{"id":155,"date":"2022-12-30T00:54:45","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T05:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=155"},"modified":"2023-01-16T13:11:10","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T18:11:10","slug":"falling-angels-chapter-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/falling-angels-chapter-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Falling Angels, Chapter 6"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Title:<\/b> Falling Angels<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 6 of ?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> The Chronicles of Riddick<br \/>\n<b>Synopsis:<\/b> In an attempt to find out whether she&#8217;s right about the Church of the Rykengoll and the Clement Institute, Audrey Jackson-Badura plays a game of cat-and-mouse with a murderer&#8230; and receives a terrible message.<br \/>\n<b>Warnings:<\/b> Adult situations, harsh language.<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6a35190c2c6eb9047723035' value='6a35190c2c6eb9047723035'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a35190c2c6eb9047723035' value='Click to read the chapter.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6a35190c2c6eb9047723035' value='Hide the chapter again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a35190c2c6eb9047723035' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-green-button  '   style=\" color:#D9ECFB;\">Click to read the chapter.<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-6a35190c2c6eb9047723035' ><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;margin-bottom:20px\"><b>6.<br \/><u>The Cipher\u2019s Warning<\/u><\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHave you given any more thought to what I asked you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">On the vid screen, Menefee \u2013 <i>Carl<\/i>, but she found that thinking of him as a Carl was much like thinking of Riddick as a Richard \u2013 smiled at Audrey. \u201cOh, I\u2019ve done better than that. I asked <i>him.<\/i> And he wants to talk to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">It had come as a surprise to her when, only two days ago, he had mentioned in passing \u2013 in one of their conversations that were growing increasingly personal \u2013 that he had been assigned to defend a father who had killed his two small children. And not just <i>a<\/i> father, but <i>the<\/i> father who had stammered out a heart-freezing phrase to her while covered in their blood. It had also shocked her just how much she wanted to talk to the man again. \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah. But.\u201d The smile had fallen away, replaced with a more serious look that she recognized as Menefee\u2019s all-business mode. \u201cThere are a few ground rules.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Well, <i>shit.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">It must have shown on her face. \u201cNot actually his. I think he just needs to talk, tell his story. But that\u2019s the thing. I have to defend him, and I have to do it to the best of my ability. So the rules are <i>mine<\/i>, and they\u2019re for his protection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">She wasn\u2019t sure if that was better or worse. \u201cOkay?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFirst: you can\u2019t talk to him alone. I have to be present,\u201d he told her, his voice firm. Then it softened. A little. \u201cAnd just so you don\u2019t think I\u2019m being a dick for no reason, here\u2019s why. As long as I\u2019m in the room with him, attorney-client privilege comes into play. What he says and does can\u2019t be recorded and used as evidence at trial. So maybe you wanted a private conversation with him, but there\u2019s gonna be a third party in the room no matter what, and between me and the surveillance system, I pick <i>me.<\/i> And so do you if you want to see him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat makes perfect sense.\u201d And, in truth, as much as she wanted to talk to the man, she realized that she <i>didn\u2019t<\/i> want to be all alone with him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGood. Second: if I tell you not to follow a line of questioning, you don\u2019t. There are some things that he could say that even attorney-client privilege won\u2019t protect, and if I know them, I\u2019m obligated to report them. I\u2019ve explained that to him. The standard plea deal in his kind of situation is an insanity defense, and God knows way too many of the people who came from the Coalsack could use it. But last year, a colleague of mine was defending this\u2026 <i>schmuck\u2026<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey suddenly wondered if Menefee was Jewish. For Pynchon, outside of refugee territory, he was somewhat exotic, and she couldn\u2019t pinpoint his ethnicity any better than she\u2019d been able to figure out Riddick\u2019s once upon a time. Funny how the rest of the Menefee clan \u2013 lawyers and prominent politicians, for the most part \u2013 seemed completely white-bread. But Carl Menefee, public defender, was an enigma among them, both in his appearance and in his choices. The family Black Sheep, maybe?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">On her screen, he shook his head, grimacing. \u201c\u2026And the jackass blew his whole case when they were talking about favorite books. He mentioned that when he was a teenager, his absolute favorite book, his <i>comfort read,<\/i> was <i>The Darkest Sword<\/i> by D. G. Kirk. You ever read that one?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey shook her head.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a psychological thriller. But the thing is, this bastard\u2019s wife died from long-term exposure to arsenic contamination in their house\u2019s water pipes, something that was initially ruled as an accident until her family found out that he was the beneficiary of a <i>huge<\/i> life insurance policy that had only been taken out a year earlier, right before she started displaying early signs of low-grade arsenic poisoning. My buddy thought he was gonna have an easy time proving that the family\u2019s accusations were total bull until he brought up that book.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBecause that\u2019s how the antihero in the book killed his enemy. Slow, low-grade arsenic poisoning. Kaz suddenly realized that the book was a bloody blueprint for that idiot\u2019s murder of his wife. And it\u2019s not true on every planet, but here on Pynchon, if a defense attorney acquires evidence that could be used to prove first-degree murder and doesn\u2019t turn it over, they can be disbarred.\u201d He grimaced and shook his head. \u201cWhich in a case like that, who gives a damn, right? That bastard <i>deserves<\/i> life with no parole. But I\u2019ve defended a lot of victims of domestic violence who killed their abusers, and thank <i>God<\/i> none of them have ever accidentally handed me proof that they\u2019d <i>planned<\/i> their lethal act of self-defense ahead of time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey suddenly remembered how one of the first things he\u2019d told Kyra, when he\u2019d been appointed as her counsel, was that he didn\u2019t want her telling anyone, not even or maybe <i>especially<\/i> not him, about any violent fantasies she\u2019d ever had about her \u201cadoptive family,\u201d as the prosecution insisted on referring to those scum-sucking miners. Damn, so that was why.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo you don\u2019t want me asking him anything that could\u2026 suggest he planned to kill his kids or that he was sane when he decided to do it?\u201d Easy enough. She knew, better than he did, what had driven the murders, and sanity had no part of it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">That dark, terrible night, years ago, Kyra had kicked the knife out of Ziza\u2019s small hand, something that had made the little girl howl with anger and pain and <i>finally<\/i> wakened her parents from their oblivious slumber. Shouting and recriminations had followed in spite of the knife lying in plain sight on the floor. Audrey had always wondered what might have happened if disarming her hadn\u2019t been so easy\u2026 if one of them had been forced to turn the blade back on her. If they hadn\u2019t fled Helion soon after, might there have been another night that had ended in a terrible mirror of the Purdy incident?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">It had been the last night that they\u2019d slept alone in separate rooms, no matter how many times Abu or Lajjun scolded them. Even locks on the outsides of their doors hadn\u2019t stopped Kyra from simply going out her window and, via a series of heart-stopping acrobatics that Audrey herself had never <i>dared,<\/i> coming back in through hers. Those last nights, as New Mecca\u2019s high summer reigned, had been full of whispered conversations, increasingly urgent plans, and moments of intimacy that even now stunned her with their power\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat\u2019s exactly it, yeah,\u201d Menefee told her, jarring her back out of her memories before they could take her anywhere dangerous. \u201cThe last thing is that when we go in, I need you to pose as my legal aid. And not to talk to anybody. If they think I\u2019m bringing in some random lookie-loo, there goes attorney-client privilege all over again. As long as they think you\u2019re part of the defense team, though, we\u2019re good. So just\u2026 act like you\u2019re some paralegal I\u2019ve drafted and don\u2019t say more than \u2018excuse me\u2019 or \u2018thank you\u2019 to <i>anybody<\/i> when we\u2019re in surveillance zones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOkay.\u201d It looked, she thought with a suppressed shiver, like she was going to have to go with the plan that had occurred to her two days ago. If she could. But would she be <i>able<\/i> to? \u201cSo how would a paralegal dress, and what would she be carrying with her if security was poking around in her stuff?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">She was subtle. Her mother, gods rest her, would have said she was <i>sneaky.<\/i> A few back-and-forths later, in the midst of having him pick out what she should wear and what kind of materials he would give her to tote with them as his Girl Friday, she\u2019d confirmed that nobody \u2013 not even, it seemed, him \u2013 would think twice if she brought an insulated cup of coffee or tea with her. And he\u2019d agreed to pick her up in the morning.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">And then she was in her tiny kitchenette, brewing a tea that she could barely stand to be in the same room with.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">People swore by it. It was medicinal, they claimed, and her textbooks hadn\u2019t disagreed so far. But the smell\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">It wasn\u2019t quite the same as the scent that had sometimes come in on the night breezes those final weeks in New Mecca. But it was far, far too close for her liking. The first time she\u2019d caught a whiff of it on Pynchon, in a farmer\u2019s market near her father\u2019s and stepmother\u2019s home, she\u2019d almost had a very public panic attack.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">The first time she\u2019d smelled the other scent, the one so much like it but \u2026different\u2026 had been the day she and Kyra had skipped school to look for Djamila.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">They had <i>tried<\/i> to make friends with the girls on Helion, the girls in their school, but most of them had just been too sheltered, too sure of how the worlds worked, to feel comfortable with. Their own traumas were still fresh, their experiences with the \u2019verse so contradictory to how the girls insisted it worked, that it was hard to sit still and listen to them hold forth. Maybe that kind of complacency had been part of why, even when the disappearances were beginning, everyone kept finding plausible explanations. The harder and more real world that Jack \u2013 she had still been Jack, then \u2013 and Kyra knew was one they refused to acknowledge. But Djamila had been different. She had seemed to understand, and had kept the door open for them even when other girls would have shut them out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">And then <i>she<\/i> disappeared.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">The first day, nobody thought much of it. Spring had been shading into summer and with warmer weather came both a rise in respiratory infections \u2013 Audrey had once meant to find out why that was, but she had forgotten until now \u2013 and a rise in deliberate truancy. Most of the initial excuses for why she was gone were both banal and plausible.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">But the days stretched into a week, and that week into the weekend when the concert that Djamila had planned to attend \u2013 and which dozens of girls had desperately wanted to go to but hadn\u2019t managed to buy tickets for \u2013 was held. Jack and Kyra had gone, courtesy of tickets gifted to them by Abu and Lajjun when they were still feeling generous, and Djamila\u2019s seat had been empty. If she had known she wouldn\u2019t be able to make it, Jack had insisted during the ride back to town, there were a dozen classmates she could have easily sold her ticket to, not to mention three or four close friends, any of whose eternal devotion she could have ensured, if she\u2019d given it to one of them. Kyra had nodded silently, thoughtfully, beside her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">The \u201crational\u201d explanations of the other girls rang hollower and hollower, until finally she and Kyra decided to go to Djamila\u2019s house and find out the truth for themselves.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">They had been to the girl\u2019s house once, months earlier, for her birthday party. It had been a well-tended garden home in one of the more affluent parts of New Mecca, much like the Al-Walid house but on the other side of the large swathe of public gardens that dominated the city center. That day, though, it looked derelict, abandoned\u2026 like a shell that would soon collapse from hidden rot. The silence surrounding it was strange and oppressive. Jack would have forged on, determined to break in and see if it really was abandoned, if Djamila\u2019s family had simply chosen to move and not tell anybody, until Kyra\u2019s hand clamped, iron-hard, on her elbow.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDo you smell that?\u201d the sister of her heart had asked, an uncharacteristic quaver in her voice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">And then she <i>did<\/i> smell it\u2026 the strange, almost undefinable scent that had filled her nose and lodged in her throat. Musty, rich, hideous, a scent that evoked a primal desire to run. She had controlled it, but had let Kyra pull her away. It was coming from the house, from somewhere <i>within<\/i> the house. And in spite of the stillness and the silence, Jack had had the terrible feeling that something, perhaps the house itself, was watching them as they backed away. It took all of her will not to break into a panicked run.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Djamila never returned.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">That summer, as the days somehow grew darker and they began to plot their <i>own<\/i>, very different, disappearance, the nights had been full of the scents of a New Mecca summer, a mixture of redolent oasis flowers from the nearby public gardens and cooking spices from the nearby market. Even now, those scents could stir a wistful nostalgia in Audrey\u2019s heart, a burning longing for a dream of sanctuary that had died in its nascence. But sometimes, the wind would shift. And then the breezes would bring another scent, <i>that<\/i> scent, in through Jack\u2019s open window. And beside her, on the bed, Kyra would shudder and pull in on herself, her hand stealing for the knife that she\u2019d taken to keeping squirreled in her clothes at all times\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">It was also a scent that had begun to drift into the Al-Walid house from two other, more terrible directions: the cellar that Lajjun no longer let either girl into\u2026 and Ziza\u2019s room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Its cousin wafted into Audrey\u2019s nose now and she suppressed the urge to retch. Friends of hers <i>swore<\/i> by this tea, she reminded herself. She\u2019d never been able to stomach the idea of drinking it. She hoped she wouldn\u2019t have to drink any in the morning, and that carrying the cup or, at most, pantomiming a sip from time to time, would be enough.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">By morning, she was convinced that the tea\u2019s stench had taken over her whole small living space. She showered, trying to scrub the odor back out of her pores, and then put on the dress she hadn\u2019t worn since she\u2019d last gone job-hunting. Half an hour later, she looked as professional as she possibly could\u2026 but she was convinced that she still stank of the damned tea. She hoped she was imagining it. Where the tea was concerned, she needed the element of surprise. Reeking of it when she walked in would definitely spoil that.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Menefee \u2013 <i>Carl,<\/i> and she really needed to think of him that way more \u2013 didn\u2019t seem to notice anything unusual\u2026 past the fact that she was wearing a dress. She had to admit that he cut quite a figure as well in his Public Defender suit. She had learned enough about telling apart the haves and have-nots, during her time on the run, that she could recognize how much more expensive it was than most of the suits his colleagues wore. It was subtle, but she bet it helped him a lot in the courtroom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou look perfect,\u201d he told her, putting a slim leather briefcase into her free hand without a glance at the perfectly ordinary-looking thermal mug she carried in the other. \u201cExactly right for the part.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThanks! You look\u2026\u201d She considered and discarded a dozen all-too-revealing adjectives. \u201c\u2026incredibly dashing, by the way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">He smiled. That smile was something that she was a little obsessed with, she realized. It reminded her of the all-too-rare moments during her acquaintance with Riddick when <i>he<\/i> had cracked a smile or even laughed. She didn\u2019t know how anybody could stand up to him, in or out of court, when he smiled like that.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Carl drove. His vehicle was large, very new, and handled so smoothly that Audrey found herself itching to get behind the wheel. She <i>wished<\/i> her ambulance had shocks this good, and the fifth-hand jalopy she used when she was staying with her father and stepmother was a rattletrap. If things really were evolving with Carl in the way they seemed to be, she was a little surprised. People in his social class didn\u2019t usually tend to date outside of it. She needed to stay cautious in case she was reading too much into his friendliness\u2026 and into how many of their conversations were no longer about the Free Kyra cause but more personal topics.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">The New Detroit courthouse was a huge, resplendent edifice and Audrey hated it. She and her family had come here every day to fight for Kyra\u2019s freedom, only to be crushed under the heel of a justice system that seemed archaically convinced that little girls should shoulder the blame for the perversions of the \u2019verse. Now that she was back in it, she remembered that nobody was going to care about her coffee mug, much less what was inside it. Any other kind of contraband \u2013 and that wasn\u2019t really what it was, was it? \u2013 would probably have been flagged immediately, but she didn\u2019t even have to pretend to sip at it. Every third person in the building was carrying one much like hers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">The worst part was the interview room. It was the same one where she and Kyra had said their good-byes, after everything fell apart. Carl\u2019s hand rested gently on her shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. He must be remembering, too, she thought, and wondered how much he\u2019d deduced from their final, tearful embraces. Most of the tears had, of course, been hers. Kyra had never been a cryer, or even much of a hugger except with her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">They sat down on one side of the table, the side with its back to a one-way mirror that observers could stand behind. Carl turned and looked at the one of the small, silver globes in each corner of the room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI am Carl Menefee, defense attorney for Yeshua Parvinal. This session is protected by attorney-client privilege and cannot be surveilled or observed by anyone associated with the prosecution. Observing this session or attempting to use information gleaned from it, without the knowledge or consent of my client or me, is a class three felony under the Pynchon legal code.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">The little red lights by each of the camera globes winked out. Audrey heard the soft click of a door closing in the observation room behind them. A moment later, two guards led Parvinal in, seating him across from them and securing his handcuffs to the tabletop.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">It really <i>was<\/i> a defense session, too. Carl and Parvinal talked about several things before it was her turn, and she listened with interest. She hadn\u2019t been in the room during many of his sessions with Kyra, and she had often missed these parts of the sessions. She wished she\u2019d seen them, because now she understood why, although Kyra had had no faith in Pynchon\u2019s justice system, Carl Menefee had been one of the only men she\u2019d ever genuinely trusted.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd now,\u201d Carl finally said, \u201cAudrey, here, wants to talk to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Parvinal, who had spent most of the time with his head tilted down a little, raised his head and looked at her with wan curiosity. \u201cHello, Audrey. Mr. Menefee tells me that you were the ambulance driver who took my Suri to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Suri Parvinal had had to be sedated twice before they turned her over to the hospital attendants, as Audrey recalled. She\u2019d wondered how sane <i>she<\/i> would be in that position, because Suri had kept being set off every time she looked down at her nightgown and saw her children\u2019s blood sprayed across it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">And this was the man who had done that.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">He didn\u2019t <i>look<\/i> like a killer. But then, most killers didn\u2019t. She knew that all too well. He looked like the sort of man who might do someone\u2019s taxes once a year and just vanish into the crowd the rest of the time, timid and unremarkable. His eyes were clear, though, and full of deep sadness. He was grieving, she realized.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI wanted to ask you,\u201d Audrey said carefully, making sure to meet his eyes the whole time, \u201cabout the Church of the Rykengoll and the Clement Institute.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Across from her, Parvinal flinched, just a little, at each name. In the reflection of the window behind him, she could see Carl staring at her in confusion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe\u2026 weren\u2019t members of that church,\u201d Parvinal said after a brief hesitation, and she could hear distaste in his words. \u201cSuri wanted to join, but I put my foot down. It was too\u2026 it wasn\u2019t a place I wanted to go. Our kids\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">His voice broke on the word and he took a deep breath.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2026They were enrolled in one of the Institute\u2019s nursery schools.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat did you think of it?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSuri handled all of the childcare decisions. She said it was nice.\u201d Across from her, she watched his face twist with complex grief and fear. Grieving  the loss of his children, dead at his hand but maybe lost much sooner than that. Grieving the loss of a wife who maybe hated him now. Grieving the loss of a life in which innocent children went to innocent-seeming schools and nothing rough was slouching closer beneath the fa\u00e7ade\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">But did he know what he was afraid of? \u201cDid you ever read any of their literature?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">He should his head. So he didn\u2019t know. He hadn\u2019t heard that awful phrase before, not until his own children began chanting it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Would things have played out differently if he\u2019d known it was some kind of twisted company slogan connecting the Church and the Institute? Would he have excused it and gone back to bed that night? Or\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhere did the knife come from?\u201d It wasn\u2019t a question she had planned on asking. She felt Carl\u2019s arm tense up where it rested against hers. In a moment, he might cut her off, depending on where the answer seemed to be leading.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Parvinal shrugged. \u201cThe kitchen, probably.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDon\u2019t you know?\u201d So it <i> had<\/i> played out the way she suspected.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI didn\u2019t\u2026\u201d He covered his eyes with one hand and his shaking voice dropped to a whisper. \u201cI didn\u2019t bring it into our bedroom. <i>They<\/i> did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Carl\u2019s breath caught next to her. Apparently he hadn\u2019t known that until now either.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou told the officer,\u201d he said after a moment as he flipped through his notes, \u201cthat you had to kill them because they were possessed. You never said anything about them bringing the murder weapon into your bedroom. Why not?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWho would have believed me?\u201d The man across the table aimed the most miserable glare that Audrey had ever seen at his attorney. \u201cThey were just\u2026 little kids. You don\u2019t know what was happening in the Coalsack even before\u2026 even before\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">He stopped and shook his head again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">It was time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Casually, as if it was nothing, Audrey took the top off of her insulated mug, which had been busily keeping the tea inside piping hot the whole time. Its steam was set free.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">The moment the scent reached Parvinal, his response was instantaneous. Pale and wide-eyed, he leapt up out of his seat, or at least as far up as he could with his wrists shackled to the tabletop. His chair clattered against the wall behind him. <i>\u201cWhat\u2014?!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat the <i>Hell?<\/i>\u201d Carl asked, staring at her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s okay, Mr. Parvinal,\u201d she said, covering the tea again. \u201cIt\u2019s not what it smells like. I promise. But you and I both know what it smells like, don\u2019t we?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">He gaped at her and then closed his mouth with a snap, swallowing. He nodded after a moment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDid you start smelling it before or after people were going missing?\u201d she asked, and heard Carl\u2019s breath hitch beside her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAfter,\u201d Parvinal said in a shaky voice, and Carl\u2019s breath hitched again. \u201cAfter. Sometimes\u2026 sometimes I thought it was coming from inside my own house\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">It probably was, Audrey reflected. \u201cWhen did your kids start having eye infections?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">A look of puzzled awe stole over Parvinal\u2019s face. \u201cTwo years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDid you have pets back in the Coalsack?\u201d This was the question she hated asking most of all. But the Al-Walid family <i>had<\/i> owned a beautiful little Pomeranian named Habiba when \u201cUncle Abu\u201d had first brought her and Kyra home with him, until\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe did. Yes.\u201d If anything, Parvinal\u2019s voice had become shakier.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd when did they disappear?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat\u2014?\u201d Carl began as he righted Parvinal\u2019s chair for him, and then made himself quiet down.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAbout a month before our planet was attacked,\u201d Parvinal whispered, slumping into his chair. \u201cPlease, I don\u2019t think I can talk about this anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI just have one more question, please,\u201d Audrey said, reaching out and touching his hand. He flinched. \u201cDid Suri have a lot of new friends\u2026 other mothers mostly\u2026 who replaced her old friend circles from, say, even just three years ago?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">From what she knew of his case, their children had been five and six years old. Suri Parvinal would have already had a close-knit group of friends who were also new mothers\u2026 whom she would have inexplicably discarded in favor of a different group, just as Lajjun had.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Parvinal\u2019s eyes met hers again and she could see the puzzle pieces beginning to fall into place for him. Naked horror filled his eyes. \u201cYes. Yes, she did. Did\u2026 did you see all of this in the Coalsack?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey shook her head. \u201cNew Mecca.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Beside her once more, Carl gasped, and she realized that she\u2019d just given away one of the few mysteries about herself that he\u2019d never been able to solve.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Parvinal\u2019s eyes widened. \u201cIt\u2019s there <i>too?<\/i> And we\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">His cuffs had just enough give that he could cover his face with his hands.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe\u2026 brought\u2026 it\u2026 <i>here\u2026<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">It was the end of the interview. Parvinal began sobbing, and his sobs became so uncontrollable that Carl had to call for a medic and have him transported back to the secure wing of the nearby hospital.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">They didn\u2019t talk as they left the building, both of them tight-lipped and pale. It wasn\u2019t until they were back in Carl\u2019s vehicle, sitting in the courthouse parking garage, that he turned to her, his eyes no longer gentle but hard. \u201cWhat\u2026 the <i>fuck<\/i>\u2026 just happened in there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain,\u201d and Audrey had been up most of the night working out a rational way <i>to<\/i> explain it, \u201cbut\u2026 Parvinal\u2019s wife and kids\u2026 they got caught up in a kind of <i>cult.<\/i> The night he killed them\u2026 was the night he probably would have died if he hadn\u2019t turned their knife back on them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">The rest was impossible to explain. Not without sounding completely insane.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Carl stared at her for a long moment before he leaned back in his seat. \u201cJesus <i>fuck.<\/i> Not temporary insanity\u2026 self-defense. But he\u2019s\u2026 probably spent years questioning his sanity, hasn\u2019t he? And blaming himself, which just got even easier to do given that he killed them\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">He turned to look at her again, amazed comprehension on his face. His eyes were gentle again. \u201cThat church you mentioned. The men Kyra was convicted of killing were members. And you mentioned New Mecca\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey winced. She and Kyra had sworn to keep their time on Helion Prime a secret. It hadn\u2019t helped, but she\u2019d still never told anybody. Until now.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt was happening there, too,\u201d she told him. In for a penny\u2026 \u201cKyra and I were in a foster home together. The mom was in the cult. With her little girl. The dad\u2026 I don\u2019t know if he understood what was going on. He might have. But things were getting scary, so we bugged out. And came home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThey must\u2019ve been <i>really<\/i> scary, to leave a world where nobody could arrest Kyra for one like this.\u201d Carl\u2019s eyes were sympathetic. \u201cWere you on Helion the whole time you were\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">He froze, gasping. For a moment, he stared out at nothing, completely still.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cCarl? Are you okay?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">He shook himself and looked around. When his eyes returned to her, they lit up. \u201cWow, you\u2019re right here. Look. I don\u2019t have long. Maybe a minute or two. I can\u2019t rightly tell yet. So I need you to listen close, okay? Things are about to start moving really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cCarl? What?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThis is important. Riddick\u2019s on his way to you. That\u2019s the good news. The bad news is he\u2019s got a shitton of enemies on his tail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cRiddick\u2019s coming <i>here?<\/i> How do you know this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAudie, I need you to focus,\u201d Carl said, his voice and face both earnest and stern and totally unlike him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey stared at him, dumbstruck. <i>Audie.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThings are going to get bad when he gets here. So you keep the people you care about close to you, and out of the center of town. Got me? No heroics. You hunker down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhy isn\u2019t Riddick going to <i>Crematoria?<\/i>\u201d Audrey demanded, confused desperation loosening her tongue entirely too much. \u201cI need him to go there to\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cForget Crematoria. It\u2019s history. You need to keep your family safe. Keep your friends safe. And don\u2019t be anywhere near the center of town when night comes. I\u2019m not sure how long it is now but it\u2019s soon, so not tonight, not any night. I mean it, Audie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow do you <i>know<\/i> about that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI wish I had time to explain, but I don\u2019t think I\u2014\u201d Carl froze again, and then rocked backward in his seat. His eyes had gone wide, panicked. But his expression and mannerisms were his own again, if fearful. \u201cWhat the fuck just happened? Holy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d she stammered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat do you mean you don\u2019t know? Why was I saying those things? They were to you! About you! What the hell is <i>happening?<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI don\u2019t <i>know!<\/i>\u201d she repeated. \u201cEverything\u2019s going crazy all of a sudden! I don\u2019t know why!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">She drove him home. He was too shaken to drive. In other circumstances, she would have enjoyed every second behind the wheel, but it was like driving the ambulance the rest of the night after she\u2019d taken Suri Parvinal to the hospital.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Carl Menefee lived in a condo on the twentieth floor of a building that stood on one of the far hills, well away from the city center but with a spectacular view of New Detroit that must have cost a fortune. No other public defender could afford a place like this, but a Menefee could. It was her first time inside. She had wondered if he planned to invite her, and whether it would be appropriate to accept, but there was no question now. His voice had been <i>pleading<\/i> when he asked her to come up. He was afraid to be alone right now, and could she blame him?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">She found herself at one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, taking in the view while he was in his bedroom changing. Below her the world fell away and New Detroit sprawled over the hills into the distance. When night came, she knew, it would look like a spilled jewel box glowing brightly in the darkness. She had the sudden certainty that she would be seeing that view in a few more hours, and that she would be spending the night. She wasn\u2019t sure whether she would be in his bed or on the couch, though.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>He called me \u201cAudie.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Often, in the past, he had called her \u201cAud\u201d when they talked, and he was actually the only one who had ever done it. It was <i>his<\/i> name for her, and he was the only one, she realized, that she would allow to use it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">And Audie\u2026 that had been <i>Kyra\u2019s<\/i> name for her, after she\u2019d confided her real identity to her and they\u2019d begun plotting their escape route back to Pynchon. Nobody else had ever used it. She\u2019d been afraid that she\u2019d never hear it used again, but had never expected to hear it like <i>this.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">If only she knew what it all meant. What had happened to Carl in the parking garage?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAud?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">She turned. Carl was standing in the living room entry, still looking hesitant and unsure. He had changed out of his suave suit and was wearing slacks and a light, short-sleeved, woven shirt that she suspected was raw silk. If he hadn\u2019t looked so desperately lost, he would have looked unbelievably desirable. His comm unit was in his hand.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">He swallowed. \u201cI\u2026\u201d His voice was strange, husky\u2026 tremulous. \u201cI had this idea that I would try to find out more about this cult of yours, on Helion\u2026 and I\u2026 tried to call a friend there\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Oh shit,<\/i> she thought. <i>I never should have said anything. This could bring my whole house of cards down\u2014<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s gone,\u201d he said, his expression one of baffled horror.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat\u2019s gone?\u201d Audrey frowned, not comprehending.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNew Mecca. <i>Helion.<\/i> The whole system\u2026 it\u2019s <i>gone.<\/i> Like the Coalsack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">She managed to make it to his expensive leather couch before her legs could give out on her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt gets worse,\u201d Carl said, sitting heavily down beside her. \u201cSomething\u2026 happened on Crematoria, too. The prison\u2026 the population\u2026 it\u2019s all destroyed. Aside from a handful of bodies, there\u2019s nobody there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra. <i>Kyra.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Had that been her <i>ghost<\/i> talking through him? The thought startled a laugh out of her. Within seconds, that had dissolved into sobs even stronger than Parvinal\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:.25in;margin-bottom: 0\">Carl\u2019s warm, strong arms came around her and he held her while she sobbed. Suddenly she didn\u2019t care whether she was sleeping on his couch or in his bed, as long as he didn\u2019t let go.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: Falling Angels Chapter: 6 of ? Fandom: The Chronicles of Riddick Synopsis: In an attempt to find out whether she&#8217;s right about the Church of the Rykengoll and the Clement Institute, Au","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"Falling Angels, Chapter 6 by Ardath Rekha","bgseo_description":"In an attempt to find out whether she's right about the Church of the Rykengoll and the Clement Institute, Audrey Jackson-Badura plays a game of cat-and-mouse with a murderer... and receives a terrible message.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-falling-angels","category-fan-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions\/210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}