by S. J. West
“And we will make sure you reach Washington D. C., sir,” Kate assured him. “We will do just as we said at the dinner party and return to our hotel. There should already be some clothing in your room that you will need to change into to help disguise your true identity.”
“After I put this… disguise on,” Lincoln said looking skeptic about the plan, “who exactly am I supposed to pretend to be?”
“My invalid brother,” Kate replied. “Make sure you slump your shoulders so you’re not so tall and hold one of your arms like its lame. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Lincoln sighed heavily. “I don’t like all this subterfuge. A president shouldn’t have to cower and skulk around in the shadows like a criminal.”
“Excuse me for saying so,” Kate said, “but you’re not officially president yet, sir. But you will be. We’ll make certain of that. You have my word as a Pinkerton.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you come to be an agent for Allan anyway?” Lincoln asked Kate, sounding sincerely curious to know the truth.
Kate shrugged nonchalantly. “I was made a widow at a young age with no means to support myself. When I saw the advertisement Allan had in the paper for detectives, I thought I could prove myself useful to him. Though, when I first walked into his office, he thought I wanted a job as a secretary, but I soon had him seeing the light of reason. Since then, he’s learned just how beneficial it is to have a female detective working for him. In the future, I have a feeling you’ll be seeing more female agents working under the Pinkerton moniker, sir.”
“If they are as efficient as you, Ms. Warne, I have no doubt,” Lincoln praised.
Abe Lincoln’s penetrating gaze transferred to me.
“And what is your purpose in this plan, young man?” He asked.
Kate smiled at me and answered, “Oh, he’s my arm candy, sir. Women are notoriously excellent observers and tend to notice the smallest detail about things that happen around them. With Aiden as my escort, women will be so distracted by his charm and good looks that they won’t pay any attention to me as I help my ailing brother through the train terminal.”
Lincoln nodded as if he approved of my part in the plan.
Once we reached our hotel, Kate’s scheme was immediately put into action. After Lincoln dressed in his disguise, which consisted of a worn cape, floppy hat and scuffed up shoes, we travelled to the train station. There we were met by Lincoln’s self-appointed bodyguard and close friend, Ward Hill Lamon.
“I thought you were going to meet us on the train,” Kate chastised the man, who was at least twice her size and not in the least bit inconspicuous.
“I don’t think I’ve hidden the fact that I don’t trust you Pinkertons,” Lamon said grumpily. “I certainly don’t trust you with the fate of one of my closest friends.”
“Whatever, Ward,” Kate said, disembarking the carriage, “just make sure you keep your distance and stay out of our way.”
“I’ll keep my distance,” Lamon begrudgingly agreed. “But at the first sign of danger, you better get out of my way, Ms. Warne.”
I walked in front of Kate as she helped her “brother” through the train depot and to the private sleeping car that had been especially attached to the end of the train for our mission. During the walk, Kate made sure to speak loudly so everyone within earshot would know Lincoln was her disabled. It was only after we entered the sleeping car that Kate seemed to relax. Lamon joined us shortly after and Lincoln appeared genuinely glad to have his friend’s company during remainder of the trip.
We travelled from Harrisburg to Philadelphia and then on to Baltimore that night where the supposed plot to assassinate Lincoln was to take place. Thankfully, nothing happened. To be honest, I’m not sure there ever really was a plot to assassinate Lincoln that night, but I always thought he was smart to err on the side of caution. If he had been assassinated before the war, the history of America would have been forever changed.
As we left the Baltimore train station, Kate seemed to relax just a little bit more.
Enough so that I asked her, “Would you like to go to the dining car to see what they have to eat? You are eating for two you know.”
Kate laughed at my joke about our ‘baby’. It was a sound that brought a genuine smile to my face.
“I am rather famished,” she confided. “I don’t think I ate a single bite at dinner to tell you the truth.”
“The two of you should go to the dining car and get something to eat,” Lincoln encouraged, looking up from the board of checkers on the table between him and Lamon. “I think Ward and I can handle anything that might happen while you’re away.”
“We won’t be gone long,” Kate promised him.
“Take your time,” Lamon said, waving a hand as if to shoo us away like bothersome flies. “I seriously doubt anything is going to happen this evening, just like I predicted.”
If glares could kill, Kate’s would have laid Lamon out flat where he sat.
I gently took her arm to turn her towards the door of the car. We ended up being the only passengers seeking a midnight snack in the dining car that evening. We were served some simple ham sandwiches and glasses of tea.
“Is what you told Lincoln in the carriage earlier true?” I asked her. “Are you really a widow?”
Kate nodded as she put her half-eaten sandwich back down on her plate to answer my question.
“Yes, I am. Why? Does that surprise you?”
“Why didn’t you try to remarry instead of seeking employment?” I asked. “You’re a beautiful woman. I’m sure you would have had any number of suitors lining up at your door.”
“That wasn’t the life I wanted,” Kate said bluntly. “I never saw myself as a dutiful housewife. Is it so strange for a woman to want more from her life than just husband and family?”
“No, it’s not strange at all, just uncommon in this day and age.”
Kate folded her arms in front of her on the table and narrowed her eyes on me.
“Do you think a woman can’t do this job as well as a man?”
I began to chuckle. “I would never suggest such an outrageous concept, Ms. Warne, especially to you.”
“Just call me Kate,” she told me, picking her glass of tea up. “That’s what my friends call me.”
“Mind if I ask you one more question?” I said.
Kate took a sip of her tea, observing me over the rim of her glass with cautious eyes before setting it back down beside her plate.
“And what would be this one more question, Mr. Keles?”
“Aiden,” I corrected.
Kate smiled and nodded, “Aiden.”
“Why do this type of work? I can understand not wanting to be a homemaker, but why be a spy? Don’t you find it dangerous?”
“The danger is one of the best parts for me,” she replied with a gratified smile. “And I feel as though I’m actually doing something important with my life. I would have made a terrible wife and mother. Of that, I have no doubt. Doing what I do as a Pinkerton agent makes me feel more alive than I ever have before, like I’m contributing to the world around me and helping to make it a better place for future generations to live in. I think that’s all a person can ask for from their time here on Earth. You should use what life you have to make things better than how they were when you first entered the world. Don’t you think that’s God’s plan for us? To serve His purpose in our own unique way?”
I didn’t know how to answer her questions. I actually had been sent by God to make a difference in the lives of those who inhabited the Earth. Yet, I had not used my time wisely. On the contrary, I had used it selfishly in a desperate attempt to hurt my father for what He did to my fellow Watchers and me.
Kate waited for me to answer, but she soon realized I didn’t have one to give her. Therefore, she changed the subject.
“Are you married, Aiden?”
“I was once,” I admitted. “But she’s dead now.”
�
�I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you were a widower too. I guess we have something in common then. Do you mind me asking how she died?”
“Old age,” I blurted out, only realizing after I said the words that it wouldn’t make any sense considering how old I looked.
“What did you do? Marry a rich old spinster and give her a heart attack on the wedding night?”
I laughed. Something that I rarely did back then.
“Something like that,” I lied, not wanting to admit the truth of what I was to her, at least not yet.
Kate and I talked freely that night. It was the first time since Hanah that I bothered to have a real conversation with a woman. The crude reality of my existence was that I normally seduced, bedded, and killed the women who physically interested me to satisfy my wanton desires. However, with Kate, I found something unexpected, a friend. She proved to be someone I could talk to easily about a myriad of things.
After the beginning of the American Civil War, the Pinkerton Agency was commissioned by Major General George B. McClellan. He wanted us to infiltrate southern society and gather any military intelligence we could. Since Kate already had a reputation of being a genteel southern belle, it was a natural scenario for her to go back down south to be with her people during the war. I was sent down once a week to relay the information she was able to acquire. Allan didn’t ask me how I was able to travel from Cincinnati, Ohio to Richmond, Virginia so quickly, and I didn’t feel the need to explain things to him. I did my job well and that was all he cared about.
My late night visits with Kate were the highlight of my weeks. Allan kept me so busy with undercover work on both sides of the border that I wasn’t able to participate in the war as a real soldier.
The odd thing about my relationship with Kate was the fact that it wasn’t of a sexual nature. She was the first woman who was more valuable to me as a friend than a lover. It was never easy for me to talk with people, but with Kate, I felt as though I could be myself. We became such good friends by the middle of the war that I told her what I was. Her reaction wasn’t what I expected.
“You’re a what?” She asked with a confused look on her face as we sat in some straw in the hayloft of her barn. It was the only place on her property where her servants wouldn’t happen upon us during our late night visits.
“I’m an angel,” I told her, feeling silly saying the word aloud to her considering how humans viewed angels.
Kate immediately stood to her feet and walked to the back of me.
“Then where are your wings?” She questioned, sounding a bit disappointed that I didn’t have any. “Aren’t angels supposed to have wings? Or have you not earned yours yet?”
“Angels don’t have wings,” I told her as she came to sit back down on the hay-strewn floor in front of me. “That’s just something humans made up to explain how we travel. We actually do something called phasing.”
“Phasing?” She said with a tilt of her head. “And what is that exactly?”
“Would you care to see a demonstration?”
Kate’s eyes lit up with excitement. If there was one thing I learned about Kate during the years we were friends, it was that she reveled in experiencing new adventures. She quickly got to her feet and held her hand out to me.
“Well come on then,” she urged with a smile. “As my own personal guardian angel, I expect you to show me something spectacular!”
I took her hand and kept hold of it.
“Are you ready?” I asked, not wanting to startle her unnecessarily.
“Absolutely,” she answered with a firm nod.
“Why aren’t you asking more questions, Kate? Most people wouldn’t just accept what I just told you.”
“I have no reason to doubt you,” she told me. “If I believe in God, then I should also believe in the possibility of angels walking among us, right? I’m not certain what kind of angel you are, and I suppose there’s always the possibility you’re completely off your rocker. But, well, if you are lying, it won’t take long for me to figure that out, now will it?”
I smiled at her and phased us both to the top of a pyramid in Egypt. Malcolm took me there once because he claimed to help build it.
I felt Kate’s hand squeeze mine so tightly I thought she was going to amputate it with just her grip. She scanned the desert surrounding us with open amazement before looking back at me.
“Where else can we go?” She asked excitedly.
I spent a good hour showing Kate the world and each destination seemed to astonish her more than the last. Finally, I took her back to the hayloft. She slapped me on the arm playfully.
“How could you hold out on me for so long?” She demanded, but in a good way. “I can’t believe we could have been exploring the whole world all this time!”
“Well, not the whole world,” I clarified. “I can only phase to places that I’ve been to before. So, there is a limitation.”
Kate kept hold of my hand and tugged me down to the floor until we were sitting across from one another again.
“Tell me everything,” she said eagerly. “What’s it like in Heaven? What does God look like? What did you do there? What made you come to Earth?”
“That story is going to take a very long time to tell,” I told her.
“Then tell me what you can before you need to leave, Aiden. Then tell me more every visit until there isn’t anything else left to tell.”
I felt as though a great weight had been lifted from my chest that night. Sharing my story with Kate was liberating in a way. I didn’t leave any details out. I told her what little good I had done and all of the bad. Yet, she never judged me harshly. She was understanding of my circumstances and promised to do whatever she could to help me.
“You do realize you need to stop killing people, right?” She asked one evening after I told her about the annual Valentine’s Day game Malcolm and I played. “Your friend seems to understand that, even if it did take him a while to learn it. Why don’t you?”
I sighed and leaned back against the mound of hay at my back.
“I know I should, but you need to understand that it would be like me asking you to stop eating food or drinking water. Blood is my food. It’s what nourishes me now. I’m not even sure if I can survive on human food anymore.”
Kate leaned forward and placed her hand on top of one of mine.
“You’ll never know unless you try, Aiden. I have faith that you can do it if you just attempt to make the change. You’re stronger than you judge yourself to be.”
“I don’t think I’m strong enough,” I whispered, afraid to accept her confidence in me but wanting to.
“I know you are,” she told me, fiercely believing in her words. “No one who has gone through the life you have could be weak. You just need to apply the strength you possess in a more positive way. I refuse to have a cold-blooded murderer as one of my closest friends. So, you’ll either have to shape up or ship out, dear heart. Those are your two choices.”
“You know that’s not really a choice at all,” I told her. “I don’t think I can make it without you in my life, Kate. You’ve become very important to me.”
“Stop getting all sentimental on me,” she said, her eyes watering from my declaration. “And I hope you’re not talking about romantic love because I’ve always seen you as more of a little brother than anything else.”
“And I’ve always seen you as my bossy, overbearing older sister.”
“Thank, God,” Kate said lifting her face to the Heavens as if God were actually listening to her in that moment. “I’m not sure what I would have done if you declared your undying love to me. In your case, that wouldn’t be an understatement. Just how long do you think you’ll end up living?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. As far as I know, only an Archangel can kill me. I haven’t exactly seen a lot of them around the past few thousand years. They’re secretive and keep to themselves for the most part. At least, that’s my assumption.”
/> “What do you think they’re waiting for?” Kate asked. “If they’re as powerful as you say, why don’t they just attack us humans and be done with it?”
“My guess is they want to make our father suffer as much as possible. One sure fire way to do that is to wreak havoc on humanity. I’m not sure what their end game is, but I’m sure they’ll reveal their plans to us in time.”
To this day, I still don’t know what Lucifer’s end game is. What is he waiting for? Why doesn’t he use his power to take over the Earth? They are questions I’m not sure I’ll ever get the answers to within my lifetime. I fear the descendant from our line and the Watchers you have chosen to wait for her birth will end up having to deal with Lucifer and his followers in the end.
Lucifer did visit me once during the American Civil War. He came to me one day and said he wanted to show me something.
The date was July 3, 1863. Lucifer phased us to the top of a small hill in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest in the War Between the States. It’s been estimated that more American lives were lost in the Civil War than all the other wars Americans have fought in combined. This battle in particular saw the deaths of close to 51,000 men.
A field littered with the dead wasn’t a shocking sight for me. I was used to war and what came with it.
“Why have you brought me here?” I asked Lucifer.
“To view the beauty of your hard work,” he said, staring out at the field as those still left alive tried to tend to the wounded. “Just think, Aiden. If you hadn’t helped the Pinkertons save Abraham Lincoln’s life, we might not have had a war as glorious as this one. The number of souls I’ve reaped so far from this conflict has been extraordinary. And the pure hate emanating from both sides has strengthened me more than I thought possible.”