by Jeff Kirvin
Susan was speechless.
"Susan, it's important for you to be strong. You and Daniel are heroes to your people, and with Daniel turning on us, it's important that people know that they can still rely on you. Can you do that?"
Susan's mind raced a mile a minute, but she managed a nod.
"Good,” Michael said.
"No shit,” Ricardo Jones said as he finished reading.
"You don't seem terribly surprised,” Daniel said, looking over Jones’ shoulder.
Jones swiveled in his chair and motioned for Daniel to sit. “I'm not,” he said. “Why else do you think we're here?"
Jones leaned in a little closer to Daniel and lifted his eyepatch. While his left eye was a deep, rich brown, the right was a sickly, milky bluish-white. The iris was contracted to a pinprick, and it didn't react at all when exposed to the light. “Congenital defect,” Jones said. “I was born with only one good eye.” He lowered the eyepatch into place again. “Since I've never known what's it's like to see with two eyes, it never really bothered me."
Jones leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, running his fingers over his short, black hair. “I'd never really considered it a disability, and neither did the angels, at first. But I knew people with real disabilities. People that either needed constant medical care, like diabetics and hemophiliacs, or people with problems that made it difficult for them to interact with society, mental retardation, that sort of thing. One by one, over a period of months, these people disappeared into the night. When anyone asked the authorities what happened to them, the answer was always the same."
"Care Centers,” Daniel said.
Jones smiled. “Give the man a cigar. Yeah, Care Centers. You ever hear the phrase ‘Those that forget the past are condemned to repeat it'?"
"Santayana,” Daniel said.
"Yeah. Well, I'm a student of history. As a matter of fact, I was working on my Masters when the angels came into power. My thesis was on the psychology of the Nazis, and I'd seen this pattern of behavior before. I figured I could either disappear or wait for them to get around to taking me. I chose the former."
Jones gestured around to the others in the sanctuary. “Others had the same idea. Everyone in here, according to this,” he said, holding up Daniel's disk, “would have been tagged by the angels as unfit to reproduce, and eventually eliminated."
He threw the disk in Daniel's lap. “Except for you,” he finished.
Daniel barely had time to grab the disk before the hulking brute that guided him in grabbed him from behind and pulled him out of the chair.
Jones stood and walked over to him. “Bob here doesn't say much, but he's very strong. Now why don't you tell us what Michael's lap dog is really doing here?"
Before Daniel could get a word out, someone called, “Ricardo! Take a look at this!"
Jones walked over to the other man, part of a group surrounding a television. Bob followed, with Daniel securely in tow.
Michael's face was on the screen. Someone turned up the sound. “In light of these events,” the angel said, “I have no choice but to charge Daniel Cho with Heresy Against the State, a capital crime. We can't afford to allow anyone, not even a former hero, to jeopardize what we have built here. The state is offering a substantial reward for information leading to the arrest of Daniel Cho, and all citizens are instructed not to deal with him directly. He is considered armed, delusional and extremely dangerous. Thank you.” The screen returned to normal programming.
Jones turned and looked thoughtfully at Daniel. “Bob,” he said. “we need to talk about this privately. If you could?"
Daniel felt Bob's forearm constrict around his neck, then everything went black.
Daniel awoke to smelling salts. The first person he saw was Ricardo Jones, but he then noticed that most of the denizens of the sanctuary stood behind their leader.
"Daniel Cho,” Jones said, “you are a very lucky man. We put it to a vote, and most of us decided that the reward for turning you in wasn't worth the risk of being captured ourselves. You are, for the foreseeable future, our guest. Welcome to the Underground."
Resistance
ONE YEAR LATER.
"This is Susan Richardson with a Heavenly News Bulletin.
"Last night, the world celebrated its second full year of peace and unity. Michael was quoted as being pleased with the turnout, and that he looked forward to many such celebrations in the future.
"In other news, there is no truth to the rumor that a Care Center east of Los Angeles was the target of a bombing four days ago. As seen here, the Care Center is undamaged, and the patients inside are still happily and safely continuing their treatment and work towards their eventual recovery. Authorities believe the rumor began as part of an effort by the terrorists in the Underground as part of a propaganda campaign designed to undermine the public's trust in Heaven. Citizens are instructed to ignore such rumors in the future.
"The worldwide curfew instituted by Michael last month seems to be working. Street crime is down nearly eighty percent, with further reductions expected. Most citizens we questioned were strongly in favor of the curfew, stating that they felt safer than they had in years.
"This has been a Heavenly News Update."
Daniel Cho had had a busy year. Things had been a bit rocky at first, as Jones and the rest of the Underground didn't really trust him. After a few months (and more of Gabriel's sweeps), they'd started to come around, and Daniel began to make the change from captive to collaborator.
The Underground was far more widespread than Daniel initially thought. It seemed that as soon as Michael took over, there were people that disagreed with him, his policies, or both. Though Daniel had been introduced to the Los Angeles of the Underground, it existed to some extent in nearly every major city around the world. Organized loosely to put it charitably, the Underground had no central leadership, but the various groups did keep in touch with one another and passed on information. Daniel felt this would be useful when the time came.
Daniel and Ricardo Jones became good friends. Once their initial skepticism wore off, most of the Underground began to treat Daniel almost as if he were visiting royalty, but not Jones. The de facto leader of the Los Angeles Underground, he treated Daniel with the respect due his accomplishments, but also regarded him as a valuable resource. Jones was still in charge in L.A., and Daniel saw no reason to challenge that.
The Los Angeles Underground was several hundred strong by the second year of Michael's reign. Most of the members were like Ricardo; they'd gone into hiding to avoid being captured because they didn't measure up to the angels’ standards of perfection. A small but steadily growing portion of the Underground, though, was composed of perfectly healthy individuals that had decided to stand against the angels’ regime.
The Underground had kept busy, raiding everything from junkyards to the angels’ supply depots for supplies, though they never attacked civilian targets. After two years, they were finally ready for something big.
Daniel and Ricardo sat in a makeshift planning room, going over some maps and aerial photographs of an area south of Los Angeles. In the warehouse around them, the Underground's forces readied for a major assault.
"If we come in here, from the north,” Ricardo said, “they'll be less likely to see us coming."
"They're going to see us either way, Ricardo,” Daniel answered. “If we come in from the north and they do see us, we have fewer avenues of retreat. We should come in from the east, towards the service entrance."
Ricardo leaned back in his seat and rubbed his eyepatch, something Daniel had often seen him do when he was frustrated or annoyed. “Damn,” he said. “Why's a damn Care Center have to be done up like a fort?"
"Because it's not a hospital. It's a death camp. Michael knows by now that I'm one of you, even if he can't find me. He's scared to death that we'll do exactly what we're doing. Consider us lucky. Last we checked, the camp didn't have any armored angels as prot
ection. We get in and out fast enough, we can rescue the inmates and be gone before any armor shows up."
Jones stood and opened the door. “That's a mighty big ‘if', Daniel.” He left.
Daniel smiled and looked over the maps one more time. He knew what they had planned was a terrible risk, but it had to be done. More people died in that camp every day they waited, and to rescue them the way Daniel had suggested almost a month ago would draw attention to their cause, and maybe help make up the minds of the so many people that were uneasy about the angels, but didn't really know why. Daniel knew that if it didn't go off well, if he were captured, then he was as good as dead. Michael still had egg on his face from Daniel's defection, and Daniel was still considered a Heretic by the government. He didn't care, really. He'd been a marked man in one way or another ever since witnessing Batarel's resurrection at that car wreck, so long ago. He'd learned to live with it and do what must be done. This rescue qualified. Rolling up the maps, he followed Ricardo.
Late that night, they approached from the east, as Daniel suggested. The Care Center was about the size of a large hospital complex, but most of the buildings were only one or two stories tall. There were no other buildings for miles, an insurance taken by the angels that the only view most citizens would ever have of a Care Center was what they saw on television. The buildings themselves were clean, white and they looked very medical. The fences topped with razor wire were far enough away as to not be seen by the occasional television camera.
Daniel and Ricardo crouched in the brush about a half-mile away from the fences, watching closely with binoculars. They were surrounded by a dozen of the Underground's best fighters. Nearly a mile behind them, out of sight from the complex, was an array of makeshift armored vehicles, all internal combustion powered, and therefore illegal. Least of our worries, Daniel mused.
"Not much activity,” Ricardo said.
"Not yet, but there will be. Remember,” said Daniel, speaking to all of them, “the angels are fast, even without armor. Don't even get near one hand to hand. And don't waste your grenades. They're your only effective weapons. Use them only when you're sure they'll do some good.
"Once we get that fence down, two things will happen. Our people will haul ass in there and start loading people into vans, and the angels will try to stop that from happening. Your primary concern is to protect the vans. Don't go chasing after any angels that might try to draw you away. That's my job."
Ricardo looked quizzically at Daniel.
"The instant we blow down the gate, I've got to find and destroy the commandant. It'll buy us more time, and send a message as well. Don't wait for me."
Ricardo nodded, then spoke into a walkie-talkie. “Everyone ready?"
He received various affirmative replies, then looked again at Daniel. “May as well get this over with,” he said.
Daniel smiled grimly, and nodded.
Ricardo keyed the walkie-talkie again. “Go."
Liberation
Once the word was given, things happened quickly. Daniel, Ricardo and the others rushed the service entrance, blowing it open with their grenades only moments before the speeding Underground vans barreled through the opening. Daniel clapped a hand on Ricardo's shoulder. “Don't wait for me!"
Ricardo nodded, then followed the vans. Daniel loped off to the north, where they were fairly sure the commandant's office must be.
Ricardo was thankful. They'd taken the angels by surprise, and met almost no resistance at all making their way to the holding areas. They'd seen only one angel so far, and Bob dispatched him fairly quickly. Thirty seconds with no trouble, he thought. Not bad.
He knew the situation wouldn't last, though. Already, the warning sirens were blazing throughout the complex. Judging by the reaction times they'd recorded at the other Care Center they'd bombed, they had two more minutes until the complex's unarmored guards arrived, and ten minutes beyond that until the armor dispatched from Heaven showed up. They had to move quickly.
On Ricardo's signal, the lead van, one specially modified with an armored grill, plunged through the wall of central holding facility. The instant the cinderblocks stopped falling, Ricardo was through the hole. “We're the Underground!” he shouted at the pale, emaciated people inside. “We're here to rescue you!"
While the others started loading people into the trucks, Ricardo looked to the north, waiting for the angels to come, and wondering what Daniel was doing.
Daniel wasn't sure what he was doing. He and Ricardo had studied everything they could about the layout of the Care Centers, and he thought he knew his away around one pretty well. He quickly discovered that knowing the layout of place from the air and knowing it from the ground were two different things.
He wasn't lost, exactly. He still knew roughly where in the complex he was, and he knew the route back to the exit and rendezvous with Ricardo and the others. He just had no idea where the commandant was.
"Stop where you are,” commanded a voice behind him. “And drop your weapon."
Daniel stopped and turned around slowly, dropping his grenade launcher on his right foot. One of the dozen or so angels in the complex, one of Gabriel's security goons by his uniform, held a pistol aimed in Daniel's direction.
The angel smiled. “I can't believe my good fortune. You're Daniel Cho."
Daniel shrugged.
"Gabriel's been looking long and hard for you, traitor. I'm going to look awfully good when I turn you in."
Daniel cocked an eyebrow and grinned.
"You have something to say, Cho?"
"No,” Daniel said as he dropped backwards to the ground, simultaneously ducking the angel's bullet and kicking the grenade launcher back into his hand. Within seconds, all that was left of the angel was a smoking wet spot on the wall of the nearest building.
"I'll be damned. It worked.” Daniel kept looking.
Ricardo hastily glanced at his watch as he waved more people into the trucks. They were running out of time.
As if on cue, the angels arrived. They weren't armored, instead wearing the tan/gold uniforms of Heaven Security. They were armed, however, and while the automatic weapons they carried were only a nuisance to an immortal, they were lethal enough against a human. “We have company!” Ricardo yelled. “Don't let them near the trucks!"
Humans and angels opened fire simultaneously. In the first few seconds, a handful of angels were blown apart and a handful of humans were cut in half by automatic weapons fire. Both sides dropped back to regroup.
"Keep firing!” Ricardo shouted. Maybe half the prisoners were loaded, and unless his men could keep the angels a safe distance away, they'd die anyway, along with their rescuers.
He hoped Daniel was faring better.
Daniel finally got his bearings and thought he knew where he was. Directly ahead of him was the building he and Ricardo had agreed to be their central command building. It was huge, white and marble, with giant ornate columns. This single building probably outweighed and cost more than the rest of the complex combined. Angelnomics, Daniel thought. Only the best for humanity's keepers. He had just started up the front steps when instinct told him to duck.
An explosive shell whistled over his head and exploded about thirty meters behind him. When Daniel looked up, he saw an armored angel step out the door. Too soon! he thought. Then he realized it was alone.
Of course the commandant would have a personal suit.
"Daniel Cho,” the angel said through its amplified loudspeaker. “I suppose it's too much to ask that you've come to turn yourself in?"
Daniel smiled and raised his grenade launcher.
Instead of making a move to dodge or fight back, the angel just stood there. “Please, human. That might make a difference against a normal angel, but it will hardly dent my armor. What are you going to do, pummel me with it?"
Sort of, you smug bastard. Daniel adjusted his aim and fired a grenade into the marble column next to the angel. It collapsed, bringing tons of mar
ble crashing down on the commandant as Daniel leapt aside. When the dust cleared, only the angel's armored head and shoulders were in view.
"Now,” Daniel said, “about that pummeling?” He aimed the launcher squarely at the angel's head.
"Faster!” Ricardo screamed. His men were running out of grenades, and he was running out of men. Only Bob and a few others still stood, while many of the others that still lived did so only if Ricardo could get them medical attention quickly enough. The only good part of his situation was that most of the prisoners were free.
He checked his watch. Two more minutes until the cut off. He and the trucks had to be out of the complex and to the camouflaged safe havens within five, or the flying angels would spot them.
"Go!"
Bob crept over to him. The mute gave the hand signal to go. The loading was complete.
"We're out of here!” Ricardo shouted. He made his way to the nearest truck, Bob providing cover fire, as he then provided for Bob. The instant the large man was in the truck it lurched forward and Ricardo shut the reinforced back door.
They had done it.
Daniel ran through the complex, trying to make it to the exit before the armor arrived.
As he ran along the outer fence, he saw the trucks receding in the distance. Good for them, he thought. Now if only I can survive this.
He heard them before he saw them. The deep thundering roar of the angels wing-mounted rockets. He looked at his watch. Damn, they're early!
He was only fifty meters from the exit, but it was all open ground. He got as close as he could to the nearest building, and waited for the angels to land. If they landed near the exit, he was dead.
Fate smiled on him. From the sound of their rockets, they landed near the Command Center, probably to check with the commandant before combing the area.
Daniel took the opportunity to race into the southern California desert, where the others waited for the angels to fly away again.