warrant, intending to do harm to someone whom I’ve offered sanctuary to within my church. He has broken no laws, nor done any wrong, yet they care not for these matters.”
“Sheriff,” the bald agent snarled, “we don’t need a warrant nor do we have to give you an explanation but I warn you, should you decide to interfere with our assigned mission, you are going to be damned sorry!” he finished, articulating the last two words individually.
“Shut up!” Tanner snapped. “I don’t give a rat’s ass how sorry you think I’ll be. I’ve just about had it with you and your bunch of ‘brown shirts’. You come waltzing in here like you own the town, bothering everyone and telling us nothing, and then you attack one of our churches and shoot a member of the congregation. So for now I suggest you just shut the hell up and let me decide whether you have any rights here.”
Baldy took a step forward, hand slipping beneath his coat lapel. The police deputies raised their weapons threateningly and the still growing crowd muttered to themselves. Somewhere overhead the chopper droned.
The sheriff finished staring Baldy down before turning back to Father Kelly. “Okay Father, just who is this person and why are they so hot for him?”
“It’s easier if you just go see for yourself Burt, I’m not going to leave these steps but you just go on in the church and up to the altar. Young Ninah Blair, her sister, and several others are there with him. You’ll understand then.”
The sheriff looked at Father Kelly strangely, then nodded and with a last look over his shoulder at Baldy, headed up the steps and into the church. The bald agent stalked off to one of the black cars, probably to report the situation to Carlisle and request orders. After all, they couldn’t just murder sixty or so people in cold blood.
Seeing an opportunity, Jennifer Hatfield approached the priest. “Excuse me Father, my name is Dr Jennifer Hatfield, originally from Berkley. My assistant and I have been studying your angel for the last year or so.” She extended her hand.
Father Kelly looked at her with obvious hostility.
“Father, this is one of the scientists I was telling you about,” Ed interjected hastily.
Father Kelly’s face relaxed at that. “Please forgive my rudeness Miss Hatfield. I wasn’t sure you didn’t have some little agenda of your own concerning our friend, or even if you were perhaps with them,” he waved a hand dispassionately at the grey suited figures.
Jennifer smiled. “No need, believe me I understand.”
“Ed tells me that there is a second one, a female, his mate, and that they already have her,” Kelly said. Jennifer nodded. “And that she is pregnant,” he continued. Jennifer nodded again, “It’s worse than that, she’s almost to term.”
Father Kelly shook his head gravely. “May the Lord watch over her and her child,” he said softly.
“So what do we do now?” Marko asked as he pushed through to Jennifer’s side.
“We wait and keep them out,” Father Kelly said.
“Wait for what?” they both asked in unison.
“Yesterday, two emissaries representing the Bishop came at my call to assess the situation and to see if it warranted intervention by the church. They were naturally concerned and have since departed with a videotape I have made, along with several letters explaining the situation. It is my hope that the Bishop will inform the Cardinal and that he will be able to bring enough bureaucratic or public pressure to bear so as to pull these wolves’ fangs.”
Jennifer smiled beautifully. “Father, if you weren’t a man of the cloth, I’d kiss you!”
Father Kelly smiled back. “Young lady, if this all works out for the better, I might just take you up on that. For now though, we must stand strong.”
The church door opened and the sheriff reappeared, looking bewildered. The crowd started to mutter as they noticed him. “Is it really an angel sheriff?” someone shouted. He nodded dumbly and that caused more muttering. Abruptly he shook his head to clear it and his hard expression returned. The sheriff walked straight up to the bald agent who’d just stepped out of his car.
“I want you and your men out of here now, out of the whole town! I don’t give a shit who you are or who you work for, you’ve got no business here, now get going and take those helicopters with you!”
The bald agent bared his teeth. “Believe me, you are going to regret this,” he snarled. He then gave a hand signal to his men and they started to back away towards their cars. Jennifer knew Carlisle must have already ordered the withdrawal, as there was just no way this lot would fall back merely on the orders of a local sheriff.
As soon as the last black car had left the crowd let out a collective sigh of relief. An ambulance came and took the injured man away, the crowd cheering as he was placed in the back. Father Kelly then spoke to them, telling them the situation and urging them to remain as the threat was still alive and well. Should they wish to return home, they should organize to do it in small groups so that the church would always remain surrounded by a lot of people.
The crowd murmured its assent. Some left to organize an urn for tea and coffee; others to get some food prepared for the group. Then they wanted to see him, the Lord’s angel. Father Kelly couldn’t really stop them considering what they were laying on the line, but he insisted they go in small groups, and be sure not to disturb him too much. Quickly a line formed and six at a time they began to file inside.
“Do you think they’ll be back?” Ed asked Jennifer, referring to the DSS agents.
“I can guarantee it.”
“Then let’s hope the church messengers arrive soon,” he said.
“Amen to that,” Marko muttered.
26
Inside the church and up near the altar, Ninah Blair sat on the floor with Kyato, looking worriedly at him. Donna and a small group of others sat in one of the pews a short distance away, also concerned. Kyato didn’t look at them, merely sat and stared at the floor. He was so still and despondent that it broke Donna’s heart. She could understand his apathy, the whole town was surrounded by soldiers, and he must know how close his pursuers were, that they’d get him eventually. He didn’t seem to care. On top of that was the same question he couldn’t answer, where was Kira and his unborn child? It seemed every passing minute sapped his will to live.
They offered Kyato food and water but he refused both, and Billy Kennedy, who’d come to sit by Donna after the grey suited men had left, had told her that Kyato had eaten very little since they’d arrived at the church. He also explained what had happened up to this point and Donna told him a little of what Dr Hatfield and Marko had explained to her family.
Gently Billy took her hand in his, surprising Donna. She was going to withdraw it when she looked into his eyes. He’d changed over the last few days, it seemed. That cocky self-assurance was gone, replaced by something just as strong, but gentler and more understanding. Donna smiled and left her hand in his.
Soon people started to come into the church in small groups, one after another. They’d approach to stand a short distance from Kyato, who, still on the floor and now bathed in the colored afternoon sunlight that was streaming in through the high rosette window, was looking more beautiful and angelic than ever, even despite the overalls.
Father Kelly had strongly stressed that no one disturb the angel in any way. However, Donna could see the strong desire to do so in their eyes; the need to touch him, to feel the miracle they beheld, but seeing the bandaged wing and the obvious inner pain his posture portrayed, they kept their distance. Some wept, some prayed, others left incensed at the damage the government men had done to him.
A pretty young girl about Ninah’s age approached and laid a flower on the floor before Kyato. At this he did look up and gave a sad smile. The little group the girl had been with gasped in awe at the sight of his beautiful strange eyes, and as one they knelt and bowed their heads. The young girl tentatively reached out and stroked one of Kyato’s wings before she re
turned to her group and they left also.
If Kyato minded the attention, he didn’t show it. Ninah sat close to him throughout the whole affair until the people stopped coming. Three hours later Father Kelly had decided to give Kyato a break as a lot more people other than the St Luke’s congregation had turned up, having heard about the miracle and wanting to see it too.
Shadows lengthened and day gave way to evening. The DSS agents didn’t return but people stayed, helping at Father Kelly’s urging to keep the area around the church as populated as possible. There were at least two hundred people gathered outside now. Families sat around on the lawn or on blankets, some even had small portable gas lanterns and stoves of the type used for camping. Others had radios playing soft music and some of the more seriously religious offered up prayers and hymns, giving the gathering the air of a revival.
Over by the church doors, a table had been set up with several urns for tea and coffee. There were also plates of cakes and sandwiches and people continually brought more to replenish the stocks.
The sheriff had left but four of his deputies, armed with shotguns, remained behind to keep an eye out for grey suits and black cars. To augment this, a lot of men had brought weapons of their own, hunting rifles mainly but there was the occasional shotgun and pistol. Yet despite the obvious show of