The Belial Ring (The Belial Series 3) (4 page)

Amar walked over to the table.
There, covered in glass, was the book. He stopped and gazed at it.
All that knowledge
.

He curled his hand into a fist and had to actively
restrain himself from punching through the glass. He cursed silently.
The bane of their existence
.

Every time he saw it, his anger grew.
If he could, he would kill the author over again. But seeing as he’d died over ten thousand years ago, it didn’t look like that would be happening.

Amar glanced over at the translator
, who was sitting at a monitor, muttering to himself. He’d found the man online—some recluse who was obsessed with Enochian. Heavyset, with a prominent chin and forehead, he was not an attractive man.

But Amar didn
’t need the man for his looks. He walked over, clapped the man on his shoulder. “So, Jeff, how’s the translation coming?”

Jeff winced.
“Fine, fine. Got that last section translated finally. Printed it out for you.” Jeff nudged his chin toward the printer in the corner.

Amar made his way over, pulling the sheets from the tray.
He read through them quickly. And then he read them again, more slowly this time, careful to keep his face expressionless.

Without a word, Amar made his way back out the room, careful to keep his steps unhurried,
to betray no reaction.

He closed the door
softly behind him, gripping the papers tightly, pursing his lips.
Damn it. It is her.

CHAPTER 3

Baltimore, Maryland

L
aney and Jake walked up the stairs to Henry’s office. He’d called them fifteen minutes ago and said he needed to meet with them immediately. Laney took Jake’s hand as they reached the landing outside Henry’s office.

They
’d finished up at the Smithsonian a few hours earlier and headed home to the Chandler estate. The Chandler estate was the headquarters for the Chandler Group, as well as home to Henry, Laney, and Jake. Henry lived in a cottage a few hundred yards from the massive main house; Laney and Jake lived in cottages down on Sharecroppers Lane, a mix of business and residential cottages that previously had been sharecroppers’ homes back in the late 1800s.

Laney had been packing for their first family trip when Henry
had called and requested that she and Jake come to his office. Laney, Jake, Henry, Danny, and her Uncle Patrick were all heading to Hershey, Pennsylvania, along with Kati Simmons, Laney’s housemate from Syracuse, and Kati’s four-year-old son, Max.

A little weekend away filled with amusement parks, good company, and lots and lots of chocolate.
Heaven. And after the year they’d had, well overdue. Laney couldn’t wait.

But
although she was excited about the trip, she couldn’t get the book out of her mind.
The Army of the Belial.
The images on the cover seemed to indicate Solomon, but also some type of battle.

“
Hey, you with me?” Jake said.

Laney squeezed his hand.
“Sorry. My mind’s wandering.”

Jake pulled her to a stop, stepping in front of her.
He tilted her head up. “Laney, it’s just a book. Don’t go borrowing trouble.”

She sighed.
“I know, it’s just—”

He kissed her, cutting off the rest of her statement.
“It can wait. It’s already waited ten thousand years. Let’s meet with Henry, get everyone, and get out of here. The world won’t collapse if we ignore the Fallen for one weekend. Okay?”

She leaned into him, her lips still warm
from his kiss. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

The double doors to Henry
’s office were closed. Laney could just make out the sound of voices beyond it, although the voices were too low to make out any words.

She glanced at Jake.
“Any idea what this is about?”

They
would be leaving for their trip in the morning and Laney knew Henry didn’t have any meetings scheduled for tonight. Plus, he’d been very professional when he’d called, which told her that someone else had been nearby when he’d been speaking.

“
There’s one way to find out.” Jake knocked.

“
Come in,” Henry called.

Jake opened the door, letting Laney go in first.
Henry stood up from behind his desk. Standing across the desk from him was a man in in a dark grey suit, dark tie, and white shirt: the standard uniform for a fed.

With surprise, Laney
realized she’d seen this man before: once in Montana and once in Las Vegas. Both times in connection to Atlantis-related incidents. And now he was here.
This can’t be good.

With a sinking feeling, Laney crossed the room.

Henry gestured
toward Laney and Jake. “Agent Matthew Clark, this is my chief of security, Jake Rogan, and this is Dr. Delaney McPhearson.”

Dark blond hair, an athletic build
—Laney guessed the agent was in his early forties. Crow’s-feet were just beginning to form at the corners of his brown eyes. An easy smile spread across the man’s face. “Matt, please.”

Laney crossed the room and shook his hand.
“Agent Clark. Exactly which branch of law enforcement are you with?”

Clark turned to shake Jake
’s hand while answering. “The SIA.”

Jake loomed over the shorter agent.
“The SIA? I’m not familiar with it.”

“
It stands for Special Investigative Agency,” Henry said.

“
We’re a rather quiet offshoot of the Department of Defense,” Clark offered.

“
I see.” Laney took a seat.
Department of Defense?
She darted a quick glance at Henry, who’d also taken his seat, but his face was unreadable.

She glanced at Jake, who was now leaning against the wall next to Henry
’s desk. He caught her eyes, giving a small shake of his head. He hadn’t heard of it either.

“
So, what can we do for you, Agent?” Jake’s tone suggested that helping the agent was not exactly his top priority.

Clark looked between Laney and Jake, seemingly unconcerned with the rather lukewarm greeting he was receiving.
“The government is aware of the situations in both Montana and Ecuador.”

Laney shrugged, trying to keep her voice casual.
“Lots of people are aware of the situations in Ecuador and Montana. It was pretty big news for a while.”

Clark
smiled. “Yes. Well, we’re aware of the story behind the public story.”

Both incidents had been in the public sphere.
The finding of an ancient society’s relics had made quite a stir. The media hounds had been all over both stories for weeks. But the truth behind the incidents, particularly the involvement of fallen angels, had not been made public.

“
I’m not sure we know what you’re referring to,” Jake said, sounding bored.

Clark smiled again.
“Look, I’m a ‘lay all my cards’ on the table kind of guy. And from what I’ve read on you three, you are as well.”

Laney nodded, noticing Henry and Jake do
ing the same from the corner of her eye.

“
Good,” Clark said. “So. The SIA is aware that a fallen angel attempted to destroy the world in Montana and that you three stopped him. We also know that two fallen angels stole a book from the Shuar collection while it was housed in Las Vegas.” Clark paused to glance at Henry. “And Henry, we know about your abilities as well.”

You could have heard a pin drop.
Laney scrambled for something to say, but her mind was an absolute blank.
How do they know? What is the government planning?
She forced herself not to look at Henry, not to reveal the fear she felt at someone else knowing what he could do.

Clark held up his hands.
“We have no intention of making any of this information public. In fact, the larger United States government is not aware of any of the facts I’ve just shared with you. That information is strictly in-house.”

“
How’s that possible?” Jake asked, not having moved from his slouch against the wall, but Laney could read anger in the set of his jaw. Jake didn’t like anyone coming in and dropping surprises on him. And she was pretty sure he was taking the information drop on Henry as a threat.

“
We’re an old agency that is given quite a bit of latitude,” Clark replied.

“
Why are you coming to us?” Henry asked.

Clark paused, then made eye contact with each of them.
“Each of you has been intimately involved in these recoveries. You, in particular, Dr. McPhearson. The SIA decided that it was time for you to be aware of our existence.”

“
I’m still not exactly sure who ‘you’ are. What is your agency’s agenda—” She corrected herself. “What are your objectives?”

Clark crossed his legs at the ankles, giv
ing the appearance of being unconcerned. Laney was pretty sure the body language was intentional.

“
We monitor the Fallen. When they’re dangerous, we try to remove them. We’re not always successful. But most of the time, we are. So if you’re ever in need of help, you should call us.” Clark leaned forward, placing three business cards on the desk.

Laney took one of the cards.
It was a plain white business card with only a phone number and email. No identifying name, no affiliation, no insignia. “How long have you known about the Fallen?”

“
Me? Personally?” Clark shrugged. “For quite some time. The SIA, however, has been around since 1776.”

Laney started at the date.
Since the beginning of the United States
. The government, or at least a part of the government, knew that the Fallen were out there. And
had
known for over two hundred years. Laney wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad one.

H
ow had the SIA managed to keep their existence a secret all this time, as well as their objectives? With oversight and computer leaks, how had information on this agency not been leaked? And what exactly had the SIA been doing with that knowledge?

A chill ran through her.
She watched Clark, who was still seemingly at ease.

“
So when you find one of these Fallen,” Jake said, “what do you do?”

Clark leaned back in his chair.
“Well, that depends. Some live normal lives, and no one knows anything about their abilities.”

“
How do you find them then?” Henry asked. “If they don’t reveal what they can do, they’d be unremarkable. They’d look like everybody else.”

Clark nodded.
“True. But occasionally people slip. And when they do, we pay attention. Even your Dr. Velasquez has a method of tracking them down. His method is very similar to ours.”

Laney tried to look surprised
, but she knew she failed. Too many surprises were coming at her too fast. Dr. Velasquez, or Dom, was a brilliant agoraphobic who lived in a bomb shelter about a half-mile from where they now sat.

Dom was notoriously suspicious of the government.
He would
not
be happy to know the government was aware of his data collection on the Fallen.              

And Laney was awfully curious as to how they knew about that.
The only way they could have that knowledge was if they had been monitoring their communications. And the Chandler Group’s email had some pretty heavy security protocols in place.

“
So what you’re saying,” Jake said, interrupting Laney’s thoughts, “is that some of the Fallen live their lives without causing any problems?”

“
Yes.” Clark turned to Laney. “You’re a criminologist, Dr. McPhearson. And from what I’ve read on you, your specialization is genetics and crime.”

Laney nodded.

“So, you tell me: what’s more important, a person’s biology or their environment?”

Laney paused.
It was tricky question. People were born with biological predispositions for different personality characteristics. A penchant for risky behavior in the right environment could make for a great athlete. But in the wrong environment, it made a criminal. So it was the interaction between the two that was most critical. And according to recent discoveries, that interaction was proving to be more and more critical.

The research ran through Laney
’s head, along with all the explanations and caveats. But as she looked around the room, she realized that no one was interested in a lecture on genetics.

She
shrugged. “That’s a rather big question. To simplify the answer, I’d say people are born with biological predispositions, but the environment determines how those predispositions are realized. From that view, the environment is more important, because it’s mutable. Biology is not.”