His deep voice rumbled over the purr of the car’s engine as he recounted what he’d seen
Hearing the part about the unknown Angel with the ruined hand, Aaron chimed in.
“His name was Peni. Samoan guy that the Knights brought all the way from Hawaii. The Bruja captured him shortly after the Changes. She has been torturing him this whole time and he finally staged his escape to get me out. Had to sacrifice his fingers to do it.” He turned to Serena. “He and I killed your boss’s bodyguard too.”
Scott regarded Aaron with those solemn, pale eyes. One more good man lost to this fight.
“Peni saved you, and he saved me. The witch probably would have killed me if not for his help.” He paused again as if weighing the implications of the news before continuing with his narrative.
Beside him, June nodded along silently until the end, the part where the Sleepless Knights had slaughtered the prisoners. Aaron also noted the way that she squirmed when Scott spoke of the Bruja. There was something there he couldn’t put his finger on.
“They murdered over a thousand unarmed people!” June stressed through gritted teeth.
“Under direct orders.” Scott added, knowing that Aaron would assume it was soldiers acting rashly in the heat of the moment.
Stunned into silence for a breath, Aaron Dayne struggled to make sense of the information he was being fed. Why would the Sleepless Knights slaughter captive militia? Why hadn’t anyone stopped them?
“Where were all of you when this was happening?”
Scott lowered his eyes shamefully as he explained. “They waited until we’d gone after the Possessed. Into the city… We weren’t there.”
Aaron understood Scott’s embarrassment. His own service had seen many times when he wished he was able to be two places at once.
“You said that the KC brass was on base right? And this other Angel guy?”
“Right, Pope and the Cardinales,” Scott said “and the Archangel.”
“So which one of them gave the order?”
“What do you mean?” Scott was confused.
“The order to kill the prisoners. Who issued the order?”
“It was Bishop.”
“How many Bishops are there?”
“I’m not sure A.D. But it was our Bishop that gave the order. He was assigned to command Genesis Group, the ones clearing the tower and the militia. I’m lucky to have heard the orders at all. Most of us don’t wear radios, because the ‘Knights will follow wherever we go.”
“So you were live on the radio the entire time and you never heard orders issued from this Pope or the others?” Dayne pressed.
Scott frowned thoughtfully before answering.
“No.”
Aaron wasn’t sure what to make of it. Of course it was commonplace for Generals to relay orders through their subordinates, but in cases of such profound impact, the line of communication often fed all the way from the top to avoid confusion and ensure that middle-ranks would not be held accountable in war crimes tribunals.
All of that was true of the normal military, something the Knights of the Clergy certainly could not be classified as.
Aaron had no answers, but certainly understood Scott and June’s suspicion. By the looks on their faces, he could judge that the Swans felt the same way.
Scott spread his wings once again.
“There’s something crazy going on with our so-called allies Aaron. And I don’t want any part of it. Most of us didn’t want any part of this fight in the first place.” he pointed a thick arm toward Serena for emphasis “I say we go home.”
“I second that vote.” June chimed in.
Aaron looked to Bluejean and Mark. The Swans were supposed to be the Perfect Minority. He wished they would open their damned mouths and offer an opinion. Instead they fixed their intense eyes on him and waited.
The afternoon sun hid behind a haze of battle smoke, changing the sky above them a smudgy orange.
“What about Valdez’s body? What do we do with it?”
It was June who answered.
“Nothing. Leave him. He’s killed thousands and not given them the proper respect of a burial. Besides, the Monks will come to claim the crashed helicopters. They’ll find him then.”
It was the tired look on Serena’s angelic face that made Aaron’s decision.
“Alright.” un-slinging his rifle and throwing it in the back seat of the idling car. “Let’s go home. Serena isn’t quite one piece yet, so we’ll drive for now.” then to his huge lifelong friend. “how about an escort?”
Inside the car, the normalcy of their travel was almost uncomfortable. Aaron navigated the streets slowly, cautious in the knowledge that a significant number of possessed had scattered into the city. There was some solace in being surrounded by the best of the Angel army, but not enough to truly put him at ease.
Despite the relative victory of taking down Babel and killing the man who’d organized the Possessed into an army, Aaron’s world was far from safe.
Scott and June had told them the Bruja was still alive somewhere. So too were a fairly large number of the priority Fallen targets who’d fled from the Angels and Monks once the tide of battle turned.
For now, he was happy to be headed home.
No doubt he and the others would have to confront Bishop sooner than later, but by then they’d hopefully have found some answers to the bizarre developments of the day.
Serena kept glancing sidelong at him, one corner of her mouth creeping up in a smile that he hadn’t seen in a long time. Not since before she was an Angel.
“What?” Aaron prodded.
“Nothing.” she shook her blonde head.
“I know that look. It’s not nothing.”
After an extended pause, she turned in her seat to face him.
“While I was unconscious the Archangel came to me in a dream.”
Hair stood on end all over Aaron’s body.
Me too.
“He kept telling me to get up. But I was stuck in white sand and I couldn‘t move.”
“White sand, huh?” he asked her, a puzzled smile tugging at the corners of his own mouth. He dragged a hand over his stubble to hide it.
“Yes, white sand. And there were trees. White trees, like after a snow storm.”
“Did he say anything else?” Aaron prodded, trying to sound thoughtful.
Another long pause, and he could feel her piercing eyes on him.
“He said..” she was having a hard time letting it out, but Aaron could already guess at what she was about to tell him.
Her next words didn’t surprise him, though the tears coursing down her face as she smiled did.
“He said that you needed me…”
THE END
Epilogue
Decrypted Archival File 0455-732
KC Brian Hin Bishop: Zion Province USA
Entry 1: Final Purge Order (success).
Entry 2: Solomon Group, Genesis Group mission (success)
Entry 3: Enemy headquarters (Babel) secured. Assets secured.
Entry 4: Exodus Group mission (failure) KC Exodus Operatives confirmed KIA NOTE: unconfirmed pilot suicide.
Entry 5: Priority Search order for AWOL personalities
Scott Fitzpatrick Angel: whereabouts unknown.
Serena Dayne Angel: whereabouts unknown
Rafael Cruz Angel: whereabouts unknown.
Eugene Moss Angel (designate ‘Swan’): whereabouts unknown
Mark Huntsman Angel (designate ‘Swan’): whereabouts unknown
Aubree Quist Angel (designate ‘Swan’): whereabouts unknown
Natalee Mulcock Angel (designate ‘Swan’): whereabouts unknown
Entry 6: Scriptural Priority Search Order
June Olcontra Angel: whereabouts unknown.
Codename ‘Wicked’: whereabouts unknown. Non-lethal restraint order (suspected pregnancy) Priority.
Entry 7: Sacramental Priority Search and Destroy Order
; Hunter Valdez (codename Prince) whereabouts unknown. Reported deceased (unconfirmed) No remains found at scene of Exodus Group engagement.
Entry 8: SK Archangel in custody (Confirmed) Transport order to site AP-LA
To Light Us, To Guard Us (The Angel War Book 1) Page 58