Broken Angels (39 page)

“No. Not anytime soon, that’s for sure,” Robert said. “You’ll need to be rehabilitated first.”

“Oh? Like you were?”

Robert knew better than to say it. He learned within the first year of living in the DC-area that one should never entertain the questions or comments of a crazy person. Smile, nod, give them spare change if you must, but don’t ever engage them in any type of conversation. He knew better, but he reflexively asked, “What are you talking about?”

“The Institution to which you pledge allegiance,” Marie-Lydia said, “and the hack-job they did on you. Instead of avoiding mirrors, you should start taking a good look at yourself, Mister Goldner. A watchdog being robbed of his soul, and too dumb to know it. Wasting all of your time trying to find children who were never truly wanted in this world the first place. It’s a fool’s game, and you’re one of its best players. A true, clueless champion. Working tirelessly to find the children…Haven’t you ever once thought to ask, ‘Where are the parents?’”

Robert heard sounds coming from the main level of the house. Local Herndon cops or HSA Peacemaker agents had arrived.

“Time to go,” he said. “Please, come peacefully.”

“Of course,” she said. “As peaceful as a little lamb.”

She smiled her Mona-Lisa smile and rubbed her stomach. Only then did Robert realize that’s where the sound was coming from. Something was happening inside of her, in that area. He didn’t dare x-ray her to see just what.

Someone called his name out in the hall. He slowly backed out of the room, keeping the girl in view the whole time. He wasn’t going to let her disappear on him.

“I’m Robert Goldner,” he said when he saw the Peacemakers. “I found a lost girl, in here.”

Marie-Lydia shook her head at him.

“Flood’s coming,” she said. “Who’s going to be lost then?”

Robert was brusquely escorted from the house.

He wasn’t arrested, or even accused of breaking the law, but he received stern warnings from the two ranking HSA agents on site as Peacemakers made a sweep of the entire house and the injured were carried out on stretchers to the waiting ambulances.

The most senior agent hustled Robert into the backseat of his car just as the news cameras arrived. The car’s windows were tinted, but Robert blurred his facial features anyway. He wanted to start making it a habit.

The agent drove Robert to The Burrow, where Sam gave him a thorough examination and surprisingly concluded he had only minor injuries. He told her about Marie-Lydia. He wasn’t cured of the Virus—far from it—but she’d brought him back from the brink of death, if only for one day more. Sam had no explanations or theories. Vince was the guy he needed to talk to. But first, Adam wanted to see him.

The lighting in the reception area of Adam’s office seemed dimmer than usual. This had the ironic effect of making Robert even more uncomfortable than he would’ve been, not that receiving a good talking-to from the chairman was anything he could ever take in complete stride. Adam didn’t waste a lot of time going into details. When he told Robert he’d placed the Watchers program in serious jeopardy, he understood what he meant. It wasn’t just the trespassing, the home invasion, and the near-fatal assaults of its not-yet-proven-guilty occupants, it was the fact they committed all these acts without any official sanction. His and Ava’s actions were no different from those of reckless vigilantes, or common burglars.

Robert tried to put up a defense, saying not only had they found Darryl, but they’d also recovered a missing child. And no one was killed. Adam didn’t say a word to this. He couldn’t. Robert understood that while the chairman in no way condoned what Robert and Ava had done, he was pleased with the results. But to say so would give license to Robert and other Watchers to act reckless in the future. Rules could be bent, but not broken. It’d be a slippery slope to getting the Institution shut down and the whole lot of them thrown into prison.

Adam concluded their brief meeting by saying he and the IAI’s government liaisons had worked out a deal with the HSA. Robert wouldn’t face formal charges, but he’d be suspended for two weeks from all IAI activities. During that time he’d essentially be under house arrest, confined to his apartment and closely monitored by the HSA. Adam had also swung it so that his accomplice, Ava Darden, wouldn’t be charged. He’d told the authorities she was a Watcher agent-in-training and had asked that her punishment be the same as Robert’s. She had no apartment or any other home to go to, so once she recovered from her injuries, she’d be confined in one of The Burrow’s apartments and monitored by Adam himself.

If there was ever any doubt, it was now certain that the chairman held some definite sway in certain circles. Even a cop couldn’t do what Robert and Ava had done and get away with a little off-the-books suspension. Robert couldn’t tell if Adam was serious about Ava being an agent-in-training, but he’d never known the man to joke, or to lie. Well, there was nowhere else for her to go, and no better place for her to be; she certainly couldn’t do any harm locked up in The Burrow under Adam’s watchful eye, so Robert didn’t sweat it. He’d figure out Adam’s real plan for her—and her real plan for Reality—once he was free, if he should live so long.

Robert met Peter Levy in the hall outside Adam’s office. Peter was a founding member of the IAI and its chief government liaison. A veteran lobbyist and old hand at understanding how things really got done in Washington, Peter had undoubtedly been instrumental in helping Adam work out this deal with the HSA. He was now taking it on himself to escort Robert from The Burrow to the parking garage, where HSA agents would be waiting to drive him home, secure his apartment, and fit him with monitor bracelets, anklets, and a collar.

Robert had never spoken with Peter much. There’d never really been an opportunity or reason. Peter’s realm was politics; Robert, his respect and admiration for President Jenifer Sagan notwithstanding, had never cared much for the subject. Today, however, he thanked Peter for his efforts and, during the elevator ride up, grilled him for information Adam hadn’t bothered to give out.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about Darryl,” Peter said. “They took him to a very secure, private hospital in Reston. Sam and I spoke to one of his doctors while you were in with Adam. It turns out his injuries aren’t that severe. He should recover in a couple of days.”

“Good,” Robert said. “I guess he’s also going to need take a little time off from the Institution.”

“The vacation may be longer than you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“We had a briefing meeting with the HSA this morning,” Peter said. “They want to see Darryl for a final round of interviews.”

“For the Peacemakers?”

“So they said. But I’ve heard through the grapevine that the Agency is creating a special operations force, pending authorization from the President. My gut tells me Darryl will find a new home there.”

Well. It looked like Darryl might have a shot at his dream after all. Robert wasn’t sure he truly deserved it, but what the hell. It was time to give the guy a break.

“I can’t wait to congratulate him.”

Peter chuckled. “Well, you won’t be making any calls for a while.”

“Yeah,” Robert said, “don’t remind me.”

“You’ll be fine. We had to pull a lot of strings, but there was no way we could convince anyone to let you off with just a warning.”

“I understand,” Robert said. “And thanks again for what you were able to do. But for the record, what Ava and I did was nowhere near the heinous level of what those other two have done. Veronica and Vanessa, or whatever the hell their real names are.”

“We know all about it,” Peter said. “Adam is sharing the footage he found with the HSA. Guaranteed those two are never going to see the light of day again.”

They stepped off The Burrow’s elevator and waited for the one to the parking garage to arrive.

“And what about Marie-Lydia McGillis?” Robert was worried about her most of all. She was in a dangerous state. Her mind was clearly warped. They couldn’t just give her a bath, a new dress, and send her home.

“That’s a trickier subject,” Peter said. “The HSA has a lot of questions about her disappearance, her alleged abductors, and a whole host of other things. And she’s certainly in no condition to give straight answers right now. But that’ll change, with the proper care and treatment. Regardless, from what I’ve been told, she’s going to be kept in a special facility until they’re sure she’s fit to reenter society. Her parents will be notified she’s been found, but they won’t be allowed to visit her just yet.”

That was probably for the best. Robert considered if he were in her situation. If he’d committed the acts she had, had subsequently been forced into XynKroma, and then had gone through whatever-the-hell for more than a year, would he want his parents to come see him? Could he face them? He laughed a short, bitter laugh as the elevator door opened. Yeah, he could face them. That wasn’t the right question. What else did he want to do before the Virus or a bullet or whatever else made him breathe his last? His mom was dead, but he’d almost kill to be able to see his dad again—if he was alive.

“Don’t worry,” Peter said. “Brighter days are ahead for Marie-Lydia. There are some experimental drugs that came on the market in June that may help her better cope with the Virus and help her readjust to the world relatively quickly. Whatever the case, she’s going to be a lot happier than she possibly could’ve been over the past year. There’s no reason to have anything but a positive outlook. Remember, things could always be worse, for any of us.”

True enough. Robert had kissed death, he’d kissed the heart of it, and he’d come back to himself. But it was only now, now that he and Darryl were no longer officially together, that he felt it was time, it was safe, to let him go. Let Darryl spread his wings, whether metaphorical or real, and let him find his true happiness while Robert moved on to find the something else that may hurry up and kill him, or make him stronger.

Love…fuck it. Maybe it really was just a dangerous myth, the product of a multitude of diseased brains, a sick hive-mind producing a mass delusion—at least in this world.

Don’t worry, be happy
.

The elevator door opened on the fifth level of the parking garage. Robert followed Peter toward a black SUV parked at the far end, straight ahead, against the low wall. Two men in suits were standing near the vehicle. One of them was looking out over the wall’s ledge, probably at all the morning rush-hour traffic on the street below. Peter greeted the men when they were within nonshouting distance and shook hands when closer.

“Before you take Mister Goldner here,” he said, “I wanted to ask you…”

The three men began to discuss something that had nothing to do with Robert, so he moved closer to the ledge, looking out and all around as he took deep breaths. Polluted as it was, he wanted his fill of outdoor air before being shut away. He spent a minute taking in all he could before he felt a scratching at the back of his neck, inside the skin. The sensation simultaneously ran down his spine and crawled all over his scalp. He shuddered, then instinctively looked up into the sky. He had to squint and concentrate to telescope his vision, making its range travel much farther than usual, but it didn’t take him long to spot them. A whole flock of them.

They were arranged in a hexagonal formation, flying in a zigzag fashion. Not in the manner of birds, or even in the manner of bats, but in the manner of creatures made up from the constituent parts of other creatures, some of whom were adapted to the sea, some of whom were adapted to the sky, and some of whom were adapted to an entirely different environment altogether.

Chimeras. Denizens of Xyn. There’d been a dimensional breach.

The creatures had left their old habitat and entered a new realm, Reality’s surface. It appeared they were becoming adapted to their new environment in fits and starts.

Robert watched as the flock flew into a cloud and disappeared. He shuddered again and backed away from the ledge.

“What’s the matter?” Peter asked. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Robert said as he got into the backseat of the SUV. “I just saw a dark cloud in the sky. I think it’s about to rain.”

“Why so disturbed?” the girl asked. “Isn’t this the beginning of the Happily-Ever-After you wanted? The one you agreed to?”

Darryl’s soul stood next to hers on the giant’s left shoulder. He was gazing down at the two other souls tilling the Ground of Xyn near the giant’s feet, far below. The giant had walked away from its lake to stand in a stranger terrain of gloppy, inhospitable soil. Darryl had been wondering what kind of seeds would work here, and just where they’d come from. Yes, he knew they were only to be metaphorical seeds, but it and similar questions nagged him. Unlike his companion, the angel formerly known as Marie-Lydia McGillis, he hadn’t spent enough time in XynKroma so that the answers to all questions, riddles, and arts were clear to him, or easily discovered. But now he and she were a couple. Inseparable.
One
. He trusted her to give him everything he needed. She’d certainly trusted him well enough to reveal her secret name when his soul had returned to hers after their first meeting. “St. Alva,” she’d said, “because I am nothing if not a martyr.” But so much still remained a mystery.