The Rise of the Fallen (The Angelic Wars Book 2) (19 page)

“
You're a bit
twisted, do you know that?” Beatrice asked angrily.

Davidson shrugged. “To
know your enemy, you have to think like your enemy. Basic tactics.”

“
He's right,”
Chef said heavily. “If their angelic presence isn't upon them,
Chris, Natalie and the others are as vulnerable as the rest of us.”
He wiped a large palm over his face, sounding tired. “I've been
doing some digging of my own, especially concerning the kitchen
staff. There are six of them. Frannie is completely loyal to the
judge, of that I am sure. So are most of the others. But there are
two youngsters that I'm not so sure of.”

He looked both sad and
thoughtful as he sat there. He folded his arms and looked at Judge
Hawkes.

“
I've been speaking
to them casually and I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with some of
their answers.”

“
Well then, I think
it is time to act instead of react,” the judge said briskly. He
sat up in his chair, all business again. “Mario, go and see
Frannie. I want those two gone from Valiant today.” He looked
around the table. “Anyone else harbor suspicions about any of
the staff here?”

“
Actually, I do,”
Tony said quietly to everyone's surprise. He sounded almost
apologetic. “A young woman, nurse's assistant, works in the
infirmary. I hate to single any one person out, but I've been getting
strange...vibes from her during our conversations.”

“
Are you sure she
isn't just flirting with you, Tony?” Ramona asked, teasing.
“You don't pick up on those things very easily.”

There were a few chuckles
among them, but Tony just shook his head.

“
No, I don't think
so,” he replied seriously.

“
Very well. Give me
her name after the meeting and I'll see that she's discharged. Anyone
else?”

Chris had been racking his
brain, trying to remember if he had seen or heard anything out of the
ordinary in the last few days. But he had found everyone he'd spoken
with friendly and helpful. He couldn't think of a single person who
had acted suspiciously. Which is why Natalie shocked him when she
spoke up.

“
There is one other
person, judge,” she said hesitantly. She glanced at Chris and
he stared back, wondering what the look was for. “It's that
young guy, Jamie.”

“
Wait. What?”
Chris blurted out. “Jamie is a nice guy. He's been really
helpful and friendly.”

She smiled sadly. “I
know that.” She sounded apologetic. “And I know that his
parents work in the organization. But I also know that I found him
walking away from your room earlier today while you were out. I
almost bumped into him when I came out of mine, actually. He looked a
little too surprised to see me when I came into the hall; he actually
jumped. And he became quite tongue-tied when I asked him what he was
doing.”

Chris felt everyone's eyes
on him as he looked at Natalie. He must have been glaring at her
because she flinched.

“
Really? That's the
evidence you're using to throw him out of Valiant, that he was
looking for me? Yeah, good job there, Sherlock.”

It was Natalie's turn to
look angry. “Hey, the judge asked and I answered. I'm just not
sure about the guy.”

“
Yeah? Well, I am.”
Chris looked at Judge Hawkes. “I like him. And I feel no 'bad
vibes' from him at all. Sir, you can't kick him out just because he
was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The judge looked from
Chris to Natalie and back again. He sat back in his seat.

“
Chris is correct,
Natalie. Unless we have something more to go on, we cannot presume
guilt. Certainly not of someone who has been with us as long as Jamie
and his parents have.”

Before Natalie could
respond, and she took a deep breath to do just that, the judge cut
her off.

“
We are not going to
descend into paranoia here. I will not have it. George?” He
looked at the big man. “Head over to security after the meeting
and examine the tapes from earlier today. Check on the hallway where
Chris and Natalie's rooms are and see what young Jamie was up to
before she interrupted him.”

“
Hang on a second,”
Natalie said, surprised out of her anger. “There's a camera
recording the hallway?”

George chuckled. “There
are cameras in every hallway and public room in Valiant.” He
cocked a thumb at the judge. “His honor's idea a few years
back. A security system with cameras was installed in all of the safe
houses. Strictly in the public areas, of course.”

All Natalie could manage
to say was “Hmm.”

“
Get back to me on
that and we'll consider this Jamie situation further. Is that
acceptable, Christopher?”

“
Um, yeah, sure.
Thanks, judge.”

“
Good.” Judge
Hawkes caught them all with his gaze. “And now I wanted to ask
your opinions on the most important problem I have at the moment.”

There was a breathless
pause.

“
Mr. Mahony. We know
for a certainty that he is in league against us. But if we simply
turn him loose, we risk spooking his accomplice. That person could go
silent and remain among us. And, of course, Alan would probably go
running to Scythe and disgorge any and all information about us and
our organization. So, what should we do about him?”

There was a thoughtful
moment of silence and some looks between the staffers. Chris was
flattered that the judge would even ask them for their ideas. He was,
after all, the boss. His decision was final and Chris simply had no
answer for him. What did you do to a traitor?

A small vicious part of
him knew what it wanted to do, but Chris ignored it. Maybe lock him
up? But for how long? Forever? Until they had won the war against the
Fallen? Yeah, right. If they won, it could be years away. He saw
uncertainty on the faces around him and took the opportunity to
refill his cup while the others thought the problem through.

As he was sipping his tea,
Natalie leaned over and whispered in his ear.

“
I'm sorry for my
suspicions about Jamie,” she muttered. “For what it's
worth, I hope I'm wrong. I actually like the guy.”

He turned and smiled to
show her that there were no hard feelings. She smiled in return,
satisfied, and settled back in her chair, watching the judge
intently.

“
Not one suggestion
from any of you?” Judge Hawkes said finally. He sounded a
little amused. “Come now. Surely you have something to offer,
Mario.”

“
If these were the
old days, then I would,” Chef said with a touch of menace.

What old days? Chris
wondered.

“
But we are more
civilized now, I suppose. And you're correct, Ethan. If we tip him
off, we tip off the entire Fallen camp. I think we could get more use
out of the snake as a funnel for misinformation. Let him know,
indirectly, that Natalie changed her mind about the shopping trip, so
he doesn't know that we're on to him. Keep up the pretense that he is
a trusted member of the Dominion, at least for now. He may be useful
later. And, once we are done with him, we can milk him for whatever
he knows about our enemies.” His voice was deadly serious as he
pronounced this last sentence.

“
Yes, I agree with
Chef,” Beatrice said. “Use this weasel. Kicking him out
might plug our leak, but then again it might not, at least not until
we find the other spy. And why let the enemy know that we're on to
them until we have to?”

“
Good ideas. Thank
you. And thank you all for your input.” The judge planted his
palms on to the table and pushed himself up. “I've decided not
to dismiss those staff members that we suspect are in league with
Scythe. An abrupt mass firing would be too obvious and might spook
Mr. Mahony into running.”

He walked back to his
desk, sat down behind it and pulled out his cell.

“
Instead, I'm going
to announce that, due to our present situation and the tragedy at the
Hawkes Nest, I'll be cutting staff back to a minimum temporarily.
Just to tighten security. We'll let our suspects go with reluctance
and a suitable compensation package, and assure them that they will
be rehired as soon as the crisis is over.”

“
Wow, your honor,”
George said with admiration. “You're more devious than I
thought.”

“
Yes, thank you,
George,” the judge said absently as he tapped on his phone.
Then he looked up. “I think.”

There was general laughter
at that and then everyone got up and began to leave.

“
One moment,
Christopher, if you please,” the judge called out. Chris looked
back at him and saw the man gesturing to one of the chairs in front
of his desk. “I'd like you to stay for a minute, if you don't
mind.”

“
Yeah, of course,”
Chris answered and walked back. The others left, Natalie throwing
Chris a curious glance as she closed the door behind her.

He sat down and watch
Judge Hawkes type. The man nodded several times to himself and then
slipped the phone into the inside pocket of his jacket. He stretched
and sat back comfortably.

“
I don't want to
hold you up,” he said. “But there is something we need to
discuss.”

“
Sure, sir. Whatever
you want.” Chris became nervous at the judge's suddenly grave
tone. Had he done something wrong? What was going on?

The judge must have read
his concerns from Chris' expression and smiled reassuringly. “You
aren't in trouble, my boy, so relax. I simply wanted to know if you'd
heard anything from Sariel yet; since the meeting with the other
Angelics, I mean. We may need him soon. Desperately. And it would be
reassuring to know that he was becoming more...reliable.”

“
Oh, I see,”
Chris heard a touch of worry in the man's voice. “Okay. Well,
yeah. He popped in earlier, when I was wandering around the gardens.
And you were right, basically. There's trouble in Purgatory. Some of
his people aren't happy about Lilith being held as a prisoner. He
actually said that he had to punish several of them.” Chris
stopped and frowned. “I wonder what sort of punishment you
would use on an angel?”

“
Yes, a good
question. But I find the thought of dissent in Purgatory much more
worrisome.” The judge reached up and adjusted his string tie.
Then he folded his hands in front of him and rested them on the desk.
He leaned forward and watched Chris quizzically. “Might this
upset in Purgatory be related to your feelings of impending
disaster?”

“
You know about
that?” Chris asked in surprise.

“
Of course.
Remember, a leader must know as much as he can about, not just his
enemies, but his allies.” He shrugged. “I hear most of
what goes on amongst my people here in Valiant, just as I did when I
lived at the Hawkes Nest. It's important. But I assure you that I do
not have a network of spies reporting your every move to me.”

The judge's tone was
matter-of-fact and Chris smiled absently. He actually didn't think
that the judge was watching him specifically. But he was sure that
the man kept his finger on the pulse of Valiant. After all, it was
the sensible thing to do.

“
I know you don't,
sir. Well, I thought that it was just some weird feeling that was
coming from my own mind, but maybe it is kind of a...reflection of
Sariel's mood. Huh.” The idea worried him. “If he's
feeling the way I am, I think Sariel said less than he could have
when he mentioned this chaos in Purgatory. He made it sound almost
trivial. Maybe it isn't.”

Judge Hawkes seemed
relieved by Chris' theory.

“
I rather thought
that might be the case, but I wanted you to come to that conclusion
on your own.” The judge unfolded his hands and absently began
to stroke his chin. “Sariel is probably the most independent of
all of the angels. This independence may be the reason that he isn't
sharing as much about his problems with you as we might hope. And if
that is true, we may not be able to count on him if things start to
go badly here.”

Chris thought he heard
more behind the judge's words than he was saying.

“
Sir,” he
began hesitantly. “
Are
things starting to go badly?”

A
long hiss of air whistled through the man's lips. “You are very
quick-witted, young man. I appreciate that. Between you and me?”
He looked intently at Chris who nodded vigorously. “Yes, I
think they are. These spies in our midst, including the castle's
administrator? This has never happened before within the
organization. Ever. Between the attack on the Nest, the infiltration
of our ranks and the confrontation with the Horseman, I think the
winds have changed and are blowing against us.” He lowered his
voice. “I haven't announced this to the others yet, so please
keep it to yourself for now, but something may have happened to the
other safe-houses.”

Chris
sat up, his eyes widening. “The other ones? What do you mean,
sir?”

“
I
mean that we have had no communication with any of the remaining six
houses since we arrived here. The safe-houses are required to check
in on a daily basis. Various rumors of possible Angelics among the
human population are passed from house to house. Staff occasionally
are assigned to new locations. In other words, there is a steady flow
of information and traffic from one house to the next. But for three
days now, we have heard nothing.”