The Last Second (A Brit in the FBI #6)(18)

Jean-Pierre took his place at the head of the table, raised his glass, and toasted the crew. The room erupted with cheers. Devi did her best not to let her hand shake when she joined in.

Broussard said, “As some of you might know, as a child, I had two passions: deep water and space. My father, a man of infinite wisdom, told me I could not count on treasure hunting to feed me. It wasn’t a leap to imagine space as silent and perfect as deep water, so I decided to become an astronaut.” He paused, grinned, looked at Devi. “It was sexier to women, anyway.”

There was laughter, the crew sitting forward, all attention focused on Broussard.

“After finishing my studies at the Sorbonne, I applied to France’s astronaut program, and made it through three rounds before my father became ill and my presence was required at home for his care. After his death, I talked a fellow engineer into a start-up company making satellites that were smaller, faster, and easier to insert into orbit. The telecommunications boom was just beginning and our small firm was uniquely positioned to provide these satellites to companies all over Europe.

“It used to cost upwards of one hundred million dollars to put a satellite in orbit, and took months, years, of prep work. I wanted a low-cost option, and I was convinced I could make it work.

“I invested most of the meager fortune I’d amassed from treasure hunting into this vision, hired the best engineers I could afford, and within five years, Galactus was regularly sending satellites to space. With the brilliant and talented Dr. Nevaeh Patel at the helm, we’ve grown exponentially.

“And that, my friends, gave me the money and the time so that I could dedicate myself to finding the Holy Grail, the greatest treasure of them all. I believe it is the holiest of holies. None of the legends, modern or ancient, agree on what it is or where it came from. In Wolfram’s epic, there was supposedly an Arabic manuscript found in Toledo with instructions for how to use the Grail. His claim was that the answers were written in the stars, and this was the basis of the concept of the Heaven Stone.

“A celestial path to the Grail—imagine my excitement at the thought. Dr. Patel and I have discussed the possibilities endlessly, and the meaning of the Holy Grail. She came to believe, firmly, that the Grail came from space. Me, I had no idea.

“But then I came upon a letter written by the captain Afonso de Albuquerque speaking of the incredible heavy black stone he’d taken aboard his ship, a stone he blamed for the sinking of the Flor de la Mar, the Flower of the Sea, that went down during a violent storm. The very ship we’ve been salvaging from, here beneath us.”

When would he stop talking? When would everyone drink and eat? Devi sat like a statue, waiting, waiting.

“My friends, I thank all of you. Tomorrow, when we have recovered from our wonderful celebration, I will display the Holy Grail for you to see. Now, let us enjoy the feast Lola has prepared for us.” He again raised his glass, toasted the entire room, drank, and sat down, grinning like a happy boy at Devi.

Devi smiled back at him, a rictus, and waited. She counted down the moments until people started to drop unconscious. It was like a strange choreographed dream.

Clink. Drink. The soup served. Spoons against china.

And then, one by one, heads began to tilt. Jean-Pierre, who’d drunk freely of his wine, was one of the first to go down. The crew started crashing to the floor, or onto the table, or lolling backward against their chairs.

It was working.

Finally, when she was certain everyone was unconscious, Devi ran out of the dining room and made her way to the bridge. No one was there, of course. The crew normally assigned to the bridge were passed out in the dining room, all the instrumentation set on autopilot. She’d seen no sign of any of the security team. They’d all been expecting the threat to come from off the ship. They hadn’t been in the dining room, but she knew Jean-Pierre had sent them trays. Of course, Nevaeh had been right about their security protocols—they’d never seen Devi coming.

She disengaged the autopilot first, then stuck a small thumb drive into a port on the right side of the bridge’s computers. Devi knew it had a bug inside to set off a small EMP—an electromagnetic pulse, Nevaeh had told her—inside the boat. She felt and heard nothing, but within moments, all the screens went dark. The engines began to shut down, one by one, the lights, too. The idea was to leave the ship as quiet as a black hole in the water. So far, so good. The tools she’d been provided were working perfectly.

There was a transponder on the boat as well, and she found it inside the bulkhead. Despite the localized EMP, she’d been warned it might still have the ability to send a signal because of its covering, so she manually turned it off, then smashed the motherboard with a stiletto heel. There was a tiny metallic squawk and the GPS system went dark.

She’d done it, she’d succeeded. The crew was down, and now, so was the ship. It was over and soon she would be taken to her sister. She thought of Jean-Pierre and felt a stab of guilt. He was so different from the man she’d expected him to be. And so very smart and dedicated to his one goal—to find the Grail. She’d asked him once why this obsession? He’d said only that it was the most important thing in his life. He’d said no more, only shaking his head. He was a physical man, had always been generous in bed. No, no, it was over. She had no choice. She had to forget him. She fingered the necklace at her throat. Moldavite stones, perhaps what the Holy Grail was made of. Surely it could not be true, despite his absolute belief, his absolute certainty. But still—