The Lincoln Myth (54 page)

SIXTY-EIGHT

M
ALONE HAD HEARD ENOUGH
. S
ALAZAR WAS NUTS, THAT WAS
clear. But the man was also armed. They could shoot their way in and be done with it, but that came with a risk of collateral damage.

Or they could finesse it.

He’d listened as Stephanie kept trying to provoke Salazar, confusing him with both Cassiopeia’s and Rowan’s betrayals. He had a good idea what she was doing, but he wasn’t going to sit back and allow her to keep placing herself and Cassiopeia in the line of fire.

He whispered to Luke, “We have to go in there.”

The younger man nodded.

He motioned with his gun and shook his head. “Not with these.”

Luke seemed to understand.

But he wasn’t foolish.

“I assume you carry two guns?” he whispered.

Luke slid up his right trouser leg to reveal a small revolver strapped to his lower leg. There was a time when he’d done the same thing. Luke freed the weapon and handed it over. He tucked it snugly at the base of Luke’s spine, tight behind the belt.

Stay in front of me
, he mouthed.

S
TEPHANIE KNEW THAT THIS PLACE HELD NOTHING. BEFORE
leaving Blair House the last thing Danny Daniels had told her was that the document had indeed once been housed here, during Lincoln’s time, but not since. Charles Snow had told the president everything, and he’d passed the information on to her. She’d omitted giving those details to Rowan because she wanted him here, with Salazar and Cassiopeia. If she was right—and twenty years of second-guessing people had made her an expert—Cotton and Luke were now nearby.

“The penalty for lying
is
severe,” Salazar said. “It always has been.”

“I’m
not
lying,” Stephanie said. “In fact, I’m the only one telling the truth. Senator Rowan still has not told you where the document is located. He can’t, because he doesn’t know. I’m the only one who knows. The idea was to get you here, so I could deal with you. He was a party to that.”

“Deal with me?” Salazar asked.

She leveled her gaze. “The penalty for killing my agent is severe, too.”

“Brigham Young made a mistake trusting the federal government,” Rowan said. “Lincoln was truly different, but the presidents who came after him were not. They were all snakes. This woman is just like them, Josepe. I’ve never trusted the government. You know that.”

“Reveal the document,” Salazar said.

Stephanie heard a new resolve in the voice.

A test?

“F
EDERAL AGENTS
,” M
ALONE CALLED OUT, KEEPING HIMSELF
and Luke concealed in the passageway. “It’s over, Salazar. You’re finished.”

He peered past the tunnel’s edge and saw the Spaniard react, lunging toward Stephanie, wrapping an arm around her neck, jamming the gun into her jugular.

“Come out,” Salazar screamed.

He motioned and Luke led the way.

They both held Berettas, their arms in the air, weapons clearly visible. He was hoping Salazar was not thinking clearly and the obvious would be enough.

“Toss those guns into the water,” Salazar demanded.

They hesitated a moment, then obeyed.

“Is that all of you?”

“Just us two amigos,” Luke said. “But that ought to be plenty.”

He nearly smiled. Had to love that cocksure can-do.

He kept Luke ahead of him, the gun in sight, only a foot or so away. He caught Stephanie’s gaze and tried to register what she was thinking. He glanced at Cassiopeia, who stared at him with vacant eyes. Nothing about this had gone right, as far as she was concerned.

“I should have shot you in Salzburg,” Salazar said to him. “When I had the chance.”

“Who stopped you?” Stephanie asked.

Salazar said nothing.

Stephanie pointed at Cassiopeia. “She did.”

C
ASSIOPEIA KNEW ENOUGH ABOUT COTTON TO REALIZE THAT
he hadn’t appeared without a fail-safe. Both he and the younger man, the same one from Iowa, had too freely relinquished their weapons. They could have just as easily kept themselves hidden and attacked at will. Instead, now they stood with their hands in the air, vulnerable.

Or were they?

“Josepe, please, I beg you,” she said. “Lay down your gun. Don’t do this.”

“Do you know Malone?”

She nodded.

“Are you … involved with him?”

She hesitated, but there was no way out.

Another nod.

“You lied to me about everything,” he yelled. “You’ve not experienced any reawakening. The words of the prophet haven’t moved you. You mock all that is holy.”

“You’re not the man I once knew.”

“I’m exactly the same man. I was then, and am now, a devout follower of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Heavenly Father has sent the prophet to me. He is here now, watching all of you. He is my guidance.
He
never lies.”

“It’s not real,” she told him.

The gun shifted among them all, staying aimed, a shaking finger on the trigger. She knew Josepe was an expert marksman, but his mind was wavering.

“Brother Salazar,” Rowan said. “I’m leaving. I will no longer be a part of this.”

“See. He leaves you to do the dirty work,” Stephanie said. “That way he can deny any involvement. Ask the vision if that’s what
he
wants this apostle to do.”

Josepe’s gaze darted toward the statue, where he stared for a moment.

“Do you really see him?” Cassiopeia asked.

He nodded. “A wondrous sight.”

“Josepe,” Rowan said, his voice filled with pity.

“See what he thinks of you,” Cotton said. “He allowed you to kill that agent in Denmark. Fine by him, as long as it’s you pulling the trigger. Now he doesn’t care what you do to us, just so long as he’s not a part of it.”

Rowan turned and started to walk away.

“Stop,” Josepe screamed.

The senator hesitated, turned his head, and said, “And what will you do? Shoot me? I’m a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
You profess so much obedience. So I assume that means something to you.”

“He’s abandoning you,” Stephanie said. “Leaving you to us. But you can’t kill us all—not before we get you. Do you really think I brought only two agents?”

Actually, Cassiopeia believed just that.

Bad enough what Josepe had already done.

She could not allow him to do any more.

S
ALAZAR
’
S MIND REELED
.

He stared again at the angel.

“I was the prophet, the seer, the revelator. I was the dictator in the things of God and it was the duty of the faithful to listen to me and do as I told them.”

That he knew to be true.

“It was my plan to form a temporal kingdom that would be subject to no laws of any government. We would make our own laws and have our own civil officers to execute them. When their edicts were sent forth they would be obeyed, without a murmur.”

That was his dream, too.

“Brother Salazar,” Rowan said. “Look at me.”

He turned from the vision.

“There is nothing there. Joseph Smith is dead. He’s not providing any guidance.”

“He speaks blasphemy. He insults me. I am his prophet. Make him obey.”

L
UKE KEPT EVERY MUSCLE LIMBER, READY TO REACT, HIS NERVES
electrified. Salazar could go any which way and he had to be ready to counter. He could feel the gun pressed at his spine. Malone stayed
just behind him, to his left, where a right hand could easily retrieve the weapon. But not with Salazar’s gaze tight on them. They’d need a distraction, preferably one that did not entail anyone getting shot.

“Brother Salazar,” Rowan said. “I will pray to Heavenly Father for your soul, for you have lost your way.”

“If he did,” Stephanie said, “it was because of you. Tell me, Senor Salazar, who encouraged you to form the Danites? Who directed you every step of the way? Who gave all of the commands? And who obeyed? Now ask yourself, is this man, this
United
States senator, with you or against you?”

Salazar was obviously rattled.

“Which one?” Salazar asked Rowan. “For? Or against?”