Guardian Angel (24 page)

There was, of course, no real New Year’s party at Twenty Point Five. Instead, everyone crowded into the surveillance room at midnight to watch our fireworks wreak havoc on the Angels. Proton led the New Year’s toast shortly after the mission ended with nine confirmed kills and two dozen more severely wounded. I didn’t feel like celebrating a terrorist attack on our former capital, but I downed my wine and quietly cheered.

Miraculously, Alia had no blood runs during the first half of January, but Raider still took her out on short training runs every two or three days. Alia insisted, and I agreed, that Raider was as trustworthy a protector as Ed Regis and myself, but I knew that the Seraphim were seriously riled after our New Year’s prank. Despite Raider’s assurances that every precaution was being taken, I watched my sister through the cameras like a hawk with asthma.

In the overlap hours between the day shifts and night shifts, Alia and I still met Willow from time to time. In a small personal victory, the pregnant Guardian had finally managed to quit smoking. And her baby had started to kick. Alia couldn’t get enough of that.

“When are you leaving Lumina?” I asked as Willow let Alia touch her belly and feel the baby moving around.

“I’m not sure yet,” replied Willow. “But I might just have the baby right here.”

“You’re kidding, right?” I said.

Willow’s stomach had grown so much by now that she was having lots of trouble navigating the cluttered, low-ceilinged corridors of Twenty Point Five.

“It won’t be easy,” admitted Willow, “but I want to keep making a difference. Even a little one.”

Because she had lost her tourist status, Willow couldn’t even visit a maternity hospital without getting a phantom train to take her out of the Lumina area. Proton and Mark were more than willing to accommodate her, but Willow insisted on receiving no special treatment. “We’re all Resistance fighters,” she often said. “Even the baby.”

“But what if something happens?” I asked. “What if you get sick?”

“Birth is a natural process, Richard,” Willow replied confidently. “Women have been having babies since prehistoric times. Besides, we have doctors here and even a brave little healer.” She patted Alia’s head. “I’m sure the baby and I will be just fine.”

Alia asked, “Have you decided on a name yet?”

“Still working on that,” said Willow. “I’m pretty sure it’s a boy, and if it is, I’ll probably name him Dominic after my husband.”

“What if it’s a girl?” asked Alia.

Willow smiled. “Then I might just name her after you.”

“You mean Alyssa?”

“That’s not a bad name, but I like your real one better.”

Alia jumped a little in excitement. “It’s kicking again! I think it’s happy.”

Willow laughed. “A little too happy.”

Willow offered to let me feel her baby kicking, but I declined. Maybe putting her hands on a woman’s big belly was okay for Alia, but I felt much too awkward about it. Still, it was nice to see that Willow and her baby were doing well. There was just so little good news these days.

Three weeks into the new year, my sister was finally ordered on a real blood run, but this one didn’t go as smoothly as her last three.

It was a snowy Saturday afternoon. Raider escorted Alia to a safe house in Lumina Octavus where a large team of tourists had taken refuge after they came under heavy fire from Angel forces. They had managed to escape without any deaths mainly because two members of the Seraphim hunting them were actually Guardian spies. Nevertheless, reported injuries included gunshot wounds, cuts, burns, bruises and broken bones. Alia certainly had her work cut out for her, but she was joined in Octavus by four other blood runners, including one of the other two healers.

But when Raider returned to Nonus later that evening, Alia wasn’t with him.

“Alyssa got blood on her jacket and pants so I couldn’t bring her back,” Raider informed me. “I had to make it look like a sleepover with friends. I’ll go collect her tomorrow.”

But that night I was woken at 1am by Ed Regis who told me that Octavus had just been targeted by an S&D.

“Casualties?” I asked, instantly wide awake and trying to keep myself from shaking.

“None,” said Ed Regis, putting a calming hand on my shoulder. “The Seraphim didn’t find our safe house there. But they were pretty close. They know we have people in that building and they’re keeping a sharp eye on it.”

Unable to go back to sleep, I joined Ed Regis and James in the surveillance room, but nothing else happened, and eventually I fell asleep in my chair.

When I woke in the late morning, Raider gave me a small update. “As a precaution, Alyssa and several others have been relocated to another hideout,” he told me. “Proton says it’s too dangerous to move anyone back here at the moment, so your sister will have to stay holed up there for a few days.”

“Better her than Marion, huh?” I said savagely.

“I’m certain Alyssa is alright,” said Raider. “I’ll get her back safely.” Then, with a wink and a smile, he added, “On my life.”

I didn’t smile back. “If anything happens to her, Raider, I swear you’ll be the first to know whether I was joking when I said that.”

Raider wiped the smile from his face and quietly left the room.

I knew that Raider was worried about his “other daughter” too, and that Alia had chosen to accept the risks involved in blood running for the Resistance. It was just easier to be angry at Raider right now.

Mark echo-called me to a meeting room for a private chat later that day.

“Raider is one of our most trusted, most reliable operatives, Richard,” he began. “You threatened his life today.”

“He told you?” I asked, surprised at Raider’s lack of backbone.

“No, of course not,” said Mark. “I actually heard you. Through the walls.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling stupid. “Well, I didn’t say I’d kill him.”

“Nor did I say I was disappointed in you,” Mark said evenly. “Though I am.”

I huffed. “You want me to go and apologize to him?”

“Later,” said Mark, “if you feel like it. I didn’t call you here to lecture you, but to answer any concerns you may have over Alyssa’s situation.”

“Tomorrow is Monday,” I said. “Marion goes to school. Except Marion is supposed to be out on a sleepover.”

“Marion will be snuck out of this building tomorrow and go to school as if directly from her sleepover,” said Mark. Before I could argue, he added, “And if this ends up dragging out, we will deal carefully with all of the ensuing discrepancies. We’ve been in Lumina quite awhile and we’re pretty good at these things.”

“Not good enough to keep your people from getting shot, burned and killed,” I reminded him. “Or else we wouldn’t need healers here.”

Mark said patiently, “For security reasons, I can’t give you specific details, but I can assure you that our blood runners are given the highest priority for protection. I wouldn’t have allowed Alyssa to become one otherwise. She is protected in more ways than you can possibly know, not only by Raider, but throughout our entire network in Lumina. We value her very much.” After a short pause, Mark corrected himself, saying quietly, “I value her very much.”

“I’ll apologize to Raider when I see him,” I promised.

Mark smiled. “Thank you.”

I laughed embarrassedly. “You actually heard me through the walls this morning?”

“Well, you weren’t exactly keeping your voice down,” said Mark, laughing also. “Privacy is hard to get in Twenty Point Five. That’s why we have meeting rooms like this one.”

“Soundproof?” I asked doubtfully, looking around at the shabby walls.

“Surprisingly soundproof,” confirmed Mark. “But only if you keep your voice down. Why? Are you considering telling me whatever secret it is that you brought here from Wood-claw?”

“No,” I said, dropping my volume down considerably. “But as long as we’re here, I’d like to ask you a question. Something I’ve been wondering about since I came to Lumina.”

“Be my guest,” said Mark, bringing his voice down a notch as well.

“And so long as we’re whispering here,” I began, “is it alright if I call you Mark?”

Mark smiled warmly. “Sure, Adrian. But that wasn’t your question, was it?”

I shook my head. “I remember sitting in that little confession room at your church. It was a long time ago, but I think you said that you were bound by some seal or something that made you keep people’s secrets.”

Mark looked at me quizzically.

“I sort of wish we were back there now,” I said.

“The confessional is just a symbol, Adrian,” said Mark. “If you discuss something with me that has to stay between us, I promise that it will.”

I nodded slowly. Then, taking a deep breath, I looked him in the eyes and asked, “You already know my secret, don’t you, Mark?”

Mark didn’t immediately reply. He looked down at his hands folded in his lap, breathing quietly.

Then he nodded.

“Does anyone else know?” I asked.

Mark shook his head. “Not from me.”

“How did you find out?”

“From Cindy. Shortly after the gathering of lesser gods.”

I nodded, understanding. “Ralph Henderson had written a letter to Cindy that was to be delivered if he died. He wanted Cindy to know the truth so that she could keep me safe until I had kids of my own.”

“Yes,” said Mark. “But back then, Cindy was afraid that the Angels might try to kill her in retaliation for the assassination of their queen.”

“So she passed Ralph’s envelope to you.”

“It wasn’t sealed.”

I smiled grimly. “So you know exactly why I have come to Lumina, Mark. You know what I’m trying to do.”

“Yes, Adrian,” breathed Mark. “I know why you’re here.”

We sat silently for a minute. I gazed down at the amethyst pendant resting on my chest.

“Someone here needs to know who the real target is,” I whispered. “It’s better this way. It’s better that you know. Cindy trusted you. I will trust her and you. If I fail, and I probably will, then I need you to pick this up and finish it for me. The Havels cannot be allowed to rule this world any more than the Divines, or anyone. Nothing else matters.”

“Nothing?” asked Mark.

I knew then that Mark really had come to Lumina to protect Cindy.

I asked slowly, “Do you still believe in God, Mark?”

Mark nodded, saying quietly, “I won’t deny that I’ve had my moments of doubt, Adrian, but yes, I do.”

“You believe he watches over us?”

Mark nodded again.

“And judges us?” I asked.

“And judges us,” confirmed Mark.

I shook my head. “How will he judge me, Mark? How will he judge what I’m trying to do?”

“As he judges all things, Adrian,” Mark said gently. “With grace.”

After that conversation, apologizing to Raider for my death threat seemed pretty trivial, and I did later that evening.

“I’m sorry for how I spoke to you,” I said to him as humbly as I could. “I know what happened isn’t your fault. I was upset. I’m sorry.”

Raider seemed quite taken off guard by my sudden apology. “Believe me, Richard, you have nothing to be sorry about,” he replied understandingly. “If our positions had been reversed, I probably would have said the same things to you.”

“I really am happy that you’re the one assigned to my sister’s protection,” I said, and I meant it.

That night, Terry, who had been in the surveillance room with me when I was summoned by Mark, asked me what we had discussed. I told her. Terry agreed that it was probably a good thing that Mark knew our secret.

“Though if this leaks out,” she warned, “you’ll never be able to live with the Guardians again. Half of them will be trying to catch you and the other half will be trying to kill you.”

“That’s assuming there’re Guardians left when this is over,” I replied lightly. With my sister still stuck in some ditch across town, I had little capacity for such trivial concerns.

During that night and the following day, the Seraphim conducted five S&Ds in and around Lumina Octavus. The Seraphim, convinced that at least one of our healers had gone to the aid of the injured tourists, were hell-bent on finding them.

On Proton’s orders, Raider and Mr. “Sharky” Jenson organized a number of phantom trains to move our people farther away from the search area and distribute them into several separate hideouts.

“We’re going on the safe-house grand tour,” Raider said wryly when he returned.

Due to some technicality involving the thermographic cameras, Alia still couldn’t be returned to Twenty Point Five. Again I was painfully reminded of what I must have put Cindy through when I was caught by the God-slayers.

“How is she doing?” I asked Raider.

“She looked a little tired and was complaining about her hair being itchy, but otherwise she was in good spirits,” said Raider. “Just hang in there, Richard. Trust me, and trust the Guardians to keep her from harm.”

Finally, three days later, another phantom train was set up, this time one that could avoid the body-heat cameras. Raider and Mr. Jenson returned Alia to Nonus in the late evening. My sister looked pretty worn out, but uninjured.

“It must have been quite a battle, Alyssa,” I said as she hugged me in the surveillance room. “You’ve got dried blood all over your clothes.”

“It’s not my blood,”
said Alia.
“But I’m really hungry.”

Over dinner, she told me about how she had spent much of the last two days curled up in a suitcase-size space under some floorboards in a small restaurant.

“I couldn’t come out at all during the daytime,”
said Alia.
“I was so thirsty. The Angels came in and searched the place twice but they couldn’t find me.”

Though shaken by her ordeal, Alia was determined to continue blood running with Raider. I didn’t try to talk her out of it.

“I’m actually kind of impressed with you,” Terry said teasingly to me. “You used to be such a watchdog.”

“There’s nothing to be gained from arguing with a stubborn healer,” I replied resignedly.

But that didn’t make it any easier for me to bear when, only two days later, my sister was asked to go on another blood run. Adding additional fuel to my fear was the fact that the target safe house was once again in Lumina Octavus.