The Nephilim (31 page)

Cassie shook her head almost imperceptibly and Garrick knew then that he'd figured out at least one riddle that had been puzzling him all along. Why the Choir had made the deal in the first place. Diogenes hadn't thought to ask in thousands of years. They simply assumed that it was because their ancestry allowed them to see the angels and so denying them some friendly conversation would be fairly pointless. But it wasn't that at all.

The ancient philosopher might have been the one to go to the angels, but Garrick would have wagered good money that the angels had seen him coming and had welcomed his approach. Because they got more out of the deal than the normals had guessed. The Choir was all about whispering. About getting their message out in such a way that people could freely choose to listen to it and accept it or not. But they felt frustrated by their lack of success. Too many resisted. Too many refused them.

When the ancient philosopher had come to them the Choir had seen another way to get their message out. Another way of whispering. They refused Diogenes any right to tell the world about them. They had to. But they allowed him and his followers to pass on some of what they said. That wasn't by chance. It wasn't as the agents of Diogenes believed, because they had free will and felt the need to get as much of what they knew of the Choir's wisdom out to the world. Everything that the Choir would let them. It was because the Choir wanted it. Somehow, he suspected, if Diogenes hadn't asked, the Choir would have suggested it. Unfortunately everything that had followed from that decision was coming back to kick them in the butt. That was the danger with secret knowledge. It wouldn't always be secret.

Which made it all the more strange that the Choir had agreed for Diogenes to keep some knowledge back in the repositories that wasn't allowed out. They should have asked for it to be destroyed – not just hidden away. But the fact that they hadn't asked for that told Garrick one thing. It wouldn't always be secret. The Choir had always planned on it being released in time. Just not yet. Not that Cassie would admit that to him.

But this wasn't the time to crow about his sudden insight. Instead he needed the angel to accept his proposal. This was the time to be polite – even respectful.

“Does that seem like a fair assessment of the situation?”

The answer he got was merely a nod, and the carefully blank expression on her face was telling. She did not want to be guiding him in any way. He guessed she was worried that no matter what she said she would be doing just that.

“Good. Now what if we change our target? What if instead of acting against Armando Benedict to prevent him from releasing the information, we dance with the information he has?”

“Explain.”

Cassie was even more terse than before, and he guessed it was because she feared that what he was suggesting would deny Benedict his free will in some way. But it wouldn't. That was the part that had kept him sweating for so long.

“Armando Benedict has information that can cause us all harm, and he'll use it when it suits him.”

“Maybe.”

Garrick looked up at her, startled. For a moment he couldn't quite believe he'd heard her correctly. Could she really imagine that he wouldn't use it? Was she completely naïve? Then he looked at her more closely and realised she wasn't. She knew exactly what sort of man Armando Benedict was. It was just that she had to hope. She had to believe that a man could change. Any man. It wasn't just her job description; it was her very essence, and he wasn't going to be able to change that.

“Almost certainly. He wants to release it. And when he does all of us will be up the creek without a paddle.” That at least was undeniable, and eventually she nodded.

“It's his choice when and if to use it and we can't change that. Nor can we take the information from him or alter it, because that would also deny him the choice. He knows what information he has and he would know if it was missing or changed.”

“But we can dance with him.”

Garrick smiled as he said it. He liked what Katarinka had told him about how Cassie had helped her. It was that same tactic that he was planning on using. But Cassie was looking just a tiny bit worried.

“There is no need for the information he may choose to release to be dangerous to us. Only that he believes it will be.” It was the intention after all that was critical. Not what the effect would be. At least that was how he saw it. He wasn't so certain that his visitor saw it the same way though. In fact she was being remarkably quiet.

“You danced with Katarinka. No one saw you and you didn't stop the people from shooting. You didn't change the bullets to blanks and you didn't make them miss. You just made sure the bullets wouldn't hit her by moving her. And that's what we're going to do here. We make sure that whatever information he has can't hit us. We dance.”

There was silence after that. Silence while he sat there and waited for a response. And while he assumed she stood there and thought about his idea. Or at least he hoped she did. She could be thinking instead about the state of his mental health.

Eventually she came to some sort of decision. The most minor one imaginable, but still one that gave him hope. It seemed that she was willing to listen further before making her mind up.

“And how would we do that?”

Garrick relaxed a little when he heard her say that. In fact he almost laughed with relief. She hadn't rejected the idea out of hand as he'd been worried that she might. On the other hand she wasn't exactly looking thrilled by the idea. But then she never looked thrilled about anything.

“We do an end run around the information. We change the world. If he knows where Diogenes has a repository we move the repository. If his records show that a nephilim has a particular gift and has used it, we change the official records to show that it didn't happen. If he has a name we change the name. If he has the details of a document we change the document. If he has records of Diogenes covering something up we change the official records to show that his records are false. We dance.”

Of course it wouldn't be easy. This was no minor thing he was suggesting. It was a major project that would require all their effort. Which was a pity when it would simply have been so much easier to simply steal the information from him. Truthfully Garrick would have preferred to do that, preferably with a little violence thrown in. But that was the price you had to pay for working with the Choir. Or for being born a nephilim.

Cassie stood there for a while, staring at him but in reality he suspected she was looking right through him. She was thinking. Trying to work out if what he was saying could work. If it could be accepted. He guessed it would be some time before she had an answer. But that was all right. As long as she was thinking about it she hadn't said no. That meant there was some hope. It was a while before she spoke again.

“You would not have called me if there wasn't something you needed.”

“Of course.” Cassie was sharp, but then he'd expected her to be and he'd prepared for her questions. That one in particular. “To do this we're going to need two things. The first is time and I'll provide that. I can keep Benedict running, rob him little by little of his aliases and his escape routes. As long as he's trapped and vulnerable he can't use the information. But I won't harm him in any way and neither will the others. His fate will rest in his hands and the hands of the normals.” Garrick had to agree to that since he was acting as an agent of the Choir. They would never agree otherwise.

“But the other thing we need only you can provide. We need to know exactly what information he has. We need his passwords to his various databases. We need to know what's in his safe deposit boxes. What he's stashed with confidants. We won't change the information – you can check on that – but we need to know what it is. And while some of us have gifts that can help with that, we will still need the Choir's help. Or rather Diogenes will. They will have to be the ones to do most of the heavy lifting.”

It seemed only fair that the Choir should provide it too – at least to Garrick. After all, the reason they couldn't act directly against Benedict was because of the Choir. If not for them everything would have been so much simpler. Besides, all of the information the thief now had was due to the Choir's deal. He still didn't completely understand why they were talking to Diogenes. Why they were teaching them all their secrets. Giving them knowledge that they could never allow Diogenes to pass on. But perhaps that was simply hurt feelings talking? Maybe it was simply that he didn't understand why they weren't sharing that knowledge with their own children when they would with Diogenes. Either way it didn't matter. They needed the Choir's help and it was owed.

“Once we gave you that knowledge what would stop you from simply destroying it?”

That was a question that Garrick had expected. And it was the biggest problem with his plan. Trust. Three groups with three distinct views of right and wrong and three ideas as to what should be done. But there was an answer.

“First for the nephilim, you fairly much control us. We can't really do anything you don't want. You know that. And with Diogenes they do have free will, but they've also had a deal with you for thousands of years, and to date you've been happy with the way they've honoured their side of it. It's time to make another deal with them. They will honour their side of it as long as they see it working out.” Of course he still had to run his idea past them and he doubted they'd like it any more than the Choir. This wasn't a good solution. It was just the only one they had.

“I will speak with the others.” And with that Cassie was gone and Garrick was left sitting there in his sitting room, wondering what else to do. For the moment though there was actually nothing.

He had come up with a plan – a bizarre one and one that would require a lot of work. Unnecessary work in his view. It would be so much easier to simply take the information from the thief and then just hand him over to the authorities for punishment. But he couldn't do that since he had no idea where the information was. Only the Choir had that knowledge. Which left them with their deal. A deal that no one would be happy with. But at least it was something they could do instead of just sitting around waiting for the axe to fall. And at the very least it would limit the damage.

Meanwhile he needed to pack. Though he had come back to his home for the night because he'd felt the need to know the familiar again, he couldn’t stay. Not until Benedict was behind bars. It wasn't just because of the media scrum at his front gate. It was because the thief was going to try and kill him again. And if he was at home, Benedict would know where to find him. Why make it easy for him?

So he had only a few more hours of peace before he had to move. Before Maricia came to collect him and drive him back to Olmstead. There he would have to start arranging the meetings with the leaders of Diogenes, and explain his plan. He only wished he could drive there, but without a working ankle to operate the peddles, his truck would remain firmly stuck in the front driveway.

Until then he decided the best thing he could do was have a shower. Maybe do a little scratching with the knitting needles he'd stolen from Patricia's office. Then he would pack a bag and put the coffee on and wait for his ride. He would have preferred beer, but given that Cassie was probably watching that didn't seem like a wise choice. Cassie wouldn't approve. And the last thing he wanted was to become a teetotaller just then. Besides, she had to be convinced of his plan. If she even suspected there had been alcohol involved in its creation it would count against him.

Garrick headed for the bathroom, being careful to avoid being seen from the outside. Most of the media had vanished, but they'd left a couple of cars behind just in case he returned – which was why he'd snuck in the back way in the middle of the night and then been careful not to turn the lights on. It was just a pity that he couldn’t leave the same way, because he knew the cameras were going to start flashing the instant he stepped out of his front door.

Chapter Nineteen

Maricia sat at her desk and waited for her team to report in as they went about their work. She was a little nervous, but lately that had become a way of life for her. How could it be anything else as day after day her computer people were working away cracking official databases and changing records, and night after night her field agents would be breaking into secure facilities and changing the physical copies of those same records? There were just so many things that could go wrong. Despite all their careful plans and skills anything could happen. And all she could do was sit at her desk with her phone and wait for the news from her team.