Without a word, he selected a sheet from a pile of papers and shoved it across the desk toward her.
It was a photograph of a face that Cassie knew only too well. “It’s him!” she cried. “The cowboy. You found him!”
Erik remained unmoved by her enthusiasm. “Are you sure that’s the guy you saw?”
“I could never forget that face. It’s him, absolutely. Who is he?”
“His name is Leroy Hunt. He got a dishonorable military discharge after the Gulf War. Too bad nobody checked his psychiatric profile before giving him weapons training. He parlayed that into a career as a pricey hired gun. Somehow he’s managed to stay out of prison because anybody who could place him at a crime scene conveniently disappeared.”
Cassie became lost in the photo. She still couldn’t believe her nightmare had been that accurate. The man she saw in her dream was staring right back at her, and he had a name. She looked up to find Erik studying her intently. “What is it?” she asked.
The young man kept silent for several seconds before asking, “Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?”
The girl was taken aback. “I… uh… of course. That is… what do you mean?”
“This guy is bad news. He isn’t somebody you should be messing with.”
Cassie decided it was time to return his stare. His eyes were an odd shade of green. There was a hint of gold mixed in, like new spring grass. Brushing that thought aside, she shot back, “My sister is dead! You forget I caught the whole show in 3-D. Do you think I need a lecture from you about risk?”
His face was an unreadable mask. “I think maybe you do because so far nobody has pointed out how dangerous working for the Arkana can be.”
“I made my choice,” she said with more bravado than she felt. She was still deeply ambivalent about her involvement in the organization, but she wasn’t going to let him see that.
“You only think you made a choice,” he contradicted her. “A choice is only a choice if you can actually understand your options.”
“And you’re convinced I didn’t do enough soul searching before I agreed? Gee, it must be nice to be a mind reader.”
He refused to rise to the bait. His voice was dead calm. “I think you acted on impulse. You figured this might be fun because you’re just drifting, and you didn’t have anything better to do.”
Cassie could feel her face flushing to the roots of her hair. He had hit a nerve. “That’s it.” She stood up. “This conversation is over!”
He sprang out of his chair and reached the door before she did. He wedged himself in front of her, blocking the exit. “Wait a minute. You can’t just wander around the vault.”
“What are you going to do? Handcuff me? Shoot me?” She glared at him. Her eyes challenged him to lay a hand on her. “I want to talk to your boss. No, on second thought, I want to talk to your boss’s boss!”
Erik considered the demand. “That would be Maddie.” He stepped away from the door to let her pass. “Maybe she can talk some sense into you.”
“Maybe she can talk some sense into you instead,” she muttered over her shoulder as he escorted her from the Security Division.
***
About ten minutes later, Cassie was seated in the operations director’s office venting to Maddie about Erik’s rude behavior. “He was impossible! I mean, what did I ever do to him?”
Maddie offered no comment during Cassie’s tirade. Her voice was uncharacteristically soft when she finally spoke. “You need to cut him some slack, kiddo. He was closer to Sybil than any of us. It’s his job to coordinate security for the pythia when she’s in the field. He went with your sister on half a dozen recovery missions.”
“That’s just great. Did you ask him why he wasn’t there when she actually needed security? The night she died.”
He was there the night she died,” Maddie corrected mildly. “He just got there five minutes too late. I think he’s been beating himself up for that mistake ever since.” She sighed. “There isn’t anything that you could say that would make him feel any worse.”
“But why attack me?” Cassie protested. “I’m her sister, for crying out loud.”
Maddie paused to consider. “Maybe that’s the reason. It’s because you’re her sister and our new pythia. He’s afraid the same thing might happen to you, and he couldn’t stand to have that on his conscience.”
Cassie relented slightly. She wasn’t any more well-disposed to like Erik, but at least she was ready to move on to a new topic. In a less angry tone, she asked, “Do you know what was I supposed to learn from him?”
“Did he show you the photo of Leroy Hunt?”
Cassie nodded. “Yeah, he said the guy had a reputation for eliminating anybody who could identify him.”
Maddie gave a half-smile. “Then I guess you’re safe until dreams are admissible in court.”
Cassie grew thoughtful. “If this guy has a track record as a gun for hire, then that means he didn’t want the key for himself. Do you have any idea who paid him to find it?”
“It was the Nephilim,” the operations director said matter-of-factly, “though I never would have figured them to tag somebody like that to do their dirty work.”
“The Nephilim? It sounds like a disease.”
Maddie barked out a laugh. “Between you and me, kiddo, that’s how I think of them. As a disease. The name ‘Nephilim’ is Hebrew and, depending on who you listen to, it either means ‘fallen’ as in cursed or ‘wondrous’ as in superhero. The cult plays it both ways. Since I’ve only got a nodding acquaintance with the Bible, my facts may be a little bit sketchy but here goes.
“Way back when in Genesis, the Hebrew god appointed some angels to watch over humankind. After
