first.” Reed swung around as Peacock placed the muzzle of her gun against his temple. “I’m no threat to you, Laverna. Please sit down. Before you kill me, I have some things to tell you.”
“Stand up,” she yelled. She searched his pockets, pulled out his cellphone, and checked his recent calls. “Why were you sitting here in the dark?”
“I’m a doomed man. Indirectly, you’re the reason. Please, let me fix you a cup of tea.”
“Why are you so calm? You were shaking when I came upstairs.”
“Resignation. Once I’m dead, I won’t have to worry about someone killing me anymore.”
He didn’t look like the mastermind of the Sons of Tiw. Thin, immaculately clean, and soft spoken, Thomas Reed under impressed her. Tea wasn’t on her agenda. Information, however, was.
“Sit back down.” She grabbed a chair and pulled it up in front of him. “When you’re dead, I’m going to search you r house. You can save me a lot of time if you tell me what I want to know now.”
“The total organization of The Sons of Tiw is in my cabinet to your right. Take it. The list makes no difference now. Pendleton’s already put his plans into action.” Reed smiled a warm friendly smile. “Looking at you, I can see why Arthur loves you. He’d give up everything for you, my dear. Why did you betray him?”
An agonizing pain almost split open her head. Her breathing quickened to a panting. “I never betrayed him.”
“But you did. You killed Philip Martin. You gave the secrets for the assassination of Monroe to Hercules.”
The headache increased. Reed was right. She had betrayed Pendleton.
“Helen of Troy was the face that launched a thousand ships.” Reed reached out and brushed back a few hairs from her forehead. “Yours, my dear, is the face that will launch a thousand missiles. Without your betrayal, Monroe would be dead now, and America would be marching with us.”
Her mouth dropped open . She stared at her hand, the gun still pointed at Reed. Madness raged within her. Images and emotions, not thoughts, swirled around. Missiles fired, world capitols disintegrated, her mind cried out. There’s still time to stop this.
Then Reed’s kindly face reappeared in front of her. “You’re here to steal our secrets again. Even knowing you’ll betray him, Pendleton instructs me if I harm a hair on your head, I will die. I hope you sleep well.”
Her mission was to find out what the assassination plot was and stop it. Yes, Ursa and Monroe put her there to betray Pendleton. Pictures flashed throughout her mind of happy times with her husband, riding through the German countryside, laughing on a hill at Balmoral. The pain increased. The more she remembered the more pain she experienced.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Let me share a little wisdom. I vowed on my life to defend The Sons of Tiw. I believed in Pendleton’s solution to the world’s problems. I still do. However, I’ve lost my team. I presume you killed Lytle and the information you stole killed Morgan and Dunn.”
S weat trickled into her eyes. She quickly wiped the sweat off. His next statement caused nausea and acid belched into her throat. An explosion rocked her mind mightier than Kolb’s device could handle.
“I’m dying as I lived,” Reed said, “ believing a dream. Yet in the end, no one’s right. No one’s wrong. He who executes his plan wins, and all other dreamers vanish. When Arthur Pendleton saves you, my dear, spend the rest of your life thinking of those who. . .”
She pulled the trigger repeatedly even after the chamber was long empty. Then she grabbed the blade from her belt and stabbed at Reed’s lifeless body until she couldn’t raise her arms. In her final act, she snatched The Sons of Tiw list out of Reed’s cabinet.
Screaming like the lunatic she was, she ran down the stairs and out into the night, her head pounding and her heart racing. She reached the drop site and buried the chute and jumpsuit.
“Stand up,” she yelled. She searched his pockets, pulled out his cellphone, and checked his recent calls. “Why were you sitting here in the dark?”
“I’m a doomed man. Indirectly, you’re the reason. Please, let me fix you a cup of tea.”
“Why are you so calm? You were shaking when I came upstairs.”
“Resignation. Once I’m dead, I won’t have to worry about someone killing me anymore.”
He didn’t look like the mastermind of the Sons of Tiw. Thin, immaculately clean, and soft spoken, Thomas Reed under impressed her. Tea wasn’t on her agenda. Information, however, was.
“Sit back down.” She grabbed a chair and pulled it up in front of him. “When you’re dead, I’m going to search you r house. You can save me a lot of time if you tell me what I want to know now.”
“The total organization of The Sons of Tiw is in my cabinet to your right. Take it. The list makes no difference now. Pendleton’s already put his plans into action.” Reed smiled a warm friendly smile. “Looking at you, I can see why Arthur loves you. He’d give up everything for you, my dear. Why did you betray him?”
An agonizing pain almost split open her head. Her breathing quickened to a panting. “I never betrayed him.”
“But you did. You killed Philip Martin. You gave the secrets for the assassination of Monroe to Hercules.”
The headache increased. Reed was right. She had betrayed Pendleton.
“Helen of Troy was the face that launched a thousand ships.” Reed reached out and brushed back a few hairs from her forehead. “Yours, my dear, is the face that will launch a thousand missiles. Without your betrayal, Monroe would be dead now, and America would be marching with us.”
Her mouth dropped open . She stared at her hand, the gun still pointed at Reed. Madness raged within her. Images and emotions, not thoughts, swirled around. Missiles fired, world capitols disintegrated, her mind cried out. There’s still time to stop this.
Then Reed’s kindly face reappeared in front of her. “You’re here to steal our secrets again. Even knowing you’ll betray him, Pendleton instructs me if I harm a hair on your head, I will die. I hope you sleep well.”
Her mission was to find out what the assassination plot was and stop it. Yes, Ursa and Monroe put her there to betray Pendleton. Pictures flashed throughout her mind of happy times with her husband, riding through the German countryside, laughing on a hill at Balmoral. The pain increased. The more she remembered the more pain she experienced.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Let me share a little wisdom. I vowed on my life to defend The Sons of Tiw. I believed in Pendleton’s solution to the world’s problems. I still do. However, I’ve lost my team. I presume you killed Lytle and the information you stole killed Morgan and Dunn.”
S weat trickled into her eyes. She quickly wiped the sweat off. His next statement caused nausea and acid belched into her throat. An explosion rocked her mind mightier than Kolb’s device could handle.
“I’m dying as I lived,” Reed said, “ believing a dream. Yet in the end, no one’s right. No one’s wrong. He who executes his plan wins, and all other dreamers vanish. When Arthur Pendleton saves you, my dear, spend the rest of your life thinking of those who. . .”
She pulled the trigger repeatedly even after the chamber was long empty. Then she grabbed the blade from her belt and stabbed at Reed’s lifeless body until she couldn’t raise her arms. In her final act, she snatched The Sons of Tiw list out of Reed’s cabinet.
Screaming like the lunatic she was, she ran down the stairs and out into the night, her head pounding and her heart racing. She reached the drop site and buried the chute and jumpsuit.
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