Redemption (Stand-Alone, Spin-Off to Reaper Series), page 21
Eve sighed. “I suppose I would have been hesitant. But it was really freaking cold out there. I probably would have gone home with anyone who gave me a jacket.”
Lexi laughed. “So, you’re not mad at me?”
Eve shook her head and said, “No. Of course not. But why were you so eager to bring me back here, anyway?”
“Well…” Lexi began slowly. “It’s kind of… because of my dad.”
“He didn’t seem to pleased to see me, though.”
“Not that,” Lexi replied. “I kind of… I wanted… I thought that maybe, if you met us, and you liked us, you might… I dunno, be able to… To give him back his hearing.”
Eve nodded in the darkness. “I get it. You wanted an Angel to heal him.”
“Yeah,” Lexi said softly, like she was ashamed. “So you definitely don’t still have some Angel juice?”
“Afraid not,” Eve replied. “Completely human down here.”
“Could you have healed him?”
“Me? Sorry,” Eve said gently. “I never had that power. Angels can heal themselves easily, but healing others is rare. I know some Angels who can do it, but it’s not very common. Kind of like how not every human is double-jointed, or can wiggle their ears. It’s not something that can be learned. Some Angels are just born with it.”
“Oh. Okay,” Lexi said, sounding disappointed.
Silence filled the dark bedroom once more, stretching on for a full minute before it was broken again.
“I’m sorry about my dad,” Lexi blurted out suddenly. “He’s overreacting.”
Eve shook her head. “It’s okay. He’s just trying to keep you safe. My father would probably do the same.”
Lexi paused for a moment and then asked quietly, “You mean God?”
Eve nodded in the darkness, then said, “If that’s how you know him.”
“I saw some of your speech on the news,” Lexi said, rolling over onto her side to look down at Eve from her bed. “You know, what they actually showed. They’re really focused on blaming you for the explosion, so they mostly talk about that, but I saw you say God was your father. And… And I saw your wings.”
Eve felt a pang of loss as she thought of her red and white wings. She had never met another Angel with wings the same as hers. Her father had once told her that they were unique. Eve had always loved them for that.
“What’s he like?” Lexi asked. “God?”
Eve took a deep breath and slowly let it out as she thought of her father, wondering if she would ever get to see him again. She supposed she would when she eventually died, but she would never fly beside him. Never again.
“He’s like most fathers,” Eve replied. “He worries a lot. But not just about me, or my brother, Gabriel. He has an entire universe to worry about. All of the Angels, all of humanity, and everything in between. It keeps him busy. But he always makes time when we need him. For humans, too.”
“But so many people aren’t sure he even exists,” Lexi pointed out. “Does he really do that much for people? Humans?”
Eve smirked in the darkness. “We have a rule. Angels, that is. We can’t directly influence the course of human affairs. We learned a long time ago that humanity has trouble understanding and accepting Angels, especially when Angels are telling them how to live. Think about it. I mean, really think about it. If an Angel, or even my father, came to you and told you that if you kept playing your guitar, it would one day lead to the end of the world. Would you listen?”
Lexi thought hard for a moment. “I want to say I would…” she said slowly. “But I love playing. I’d most likely just think they were lying or stupid.”
“Exactly,” Eve said. “And that’s how pretty much all of humanity would respond. We used to be more involved. We’d try and offer guidance and advice, I know one Angel who even lived among humans and healed their sicknesses. There were humans who listened to us, even worshipped us, even though we never asked them to. But there were plenty more who were threatened by us. They never accepted us. They even fought and murdered to get rid of us. They didn’t trust us. In the past, us trying to help humanity only ended up making things worse, just because of how humanity reacted to our presence. So we took a step back. Let you lead your own lives. It’s been mostly better for you. Mostly.”
“So what does God, I mean, your dad, do all the time?” Lexi asked. “If he can’t do anything to help people, what does he do?”
“I never said he doesn’t do anything,” Eve replied. “You remember how you told me about your sudden urge to stop playing and go home?”
“Yeah?”
“Where do you think that urge came from?” Eve asked.
“You mean… God spoke to me?” Lexi asked, sounding incredibly doubtful.
“In a way,” Eve said simply. “He gave you a choice, allowing you to make your own decision. One choice, keep playing and make more money. The other choice being to leave and help me. He knew I would need help, so he sent you. But he gave you a choice. He always gives people a choice.”
Lexi didn’t seem to know what to say to that, but Eve imagined she had just blown her mind.
“So you’re really human now?” Lexi asked.
“Looks like it,” Eve replied. “No more wings.”
“Why would anyone do that to you?”
Eve frowned. “Javan needed to make me mortal so that he could harvest my DNA. Which he’s used to make a drug that can make humans immortal, like Angels.”
“Really?” Lexi asked in a breath of amazement. “Cool!”
“No, not cool,” Eve replied firmly, sitting up so as to look directly at Lexi’s face. “What do you think would happen to a world full of eight billion people if none of them could die? Overpopulation would explode. Eight billion would soon become twelve billion. Then twenty. Then a hundred! Your natural resources would be wiped out in just a couple of decades, maybe less! And when the world runs out of food, runs out of water, power, everything humanity often takes for granted, there’ll be wars. And immortality only applies to death by natural causes. Even Angels can be killed, and it’ll be the same for humans, but it’ll be harder to kill each other. So when the whole world is starving, but can’t die of hunger, they’ll fight to get what little food there is. There will be a need to create weapons more destructive and powerful than the nuclear bomb, just to be able to kill their enemies. The whole world would be thrown into chaos, innocent people dying everywhere, the entire world literally destroyed. But that’s only if Javan doesn’t kill most of the population first. He plans on wiping out everyone he doesn’t believe is pure enough. Anyone he thinks could be corrupted to go against his ideals has a death sentence if he convinces the world to become immortal. If he even gives them that choice, that is. A choice he never gave me.”
Feeling deflated, Eve fell back into her bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling in silence. Lexi was quiet as she considered everything Eve had said.
“Okay,” Lexi finally said. “So immortality isn’t so cool. So can’t God… your dad… do something about it? He could stop Javan, right?”
“I wish,” Eve sighed. “But there are rules. We can’t directly interfere with human affairs. And even though Javan’s become a monster, he’s still human.”
“So no one can stop him?” Lexi asked.
Eve shrugged. “No Angel, anyway. I guess only a human can at this point. Someone who isn’t sworn to not interfere.”
“So-oooo…” Lexi began, stretching the word out as she thought. “Someone like you?”
Eve furrowed her brow. “But I can’t. I took an oath.”
“Why not?” Lexi asked, leaning her head over the edge of her bed to look down at Eve. “You’re not an Angel anymore. Does your oath still apply to you?”
Eve considered this for a moment. The oath did, indeed, require that no Angel directly interfere in any matter pertaining to humanity. All Heavenly involvement on Earth was to remain distant and unknown, always allowing human free will to run its course. However, Lexi was right. Eve was no longer an Angel. The oath no longer applied to her. She could interfere as much as she wanted.
At the sight of Eve’s wicked grin slowly appearing on her face, Lexi grinned back at her. “That’s what I thought.”
20
BEST LAID PLANS
“I
’m still not very comfortable with this plan,” Eve said uncertainly.
“Relax, will you?” Lexi sighed, sounding exasperated despite the huge grin on her face. “This’ll be easy.”
They were both standing outside on the street, just a few yards down the road from the gate that was the entrance to the Forensic Identification Services. Where Lexi’s father worked.
Eve and Lexi had discussed last night in great detail how to derail Javan’s plans. In the end, they decided the best thing they could do was to out him as the mastermind behind the bombing. And in order to do that, they needed to see what the bomber’s final message to the world was. They needed to get their hands on that laptop.
“But you’re going to sneak in by yourself,” Eve argued, for maybe the thousandth time. “Into a police building, which is full of cops, to steal evidence! Can’t you go to prison for something like that?”
Lexi sighed, also for maybe the thousandth time. “Okay, I won’t be sneaking. They all know me in there, I’ll be able to walk through the gate like I run the place. And it’s not like the place is full of cops. They’re mostly lab rats in there. Most of ‘em don’t even carry a gun, and some of them are just civilians. And it’s not technically evidence, exactly, because my dad never reported it. I’ll just walk in, go to Dad’s office, find where he’s hidden the laptop, then walk out with the computer under my arm. If anyone asks, I can just say Dad borrowed my laptop and I came to take it back. Simple, right?”
“Yeah, real simple,” Eve said sarcastically. “I’d still feel better if I went in with you. To make sure everything goes okay.”
“You know you can’t,” Lexi said sternly. “What if someone recognized you?”
“I think I’m pretty unrecognizable right now,” Eve smirked.
Eve was still wearing the knit cap to hide her hair, which would have been a dead giveaway, but Lexi had also gone so far as to cover Eve’s face in makeup, giving her purple eyeshadow and a thick line of dark eyeliner around both eyes. Lexi called it, “Emo chic.”
“It works, but if anyone looking for you saw you up close, you’d be busted,” Lexi argued. “Look, it’s fine, okay? I’ll be ten minutes, tops.”
This time, it was Eve who sighed. “Fine. You’re right. I guess I’ll just wait here.”
“That’s my girl,” Lexi winked.
Eve watched Lexi walked up the street and to the guard’s booth. Eve knew Lexi would be able to handle this, but she was still annoyed that she couldn’t do anything to help. Eve was used to being in the middle of the action herself, and the idea of sitting back and letting someone else get their hands dirty did not sit well with her. However, Lexi was right. If Eve went into that building, she’d risk blowing the whole plan if someone recognized her.
So, Eve watched as Lexi chatted casually to the security guard for a moment, signed in on a piece of paper, received a visitor’s pass, and then strolled past the gate like she did, indeed, own the place.
I guess I just have to wait, now, Eve thought, perturbed.
Five minutes seemed like hours as Eve stood by the side of the road, hoping she was out of the guard’s line of sight. The last thing she needed right now was for him to come over asking questions, like why she was loitering outside of a police facility. As the minutes ticked by, Eve began to grow impatient and worried. It seemed like it was taking far too long, Lexi had been inside for almost half an hour. What was taking her so long?
While Eve paced on the spot, she noticed a black car approaching. The street was on a quiet road and this was the first car she had seen the entire time she had been standing there. As Eve watched it approach, she suddenly realized it wasn’t a car. It was a limousine.
A sudden feeling of apprehension filled Eve and she stepped backwards away from the road and into the shade of the trees nearby, wanting to stay out of sight of the limousine’s occupants, who were hidden behind dark tinted glass. Turning her back to the limousine as it drew near, Eve watched out of the corner of her eye as it began to slow, then turn into the driveway for the facility Lexi was now inside.
“Crap,” Eve hissed to herself. She had a strong feeling of who was inside that limousine, and if she was right, it meant bad things.
Watching discreetly from the cover of the trees beside the road, Eve saw the guard step out of his booth and walk up to the rear window to speak with whoever was seated in the back of the car. Eve saw the tinted window lower and a familiar face leaned forward, smiling pleasantly, to speak with the guard.
“Javan,” Eve spat quietly. “I knew it.”
“Good morning, sir,” the guard greeted, Eve just able to hear his voice carried in the wind. “Do you have an appointment?”
“Yes, I do,” Javan replied. “I’m Darwin Javan, here to see the officer in charge, Staff Inspector Robert De Souza, for a meeting with one of his subordinates, Mitra Singh.”
Eve felt a jolt of panic run through her body at the mention of Lexi’s father. Why was Javan meeting with him?
The guard looked down at a clipboard he was carrying and nodded. “Yep, got your name right here. I just need you to sign in, take these visitor passes, and you’re squared away.”
Javan signed the same sheet of paper Lexi had signed and the guard then handed him a visitor pass.
“I don’t mean to pry,” Javan suddenly said as he took the pass. “But I noticed a name signed in just above mine. Lexi Singh? Is she related to Mitra Singh?”
The guard nodded. “Yeah, his daughter. Come to visit her old man. She’s a sweet kid. You’d never catch my kids dead around this place.”
Javan nodded indifferently, but Eve saw a look in his eye that spelled danger. Whatever he was cooking up in his mind, it could only mean terrible things. Especially if those ideas involved Lexi and Mitra.
“Oh, we’ll actually need a second visitor pass, if you don’t mind,” Javan suddenly said as the guard began to walk away. “I’ve got my assistant with me.”
Another face leaned forward from behind Javan, smiling politely. At the sight of his brown hair and blue eyes, Eve had to stop herself from launching at the car and tearing him apart with her bare hands.
“Belial,” she sneered.
As quickly as she felt enraged by the sight of him, though, her anger ebbed away and was replaced with fear. Not for herself, but fear for Lexi and her father. Javan was bad enough, but him and Belial together? Lexi and Mitra were in terrible danger.
The guard signed in Belial, who undoubtedly signed the sheet as his alias, Isaiah, then raised the gate and waved the limousine through, thinking absolutely nothing of the two visitors or their purpose.
What do I do? Eve thought desperately. Once again, she desperately wished she still had her wings. She could just fly over the fence and go right inside, but instead she would have to try and get past the guard. Who definitely would not sign her in. And what if he recognized her? Eve felt enormously frustrated by the fact that her every move was now dictated by the possibility that someone might recognize her as the Angel who blew up a room full of people.
As she was desperately trying to think of what to do, Eve saw another car pull up beside the guard’s booth. This time, it was a police cruiser. Why they were there, Eve didn’t know. Perhaps to drop off some evidence, maybe to meet someone for lunch, Eve had no clue, and didn’t care in the slightest. The sight of the cruiser heading in gave her and idea. An idea that she knew was risky, dangerous, and incredibly stupid, but she couldn’t just stand out on the road and hope for the best. She had to get inside.
Eve bent down and picked up a nearby rock, roughly half the size of a baseball. Looking up to see one of the two officers inside the cruiser signing the sheet, Eve pulled back her arm and pitched the rock as hard as she could at the cruiser. The rock shot through the air and crashed through the rear passenger window, glass shattering everywhere as the rock broke through.
“What the Hell!?” one of the cops cried. Both cops had ducked their heads as the window shattered, like they thought they were being shot at. Both cops turned in their seats and looked at the damage behind them, and then the cop in the passenger seat looked up and saw Eve standing nearby, staring at them.
“Hey, you there!” the cop shouted as he opened his door and stepped out. “Don’t move!”
Eve had no intention of running. She waited patiently for the cop to storm over, his partner close behind. Eve looked at the first cop’s name tag and saw he was A. Holt. The cop who had been driving was J. Ashton.
“Did you break our window?” Holt demanded when he was standing in front of Eve.
Eve nodded. “Sure did.”
The blunt honesty of her reply seemed to throw Holt off, as his eyebrows rose in surprise and he hesitated before speaking again, glancing back at Ashton, who looked equally surprised.
“Why?” Holt snapped at Eve. “That’s police property. I can arrest you for that, kid.”
“Go ahead,” Eve said, like she was daring him to try.
“You’re gettin’ on my nerves, kid,” Holt growled.
Eve shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll get over it after a couple of donuts. Then again, it kind of looks like you’ve had enough.” Glancing down at Holt’s slightly protruding belly, Eve then reached out and poked him in the stomach, making a loud farting noise with her mouth as she pushed her finger into his soft flesh.
“Right, that’s it!” Holt snapped.
He grabbed Eve’s wrist and forced it behind her back, making her spin around, quickly pulling out his handcuffs and snapping them around Eve’s wrist.
“You’re under arrest for the charge of destruction of police property. You have the right to retain and instruct council without delay. We will…”
