Side Jobs

“You wouldn’t say that if you’d seen what life can be like in some of the places Father Douglas has lived,” Forthill said. “It’s not so simple.”

“It never is,” I said.

“He was, in particular, an admirer of Shiro’s,” Forthill continued. “When Shiro died, he was devastated. They had worked together several times.”

“The way you worked with Michael,” I said.

Forthill nodded. “Roarke was . . . not satisfied with the disposition of Fidelacchius. He made it known to the rest of Malleus, too. As time went by, he became increasingly frustrated that the sword was not being put to use.”

I could see where this one was going. “And then I got hold of Amoracchius, too.”

Forthill nodded. “He spent the last year trying to convince the senior members of Malleus that we had been deceived. That you were, in fact, an agent of an enemy power, who had taken the swords so they could not be used.”

“And no one thought to mention the way those archangels gave orders that I was supposed to hold them?”

“They never appear to more than one or two people at a time—and you are a wizard, Harry,” Forthill said. “Father Douglas hypothesized that you had created an illusion to serve your purpose, or else had tampered directly with our minds.”

“And now he’s on a crusade,” I muttered.

Forthill nodded. “So it would seem.”

I kept on reading the file. “He’s versed in magic—well enough, at least, to be smart about how he deals with me. Contacts in various supernatural communities, like the Venatori Umbrorum, which probably explains that protective amulet.” I shook my head. “And he thinks he’s saving the world. The guy’s a certifiable nightmare.”

“Where is he?” Michael asked quietly.

“He could be anywhere,” Forthill replied. “Malleus sets up caches of equipment, money, and so forth. He could have tapped into any one of them. I tried his cell phone. He’s not returning my calls.”

“He thinks you’ve been mind-scrambled by the enemy,” I muttered. “What did you expect to accomplish?”

“I had hoped,” Forthill said gently, “that I might ask him to be patient and have faith.”

“I’m pretty sure this guy believes in faith through superior firepower.” I closed the file and passed it back to Forthill. “He tried to kill me. He abducted Alicia. As far as I’m concerned, he’s off the reservation.”

Forthill’s expression became distressed as he looked at me. He turned to Michael, beseeching.

Michael’s face was bleak and unyielding, and quiet heat smoldered in his eyes. “The son of a bitch hurt my little girl.”

I rocked a step backward at the profanity. So did Forthill. The room settled into an oppressive silence.

The old priest cleared his throat after a moment. He put the file back in the cabinet and closed the door. “I’ve told you what I know,” he said. “I’m only sorry I can’t do more.”

“You can find her, can’t you?” Michael asked me. “The way you found Molly?”

“Sure,” I said. “But he’s bound to be expecting that. Magic isn’t a cure-all.”

“But you can find her.”

I shrugged. “He can’t stop me from finding her, but he can damn well make sure that something happens to her if I do.”

Michael frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Maybe he stashes her in a box that’s being held fifty feet above the ground with an electromagnet, so that when I get close with an active spell up and running, it shorts out and she falls. The bastard is smart and creative.”

Michael’s knuckles popped as his hands closed into fists.

“Besides,” I said, “we don’t need to find him.”

“No?”

“No,” I said. “We’ve got the swords. He’s got the girl.” I turned to go. “He’s going to find us.”

FATHER DOUGLAS CALLED Michael’s house later that night, and asked for me. I took the call in Michael’s office.

“You know what I want,” he said, without preamble.

“Obviously,” I said. “What do you have in mind?”

“Bring the swords,” he said. “Give them to me. If you do so without attempting any tricks or deceptions, I will release the girl to you unharmed. If you involve the police or attempt anything foolish, she will die.”

“How do I know you haven’t killed her already?”

The phone rustled, and then Alicia said, “H-Harry? I’m okay. H-he hasn’t hurt me.”

“Nor do I want to,” Father Douglas said, taking the phone back. “Satisfied?”

“Can I ask you something?” I said. “Why are you doing this?”

“I am doing God’s work.”

“Okay, that doesn’t sound too crazy or anything,” I said. “If you’re so tight with God, can you really expect me to believe that you’ll be willing to murder a teenage girl?”

“The world needs the swords,” he replied in a level, calm voice. “They are more important than any one person. And while I would never forgive myself, yes. I will kill her.”

“I’m just trying to get you to see the fallacious logic you’re using here,” I said. “See, if I’m such a bad guy to have stolen the swords, then why would I give a damn whether or not you murder some kid?”

“You don’t have to be evil to be ambitious—or wrong. You don’t want to see the girl harmed. Give me the swords and she won’t be.”

There clearly wasn’t going to be any profitable discussion of the situation here. Father Douglas was going to have his way, regardless of the impediments of trivial things like rationality.

“Where?” I asked.

He gave me an address. “The roof. You come to the east side of the building. You show me the swords. Then you come up and make the exchange. No staff, no rod. Just you.”

“When?”

“One hour,” he said, and hung up.

I put the phone down, looked at Michael, and said, “We don’t have much time.”

THE BUILDING IN question stood at the corner of Monroe and Michigan, overlooking Millennium Park. I had to park a couple of blocks away and walk in, with both swords stowed in a big gym bag. Father Douglas hadn’t specified where I was supposed to stand and show him the swords, but the streetlights adjacent to the building were all inexplicably dark except for one. I ambled over to the pool of light it cast down onto the sidewalk, opened the bag, and held out both swords.

It was hard to see past the light, but I thought I saw a gleam on the roof. Binoculars?

A few seconds later, a red light flashed twice from the same spot where I’d thought I had seen something.

This would be the place, then.

I’d brought my extremely illegal picklocks with me, but as it turned out, I didn’t need to use them. Father Douglas had already circumvented the locks and, presumably, the security system. The front door was open, as was the door to the stairwell. From there, it was just one long, thigh-burning hike up to the roof.

I emerged into cold, strong wind. You get up twenty stories or so and you run into that a lot. It ripped at my duster, and set it to flapping like a flag.

I peered around the roof, at spinning heat pumps and AC units and various antennae, but saw no one.

The beam of a handheld floodlight hit me, and I whirled in place. The light was coming from the roof of the building next to mine. Father Douglas flipped it off, and after blinking a few times, I could see him clearly, standing in the wind in priestly black, his white collar almost luminous in the ambient light of the city. His grey eyes were shadowed, and he was maybe a day and a half past time to shave. At his feet on the rooftop lay a long plank, which he must have used to cross from this rooftop to the next.

Alicia, blindfolded and with a gag in her mouth, sat in a chair next to him, her wrists bound to its