Page 46 of The Atlas Maneuver

CHAPTER 26

CASSIOPEIA HAD REMOVED HER JACKET ALONG WITH HER SHOES, leaving on her shirt and jeans, ready for a swim. Some neoprene would be great but, unfortunately, none was available.

Step one, overtake the boat. Step two, show them the metal tube. Step three, hope this grabbed their attention so Koger could occupy them long enough for her to swim over. Step four, neutralize the threat and take control of the other boat with Citrone on board. The whole thing sounded good back in the warmth of the house, but out here, in chilly air and about to go into even colder water, the whole thing sounded a little crazy.

The boat bobbed in the water, its engine in neutral. Koger was standing at the helm, holding up the metal tube.

“They see it,” he muttered, not moving his lips. “And, lo and behold, they want it. I’m going to swing around to the far side of ’em. When I tap my right foot, over the side you go.”

She climbed up the three risers on her hands and knees, keeping low and out of sight. Koger had laid down the tube and was now working the throttle and wheel. She felt the boat turn in a wide swing, slowly fighting its way across the lake. She readied herself, her brain at full clarity. Nothing but clear, calm, quick thinking, without the impingement of any distractions, would be needed in the minutes ahead.

Koger’s right foot tapped the deck.

She finished the climb up to the deck and stayed below the gunwales, moving to Koger’s right. A careful glance back over her shoulder and she saw the boat they’d been pursuing bobbing in the water about fifty meters away. The view from its occupants was momentarily blocked by the angle Koger had achieved. She slid over the gunwale headfirst and entered the water with barely a splash.

The cold was swift and immediate, radiating through her body. Maybe twelve to fifteen degrees Celsius. She shivered for a moment, then settled down and focused, powering herself downward. Above her, Koger kept going and she used him as a bearing, bisecting his path and swimming directly toward the other boat. Koger would shortly be turning, completing his circle, drawing the occupants’ attention in the direction opposite her approach.

She prided herself on staying slim and lean with hardly a gram of unnecessary body fat. But at the moment that lack of insulation was adding to her discomfort. So she kept swimming.

Hard.

A look upward and she saw the keel of the first boat and heard the churn from Koger’s idling engines.

Her lungs started to burn.

Time to head up.

COTTON ASSESSED THE SITUATION WITH GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS. The good part was that he had Kelly back. The bad news was that the BMW from the consulate was in pursuit.

“I’m glad to see you,” Kelly said.

“I knew it was serious when you called out ‘Cotton.’”

“Don’t get used to it.”

“Any idea what they wanted?”

She shook her head. “We didn’t get that far before they choked me unconscious.”

“You okay?”

She rubbed her throat. “I’ll live. Right now we have to lose that car behind us.”

He agreed.

The intersection was just ahead. He decided that he had to take the chance and sped around the three cars stopped at the light into the opposite lane. He approached, braking, looking for an opening between the cars moving perpendicular to his path. Horns blared. In the rearview mirror he saw the BMW trying to keep pace. This was going to be close. He slowed and timed his approach, waiting for an opening.

Which came.

And he sped through, barely avoiding two other cars.

Kelly was watching through the outside rearview mirror.

He heard the squeal of brakes, horns, then a crash. A quick glance in his own mirror and he saw that the BMW had not been as lucky, colliding with another car and spinning around.

“That should stop them,” Kelly said.

He added speed and kept going.

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