“Any thoughts on a plan?”
Neither Cassie nor Griffin answered immediately.
The pythia made a supreme effort to focus on the question that hung unanswered in the air rather than on the tragedies of the past week. She raised her head. “For starters, we have to get Hannah back. The day I met her, I promised her a brand-new life, and I mean to keep that promise.”
Griffin turned from the window to regard his associates. “We can’t very well lay siege to the compound and demand the girl’s release.”
Cassie felt taken aback. “Are you saying you won’t help?”
“Not at all. I’m simply saying we have to find a less direct means of accomplishing our goal.”
“Erik came up with an idea,” the chatelaine offered.
The other two traded surprised glances.
“Erik?” Cassie echoed. She’d forgotten that the paladin was still engaged in spying on the Nephilim.
“He thought we should start with Daniel.”
“You mean the guy we just robbed in China?” Cassie didn’t attempt to mask her sarcasm. “Yeah, I’m sure he’ll cooperate.”
“Erik’s approach may have merit, much as I hate to admit it,” Griffin countered archly. “You’ll recall that Daniel helped Hannah escape in the first place. It would be dangerous for him if she were to remain in the clutches of the Nephilim.”
“How do you mean?” The chatelaine squinted at him.
“If Metcalf is determined to discover the specifics of his wife’s original escape, who knows what methods the Nephilim might employ in an effort to obtain answers.”
“You think Hannah would admit Daniel helped her,” the pythia concluded.
“Under extreme duress, she may very well give him up.”
“And he couldn’t afford that,” Maddie completed the thought. “I think we can make this situation work to our advantage. It isn’t hard for us to get to Daniel. My intel says Metcalf’s favorite son had gotten pretty chummy with one of the librarians at the Main Branch. He hangs out there every day.”
“What about Hunt?” Griffin objected. “Isn’t he Daniel’s bodyguard?”
“Leroy likes libraries about as much as vampires like garlic. When they aren’t on a field mission, the cowboy stays as far away from his charge as possible.”
“So Daniel will be unprotected if we try to talk to him,” Cassie speculated.
“Erik said he wanted to make the initial contact.” Maddie rose to leave, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket. “Now that I’ve run this plan past you two, I’ll give him the green light to go ahead. The next time Daniel comes out of the library, Erik will be there to meet him. Then our paladin will make him an offer I’m pretty sure he won’t refuse.”
Chapter 41—Silence Is Golden
Hannah’s feet dangled over the side of her bed. She swung them idly back and forth to mark the time. There was really nothing else to do. Her captors might at least have given her a book to read. The random wish struck her as oddly funny. The concept of reading for entertainment was completely foreign to the Nephilim. She’d never realized that before she left. The only books to be found at the compound were scripture or commentaries on scripture. Instruction manuals for how to get to heaven weren’t supposed to be amusing. She smiled gloomily to herself. Everybody here was trying so hard to please an invisible, ill-tempered god that they feared to take pleasure in anything else.
The girl cast a glance around her chintz-upholstered prison. These had been her quarters a lifetime ago, but everything looked so much smaller now. As the wife of the diviner, she was entitled to a room with a private bath and a small sitting area. These luxuries were a sign of Father Abraham’s favor. She eyed the barred window skeptically. Was that a sign of his favor too? But then all the windows were barred. She wondered how many members of the congregation might choose to walk away if their path wasn’t blocked by iron bars, fences, and men with guns.
She smoothed the fabric of her plain gray smock. It felt scratchy. The white starched apron covering it was no better. After the chloroform had worn off, she’d awakened to find herself dressed in the stiff garb of a consecrated bride. She didn’t know who had switched her clothing but that someone had also given her a bath. Her skin had been scrubbed so hard that there were raw patches on her arms and legs. Did they think they could erase the influence of the outer world as easily as that? She touched her hair which had been cut to chin length. At least the Nephilim couldn’t alter that aspect of her appearance. She still looked like one of the Fallen. The thought gave her a perverse sense of triumph.
After her initial escape, she had ceased to think of the outer world as Fallen at all. It had become the real world to her. The beliefs of the Nephilim, once the bedrock of her existence, now seemed like the fevered dreams of a lunatic. Hannah concluded that the cult’s founder, Jedediah Proctor, must have been mentally disturbed. She’d learned about other religions at school. While some of them practiced odd rituals, none of them felt compelled to protect their faith at gunpoint the way the Nephilim did. Perhaps it was because Nephilim ideals were so contrary to human nature that they couldn’t survive in the real world. They would evaporate in the light of common sense like all nightmares must. That was why it took a ten-foot fence guarded by soldiers to separate the believers from the sane people outside.
She anxiously twisted the fabric of her apron, wondering what had become of Granny Faye the night of her abduction. Hannah hadn’t dared to ask in case the diviner might want to destroy anyone she cared about. He had once slaughtered all the children’s pets because the animals inspired a love not directed at God. What might he do to Granny Faye, or Cassie, or Zach if he knew the
