* * *
Raphael choked back his laughter, seeing Stanforth approach them.
“Please excuse us, Jim, we…we’re a little in over our heads. Would it be possible for us to drive this vehicle out of here today?” Raphael put an arm around the salesman.
“I will make it happen, Sir.” Stanforth smiled up at Raphael with real affection. “Just give me the word.”
Raphael glanced at Catherine almost guiltily. He saw she was listening to a presentation with Angelina pointing out the different gadgets and controls inside the Hummer H2. Raphael reached into his pocket and pulled out a small diamond. He took Stanforth’s hand and placed the diamond within its palm.
“Jim, take this as appreciation for your help in this venture.” Raphael folded Stanforth’s hand around the stone. The salesman tried to give it back.
“I can’t take this, Sir,” Stanforth protested. “I…”
“Yes you can, Jim,” Raphael reiterated quietly, grasping Stanforth’s hand with both of his. “You’re a good man. Take the stone and do more, both for yourself and others who you think worthy.”
“I…I will, my Lord Raphael,” Stanforth agreed solemnly. Let me go and get this tedious paperwork done on your new purchase.”
“Of course, Jim.”
* * *
“You drive beautifully, Sister Angelina,” Raphael complimented their driver as she expertly maneuvered through San Francisco city traffic.
“Call me, Ange.” Angelina glanced quickly at Raphael in her rear view mirror before returning her attention to the road. “Cat and I did a lot of driving in the Lincoln Navigator. We are quite proficient.”
“Where’re we going, by the way?” Raphael asked.
Angelina giggled. “Nowhere actually - I was just driving around, getting used to the… hey… look. An address just popped up on our GPS screen.”
A moment later the modulated computer voice began instructing Angelina on how to reach the address on the screen with specific directions. Angelina turned to Abaddon, who was staring at the screen intently.
Abaddon touched Angelina’s hand gently. “Go there, Ange. Follow the directions.”
Angelina turned right at the next street as directed, concentrating on navigating the huge vehicle through traffic. Abaddon faced Raphael in the backseat with a questioning look. Raphael smiled and nodded his head.
“We have received a new mission, Sisters. We meander across the Earth to a place we seemingly picked at random. We then decide, again seemingly at random, to pick out a mode of transportation. I am as confused by this concept of free will as I have ever been.”
“How…how do you know, Raph?” The small hairs on the back of Catherine’s neck tingled and she shivered.
“Abaddon and I can feel it, Cat.”
“Yes - the feeling is more intense than even the child in Palestine.” Abaddon’s agreed. “Something is different. When the address appeared on the screen, the illusion of my human form nearly dropped from my grasp.”
“I…I thought we knew our enemy now,” Catherine commented. “What do you mean by different?”
“We don’t know, Cat. My brother’s intuition on this feels justified to me.”
“The address is within the Presidio district,” Angelina pointed out. “The military used that entire area as a base until recently. It was given over to the Park Service a while back. They turned it into plush office spaces and all kinds of stuff.”
“You will have to be careful, Abaddon,” Raphael cautioned. “It will be difficult in this country to remain incognito if whole building structures disappear.”
Abaddon grinned at his brother. “Raph, are you saying I must not damage the furniture while I battle unknown demons to the death?”
Raphael laughed, enjoying Abaddon’s improving grasp of subtlety. “It does sound rather stupid when you put it that way. In answer to your question, I wish for you to win without injury to yourself. We will have to worry about damage control later.”
“I never considered the collateral aspects of these undertakings,” Catherine remarked. “We could be arrested for approaching some of the people we wish to help and imprisoned for the damage which occurs as a result of what we do.”
Abaddon placed a reassuring hand on Catherine’s right hand. “I don’t think so. I will be focused. These collateral concerns incurred in the process will not hinder us. As Raph and I promised you, there will be no further imprisoning - not as long as Raph and I exist.”
Catherine smiled at Abaddon’s intense look. “I know.”
“Hey, Cat, remember when we came out here to visit the missions and we took a tour of the Presidio?”
“Yes, I remember. It is a beautiful place but windy and cold.”
“Never mind the weather. I just remembered what the address is we’re going to. It’s the old Coast Guard Station where they house all the lefty environmental whacko organizations.”
“Lefty?” Abaddon questioned.
“Cat and I thought we were lefties.” Angelina reached over to pat Abaddon’s hand. “We learned differently when we were hauling our older parishioners all over. They always wanted to listen to Rush Limbaugh on the radio if we picked them up during his broadcast time. If we were traveling later in the day they wanted either Sean Hannity or Michael Savage tuned in.”
“I remember all those times. We were so naïve.”
“Anyway, lefties think you can stop human monsters by getting on your knees and begging for mercy,” Angelina continued. “As long as the monsters ain’t after them, anything they do is okay. Lefties want to give the poor and downtrodden money and goods - as long as it comes out of someone else’s pocket.”
“Yes,” Catherine nodded her head in agreement, “and everyone has to share, except for them. The rich and powerful ones fly to obscure third world nations in gas guzzling jets and limousines to promote environmental causes. Their goof-ball lefty scientists make a living out of scams like Global Warming. A few decades ago they were making money on the coming ice age. When the funding died down on that con they switched to Global Warming.”
The Archangels listened with amused intent as the two nuns went through a litany of indicators concerning the habits of lefties. Raphael noticed Catherine became more and more animated as she traded bits of information with Angelina. Catherine turned finally toward Raphael, grasping his hand with both hers.
“And listen to this, Raph, the real flaky ones don’t believe in God. They’ve initiated all kinds of goofy holidays, like Earth Day, where the rabid environmentalists worship Gaea.”
“You mean the mythological Earth Mother the Greeks believed gave birth to the Titans?” Raphael asked. “I didn’t know the Greek Gods were having such a resurgence.”
“They’re bigger than ever thanks to the enviro-nuts indoctrinating the kids in school,” Angelina replied. “In public school Cat and I were taught humanity in general and America in particular was turning the entire world into a huge toilet.”
“Later, we found out the world was a toilet and America was the one making huge strides in cleaning it up,” Catherine added.
“And you two received all this information from the radio?” Raphael asked.
Catherine blushed. “We did our own checking when the old folks laughed at our hair-brained theories we learned in school. Some of them wouldn’t even talk with us about it because they said they were too old to suffer the ignorance of young fools.”
Angelina giggled. “One lady took the time to show us how to check multiple sources on the Internet to prove or disprove what we heard said by someone. We sort of became right wing whackos after that.”
“Meaning?” Abaddon asked.
“We started our own Right Wing Cabal,” Catherine answered sheepishly. “We secretly distributed petitions and took all the others in our righty group to the polls so they could vote. We helped write letters to the President and our Congressional Representatives.”
“We had to hide our activity be
cause the church would have thrown us out,” Angelina confided. “We’re not allowed to be political or the church loses its tax exemption status. It was fun though. We felt good striking back at all those years of indoctrination in school.”
“So Raph and I are Right Wingers too?”
“Yep,” Angelina said with certainty. “If you two were lefties we’d be trying to appease the Demons while finding out the root causes of their anger toward us.”
Catherine laughed, patting Angelina’s shoulder. “Oh, you are so good, Ange. That’s a perfect analogy.”
“So, the lefties are interspersed with young naïve followers who are not evil, just misguided?”
“There are those, Abaddon,” Catherine answered. “Then there are the older naïve ones who have been on the public dole too long. They found out it was possible to vote themselves money out of another citizen’s pocket. They’ve ruined themselves as assets to society.”
“We used to call them the Whining Left because everything out of their mouths is about them,” Angelina explained. “Everything about the way they believe and vote must be concentrated on how it will serve their needs rather than the country or even the basic good of mankind in general.”
“I am very interested in this politics concept,” Abaddon said. “How does one become a politician?”
“Well first you have to kiss everyone’s…”
“Ange!” Catherine cut her off.
Angelina caressed Abaddon’s hand while keeping her attention on driving. “What I mean is you’d make a great politician but you would be unelectable. It takes a lot of money to get elected. I doubt you’d take orders from lobbyists very well or suck up to them for campaign donations?”
“We will have to think this through, Ange,” Raphael said with a mischievous look Catherine recognized right away.
“What are you thinking, Raph?”
“Only that considering the time Lucifer has worked his will upon the masses it stands to reason politics would be a breeding ground for evil, Cat. Does not the President of the United States meet with all world leaders when he wishes?”
“Oh… my… God…” Catherine whispered, turning ashen. “You don’t think to run…”
“Calm down, Cat,” Raphael soothed, stroking the stricken nun’s arm comfortingly. “I was just thinking out loud as to a long term course of action which would bring us into contact with many of the Earth’s leaders both good and bad.”
Angelina gasped in delight, her hands gripping the steering wheel with vigor as she channeled her emotions. “Oh, Raph, you are a genius. Just think if Abaddon could be elected President of the United States, Cat.”
“Boy, would that be a long term goal. We’d have to start building an entire background resume for him right now. Think of all the needed factors involved in working up the political ladder.”
“Like what?” Raphael asked.
“Well for starters, we’d need to set up residence in one place long enough to run for something local first.”
“You could like shake hands with the bigwigs in the Republican Party around here and get them right on board,” Angelina explained. “We can do our missions while positioning Abaddon for a run at political office. It can be a long term back up enterprise.”
“This does sound very entertaining, Raph.”
“It does indeed, brother. After we establish a base, we’ll begin working on background information conducive to this new endeavor.”
“If we’re going all the way,” Catherine chimed in, “we’ll need to establish him as being born in America. Another great plus would be if he did a stint in the military. The public loves it when a veteran runs for office.”
“No way,” Angelina stated, shaking her head in the negative energetically. “He’d be gone for long periods of time. We can make up a military background just like we do his birth certificate.”
“No we can’t, Ange. Other men who serve with him will be contacted like when Kerry ran for President. He would have to serve and be remembered by real people.”
“Then find another long term plan,” Angelina said firmly.
“This military time would be an honorable pursuit, Ange. Besides, I am sure we have a good deal of time before I can even attempt such a thing. I will have to have absolute control over my illusion of humanity. I am far from attaining that skill.”
“But I don’t ever want to be away from you, my Lord.” Angelina gripped Abaddon’s hand with her free one.
“You forget I can visit you whenever I have a moment alone,” Abaddon reminded her.
“I…I guess,” Angelina allowed reluctantly. “There are plenty of politicians without military careers though.”
“Yes, but we will have a much shorter amount of time for career building,” Catherine replied. “I still haven’t figured out a way to do the educational credentials, coupled with people who have attended institutions of learning with him. The education background offers as many problems as a military one when the other side checks.”
“He could have been home schooled. With a military career he might be able to pick up a college degree while in the service.”
“Not bad, Ange.”
“Why can’t Raph go into the military and become President? He’s certainly cynical enough to be President,” Angelina pointed out.
“I have no shadow to my essence, Ange,” Raphael told her. “My ruse would fail, where my brother would be accepted without question. Little subtleties of expression and mannerism would be missing from my performance. I would probably be dismissed from this military stint. I also lack ambition for the political aspect.”
“But you were the one who brought it up.”
“Yes, I know, Cat - it was only because I sensed an interest in such matters from my brother. If we are to attempt such an endeavor it will have to be through Abaddon.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Angelina asked Abaddon. “We can do our work without any extracurricular actions on your part.”
“I sense it is the right option, Ange. As I listened to you and Cat speaking of these political matters it seemed the perfect vehicle to fight Lucifer. We could regain the initiative rather than merely patching up holes in the fabric of reality.”
“Concentrate on the road, Ange!” Catherine shouted as Angelina’s gaze had become all too focused on Abaddon.
Angelina corrected the vehicle’s wayward drift. She stroked Abaddon’s shoulder gently. “It all sounds right when you say it.”
“Thank you, my love,” Abaddon replied, causing near pandemonium as Angelina pulled over abruptly and launched herself over into Abaddon’s arms, kissing him wildly.
“Ange!” Catherine elbowed a laughing Raphael.
Angelina pulled away slowly, caressing Abaddon’s scarred visage. “You called me, my love.”
“You are, my love, little angel.” Abaddon brought Angelina’s hand to his lips. “Can I go into the military, my love?”
“Oh, very well.” Angelina hopped again into the driver’s seat, continuing their journey. She waved at the honking motorists behind them.
“Did you hear, Cat? Abaddon called me his love.”
“Yes, I heard, Ange,” Catherine acknowledged. “You would do well to remember he said the same thing to the waitress who served us this morning.”
Angelina gasped, momentarily taken aback. Abaddon and Raphael laughed immediately at Catherine’s dig. Angelina relaxed the death grip she had put on the steering wheel, smiling back at Catherine in the rear view mirror.
“Good one, Cat. I owe you.”
“You two are a treasure,” Raphael blurted out, still laughing. “It was complete insanity for any normal human to lock you two up in a prison. No wonder our Father sent us down to retrieve you both. I am very happy to be with all of you on this adventure.”
“As am I,” Abaddon added. “How much further to…”
Just then, they felt the Hummer bumped from behind.
“Someone hit us!”
Angelina yelped in panic, pulling over again in a more deliberate manner, allowing other vehicles to pass around them.
Chapter 9
Presidio Ahead
An old beat up green Ford pickup swerved over behind them on the roadside. A dark bearded man of enormous proportions stepped out of the pickup. His belly hung out over his belt under the brown leather vest he wore over a dingy white tee-shirt. The man smoothed his flowing dark brown locks of hair back with both hands before approaching the Hummer. Abaddon met him near the back bumper. The appearance of someone nearly half a foot taller stopped the bearded man in his tracks.
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