Princes of Arkwright (11 page)

“Oh,” said Tucker. “Yeah, what you were asking about earlier ... Uriel is an archangel. One of seven who go into God’s chamber ... or something. I don’t know. He’ll explain it to you.”

Uriel
’s fiery sword spun around and lunged, creating sparkly patterns in the night sky. It moved with such speed, Tucker could never tell where it was at any moment. The demon attacked with claws on his hands and feet and whipped at Uriel with his sharp tail.

“
He has wings,” said Aly, finally regaining the power of speech.

“
Of course he has wings,” said Tucker. “He’s an angel.”

“
But,” said Aly, “I thought … metaphor.”

Uriel
’s sword caught the edge of one of Asmodeus’ wings and the demon let out a jagged cry.

“
That thing is like three times his size,” said Aly.

“
Don’t worry,” said Tucker. “You would not believe the stuff I’ve seen him do. I’m sure he’ll cut that thing in half any second now.”

Uriel lunged at the demon
’s head, which jerked aside, avoiding the blow. The sharp end of his tail struck Uriel’s hand, which sent the fiery sword plummeting. It plunged into the river, causing the surface to explode into steam. Uriel landed the back of his clenched fist squarely on the demon’s face before darting away.

“
Tuckerbromley!” he called, while flying to evade the demon. “Find my sword.”

Tucker and Aly ran to the river where they had seen the flaming sword fall in. The surface was so dense with steam they could see nothing. Tucker plunged his hand in and felt around.

“Ow!” he said drawing his hand back out. “The water’s hot!”

“
Tucker,” said Aly, grasping at his shirt.

“
Help me find the sword, will you?” said Tucker.

“
Tucker,” said Aly again.

“
I’m trying! I’m trying!” he said. “It’s too foggy.”

“
Tuck!” screamed Aly, grabbing his arm.

“
What?” yelled Tucker.

“
Look!”

Tucker turned around and a shiver ran down his back. Dozens of ancient women, down on all fours, were scurrying toward them down the riverbank, their eyes burning red. Tucker plunged his hand into the hot water, frantically searching for the blade.

“I can’t see anything,” he yelled.

Aly clutched him around the middle and screamed as the spider-like women got closer.

“I can’t see!” he yelled again.

The powerful wings of Asmodeus struck the angel in the chest, hurling him against the bridge. The structure cracked and a gas line that ran the length of the span exploded, knocking Tucker and Aly on their backs. The force of the explosion momentarily blew away the steam. In its fiery glow, Tucker could make out the silvery hilt of the sword embedded in the riverbed. As he pulled the sword out of the water, it burst into flame again. Tucker spun around, severing three white-permed heads neatly from their frail, elderly bodies in the process. The appearance of the fiery sword caused the other women to crawl quickly back toward the road.

“Tuckerbromley!” yelled the angel, hovering at the edge of the bridge. Tucker reached back with the sword and hurled it into the air straight toward Uriel, who caught it neatly by the hilt. The angel turned to do battle just as another powerful bat wing caught him in the middle, smashing him across the river through the stained-glass window of St. Michael’s Church. Multi-colored shards of glass, shimmering in the moonlight, came raining down on the river below.

“
Uriel!” screamed Tucker.

Asmodeus landed knee-deep in the middle of the river, his red eyes focused on Tucker. The detective pulled Aly behind him, and the two slowly backed up the concrete incline that led to the underside of the bridge.

“Oh no. No.” whispered Tucker. “I’m so sorry, Aly.”

Asmodeus reached out toward Tucker with his scaly claws, and acid spilled from his mouth, burning baseball-sized holes into the concrete below.

“Please, God,” said Aly, holding Tucker tightly around the middle. Asmodeus moved his face within a foot of Tucker’s, who looked the demon in the eye, refusing to break his stare. Suddenly, a fiery sword hurled from across the river burst through the ugly head, coming within two inches of Tucker’s face. The demon collapsed, splashing hard into the rushing waters.

Tucker looked up toward the
church. In the gaping hole that once boasted the giant image of Saint Michael stood the drooping form of Uriel, his wings hanging straight down, and his arms clinging to the window frame for support.

12. ALLIANCE

A
ly clung to Tucker to keep herself from falling down. The detective helped her off the concrete incline to more steady ground. The blaring sirens of fire engines could be heard in the distance.

“
Tucker,” she said, in a wheezing voice. “Does Victoria know about this?”

“
No,” he said. “Nobody does.” Tucker kept looking up toward the broken window, watching the angel moving slowly and painfully. Finally, with a great effort he jumped down, gliding to Tucker’s side of the river and crashing into the dense vegetation.

“
Uriel!” screamed Tucker, running toward the angel and searching for him in the undergrowth. “Uriel!”

Tucker found the barely conscious
angel lying next to a tree and breathing heavily. His wings were gone and his face was swollen and bruised.

“
You saved my life again,” said Tucker. “Are you going to be OK? What should I do?”

“
My sword, Tuckerbromley,” gasped Uriel between breaths. Tucker spun around and his face was aglow as he was confronted with the point of the fiery sword.

“
Looking for this?” said Aly, speaking once again in her usual contemptuous voice. “I pulled it out of that thing’s head and he just faded into mist. So did all those elderly women and their disembodied heads. Where did they go?”

“They fled to
Egypt,” said Uriel.

“
OK,” said Tucker. “That’s good. They don’t have enough problems there.”

The sirens were now deafening and the woods were flooded with flashing lights. A small fire still burned from the gaping crack in the center of the bridge. Uriel struggled to his feet and took the sword from Aly. He threw it over his shoulder and it disappeared into an invisible scabbard.

“Good night, Tuckerbromley,” said Uriel, climbing out of the undergrowth and heading back toward the bar.

“
Is that it?” said Tucker, following the angel with Aly close behind. The angel stopped and slowly turned to look at Tucker. The burning iridescent eyes were now quite dull, and Tucker could barely see them under Uriel’s heavy, drooping eyelids.

“
Fear not,” he said. “You are safe now. I would say you require a great deal of slumber.”

With that the angel walked away.

“We’re going for coffee tomorrow morning at 10,” said Aly.

“
I can’t,” said Tucker. “I have work.”

“
Tomorrow morning at 10,” said Aly.

“
Oh wait,” said Tucker. “I forgot, I’m on a forced vacation.”

“
Tomorrow — 10 a.m.,” said Aly.

“
OK, OK,” said Tucker. “At the Donut Kettle?”

Aly nodded and started walking up the hill
with an incredible composure that left Tucker wondering.

“
Maybe she’s just in shock,” said Tucker to himself.

Tucker made it home by taking an alternate route to avoid talking to his fellow officers who were now congregated on the bridge with the firefighters. He slept a long, dreamless sleep, as the angel had predicted, and dressed himself in khakis and a T-shirt with a black unbuttoned dress shirt over it. He arrived at the Donut Kettle five minutes late.

Aly was sitting in the booth closest to the counter waiting for him. He made eye contact with her as he opened the door, walking past her up to the counter.

“
Let’s see,” said Tucker slowly. “What do I want?”

Aly jumped out of her seat, grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the booth.

“You sit your ass down right now!” she said pushing him into his seat. “All right, start talking.”

Tucker related everything that had happened since the night Bobby was murdered.

“Interesting,” said Aly, staring at her cup of coffee and making circles with her finger around the rim. “I gave this a lot of thought last night.”

“
You seem to be taking it very well,” said Tucker. “When I first met Uriel I think I peed myself.”

Aly shrugged, saying,
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in you philosophy.”

“
My name’s ‘Tucker,’” said Tucker.

“
God, are you an idiot,” said Aly, shaking her head.

“
I’m just kidding,” said Tucker, “I’ve read ‘Hamlet’ too.”

“
What do you suppose he’s doing here in Arkwright?” she asked.

“
He says he has a mission, but he doesn’t know what it is – oh, and to protect me.”

“
I wonder what his mission is,” said Aly.

Tucker shrugged his shoulders.

“Tucker,” said Aly, “what if it’s something violent?”

“
Like what?”

“
Well,” she said, “you remember that story he told about the two cities he was sent to destroy?”

“
Minneapolis and St. Paul?”

Aly reached out and struck Tucker on the forehead sharply with the palm of her hand.

“He was obviously talking about Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Tucker stared at her blankly.

“The cities in the Bible that God sent two angels to destroy?” explained Aly.

“
Why did God want to destroy them?” asked Tucker.

“
Well,” said Aly, tilting her head to one side, “it was Sodom – from which we get the word ‘sodomy.’”

“O
hhh! Wow, that’s a little harsh.” he said.

“Well, they were raping everybody right and left.”
she said. “Anyway, what if that’s what Uriel is doing here – getting ready to destroy Arkwright?”

“
I don’t know,” said Tucker. “I don’t think God does too much urban smiting anymore. Besides, why would God want to destroy Arkwright? Because it’s too boring? The only thing we have here are prostitutes without customers and gang activity that’s less violent than your average hockey game.”

“I just wish I knew why he was here,” she said.

“
So do I,” said Tucker. “Can I go get a coffee now?”

“
Yeah, sure.”

Tucker got up and headed to the counter. Then he turned around and sat down again.

“Can I borrow a couple of bucks?” he asked. “I forgot to hit the ATM machine.”

Aly rolled her eyes.
“You know, that’s one of my pet peeves,” she said.

“
Sorry,” said Tucker. “It’s just a couple of bucks.”

“
Not that,” she said, reaching into her purse and handing Tucker the money. “ATM machine. That’s redundant. The ‘M’ stands for ‘machine.’ You don’t have to say ‘machine.’ It just really upsets me.”

“
I know what you mean,” said Tucker nodding. “Just like when people say ‘GPS system.’ You just want to start killing people.”

“
That’s all I’m saying,” said Aly putting her hands out.

“
Oh, look at that,” said Tucker, gazing up at the clock, “Our hour is up. But maybe we can talk about that during our next session.”

“
Just get your damn coffee and get back here,” said Aly. “We have to figure this out.”

Tucker ordered a small coffee – cream and one sugar – and came back to the booth.

“Do you think we should tell Victoria about this?” asked Aly as Tucker slid into his seat.

“
Victoria!” said Tucker. “I never heard from her about Lenore. I should call.”

Aly shook her head.
“Don’t bother. I’ve tried a few times. It just goes straight to voice-mail. Besides, she said she’d call us.”

“
It’s probably not a good idea to tell her,” said Tucker. “She’s got enough on her mind right now. I hope the kid’s OK.”