The Rise of the Fallen (The Angelic Wars Book 2) (22 page)

They are precious,
aren't they?
Sariel asked gently.

Oh yes. They are.

Chris leaned against the
window frame and shook his hair back.

It's funny, you know.
On the streets, I couldn't see how special people were. I was always
suspicious. So many of the guys I met were just looking out for
themselves, trying to get as much as they could only for themselves.
Food, drugs, money, it didn't matter. It was all me, me, me. But now,
since joining up with Judge Hawkes and the others, and learning about
you...I dunno. I see them much more clearly, I guess. Like that
couple. You could see how much joy they are getting from walking in
the garden together. Simple happiness.

He closed his eyes
tightly, feeling the sting of tears.

How long has it been
since I was blessed with such happiness, Sariel?

A very long time, my
friend.
Sariel sounded somber.
And
perhaps it will be even longer before you are again. But if it helps,
try to remember that what we are doing is trying to save souls like
theirs so that at least they can experience these things. Maybe that
thought will bring you some comfort.

Chris
roughly wiped the moisture from his eyes and stared out at the bright
summer's day again.

Yeah, maybe. Anyway,
what do you think? Can we use the Angel's Road? Should we?

I believe that we can.
But should we? That is another question. I think you should speak to
the judge and get his opinion. He is the head of the organization,
after all. You can't go running off on a whim to check on these
safe-houses without his consent.

I can't?
Chris felt a swoop of defiance in his belly.
Who
says?

I do
,
Sariel replied firmly. Chris felt rebellious and Sariel, obviously
aware of what he was feeling, continued speaking.

Chris, think! You are
not a lone wolf in the wilderness any longer. You are part of
something greater. Much, much greater. Judge Hawkes is a very wise
man and, as long as you remain with the Angelic Dominion, he is your
superior. Let him use his experience and judgment to help you. You
and I alone will not win this war, of that I am certain.

Just
as quickly as his fit of rebellion kicked in, now Chris felt
embarrassed.

Sorry. I don't know
what came over me. I think I'm still adjusting to this whole 'us
against them' thing. I'm used to the 'me against everybody else'
thing.

You don't say?
Sariel's tone was dry and Chris grinned in spite of himself.

Okay. I'll get in touch
with the judge and talk to him about this. Will you answer me when I
call?

You can count on it.
Just call my name and I shall return. Now, go and see Judge Hawkes.

Unfortunately for Chris, when he tried to make an
appointment to see the judge, the woman's voice on the phone from the
front desk told him that the man wasn't available.

“
I'll
pass on your request to see him, Mr. Wright.” she said. “I'm
sure that his lordship will get back to you very soon.”

“
Um,
yeah. Okay. Thanks a lot,” Chris replied and tapped the phone
to end the call. He slipped it back into his pocket and went back
into the sitting room.

Where could the judge be? Somehow Chris doubted that the
man had left Valiant. With everything that was going on right now, he
didn't think the judge would leave his base of operations in case he
heard back from one or more of the safe-houses.

But in the meantime, Chris was at loose ends. He looked
around the room. A large, flat-screen TV was attached to the opposite
wall beside the fireplace and he stared at it for a moment, shrugged
and walked over to grab the remote that sat on a small table beneath
it.

Flopping back on to the couch, he kicked off his shoes,
put his feet on the coffee table and turned on the television.

He had never seen British TV before and Chris found
himself trying to decipher some of the terminology and slang that he
heard as he watched bits and pieces of several shows. He found the
ads universally amusing, more because of the way they were presented
than because of what they were selling.

Finally, he found an old Godzilla movie, something made
back in the sixties, and settled back to watch. He had had a passion
for cheesy monster movies a million years before in his previous
life, when his folks had still been around, and he felt a bittersweet
warmth as he watched the giant monster stomp Tokyo flat for the
thousandth time. His dad had always watched the movies with him and
occasionally they would throw popcorn at the screen when a
particularly bad scene came on. His mom had always made Chris vacuum
the rug afterwards.

When the movie had ended, and several times Chris had
found himself unconsciously groping for popcorn to toss, he pulled
out his phone and found that two hours had passed. What the heck was
the judge doing? A dark sense of foreboding gave him a chill. Maybe
he had heard back from the safe-houses and it was bad news.

But until he heard from the man, Chris could only wait.
He idly flicked through the channels, waiting for something to catch
his eye. A twenty-four hour news channel caught his attention. A
flashing graphic said 'Tragedy In Underground' and he tapped the mute
button to turn the sound back on.

'...young man, who was apparently jostled by a passing
group on teenagers, fell to his death in front of a speeding train
this morning. Police are revealing few details except to say that it
appears to have been a random accident. The young man was killed
instantly. No name has yet been released. The track has been shut
down until police can finish their investigation. To repeat,
approximately three hours ago, a young man, who was apparently...”

Chris muted the television and began to flick through
the channels again. He felt a small sadness at the report. Some
idiot, probably in a rush to get to nowhere important, had bumped the
poor guy and now he was dead. He shook his head at the randomness of
life and then found a cartoon where a gorilla was chasing a rabbit,
turned on the sound again and started to watch.

Not ten minutes later, his phone rang. It was Judge
Hawkes.

“
Christopher,
you wanted to see me?”

“
Yes
sir, I did. If you can spare a few minutes, that is.”

“
I
can now. As it happens, I wanted to see you again as well. Please
come by as soon as you can.”

“
On
my way, sir.”

Chris put the phone in his pocket, slipped on his
sneakers and left, locking the door behind him.

A few minutes later he was knocking on the judge's door.

“
Come
in, please,” he heard the judge call and he walked in.

The long table had been moved to stand against the wall
on the right; the chairs parked against it and out of the way. Chris
was surprised to see that Chef was in the office. He was standing at
the window behind the judge's desk, staring out with his arms folded.

Judge Hawkes, sitting at his desk, motioned for Chris to
have a seat on one of the leather chairs in front of him. Once the
teen had sat down, the judge interlocked his fingers and rested his
hands before him.

“
Christopher,
I'd like to tell you something before you begin.” He looked
down at his hands, his expression bleak.

It's bad news, Chris thought. I was right. It's about
the safe-houses. I knew it.

The judge looked up at Chris, hesitated and then began
to speak.

“
Jamie
was killed this morning. A few hours ago, in fact.”

Chris gaped. “What?” was all he could say.

“
He
fell, or was pushed, into the path of an oncoming train in the
subway, the underground as they call it here.”

“
Oh
my God,” Chris exclaimed. “I just saw that report on the
TV. They didn't mention his name or anything, just that a young guy
was jostled by some teens and fell on to the tracks.”

“
He
wasn't 'jostled by some teens',” Chef spoke up, his voice a
rumble of fury. “He was murdered by Scythe.”

“
Murdered?”
Chris stared at Chef's back. Then he looked at the judge, who nodded.

“
There
can be little doubt. The Fallen and their minions take a dim view of
failure. A public display like this is a warning to others. A lesson
on what happens when you...disappoint them.”

“
But,
but that's...”

“
Monstrous,”
Chef barked and turned to glare at Chris. “Now do you see what
we are dealing with? Animals! No. Creatures that are less than
animals.”

Chris had never seen the cook so angry and he actually
shrank back in his chair as the man's rage seemed to suck the air out
of the room.

“
Mario.”
The judge turned to look at Chef. “If anyone knows how evil our
enemy is, it is Christopher. There is no need to take your temper out
on him.” The rebuke was obvious and Chris watched as Chef
visibly got himself under control.

Finally the big man took a deep, ragged breath and
looked at Chris with a rueful expression.

“
Forgive
me, my young friend. I'm certainly not angry with you. Jamie was
misguided, obviously, but he was young and I think, with the proper
guidance, could have amounted to something more than just a
statistic. Now he's lost. All that potential, gone. And for what? To
make a point. The poor kid probably ran back to his handlers at
Scythe like a loyal soldier to tell them he'd been discovered and
kicked out of Valiant. He signed his own death warrant without even
knowing it.”

Chef turned away and looked out of the window again.

“
I'm
sorry to be the bearer of such bad news,” the judge continued.
“Jamie's parents called me a short time ago. The police had
found their phone numbers in the boy's wallet and had notified them
of his death. They are, as you can well imagine, in shock. Especially
in light of the phone call I made to them earlier, to tell them of
his spying for Scythe. Then they were angry and confused, not to
mention embarrassed. Now, they are simply numb. He was their only
child.”

The judge rubbed his eyes and Chris thought that he
looked very tired.

“
I've
told them to go off somewhere, take as much time as they need to sort
things out. They aren't based in any of our safe-houses and Jamie
didn't know where they were assigned, so they should be safe at
least.”

Chris, still reeling from shock at the news, simply
said, “That's good.” What else could he say?

“
Yes.
Now then, what did you wish to see me about?”

The judge's question threw Chris off; he'd quite
forgotten why he was there for a minute. Then it came to him and he
blinked twice as he sorted out his thoughts.

“
Oh
right, That. Sorry, sir. I still can't believe the news about Jamie.
But yeah, why I'm here. Actually, it's about the safe-houses.”

Chef turned around and looked at Chris, eyebrows raised.
Judge Hawkes simply waited for him to go on.

“
You
see, when you told me that you hadn't heard from them in a few days
and that you had sent people to check on them, I had an idea.”
He looked from the judge to Chef and back again. “Um, does Chef
know about all this?”

The two men both chuckled, their moods breaking for the
first time.

“
Yes.
Mario is deep in my council, Christopher. You may speak freely.”

“
Oh
good. Well anyway, I was thinking that the Fallen seemed to be ahead
of us at every turn now. The attack by Lilith, destroying the Nest,
the spies here. And now the other safe-houses going silent. So I
thought, what if we could get there faster? Find out what's happened
in person, instead of waiting for a report from someone else.”

“
A
good thought, young man,” the judge said. “But how do you
propose to do that? Even if we could get a plane out right away, it
would still take too long to get to even the closest location, in
Luxembourg. My agents would be there before us.” He paused for
a moment and then added in a worried tone, “Although, it is
quite possible that they have been detected. I haven't heard from any
of them either, since yesterday.”