Angel Born

by Brian Fuller

  “Disappeared,” Mars said. “Yesterday morning. It’s not widely known, but his executive assistant, Athena, went missing a few weeks ago.”

  Helo froze. Had Cain gotten to him? Gotten to them both?

  “Ramis missing is bad enough,” Magdelene said, “but something went missing with him.”

  Helo closed his eyes. He knew what it was before the words burst into the cold, dark air: Cain’s pendant, the Bone of First Avarice.

  Chapter 27

  Bait

  Helo rubbed his two cards together, a pair of jacks. He had this game won. This would be the third time he had beaten Aclima at stupid Go Fish. Twice on the plane, and now this hand in the van while on their way to join Tela, Corinth, Alan, and Scarlet. Just one more play and it was over.

  “Give me all your jacks,” he said to Aclima, who had taken all of five minutes to morph back into the appearance Tela had seen her in before. Her hair, now back to its long, luxurious state, swayed back and forth with the van’s suspension as she sorted her cards. Helo tried to remember all the details of his bodyguard persona and morphed his body accordingly.

  Aclima checked her hand, plucked out two cards, and handed over the jack of clubs and spades. “Well done.”

  Game over.

  Helo placed the cards on his stack. Success in Go Fish largely flowed from luck, memory, and paying attention. What Go Fish wasn’t, however, was interesting. Aclima seemed to use it as a time waster, and Helo resolved to show her that modern technology had come up with far more engaging ones.

  “Why do you two play that stupid game?” Faramir asked from the middle row of the van. “How about some Texas Hold’Em? I’ll play that.”

  Helo was about to agree, but Aclima cut him off. “How dare you insult Go Fish, Faramir. It was the sacred game of the Aztec and the Incas.”

  Faramir actually considered it for half a second before saying, “Shut up.”

  “We’re two minutes out,” Argyle said.

  Goliath leaned around the passenger seat. “Remember, we are a team from Guardian Protective Services. Tela is a normal and, as such, is scared. A bunch of soldiers with guns isn’t going to make her feel better. So smile, okay? That means you, Shujaa.”

  Shujaa tried it, but it just looked wrong. Helo grinned and shook his head. The only thing that made Shujaa happy was killing Dreads. If Cain found where they were hiding Tela, Shujaa might be smiling a lot.

  Helo’s phone buzzed. Tela. Again.

  How much longer? she asked.

  Ten minutes.

  You said twenty minutes fifteen minutes ago. Math problems?

  Road sucks.

  And it did. The mid-morning sunshine hazed the gravel dust of the washboard road behind them, the light slicing through gaps in the shoulder-to-shoulder pines. Fearing for Tela’s safety, the Ash Angels had moved her to a remote cabin in the Colorado wilderness. As they neared their destination, Helo could barely make it out on the side of a low hill.

  It was nicer than he expected, a place where a rich person might spend the hot summer months. Trees encircled it, and several long vertical windows reflected the sun. The big windows weren’t ideal, but the elevation would give them a good view down the road and in all directions except south, where the forest walked right up to a wraparound deck.

  “What’s she have to say?” Aclima asked.

  Helo pointed his phone screen at her, and Aclima smiled. “You be careful, Helo. There are some Ash Angel policies I disagree with, but not dating normals isn’t one of them. She’s infatuated with you.”

  “Yeah, I get it,” Helo said. “It would have been better if I had never shown up in her life. I’d never see her again if I thought it would help.”

  “Remember, Scarlet is your goal,” Aclima said, voice low. “You can come together again. It can work.”

  Why did she keep pushing it? It was not the time. It was better when he thought he and Terissa were forever separated. The thought of permanent separation sparked an idea, something that might help Tela.

  “What?” Aclima asked before he could vocalize his thought. “You’ve got your ‘I just realized something’ face on.”

  “You can’t know me that well yet,” Helo said.

  “I read people like books,” she said, wrestling her hair into a ponytail. “What is it?”

  “What if Tela thought I was dead? Do you think the dreams would stop?”

  Aclima considered it for a moment. “That’s a good question. It would break her heart—”

  “But she’ll get over it,” Helo added. “Maybe believing I’m dead will sever whatever connection she seems to have to me.”

  Faramir turned in his seat. “The question is why she has the connection in the first place. Maybe it’s divinely ordained or something. Maybe these dreams are to help our favorite cowboy rule-breaker from getting wiped out.”

  “Or maybe,” Aclima said, “she’s connected to Helo because he saved her from a kidnapping attempt and probably saved her life.”

  “You ought to know,” Faramir said.

  It took Helo a second to realize what Faramir was referring to. Aclima caught on faster and looked out the window, hiding her face for several moments.

  When she turned around, whatever emotion she had concealed was gone. “The thing is, if Helo ‘dies,’ in no way can it seem like it’s her fault. If he faked his own death while protecting her, she’d carry the guilt forever. It would have to seem like it happened on some unrelated mission.”

  Helo nodded. It made total sense. He should have thought of it before. Once this mission was over, someone could call and inform Tela of his brave demise on some secret mission somewhere she had never heard of. She would cry her tears and then be free—at least from the dreams. Cain was the bigger problem at the moment.

  “Stop here,” Goliath ordered just before the road turned between two large pines and toward the cabin. “Faramir, set up 360-degree surveillance. Shujaa, go with him and scout out the approaches. Do it fast.”

  I can see the van! Tela texted.

  Almost there.

  When they arrived, Faramir and Shujaa piled out, opening the back and grabbing their equipment. After shutting the rear doors, Argyle sped up the hill, pulling up next to the silver minivan Helo had seen at the crappy hotel. Alan waved to them from his patrol along the wraparound deck. Gone were the dark suit and pistol, replaced by loose-fitting jeans, a dark jacket, and a BBR.

  “And there she is . . .” Aclima said, then squinted. “No. That isn’t her.”

  Helo leaned around her to get a look. Tela waited by the front door, but Aclima was right. The hair color and length were right, the build roughly the same, but the woman dressed in hiking pants and a blue shirt was not Tela Mirren. A double, perhaps? She didn’t have an aura, so it had to be a Blank.

  “What’s going on?” Helo asked.

  “Get your gear and get inside,” Goliath said, popping open her door. “Be quick.”

  Aclima raised her eyebrows.

  “Who have I been texting?” Helo wondered aloud as he piled out of the van. If it wasn’t Tela, the double was doing a bang-up job of imitating her.

  As soon as he hopped out of the van, the woman met him, phone in hand, and gave him a hug. Her eyes were even green, but on closer inspection, he could tell they were contacts.

  “Thank you for coming,” she said, voice weepy. “It’s been so hard without you here. Don’t be late next time.” Then she winked and smiled. “See you inside.”

  Helo felt like an idiot as he watched her retreat into the cabin.

  Aclima nudged him and handed him his Big Blessed Shotgun. He took it and shook his head. Why would they send the entire Sicarius Nox team out to guard an impostor? But as he marched up the stairs, he thought he might know what was going on. If he was right, this was going to be good . . . if it worked.

  The cabin and its environs felt like something out of a Colorado tourism brochure, right down to the rustic quilts, log-frame furni
ture, and antlers hanging on the walls. With every step, the wooden floor squeaked a pleasant greeting. They passed through a small kitchen and arrived in a vast family room where windows soared all the way up to a vaulted ceiling, providing a wide view of a deep blanket of fir trees. A black-bear pelt hung above a gaping fireplace on the opposite wall, and after his encounter with the sow and cub in the woods, he felt a stab of guilt.

  And there she was. Terissa.

  The familiar curves and dark hair that had captured his attention as a freshly mustered-out Marine so many years ago stood silhouetted in the late-morning light. His heart clenched. He didn’t need this right now, and he tried to ignore what he was feeling, but the image, of its own volition, dragged his mind backward in time.

  He and Terissa had honeymooned in a cabin in the dense green hills of Oregon. It’d had big windows too and was a secluded place for the newlyweds. The sun had only shone one morning during their weeklong trip, and that one morning she had stood in front of a window in a white, diaphanous nightgown, the beaming light tracing the lines of her body. He had admired her from where he had lain under the white sheets of the king-sized bed. She was only for him. He believed that then, believed it without question. Why wouldn’t he? Now, here she was, angelic aura enveloping her, nervous smile playing across her cute lips, and it was no good. The memory, one he’d treasured during the early years of their marriage, cut him rather than caressed him.

  He looked away and descended the three wooden steps into the family room. Three Michaels stood by the fireplace in heavy gear. Corinth slumped in a corner lounger and wouldn’t look him in the eye. Corinth and Terissa were done. Aclima was right. Again. And Corinth’s anger was festering. It didn’t look good on him.

  “Commander Crane?” Goliath said.

  One of the Michaels, a tall, skinny man morphed into his late forties, turned and shook Goliath’s hand. He had a plain, no-nonsense face, his gray-streaked brown hair so perfect it almost looked lacquered in place.

  “Nice to work with you, Goliath,” he said, a bit of a Texas drawl coloring his words. “You Helo?”

  Helo took his hand. “Yes, sir. And this is Aclima, operational name Jeopardy.”

  Crane spared Aclima only a brief nod, and Helo thought he detected a little mistrust in the man’s look.

  Goliath unshouldered her BBR and took a seat on one of the rustic couches. “This is my second, Argyle. Faramir’s deploying the cameras, like you asked. Shujaa’s surveying the perimeter.”

  “No need for the survey,” Crane said, tone superior. “My men already have a complete terrain map of the surrounding three miles. We’ll pipe the camera feeds to the field laptops from the command center in the next room.”

  “It’s an honor to work with you, Commander Crane” Argyle said, and Helo could swear his flattop was somehow more flat and pointy than it had been. “Good to have you back in the field.”

  “I go where I’m needed,” Commander Crane said.

  “Where’s Tela?” Helo asked. The imposter had gone to stand by Terissa—Scarlet! He had to think of her as Scarlet. And Scarlet was still staring at him from near the window, but the grin had changed from nervous to speculative.

  Commander Crane took a seat. “Need-to-know basis. Let’s get the briefing out of the way.”

  Helo felt like he had a right to know, but it wasn’t the time to push it. He plopped down next to Goliath.

  Aclima walked toward the window. “Scarlet and Tela,” she said, “why don’t you go have a seat next to Helo there.”

  “Sure,” Scarlet said. “Thanks.”

  Aclima and her meddling. He was going to have to set her straight when it came to Terissa.

  “This,” Commander Crane said, signaling toward the impostor, “is Opal, on loan from the Gabriels, and she is one of their most experienced deep-cover operatives.”

  Helo scooted over to make room for the two women, Scarlet settling in next to him, and Opal taking the last space on the end nearest the chair where a disengaged Corinth slumped. Scarlet pressed into him until they were shoulder to shoulder. He had to fight the instinct to put his arm around her like he had always done when they were dating to make sure the knuckleheads knew to leave her alone. His gut sank. Sitting next to her felt so familiar and yet so foreign.

  Helo glared up at Aclima, her expression not a happy one.

  “So let’s be clear,” Commander Crane said. “The Medius has put me in charge of this operation. I conceived the plan, and I left Deep 7 in a hurry to be a part of it. I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say we are sick of playing defense with Cain. He likes to bait people into traps, and so do I. And we have constructed one hell of a trap.”

  Helo shifted, trying to get a little distance from Scarlet. “How will the Dreads know to come here?”

  Commander Crane leaned back and folded his arms, face triumphant. “Until the incident at the safe house, we had no idea Cain had so much interest in Tela. We figured they’d been tracking her by her limited performances or by her phone. At first the Medius thought to confiscate her phone in case the Dreads had found a way to track it, but I pointed out how we could use it to our advantage.

  “So that little performance at the Michaels Ball in Aurora? We knew she would post to social media and do all the stuff a girl in her twenties will do. That’s when the Dreads really started combing the area. That’s exactly what I wanted, and it played out just as I thought it would. So we did a little Tela switch and made sure some of the searching Dreads saw our decoy—now in possession of Tela’s phone—leaving town. And it worked. Corinth and Scarlet noted at least two Dreads tracking them within twenty miles of this place. It’s only a matter of time before they hit us.”

  Argyle, who paced behind the couch with his hands behind his back, nodded. “We need to set up a perimeter at three miles out in every—”

  “It’s done,” Commander Crane butted in. “Look, I don’t think you all appreciate the magnitude of this operation. There are thirty Michaels out in those woods locked, loaded, and ready for war. Sicarius Nox was invited specifically to combat Shedim. That is your team’s job, Goliath, and it will be under my supervision, is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir,” Goliath said, those tomboy eyes sparking with a hint of defiance.

  “Good,” Commander Crane said. “We’ve procured four sanctified weapons for this op. We’re hoping a Dread Loremaster will be in command so we can capture or kill it.” He inclined his head toward the window where Aclima stood, arms folded. “Jeopardy, which one of your people would Cain send to quarterback a major operation like this for a high-value target?”

  “My people?” Aclima said, eyebrows raised.

  “The Loremasters are all your family, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then which one?”

  Aclima frowned. “None of them. He’ll send a Sheid and whatever Dreads or Possessed he can pay or convince to come. Since the formation of the Ash Angel Organization, Cain’s had a hard time getting Loremasters to stick their necks out. Without his pendant—”

  “Pendant’s missing,” Helo said. He still couldn’t believe they hadn’t destroyed it.

  Crane nodded. “Exactly. If he’s acquired it, it’s possible he could force a Loremaster to do his dirty work.”

  “Still unlikely,” Aclima said. “He might—and that’s a big might—send a loyal, rabid dog like Avadan to do it, but if he’s got a decent Sheid at his disposal, he’ll use it instead. Avadan doesn’t stick to plans very well, unless they’re his own.”

  “A decent Sheid?” Commander Crane said.

  “Powerful,” Aclima said. “Helo destroyed his last one in the hold of the Tempest. That Sheid was strong, but not as strong as some have been in the past, thanks to the AAO keeping Loremasters away from atrocity sites.”

  Helo’s eyebrows raised. There had been Shedim more powerful than the one on the Tempest? It had raised a storm akin to a hurricane!

  Commander Crane turn
ed to face her fully. “And it’s your belief he wants Tela so he can build a powerful Sheid?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “To what end?” Crane pressed.

  Aclima shrugged. “He’s dealt the AAO a few big blows over the last couple years. My guess is he wants to keep it up until the AAO is ash.”

  Crane nodded and turned back around. “This is the play, everyone, so listen up. I want Goliath, Argyle, and Shujaa to be on standby with the sanctified weapons in a vehicle at the bottom of the driveway. If we have a Sheid sighting, they will be deployed to deal with it. Faramir will help us with surveillance and comms. Since Helo and Aclima have the least field experience, they will stay here at the house with the remaining sanctified weapon, adding additional security for our decoy.”

  Aclima having the least field experience? Did Commander Crane know how old she was? Aclima, however, seemed unperturbed.

  “Helo comes with us,” Goliath said. “Not optional.”

  Crane frowned. “If you need support, I’ve got experienced soldiers I can—”

  “No,” Goliath said. “You don’t understand, sir. Helo can use Bestowals in desecration fields, can’t be torched, and can kill Shedim without a sanctified weapon.”

  Crane leveled his gaze at Goliath. “And you expect me to believe that pile of—”

  “It’s true, sir,” Argyle said. “All of it.”

  “I’ve witnessed it firsthand,” Goliath added. “So have Faramir and Shujaa.”

  Silence descended. Aclima smirked. Most everyone else stared at Helo like he was some sort of alien.

  Crane measured him up. “Is this true?”

  “Yes, sir,” Helo answered.

  “Then you go with Goliath and Shujaa. Argyle will stay behind.”

  Argyle stopped mid-pace, opened his mouth, and then snapped it shut.

  “Now,” Crane continued, “in the unlikely event that the Dreads breach the perimeter, Corinth, Scarlet, and Opal will retreat to the propane tank on the north side of the building. The idea will be to draw as many of the Dreads near it as possible. We’ve planted enough C4 under it to level everything within fifty yards. Remember, the goal here is to kill as many Dreads and Shedim as we can. There are no normals here, so there really is no failure other than not doing our best. Got it?”