Part 37 (2/2)

What was he up to? I looked. ”I see vanity and deceit. I see the future of a nation in the balance.”

”Yes, yes, yes . . . what else do you see?”

Lifting the last of the children into the helicopter, the president gave a thumbs-up signal to the pilot.

”I don't understand,” I said.

Semyaza became exasperated. ”You're stating the obvious,” he said. ”Yes, the president of the United States will die today. No, he will not be immortalized with Lincoln and JFK as is his plan. The whole thing will blow up when the designated medical examiner will be delayed at the Los Angeles airport. The local medical examiner is a gung-ho type, a straight arrow. When he discovers the drugs in the president's body, his report will launch an investigation and the whole thing will unravel.”

”You speak as though you know the future.”

”We've been creating the future for-”

”Yeah . . . yeah . . . I know. For millennia.”

”Vice President Rossi will serve as president for six months, then we'll leak reports of his gambling addiction and his ties to the New York Mafia. He'll resign to avoid impeachment and David Lamott, Speaker of the House, will become president. He's our candidate. We've been moving him into position under the radar. Just when your nation needs strong leaders.h.i.+p, you'll have Lamott, a man driven by his insecurities, a man who is so desperate for approval he refuses to make a decision. In the absence of real leaders.h.i.+p, special interest groups will tear the nation apart.”

He paused to let the scenario sink in.

”Now, I ask you again,” he said, ”when you look at the bridge, what do you see?”

The scene on the bridge hadn't changed. ”I don't know what to say,” I replied.

Semyaza cursed. He seemed to think I was being obstinate, but I really didn't know what he expected of me.

Then, he rippled. I don't know how else to explain it. Waves of energy pa.s.sed over him, through him. It radiated outward. The deck trembled beneath my feet.

The news crew felt it too, but didn't realize Semyaza was causing it. The tech turned to the tie and said, ”Feel that? Tremor.”

The tie laughed nervously. He said, ”Now all we need is for the sun to turn bloodred and the day will be complete.”

The ripple expanded beyond the edge of the Midway, across the bay and toward the bridge, climbing the arch-shaped pillars, spreading across the span and beyond, to the horizon, until the entire canopy of sky had been engulfed. As the ripple spread, it revealed an extra layer to the universe, a layer inhabited by spirit beings.

I swallowed hard at what I saw. A universe atop a universe. And while the beings in my universe were unaware of it, the beings in the spirit world acted and moved as though the two were one.

I saw a sky that was still blue yet overlaying it was a menacing, swirling dark cloud. It looked as though a terrible storm was brewing, only it wasn't a storm. It had a presence. There were legions of them. I could feel their ferocity and my skin p.r.i.c.kled and the hairs on my arms and neck quivered. I heard voices. Millions of voices. And I knew who they were.

”Lucifer's army,” I mumbled.

Semyaza looked on with pride.

I felt an ancient dread as they swirled over the bridge, a band of rebel angels who had warred against G.o.d before time began, fighting a conflict that had never ended, at least in their minds, now using earth as their battlefield. Their primordial grudge sent a s.h.i.+ver through me.

On the bridge, the second helicopter lifted off with the last load of children and Christina. A blonde woman in a red suit stood out in a military aircraft. She was seated next to an open door.

On the news monitor, Jana continued her report. ”With the children safely off the bridge, now the White House staff and Secret Service . . . Oh my! Oh my!”

Just as the helicopter cleared the bridge railing, something shot out of the dark cloud, a streak like a missile's tail fire but without the missile, and hit the engine. The engine coughed, the chopper lurched. Children screamed as a crew member spilled out the door and fell to his death.

A boy instinctively reached for the crew member when he fell, lost his balance, and would have taken the same path to his demise had Christina not grabbed him. The boy's legs dangled helplessly over the water as she clutched his arm.

”Are you getting that? Are you getting that?” the tech shouted at the cameraman.

The monitor showed that the cameraman was getting it. He'd abandoned Jana for the crippled aircraft the moment it lurched. He captured the crewman's deadly plunge for viewing audiences around the world.

I took an involuntary step toward the bridge as the top of Christina's blond head appeared on the monitor as she leaned out the door fighting to keep a grip on the boy.

I was not alone in wanting to help her.

Two beams of light broke through the swirling dark army. Different from the jagged weapon that had struck the helicopter, these lights were larger and softer, they had intelligence that emanated emotions in stark contrast to the cloud of evil.

”Meddlesome fools,” Semyaza spat.

I found myself praying aloud. ”Help her, help her, please, help her,” I cried, urging the angels on.

Streaks of jagged light shot past them. Then one found its mark, hitting one of the angels.

I staggered backward, feeling the blow. How was that possible? In my head I heard the angel cry. My heart felt his pain. Sharp, then lingering. I moaned.

Semyaza winced.

”You felt it, too!” I said. ”You feel each other's pain? You feel the very blows you inflict!”

”It is our nature,” he said without emotion. ”We choose to ignore it.”

Rubbing my chest, I watched as the injured angel retreated while his partner reached the boy and, taking human shape, cradled him in his arms, lifting him onboard.

”Did you see that?” the tech shouted, watching the monitor. ”Did you see the way she pulled him up? That chick must work out.”

”They didn't see him . . . ,” I muttered.

Semyaza didn't hear me. He watched with the grim expression of a field general.

With the boy inside, the helicopter limped toward the USS Reagan. The angel hovered beside them.

There was a bolt of light and he was gone, blindsided by a dark force.

The cry of the rescuing angel's sudden death exploded inside of me. I felt diminished, as though a part of me had been ripped out.

Twin jagged bolts shot from the swirling cloud and hit the helicopter engine a second time. It shuddered, belched smoke, then tipped at a crazy angle. Christina tumbled out.

”No!” I shouted.

Jana's voice could be heard on the monitor. ”Christina! Oh G.o.d . . . Oh G.o.d . . . Oh G.o.d . . .”

Somehow Christina had managed to grab hold of a safety harness. She dangled over the water as the crippled helicopter jerked and rattled as though it was trying to shake her off. Somehow she managed to hold on, but it didn't appear to matter. The aircraft was losing alt.i.tude.

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