“Sir, I refer only to the prophecy…it said-”
“Nothing of the god’s mindset. What if this thing is worse than what it helped get rid of? Did you ever think of that? What if it wasn’t removing a danger? What if it was removing competition? I am not prepared to take that chance.”
“Your orders, sir?”
“This flying thing would do well not to reveal itself too soon but we can’t wait for it to decide. If needs be, we will coax it out. Test it.”
“Absolutely, sir.”
“Do you have any suggestions?”
“Well, if we aren’t sure what its motives are, we can easily find out. There are millions of people in this city. Any good fisherman uses bait.”
A chuckle came from the speakers. “I knew I had the right man for the job.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Never Gonna Be Alone
Alex answered the knock on the door and swallowed. There before her, with dark circles under his eyes and a thick pad across his throat, stood Solomon Crane. For the longest time neither said anything. Alex stood aside to let him in.
He sat and gratefully accepted the tea she offered him. He slowly sipped it before he uttered his first words. “I apologize for the late hour, but I wanted to thank you,” he croaked. “For saving my life.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’ve been recovering in a hospital, and as you can imagine, my superiors, my family, all want to know what happened. I’m the only survivor. But all I’ve said was I don’t know, or they were a meth gang. I guess I now realize, in a way, what it has been like for you all these years having to hide the truth.” Solomon reached out a hand and Alex took it. He gave her a brief squeeze. “If I ever made you stress, I’m truly sorry.”
“You were just doing your job.”
“But not a very good one. I was so convinced you were some kind of underworld figure surrounded by sinister characters that forced you to do their bidding. But, it’s not as simple as that.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not.”
Solomon groaned as he reached for his pocket. “I wanted to show you this but I don’t know whether you heard. Your principal was murdered the day before the cloud broke apart.” He paused at her shocked sound but then continued. “I know because, while in hospital, a captain from another precinct talked over the case with me. He asked if there was anything to suggest you’d done it.”
“Why would he need to ask you?”
“Because the attack on Mascot destroyed our link to the Police Database. Then the weather corrupted a whole mess of data during a blackout. Case files, evidence, leads. Gone. They are keeping it quiet and are in the process of getting it sorted but it will take months. To get a head start, he worked his way back from the newest cases. He talked to me about the latest one out of Mascot that crossed his desk: your charge.”
“Ok…about that. Officer Crane-”
“Solomon. I think we can dispense with surnames. Don’t say anything more. I saw the look on your face in the interview room. You mentioned something about your memory. If something did happen, you wouldn’t have been in your right mind. You didn’t kill her. My eyes have been opened after so long. I struggled with my faith, yet I now find out vampires exist and they aren’t the only things are they?”
Alex shook her head.
“Have you seen others?”
She nodded her head. “And many are cruel, evil things, but they aren’t all like you saw. There are a select few that fight against them. They just want to live and they have protected people in the past. Those are the ones I fight alongside.”
“Fight…” he repeated, giving her a quick look before glancing at the floor. As if judging whether she meant actual fighting. Maybe sizing her up. But the next words from him reflected nothing but genuine respect. “You truly are remarkable. Thank you for trusting me with this. I swear to you I won’t cause you any trouble. Just know you are a free woman.”
“What will you do now? Go back to the cops?”
He smiled and gave a short, harsh cough. “You know, I have no idea. I was so ready to resign. I even wrote my letter. Now it wouldn’t have been registered. So what now. I still want to help people, but I know that if I go back I’ll have to pretend. I’ll have to turn a blind eye to a whole lot of shit. I don’t think I have it in me to do that. A part of me wants to close the door to my house and never allow my family to leave. Do you think that makes me a coward?”
“No. I think it makes you reasonable.”
“Don’t you ever want to just…I don’t know…drive away? Leave all this?”
“Yes,” Alex said. “But there are people here that I love and others that I want to see again. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to them and I wasn’t there. People…” she paused, thinking about the boy she longed to see again, the man that risked everything for her and the armour nestled under her clothes. “That give up their lives for the freedom of others, they need me...and I need them.”
Solomon nodded and rose gingerly. “I really want to know more, but I won’t take up anymore of your time.”
“I’m glad you’re doing ok,” she said, walking him towards the door and holding it open for him.
He stepped out and placed his hands in his pocket. “Look, if I do go back and if I come across
