Cold Vengeance - Lincoln Child [131]
CHAPTER 78
ESTERHAZY TURNED HIS THOUGHTS TO PENDERGAST and what he was up to. He had his answer when he heard a muffled explosion below. A moment later Pendergast appeared. He helped Constance into the tender, then leapt in himself as another explosion shook the yacht. A smell of smoke suddenly filled the air.
“What did you do?” Esterhazy asked.
“Engine fire,” said Pendergast. “The EPIRB will give those still alive on board a sporting chance. Take the helm and get us out of here.”
Esterhazy backed the boat away from the yacht. A third explosion erupted, sending a ball of fire into the sky, streamers and burning bits of wood and fiberglass raining down around them. Esterhazy turned the boat and throttled up as much as he dared in the ocean swell. The boat pitched and yawed, the engine rumbling.
“Head northwest,” said Pendergast.
“Where are we going?” Esterhazy said, still nonplussed at Pendergast’s tone of command.
“The southern tip of Fire Island. It will be deserted this time of year—the ideal place to land unnoticed.”
“And then?”
The boat ploughed through the medium sea, up and down, riding the swells. Pendergast didn’t say anything, did not answer the question. The yacht disappeared in the darkness behind them, even the flame and black smoke that poured from it growing indistinct. It was dark all around, the faint lights of New York City a distant glow as a low-lying mist covered the waters.
“Throttle down to neutral,” Pendergast said.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Esterhazy did as ordered. And then, suddenly, just when a swell swayed him off balance, Pendergast seized him, slammed him to the floor of the tender, and pinned him. Esterhazy had a moment of déjà vu, when the agent had done the same to him at the Scottish churchyard. He felt a gun barrel press against his temple.
“What are you doing?” he cried. “I just saved your life!”
“Alas, I am not a sentimental man,” said Pendergast, his voice low and menacing. “I need answers, and I need them now. First question: why did you do it? Why did you sacrifice her?”
“But I didn’t sacrifice Helen! She’s alive. I could never kill her—I love her!”
“I’m not talking about Helen. I’m talking about her twin. The one you called Emma Grolier.”
Esterhazy felt sudden, massive surprise temporarily overpower his fear. “How… how did you know?”
“The logic is inescapable. I began to suspect it as soon as I learned the woman in the Bay Manor Nursing Home was young rather than old. It was the only explanation. Identical twins share identical DNA—that’s how you managed a deception that could persist even past death. Helen had beautiful teeth, and her twin obviously did as well. Giving her twin the one filling—matching it to Helen’s—what a work of dental art.”
“Yes,” said Esterhazy after a moment. “It was.”
“How could you do it?”
“It was either her or Helen. Emma was… very damaged, profoundly retarded. Death was almost a release. Aloysius, please believe me when I tell you I’m not the evil man you think I am. For God’s sake, if you knew what Helen and I survived, you would see all this in a completely different light.”
The gun pressed harder. “And what is it that you survived? Why did you arrange this mad deception?”
“Somebody had to die—don’t you see? The Covenant wanted Helen dead. They thought I killed her in that lion attack. Now they know differently. And Helen is in extreme danger as a result. We’ve got to go to ground—all of us.”
“What is the Covenant?”
Esterhazy felt his heart pounding. “How can I make you understand? Longitude Pharmaceuticals? Charlie Slade? That’s just the beginning. What you saw at Spanish Island was a mere sideshow, a footnote.”
Pendergast remained silent.
“The Covenant’s rolling up their New York operation, erasing their U.S. footprint. The big boys are coming into town to supervise. They may be here already.”
Still Pendergast did not reply.
“For the love of God, we have to get moving! It’s the only way Helen will survive. Everything I’ve done has been