“Be still. Listen carefully. You need to know what’s happening.”
“What—”
“Trust me,” Johann said, bending down to whisper. “Impersonate Lena, then talk to Serena.” He vanished.
Craning his neck, Nick saw Serena turn in their direction. He wasn’t predisposed to trust Johann, but his plan made sense. Cloaking himself in a construct to resemble Lena just as Serena stepped over, Nick scanned the area.
“Where is he?”
“Who?” Nick’s disguised voice leapt an octave.
“Johann,” Serena said.
“Doing what I asked.”
Serena glanced left, right, then signaled to someone in the distance.
“I thought I saw Nikolai,” she said.
“And you just stood there?”
Serena narrowed her eyes to lethal slits.
“You said not to kill him until I told you first.”
“That’s right. Good job.” A torrent of disturbing thoughts flooded Nick’s mind. You need to know what’s happening, Johann had said. “We’ll deal with him later, give me an update.”
Just then the two other large men who had met with Lena that night joined them.
“Dan, Gunther—status?” Serena said.
“Sniper’s in place, Hernandez’s and Suarez’s people are armed and posted at every exit.”
“Nukes are set to detonate in ten minutes and twenty seconds. No one’s leaving here alive tonight.”
Nick’s innards twisted into knots, his mouth went bitter dry.
“Excellent,” he said, struggling to imitate Lena’s coldness. “And how do I deactivate them?”
All three spoke at once, but the voice he heard was Gunther’s.
“We just spent all this time arming them, why—”
“Are you challenging me?” The sound of Lena’s threatening voice coming out of him was disturbing. “I need to know that you’ve set everything correctly. It’s conceivable that the timing might change. Now, review the protocols for disarming!”
“Retina scan.” Dan came over to Nick and pointed at what he perceived as Lena’s right eye. “The only way to arm or disarm the nukes is to have your retina scanned for the first device, Serena’s for the second.”
“Are they in the correct locations?”
“Sublevels C and B, as ordered,” Dan said. “Koslupov’s…hanging out down there in B.”
Gunther snorted. “Not that anyone will find him before it’s all turned to ash.”
Hope.
Nick had to get her out of there. But he had one more question.
“Confirm the sniper’s instructions and target.”
Serena threw her hands up. “Why are you wasting time reviewing everything? Is this Lena Walker, the legendary Nephilim just one step down the command chain from Morloch? ”
Nephilim?
“Answer the damned question!”
Serena’s eyes blazed, but Nick stared her down.
“A few minutes into the onstage speech,” she said, “the sniper will take out the target Hope Matheson from VIP Lounge six.”
“It’s almost time,” Gunther said. “We still have to find Nikolai.”
Nick was having a hard time maintain Lena’s chilling calm.
“All right. Spread out and do it.”
“Dan, you search the stands and manage the Suarez men.” Serena said. “Gunther, go through the sublevels.”
They went off—except for Serena.
“You’re unfit, Lena,” she said. “Whatever the Dark Dominion saw in you is beyond—”
“GO!”
She went, leaving Nick to fight his ever-increasing nausea.
The Dark Dominion?
The assignments made sense now. He understood why they’d wanted to stop Hope, distract Jonathan Hartwell, protect Lito then kill him once he turned. From the start, Lena had recruited him for the Dark Dominion. He should have known better, but she and Harold Morloch had hooked him with everything he thought he wanted. Now, like it or not, he was party to the horrific death and destruction about to take place.
From the center of the stadium, the band’s final chords faded. A round of applause went up, and over the loudspeakers, an announcer spoke.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Jonathan Hartwell.”
81
NICK MANAGED TO TELEPORT INTO THE HALLS of the stadium. Like a dying light bulb, his disguise as Lena flickered. The queasiness abated. And once he released the Lena construct he started to feel better.
He barely heard the man introducing Jonathan Hartwell. If only he had a visual image of VIP Lounge 6, he might still be able to teleport there and stop the sniper.
He drew a deep breath, rested a hand on the wall. As best he could he focused on the concept of VIP Lounge 6, the image of a sniper….
Nothing.
Eyes shut tight he tried again, this time focusing on the image of a rifle. The pain spiking through his brain suggested it wasn’t going to work. But when he opened his eyes, he found himself in another section of the stadium. The lights were dim and gave him no clue where he’d teleported.
He wiped the moisture under his nose—it wasn’t perspiration.
It was blood.
Again.
Thin though the blood was, it probably meant his angelic powers must be about to expire. Couldn’t they last just one more day? How could he stop an armed man and two nuclear explosions without them?
He’d never felt so desperate. Or so determined. No matter what, no matter how, he had to keep the sniper in VIP Lounge 6 from killing the woman he loved.
Up ahead, a stronger overhead light fell on a wall sign. Nick ran over to it, relieved to find a map framed behind a Plexiglas window that showed the stadium’s levels, restrooms, exits, and…
VIP lounges, two levels up.
But they were on the opposite side of the stadium.
Another attempt at teleporting struck back like a blow to the head with a steel pipe. The pain itself seemed to inhibit his ability.
And so, though his progress would seem ridiculously slow, Nick started running as fast as his mortal body could stand.
“Hello, San Diego!” Jon called out. The cheers and flashing lights almost blinded him, his vision was blurred by tears threatening to spill. “Thank you all for coming tonight.” You’d have thought he’d said something brilliant, judging by the crowd’s reaction and how long it went on. He looked down to the front row, grateful but not surprised that Elaine was there, next to Matthew. The surprise had come when she believed his tearful phone confession.
“Let me begin by saying to everyone I have hurt—the wife I love, the young woman I failed, my staff, church, and everyone I’ve disappointed—I truly regret the pain and embarrassment I caused. I have since asked and received my wife’s forgiveness, I’ve asked forgiveness from my church and staff, and now I earnestly seek yours.
“This lapse in judgment has shown me that I am not above temptation. Although nothing sexual transpired, I was nevertheless wrong for allowing this to happen, and failing to keep myself above reproach. I have no one but myself to blame, I take full responsibility, and am grieved by my failure.
“But I think to be forgiven, grief over the sin is just a starting point. Action is required in the form of repentance, as well as the renunciation of my pride, anger and fear, which led me to make excuses and rationalize doing what I knew I must not.
“In the scripture, God says, ‘If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.’
“Tonight, before you and before God, I humble myself in repentance, I commit myself to turning from the slightest hint of impropriety, and from my selfish and hurtful ways.