Guardian Angel (Psionic Pentalogy Book 5)

by Adrian Howell

  “What?” said Ed Regis, who hadn’t heard the full story. “What are you sorry for, Alia?”

  “I… I…” Alia broke down, sobbing into her hands.

  Turning around in my seat, I told Ed Regis, “Alia thinks she’s responsible for what happened back there.”

  “Why?” asked Raider.

  Alia couldn’t speak, but I could tell that she wanted them to know. I retold her story as simply as possible. Ed Regis put an arm around my sister’s quivering shoulders as she continued to drip tears onto her shirt.

  “I should have been more attentive,” said Raider. “If I had known about this Patrick boy, I could have called Jacob from Octavus and we might have been able to keep any of this from happening.”

  “I trusted him,” cried Alia, finally finding her voice again. “I’m so sorry. I trusted Patrick and now James and Willow and her baby and everyone else is dead because of me.”

  “That’s not true, Alia,” said Ed Regis.

  But my sister was inconsolable. “It is true!” she wailed, pulling herself free of Ed Regis’s arm. “You know it’s true! Don’t say it’s not true! They’re dead and I killed them!”

  “You didn’t kill anyone, Alia,” Ed Regis said forcefully, hugging her from the side again. “You might have made a mistake, but you didn’t kill them! Twenty Point Five was always a security risk. Every time someone went outside, there was the chance of discovery. It just so happened to be you. It could have been anybody.”

  “But it wasn’t anybody!” cried Alia. “It was me! They died because of me! Just like Max and Felicity!”

  “They died because this is a war,” Ed Regis said patiently. “They died because they’re soldiers, and sometimes dying comes with the job. There was no way for you to know that Patrick would tell his parents about you.”

  Alia shook her head, her voice completely cracked as she said, “I should’ve known, Ed. Addy told me. Terry told me. I didn’t believe them. And James… James came back for us in there, didn’t he? He didn’t have to, and he did. That’s why he died when it should have been me. It should’ve been me!”

  “James died saving my life, Alia,” I said firmly. “And yours, and Ed Regis’s. He died fighting. Like Terry would. Like a Knight would. That’s all he ever wanted. He wanted to be a Knight like his parents, and like us. Max and Felicity were no different. They wanted to fight. I will never understand that, but that’s what James wanted.”

  “Don’t blame yourself for his sacrifice, Alia,” agreed Terry. “James insisted on going back into the command center alone, and I trusted him to get you out safely, which he did. He saved your life so that you can save others’. Don’t waste your time blaming yourself. Honor him, Alia. Honor his choice.”

  “This is so wrong,” sobbed Alia. “Everything about this is wrong! Everyone is killing each other and Patrick was waving and smiling and…”

  It was a nightmare inside a nightmare. Alia had lost her voice, but she continued weeping into Ed Regis’s shoulder. Trapped in the middle seat, I couldn’t comfort her, but Ed Regis was doing a good enough job. And as much as I felt sorry for my sister even while I was haunted by the image of James’s last moments, now burned into my memory for eternity, there was yet another horrible thought eating at me.

  I looked past Alia at the damaged rear window and the dark road beyond. We had already crossed over the river and into the countryside. On one side of the road was a thick forest; on the other, a grassy field. For a few quiet minutes, I watched the empty road fading into the night.

  Then I turned back around and said weakly to Raider, “Stop the car, please. I think I’m going to throw up.”

  Raider immediately hit the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. “Do it from the door, Adrian,” he said. “I have a hiding field around the van but it’s not big.”

  Ignoring his request, I slid open the side door and stumbled out into the night chill.

  “Come on!” said Raider, getting out of the van himself. “We have to stay hidden!”

  I spun around and, throwing my arms forward, blasted Raider hard in the chest. He was knocked back against the van, and as he slid down the side, I telekinetically pulled his pistol out from its holster and flew it into my right hand. Flipping off the safety, I leveled the pistol on Raider’s head.

  Terry jumped out of the van, crying, “What the hell are you doing, Adrian?!”

  I ignored her, keeping my attention on Raider, who was coughing feebly as he looked up at the pistol in my hand.

  “You’re really something, aren’t you, Raider?” I breathed, taking a step forward. “Willow warned me to always assume that there were at least two spies in the Resistance. You, my friend, are worth twenty.”

  Terry let out a quiet gasp as Raider smiled up at me and asked, “How did you know?”

  “I’m Adrian Howell,” I reminded him savagely. “So where’s the pursuit? There’s a whole city full of Angels out there looking for me, and you just conveniently show up and drive away with us in a car like this that anyone could follow? Where are the Seraphim? Where are the police?! Where are the goddamn Wolves?!”

  Terry said in an awestruck tone, “This guy is one of Divine’s, isn’t he? Like the pair at Wood-claw.”

  I nodded. “He isn’t a part of the Lumina Angels. It’s just like Mark said. Raider is working directly for Randal Divine. Even the Seraphim don’t know who he is. That’s why the Guardians never caught him.”

  I looked down at Raider. “You knew about Patrick, didn’t you?” I asked, my voice shaking in cold fury. “You knew Alia had lied to you. You’re a delver.”

  “I would never delve a child,” said Raider, sounding genuinely insulted. “But I did suspect that something was amiss.”

  “You suspected that there was going to be an attack!” I spat back. “That’s why you brought Alia back and then left the building again with Marion.”

  “Well, I had to choose one of them,” Raider said mildly.

  I pulled the pistol’s hammer back.

  “You should thank me,” said Raider. “If I hadn’t called King Divine and told him where you were, the Seraphim would have finished all of you off before you could leave Nonus.”

  So that was why they hadn’t pursued us down the elevator shaft. When Randal Divine learned that I was in Twenty Point Five, he had sent an order to halt the attack on the command center and let all the survivors escape, hoping that I was still among them. Once Raider picked us up at the side of the park, the pursuit was ended there so that there would be no more risks to us as Raider quietly handed us in.

  “But you could have had me anytime,” I said. “You knew King Divine wanted me alive. Why did you wait so long?”

  “Because you were never my mission,” said Raider. “Every time the Seraphim clear out one of the Resistance hideouts, the Knights just slither into another. My mission was to map out all of the safe houses for one, final, clean sweep of Lumina.”

  “Then you weren’t after me at all?”

  Raider shook his head. “You just fell into my life by chance, Adrian. I’ve no idea why King Divine insists on getting you alive, but when Alia made her little slip today, I figured I couldn’t stand by and let the Seraphim accidentally kill you. My mapping mission has failed, but so long as I can’t go back to the Resistance anymore, I wanted to deliver you to King Divine in person.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not going to happen now.”

  “So go ahead and kill me,” said Raider. “Do it before Marion wakes up.”

  I lowered the pistol and returned the hammer. “You say that I fell into your life by chance, Raider, but you’re the one who fell into mine. Get back in the car and drive. Safely. Remember that yours isn’t the only life at stake here.”

  Raider silently stood up and got back into the driver’s seat, and Terry and I sat behind him.

  Ed Regis had stayed in the back seat keeping a comforting arm around Alia, but he had heard everything. I wasn’t as sure abou
t my sister, whose red, puffy eyes were open but unfocused, still slowly dripping tears as they stared off into space. Marion remained blissfully unconscious.

  I passed Raider’s pistol to Ed Regis and he holstered it. Then I closed the side door and put on my seatbelt.

  No one spoke.

  Ever so gently, Raider pulled his van back onto the dark country road.

  Chapter 13: For the Love of a King

  It was still only about 10pm when Terry spotted a lonely two-story summer house that we could use for the night. The largish cabin was a little off the main road and unoccupied at this frozen time of year, with the added bonus of being alarm-free.

  “You can hide a house this size, yes?” Terry asked Raider as he pulled the van around to the back of the house.

  “Of course,” said Raider.

  “Then do it,” snapped Terry. “And remember that if anyone bothers us here, Marion will be the first to die.”

  “Have you no conscience?” asked Raider.

  “No,” she informed him. “Now get to work.”

  Remaining in the driver’s seat, Raider closed his eyes in concentration.

  The invisible, intangible nature of hiding fields would, in theory, allow Raider the perfect opportunity to betray our location to the Angels, but I wasn’t worried. Raider might be King Divine’s loyal subject, but he was also a father.

  After a few minutes, Raider opened his eyes and frowned at us in the mirror, saying, “The house and thirty yards around in every direction. Happy?”

  “Congratulations,” I said to him, opening the side door and getting out. “You’ve just dug the first corner of your own grave.”

  My sister was wide awake, and as she followed Terry and Ed Regis out of the van, she looked at me in a way that made me instantly regret my words. A few hours of silence had brought Alia back to a comparatively normal condition. I suspected that she had been listening to my earlier confrontation with Raider after all, and that she understood what was happening now.

  Marion stirred a little in her seat. I telekinetically undid her seatbelt and levitated her out of the van. Raider put his arms around her, holding her tightly. Perhaps because of the sudden exposure to the freezing night air, Marion stirred again, and then opened her eyes.

  “Where are we, Daddy?” she asked groggily.

  “Safe,” whispered Raider. “Go back to sleep.”

  Marion rested her head on Raider’s shoulder and closed her eyes again.

  I moved around to the side of the house and telekinetically unlocked a window so that we could enter without breaking anything. Once inside, Ed Regis kept an eye on Raider and Marion in the living room while the rest of us spent a few minutes restoring electricity to and exploring our temporary home.

  The living room and dining room were spacious, the kitchen outdated but clean. There were three bedrooms on the second floor, and a narrow flight of stairs led down into a two-room basement. Though there was no second-floor balcony, this house reminded me a little of the Angel outpost we had attacked last year. I took a moment in the bathroom to finish wiping James’s dried blood off of my face.

  Most of the furniture in the house was covered with dusty sheets. As we returned to the living room, I pulled off one of the covers, revealing a plush velvet armchair with a tall back.

  “I wish we could stay here forever,” I said sadly, running my fingertips over the soft armrest.

  Terry looked at me grimly. “Let’s get this over with.”

  I looked at Raider and his daughter. Marion had woken up completely. She was standing close to her father, holding his hand and looking around at us anxiously. She knew intuitively that something was very wrong. Kids can always sense evil in the air.

  “Alia,” I said, “I want you to take Marion upstairs and watch over her.”

  Alia didn’t need to sense it. She understood exactly what I was asking of her.

  “Please don’t argue,” I said, staring down at my feet.

  “Your brother’s right, Alia,” said Ed Regis. “You don’t have to be a part of this, and you don’t want this girl to see it either.”

  I heard my sister say hoarsely, “Look at me, Adrian.”

  Slowly, I did. It hurt worse than being kicked in the gut, but I forced myself to raise my head and look into Alia’s eyes. Alia stared back at me for a silent, excruciating eternity. Then she went up to Marion and took her free hand. “Come on, Marion,” she said gently. “Let’s go upstairs.”

  But Marion refused to let go of her father’s hand.

  “Go on,” Raider said to her, pulling his hand free. “Go upstairs with Alia. It’ll be okay.”

  Alia looked like she said something telepathically to Marion, and finally Marion nodded and let my sister lead her away from her father.

  I hollowly watched them exit the room, and then followed Ed Regis and Terry as they escorted Raider down into the basement. Terry brought a wooden straight-back chair down from the dining room. Ed Regis found some thin rope, which he used to tie Raider down onto the chair. Ed Regis wrapped the rope several times around Raider’s upper body, and then tightly secured his wrists to the armrests and his ankles to the chair’s front legs.

  Once that was done, we just stood there for a moment as if taking in the atmosphere. Raider looked up at each of our faces in turn. He looked at me longest. I remembered the times he had invited me into his home. Despite his sometimes blunt manner, Raider had been my friend, and more importantly, Alia’s protector. We had known each other well. But not as well as I had thought.

  Ed Regis asked, “You want me to talk to him, Terry?”

  Terry didn’t answer.

  “I’ll talk to him,” I said quietly.

  Ed Regis looked at me in surprise. “Adrian, you don’t need to be here, either,” he said, shaking his head. “Someone really should keep watch on the first floor.”

  “Then you go, Ed Regis,” I replied. “I don’t want to do this with you watching, anyway.”

  I knew that Ed Regis was just trying to do Alia and me a favor, and I knew that he was the certified expert in this particular field. But this was something I had to do myself. Here, finally, we had found someone who could lead us to Randal Divine, and to Catherine. No matter how wrong Alia felt this was, it nevertheless had to be done. And if, someday soon, I was going to kill my own first sister, then I couldn’t be afraid to get my hands dirty.

  “Terry?” Ed Regis asked hesitantly.

  “Take the first watch, Major,” said Terry. “We’ll call if we need you.”

  “And make sure my sister doesn’t come down here,” I added.

  Ed Regis asked, “Do you mind if I keep an ear to the floor?”

  “As you wish,” I said.

  Ed Regis climbed up the stairs and out of the basement, but he left the door open so he could hear us.

  Raider hadn’t spoken a word since parting with his daughter.

  “We have questions,” I said to him quietly.

  Raider raised his eyebrows, perhaps surprised by such an obvious statement.

  I had learned long ago that a standard psionic interrogation involved asking questions to the subject while a delver looked into his thoughts, as people usually think the truth before they lie. But delving could be blocked with a strong mental focus. Hence, torture. In this case, however, the only delver in the room was the interrogation subject himself, and I doubted he was going to make this easy for us just to avoid a little pain.

  I glanced at Terry, who gave me a little shrug. To the best of my knowledge, my combat instructor was no more experienced in interrogation tactics than I was. Perhaps we did need Ed Regis after all, but I wasn’t going to call him back down just yet.

  “I once worked for a man who enjoyed burning people alive,” I said to Raider. “Today we can either start with a polite conversation or a pair of pliers. It’s your choice. But I watched my best friend die today, so even assuming that I have any mercy left, don’t expect me to waste any on you.”
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  “What do you want?” asked Raider.

  Terry brought the tip of her hook to Raider’s neck. “Divine.”

  Raider looked like he wanted to laugh at the absurdity of our demand. “And you think I’m going to help you find and kill my master? Do you honestly think I’m capable of that?”

  “I think you’re capable of being persuaded,” I told him.

  I had seen the madness that conversion could cause. I remembered the insane pyroid at the PRC. I remembered the manic eyes and fanatical tone of Mr. Simms and Ms. Decker, and how the Angels at the Wood-claw outpost had bashed their own heads open out of loyalty to their master. Converts – especially new converts – frequently sacrificed themselves for their master.

  But conversion affected people in different ways. And as Cindy had once said, converts could still think and feel and choose their own lives, which meant that they could have other priorities too. Earlier, Raider had freely given me details of his secret mission in the Resistance, which proved that he wasn’t so completely soaked in conversion that he was beyond reasoning with. Raider clearly cared for his daughter and for his own future raising her.

  “Would you like me to find you some pliers, Adrian?” asked Terry. “Or do you want to get straight into something more persuasive?”

  “Your hook will do just fine,” I replied. “But not yet. I haven’t finished asking him nicely.”

  Raider said matter-of-factly, “Asking won’t help. I have sworn my life to the service of King Divine. Do not question my loyalty. I will never give up my king.”

  I shook my head. If Raider’s conversion had turned him into an Angel fanatic with absolute submission to his king, he would never have been able to keep his identity hidden among the Guardians. Still, as a converted Angel, there would be a limit to how much he could assist us before the guilt of his betrayal became too much to bear. Fortunately, I had a workaround for this.

  “Relax, Raider,” I told him. “We’re not asking you to give up your king at all.”

  Raider looked at me questioningly.

  I asked him, “Do you remember delving Tigress from Wood-claw? Remember how she told you that we were independent of the Guardians?”