She glances across at Father Blake and wonders if he’s been carrying the same cross.
‘And what about those of us right here who know different?’ Blake asks.
‘Professor Steinmeyer and Sergeant Sendak are bound to secrecy. I can’t stop you and the girl talking, but I’d strongly advise against it. It won’t help your friends any, but if that ain’t a good enough reason, I can give you a starker one, which is that nobody’s going to believe you. You don’t have any proof.’
‘And thus you wave your magic wand and this all goes away,’ Blake says.
‘Don’t you want it to go away, Father? Get on with your life?’
‘No. Because it isn’t over. My young friend Adnan went through that portal, and we all know there’s still a chance we can bring him back.’
‘I hear what you’re saying,’ Rodriguez assures him sincerely. ‘And I give you my word I’d volunteer personally for that particular S&R mission, but we both know it ain’t gonna happen. It would take a lot more leverage than one missing kid to get the brass to even contemplate firing that thing up again.’
‘Yeah,’ Blake concedes with a sigh, hoping he sells his defeated act better than Steinmeyer. He slumps back in his seat and pulls out the iPhone.
‘I’m sorry, Father,’ Rodriguez tells him. ‘Usual aircraft rules. No cellulars in-flight.’
‘Just checking it’s still intact. I’ll be needing it later.’
‘You can use it soon as we land. Thinking of getting one just like it myself. You reckon they’re pretty hot?’
‘This one’s dynamite.’
Blake looks out of the window once more as the chopper descends towards Raigmore Hospital. He can see dozens of staff lined up close to the landing pad, waiting to attend to the casualties arriving in two helicopters.
As the wheels touch down, Rodriguez leans across to him again.
‘Now, before I let you out of this bird, assure me one more time that we’re all straight with this.’
‘I’m straight with it,’ Blake replies.
‘Good. Now get busy forgetting: that’s the best way to help your friends and to help yourself, not to mention your church.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping this strictly to myself.’
He pulls off his dog collar, which is, frankly, beginning to chafe.
‘I swear to God.’
Bonus Level
XXXV
Adnan waits until they’re long gone before making his move. He’s trying not to even allow himself to think about how scared he is, how lonely he feels. He calls up the HUD as he stalks through the strange vegetation, shotgun raised. It’s just a bonus map, he tells himself. A secret level. You complete it and then get back to the main arc of the game.
From his hiding place among the rocks, he had watched with some disquiet as they carried Tullian away.
The Cardinal came through the portal only a few minutes behind, tumbling to the rocky ground amidst a sudden light-storm before an awed and fearful gathering. The flashes and noise accompanying Adnan’s own entrance must have been what drew the creatures, alerting them that something dramatic was afoot, but he had exited stage left and taken cover before any of them showed up. Thus the initial disturbance had served merely as a harbinger of this subsequent advent.
Tullian lay stunned on the ground at first, taking a moment to gather himself as he recovered from what had preceded his arrival, not to mention the rigours of the journey itself. Then he stood up, prompting gasps as his great robes swirled about him. Despite the rips and frays and smears of blood, they must have looked luxuriant beyond the imaginings of these observers in their crude and muddied rags.
Tullian stared for a few seconds, wild-eyed, at the assembly before him, then turned back towards the portal, which chose this unfortunately coincidental moment to close, prompting another round of terrified amazement.
Then their leader approached him, a huge demon in a headdress just like Adnan had seen depicted in claw marks, blood and shit on the walls of that cell: the tribal chief or holy man. Tullian reached out and zapped him with the pike, sending him flying backwards through the air with a flash of blue sparkling light that outshone the sum of their flaming torches.
Within seconds, they were prostrate in worship. Every last one.
Four of them brought up a litter, the chair suspended on poles that the chief had arrived aboard, and very soon, Tullian was being carted off, shoulder-high, like fucking Threepio in Return.
Major lossage. The stupid fuckers think he’s a god.
That’s how this shit starts.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Transports of Delight
I
II
III
Mass Effect
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
Bonnie Brae
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
XVII
Chaos and Eternal Night
XVIII
XIX
XX
XXI
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV
XXVI
XXVII
Here Be Dragons
XXVIII
XXIX
XXX
XXXI
XXXII
XXXIII
XXXIV
Bonus Level
XXXV
Pandaemonium Page 41
