country, and for the safety of the world."
L
aika's first reaction was to tell Skye to take Molly into custody his own damn self, if that was what he wanted. But then she realized that if Molly Fraser's information caused an anti-terrorist strike, what they were going to end up with was a lot of dead soldiers and nothing else to show for it. It would be Utah all over again. All Mulcifer had to do was come into contact with the men and affect a minority of them, and they'd be shooting one another just the way LaPierre's troops blasted themselves to pieces.
Laika didn't know what to do next, but the
first
thing was to make sure that Molly didn't start anything that couldn't be finished. Laika took out her pistol and pointed it at her. "Sorry, Inspector, but I'm afraid we're going to have to make you as comfortable as possible in the cellar."
Joseph and Tony must have read her mind, because they came straight to Laika's aid. "I'm sorry, Molly," Joseph said, "but it's for the best. Just trust me for a while."
Molly held her arms in the air while Laika patted her down. "Trust you. That's a good one, Joseph. Especially in light of your trying to kill us all, and protecting a bunch of terrorist butchers. Oh yes, this is the most stable bunch I've been around in a
real
long time."
"You saw what happened here today," Laika said. "You think that was all a trick? That Joseph and I weren't really shot and near death? Then maybe you'd like to explain just
how
we pulled off that little Siegfried-and-Roy bullshit, huh?"