A small bottle amongst various packaged ingredients and condiments caught her eye. Spirit vinegar. That jogged a memory, something Eddie had once told her. She looked back through the fresh vegetables. Corn, green peppers, chilli, onions, some bulbs of garlic…
She glanced up at the camera silently watching her from the corner. An idea had come to her, but she would have to be extremely careful and patient to carry it out — if she even could. But if it worked, it might give her the chance she needed to run for the Mission’s boundary.
For now, though, she had to at least make the pretence of working on Cross’s assignment. If her watchers thought she was wasting time, Eddie would pay the price. Delaying tactics had caused Macy’s death; she couldn’t allow the same thing to happen again.
Another thought. Cross was insistent that she find the angels as soon as possible. Was he working to a deadline? And if so, why? The angels, if they existed, had been hidden for thousands of years. Why the rush?
She turned towards the desk. Sitting atop the stack of books was a copy of the Bible. The Old and New Testaments; Genesis to Revelation. Maybe the answer really was in there…
‘Let’s see what John of Patmos saw in his visions,’ she said to herself as she thumbed to its final book.
6
A faint knocking woke Nina. She frowned and raised her head, eyes still half closed. ‘Eddie, get the door, will you…’
Memory slammed back into place. She jerked upright in fear and confusion. Books and papers fell to the floor. She had fallen asleep fully clothed, her research scattered around her. How long she’d been out, she had no idea, but the daylight beyond the shutters was back; it had faded into night long before she dropped into an uneasy slumber.
Another knock at the door. ‘What?’ she shouted, scrambling to her feet.
‘Dr Wilde?’ came a female voice. ‘My name’s Miriam. The Prophet asked me to bring you to him.’
‘He did, huh?’ she said, crossing to the door. Red lights blinked on the cameras as she moved. She flipped them the bird. ‘Well, he can wait until I’ve had a shower and some breakfast.’
A pause, then the voice hesitantly returned. ‘Uh… he wants to see you right now.’
Nina tried the door; this time, it wasn’t locked. Standing outside in the morning sun was a slim, pretty woman in her early twenties, wavy rust-brown hair dropping to her shoulders. Her clothing, a knee-length dress and a pair of sandals, was all white. ‘You pregnant, Miriam?’
Her visitor was startled. ‘Ah… no?’ she said uncertainly.
Nina opened the door and pointed at her own bump. ‘Well I am, and let me give you some useful advice for if you ever are: pregnant ladies always get to choose when they meet people. Okay? Tell your Prophet I’ll see him when I’m good and ready. Which might be in ten minutes, it might be ten hours. Later, tater.’ She gave the freckle-cheeked woman a mocking wave, then slammed the door before going to the kitchen to search for food.
Another knock came a few minutes later. ‘Yeah, what?’ shouted Nina through a mouthful of cereal.
Miriam peered around the door. ‘I’m sorry, I… I don’t want to intrude, but… but the Prophet sent me to bring you, and — and I don’t know what’ll happen if I go back to him without you.’
Nina spotted the glistening line of a tear on her cheek. ‘Are you crying?’
Miriam hurriedly wiped her face. ‘I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry…’
The redhead’s annoyance changed to concern. Her visitor was upset, even afraid. Nina went to her. ‘Are you okay? Your Prophet, Cross — will he hurt you if I don’t go with you?’
She was genuinely shocked at the suggestion. ‘No, no, of course not! It’s just… I don’t want to let him down.’
‘Were you standing outside the door this whole time?’
Miriam nodded. ‘I didn’t want to make you mad, especially as you’re with child.’
‘Trust me, you’re way down the list of things that have spiked my cortisol levels in the past twenty-four hours.’ She glared at the nearest camera. ‘So, what,’ she told her watchers, ‘you send this poor girl to get me as part of some emotional blackmail plan? Jesus!’
Miriam’s mouth fell open in shock, this time at the blasphemy. Nina gave her an irritated look. ‘I’m guessing you’re not from New York if something that mild upsets you. All right, okay, I’m coming,’ she told the camera with a frustrated shrug. ‘First things first, though.’
‘What?’ asked Miriam.
‘I need to pee. Maybe that’s over-sharing, but I really don’t care.’ She disappeared into the bathroom, leaving the blushing woman staring after her.
After an unrushed break, Nina re-emerged to find her guest still waiting. She gathered her papers. ‘Okay, let’s go.’
Miriam led her out of the house and through the Mission. She was silent to begin with, only piping up very quietly about halfway down the street of little houses. ‘Ulysses.’
‘What?’ said Nina.
‘Ulysses, Kansas. That’s where I’m from. Well, not the actual town — I grew up on a farm about ten miles away. So no, I’m not from New York.’
‘Yeah, I’d guessed.’
‘But I always wanted to see it. It looks amazing. Scary, though. Isn’t there a lot of crime?’
Nina made a sarcastic sound. ‘Sure, if you hop in your time machine and go back to the seventies. You aren’t going to get stabbed in the middle of Times Square in broad daylight. Probably.’
‘Okay…’ was the uncertain reply. ‘I’d still like to go one day, though.’
‘What’s stopping you? You’re not a prisoner here, are you?’
‘Of course not! I came here by my own choice, to follow the Prophet.’ She smiled and gestured at their sunny surroundings. ‘It’s lovely here. And I’m with friends who think the same way I do. Why would I want to leave?’
‘I can think of a few reasons,’ said Nina, regarding the nearest set of security cameras. ‘So where is here?’
Miriam opened her mouth to reply, then clapped it shut. ‘I, uh… I’m sorry, but I was told not to tell you anything about the Mission.’
‘But we’re somewhere in the Caribbean, right?’
She clenched her hands in agitation. ‘I’m sorry, really I am, but I can’t tell you.’
‘You do know that I didn’t come here by my own choice? I was kidnapped, Miriam — that’s a federal offence, and every country in the Caribbean, even Cuba, has an extradition treaty with the US. Anyone who’s involved in keeping me a prisoner here will be counted as an accessory. That’ll get you a minimum thirty years in a federal prison.’ She had no idea if that were true, but could tell from Miriam’s alarm that she had made her point. ‘You realise that, don’t you? But if you help me get out of here…’
Conflict was clear on the young woman’s face. ‘I… I’m sorry, but I can’t, I really can’t,’ she said at last. ‘I can’t go against the Prophet. I just can’t! I’m sorry.’
Nina held back her anger. Miriam was genuinely upset at not being able to help, but also unwilling — or unable — to disobey her leader. ‘This Prophet,’ she said instead, changing tack, ‘why do you follow him? What’s he offering you?’
Miriam’s smile returned as if a switch had been flipped. ‘He’s going to lead us to the new Jerusalem! God’s dwelling place will come down out of heaven to the earth, and He will live amongst us and wipe away all the tears from our eyes.’
‘And there’ll be no more pain or sorrow, right?’ Nina recognised her words as part of Revelation, which she had read several times the previous night.