Page 56 of Far From Center
Chapter 23
There wasa small problem at the airport that Gabriel had not ever considered — he didn’t have a passport. In fact, he had no ID at all. Nyalla had put in a frantic call to her brother, Wyatt, to try to procure counterfeit documents for the angel to use, but they wouldn’t arrive for another two days at least. In the meantime, they made a big show of him kissing Nyalla goodbye, then waving her off through security.
He wanted to wait until the plane took off and they all doubled back, but it would seem suspicious for him to loiter around the airport for an hour, and he’d already caught sight of skinny demon hanging around the duty-free shops before security. He now had a cell phone with Nyalla’s number saved in the Favorites section. He’d see her in a few hours. His job right now was to act like a human boyfriend who wasn’t heading out until a later flight, and had some time to kill in Aruba, so he left the airport and hailed a cab, telling the driver to take him to the downtown shopping area.
As they made their way through the crowded streets, full of tourists shopping at the street vendors and people off the huge cruise ship docked in the harbor, Gabe saw someone he never in a million years thought he’d see on this island.
It was an angel. And it wasn’t Tura, it was someone who’d once been a member of the Ruling Council. It was an angel he’d believed to be locked away in punishment for his betrayal and part in the revolution. But they’d all been banished from Aaru with a sweep of the Iblis’ sword, and he’d not paused to think what that meant for the angels who had been in forced seclusion.
Clearly the banishment had meant the prison doors were open, and traitors like Sidriel were free to walk the streets. As personal as Tura’s betrayal had been, Sidriel’s was on a much larger scale. He’d forsworn the oath he’d taken when he was assigned the post on the Ruling Council. He’d not just betrayed Gabriel, he’d betrayed the entire Council. He’d betrayed Gabe’s siblings.
And it could be no coincidence that in all the places in the world, Sidriel was walking around a tiny Caribbean island — the same island as Tura.
“Pull over. I’ll get out here,” Gabe told the driver. Handing the man what must have been an excessive amount of money for the short ride, Gabe hopped out and weaved through the tourists, trying to keep Sidriel in sight without trailing the angel so closely that he was recognized.
Yes, he was human, but it seemed his angelic powers were beginning to return. If Terrelle had been able to recognize him by his physical appearance, there was a chance that Sidriel could as well. And there was a chance that the angel might catch a hint of his faint angelic energy and realize that the archangel was nearby.
Normally he’d be confident in his ability to prevail against the other angel, but not now. Not when he could barely even heal. Not when he was still so embedded in this physical form with all of its vulnerabilities. So Gabe held back, following as the angel as he headed away from the port and into a downtown casino. There he almost lost Sidriel amid the maze of slot machines and table games.
Seeing the angel slip out a back door, Gabe ran, pushing past a few gamblers carrying cups of coin and made it out the door in time to see Sidriel turn a corner into an alley.
He hesitated, weighing the chance of being trapped and confronted with the chance that he might lose the angel. Slowly he made his way forward, making sure that no one was coming out of the casino behind him or lurking behind the dumpster.
What was Sidriel’s part in this? Was Tura the leader in all this, or the former member of the Ruling Council? After the battle over the breeding box, Sidriel had been isolated for his punishment. There could have been no contact between the two from that point. In fact, Gabe was sure that Sidriel had been unaware of the continued rebellion, unaware of any external event until they’d all been banished.
How had he been able to so quickly get in touch with Tura after the fall? Gabe felt a heaviness in his midsection as he considered that the angel’s isolation might have been compromised. Over half the angels in Aaru had taken the side of the rebels. It was entirely possible that someone had facilitated contact with Sidriel. It was entirely possible that in spite of his imprisonment, Sidriel had been continuing his part in the rebellion behind the scenes.
Traitor. Deceiver.
Gabe edged slowly forward, peered around the corner and came face-to-face with the angel.
“By the creator you walk slow. I was beginning to think you were afraid to confront me and had turned tail and run back to the casino to call your brothers for assistance.” Sidriel eyed him, then gave him a cool nod. “I can’t say that it’s a pleasure to see you, Gabriel. Although I wasn’t sure it was truly you there for a while. I don’t know how you’re hiding your energy or grace, but that human form is most convincing. You even covered yourself with the stench of human physical intercourse to throw us off the trail. I never would have suspected if I hadn’t watched you heal that Low demon. Even that was subtle — heal just enough so that he didn’t die, but leave him with several significant physical wounds. Brilliant. I personally would have let him die and not risked revealing myself over a worthless Low, but you always did have a weak spot for the scrawny ones.”
Gabe stepped into the alley. Sidriel thought he was still in full possession of his powers. Which meant he could possibly survive this encounter. All he had to do was declare some sort of peace with the angel and walk away, wash his hands of the whole matter. Of course then he’d be sworn to neutrality, and that was something Gabe could never do, especially when this situation involved the rebellion and two traitors who’d played a significant part in it.
“He was just a Low. Why would you torture him like that?” Gabe kept his voice calm. Hoping there was still some way he could get out of this without compromising his ethics or winding up dead.
“Because I could tell he was the weak spot of your group. Well, him and that human girl who everyone would readily give their life for. I would have grabbed her, but you never left her side, and in spite of thinking you a human at first, there was something about you that gave me pause. I initially believed you were a sorcerer. I never suspected the mighty archangel Gabriel would interest himself in such minor matters as a bit of commerce between two demons. Perhaps your elder brother commanded you to look into it since he’s already damned though his disgusting relationship with that imp.”
“Michael knows nothing of this. I came on my own, and am just as surprised to see you bothering to sully yourself with such a despicable project as the theft and sale of an artifact. Greed, Sidriel?”
“No, although greed for power might be a minor sin of mine.” The angel took a few steps closer to Gabriel, eyeing him warily. “There’s another reason I tortured that Low. I’m sure he was too embarrassed to tell you, but he happily gives up his secrets under pain. Quite lovely how he begs and divulges everything from what his Mistress has planned, down to what you all intend to do with the Tear.” His eyes narrowed. “I’d figured that stupid imp would activate it and kill the archangels off in one instant. I never expected that she was so devious and intelligent to have planned what she did.”
Gabe had no idea what Sidriel was talking about. Did the Iblis have something in mind for the Tear? Was the complicated heist Terrelle was planning going to end with Gabe in possession of the fake, and the real artifact going to the Iblis? Or had Sidriel underestimated the Low? Did Snip manage to keep himself together enough to concoct a wild tale for the angel under the pain of torture?
“I’ll deal with our Gormand friend later, but I’m glad he gave your friends a fake now that I know what the Iblis intended. But you knew it was a fake too, didn’t you?” He took another step forward. “Doubling back to get the Tear on your own, Gabriel? I’m sure your youngest brother told you how to activate it before the war took him from your side. Exactly who do you intend to use it on?”
Gabe suddenly saw a way out. He’d just need to be careful not to find himself having to refuse an oath of allegiance. “Let’s just say we’re not quite a different as you might think, Sidriel.”
The angel’s eyebrows shot up. “Making a move after all these billions of years? I can believe that you’re tired of seeing all of your hard work unraveled by those wretched sinful siblings of yours, Gabriel, but if you truly were on our side, then why wait until now?”
“Because three against one makes for very poor odds, even with a group of rebels at your back,” he answered. “Samael’s gone. Uriel’s off doing penance for who knows how long. Michael is weakened by his relationship with that imp. And it’s not like Raphael was ever a threat. He’s barely able to even hold his own choir together. I’m not a fool. I’m patient enough to wait until I’m assured of success before I make such a move.”
This was so hard for him to do. In spite of billions of years navigating the convoluted politics of Aaru, he hated the subterfuge. He hated having to be two-faced. Terrelle had complimented him on his synchronicity between the angel on the inside and on the outside, but this was one of those times when it was important to hide his true self and lie.
He only hoped that Sidriel believed him.
“I don’t fault you for waiting, Gabriel, but I do doubt your loyalty. The last battle we were winning, yet you still didn’t switch sides.”
