The explosion was so loud Gabriel thought he must be dead. Even so he still clung on. He felt that if he could brace himself against death, even for an extra few microseconds, it might make a difference to the living.
So much flashed though his mind in that moment, fragments of the life he was about to lose. He saw the baby he had barely glimpsed growing into a — what? He didn’t even know if he had a son or a daughter and he would die not knowing. He would have liked to have known his child and spent his life with Liv by his side. But this was not such a bad death, if his death meant life for them.
Then the echo of the gunshot rang away into the night.
And Gabriel opened his eyes.
113
Shepherd sat on the edge of the water, tossing in stones. They sank beneath the surface, leaving no ripples, a tiny marker of the new universal order.
After everything Kinderman had said about the new age of peace, killing Merriweather had seemed like a particularly obscene and revolting act. He knew it had been unavoidable, but still…
He had drifted through the aftermath of the shooting on autopilot, clearing the area as if it was just a normal crime scene and backup was on its way. But he was on his own out here and he felt the sadness settle on him like his darkest depressions had done in the past. But there was one bright shaft of light shining through it all. Hevva was okay. He had saved his daughter.
Once the bomb was made safe he had called Franklin, old habits dying hard, and told him everything, using his partner like an old-time priest who might hear his confession and forgive him his sins. And when Franklin hung up, promising to call back with more news, he felt as if he was all talked out and empty. He had handed on the baton of responsibility. He was free.
He stared out across the pool, the mirror of its surface reflecting the night sky. The night was cold, but he didn’t mind. He had taken his jacket off and draped it over Hevva when she had curled up and fallen asleep in his lap. He sat like this for a long time, just holding her until the phone buzzed again and he answered it quickly so as not to wake her.
“It’s Franklin. I’m standing in Merriweather’s apartment looking at plans of Marshall, fake IDs, and a whole directory of names that includes our good friend Fulton Cooper. Seems Merriweather was something of an archiver — you should see the collection of old 45s he’s got here — he recorded everything; you couldn’t ask for a more smoking gun. There’s also some kind of shrine in his basement, like an altar or something with a big T-shaped cross hanging on the wall — it’s a proper fanatic’s home away from home.”
Shepherd nodded but said nothing.
“Listen, Shepherd, if you want me to arrange transport back, I can do that. Just tell me where you are and I’ll set the wheels in motion.”
Shepherd looked up at the sky. “I think I’ll stay here awhile,” he said, watching Hubble twinkling like a new star. “It is Christmas after all. Isn’t that when you spend time with family?”
“I didn’t know you had a family.”
Shepherd felt Hevva stir in his arms, her head nuzzling him as she slept. “Neither did I. You should go home too, Ben — spend some time with your family.”
“I will, just as soon as I’ve arrested the guy behind the explosion at Marshall that nearly got us killed.”
Shepherd frowned. “Not Merriweather?”
“No. He couldn’t possibly have gotten there before we did and set all that up in time.”
“Who then?”
114
Chief Ellery looked up from his desk as the door opened and a man wearing a black suit came in. He didn’t recognize him, but he knew the sheriff who walked in with him, a kid called Rogers, someone he’d known from back when he was still in uniform.
The suit showed him his FBI credentials, read the charges, then Sheriff Rogers stepped forward to read him his rights, looking slightly embarrassed about the whole thing. Ellery looked up at the photograph of his younger self. He’d never really wanted to quit being a cop, but the Church had wanted to keep a close eye on NASA, maintaining its long tradition of suspicion regarding science in general and astronomers in particular.
Sheriff Rogers finished Mirandizing him and stepped forward, reaching for the cuffs on his belt clip.
“You don’t need to do that, son,” Ellery said, rising from his chair. “I’m too old to make a run for it or try anything stupid.” He turned to the agent. “I’m surprised Agent Franklin didn’t come here to do this himself. I imagine he would have enjoyed it.”
The agent shot him a cold smile. “Agent Franklin’s got bigger fish to fry.”
Franklin pulled up outside the large Colonial-style house, took a breath then got out of the car. He waited for the two-man arrest team to join him on the porch before knocking loudly and smoothing his hand down over his tie. He smiled at the surprised-looking woman who answered the door and turned down the offer of coffee as he walked across the hallway to where a news station could be heard playing behind a door.
He rapped once out of courtesy then pushed the door wide without waiting for an answer.
Assistant Director O’Halloran looked up from the TV. Franklin saw surprise flash across his face, but he recovered quickly. “I was expecting your report, Agent Franklin, not a house call.”
“A draft version of my report has already been filed, sir. I sent it to Assistant Director Murray.”
The surprise returned but this time it stayed. “Might I ask why?”
“Murray took over the covert running of Operation Fish, sir — after you tried to shut it down. It was felt that your reasons for ending the investigation into highly placed and potentially influential Christians were not entirely robust.” O’Halloran glanced past Franklin and saw the two uniformed officers waiting in the hall. “I can tell you what’s in the report if you like, though I’m sure you know how most of it goes — foot soldiers recruited and run by the Reverend Fulton Cooper through the Church of Christ’s Salvation to fight the good fight against so-called heretical scientific exploration and the rising tide of ungodliness, Chief Ellery at Marshall keeping his eye on James Webb, Merriweather over at Goddard doing the same for Hubble — all of them controlled centrally by a well-placed puppet master inside the FBI, feeding them information and their mission orders for the greater good of the mother church you all serve.”
“I assume your report contains proof?”
Franklin nodded. “Merriweather kept exceptionally detailed records — I guess it’s the risk you run if you start doing business with paranoid conspiracy theorists. I have all the evidence I need of the how? — the only thing I don’t have is the why?”
O’Halloran steepled his fingers in front of him so it looked as if he was praying but said nothing. Franklin nodded at the arrest team and they moved out of the hallway and into the den. He stayed by the door, ready to move if he had to, remembering how it had gone down with Cooper, but O’Halloran just sat there, staring ahead while they read him his rights. When they had finished he looked up at Franklin. “If you want to know the why?” he said, “just look at what’s happening in the world. A judgment is coming where all shall be held to account. I answer to His law above all others. I am ready to face my Lord, Agent Franklin — are you?”
Franklin stared into his face, hardly recognizing the man before him now that the weird light had crept into his eyes. “I believe in people, sir. If you spend as much time on the streets as I have, it’s hard not to. I used to believe in you, too, but when you chose to partner me with a rookie on a case as important as this, even someone with Shepherd’s science background, I started having my doubts. It was as if you were setting out to hamper the investigation and limit its chances of success. But in the end, sir, that’s where you made your biggest mistake. You underestimated the power of people — and you picked the wrong rookie.”