“Yeah, sure, that would be fine.” Spence sounded relieved.
Gask gave the deputy sheriff their address. He wasn’t worried about Spence descending on him with an army of law enforcement officers; the deputy sheriff would be looking for a way to protect himself from any fallout in this business. If he could get the children back unharmed, things would be fine. That’s the way he would look at it. He would come alone.
Findo Gask hung up the receiver. A picture of how this business would end took shape. Newspaper headlines and television trailers scrolled through his mind. A family tragedy was sparked by jealousy and misunderstanding. Two men and a woman were involved, the latter a well-known athlete. Multiple killings of adults and children ensued. Murder and suicide made an unwelcome appearance in tiny Hopewell.
It would make for good reading in other cities.
-=O=-***-=O=-
”What are we going to do, John?” Nest repeated, a hint of desperation creeping into her voice.
Ross limped to the kitchen counter with the aid of his staff and leaned his backside against the lower cabinets, crossing his arms over his chest, embracing the staff possessively. His lean face was lined with fatigue, but his eyes were fierce.
“There’s something I haven’t told you,” he said after a moment’s reflection. “Not because I was trying to keep it from you or didn’t trust you, but because it didn’t have anything to do with you. Except that now it does. I told you that a dream led me to the gypsy morph. But I didn’t tell you what the dream was about. In the dream, a Knight of the Word was hung from a cross. Demons and once-men had crucified him. He was dying. Just before I woke, I saw his face. It was my own.”
He held up one hand to cut short her startled exclamation. “I wasn’t sure at first if the Knight on the cross was me or if I was just supposed to see myself in him. I was hoping I would learn the answer from the Lady when she summoned me to Wales two months ago. I didn’t, but I learned something more important. I learned that if I was successful in protecting the gypsy morph through its final transformation, I would be released forever from my commitment to the Word.”
“John!” she breathed.
He nodded.i”I know. I fought so hard for it ten years ago when it wasn’t permitted, and then it’s offered to me without my even having asked. I want it, Nest. I’ll admit that. I’ve seen too much, living in both the present and the future. I’m tired of death and chaos and destruction. I’m tired of fighting to stay alive. Hell, I’m just plain tired. I’ve been a Knight of the Word for twenty-five years. Half my life. It’s all I can remember anymore. It seems like the only existence I’ve ever known. I need to give it up. I need to rest.”
“But you can do that now!” she exclaimed quickly. “You’ve done what was asked of you. The morph hasn’t changed in days. Its time is almost up, and it’s still a little boy. It’s finished changing, isn’t it?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not sure. It hasn’t bonded with you the way I expected. It seems to be looking for something. I don’t know what, but the way it responded to you last night when Wraith came out suggests it’s still waiting for something to happen. It might be another change.”
She studied him a moment. “All right. So what do we do?”
“We let Findo Gask call us back and set up the exchange. We meet with him. We find a way to separate Harper from the demons. Your job is to get her safely out of there. Mine is to do what I can to save the morph.”
She walked to the kitchen window and looked out into the night. It was snowing heavily again, thick flakes drifting out of the clouded skies, a fresh blanket of white gathering over the earth. “They’ll be expecting something like that,” she said quietly.
“I know.”
“You’ll lose the morph anyway. And your life as well.”