Phantoms

I AM HABORYM. I AM A MAN WITH THREE HEADS ONE HUMAN, ONE CAT, ONE SERPENT.

“What's this crap all about?” Tal asked, frustrated.

The air in the room was definitely colder.

Only the wind, Bryce told himself. The wind at the door, bringing the coolness of the oncoming night.

I AM RANTAN.

Blink.

I AM PALLANTRE.

Blink.

I AM AMLUTIAS, ALFINA, EPYN, FUARD, BELIAL, OMGORMA, NEBIROS, BAAL, ELIGOR, AND MANY OTHERS.

The strange names glowed on all three screens for a moment, then winked off.

I AM ALL AND NONE. I AM NOTHING. I AM EVERYTHING.

Blink.

The trio of video displays shone brightly, greenly, blankly for a second, two, three. Then went dark.

The overhead lights came on.

“End of interview,” Jenny said.

Belial. That was one of the names it had given itself.

Bryce was not an ardently religious man, but he was sufficiently well-read to know that Belial was either another name for Satan or the name of one of the other fallen angels. He wasn't sure which it was.

Gordy Brogan was the most religious one among them, a devout Roman Catholic. When Bryce came out of the field lab, the last to leave it, he asked Gordy to look at the names toward the end of the print-out.

They stood on the sidewalk by the lab, in the dwindling light of day, while Gordy read the pertinent lines. In twenty minutes, perhaps less, it would be dark.

“Here,” Gordy said, “This name. Baal.” He pointed to it on the accordion-folded length of computer paper. “I don't know exactly where I've seen it before. Not in church or catechism. Maybe I read it in a book somewhere.”

Bryce detected an odd tone and rhythm in Gordy's speech. It was more than just nervousness. He spoke too slowly for a few words, then much to fast, then slowly again, then almost frenetically.

“A book?” Bryce asked. “The Bible?”

“No, I don't think so. I'm not much of a Bible miller. Should be. Should read it regular. But where I saw this name was in an ordinary book. A novel. I can't quite remember.”

“So who is this Baal?” Bryce asked.

“I think he's supposed to be a very powerful demon,” Gordy said. And something was definitely wrong with his voice; with him.

“What about the other names?” Bryce asked.

“They don't mean anything to me.”

“I thought they might be the names of other demons.”

“Well, you know, the Catholic Church doesn't go in much for fire-and-brimstone preaching,” Gordy said, still speaking oddly, “Maybe it should. Yeah. Maybe it should. 'Cause I think you're right. I think those are the names of demons.”

Jenny sighed wearily. “So it was just playing another one of its games with us.”

Gordy shook his head vigorously. “No. Not a game. Not at all. It was telling the truth.”

Bryce frowned. “Gordy, you don't actually think it's a demon or Satan himself or anything like that — do you?”

“That's all nonsense,” Sara Yamaguchi said.

“Yes,” Jenny said. “The entire performance on the computer, this demonic image it wants to project — all of that's only more misdirection. It's never going to tell us the truth about itself because if we knew the truth, then we might be able to think of a way to beat it.”

“How do you explain the priest who was crucified above the altar at Our Lady of the Mountains?” Gordy asked.

“But that was just one more part of the charade,” Tal said.

Gordy's eyes were strange. It wasn't just fear. They were the eyes of a man who was in spiritual disom, even agony.

I should've noticed this coming sooner, Bryce berated himself.

Speaking softly but with spellbinding intensity, Gordy said, “I think maybe the time has come. The end. The fun of the ending. At last. Just like the Bible says. That was something I never believed. I believed in everything else the Church taught. But not that. Not judgment day. I just sort of thought everything would go on like this forever. But now it's here, isn't it? Yes. The judgment. Not just for the people who live in Snowfield. For all of us. The end. So I've been asking myself how I'll be judged. And I'm scared. I mean, I was given a gift, a very special gift, and I threw it away. I was given the gift of St. Francis. I've always had a way with animals. It's true. No dog ever barks at me. Did you know that? No cat has ever scratched me. Animals respond to me. They trust me. Maybe they even love me. Never met one that didn't. I've coaxed some wild squirrels to eat right out of my hand. It's a gift. So my folks wanted me to be a veterinarian. But I turned my back on them and on my gift. Became a cop instead. Picked up a gun. A gun. I wasn't meant to pick up a gun. Not me. Not ever. I did it partly 'cause I knew it would bother my folks. I was expressing my independence, see? But I forgot. I forgot about where it tells you in the Bible to honor thy father and thy mother. What I did instead was hurt them. And I turned my back on God's gift to me. More than that. Worse than that. What I did was to spit on the gift. Last night I made up my mind to quit the force, put away the gun, and become a vet. But I think I was too late. Judgment was already underway, and I didn't realize it. I've spit on the gift God gave me, and now… I'm afraid.”

Bryce didn't know what to say to Gordy. His imagined sins were so far removed from genuine evil that it was almost laughable. If there was anyone here who was destined for Heaven, it was Gordy. Not that Bryce believed the judgment day had come. He didn't. But he couldn't think of a thing to say to Gordy, for the big, rawboned kid was too far gone to be talked out of his delusion.

“Timothy Flyte is a scientist, not a theologian,” Jenny said firmly, “If Flyte's got an explanation for what's happening here, it's strictly scientific, not religious.”

Gordy wasn't listening to her. Tears were streaming down his face. His eyes looked glazed. When he tilted his head and stared up at the sky, he was not seeing the sunset; he was apparently seeing, instead, some grand celestial highway on which the archangels and hosts of Heaven would soon descend in their chariots of fire.

He was in no condition to be entrusted with a loaded gun. Bryce slipped the revolver out of Gordy's holster and took possession of it. The deputy didn't even seem to notice.

Bryce saw that Gordy's bizarre soliloquy had had a serious effect on Lisa. She looked as if she had been hit very hard, stunned.

“It's all right,” Bryce told her, “It's not really the end of the world. It's not judgment day. Gordy's just… disturbed. We're going to come through this just fine. Do you believe me, Lisa? Can you keep that pretty chin of yours lifted? Can you be brave for just a little while longer?”

She didn't immediately respond. Then she reached into herself and found yet another reserve of strength and nerve. She nodded. She even managed a weak, uncertain smile.

“You're a hell of a kid,” he said, “A lot like your big sister.”

Lisa glanced at Jenny, then brought her eyes back to Bryce again, “You're a hell of a sheriff,” she said.

He wondered if his own smile was as shaky as hers.

He was embarrassed by her trust, for he wasn't worthy of it.

I lied to you, girl, he thought. Death is still with us. It'll strike again. Maybe not for an hour. Maybe not even for a whole day. But sooner or later, it will strike again.

In fact, although he couldn't possibly have known it, one of them would die in the next minute.

Chapter 32 Destiny