Nina was already forcing her way along the row. ‘Down, stay down!’ she shouted, pushing a panicked nun back into her seat before she could block her path.
Anna had the statue in one hand, the other tugging the carbon-fibre blade from Rosetti’s neck. ‘Back, bitch!’ she yelled, stabbing it at the redhead.
Nina jerked away from the bloodied tip, then overcame her fear and lunged for Anna’s arm. The blade caught her palm, making her gasp, but she managed to grab the cultist’s wrist. ‘That’s Doctor Bitch to you!’ she yelled, twisting the knife away—
Her heart froze as she saw Anna’s other arm draw back… and hurl the statue.
It flew over the front rows of the crowd. Time seemed to slow, the angel falling towards the base of the steps…
It hit the ground — and shattered. Nina stared at it, paralysed with terror—
The broken pieces came to rest. She drew in a startled breath. There was no gas, no eruption of yellow poison. Anna was equally stunned, mouth open in disbelief. ‘But… it can’t…’
‘It can,’ Nina replied, realising what had happened. It was not the real angel. Cross had given Anna the fake Eddie had used to locate the Mission — and it was clear that the biochemist knew nothing about the deception. ‘He lied to you. Your Prophet lied to you!’
‘No!’ Anna jerked her arm free and slashed the blade at Nina’s face. The redhead jumped backwards to avoid it, only to stumble against a chair. A burst of pain from her injured leg, and she fell.
Anna shoved past Rosetti and stood over Nina as others in the crowd fled. But she didn’t stab her, instead holding the knife to her throat. ‘Back off!’ she cried as a uniformed cop pointed a gun. ‘Back off or I’ll kill her!’
The cop retreated, but kept his weapon raised. Shouts in Italian reached Nina as more officers closed in. ‘You’ve failed,’ she said breathlessly. ‘You and your husband. Neither angel has been released. We recovered the one in Mecca.’
Anna stared at her, anger and panic in her eyes. ‘What happened to Sim— the other Witness?’
Nina hesitated, feeling the blade against her skin. But she knew she had to tell her. ‘He’s dead.’
The other woman did not react for a moment, as if she hadn’t heard, then anguish joined the other emotions. ‘Dead?’ she repeated, voice cracking. ‘He can’t… No, he—’ She broke off, her anger resurgent. ‘Killed by the minions of the Beast… so now the prophecy can be fulfilled!’
She pulled back the knife, about to stab it into Nina’s neck — only to hesitate after a glance at the redhead’s abdomen. Then she leapt on to the now-empty seats, letting out a demented scream as she charged at the nearest cop.
He fired. The bullet hit her chest. More screams came from the crowd as she crashed to the ground.
The cop ran to her, kicking away the knife. Other armed men hurried to join him. ‘Wait, get back from her, get back!’ Nina called, staggering to her feet. A brief glance told her that the Pope was being rushed into the safety of the basilica. ‘Anna,’ she said, crouching beside the dying woman, ‘Cross lied to you — he used you. He always had three targets, because he thought he’d have three angels, but he had to change his plan when he destroyed one angel at the Mission, didn’t he? He gave you a fake and kept one for himself, so he could attack the biggest target personally. He sent you to die as a decoy! Where is he? Where’s the real angel?’
Anna turned her head weakly, coughing blood. Red speckled the white cloth of her habit. Despite her pain, she was almost smiling. ‘No, doesn’t matter, he’s… succeeded. When the Witnesses… die, the second woe is past, and then the seventh angel sounds!’
‘No it doesn’t!’ Nina protested. ‘The seventh angel doesn’t sound until after the Witnesses are resurrected and taken to heaven in a cloud — and that’s not going to happen because this is the real world! Cross himself thinks John was hallucinating when he wrote Revelation: there is no prophecy, it’s all nonsense. You and Simeon have died for nothing!’
‘If it’s… nonsense, then how did you find… the angels?’ The smile twisted into mocking disdain.
A policeman clambered over the seats to check on Rosetti, surprise and concern in his voice telling Nina he was still alive. But she had no time to be relieved — or to argue theology. ‘Where’s the last angel?’ she demanded, leaning closer. ‘What’s Cross going to do with it?’
‘Loose it,’ Anna gasped. ‘Of course… the Prophet will release the angel…’ An expression almost of joy crossed her face. ‘And bring down… Babylon. The kings of the world… will witness…’
‘What do you mean?’ said Nina. ‘Tell me!’
But the other woman’s eyes grew unfocused. One last sigh of escaping breath, then she fell still and silent. ‘God damn it,’ Nina whispered.
The cops closed in around her. ‘É morta?’ asked one.
‘Yeah, she’s dead,’ Nina replied. ‘And so are our chances of finding the real angel.’
36
‘So Cross gave Anna the copy and took off with the real angel?’ said the disbelieving Dalton over the conference call. ‘Where’s he taken it?’
‘That’s kinda what I was hoping you could tell us,’ Nina said, exasperated. While paramedics tended to Rosetti, she had been taken to an office inside the Vatican to give the bad news to Seretse in New York and Eddie in Mecca, calling upon Dalton — now in transit to America in the company of a trio of US marshals — in the hope of learning the cult leader’s true plans.
‘I have no idea,’ the disgraced politician replied.
Her frustration grew. ‘Are you saying that because you don’t want to incriminate yourself in front of law enforcement officials, or do you genuinely not know?’
‘I genuinely don’t know!’ Dalton snapped. ‘Until that son of a bitch dumped me in the desert, I’d planned to go back to Tel Aviv and meet some Israeli friends. I don’t know where he meant to go!’
‘Wait, you have friends?’ Eddie said sarcastically.
‘Not helping,’ said his wife.
‘I’ve still got plenty of friends in Washington,’ Dalton growled. ‘I can assure you that I’ll be back in—’
‘Just one moment, Mr President,’ interrupted Seretse, breaking off to speak to someone. When he returned, despondency was clear even in the diplomat’s normally controlled voice. ‘I have had a message from the State Department.’
‘Doesn’t sound like the one you were hoping for,’ noted Eddie.
‘I am afraid not. They were able to reach out to the intelligence services and provide the flight plan of the jet Cross had been using, but after leaving Ovda airbase yesterday, it flew to Jordan — and is still there. Anna and Simeon travelled on to their targets by commercial flights under false passports. It would appear that Cross also left the country under an assumed identity, but so far we have not been able to track him.’
Nina put her head in her hands. ‘So he could be literally anywhere in the world by now? Great.’
‘How are we going to find him?’ asked Seretse. ‘What is his target?’
‘Babylon,’ she told him. ‘That’s what Anna said: Babylon will fall. All part of Revelation, but somehow I doubt that Cross plans to attack the ruins of an ancient city in Iraq.’
‘Maybe he really hates sci-fi and he’s going after the bloke who created Babylon 5,’ Eddie suggested.
‘Eddie! This is serious.’