by Lincoln Cole
“This time? So, you don’t know?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Arthur said. “Hit one earlier, and it didn’t do squat, but this one seemed to work.”
“I wounded him already.” Garfield gestured toward the various holes in the guard’s chest.
“Your point?”
“Maybe he ran out of steam, and your pea shooter didn’t do a thing.”
Probably true, but Arthur wouldn’t give Garfield the satisfaction of admitting it. “Keep telling yourself that,” Arthur said, sliding the gun away and heading back toward the doorway out of which he’d come running. He needed to get back to Niccolo and Naomi and find out where the bishop had headed.
He needed to gather Niccolo up and get out of here. They couldn’t afford to let the bishop get too much of a lead on them, not when Arthur knew the plan now.
Garfield fell into step beside him.
“I will keep telling myself that. I would have managed fine on my own.”
“Sure.”
“What the hell were you doing out here, anyway?”
“Frieda didn’t tell you?”
“Does she ever?” Garfield rolled his eyes. “She gave me the gist of it, but no specifics. She just told me to jump.”
“I came on a job.”
“What job could have you hunting down a bishop? And without the Church’s permission, no less.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Like hell it doesn’t.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Arthur said. “I appreciate the assist, but I’ll take things from here.”
“So that’s how you want to play this?” Garfield asked, an edge of anger in his voice. “Mr. Super Important doesn’t want to fill me in about just what in the hell he’s doing at a water treatment plant outside California with a priest and chasing down a bishop? I thought we worked on the same side, Arthur?”
Arthur sighed, rubbing his forehead. “I’ve got things under control.”
“Sure as hell seems that way. I gave up a Wendigo to come save your ass. Just tell me what the hell is going on. What the hell is Naomi doing working with the Catholic Church?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Arthur said.
“But you have some ideas?”
“Yeah,” Arthur said. “Some.”
Then he fell silent. They had almost reached where Niccolo waited, watching Naomi. Bullet holes riddled the walls from the earlier fight, and the entire tunnel smelled of blood. One of the men that had gotten shot—by Garfield no doubt—had ended up ripped apart by buckshot, leaving a horrifying mess.
Naomi sat up now and patched up her arm. She looked like she’d lost a fair amount of blood, but she would be fine. Her expression soured when she saw Garfield with Arthur.
Niccolo sat on the floor, staring at nothing, and he jumped when Arthur touched him on the shoulder. “Did you get the bishop?”
“No,” Arthur said. “He had a car waiting and got out of here.”
“Where is he going?”
Arthur looked over at Naomi. “That’s what we need to find out.”
“Don’t give me that look, Arthur,” Naomi said. “I saved your ass.”
“How do you figure?”
“Glasser wanted to go in and kill you both, and I talked him into just waiting. I tried to get him to let you walk. If we’d rushed in when he wanted us to, you would have been screwed.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Not with your pea shooter,” Garfield said.
“When I saw it was you down here in the tunnels, I knew Frieda would send backup,” she said. Then she looked at Garfield. “I just didn’t think it would take so long.”
“Two states away,” Garfield said. “You’re lucky I came at all.”
“This is all quite amusing, but where is the bishop headed?” Niccolo said. “We need to find him before he slips away for good.”
“He’s going to his family,” Naomi said. “The children he made me help him kidnap.”
“Why did you help him?” Niccolo asked. “When the Church finds out—”
“He was the Church,” Naomi said, cutting him off with a raised hand. She picked herself up from the wall, moving awkwardly with only the one good arm. “I worked with him for years, and he said he’d passed the information on to the Vatican. Until a few months ago that remained true.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Church assigned him to work with me. We would find children, and he would bring the names and locations back to the Vatican. He acted as my handler, one of several I’ve worked with over the years. A few months ago, he started acting strange, but we just kept collecting the names. Then I found out he had nabbed the children after I told him a target instead of taking them to the Church.”
“You mean he kidnapped them?”
Garfield cut in, “Kidnapping who? Children?”
“Yes,” Naomi said. “Children.”
Garfield looked over at Arthur. “That’s what you meant? The idea you had about what was going on.”
“It’s worse than you think,” Arthur said, nodding at Naomi. “Keep talking.”
She nodded. “About a month ago, I asked the Vatican about the missing children to see if something had changed, and they acted like they had no idea what was going on. They accused me of shirking my duties and said no names had been delivered in months. Glasser had reported me MIA to the Church even while he kidnapped the kids.”
“So, they didn’t believe you?” Arthur asked.
“When I told them about the kidnapped children, it became my word against Glasser’s. They asked him some questions, he denied the allegations, and that brought the end of it. Needless to say, that didn’t end well for me, and they gave me an ultimatum to shape up or face the consequences.”
“So you helped him grab the kids,” Arthur said.
“At that point, I still didn’t know what he had planned for them. It seemed messed up, but I’ve done worse things in the past and didn’t want the Church pissed at me.”
“How many?” Niccolo asked. “How many children did you help him kidnap?”
Naomi hesitated. “A dozen,” she said. “At least. I found out that he grabbed a few of them long before I thought things had started. They’ve been with him for years.”
“Where are they?”
“All around,” she said. “He’s planted them in different cities throughout the states to get as wide a coverage as possible.”
“Coverage?” Garfield asked. “Coverage for what?”
Niccolo supplied the answer, “Their exposure.”
“HE WANTS TO USE THE kids to make the world aware that such children exist. Just letting people know that things like this are real gives enough to cause widespread panic. He’s prepped them for this moment and plans to unleash them on the world,” Naomi said.
“You mean killing people.”
“Wreaking general havoc.” She nodded. “When I found out, I dug deeper and followed him, which is how I know where he will have gone.”
“Where?” Arthur asked.
“I need assurances.”
“I need information.”
“I have it,” Naomi said. “So, what will you offer in return?”
Already, Arthur had made his deal with Elgin not to pursue Naomi. He would let her go once this had finished, but she didn’t need to know that. The worse she thought her position was, the easier it would prove to get the information he needed.
The problem was that Garfield hadn’t made such a similar bargain. He also didn’t like to make deals with people, much less people like Naomi. If Arthur tried to cut her a deal in front of him, it could become a problem.
“I’ll put in a good word for you with the Council and the Church.”
“Not good enough. Your word against my crimes won’t balance out too well.”
“That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”
“Then, I leave it,” she said.
“Naomi
...”
“I’m serious, Arthur. Good luck finding the bishop without my help.”
Father Niccolo Paladina’s voice cut through the air, “Good luck making it out of this tunnel alive if you don’t.”
HE SPOKE QUIETLY, HIS words barely audible, and they caught Arthur off-guard. The words sounded calm and spoken evenly, but an undercurrent of rage and fear came with them.
They seemed to have a similar effect on Naomi, though she soon recovered from her momentary shock.
“You are a priest. You would never murder me in cold blood.”
“No,” he said. “You’re right. I wouldn’t. I don’t represent just myself, though. I represent the Church. These men work for the Church, and if I tell them to kill you, they will.”
Arthur thought to interject and remind Niccolo that he wouldn’t kill anyone anymore, but he changed his mind. After all, Niccolo only bluffed.
At least, he hoped he did.
Garfield, however, said, “Wrong, Priest. I serve the Council, and I don’t take orders from you.”
He waited a beat, drew his pistol, and then continued, “But, in this case, I might make an exception. I have no qualms about killing Naomi myself if she doesn’t tell us what we need to know. So, what will it be? Want to try your luck with the Church or with us?”
Naomi gulped, weighing her options. “An hour head start. That’s all I ask.”
“Hell—” Garfield said.
“Fine,” Arthur said. “You give us the information to track down the bishop, and we’ll give you a head-start.”
“No way.” Garfield stepped forward and grabbed Arthur’s shoulder. “She tried to murder you. Hell, she tried to murder me.”
“Not me or my men,” she said. “Not anymore. The bishop got to them.”
Garfield ignored her, lowering his voice so that only Arthur could hear. “I’ll not let her go that easily. You get your information, and I take her in.”
“The longer this takes, the more of a lead the bishop has,” Arthur said quietly. “We can’t afford the time.”
“We can’t afford to give her a head-start like that. She’ll slip away.”
Arthur argued, “The stakes are way bigger than just her. If we don’t stop the bishop, he’ll wreak major havoc on the world and hurt the Church and the Council.”
“Not my problem,” Garfield said. “My job wasn’t to come and take orders from you but to help you. You’re making the wrong call, and I shan’t let you do it.”
“The children—”
“I don’t care one lick about those kids,” Garfield said with a hiss. “We’ve got Naomi here, which gives us a win. I only care about bringing her in.”
“We need the information,” Arthur said. “Bishop Glasser has far more importance.”
“I’ll be damned before I let you send her on her way without any punishment. She helped us out, and I’ll make sure the Council knows about that, but I will not let her go.”
Arthur had feared that, and he didn’t want a confrontation with Garfield. However, he’d given Elgin his word that Naomi could walk, and he didn’t want to go back on it now.
So, how could he satisfy his commitment to Elgin and keep Garfield happy at the same time?
“Look, Garfield, I know that you answer to the Council and not to me, but I—”
“We’ll give you your head-start.”
They turned to face Niccolo. The priest held a gun. Not a tranquilizer, though. He had picked up a pistol from one of the downed guards, and now aimed it at Garfield.
The statement, however, he’d directed at Naomi.
“What?” she asked, surprised. “Yeah, definitely. I’m in.”
“Ten minutes. You tell us what we need to know, and you get a ten-minute head-start.”
“Deal.”
Garfield said, “No deal. I sure as hell will not—”
Niccolo narrowed his eyes at him. “Shut up.”
Garfield did, but he spent the next few seconds sizing up Niccolo. “You won’t shoot me,” Garfield said, his tone softer and more sinister. “You barely even know how to hold that thing. Did Arthur teach you nothing before tossing you into the deep end?”
“He taught me enough.”
“No,” Garfield said. “Not nearly enough.”
“I will shoot you. Don’t make me do it.”
“No, you won’t. You’re a priest. That would be murder.”
“You don’t know me.”
Arthur stared at Niccolo. The look in the priest’s eyes held as much resolve as fear, and it became clear that he had gone in way over his head. A spontaneous decision to seize the moment had become a moment of which he had quickly lost control.
Arthur had to admit that this turn of events surprised him. He wouldn’t have expected anything like this from Niccolo.
“Your hand is shaking,” Garfield said. “Just put down the gun, and I’ll forget this ever happened.”
“No,” Niccolo said. He turned back to Naomi. “Tell us, and then go.”
She hesitated, and then made her choice, “An hour.”
Garfield turned to Arthur. “I just saved your lives. And you allow him to treat me like this?”
“He does what he wants,” Arthur said. “You think I can control him?”
“Do we have a deal?” Naomi asked. “An hour.”
“Deal,” Niccolo said. “Now, tell us what you know.”
“You little—”
Garfield turned back to Niccolo and rushed him. From his movement, it grew clear that he meant to body-tackle the priest and wrestle away the gun.
Arthur had expected this and felt glad he’d taken the time to reload his tranquilizer gun. The darts didn’t work on demons but remained quite potent against humans.
Arthur fired his last remaining darts into the burly man’s back. One shot would have given enough, but two couldn’t hurt. Garfield staggered forward an extra couple of steps before collapsing to the ground. He hit his face hard against the cement flooring. It would hurt when he awoke.
“Let’s make it two hours,” Arthur said, sliding the tranquilizer gun away. Then, he shrugged. “Give or take.”
Naomi stared at them in shock, and then burst out laughing. “You really are cold-blooded, aren’t you?”
“I’ve been called worse. Start talking.”
“He has a boat to take him out of the country,” Naomi said. “But that isn’t his only stop. He plans to get the kids and head overseas. A shipping freighter will get him to Europe.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” Naomi said. “He’s still after one of the kids. An important one that he wants to grab before he starts his little crusade. He said he would handle this one himself.”
“Who is the child?” Niccolo asked.
“Some kid named—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Arthur said. He didn’t want Niccolo to know that Haatim Arison had become one of the Vatican Children. “You didn’t report any of these children’s names to the Vatican, right?”
“No,” Naomi said. “But I have the list.”
“Give it to me, and I’ll make sure it ends up in the right hands.”
She nodded, slipping a little notebook out of her pocket and handing it to him. “Good riddance. I don’t want to talk to the Church for a while anyway.”
In the book, she wrote the address of the house where Bishop Glasser kept the kidnapped children, and then which dock from which he planned to leave.
To use the freighter made sense, because by now, the Church would monitor airline traffic in case he tried to leave the states, but they would have a much harder time of tracking him or his group of children on a ship.
“You said he won’t know we’re coming?”
“He thinks I’ve remained obedient these last few months and has no idea I know where he’s held the newest kids. And, for definite, he doesn’t know I found out about his overseas transport.”
“Fine.”
“Can I g
o?” she asked.
“What about the other kids?” Niccolo wanted to know. “The ones he’s had for a while.”
“The ones he’s indoctrinated already have scattered. Their goal, as far as I can tell, is to make headlines and show people what they can do.”
“Do you know where they went?”
“No,” Naomi said. “A few. Most, you won’t have to worry about. Two in particular, though ...”
“What?”
“Let’s just say that one of them, in particular, gives me the creeps. He stayed at the bishop’s side most of the time and kept an eye on the new kids. They call him Jeremy.”
Arthur prompted, “The other one?”
“Ohio,” she said. “Whatever he has planned for this kid, it will go down there. She’s a telekinetic, I think. Wish I could give you more specifics, but that’s all I’ve got. Now, can I go? My head-start is shortening by the minute.”
“If this information doesn’t pan out, then I will come find you,” Arthur said. “And I’ll not feel too happy when I do.”
“I wouldn’t expect any less, Arthur. The intel’ is good, and as long as you hurry, you’ll catch him at the docks. If you dally, though, then no promises, so you two want to get moving.”
Niccolo exchanged a glance with Arthur.
“So ...” Naomi said. “One last time. Can I go?”
“Yeah,” Arthur said, waving his hand in dismissal. “Get out of here.”
She didn’t wait for him to change his mind, just took off running down the hallway toward the maze of pipes, disappearing into the darkness. Though she held her arm where she’d gotten shot, she looked mostly unhurt. Arthur watched her go, and then turned back to Niccolo.
“What about him?” Niccolo asked, gesturing toward Garfield.
Arthur sighed. “Even odds he comes after us when he wakes up. He isn’t the forgiving type.”
“Should we just leave him?”
Arthur shook his head. “I’ll drop him at his car. Least we can do, considering.”
He knelt and slung Garfield over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry position. It became rough getting him to the exit because he was a big guy, but Arthur felt grateful he wouldn’t have to carry him up the ladder.
Niccolo fished around in Garfield’s pocket while they walked, and then rushed ahead to get his car. Arthur figured it would sit parked close to his, and he was right. Niccolo came back a couple of minutes later.
