Archangel (A Ghosts of London Novel)

by Amy Cross

  “Impossible.”

  “No! Possible!” Getting to his feet, Robinson was vaguely aware of other people nearby, but he ignored them. “You have to take me with you!” Reaching into his pocket, he took out his phone and activated the recording app. “I need to know if this is real,” he muttered, before feeling as if an invisible hand was trying to pull the phone away. Swatting the unseen person away, he swiped to start recording and then he held the phone up. “I demand that you take me with you! I can be your assistant, or your apprentice!”

  “I have no such need.”

  “You can't just leave me here!” Robinson shouted. “You can't, not after you showed me all of this, I refuse to let you go! After everything I've seen -”

  “It is time,” the voice replied. “I must take my place, but I will always be with you. I think I shall start at the beginning.”

  “No!”

  “Goodbye, Robinson.”

  “No!” he shouted, as the vast star flared and grew before collapsing in on itself, sucking in all the light and sending Robinson staggering back until he stopped and dropped back down to his knees. Closing his eyes, he bowed his head for a moment, before opening his eyes again and finding that the room was now dark, save for a hint of light that came from the open door.

  “The circle is complete,” another voice whispered.

  “Who said that?” Robinson asked.

  For a moment, he heard nothing but silence.

  “Robinson?” a voice asked cautiously.

  Turning, he saw Katie standing next to him.

  “Are you...” She paused. “Are you okay? Can you see me and hear me?”

  He stared at her for a moment, before turning to Quix. “Did you see it?” he asked forlornly, before turning back to Katie. “Please, tell me, one of your had to have seen it.”

  “Seen what?” Katie asked.

  “He was right here. He was burning in this room, it was like the light of a thousand suns and it was right here, just a few meters above us!”

  Katie glanced at Quix and saw the concern in her eyes. “What's he talking about?” she asked. “Was he hallucinating?”

  “That was not a hallucination!” Robinson shouted, getting to his feet. “How dare you suggest that I -” Pausing, he seemed momentarily confused. “It's wearing off,” he muttered, reaching up and rubbing the side of his neck. “I can't let it end! I have to find more!” Turning, he rushed out into the corridor.

  “That can't be good,” Katie said, hurrying after him. “Robinson! What are you looking for?”

  “I need more of that serum,” he replied, running toward the main laboratory. “I have to top it up before...” Stopping suddenly, he paused for a few seconds before turning to her with a lost, cold look in his eyes. “It's gone.”

  “What's gone?” she asked.

  “The feeling,” he continued, “the... The faith is gone.”

  “Faith? What are you talking about?”

  “It felt so real,” he replied, clearly shocked. “It felt as if I was absolutely certain that another presence was nearby, something greater and more powerful, something that could protect me... Is that what it's like to believe in God?”

  “I...” Katie paused, as Quix caught up to them. “I have no idea.”

  “And now it's gone,” he continued, “and I can't get it back.”

  “What did you see in that room?” Katie asked. “The way you were talking, it was as if...”

  “What did you see?” he asked, as voices could be heard shouting in the distance.

  “Nothing,” she replied, “just... It was just a room.”

  “And you didn't hear anything either?”

  She shook her head.

  “The angels were just a side project,” he continued, his voice trembling with fear, “a way of experimenting and improving the technology. The main aim was to turn Harrington Cole himself into a god... No, not a god, the god. He saw that God didn't exist and he decided that meant the position was vacant. But that... That other voice...”

  “The circle is complete,” he remembered another voice saying. Whoever or whatever it had been, it certainly hadn't been Harrington Cole.

  “How did you stop him?” Katie asked.

  “I'm not sure I did.”

  “But he can't -” Hearing voices getting closer, she realized that the police had arrived. “Robinson, I think we should get out of here.”

  “I agree,” he replied, “you should.”

  “No, we should get out of here,” she continued, grabbing his arm. “Come on!”

  “Quix,” Robinson continued, turning to her, “I think you know what to do. It's that time again.”

  “What time?” Katie asked, starting to worry. “Robinson, what are you talking about?”

  “The police aren't here because of the atrocities that have been committed in this building,” he continued, “although I'm quite certain they'll take an interest once they start poking around. They're here for me, because one particular member of the force has taken a dislike to my activities. If I were to run, he'd just come after me, and that doesn't seem like much fun.”

  “So you're just going to stand here and let him arrest you?”

  Robinson shook his head.

  “Then what?” Katie asked. “I don't understand.”

  “Go with Quix,” he replied calmly, “and she'll make sure that everything is okay. She's been through this once before, and she knows the ropes. You'll need to pack up what's left of my office, and I'm sure there'll be various official matters to take care of. I haven't left a will, for one thing -”

  “A will? Why are you talking about wills? You're not going to die!”

  “I'll see you soon,” he told her.

  “But -”

  “Very soon,” he added, stepping forward and planting a kiss on the top of her head. “You're my absolute best assistant, do you know that? Of course, it doesn't hurt that you've survived four times longer than any of them, but that just shows that there's something special about you.” He paused for a moment. “Now go, and trust Quix. She knows what she's doing.”

  “We're not leaving you,” Katie said firmly, with tears in her eyes. “We'll get hold of Milhouse and -”

  “Milhouse can't do anything for me,” Robinson replied, before taking one of the phones from his pocket and handing it to her. “Good point, though, I probably shouldn't have this on me. See that he gets it, won't you? And tell him he really should give Barry a try, the man seems very -”

  “Clear!” a voice shouted in the distance. “Next!”

  “They're coming,” Robinson continued, taking Katie by the arm and leading her to the door at the far end of the corridor. “Quix, I trust that you've already worked out how you're going to get away without Wagoner's goons stopping you?”

  Quix nodded.

  “Then there's no reason to delay,” he continued, opening the door and turning to Katie. “Trust me, trust Quix, and most importantly, trust yourself. This is all going to be okay.”

  “But -”

  “Go on,” he added, pushing her through before turning to Quix. “I'm sorry about this.”

  She shrugged.

  “Look after Katie.”

  She nodded.

  “And I'll see you on the other side,” he added, giving her a brief hug before gesturing for her to go through the door. She paused, as if she might be about to try to say something, before heading into the stairwell, allowing Robinson to close the door.

  In the distance, the shouts were getting closer.

  “Well this is going to be fun,” Robinson muttered, looking down at his shirt and spotting a few crumbs, which he quickly brushed away.

  “Clear!” a voice shouted in the distance.

  “What the hell is all this stuff?” another voice exclaimed. “It looks like medical waste!”

  “Two bodies in this room!”

  Smiling, Robinson made his way along the corridor, listening to the sound of chaos nearby.
He was certain that he knew exactly what was happening: men with guns were going from room to room, checking for any sign of him, and in the process they were finding the remains of the Harrington Cole project, none of which would make much sense until they were able to piece it all together later. Rounding the next corner, he finally spotted two heavily-armed officer up ahead, and he began to make his way toward them.

  “Halt!” one of the officers shouted, as they both aimed at him.

  “My name is Robinson,” he replied, still walking. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, as if it might burst at any moment.

  “Stop right where you are!”

  “No.”

  “Stop!”

  “Don't worry,” he replied, stopping in front of them as he began to struggle for breath. Sweat was pouring down his face, and he could feel his heart beating violently until, finally, it gave out and burst, flooding his chest with blood. “Oh,” he said finally, “that's uncomfortable. Oh, I have a bomb, by the way. There's -”

  Before he could finish, two shots rang out, hitting him in the face and neck.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “That's him,” Katie said, staring in horror at the pale, lifeless body on the morgue table. With tears in her eyes, she turned away, feeling a strange, empty shiver passing through her chest. “It's really him,” she added quietly, as if she couldn't quite believe what she'd seen.

  “Obviously the identification was only a formality,” Milhouse said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It's just that none of us at the station could do it, we needed someone who was close to him and, well, the only options were you two.” He glanced at Quix, who was standing over by the door. “And you're no bloody use,” he added, “because you can't bloody talk.”

  She glared at him.

  “I don't get it,” Katie continued, keeping her back to Robinson's corpse. “Why did they have to shoot him?”

  “He claimed he had a bomb.”

  “That's ridiculous. Why the hell would he say something like that?”

  “Beats me,” Milhouse replied, “but he must've known they'd open fire. He wasn't an idiot.” He paused. “Well, not in the conventional sense.”

  “And did they find anything on him?”

  He shook his head.

  “So he was basically executed.”

  “The official word is neutralized,” Milhouse explained. “There'll be an inquiry, but nothing'll come of it. Besids, it seems like he'd suffered some kind of cardiac arrest just a few seconds before he was shot, so the bullets just sped things along. The coroner said his heart was ruined anyway. Wagoner's so pleased with himself, he's like a kid at Christmas. He hated Robinson.” Pausing, he turned to look back at the dead body. “Saw him as a danger to the integrity of the force.” He turned to Katie. “You're not gonna be sick, are you?”

  She shook her head.

  “Are you sure? It's just, you look a little peaky.”

  “If it wasn't for Robinson,” Katie replied, as tears ran down her cheeks, “you'd never have found out what was happening at the Harrington Cole place.”

  “No,” Milhouse replied bitterly, “we wouldn't have.”

  “And I bet he helped you before, didn't he?” she continued, turning to him before forcing herself to look at the body again. “How many cases did Robinson solve for you over the years?”

  “A lot.”

  “And this is the thanks he gets? Flat on his back on a cold slab, with police bullets in his body?”

  “Not everyone was as enthusiastic about his help,” Milhouse replied. “Personally, I always thought old Robinson was worth his weight in gold. The guy had a way of seeing through the cracks of things and getting to the other side. The Parsonsville Ripper, the Abbingdon murders, the mess with Alexander Medion and Simeon Wilde... I don't reckon any of that would've got settled without Robinson's help. This...” He paused for a moment. “This is a damn mess.” Turning to Katie, he sighed. “What about you? What are you gonna do now?”

  “I have no idea,” she replied. “I was kind of planning to stick with Robinson for a while but -”

  Over by the door, Quix cleared her throat in a very obvious attempt to remind them of her presence.

  “Sure,” Katie said sadly, turning to her. “We should go.”

  “You might as well take this,” Milhouse added, grabbing some files from the table and passing them to her. “It's just some stuff that I pulled together while I was doing a little research. I wanted to dig down into Robinson's past and find out who he was, where he came from, that sort of thing. As it stands, I couldn't even tell you his first name. I still don't quite know what to believe.”

  “What's going to happen to his body?” Katie asked.

  “Cremation this afternoon. Wagoner wants it out of the way as fast as possible.”

  Staring at the corpse, Katie paused for a moment, aware that she'd never get another chance to see him. “Bye, then,” she said finally, before turning and heading to the door. Behind her, Milhouse pulled a sheet over the body.

  ***

  A couple of hours later, the door to the furnace was opened and Robinson's body was slid inside, covered by a white sheet. As soon as the door was slammed shut, the valves on either side began to open, and the system began to operate. Seconds later, flames rushed into the chamber, immediately burning the sheet and starting to ripple across the naked corpse. Robinson's eyes remained closed as the inferno built, and a short while later, all that was left was a pile of ash, with a few pieces of bone glinting in the low light.

  ***

  “Hang on,” Katie said, stopping outside the building as she spotted a payphone. “I'll be inside in a minute.”

  Quix frowned.

  “I just need to make a call,” she added. “Not with my actual phone, it needs to be...” She paused. “Well, I just don't want them to be able to ring back.”

  Shrugging, Quix headed inside, leaving Katie to wander over to the payphone. Sorting through her pockets, she pulled out a twenty pence piece and then paused for a moment, wondering whether or not she could go through with the call. Finally, thinking back to the relief that Martin Williams' mother had shown when she'd been told that her son was okay, she slipped the coin into the slot and dialed a number.

  She waited.

  “Hello?” a female voice said on the other end, picking up.

  “It's me,” Katie said, “I'm -”

  “Katie?”

  She opened her mouth to reply, but for a moment she felt as if her blood was running cold.

  “Katie, are you with Rachel?”

  “I'm alive, I'm okay and...” She paused, her heart pounding as she tried to think of something else to say. The thought of an actual conversation sickened her, and once she realized she'd said everything that was necessary, she slammed the phone back down.

  Taking a step back, she took a series of deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. A moment later the payphone began to ring. Ignoring it, she turned and headed into the building.

  ***

  “I don't even know why you're bothering to set up a new office,” she called out to Quix as she entered the reception area. “What are you going to do here now that he's gone?”

  Getting no answer, she hung her coat up and headed through to the main room. She had the implants in her hands, the ones that had been inserted into her back and which Quix had dug out a little earlier.

  “Isn't it kinda morbid, having his stuff around?” she continued. “Maybe it'd be better to -”

  “I like my stuff,” Robinson replied, sitting at the desk and working on his laptop. “Leave my stuff alone. It's mine. And it's not morbid, it's eclectic.”

  Staring at him, Katie felt for a moment as if she might faint, or vomit, or both.

  “It's bad enough,” he continued, “that the police kept some of my files as so-called evidence, without having the rest of my stuff raked over by a bunch of vultures.”

  Over by the bookshelves, where she was
loading old books into place, Quix glanced at Katie and smiled.

  “This is bloody annoying, though,” Robinson added, squinting as he leaned closer to the laptop's screen. “There's so much noise in the signal.” Sighing, he took hold of the mouse and clicked a couple of times. “The circle is complete. What the hell did that mean?”

  “You...” Katie said after a moment. “I mean, you... You're...”

  “Annoyed, yes.”

  “No, you're...”

  “Hungry? That too. I think I want to make one of my amazing feta sandwiches soon.”

  “No, but you're...” Making her way over to the desk, Katie continued to stare at him, convinced that at any moment he was going to disappear in a puff of smoke.

  Still working at the bookshelf, Quix cleared her throat.

  “What?” Robinson asked, clearly a little irritated as he looked over at her.

  Sighing, Quix nodded in the direction of Katie.

  “Oh,” Robinson replied, “right. I suppose so.”

  “What are you doing here?” Katie asked. “We thought you were... I thought you were... You were! You were dead! I saw your body on a slab in the morgue and you were definitely dead!”

  “I know.”

  “But you can't have been!”

  “I was.”

  “But you're here!”

  He nodded.

  She stared at him for a moment longer. “How?” she asked incredulously.

  “The same way as always.”

  “What's that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I woke up in the same place I always wake up,” he replied, already sounding a little bored by the topic. “There's a cemetery over in Ealing. Every time I die, as soon as my body has been disposed of, I wake up naked in the exact same spot in the exact same cemetery in the exact same part of Ealing. And before you ask, no, I don't know how it works or why it works, and I don't understand any of it at all. It just happens, and here I am.”