Chapters (15)
“Not good,” Tinker said. “There’s plenty of interference. Static. Weird whistling sounds. Voices, almost, like someone else on the line…”
“Let’s give it a shot,” the Angel said. “Call Babel.”
Tinker nodded and got on the radio, but it was worse than he’d said. All they could hear was a steady stream of sharp, staccato static with momentary instants of lucidity that produced a stray word or short phrase. Some words were not in Babel’s voice; some were not even in English or any earthly language.
The occasional burst of insane laughter added a frission that crawled up the Angel’s spine like a spider with icy feet.
“SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSScomeSSSSSSSSSSLohehenSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.fghtagnmwalwltSSSSSSSSSSSSHAHAHAHASSSSSSSSSSpleaseSSSSSSSSSSSSwrckggugghh…”
Tinker shut the radio down with a savage, jerky motion.
“It won’t get better,” he muttered.
“It won’t,” the Angel agreed quietly. She knew what she had to do. She didn’t want to do it. She knew, in her heart, that Billy would never want her to go alone and unsupported back into that hell but she knew sure as hellfire and damnation that he, himself, would be the first one in. “I got out once. I can do it again.”
She went around the back of the SUV and took out her duffel bag. She dumped all its contents on the ground. She divided her food and water into two piles, one twice the size of the other.
“You don’t have to do this,” Tinker said as Bugsy shuffled forward, eyeing the cache of food.
The Angel shook her head. “We all came on this journey together. You remain loyal to those you come with. Billy taught me that simple fact. If we can’t stand for each other, how can we stand against the Adversary?”
“The Adversary?”
“The Foe. The Enemy. The Devil.”
“There ain’t no Devil.”
“There assuredly is. I have seen him and I have battled him many times in his many forms. I have known him for many years, as have we all. In our own ways we rage against the Night. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here.”
Tinker nodded.
“Keep trying to raise Babel to let them know what kind of hell this place has become. But for God’s sake—get out if things get too dicey.”
“Don’t worry about us,” Tinker said.
She remembered the spider pack from the day before. “Here’s something important to tell HQ if you can get through. Tell them that I’ve seen things in Talas that I saw when Billy, John Fortune, and I had taken our ride with the Highwayman. Can you remember that?”
Tinker nodded. The Angel glanced at Bugsy, who was eyeing the stack of food on the ground. “Bugsy?”