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How long have you known?"
"Mouse has a copy of Phanuel in his hub."
Michael's eyebrows raised expectantly.
I shook my head. "I suspect that Mouse boosted tech from an outfit known as
the Jordan Institute to create the LINK-angels." I thought of the phone call.
Mouse had seemed so pleasant, so nonthreatening.
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I could still be wrong about him. "But we shouldn't jump the gun."
Michael snorted. "But why else would he have a copy of an angel in his hub?"
"To scare off other hackers?" I suggested.
"Doesn't that seem a bit excessive?" Michael asked.
"It does. And, as far as I know Kantowicz and I were the first-ever uninvited
guests."
"But you suspect Mouse is the originator of the LINK-angels?"
I nodded.
"This is great." Michael smiled, relaxing. Finally, a forkful of peas made it
into his mouth. "You're really on to something."
I shook my head. "I'm not so sure. Some things don't quite sit right for me.
What bugs me about my theory is that the page said he tried to boomerang the
LINK-angels. Why would he do that if Mouse is the originator?"
"Maybe Mouse doesn't know what the page has been doing or vice versa."
"The page is Mouse's construct. How could he not know?"
Michael snorted a sad laugh. "A parallel situation jumps quickly to mind."
"Michael, you're completely different from an AI."
"Am I?" His face pinched up, and he looked away. Picking up his fork, he poked
at the potatoes on his plate. "No, I'm exactly like the page. A program with
sentience. A construct of a higher being. A
messenger; ah 'errand boy,' just as Morningstar said."
His shoulders scrunched, and his face tightened even further. I put my hand on
his shoulder. "Isn't being an angel much more ..." I searched for the
appropriate word, "I don't know . . . glorious . . . than that?"
Michael's voice was soft, but I could hear a distant thunder in his words.
"When I threw Sammael out of heaven I was filled with a holy passion. I
shouted: 'I am Michael, who is like God!' " His eyes sparkled with the memory.
Then, he laughed and dropped his head slightly. "Sure, there were moments of
glory if war and carnage can, in fact, be glorious. I've tasted the other side
now and find I'm tired of carrying the heavy sword of vengeance."
The word "vengeance" reminded me of earlier conversations with Michael. "But
you came here on your own this time, you said, to stop Letourneau from using
your name."
"That's not entirely true." Michael sighed. "I find the sin of omission easier
than lying."
"Don't we all."
He rewarded me with a tired smile. "Yes, I guess we do. Truth is, I came to
you on my own, but the
Four were deployed to infiltrate the believers to bring the truth to light."
"The believers? The Four?"
"Archangels." Michael's attention drifted away, then, he laughed. "You know, I
might feel badly for straying, but Uriel has really missed the mark. Last I
heard from him, he was embracing our dual sexuality and calling himself by a
woman's name."
"Ariel."
"That's it exactly. How did you know?"
.
~
"Daniel met an Ariel in prison."
"Indeed." He shrugged. "I guess I'm the only one off the mark."
"You found me." I asked, "Wasn't that your assignment?"
"My assignment was to find the perpetrator of the LINK-angels myth. You've
done that for me."
I rubbed his shoulder. There were things I wanted to say to comfort him, but
instead what came out was:
"Does that mean Ariel's assignment was Daniel? But why?"
He shook his head sadly. 'The plan is only clear to me above, or as it reveals
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itself, not before. I have a murky sense of the bigger picture, but the longer
I'm away the more it fades. I would tell you, Dee, if I
knew."
"I know."
Michael's eyes searched mine, but I had nothing to say. I couldn't understand
what he was going through.
It was well out of the realm of my experience.
Over Michael's shoulder, I saw Raphael in the buffet line. He had one hand on
the arm of an older man, a rabbi it seemed to me, supporting him. They were
engaged in an animated conversation, and Raphael's strongly lined features
broke out into a kind grin. The strength Raphael exuded warmed me even from
this distance.
"Michael, maybe you just need some time with Ra-
phael to get back on track, you know?" I hated myself for lying to him "I need
some time to say good-bye to Daniel in my own way. Let's plan to meet up in a
couple of hours at my office, okay?"
"Where are you going?"
"Nowhere," I said lamely. It was such a bad lie that I couldn't look Michael
in the eye.
"I'm coming with you." Michael's voice sharpened with determination.
"You don't even know where I'm going," I protested.
"Last time you said you were just going out for a walk, I had to go looking
for you."
Mouse would bolt if I brought Michael along to the meeting, but I didn't
really want to be alone right now. The funeral had left me feeling drained
and, despite his tendency toward unnerving conversation, Michael's presence
comforted me.
"I just got you back," Michael continued. "I'm not willing to let you out of
my sight just yet."
"Can you be invisible?" I asked. "I mean, angelically?"
He shook his head. "Only at great cost. Why?"
"You can come as far as my office, then I need to be on my own for a little
while. . . ." I sighed. What was the point of keeping the truth from him? "I'm
meeting Mouse. I need to do that alone."
He brightened at my words, and nodded. "Okay. Should you need to get ahold of
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