The Code War (20 page)

'Well, ah do declare that this is
a mystery that just gets bigger. And more intriguing by the minute.
I have to confess that up to now I've been concentrating on Nancy's
character and personality. I've researched her personal history but
not yet her ancestral history and that's where ah think I'm going
to find some surprises.'

Ruth looked up and met all their
eyes.

'So that'll have to follow later.
First off I'd better tell ya what I know. Then I'm gonna tell y'all
what I don't know but what I'm gonna find out. So here's the start.
Nancy is a Jew. Her parents were not strong believers and she was
not brought up with a religious faith. Then her parents died in a
car crash and she was put in the care of an aunt who had been
married to her mother's brother. The aunt, Mary, was a fallen-away
catholic who never spoke about religion. Nancy grew up without any
encouragement to do well at school. She was angry about the loss of
her parents and didn't develop her talent. But here's the thing,
Nancy is very smart. In fact she's far smarter than she knows.
She's got an eye for detail but also sees the big picture. She
could run the travel agent business she works in better than the
current owners. But she doesn't have the self-confidence to realise
it.'

Ruth paused and changed her position on
her rock stool. Jabez decided that Ruth did not often find herself
on such uncomfortable seats. It's good for her to endure some
hardship, he thought. It'll build her character.

Ruth continued.

'Nancy won't ever put herself
forward for a big task, because she doesn't believe in herself.
She'll always try to play it safe. But if she's thrown by
circumstances into a situation where she has to sink or swim,
she'll swim. Like a seal. And if that happens she'll suddenly
discover her potential and she'll take off. She's like a firework
just waiting to be ignited. One moment she'll be passive and
unremarkable, the next she'll take the world by storm. We see this
sort of thing all the time in humans, they're so frightened of
failure they don't really try to succeed.'

'And if the enemy are controlling her at
the time she takes off…,' butted in Luke.

'…they'll make sure she uses all her
new-found energy and ambition to do a whole lot of bad,' finished
Agatha.

'Correct,' agreed Ruth. 'Right now
they're calling the shots and we're struggling to catch up. Already
they've managed to engineer Nancy onto the fringes of the criminal
Brother organisation. Brother is involved in some very nasty stuff
that's destroying a lot of families and taking many souls to
Perdition. On the face of it, Nancy doesn't belong anywhere near
Brother, she's just not that kinda girl. But that's why ah have to
look into her background more. The enemy may have a plan to convert
her to evil in a way that's currently unimaginable. There are a lot
of dirty tricks they can use. Our challenge is to find out what
they're up to and stop it before they can finish it. We may be
running out of time.' Ruth paused in her flow, looking for a
reaction.

'Stop it before they can finish it,'
repeated Jabez. The others looked at him expectantly.

'If we were to pro-actively stop
the enemy in their tracks, that might mean an intercession,' he
continued. 'An intercession is a major event, a very serious event.
You all know there are loads of rules against us interceding
directly in human affairs when we haven't been asked.'

'I can help on this,' interjected
Luke. 'Broadly there are two types of intercession. The first is
when we tackle the enemy on his own ground in the Fifth. The second
is getting directly involved with humans in the Fourth. There are
different rules governing both. But in this situation there might
be a third option. A hybrid.'

'We're listening.' Ruth.

'The code letters the enemy have put in
front of Nancy…'

'You mean the R and e.' Agatha.

'…yes, the R and e. These are only
visible in a window or mirror. But they have to be transmitted
through a tiny fibre known as a filament. If we want to stop their
code, we could try to find their filaments and cut them.'

A thoughtful silence followed. Jabez
looked at Ruth. The blue female angel was looking back at him with
a knowing smile on her face.

She has the answer, thought Jabez. But
she won't come out with it herself. She's waiting for me to cotton
on to it.

S
uddenly
it clicked. Jabez leaned forward.

'No,' he answered. 'We're not
going to do that.'

Luke and Agatha looked at him
quizzically. 'Surely it's a sensible idea?' said Luke.

Jabez continued looking at Ruth. 'It's
the wrong answer,' he said carefully, 'because we'll waste our
resources trying to stop them instead of formulating our own plan.
We'll just be playing their game and eventually they'll get their
message through when we miss one of the filaments. No, we must find
a strategy of our own. That's the way to win.'

Ruth's smile had broadened and
there was a twinkle in her eye.

Nailed it, thought Jabez.

He continued. 'Let's reconvene
this time tomorrow. T
hat'll give us all
time to get some more facts so we can move on to a plan of action.
Agatha, can we meet at your pad? You've all been very polite but I
guess you might like to enjoy a context with some more comfortable
seating next time. That is..I presume your place is a little nicer
than this, Aggy?'

'It's
jolly
nice, actually,'
replied Agatha, laying on the cut-glass accent. 'So long as you
like sitting on bean bags and cushions on the floor. I'll send some
furniture over so you can join in too, Jabez. And yes, you may call
me Aggy.'

Jabez nodded his head and smiled to show
he accepted the rebuke. Even angels needed time to build
relationships and work through the social protocols.

'Good,' he said and then quickly
changed the subject back to where he had left off. 'I need to know
what kind of action we can take in all sets of circumstances. The
way things are going we might have to leave the safety of Paradise
for a while and go on an active mission into enemy territory. Or
down to Earth. If Ruth is right and the enemy are using dirty
tricks we might have to behave in a way they don't expect. That's
uncomfortable I know, but this is an extraordinary
situation.'

Agatha and Ruth both looked
shocked at the suggestion of a direct confrontation with the enemy.
Ruth's face in particular had lost its colour and she was sitting
awkwardly, her wings wrapped tightly around her.

Jabez noticed her body language
and sought to reassure her. 'Don't worry Ruth,' he said gently,
'nobody will be asked to do anything they're not trained for. We
have lots of highly experienced combat angels for this kind of
stuff.'

But as Ruth noticeably relaxed, Jabez
was forced to ask himself: who? Who could he send on a dangerous
mission against Infernal forces on Earth that he would not go on
himself? There were indeed angels who knew how to fight, but they
were mostly used as guards and convoy escorts. He couldn't just
co-opt them into a hastily-organised clandestine mission of his own
and place them at risk.

Ruth and Agatha
signed out of the globe meeting. Jabez and Luke were still
connected.

'Well, I'm glad we have 'lots of
experienced combat angels for this kind of stuff',' said Luke,
pushing his swing again.

'Oh, you saw through that, did
you?' Jabez
ran his hand over his face
and squeezed his eyes.

'Well, you said the right thing. No
sense in those two worrying how they'd face a volley of imp
spears.' Luke's down swing took him so close to Jabez that he
almost thought he could feel a rush of air. 'I'm pretty handy in a
fight. If we have to confront the enemy, send me in first. They
won't know what hit them.'

Jabez drew a fish bone out of his
mouth and threw it on the fire. He gazed into the flames.
'Thanks Luke. You're a trooper.' He looked at
Luke and took in the thoughtful face, the languid movements, the
kindly eyes. He couldn't imagine Luke hurting anyone. Not even a
demon. Unless maybe he hugged one too tightly.

Jabez
was starting to feel that a direct confrontation with the
forces of Inferno was inevitable at some point. Maybe with Bezejel
herself. He hoped it wouldn't come to it. But if it did, he knew
that such an encounter would be one that he could not delegate. He
would have to do it himself.

Naxela's Squawhouse,
Outer Pentacurse region, Inferno

Kodrob pushed his nose as far
inside the tankard as it would go. He drew in a deep breath and
held it. The petroleum vapour scalded the mucous linings of his
nostrils and thrashed the delicate wall of his windpipe before
burning its way into his lungs. His brain clouded deliciously. He
took a gulp of the liquid and felt it splash against the back of
his throat inflicting pain and relief in equal quantities. As it
trickled down inside him his chest burnt like a bonfire. Ecstasy.
He cradled the tankard with both hands.

Naxela's Squawhouse and Bar was
busy and the din was atrocious. It was a rougher joint than
Navaho's
with no drums beating and no art
on the walls. There were no upper-castes here. Just several hundred
rank and file soldiers and a few non-uniformed
buccaneers.

'Jet fuel. My baby. Where have
yo
u been hiding till now?' cooed Holzman,
sitting beside Kodrob, guarding his own jug.

'This stuff is good. Where'd it
come from?' asked Lafarge who had just arrived and was sipping his
drink
carefully like a true
bourgeois.

Holzman nodded to the other side
of the bar. A demon with slicked back hair, almost as good looking
as Lafarge but twice the Frenchman's size was talking to a pair of
squaws. 'Zhivkin. His haul. Got lucky probably.'

The big
slick demon heard his name being mentioned and looked
across. Seeing Kodrob, he got up from his seat and made to come
over. The two squaws pulled him back. 'Stay with us,' they begged.
'Two for the price of one.'

Zhivkin unhooked himself from
their vixen arms. 'Later, you beautiful sisters,' he assured them.
'I just got to talk to this guy and then you'll have my undivided
attention. OK, divided attention. But only between you two.
Promise.'

Leaving his bogof offer behind
he
walked around the bar keeping his eye
on Kodrob. 'Captain,' he shouted above the din. Kodrob was the only
officer in the bar.

'Captain
Kodrob, I've always wanted to meet you.' Kodrob allowed
Zhivkin to take his hand and pump it. 'I'm honoured. I've heard a
lot about your unit. I want to join a unit like yours. I've heard
yours is the best. I asked around.'

Kodrob nodded at the jet fuel in his
tankard. 'This your doing?'

'Sure is,' grinned the giant Russian.
'And there was nothing lucky about it.' He looked Holzman in the
eye.

'Tell me about it,' said Kodrob, taking
another glug and swilling it around his mouth.

Zhivkin eagerly forced his way to
the bar, pushing his bulk between Kodrob and Holzman.
'Well, I was down around the Black Sea. Just
loafing. Looking for trouble. Using my wits, you know?' Zhivkin was
leaning closely into Kodrob's face, staring intently into his eyes.
'And there was this airliner taking off from Crimea. Straight into
a storm. Only, I knew that it would beat the storm. It would be
safe. Unless I did something fast.'

Zhivkin's body rocked forward. He turned
around. 'Hey, do you mind?' he said to Holzman. 'I'm trying to talk
to your boss.'

'Get on with your story, buccaneer.'
Kodrob didn't want trouble.

Zhivkin turned back and held his
head only inches from Kodrob's face. 'And near the runway there was
a farm, with lots of horses.' 'So I found a gap in the fence and
led a horse onto the runway. Just for a few minutes. To delay the
plane. And when the plane eventually took off it flew right into
the storm. And a lightning bolt got it right in the engine and set
it on fire. And the airliner came down in the sea. Couldn't make it
back. Sunk right down to the bottom. Nearly two hundred souls on
board and more than a hundred of them came straight here. Communist
Party. Beautiful.'

Kodrob was sceptical. 'So, how did you
commandeer the haul. There are rules. You're not allowed to
interfere.'

'The tanks,' leered Zhivkin. 'I
bust them open. Made it look like it happened when the plane hit
the water. Doesn't matter if they bring that bird up tomorrow or in
a hundred yea
rs. They'll never wonder why
the fuel isn't there. It was the perfect crime.'

'What about the Confiscations Unit. How
come they didn't take it off you?'

'That bunch of criminals?' Zhivkin
was beaming widely, enjoying himself. 'Even they couldn't find a
good reason to disallow it. There were no infringements. None they
could find, anyway.' He gave Kodrob a knowing look.

'That's quite an achievement.'

'What? Crashing the plane? Or fooling
the goons in Confiscation?'

'Both.'

Holzman had been listening in.
'You were lucky, Zhivkin, just lucky. You happened to be in the
right place at the right time. But you're a loner, you don't know
how to work as part of a team. That's why we can't let you
in.'