SEVERAL WEEKS AGO I arrived back at Mrs. Claire’s before John Smith. I debated if I were actually going to tell the women there about the details of our arrangement–that he’d be arriving shortly himself–but eventually I settled on not. They would find out soon enough; otherwise, it would only serve to complicate things further.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO “What in the world is going on?” I heard one of the people I hadn’t known that had been abducted with us whisper.
I didn’t have an answer for him, but at the moment, it was just as well. For just when he spoke, the cop in the dark armor–it was slightly shiny, which I hadn’t noticed until we were in the light of the back of the truck–glared at him and shifted his gun in a way we were all sure to notice.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO “So let me get this straight,” I said. “You’re dead. Your brother is dead. Everyone is dead.”
Sure. Perhaps it was a bit of an overreaction. But my head was still spinning from that particular revelation.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO We ran. We ran like the very hounds of hell were after us, across that courtyard, right up to the very front doors of the museum. I kept expecting shots to ring out. To once again be shot, this time in my chest rather than in the back. And this time, I was sure, that I wouldn’t be so lucky.
PRESENT DAY When I saw that angels are fast, that really doesn’t help to describe how terrifying it is to be directly in front of not one, but two angels running directly at you–one with sword raised over his head and the other with a smaller, curved blade to her side.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO Time seemed not so much to slow as to go sideways for a moment, a whole series of things not happening so much as at once but rather in a timeless sort of mishmash.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO In the end, we decided on a combination of the first two options, with the third acting as a sort of failsafe. Just in case.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO The sounds of gunfire started just as we were getting into position. that wasn’t supposed to happen–we were supposed to be among the first in. Had we already lost the element of surprise? That didn’t bode well. Not at all.
PRESENT DAY Between Michael, Father Antonio, and Amira, we didn’t have the slightest problem getting into Vatican City, despite the late hour. No one even seemed to notice us, although if that was the norm or some sort of supernatural intervention on Michael’s part I couldn’t have said.
PRESENT DAY “What happened to you?” Direct seemed the way to go
He seemed to be having trouble catching his breath. “Big dog.”