Chapter TWENTY-SEVEN
Rebecca
"I should have known it was you, back at the beach house," Sarah said.
"You don't sound surprised to hear from me," I replied. It made me more than a little uncomfortable.
"I'm not. I knew you were out there, somewhere."
"How?"
I heard the rush of air against her cell's microphone, and then a new voice solved the puzzle.
"Ah, hello my sugared dumpling. I've been waiting for your call."
"What the hell is going on, Max? You left Obi here as an exorcist, and me to walk right into the Nicht Creidim's trap."
He sighed. "It couldn't be helped, dearest. If you had followed the plan, I wouldn't have needed to improvise."
As much as I didn't like it, he was right. "Okay, but I thought the idea was to keep Sarah out of this. She can't be trusted."
Max started laughing. "No doubt. But then, you are the one who called her, are you not? I knew that you would, once you realized you were low on options. Before you ask, I was lucky to get out through the window when Joe came a-calling. He has the Deceiver, Truth, the Damned, and Avriel's Box. Do you have any idea what that means?"
"He's winning?"
The laughter stopped. "Yes. A mortal is winning. Kicking our asses, actually. You're just lucky he has no idea the extent of what he possesses. I know what Joe's plan is for the Box. All he would need is to get his hands on the Destroyer and he would be able to make it happen. I'm not happy about any of this, but seeing as how we're in dire straits, the best thing we could do is add an element of uncertainty to the endeavor. You knew that the moment you started dialing."
He meant Sarah. There was no guarantee she could have all of that power thrown in her face without breaking bad again, with our without her consent.
"The Destroyer?" I asked. It was the one blade left unaccounted for. "Do you know where it is?"
"Yes. Shanghai, China. We can't risk making a move for it until we've gotten the other swords back. I need you to collect Obi-wan and get a flight to Japan. We'll meet you here."
I glanced up at Brian, who was listening to the conversation as best he could. "How am I going to get Obi? Finding a mortal body that's stronger than his won't exactly be easy."
"My apologies, apple tart, but you created this, which makes him your responsibility. I trust you'll find a way to fix it. Be here by this time tomorrow, for all of our sakes."
He hung up.
"Bad news?" Brian asked. He surprised me with the sincerity of his concern.
I kept my eyes on him while my mind ran. I couldn't take Obi on my own, but maybe I didn't have to.
"Are you still in on helping me?"
He hesitated, then nodded. "By necessity, not choice."
"I'll take it however I can get it. I need you to help me kidnap my friend, and I need a private jet that can fly us to Japan."
"At least you aren't asking for anything big."
"Brian, I-"
He put his finger to my host's lips to cut me off. "I'm kidding." He waved his hands around his office. "I have all of this because of the grace of God. If He brought me this so that I would be able to help you when you needed aid, so be it."
It was a nice thought, but I knew that wasn't how it worked. There was no such thing as fate. Who he was, that was God's gift. What he had done with that gift was all his own. Just like what I had done as Reyka Solen was all my own. Blaming Lucifer would be a cop-out, not an absolution.
"Give me the phone," he said. I handed it to him, and he began typing on it. "I'm sending Pete a message to charter a flight to Japan. Which airport?"
"Osaka."
He nodded and kept typing. "Done. Let me grab a fresh shirt, and we'll go and get your friend."
"You really are an angel," I said.
He smirked. "Not completely. I keep picturing you as that sexy raven I saw in my soul. Not all of my thoughts are pure."
"At least you admit it. You're still human too."
"I guess so."
"Do you have a car?"
"No, do I need one?"
We were going to need some way to get Obi to the plane without being noticed. "It would help."
"I'll have Pete send a car over to the hotel." He sent him a text before he had finished talking.
I led him from his office, out to the lobby. Pete was on the phone, making final arrangements for the flight. He asked the person on the other end to hold when he saw us. "The plane will be ready at SeaTac in two hours. Are you sure though, Brian? This is going to cost, and the investors aren't going to like it."
"I know. There's nothing I can do about it. If I don't make this trip, there is no Madalytics."
"Good luck then, bro," he said, and then he resumed the call.
"How did you come up with that name, anyway?" I asked him, once we were on the elevator.
"It's based on Mary Magdalene. It was meant to be a spit in the face for my dad, without it looking too religious and scaring away the venture capitalists."
It made me laugh. "Clever."
We walked the half-mile talking about his company, about his religion, and what was most fascinating to me: his decision to go against everything his father had stood for. There was something about that story that gave me strength and hope for the final step of my own redemption. It was my fault that Joe had taken the Box and the swords, but maybe it was meant to be? Maybe fate didn't exist, but where was the line between it and faith?
"So, what's the plan?" he asked as we stepped off the elevator on the third floor of the hotel. "I take it this friend of yours is strong like a bull?"
"More like a mammoth. He's... enhanced. He's stronger than a regular human, which is why I can't hold him like this." I didn't have time to explain about Landon, or the Beast. "He's also a former United States Marine."
"Is this supposed to be giving me confidence?"
"You're an angel, or at least part-angel. You should be able to Calm him." At least, I was hoping he could. Maybe all he had gotten were the wings.
"How do I do that?"
"You're asking me? Just tell him to relax."
We walked down the hallway, and I knocked softly on the door. I could still hear the television on the other side.
Obi answered it again, his nose wrapped in white gauze. He wasn't alone. Two Nicht Creidim flanked him from behind.
"Crap," Brian said.
"So much for calm." I shot past Obi and planted the flat of my palm into one of his keepers, hearing the bones of his nose crumble and knocking him backwards. Obi turned and tried to hit me, but I ducked underneath the blow and caught him in the lungs with a solid side-kick. Brian threw his arms around him before he could come at me again.
"Sacerdos ab Ordinario..."
The second Nicht Creidim started the exorcism. I saw Obi's gun was still on the dresser, and I lunged across the room towards it. I heard Brian behind me, speaking into Obi's ear, telling him that he needed to relax and find his center.
I felt a hand grab my ankle and send me teetering forward, still too far from the Eagle. I let go of my host and threw myself towards the exorcist, covering the distance of the small room in seconds while the marketing executive's head got twisted against the bottom of the dresser and hit the floor with a solid thud. I went in and latched on, taking in the pain of the man's memories and exulting over it. He was a trained thug, a standard grunt, with nothing special in his past that made him anything more than fodder. The first thing I did was shut him up.
"He should have given you an Eye," I said. He might have seen me coming, and kept me from getting in.
I looked over to Brian and Obi. The angel had gone down to his knees, holding Obi's head in his lap. I guess he could Calm after all.
The first Nicht Creidim got to his feet, one hand on his nose. He tried to defend himself from me, but I had a fighter's body now, and I pushed aside his punches and returned them with force and speed. I put him back on the ground, leaving him unconscious next to the executive. I leaned down to check my former host's pulse, and cursed to find he was dead.
"I'm sorry," I said.
Maybe I shouldn't have taken him.
I went to the dresser and grabbed the Eagle. "Good work," I said to Brian.
"I didn't think that would work. Remind me never to piss you off."
I bent down and grabbed Obi's legs. "I hope the car is outside."
We carried him down the hallway towards the elevator, but I redirected Brian to the stairs. "Can you make it?" I asked.
"As long as we hurry," he replied.
The stairs emptied out into the lobby. The clerk at the front desk tried to get our attention, but we ignored him as we made our way outside. Pete hadn't let us down. A limo was waiting at the curb. I put Obi's legs down to open the back door, and then we maneuvered him in.
"What the hell is going on?" the driver asked.
"I'm Brian Rutherford, and I'm rich. If you want a nice tip, and I mean nice, you'll stop asking questions and drive."
That was all it took to get us moving. I watched the street behind us through the back of the limo. I didn't see anyone following. After a few blocks, I turned around and slumped into the seat.
"We did it," Brian said, with a huge smile on his face. "That was incredible."
"You did it. I couldn't have put Obi out like this."
He looked at the Marine, resting comfortably across the seat. "Maybe what happened to me isn't as bad as I was thinking."
"I don't want to burst your bubble, Brian, but it's worse than you were thinking."
He ran his hand over his bald head and sighed. "I appreciate your honesty. It just feels good to help someone. After what happened in the underground... I feel responsible."
"You're going to help me stop it. All of it. That's something you can feel good about."
We rode in silence for a while, until Brian got on his cell to ask Pete about the flight. "Plane will be ready before we get there."
I hadn't been too worried about it, but I still felt a sense of relief at the news. "Great. Can I borrow the phone?"
He tossed it over to me. I dialed Sarah's number.
"Rebecca," she said. "What's your situation?"
Businesslike. Cold. I shouldn't have expected anything else. "We have Obi, and a jet chartered for a direct flight. We'll be there in sixteen hours or so."
"We?"
I glanced over at Brian. "I picked up a stray millionaire. You'd like him, he has wings."
Brian's face turned red, and he looked down towards his feet. It was cute how innocent he was.
"A human with wings?"
She didn't know about the changelings? "Long story. Tell Max we'll be there on schedule."
"I will."
She hung up.
"Who was that?" Brian asked.
"I'll tell you on the plane. It'll take a few hours to explain everything."
"I'm not sure I want to know."
"I'm sure you don't, but I need to tell you anyway. All I ask is that you hear me out, the whole thing, before you pass judgement on anybody."
"The only true judge is God."