Chapter 25

Merlin

“I know Alex said tomorrow but we can wait a little longer if you need the time,” Derek said.

“Tomorrow’s fine,” Merlin replied. “He may not be there yet. I wanna scout the area. And .. if he is there, I can get on with it.”

“What about your preparation? The tactics you an’ Nick will use. The revision of all your training.”

She shrugged. “If I don’t know it now, I never will. I’m as ready as I can be. And I will do everything I can to ensure Nick goes home with you, even if I don’t.”

Merlin paused at the base of the stairs. “I may not get another chance, Derek, an’, please, don’t tell me it won’t happen cos we both know the odds are closer to even.” She straightened. “It’s been a pleasure and an honor working alongside you, Dr Rayne. Yes, we’ve had our differences but we’ve worked thru them. I’m glad I had the opportunity to do that.”

“It’s mutual,” he said softly, shaking her hand then embracing her. “I know you’ll forgive me when I say I hope this isn’t the last time you have to make that speech.”

“I’d be happy to make it again.” Merlin smiled and climbed the stairs. She had to pack for the trip, work out at least an initial plan of attack, and get a good night’s sleep. No training tonight, not exactly.

She opened a bag and tossed in a couple of sweaters, T-shirts, a pair of jeans and a few days’ supply of underwear. A wash bag followed. She zipped the bag and left it by the door. Then she showered and pulled on a bathrobe and went to one of the empty guest rooms.

“Okay,” she said. “I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

Aquila separated and they sat opposite each other on the bed. For a moment, neither spoke.

“This is gonna be a tough one,” Merlin eventually commented. “I have the feeling everyone’s rooting for me yet no one truly believes I’m gonna win. They’re all putting on a brave face an’ saying all the right words but it’s all a mask.”

“And this surprises you,” Aquila remarked. “What did you just say to Derek? You made your farewells. You don’t truly believe you’re gonna win.”

Merlin shook her head. “Not true. I made my farewells because I could die. But I’ll win, whether I die or not. Reuben Meyer is going back to Hell if I have to drag him down there, kicking, screaming and cursing me for eternity every step of the way.” She paused. “Or you will because this part of me will be dead.”

“May be dead,” Aquila corrected. “Nothing’s guaranteed. We say that a lot. Life isn’t guaranteed, but death isn’t guaranteed either.”

“How are we gonna play this? We fly out tomorrow. He could already be there. I’m hoping he isn’t. I wanna scout the area – ”

“Let me go do that now. I’ll be back before you leave. You’ll know what you’re heading into.”

Merlin considered. “It’d be risky. He might sense you’re there.”

“No other Flamefall can.”

“He’s no other Flamefall, Aquila. He’s unique. But, if you’re very careful, okay. Go check it out. Don’t take any chances. Stealth mode the entire time.”

“Check,” Aquila nodded. “So .. what’s the plan?”

Merlin frowned and didn’t reply. Aquila waited. Then Merlin shifted slightly. “How come Nick is so calm about all this?” she asked. “You got any idea?”

Aquila shrugged slightly. “The immediate answer has to be he knows something you don’t.”

“And he hasn’t told me?”

“Obviously, or you wouldn’t be asking. However,” she went on, “he may not be aware that he knows. I’m sure, if he felt it to be important, he would share it. Nick isn’t the kind of guy to keep secrets like that from you, especially when it’s a situation like this.”

“Yeah .. that makes sense. He knows he met with Michael but can’t recall any detail. He was up front about that.”

“Now, can we get onto the game plan?” Aquila requested. “We have a choice. One, we can do nothing. Let Reuben Meyer take the initiative and we react accordingly. Two, we can take the initiative and get in a pre-emptive strike, then react accordingly. Or, three, we can attempt to engage him in conversation.”

“An’ learn what? Say .. what? Nice weather for the time of year? You come here often? Oh, by the way, you’re the bastard who murdered my great grandfather when all he was trying to do was help you yet again?”

“I’m simply outlining our choices. Talking to him is an option. It’s legitimate. Talking may get him off balance.”

“He’s already off balance,” Merlin muttered.

“He was. All the information you’ve managed to acquire and analyze pertains to how Reuben was over forty years ago. His time in Hell on the wheel may have changed him. Rachel’s report used various sources, the most valuable of which is Alex’s warning vision because it is so recent. It is a picture of how he is now. In the vision, she said Reuben’s eyes were cold. Dead. Yet she could sense his anger. Rachel also told you that, for most of his life, Reuben was scared and he was angry. He buried it until the final hour of his life. Peregrine told you that Reuben had discovered how powerful he was by watching your grandmother learn how to be a Flamefall. Put those two together, you have an enemy who is comfortable with his power, however augmented it has become or not, and who no longer is fearful of using it. All he has left is anger and that is a very combustible fuel source. He has no morals, no ethics, no conscience. He has killed once, and has no compunction about killing again. After all, he has been punished and he escaped. If he’s achieved that, he can do it again.”

“Do you think talking will serve any purpose?” Merlin asked.

“You must remember that he may not want to talk. But, yes, I do think it’ll serve a purpose. It will buy you time and you will be able to gauge his frame of mind. And that will tell you how to take him down.”

Merlin nodded. “What should I say?”

“I would not accuse him of anything. That will only bring his anger to the surface and precipitate combat. Remember, Reuben believes he is unique, that he has evolved in some way. I would pander to his ego.”

“Build him up then knock him down.”

“Exactly. You can still strike without warning when he least expects it.”

“Okay. Sounds good to me. Now .. tactics.” She shifted slightly. “All the basic stuff we know has to go on the shelf. We can’t use any of it. Reuben knows it all too.”

“That leaves the special training. Black ops.”

Merlin nodded. “Let’s start revising. This is one examination we have got to pass.”

*****

Nick shivered. The night seemed more black than usual and there was a chill snap in the air. The ground was soft after all the rain but he didn’t think the helicopter was bogged down.

“Will we be able to take off?” Derek asked, trudging over the lawn toward him.

“Yeah. Might be a little ungainly but we’ll do it. Quicker than driving to the airport. Has Alex managed to charter a plane?”

Derek nodded. “At least we won’t need to take much in the way of equipment.”

“Clothes don’t weigh that much,” Nick commented as he completed his external checks. He switched off the flashlight. “Full load of people, weapons and ammunition though.”

“Are we refueled, ready to leave?”

“Whenever you say,” Nick confirmed.

Derek nodded. “And are you ready?”

Nick regarded him steadily.

“Peri is still preparing,” Derek explained. “She has years of experience, Nick. You have .. one training week under your belt and one experience of Enforcer power which killed a demon and terrified you at the same time. I think it’s a reasonable question to ask.”

Nick slowly nodded. “Yeah, I guess it is. I feel ready. Y’know,” he went on, turning and leisurely heading back to the house, “I would’ve imagined, knowing what we’ve found out about this guy and knowing some of what Peri can do, having seen Enforcers in action during training week, that I’d be scared shitless. But I’m not. I just .. feel ready. Okay, there’s a strong element of caution in there as well but I’m really not scared. I feel very calm. Purposeful. Sure. An’ here’s the point where you tell me I’m more crazy than even you ever believed.”

Derek didn’t say a word. He just walked along at Nick’s side, hunched into his jacket against the night chill.

At last, he shook his head. “No, I don’t think you’re crazy. Oh, you’ve had your moments in the past. Gone off to right wrongs without totally thinking it thru. But not this time. I think that’s why the others feel a little uneasy about your behavior. You are calm. We’re not used to that.”

“Thanks,” Nick laughed quietly.

“Maybe it is because of Michael,” Derek mused. “He spoke with you before Gabriel told Peri what was happening so you would be primed for action. She might have fled and faced Reuben Meyer before she was ready if you hadn’t been there to prevent it. Did he do anything else when you met with him?”

“Like what?” Nick frowned.

Derek smiled in the darkness as they began to climb the steps to the terrace. “I am certainly not privy to the inside of an archangel’s mind, Nick, no more than I could guess at his shoe size. But, if I were in your place, called to a meeting with God’s right hand man, and told of an evil greater than the world has ever known is about to fall upon it .. I would not feel very calm. Especially if I was also told I had to stand and fight in the front line. I think I would be .. at the very least apprehensive but more likely I would be terrified. No, I don’t have your specialized military training but, even so, would an ordinary man, even if he is a member of the Legacy, be .. calm, purposeful, and sure?” He shrugged. “I just wondered if Michael, having told you, then .. helped you to cope with it.”

“Like a courage pill?” Nick queried.

“Possibly,” Derek agreed.

“Maybe he did .. but I just don’t remember. Maybe I feel this way because I know I’m doing what’s good as well as what’s right. You know how it is, Derek, when a guy’s convinced that he’s on a righteous course of action. Nothing can knock him off balance, shift his focus, or make him step aside. Merli’s a good example of that right now.”

Derek nodded again. “And .. are you also prepared to lose your wife?”

Nick was silent now, his step slowing. “Whatever way I answer that … If I said yes, I am prepared, you could think the wrong thing. An’, if I said no, you might doubt my resolve.”

“Faith has need of the whole truth, Nick,” Derek quoted. “What we often disregard is that the whole truth can often be cruel and bitter just as much as it can be kind, generous and liberating. Truth is sometimes the darkness, even though we want to deny it. We must be honest with ourselves.”

Nick nodded. “In that case .. yes, I am prepared to lose Merli. If I watch her die an’ win, I’ll feel I’ve shared in her victory. This isn’t like Colorado Springs, Derek, when it just happened. I know there’s a good chance she won’t survive this. But, if she succeeds in taking him down, I’ll have lost her for a good reason and, in time, I’ll come to realize that. I’ll remember why it had to be that way. But .. for a while, I think I’ll go to pieces,” he confessed.

Derek put a hand on his shoulder. “Consider this. If she succeeds but dies in the attempt, she won’t be lost to you. She’ll visit here. You’ll visit her over there. She won’t be trapped in Hell, Nick. And we will be here for you, no matter what.”

“Sure.” Nick straightened. “I have a bag to pack an’ some combat stuff to think about, weapons to check an’ get ready, so … ”

“Goodnight,” Derek smiled.

“See you in the morning,” Nick responded.

*****

Merlin nodded. “Okay. We’re set. We know a lot of moves Reuben can’t even imagine, plus we’ve got the communication thing. This is liable to be dirty so, if it comes down to a knife in the back .. so be it. The objective is to put him back on the wheel. How we get him there doesn’t matter.”

“I understand,” Aquila said.

“All right. I guess now you go do your thing.”

“You get a good night’s sleep,” Aquila advised. “I’ll be back before morning.”

“Be careful,” Merlin urged. “I can’t do this without you. I’m the expendable one, remember?”

“Don’t worry.”

Merlin watched Aquila fade away then she pulled her bathrobe tighter around her body. She resolved not to worry and rose to return to the room she shared with Nick. He was packing his duffel as she came in.

“You look tired,” he remarked.

“Half the woman I usually am?”

Their eyes locked and he grinned. “Aquila’s gone scouting?”

“Full stealth mode,” she confirmed.

“I’ll put the candle in the window.”

*****

The Badlands wasn’t the well known Badlands National Park in South Dakota. This was another area near the Dinosaur National Monument which straddled the Utah, Colorado state line. The Badlands was its nickname because the land wasn’t very forgiving, as opposed to being a haunt of outlaws in the old West. The landscape was indeed wild and rugged, desolate, full of rocky hills and cliffs, most of them holding as yet undiscovered fossil treasures.

Aquila arrived there in minutes. At this time of year, the activity wasn’t much. Fossil excavation mostly happened during the summer when long, dry periods could be almost assured. But a few, faint traces could be detected. She carefully examined the auras. None of them had a thick streak of pure black. Reuben Meyer hadn’t arrived yet. Maybe he was still making his way up from Nevada.

The closest habitation of note was Green Butte and Aquila headed there next. She would return to the open before she went back to the coast so she could check out various arenas, good places to set an ambush, clear areas where people could take shelter quickly and thus avoid getting hurt.

Unlike Merlin, Aquila couldn’t see the point in Derek, Rachel and Alex all tagging along for the trip. This wasn’t an outing to a picnic site, it was a war zone. This was the Gorge in real life. Not even Nick had ventured into the Gorge and the others wouldn’t last two seconds in a Flamefall combat arena.

Aquila was all for repaying debts but she considered they’d done enough. She could not understand the loyalty which was driving them into the teeth of danger. But Merlin was insistent. They wanted to come, so they were coming. Michael had said they must. And so had some guy in a dream.

Aquila never argued with a direct order from the boss, although, occasionally, she did think about that order and silently wonder.

It all comes down to .. what? Is it loyalty? Does the Legacy really feel it has an obligation to serve the Flamefalls .. just once? Well, maybe not the entire Legacy, but this one house .. is it really so understanding? Can friendships be forged which see past the regular, routine of everyday and into the heart and soul? Nick is different. He is a marriage partner. But the others ..? Could they really make that leap?

Or, as Aquila darkly suspected, would it come to the crunch and they’d bail? She wouldn’t blame them if they did. They weren’t so accustomed as she was to life and death being separated by a thin veil of gauze. People died but their souls went on. They could be visited. Death was only a gateway to a very similar kind of existence but one without all the worry which accompanied life.

She would be very surprised if they did last the distance. Merlin felt they would. They would be the Legacy’s representatives at a critical point in history and the witnesses to a Flamefall versus Flamefall showdown. Another first. Ox’s murder didn’t count because Ox hadn’t fought back and Peregrine wouldn’t destroy a friend even if he had become a bitter enemy. He had held back and left the punishing to the boss.

How did Reuben get free ..? When I take him back, I will fasten the chains myself. I will forge them from unbreakable spirit and bind them about his body with invincible will and determination. Not even if an army help him, eternity will run out before he can break free again. This is the blood debt I demand to be repaid. If the Legacy helps me settle it, the slate will be wiped clean between us.

As she arrived in town, she wondered how Gabriel was faring and if Michael had received the answers he’d gone into Hell to get. She wondered if they were the answers he wanted to hear. She wondered how he might feel at seeing his brother again.

Reuben Meyer had a lot to repay, that was for sure.

Aquila paused to study the layout of the town. There was a single road with intersections, a standard block pattern. Stores and offices, fast food places, gas stations. Not a pretty place. Most of it was concrete and steel, utilitarian. There was a mall on the outskirts. Motels dotted along the road into town and again on the road out. A highway ran a few miles to the north, bypassing Green Butte as it headed toward Vernal. Most of the town’s business would come in the summer and early fall when the professors and their students arrived en masse to venture into the wilderness.

Once, Reuben had been one of those students. Aquila halted. He must find the world a vastly different place to the one he left. Think how much has changed since the late Fifties. Think how much everything’s speeded up. Back then, computers were huge things, taking up entire specially built rooms. The military, the government, a few colleges, they had them to run top secret number crunching. Now .. they’ll fit in a bag you can carry on your shoulder and nearly everyone has one. Before, they were slow, time consuming. Now there’s the internet. People all round the world talk to each other. TVs and radios were valve driven, now they have electronic circuits. Things are digital now, pictures coming thru phone lines. Satellites in space and the modern age of communication. A man’s been to the Moon. Reuben must be suffering a culture shock. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t arrived here yet. He’s still getting a grip on modern road travel. Or maybe he’s so overwhelmed that he’s dragging his feet, trying to see it all. Reuben always did want normal. And this world has an abundance of that.

She moved on more slowly, still scanning for a telltale aura and cautiously – very cautiously – putting herself in Reuben’s place. It was virtually impossible to guess what he would do, but there were other things she could consider.

He must expect someone at least to be sent to deal with the threat he represents. He must know it will be a Flamefall. Is he anxious about that .. or does he really not care because he believes he’s superior? I don’t suppose he’ll feel any remorse over what he’s done in the past or what he will attempt in the future. He’ll see it as necessary to his survival. But .. like Peri and I both acknowledge .. does he accept that the battle will be close fought because we are evenly matched?

She halted, her senses suddenly tingling as a burst of music came from a bar just down the block. Maybe business really had come before pleasure after all. Or maybe, now he had the taste, Reuben saw killing more Flamefalls as all pleasure. The fact that she hadn’t sensed him until now wasn’t good. Silently, she approached and drifted thru the door to scan the interior. There wasn’t much business being done – the hour was late and Green Butte wasn’t big – there were a few still lingering. One of them sat at the counter. Aquila couldn’t tear her eyes away. She couldn’t quite make him out because his aura swamped him like a black cloud. She eased closer – one step, halt, wait, another step.

“Can’t believe how much everything’s changed,” he was saying to the guy behind the bar as he hunched over his drink.

“Been in prison?”

“You could say that, yeah. But I’ve done my time in Hell an’ now I’m free again.”

“Another beer? On the house.”

“Why, thank you kindly.”

A bottle was opened and put on the counter. “So .. what you doing here?” the bartender asked. “This place ain’t exactly on a thru road to someplace else.”

The man stared at the beer bottle. “I had a great time here once. A week .. an’ not exactly here. Back then, there wasn’t money for motels. They were teaching us the basics so we had to go back to basics an’ camp out. Fieldtrip, it was. Learning how to dig up fossils. Man .. I loved doing that. I wanted to make it my whole life .. but then it all went wrong. They wouldn’t let me do what I wanted. But why am I here now? This is the right place to meet up with some guys I’m expecting. Got some scores to settle.”

“Here?” the bartender queried.

“Outta town. Over in the Badlands. Lotta space out there. Gonna need it too.”

Aquila was now about six feet away and listening carefully to every word which came out of his mouth.

“These scores .. maybe I shouldn’t ask any more questions,” the bartender grinned, but it was uneasy. Wary. “What I don’t know won’t hurt me, right?”

“That’s true enough. That’s damn true. I knew too much. I paid for it. I put what I knew into practice .. an’ they slapped me down. Against the rules, they said. Put me in a very bad place .. but I learned. I was patient. I had friends. And .. I got out.”

The bartender hesitated in wiping a glass. “You .. escaped?”

“Uh huh.”

“I ain’t heard about it on the news.”

The man grinned. “Keep watching. You will. Soon the whole world’s gonna know about me.”

Aquila’s eyes narrowed. The man turned sharply toward where she stood and she got her first clear look at his face. It wasn’t anything remarkable. A little too old now to be termed handsome but his eyes … They were riveting. Not because of their sandy brown color, it was because they were dull. Cold. Dead. Not a spark of emotion in them, not even anger. His gaze passed over her, thru her. He lifted a hand to brush back a lank tendril of hair - dark brown hair, with not a streak of white in it – and she saw that, yes, he did still carry some physical mark of his punishment. His hand was twisted and scarred with burn tissue. He turned back to the bartender.

“Thought I felt a cold draft,” he muttered.

“Someone walked over your grave,” the bartender said in a light voice but the words fell flat.

“Nah, I’ve been there an’ done that. Nothing special to dying. Starting over .. now that’s something to celebrate.” He drained his beer and rose rather unsteadily. “Thanks for the freebie.”

“No problem, man. Good luck.”

“Luck’s got nothing to do with it. Friends in the right places,” he called as he headed for the door, “that’s what counts these days.”

Aquila didn’t move as he left, and didn’t move until after the door had closed behind him. She waited until he was outside and walking away. Then, slowly, she followed him, wanting to know where he intended to sleep.

As he reached the intersection, he paused and then spun on his heel.

“I know you’re there!” he shouted, his voice echoing along the deserted street. “I know you’re watching me! Well, whoever you are, you go back an’ tell Peregrine Gabrielli or his son Joe that Reuben’s back in town! Good ol’ Rube .. the Ox murderer,” he laughed cheerfully.

Aquila’s hands closed into fists, then gradually uncurled. She left Reuben Meyer alone and began her journey back to the wilderness. Finding a secure location out there was now more important than it was before. Reuben’s back in town.

Well .. not for much longer, she thought.

*****

Merlin woke just as a gray dawn was lifting the darkness in the bedroom. She felt rested but not energized. And that meant Aquila wasn’t back. She sat up, peering around, feeling a sharp pang of concern.

“I’m here,” Aquila said on a breath.

“Thank God,” Merlin whispered, looking into the shadows of the corner.

“Are you ready for me?”

“Did you scout the area?”

“I saw him.”

Merlin’s heart actually stuttered. “I didn’t quite catch – ”

“You heard. I saw him. I heard him. Good ol’ Rube, the Ox murderer. I have much to share with you. Are you ready?”

“He said that ..? He said those words?” Merlin demanded then held up a hand and nodded. “Yeah. I’m ready. Do it.”

She took Aquila back and, instantly, the memory integrated into her own. It was as if she’d been in the bar herself.

So he could sense you were there but he couldn’t see you?

That’s correct.

And someone helped him escape.

So it seems. He isn’t expecting you to go after him. A Flamefall, yes, and a Gabrielli. A woman, no.

That’s a very small advantage.

You’re not thinking this thru. Nick could be in trouble. He isn’t a woman.

Merlin glanced at the bed, her heart sinking …

*****

Derek frowned as they settled themselves on the small charter jet for the flight to Vernal. Merlin hadn’t said a word at breakfast, nor on the quick hop to the airport. He glanced at Nick, an eyebrow rising, but Nick shook his head.

The message was clear – don’t disturb what she’s doing. We’ll find out soon enough.

Twenty minutes into the flight, Merlin suddenly sat up.

“Hey, stranger,” Rachel smiled. “Back with us?”

Merlin grinned briefly. “I’ve … ” She wrinkled her nose. “I hate to say this, especially in front of you, Rachel, but .. I’ve been talking to myself.”

“You hear a legit voice in your head and you hold your conversations in silence. It doesn’t count,” Rachel confided.

“Good to know. Well, as you’re in this with me, you deserve to share. And I could use your opinions. Last night, Aquila went to scout the area. There’s a town nearby, place called Green Butte. There was no trace of Reuben in the Badlands so she went into town, see if he’d turned up. He had. He was there, in a bar. Now,” she went on after a moment’s pause, “before I move on to what she heard him say, I have to tell you that Aquila didn’t sense him until she was almost at the bar. That isn’t good. It means he’s found a way to mask his trail. Usually, the stink almost glows in the dark, you can’t miss it.”

Alex leaned forward. “Did she get back okay?”

“Yeah,” Merlin nodded. “She’s fine.”

“Has he found a way to shield himself from all Enforcer senses?” Derek inquired.

“Maybe he has. It means a slight change of plan .. such as the plan is. If I can’t track where he is, it’s gonna be tough to set up an ambush. Anyway, to go on, Aquila went into the bar and approached him.”

“Why didn’t she take him out?” Nick asked at once.

“I asked her the same question,” Merlin replied with a wry smile. “And .. she said that you were all so keen to be there, to be the Legacy’s witnesses to this critical point in history, that she couldn’t deprive you. I think she was being sarcastic.”

“Go on,” Derek instructed. “Aquila went into the bar and ..?”

“She listened to what he was saying to the bartender. It started with a typical comment about being amazed at how much everything’s changed.”

“Which prompted the bartender to ask if Reuben had been away,” Rachel nodded.

“Right. He actually asked if he’d been in prison to which Reuben said kinda but he’d done his time in Hell an’ now he was free again. Of course, the barman couldn’t tell the difference between hell and Hell and he just assumed Reuben meant prison. He gave him a free beer, then asked what he was doing in town. It’s a little isolated, this place. Reuben told him about the fieldtrip but didn’t say it had been back in fifty seven. And then it started to get interesting. Reuben said, and I quote, ‘it all went wrong. They wouldn’t let me do what I wanted. But why am I here now? This is the right place to meet up with some guys I’m expecting. Got some scores to settle.’ The bartender, slightly alarmed by the idea of an ex-con having scores to settle asked here and Reuben said outta town, over in the Badlands, lotta space out there, gonna need it too.”

“That does not sound good,” Alex muttered, having visions of body parts spread over a wide area.

“Actually, it is,” Merlin countered. “Not such a big chance of casualties. Plenty of places to hunker down. We want the combat outta town.” She leaned forward. “That was the first clue he’s given of his game plan. He’s expecting his return to be met with force and by more than one of us. The bartender went on to say maybe he shouldn’t ask any more questions, what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. And Reuben said that it was true, that he knew too much an’ he paid for it. He put what he knew into practice an’ they slapped him down, told him it was against the rules. He was put in a very bad place but he learned, he was patient, he had friends an’ he got out.”

Derek was frowning again as he listened in silence.

“The barman then thought that Reuben had escaped from jail and remarked that he hadn’t heard about it on the news. Reuben told him to keep watching. Soon the whole world’s gonna know about him.”

Rachel eased back, shaking her head.

“It was then that he sensed Aquila,” Merlin announced.

“What?” Nick exclaimed.

“He sensed she was there. She was .. six feet away from him. She got a good look at him. He appears to be the same age as he was when he died, or maybe a little older than forty two. He sure doesn’t look eighty seven. His hair’s lost the white streak cos he’s faded to black. No anger in his eyes. His hands, however, are scarred due to the burns. He couldn’t quite heal everything. The barman said something more, Reuben boasted about there was nothing special in dying and that starting over was worth celebrating. He rose to leave. The barman wished him good luck. Reuben said that luck’s got nothing to do with it, it’s friends in the right places which counts. Then he left. Aquila followed at a distance. At an intersection, Reuben stopped, turned and began to shout at her. His words were ‘I know you’re there. I know you’re watching me. Well, whoever you are, you go back an’ tell Peregrine Gabrielli or his son Joe that Reuben’s back in town’.” Merlin paused. “Aquila left to find some secure locations in the wilderness than headed back home.”

“Interesting,” Derek breathed. “He could sense her but he couldn’t see her.”

“No, an’ that’s good. What isn’t so good is – ”

“He isn’t expecting a woman,” Rachel cut in and quoted, “Some guys he’s expecting, go tell Peregrine or his son.”

“Doesn’t that give you an advantage?” Alex queried.

“In a way, yes. Especially if I go in alone.”

“Without Aquila?” Nick frowned. “You’ll be vulnerable.”

“That isn’t important,” Merlin responded. “He’s expecting a guy to show up. Nick .. last time I looked … ”

“There must be other guys in town – ” Nick argued.

“Strangers who just show up?” Rachel pointed out. “Nick, you don’t have the same protection as Peri.”

“Maybe Reuben can overcome those,” Derek countered.

“I’ll be fine,” Nick stated.

“We’re on a fossil hunting expedition,” Derek suggested. “Two men, three women. We stick together as one group. Nothing to rouse suspicion.”

“I’ll do what I can to protect you – ” Merlin said.

“We’ll protect ourselves. We’re here for you, remember?”

“Then be very careful. Aquila’s located a bolt hole for you to use when it goes down. Use it?”

“We’re here to repay a debt, Peri, not commit suicide,” Derek remarked.

“What disturbs me the most, beside the fact that Nick’s shifting back to his usual gung-ho behavior,” Rachel commented, “is that speech about the whole world’s gonna know about him. I said he’d be flying high. He still believes he’s a superior being. In a way, he is flaunting his abilities an’ shooting off his mouth.”

“What alarms me,” Alex said, “is that someone helped him escape. It seems to me that Reuben isn’t the only one who needs to be taught a lesson.”

Merlin shook her head. “Outside my area of operations. Michael’s dealing with that one.”

“I’m not being gung-ho,” Nick said to Rachel. “It’s how I feel. I am not scared of this guy. What does get my heart rate up is that this isn’t Armageddon, it’ll just seem like it.”

They looked at him.

“Who told you that?” Derek asked in surprise. “Peri didn’t mention it. Reuben never said it.”

Nick hesitated, then slowly shook his head. “I don’t know. It just .. seemed the right thing to say. Put us on guard.”

“Well, at least your heart rate’s up about something,” Rachel muttered. “How much longer till we get there? I really wanna call Kat .. tell her I love her.”

Merlin lapsed back into silent contemplation and let the conversation flow and ebb around her.

Almost the end of the world … A timely warning. A sobering thought. How could Nick know to say it ..? There was only one way – Michael.

So, she mused, just what the hell else did Michael say and do ..?

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