DAMON AND EVAN WERE IN THE LIMOUSINE HEADED TO TETERBORO Airport. He could only imagine the histrionics that ensued when Taylor realized that she’d been tricked. He’d had Jeremy’s phone cloned months ago, and it was easy enough to have his son, Scorpion, intercept the text Taylor had sent to Jeremy and answer it himself. Damon had arranged for Jeremy to be pulled over as well so that his twin brother could go to the house and pretend to be Jeremy. He didn’t think she would call the authorities right away—she would call Jack. But Jack would be no help. Dakota had taken care of that. At first, he’d been enraged to discover that Scorpion had been hiding her, but he had to admit that she had her uses. He had been rash when deciding to dispose of her. For now, at least, she was safe. The drug Jack was given would kick in fast; he’d made sure Jack was given an extremely strong dose.
Basil betraying the church had been a surprise, but Damon was used to surprises. After Damon had set up the meeting at the church, he’d received an email from Basil. The meeting is a setup, but I can help you. When Damon responded and asked him to explain himself, Basil told him everything. How he’d been working with the archbishop to reunite the coins to destroy them, about his role in trying to bring Eva back from Greece. When Basil had failed to successfully get her out of Athens, he’d been told he was going to be sent to a parish next month, that he was no longer needed as the archbishop’s assistant. Damon arranged for a meeting with him and it wasn’t long before Damon recognized the same glint of ambition in Basil’s eyes that he’d seen in Maya’s. Basil had become a zealot, he realized. Damon recalled the meeting.
“The coins have alerted me to the great danger within the church,” Basil told him.
Damon nodded. “Do tell.”
“There is nothing more evil than evil masquerading as good. They plan to replace me with a fornicator. A priest known to have many women. I have served faithfully all these years. That’s why I was entrusted to bring the coins back from Greece. But the coins showed me the truth. Now I know why I was warned not to hold them too long. Because they spill secrets that those in powerful positions don’t want anyone else to know.”
“You were wise to come to me,” Damon said soothingly, aware that the coins had made the priest delusional.
Basil stood and spoke loudly. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity. That’s Matthew 23.”
“And you wish me to help you with the cleansing?” Damon had asked.
So they’d made their plan and Basil would be bringing the final ten coins to Damon after the ceremony tomorrow. He’d given Basil the fake coins so Basil could switch them out after the ceremony but before the archbishop took them to the patriarch. Basil was, indeed, a good asset. Now Damon would have access to the inner workings of the church through Basil and would be able to learn even more about the power of the coins since the archbishop had ancient books that the church had safeguarded. Before he was moved to his own church, Basil would make a copy of the pages in the book. Basil was foolish to believe that he and Damon were going to work together to cleanse the church. After Damon had gotten all the information he needed from Basil, he would be dispensed with.
Once he had all thirty coins, Damon would need Taylor to complete the generational chain. No one had ever had all thirty before, and while he knew what they could do just on their own, he also remembered Friedrich’s teaching about a three-generational bloodline that could bring about the actual end of the world. Since he was Taylor’s biological father, she and Evan would complete the chain. But he had time. There were plenty of plans that he could put into place without the three of them, especially as he now had access to an unlimited supply of Evan’s blood.
The child was still asleep; Damon had sedated him, and he was nestled in the dog carrier usually reserved for Peritas, who was already safely in England. He couldn’t risk even his driver knowing that he had a child with him. He didn’t want anyone to be able to tie him to Evan’s disappearance; he didn’t want to have to lose his Crosby persona because he still wanted to run the network. Television programming was still one of the biggest spheres of influence. Since his plan to take over the presidency had been aborted, he wouldn’t need to be in America as much right now. His Crosby identity would serve his purposes for the work he still planned to do there.
He’d made sure to tie up loose ends before leaving. Leonard Reed had been injected with Ravage. Reed’s new girlfriend had stuck the needle in his arm while he was snoring post-coitally. Poetic justice really. Damon couldn’t risk leaving him alive. He was a loose cannon. And besides, his personal habits were revolting. Damon knew all about his forays into the dark web. He’d never intended to give Reed the chief of staff position. He was only placating him until his usefulness wore off. And it had. He was lucky, Damon had made sure it was a lethal dose. He’d gotten confirmation last night that Reed was dead. Hamilton, on the other hand, was still very useful. He’d proven his loyalty over the years and was patiently waiting in the wings as vice president. Maybe they had made the plan too complicated. There were plenty of other ways to kill a president. Damon’s plan to rule the White House was only delayed, not destroyed. In the meantime, he had other things to occupy him. Especially now that he was on the cusp of having all thirty Judas coins.
Once they were at their new home in England, his staff would be told that this was his grandson, which was, of course, true. He would tell them that, sadly, the boy’s parents had died and now he was his sole caregiver.
Both he and Evan would have new identities in England. Damon’s new name was Darius Bernard and Evan would now be Jude Bernard. It wouldn’t take long before Evan forgot his parents and his old life completely and accepted his rightful place as Damon’s heir. Together, they were going to rule the world—right up until they destroyed it.