arms and the seriousness of the situation, the atmosphere was remarkably calm and friendly. People seemed to be enjoying the display of camaraderie and community spirit.
One thing that did become apparent shortly after the DSS men had departed was that all the telephones lines leading out of town were not working and neither were the mobile phones. All communication with the outside world was down. A local boy who had a CB radio in his room said all he could get was static right across the band. The town had been cut off.
At Father Kelly’s suggestion, Sheriff Tanner asked for a volunteer to drive over to the next town with a message for their sheriff, asking if they could send help. Two men had left along with another two to see if the Bishop’s emissaries had reached their destination. None had returned and no word or additional police officers came in, in fact no one much was coming into town.
As the night dragged into the late hours, the crowd started to thin out as a lot of the women and most of the children left to go home. The men stood strong though and luckily it was a warm night. As Father Kelly said many times that evening, “The Lord hath provided.”
27
Early the next morning the sun rose on many a stifled yawn and the pained stretching of weary bodies. It wasn’t long before the crowd began to swell to its former size from last evening.
Donna opened her eyes and yawned. Her whole body was stiff and sore from the hard pew she’d been sleeping on. She sat up, disturbing her father, upon whose lap her head had been resting.
“Good morning,” Ed said quietly and smiled.
“Morning, Dad.” Donna glanced around. Quite a few people were still asleep, either lying down or sitting up. Billy was slumped at the end of her own pew, head back, mouth agape, emitting the occasional snore. Felicity had left late last night and she’d tried to take Ninah with her but the young girl had refused. Donna looked at her sister, peacefully asleep with her head in Kyato’s lap with his arms laid protectively over her shoulders. Kyato was asleep also, still sitting cross-legged on the floor, his breathing deep and regular. He looked at peace but Donna could see the dark patches below his eyes. So young, she thought, to be going through all this, only five years old. Did he even understand what was happening? She still found it hard to believe. She wished she could spirit him away from it all and let him go in a place where he’d be safe and happy. ‘If wishes were horses’, she lamented.
A short time later Father Kelly, followed by Sheriff Tanner and several other men including Ward Parker and the town mayor, walked up and motioned for Ed to join them. After a second Jennifer Hatfield and Marko did also.
“Good morning Father, any news of your messengers, any word from the Bishop?” Ed asked.
“Morning Ed, I’m afraid not.”
Ed nodded. “What are we going to do then?”
“Well, we’re not sure Ed, that’s what we want to talk about now,” Doc Parker said.
“The people are in fairly good spirits, all things considered,” Sheriff Tanner said. “But I don’t know how long we can expect them to stay here. They’re already pretty tired and soon the disruption to the town will start to be felt.” The mayor nodded at this and Tanner went on. “We’re thinking we should try and move him.”
“I don’t know,” Ed said heavily. “Those people that left town yesterday didn’t return and there are still no phones operating. I’ll bet those goddamned bastards have us penned in. Sorry Father,” Ed said, rubbing his forehead. Father Kelly just nodded understandingly.
“I thought of that too,” Tanner said, “and Father Kelly agrees, but how long can we hold up here? But that’s not all, with most of my men on guard duty, there’s been trouble. Last night we had a fire and three break ins to stores on the other side of town, which means someone is taking advantage of the situation.”
“Carlisle’s men?” Ed asked.
“Possibly. Who knows? The results are the same,” the sheriff said.
Ed sighed long and hard. “This is getting out of hand.”
“What do you mean, getting?” Tanner asked in a half laugh that was totally humorless. “It’s already out of hand!”
“Well, what do you propose we should have done Burt?” Father Kelly asked sharply. “Just let them take him like they did the female?”
“No Father, of course not, you misunderstood me. I merely meant that the situation is out of control as it is, and we must deal with it as such. That’s all.”
“Sorry Burt, I’m a little tired. I apologize.”
“No need Father, we’re all a little peaked right now.”
Ed looked over to Jennifer to say good morning and ask how she’d gotten along. The previous night she’d spent a lot of time with Kyato in the hope of learning more about him. Kyato however wasn’t being as forth coming or cooperative as he had been on previous occasions.
Before Ed could open his mouth they all became aware of a low droning sound coming from outside and getting louder. It became a clear whup, whup whup, something they were all too familiar with now, the unmistakable sound of helicopter rotors. Just then, the church door burst in and one of Tanner’s deputies shouted, “Sheriff, you’d better get back out here, I think those spooks are coming back!” Moving as one the whole group headed quickly for the front door as the people in the church began to awaken.
The first black helicopter swooped into view and settled low over the top of the church just as Father Kelly, Sheriff Tanner, Ed and the rest rushed out the front door. Tanner looked at the helicopter and so did everybody else. “Oh, no!” Tanner hissed as he suddenly realized that was its purpose, to provide a diversion. He turned to yell a warning, but it was too late!
Soldiers clad in combat armor over black uniforms burst from the bushes in the yards across the street and in the park, and also from inside the building next door. As Tanner was about to yell, they crossed the distance to his deputies and the other men holding weapons, slamming into them and knocking them to the ground before disarming them. Some of the men in the crowd surged forward to help the policemen, but the helmeted soldiers responded with jabs from their rifle butts.
“I never would have believed they would go this far, we’ve got to get Kyato out of here!” Father Kelly shouted over the noise of the chopper.
“To where?” Ed yelled back.
There was no time for an answer as a second chopper hove low into view, its rotors fanning the crowd and stirring up confusion and dust in equal amounts. The sound of breaking glass came from around both sides of the church. Soldiers were rappelling down from the first chopper, still hovering over the church; they were smashing their way through the tall stained glass windows.
“Lord, help us,” Father Kelly said softly.
28
Donna heard the helicopter as her father turned and ran outside with the others. Quickly she went and gently woke Ninah and Kyato. Ninah rubbed her eyes. “Donna, huh, what?” she asked sleepily.
“Ninah wake up, they’re here again!” she said and Ninah’s eyes snapped wide open immediately.
“No,” she whimpered.
Donna turned to Kyato who was getting to his feet and staring at the ceiling. The chopper must be hovering directly overhead now. Then came the sound of boots on the roof. “Don’t worry, we won’t let them take you,” she said. Kyato looked at her with those incredible eyes, a strange sad little smile on his face and Donna could have sworn he understood what she’d just said. Understood, but knew that there was no hope, that she was offering false reassurance but appreciated it anyway, it and everything else they were doing to help him. She understood this all so intuitively that she briefly wondered if that was how they communicated, through expression. Or was he putting the right thoughts into her mind through telepathy? She didn’t know and there wasn’t time to find out.
Just then the stained glass windows along the side walls exploded inwards one after the other, admitting black clad soldiers in descent harnesses. They immediatel
y began freeing themselves from their rappelling ropes and bringing weapons to bear, short ugly snub-nosed machine guns. As one they began to advance toward the altar, an enclosing wall of gun muzzles and hard faces.
“Go away!” Ninah screamed at them. “Go away, leave him alone!” She began to cry and grabbed at Kyato, trying to push him toward the back of the church. “You have to go,” she said between sobs. “Fly away, go, get away!”
Kyato looked down at her, still with that sad little smile. He shook his head and then gently wiped away a tear that ran down her cheek. It made Donna want to cry herself.
The people in the church moved to the sides at the soldiers’ gun muzzle gestures. Only Donna and Ninah stood with Kyato as black uniformed figures approached. Up front the doors burst open and her father followed by the others charged in. The soldiers brought their weapons to bear, halting them in their tracks.
“Dad!” Donna shouted. “Dad?”
Ed looked at his daughter, seeing the fear in her face, hearing it in her voice, but she was still refusing to leave Kyato’s side despite it and everything else that was happening. He was damn proud of his girls.
Kyato stood still, making no attempt to flee as the soldiers approached and Donna wondered why he didn’t try to get away. Perhaps he knew it was no use, that if he even did manage to get out of the church, they’d just
Fallen Angel Page 24
