by R. D. Brady
Without a word, Amar made his way back out the room, careful to keep his steps unhurried, to betray no reaction.
He closed the door softly behind him, gripping the papers tightly, pursing his lips. Damn it. It is her.
CHAPTER 3
Baltimore, Maryland
Laney and Jake walked up the stairs to Henry’s office. He’d called them fifteen minutes ago and said he needed to meet with them immediately. Laney took Jake’s hand as they reached the landing outside Henry’s office.
They’d finished up at the Smithsonian a few hours earlier and headed home to the Chandler estate. The Chandler estate was the headquarters for the Chandler Group, as well as home to Henry, Laney, and Jake. Henry lived in a cottage a few hundred yards from the massive main house; Laney and Jake lived in cottages down on Sharecroppers Lane, a mix of business and residential cottages that previously had been sharecroppers’ homes back in the late 1800s.
Laney had been packing for their first family trip when Henry had called and requested that she and Jake come to his office. Laney, Jake, Henry, Danny, and her Uncle Patrick were all heading to Hershey, Pennsylvania, along with Kati Simmons, Laney’s housemate from Syracuse, and Kati’s four-year-old son, Max.
A little weekend away filled with amusement parks, good company, and lots and lots of chocolate. Heaven. And after the year they’d had, well overdue. Laney couldn’t wait.
But although she was excited about the trip, she couldn’t get the book out of her mind. The Army of the Belial. The images on the cover seemed to indicate Solomon, but also some type of battle.
“Hey, you with me?” Jake said.
Laney squeezed his hand. “Sorry. My mind’s wandering.”
Jake pulled her to a stop, stepping in front of her. He tilted her head up. “Laney, it’s just a book. Don’t go borrowing trouble.”
She sighed. “I know, it’s just—”
He kissed her, cutting off the rest of her statement. “It can wait. It’s already waited ten thousand years. Let’s meet with Henry, get everyone, and get out of here. The world won’t collapse if we ignore the Fallen for one weekend. Okay?”
She leaned into him, her lips still warm from his kiss. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
The double doors to Henry’s office were closed. Laney could just make out the sound of voices beyond it, although the voices were too low to make out any words.
She glanced at Jake. “Any idea what this is about?”
They would be leaving for their trip in the morning and Laney knew Henry didn’t have any meetings scheduled for tonight. Plus, he’d been very professional when he’d called, which told her that someone else had been nearby when he’d been speaking.
“There’s one way to find out.” Jake knocked.
“Come in,” Henry called.
Jake opened the door, letting Laney go in first. Henry stood up from behind his desk. Standing across the desk from him was a man in in a dark grey suit, dark tie, and white shirt: the standard uniform for a fed.
With surprise, Laney realized she’d seen this man before: once in Montana and once in Las Vegas. Both times in connection to Atlantis-related incidents. And now he was here. This can’t be good.
With a sinking feeling, Laney crossed the room.
Henry gestured toward Laney and Jake. “Agent Matthew Clark, this is my chief of security, Jake Rogan, and this is Dr. Delaney McPhearson.”
Dark blond hair, an athletic build—Laney guessed the agent was in his early forties. Crow’s-feet were just beginning to form at the corners of his brown eyes. An easy smile spread across the man’s face. “Matt, please.”
Laney crossed the room and shook his hand. “Agent Clark. Exactly which branch of law enforcement are you with?”
Clark turned to shake Jake’s hand while answering. “The SIA.”
Jake loomed over the shorter agent. “The SIA? I’m not familiar with it.”
“It stands for Special Investigative Agency,” Henry said.
“We’re a rather quiet offshoot of the Department of Defense,” Clark offered.
“I see.” Laney took a seat. Department of Defense? She darted a quick glance at Henry, who’d also taken his seat, but his face was unreadable.
She glanced at Jake, who was now leaning against the wall next to Henry’s desk. He caught her eyes, giving a small shake of his head. He hadn’t heard of it either.
“So, what can we do for you, Agent?” Jake’s tone suggested that helping the agent was not exactly his top priority.
Clark looked between Laney and Jake, seemingly unconcerned with the rather lukewarm greeting he was receiving. “The government is aware of the situations in both Montana and Ecuador.”
Laney shrugged, trying to keep her voice casual. “Lots of people are aware of the situations in Ecuador and Montana. It was pretty big news for a while.”
Clark smiled. “Yes. Well, we’re aware of the story behind the public story.”
Both incidents had been in the public sphere. The finding of an ancient society’s relics had made quite a stir. The media hounds had been all over both stories for weeks. But the truth behind the incidents, particularly the involvement of fallen angels, had not been made public.
“I’m not sure we know what you’re referring to,” Jake said, sounding bored.
Clark smiled again. “Look, I’m a ‘lay all my cards’ on the table kind of guy. And from what I’ve read on you three, you are as well.”
Laney nodded, noticing Henry and Jake doing the same from the corner of her eye.
“Good,” Clark said. “So. The SIA is aware that a fallen angel attempted to destroy the world in Montana and that you three stopped him. We also know that two fallen angels stole a book from the Shuar collection while it was housed in Las Vegas.” Clark paused to glance at Henry. “And Henry, we know about your abilities as well.”
You could have heard a pin drop. Laney scrambled for something to say, but her mind was an absolute blank. How do they know? What is the government planning? She forced herself not to look at Henry, not to reveal the fear she felt at someone else knowing what he could do.
Clark held up his hands. “We have no intention of making any of this information public. In fact, the larger United States government is not aware of any of the facts I’ve just shared with you. That information is strictly in-house.”
“How’s that possible?” Jake asked, not having moved from his slouch against the wall, but Laney could read anger in the set of his jaw. Jake didn’t like anyone coming in and dropping surprises on him. And she was pretty sure he was taking the information drop on Henry as a threat.
“We’re an old agency that is given quite a bit of latitude,” Clark replied.
“Why are you coming to us?” Henry asked.
Clark paused, then made eye contact with each of them. “Each of you has been intimately involved in these recoveries. You, in particular, Dr. McPhearson. The SIA decided that it was time for you to be aware of our existence.”
“I’m still not exactly sure who ‘you’ are. What is your agency’s agenda—” She corrected herself. “What are your objectives?”
Clark crossed his legs at the ankles, giving the appearance of being unconcerned. Laney was pretty sure the body language was intentional.
“We monitor the Fallen. When they’re dangerous, we try to remove them. We’re not always successful. But most of the time, we are. So if you’re ever in need of help, you should call us.” Clark leaned forward, placing three business cards on the desk.
Laney took one of the cards. It was a plain white business card with only a phone number and email. No identifying name, no affiliation, no insignia. “How long have you known about the Fallen?”
“Me? Personally?” Clark shrugged. “For quite some time. The SIA, however, has been around since 1776.”
Laney started at the date. Since the beginning of the United States. The government, or at least a part of the government, knew that the Fallen were out t
here. And had known for over two hundred years. Laney wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad one.
How had the SIA managed to keep their existence a secret all this time, as well as their objectives? With oversight and computer leaks, how had information on this agency not been leaked? And what exactly had the SIA been doing with that knowledge?
A chill ran through her. She watched Clark, who was still seemingly at ease.
“So when you find one of these Fallen,” Jake said, “what do you do?”
Clark leaned back in his chair. “Well, that depends. Some live normal lives, and no one knows anything about their abilities.”
“How do you find them then?” Henry asked. “If they don’t reveal what they can do, they’d be unremarkable. They’d look like everybody else.”
Clark nodded. “True. But occasionally people slip. And when they do, we pay attention. Even your Dr. Velasquez has a method of tracking them down. His method is very similar to ours.”
Laney tried to look surprised, but she knew she failed. Too many surprises were coming at her too fast. Dr. Velasquez, or Dom, was a brilliant agoraphobic who lived in a bomb shelter about a half-mile from where they now sat.
Dom was notoriously suspicious of the government. He would not be happy to know the government was aware of his data collection on the Fallen.
And Laney was awfully curious as to how they knew about that. The only way they could have that knowledge was if they had been monitoring their communications. And the Chandler Group’s email had some pretty heavy security protocols in place.
“So what you’re saying,” Jake said, interrupting Laney’s thoughts, “is that some of the Fallen live their lives without causing any problems?”
“Yes.” Clark turned to Laney. “You’re a criminologist, Dr. McPhearson. And from what I’ve read on you, your specialization is genetics and crime.”
Laney nodded.
“So, you tell me: what’s more important, a person’s biology or their environment?”
Laney paused. It was tricky question. People were born with biological predispositions for different personality characteristics. A penchant for risky behavior in the right environment could make for a great athlete. But in the wrong environment, it made a criminal. So it was the interaction between the two that was most critical. And according to recent discoveries, that interaction was proving to be more and more critical.
The research ran through Laney’s head, along with all the explanations and caveats. But as she looked around the room, she realized that no one was interested in a lecture on genetics.
She shrugged. “That’s a rather big question. To simplify the answer, I’d say people are born with biological predispositions, but the environment determines how those predispositions are realized. From that view, the environment is more important, because it’s mutable. Biology is not.”
Clark nodded. “Believe it or not, that applies to the Fallen as well. Some are actually good people trying to help.”
Henry looked over the desk. “You have Fallen working with you.”
Henry’s words hadn’t been a question, but Clark treated them like they were. He nodded. “Yes. They recognize their own kind. You are aware of that?”
Laney, Henry, and Jake all nodded. Over the course of the last year, they had learned that the Fallen feel an automatic connection to other Fallen when they are near one another. Fallen will also feel a connection to a nephilim, the child of a human and a Fallen, although that connection is weaker. And nephilim, like Henry, felt a connection to one another, but not to full-fledged Fallen.
Clark continued. “The Fallen working with us help us track down others of their kind. And sometimes, when the situation warrants it, they even help recruit them.” He nodded at Henry. “Nephilim, too.”
Henry gave the agent a smile that would have done a shark proud. “Well, if this is a recruitment pitch, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline.”
Clark gave an easy laugh. “Not at all.”
“I’m not sure I like the idea of the Fallen being recruited,” Jake said.
Clark nodded, his easygoing mask slipping just a little. “Well, being recruited by us is a good thing. The problem is—we’re not the only ones doing it.”
CHAPTER 4
Laney struggled to keep her face expressionless. Someone—someone besides this government organization that they hadn’t even heard of until two minutes ago—was recruiting the Fallen. Shit seemed too tame a curse for that kind of revelation.
“Who else is recruiting?” Jake asked.
Clark shrugged, although his tense posture made it clear he wasn’t as nonchalant as he was trying to appear. “We’re not sure exactly. We don’t have any names—at least not any names of the big guys behind the recruitment.”
Laney cut him off. “Big guys? So you think it’s a group doing the recruiting, not just an individual?”
Clark nodded. “The Fallen have, throughout time, occasionally made their presence known. But usually they stick to the shadows, gathering power individually. Every once in a while, though, they begin to group. And when that happens, it never bodes well for humanity.”
“What do you mean—in the past?” Laney asked.
Clark raised an eyebrow. “Hmm, I thought you would already know that.”
Laney reined in her impatience. No, I don’t know that, jackass.
“Well, there have been times in humanity’s history when the Fallen have united,” Clark said. “In those times, humanity has been on the edge of destruction.”
“Atlantis and the world flood,” Laney said.
Clark nodded. “That was one. The Trojan War was another. There have been other failed attempts as well, such as the Hundred Years War and World War II.”
Now Jake interrupted. “World War II? Hitler was a Fallen?”
Clark shook his head. “No, although it’s no secret he wished he was. He was part of a human group. But we believe some of his Übermensch may have been.”
Laney knew the Übermensch were a later addition to Hitler’s Lebensborn program. Members of the program had to be able to demonstrate their racial purity back to 1750 and be in perfect physical condition. The program resulted in the birth of forty-two thousand babies before its end in 1944.
In the final years of the program, though, Hitler added an additional membership requirement: each male member must be at least six feet tall. And members six feet six inches, or taller were regarded as Übermensch, the closest Germans to their warrior ancestors.
Laney’s gaze strayed to Henry. One of the attributes that sometimes came with being a nephilim was extreme height. Laney had never thought of the Übermensch in relation to the Fallen. Had the Übermensch been nephilim? Had Hitler tapped into their unique abilities, or been trying to? It was a frightening thought.
Her head spinning, she shoved her curiosity into a corner of her mind, focusing on the issue at hand. “And you believe the Fallen are grouping again?”
Clark nodded. “Yes. And at the SIA, we don’t like that. We thought you should be warned.”
“But why us?” Laney asked.
Clark leaned back, his hands entwined across his flat stomach. “You three are interesting. For some reason, the Fallen seem to be swirling around you. You’ve been involved with at least four Fallen in less than a year. That’s significant. And you’re all still alive. That’s remarkable. In the process, you’ve uncovered Atlantis artifacts that haven’t seen the light of day in ten thousand years, if not longer. Whatever’s coming, all our analysis suggests that you will be involved.”
Laney felt her pit of fear—the fear that had been created in Ecuador, and had never entirely disappeared—get a little bit bigger. Whatever the Fallen had planned, she really hoped it left her and the ones she loved alone. They’d been through enough at the hands of the Fallen and those tracking down Atlantis artifacts to last a lifetime. Now it was someone else’s turn to fight.
“Any idea why the Fallen seem to b
e swirling around us?” Jake asked.
Clark stood up. “Actually, I do. But I am not at liberty to say. Not yet.”
“That’s it?” Laney asked. The man walked in, told them the Fallen were recruiting for some evil purpose, most likely some form of world domination, and now he was just leaving?
Clark smiled. “For now. It was nice to meet all of you. And like I said, if you need us, call.” Clark walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Silence settled over the room. Jake broke it. “What the hell was that all about?”
“I have no idea.” Henry’s eyes narrowed, still focused on the door where Clark had exited.
“Do we know if these guys are even legit?” Jake asked.
Henry looked over at him and nodded. “They are. I was skeptical when Clark first explained who he was. But he gave me the numbers of a few highly placed individuals within the government and military, most of whom I know personally. The SIA is real.”
Laney glanced down at the business card in her hand. “So, do we think the SIA are the good guys . . . or the bad guys?”
Jake sat down next to her. “Jury’s still out. For now, we stay suspicious. I’ll tap some sources, see if anyone has any info on these guys. Henry, have you ever heard of them before?”
Henry shook his head. “No. Never.”
Laney pulled out her phone and typed the name into a search engine. “Well, unsurprisingly, they have no official website. The only sources that do mention them seem to be conspiracy websites.”
Jake leaned over to glance at her screen. “What do they say?”
Laney skimmed through the first few websites, her dread growing. “Nothing good. Apparently some consider the SIA to be the origin of the men in black myth. Others attribute multiple abductions and disappearances to them. And according to at least two sites, they aren’t just an American group. They’re multi-national.”
Henry sighed. “Well, that’s just great.”
“How about your mom?” Jake asked. “Has she ever mentioned them?”
