Cold Vengeance

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 to keep Helen alive, because she…” He paused. “I even sacrificed my other sister, damaged as she was. You have to understand. This is not just about you, or about Helen, anymore. It’s bigger than that. I’ll explain all, but right now we need to save Helen.” His voice broke into a sob, quickly suppressed. He seized Pendergast’s jacket. “Can’t you see this is the only way?”

Pendergast rose, put the gun away.

But Constance, who had been silent, now spoke. “Aloysius, don’t trust this man.”

“The emotion is genuine. He’s not lying.” Pendergast took the wheel, throttled up, and directed the boat northeastward, toward Fire Island. He glanced toward Esterhazy. “When we land, you will take me directly to Helen.”

Esterhazy hesitated. “It can’t work like that.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve taught her over the years to — take extreme precautions. The same precautions that saved her life in Africa. A phone call won’t do, and surprising her with you would be too dangerous. I have to go to her myself — and bring her to you.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Not yet. We must find a way to expose and destroy the Covenant. It’s either them or us. Helen and I know a great deal about them, and you’re a master at strategy. Together we can do this.”

Pendergast paused. “How long do you need to get her?”

“Sixteen, maybe eighteen hours. We should meet in a public place where the Covenant won’t dare act, and from there go directly underground.”

Another low murmur from Constance. “He’s lying, Aloysius. Lying to save his own beggarly self.”

Pendergast laid a hand on hers. “While you are right that his instincts for self-preservation are excessive, I believe he is telling the truth.”

She fell silent. Pendergast went on, “My apartments at the Dakota contain a secure area, with a secret back door to get out when necessary. Across Central Park from the Dakota is a public area called Conservatory Water. It’s a small pond where they sail model boats. Are you familiar with it?”

Esterhazy nodded.

“It isn’t that far from the zoo,” Constance observed acidly.

“I’ll be waiting in front of the Kerbs Boathouse,” Pendergast said, “at six o’clock tomorrow evening. Can you get Helen there by then?”

Esterhazy glanced at his watch: just past eleven. “Yes.”

“The transfer to me will take five minutes. The Dakota is just across the park.”

Ahead, Esterhazy could see the faint blinking of the Moriches Inlet light and the line of the Cupsogue Dunes, white as snow under a brilliant moon. Pendergast turned the tender toward it.

“Judson?” Pendergast said quietly.

Esterhazy turned to him. “Yes?”

“I believe you’re telling the truth. But because the matter is so close to me, I might have misjudged you. Constance seems to think I have. You will bring Helen to me as planned — or, to paraphrase Thomas Hobbes, your remaining existence on this planet will prove nasty, brutish, and short.”