cover and protect as much of his mate as possible.
Kira was crouching behind him on a kind of thick mat that looked to be made of intricately woven strands of long grass, her hands grabbing onto one of his thighs as she stared out, wide eyed from behind him. Her head moved quickly from one side of his torso to the other. Beside her was a small pile of things she’d obviously collected including shiny stones, pens pencils, bottle tops, a coin and a lens cap.
Kira wasn’t sick, nor was she injured, but they could see why she was lying low. Even though she was crouching down, the bulge at her abdomen was unmistakable.
“Oh my goodness, she’s pregnant!” Felicity exclaimed.
Both Jennifer and Marko nodded. “See how fast it progressed? She looks to be six to seven months along in human terms. It’s yet another factor to support the accelerated life theory. We also believed the increased iron demand in her diet was one of the reasons Kyato started killing the goats.”
The screen blanked and Marko went on. “Seeing there was nothing really wrong with her, I took the fruit out of my bag and left it for her, just oranges and apples, and then climbed down and quickly left to show we had no ill intentions. That night at the camp, we had a hell of a party to celebrate,” he grinned.
“We figured the added weight made it difficult for her to fly, or tired her out more quickly. She’d still need to bathe however so we set up some night vision equipment just to satisfy our own curiosity in the hope that she might visit the pool late at night when it would be safer. We didn’t put it on the tape but in the early hours of the morning, Kyato would escort her to the canyon floor to relieve herself and to the pool to bathe. During these times he never strayed more than a couple of meters from her side.”
“It’s hard to believe, so young, and pregnant, and those men took her!” Felicity said, shaking her head sadly.
“Now that you understand the stakes, do you see why we have to get her back as soon as possible and reunite them at all costs?” Jennifer said, and they all nodded solemnly.
“How did Carlisle’s boys find out about them?” Ed asked.
“As I said, we think they hacked our information line to Berkley, they were probably monitoring it for a while. It seems the news of the pregnancy set them off, it could even have been that they were waiting for a natural conception before they moved,” Jennifer said. She was about to start the tape again when she said, “This last part may upset the little one.” She indicated Ninah.
Both Ed and Felicity looked at Ninah. “Please let me stay,” she said.
“How bad is it?” Ed asked.
“It’s pretty nasty,” Jennifer said with a look of distaste.
The Blairs looked at each other. “We’ll see how it goes, but if it looks like it’s getting to be too much we’ll switch it off, okay?” Ninah smiled and nodded.
“Okay,” Jennifer said. “You’ll have to excuse the camera work, it was only blind luck that Marko happened to be up the canyon near the nest at the time.” She pressed the play button and the screen lit with a jumpy, harried image of the canyon floor. Marko, holding the camera, was obviously running and they could hear his heavy breathing, pounding footfalls and loud curses.
He rounded a corner and pointed the camera up to where the nest was. “God damn you sons of bitches! You damned assholes!” the TV Marko shouted, making the Blairs wince. A black helicopter, a sight all too common these days, was hovering just off the cliff wall, level with the nest ledge. There were men at its open side doors. A second chopper was hovering higher and slightly over the top of the cliff. It had obviously dropped men off up there as there were now two rappelling down the wall to the nest. Each man was dressed in black combat gear and helmet, and each carried what looked to be a tranquilizer dart pistol.
“Oh my Lord!” Felicity said, hand going to her mouth.
The two soldiers reached the nest. As soon as their boots touched the ledge, there was a fast blur as Kira shot out between them before they could do anything. As she streaked past the helicopter there was a muffled thumping retort, making the Blairs jerk upright on their sofa.
A net flared out from the chopper's door, opening up wide and enfolding Kira as she attempted to flee. Deprived of her powers of flight, she plummeted toward the canyon floor but the net was attached to the helicopter’s winch apparatus by a thin cable. The line pulled taught to leave Kira to pendulum below the machine, struggling vainly against the net.
The pilot began to lift the helicopter up and out of the canyon when Kyato appeared, moving up the canyon as fast as his wings could carry him. He immediately shot to the net holding his mate and began to tug fruitlessly at it. By now Kira’s desperate screams could be heard over the whine of the chopper’s engine.
One of the soldiers in the helicopter leant out the door, aiming another net gun down at Kyato. It discharged with a coughing thump but Kyato was too fast. He evaded the net, swooped under, up around the other side of it in one maneuver then shot up at the chopper with three powerful beats of his wings, this despite the rotor’s strong downward thrust.
Without pausing, Kyato slammed into the men crowded in the doorway. The first man, the one holding the net gun, was lucky. He was tethered to the chopper when Kyato, displaying incredible strength, ripped him out of the door to fall and dangle screaming from his lifeline. The other two men didn’t fare so well. Kyato grabbed one and pulled him back out the door with him before throwing him away like a chicken bone. The man fell thrashing and screaming to the canyon floor. Kyato didn’t even hesitate, he was back in the chopper in an instant and within a moment another soldier went flying out the door to fall to his death.
“Yeah that’s it, kill them, kill them all!” the TV Marko shouted as he filmed.
By now the soldiers on the ledge were firing their weapons at the helicopter door, both the tranquilizers and their conventional service pistols. The sparks from the bullets’ ricochets were clearly visible against the black hull.
The helicopter started to jerk erratically as inside it, Kyato went after the pilots. Suddenly there was a flash from inside and Kyato fell out. He caught himself but it was obvious he’d been hit, he wasn’t flying properly. He abandoned his attack on the chopper and returned to the net to try again to free Kira.
The second chopper closed in and started to harass him as the first shot upwards and away. With Kyato still struggling to free Kira, the whole grim carnival disappeared over the top of canyon wall. The screen blanked.
The Blairs just sat there, stone faced and shocked. Ninah was sniffling and her mother put her arm around her.
“Jesus!” Ed said heavily, shaking his head.
“That’s the last we saw of either of them,” Marko said.
“And that was three weeks ago,” Ed reaffirmed. They both nodded. There was a long silence before Ed finally said, “Okay, we’ll help you in any way we can. What do you need to know?”
Both Jennifer and Marko smiled in relief.
24
“Who are you calling, Father?” Billy Kennedy asked.
“I’m hoping to get some help and support in this matter from further up,” Father Kelly answered.
“In the church you mean?”
“Yes, son”.
It was early evening on the day after Billy and his companion dropped in so desperately on Father Kelly. After getting a brief explanation that night, Father Kelly insisted they both get some rest, and that they’d speak more in the morning. After breakfast, Billy explained in detail all that had transpired to bring him to the priest’s door. After this Father Kelly had turned his attention to the angel. He’d tried various methods of communication and though at times he seemed to understand what was being said to him, he never spoke.
Father Kelly didn’t really know what to do. He wanted to call Ed and Felicity but knew they’d been taken for questioning and didn’t know when, or even if, they’d be back. He doubted it would be safe to talk to them anymor
e anyway.
Ward Parker and David Morris had also been taken and all together, they constituted the only people that knew of the angel’s existence. There was no doubt in father Kelly’s mind how serious the situation was. Finally after some prayer and meditation, during which he asked the Lord for guidance, he decided to inform the church.
“What did they say?” Billy asked an hour later when Father Kelly finally got off the phone.
“Well, after being given the runaround, I finally got through to the Bishop, but I don’t think he believes me.”
“I guess I can sort of understand that Father, I've seen him and I still find it hard to believe it myself,” Billy said.
Father Kelly smiled. “As do I William, but I’ve managed to convince him enough that something is wrong here that he has dispatched two representatives to come and assess the situation. Once they see for themselves, there will be no denial, but I only hope I can convince them of the seriousness of this matter. Hopefully then the Bishop will consent to inform the Cardinal. Perhaps then, with enough pressure, we can get these government thugs to back off a bit.” He sighed.
“I hope you’re right Father.”
“So do I William, so do I. Even if our young friend here isn’t one of the Lord’s own, he certainly doesn’t deserve to be hunted down like an animal the way he has been.” They both looked at the angel who was sitting