I was particularly moved when he said, “No insult is more grievous in God’s eyes than to strike down one of his anointed. This heinous crime will not be allowed to stand. We will find the sorcerer who conceived the attack that led to Kiko’s passing, and we will deliver the God’s justice to him and his followers.”
Finally, Milton led the assembled angels in the twenty-third psalm:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
I was so upset I couldn’t speak and could hardly remain upright.
For over an hour, the angels filed past Honah promising their help in finding Caligula and destroying him. Then, once they’d said their piece, they walked into the darkness of the trees and disappeared.
Chapter 18
ONLY THE ANGELS from the San Francisco office remained in the clearing surrounded by redwoods. Honah stood before them and said, “We will go back over every piece of evidence we’ve found and talk to every possible witness again. They need to know we will not rest until we’ve found their leader. They may feel some loyalty to him, and fear him, but we need to make them fear us more. They will know no peace until we have avenged our lost warrior.”
I cheered the sentiment, and so did everybody else.
Then Honah transported us, a hundred strong, to the San Francisco headquarters. I couldn’t imagine how much power he held to be able to accomplish that task so effortlessly.
When I sat down at my desk, I began going over each step of the investigation. It was extraordinarily depressing to see how much effort we’d put into this case without a payoff. What are we missing?
I couldn’t put my finger on anything. So, I changed approaches and wondered what I would do if I were trying to hide from demons. The main people I would rely upon were my family. Dad would chew me out if he thought I’d done something wrong, but he would also protect me against all comers except God Himself.
But as I thought further, I realized that if I were forced to hide out, I couldn’t go to Dad. His Idaho ranch would be the first place anyone would look.
In Caligula’s case, his parents were dead. The local police had already moved on and interviewed all of his brothers and sisters. They claimed their evil older brother hadn’t bothered to stay in touch with family.
I wasn’t convinced. As I thought about my family harder, I recognized that I had lots of options. If I were in big trouble, I had dozens of obscure relatives to choose from, some of whom were very trustworthy. The key would be to find somebody my pursuers wouldn’t think to contact.
My cousin Margaret immediately came to mind. She’d once been married to one of my uncles, but she’d divorced him for drinking too much. Even though I was on his side of the family, Maggie and I had always gotten along famously. She was a tough old bird who’d grown up on Idaho’s high, dusty plains.
Even better, she had a little side business making whiskey, and she didn’t care for strangers snooping around. I hadn’t seen her for a few years, but she’d always liked to talk to me at family reunions. That’s where I’d go first.
Who would Caligula choose? I had no clue, but I needed to find out.
To that end, I found Honah talking with several angels about next steps and waited for him to finish. His face had resumed its normal calm expression, but I wasn’t fooled. His brown eyes still blazed.
When he finished with the other angels, I laid out my thinking about Caligula’s family.
For the first time all day, he smiled. “That’s why we wanted a professional investigator in the legion. It’s an excellent idea. I will pair you with a new guardian angel. You can begin searching for Caligula’s distant relatives. All I know is that his brother, Antonio, owns an Italian restaurant named Romero’s in Alameda. You can start exploring the sorcerer’s family connections with his brother.”
I appreciated help from another angel, but I was hoping to work with Jack again. “You know, Jack and I make a great team.”
The chief shook his head. “That is true, but he has no time to follow you around. Senior FBI officials are insisting that he help them develop their lines of inquiry. Plus, I have to consider how much trouble you seem to attract, without even trying. I need to pair you with a particularly strong fighter.”
I’d thought both Griffin and Kiko had been strong fighters, certainly much better than me, but they hadn’t been able to stand up to the worst the demon world threw at us. If I was lucky, I was going to find Caligula at the end of my search. Assuming I did, it would be a great comfort to have someone with me who was strong enough to take him on. “You’re the boss.”
A female angel who was tall and lanky approached us. Her hands seemed to reach down to her knees. That was a definite plus for sword fighting. Her shoulder-length hair was light blonde, almost white, and her face was to thin, as though she might be anorexic. I had noticed her in the office, but we’d never talked.
“This is Sonja,” Honah said. “She is an excellent warrior. You two will work together.”
Her face pinched, but she didn’t say anything. I was obviously not her first choice as a partner.
I couldn’t help but ask myself, Does she think I got Kiko killed? I wouldn't blame her since I blame myself.
She sighed. “As you wish, sir.”
I definitely wasn’t at the top of her partner list. I’d just have to work extra hard to convince her to give me a chance.
Honah pointed at her. “You two will work together, perhaps for centuries, so make the best of it.” To me, he said, “Sonja will take on a new persona, that of an FBI agent. I will have a set of credentials prepared for her immediately. When she is about to interview someone, you will share her mind until you can transfer into the witness’ head. That way, Sonja can ask questions as the police would, and you can ensure that the responses are truthful and complete. Any questions from either of you?”
I held up my hand like a school kid. “How should we get from place to place? I don’t want to keep bothering you all the time. I know you’re incredibly busy.”
“For shorter trips, either fly or take one of the vehicles in our garage. For investigations farther away, I will still teleport you to save time. We need to find Caligula before he kills again.”
I wanted to make another pitch for working with Jack instead, but one look at Honah’s stern expression told me to keep quiet. Sonja probably had the same idea, but she bit her lower lip instead of speaking.
Honah walked away to deal with another crisis.
He expected both of us to make the best of it, and I was willing to do my part. I stuck out my hand to her. “I’m very happy to work with you.”
She ignored my hand. “Kiko told me you are unbelievably clumsy and ignorant of our ways. I will not tolerate either stupidity or incompetence. Is that clear?”
Before I could think up some snappy comeback, Honah returned to us. “I forgot to create Sonja’s new FBI persona.”
Before my eyes, she turned into a young woman who reminded me of Reese Witherspoon wearing a navy-blue business suit. “Wow! You’re really sharp.”
She sneered at me. “I find your comment insulting.”
I wasn’t trying to start a fight. I’d just reacted without thinking. “Sorry, I’m not saying the new Sonja is prettier, just very different.”
Honah rolled his eyes and put up his hand to stop me before I could dig myself in any deeper. “Bick
ering will not help.” Then he left us again.
I hoped the sniping would end there, but no such luck. Sonja stared at me with a furrowed brow. “I cannot for the life of me imagine what Inga sees in you.”
I hadn’t meant to insult her, so I let her comment pass. “If you give me a minute to find the restaurant Honah mentioned, we can be on our way.”
She didn’t agree, but she didn’t object either. “The legal maxim is Qui tacet consentire. Silence gives consent,” I said. I’d learned that from one of my dad’s favorite movies, A Man for All Seasons.
Again, she remained quiet and changed back to her normal human form. I returned to my desk and googled the address for Romero’s restaurant. Before I stood, an FBI badge and matching identification card in the name of Ingrid Lund appeared on my desk.
Sonja and I took the elevator down to the underground garage. “Do you know how to drive a car?” I asked.
“I am fully licensed. Honah insists that we all be.”
She hadn’t answered the question, but I wasn’t trying to put her down. “I’m happy to let you drive if you prefer, but you should know the traffic in this city is among the worst in the world. If you are uncertain about your skills, I’m happy to drive instead.”
She extended her hand for the keys, and I gave them to her. It was Sunday, so the streets were much quieter than on a weekday. She couldn’t get into too much trouble, at least I hoped not.
It took her a few minutes to figure out how to exit the garage with the key card, but she didn’t ask for help as I fought the urge to mansplain.
Part of the reason the traffic was so bad was that the city was continually tearing up huge sections of roadway. And thanks to all the one-way streets, she found it impossible to head toward the Oakland Bay Bridge. She tried for ten minutes before she began swearing in Swedish.
I let her vent and waited as patiently as I could while knowing that we were wasting valuable time.
Finally, she said, “I knew we should’ve asked Honah to teleport us.”
Offering an olive branch, I asked, “Do you want me to tell you how to get where we want to go?”
“No.” She kept driving in the only direction that the numerous road closures allowed, moving in the opposite direction from the bridge.
Finally, she slammed her palms against the steering well and braked to a stop. “They make this impossible.”
“They surely do,” I said with an even voice, “but I have the luxury of sitting here and looking at a map on my phone instead of having to avoid this city’s crazy drivers.”
“Fine, just get us the hell out of here.”
I gave her the best directions possible under the circumstances, and we finally got turned around. Unfortunately, a couple of the streets that should’ve led us to the bridge were blocked by large delivery trucks. That forced us to take additional detours.
But we finally made it. A half-hour after we’d started out, we reached the bridge that headed east over the bay.
Thankfully, once we left San Francisco, we found it to be a lot easier to get around. Sonja made it to Alameda without getting into any accidents.
As soon as we drove into Alameda, it was obvious that this town had seen better days. I did a quick search on my phone and discovered that Alameda had once been the site of a major naval air station that had been closed. Most of the shops and restaurants along the way looked old and empty.
We found Romero’s, and although we arrived during the dinner hour, the parking lot was only half-full.
Sonja turned into her movie star gorgeous form again, and I bit my tongue to keep from complementing her on how attractive she looked.
Before I merged into her head, she said, “If you snoop into my private affairs, I will find a way to annihilate you in the most painful manner possible. Is that clear?”
“Yeah, that’s pretty damned clear. Just keep one thing in mind—if you kill me, the chief is likely to get annoyed. I’m his only detective, you know?”
She didn’t respond. I slipped into her mind and ignored everything about her. I wasn’t about to invade her privacy. The boss wouldn’t appreciate that, and he’d no doubt make me suffer for ignoring his warning about stopping the bickering.
A young hostess smiled at Sonja. “One for dinner?”
She shook her head. “I would like to speak to Antonio Romero, privately please.”
The hostess’ smile vanished, and she hurried off toward the bar. A moment later a man with a wrinkled face and snow-white hair approached Sonja.
“If this is about that carton of veal, I told the delivery driver it had spoiled.”
Sonja shook her head. “I’m Special Agent Ingrid Lund, FBI, and I’d like to ask you a few questions about your brother, Caligula Giovanni.”
Antonio’s face blanched. “I don’t know anything about him. I haven’t seen or spoken to him in over a decade. In fact, I changed my name to separate from him completely. That’s all I have to say.”
I slipped into his mind as he was speaking. It would’ve been more accurate for him to say that was all he wanted to say, but definitely not all he knew. Caligula was the oldest brother, in his early sixties, and Romero was seven years younger. By using glamor or some other kind of magic, the older brother had fooled Father Time. He’d never aged past his early thirties.
I also learned that the Giovanni family had been practicing sorcery from time immemorial. Antonio knew he had magical powers, but he stopped using them when he fell in love with a devout Catholic. Four decades later, they were still married and attended mass every Sunday.
Antonio’s strong faith had made for very awkward holidays with the other Giovannis, even though Caligula never attended those get-togethers. Most of the others were too sympathetic to evil.
In between the two brothers, their parents had been blessed with three daughters, Carmelita, Aurora, and Lucinda. They’d each had families, and counting the in-laws and their progeny, Caligula was related to at least fifty people in the Bay Area. Any of them could be hiding the sorcerer.
Sonja asked Antonio for specific information about where each of his family members were located, and he realized he wasn’t going to get rid of her quickly. So, he took her to a quiet corner of the empty bar. She pulled out her smart phone and surprised me with her dexterity in two-finger typing as she recorded the addresses Antonio gave her from a well-thumbed address book.
He turned out to be a lot more useful than he’d first suggested. While Sonja kept him preoccupied, I rummaged around in his mind for clues about who might be the family members Caligula would trust the most. It didn’t take long for me to come up with a list of a dozen names we should focus on first.
The more Antonio talked to Sonja, the more he opened up about the family dynamics. Maybe that was due to her beauty, and maybe it was due to her personality. She could be quite charming when she wanted to be.
Finally, Sonja asked, “How did Caligula turn out to be such a monster?”
Antonio flinched then said, “Over the generations, magic has manifested itself in many members of my family, including our father, Giuseppe. During his lifetime, he’d loved to use it to take advantage of people. And he found a perfect wife, a beautiful demigoddess nymph named Sophia. Their firstborn, Caligula, exceeded their wildest expectations. From an early age, he showed a talent for magic. When he was sixteen, they sent him to a special school for sorcerers in Sicily. When he came back at age twenty-one, he’d become immortal by accepting Satan as his lord and master.”
“How long did it take him to gain control of San Francisco?” she asked.
“Within a decade, he’d defeated all the top demons in the Bay Area. None of them have challenged his power for at least twenty years.”
The more I learned about Caligula, the more I worried. He had transcended so many of the limitations that kept humans from confronting angels and winning.
Then Antonio brought his wife out of the kit
chen, and Sonja asked her about the Giovanni family. The wife didn’t know much except that most of them loved to practice black magic. That was enough for her to keep her distance.
I confirmed the wife’s worry and her ignorance, so Sonja talked to the only other member of the family here. One of Antonio’s granddaughters was the hostess. She couldn’t help us because she also stayed away from her dad’s side of the family.
I merged with Sonja’s mind again when she thanked Antonio for his help. Once we were back in the car, we compared notes before driving off. I told her what I’d learned from Antonio’s mind. Then I gave her my list of the dirty dozen in the Giovanni family. “If we go in order of the worst-first, I think we want to talk to Carmelita next.”
Sonja’s brow furrowed. “Why her?”
“Because she scares Antonio the most. He thinks she’s closest to Caligula.”
Sonja snorted. “He hardly knows his brother and sisters anymore. You’re guessing.”
I didn’t want every decision on our next steps to become an argument, so I gave in. “Fine, who would you like to meet next?”
She hemmed and hawed without giving me a name.
“I’m happy to let you decide,” I said. “I realize you don’t know me well enough to trust my judgment.”
Her lips tightened into a narrow line, and her eyes flashed. “Wrong again. I know enough to know I can trust you to get us both destroyed.”
We were stuck in neutral. “I’m just trying to move the case forward. We’ll go in any direction you like. Just pick someone to talk to next.”
She sat there fuming for some reason. Finally, I said, “If I were you, I’d think about what Honah is going to see when he checks our memories next. Maybe, for the time being, you want to go along with the expert detective’s approach. Just a suggestion.”
Her lip curled, but she didn’t respond.
Infernal Justice (Angels at the Edge Book 2) Page 18