The Bloodline Cipher Read Online Free PDF Page B

blocked their way.
    â€˜I mean it,’ she said again. ‘About the picnic. Let’s all cut out for a few hours.’
    Tye frowned. ‘Did you miss the bit where Coldhardt told us to work out how we break into a fort by tonight?’
    â€˜No wonder poor old Morell had to cast about for cheap quotes for this job.’ Jonah sighed. ‘I mean … what the hell is this guy doing with his own fortress? Why can’t he own a bungalow?’
    â€˜Everything’s bigger and better in Texas,’ said Motti moodily.
    Patch looked up at Tye. ‘How long is the flight going to be?’
    â€˜Too long,’ she answered. ‘Maybe a bit of fresh air today wouldn’t be so bad.’
    â€˜Good.’ Con smiled, looking pleased to have got her own way as ever. ‘We could go to le Salève.’
    â€˜And have a go on the cable car! Sweet.’ Patch nodded. ‘Tell you what, I’ll make us all some of my trademark super-stuffed sandwiches!’
    Motti grunted. ‘I just lost my appetite again.’
    Two hours later, Tye sat in the back of her silver BMW Hydrogen 7 with Patch and Motti. Jonah was up front with Con – he’d got his wish for a drive in the country, but she guessed it was a little less cosy than the one he’d had in mind. Con refused point blank ever to travel in the back seat – it gave her panic attacks so severe she flipped out; her parents had died in a car crash when she was a little girl, and she’d been trapped in the car with their corpses for hours before she could be cut free. Maybe it wasn’t so weird that Con had grown up determined to keep the world at a distance, Tye decided, or that her closest relationship was with her Swiss bank account.
    Tye winced as an unexpected gear change sent the car lurching forward.
    â€˜Jeez, Jonah,’ Motti complained, ‘could you pick a gear and stay there? A ninth grader on his first jump gives a better ride than you.’
    â€˜Well, you’d know,’ Jonah retorted over the frustrated roar of the engine.
    â€˜This is the last time I lend you my car,’ Tye promised. ‘I know you’ve got to practise, but …’
    â€˜At least you get a break this way, Tye, no?’ Con pointed out. ‘You’re always having to drive us.’
    â€˜And please, God, you always will,’ Motti muttered.
    Tye smiled and rolled her eyes. ‘Just ’cause I’m the only one responsible enough to buy a saloon while the rest of you get sports cars.’
    â€˜Got my image to think about, haven’t I?’ said Patch, thumbs hammering at his gloss silver Nintendo DS Lite. ‘God, I feel sick. I think I’m gonna be.’
    â€˜Big surprise,’ said Jonah, hitting the rear electric windows to give him air.
    â€˜Throw up in here and you die,’ Tye warned him.
    â€˜On the other hand,’ said Motti, ‘throw up in your sandwiches and no one will know the difference.’
    â€˜Scenic stop ahead,’ Con announced, indicating a layby where travellers could pull in and admire the view. Even before Jonah brought the car to a halt, Patch threw open the door and chucked his breakfast after it. Noisily.
    â€˜Uh-huh.’ Motti smirked as he helped Tye out of the car. ‘He’s got his image to think about.’
    They set off up the hillside with a coolbox packed with booze, a rucksack jammed fuller than a restaurant’s fridge, and a couple of briefcases filled with the notes, maps and papers that would help them plan theheist. None of them spoke as they meandered along in the sunshine, enjoying the summer sunshine and the breeze. Tye looked at a map of Texas, figuring out their route, the transport and clearances they’d need – transporting them there and back in one piece. She looked wistfully over at Lake Geneva far below, a vast pool of blue hemmed in by trees and buildings like sentries guarding its depths in