Coletti and Mann ran out of the apartment and down the stairs. By the time they made it to the first floor, they could hear the sound of sirens filling the air as officers rushed to assist the patrolman who’d spotted one of the suspects.

They jumped into Coletti’s car just as the officer attempted to stop the suspect.

“Twenty-four eleven!” the officer yelled over the air. “I’ve got a foot pursuit! North on H Street from Cornwall!”

The radio erupted in chaos, and so did the streets. Coletti gunned the engine and rounded the corner, skidding onto H Street. Two patrol cars sped down the street in front of him. Three detectives rushed to the scene on foot. The van from narcotics fishtailed and nearly flipped.

As quickly as they all responded to the chase, none of them could prevent what happened next.

The sound of a shotgun blast split the air. A woman screamed. The chase stopped. A body hit the ground with a sickening thud.

It took only seconds for a crowd to gather at the scene. Coletti and Mann skidded to a stop, and Coletti jumped out first. Frantically, he pushed through the crowd, fearing that the officer had fallen victim to the blast. When he got to the center and saw what had happened, he almost felt like this was worse.

Falling to his knees, he looked to the heavens to ask God why. Then he looked down at a face too young for this fate.

“What’s your name?” Coletti asked, gazing at the young man who’d shot himself in the stomach.

“Gabe,” he said in a near whisper.

“Gabe,” Coletti repeated. “Where’s Steven?”

Gabe tried to speak again, but the blood was bubbling up in his throat. He managed to swallow most of it before uttering a few important words. “Steven left after he shot Phillip,” he said.

“Do you know where he went?” Coletti asked.

Gabe shook his head slowly.

“What about the man who got you to join the legion?” Coletti asked. “Can you tell me his name?”

“He’s not a man,” Gabriel said as a tear slid down his face. “He’s…an angel.”

Mann was standing behind them now, watching Coletti whisper to a boy who’d decided that freedom in death was better than bondage in life. He could almost see the grief in Coletti’s posture. But the grief didn’t stop Coletti from doing his job.

“Gabe,” Coletti said softly. “I need you to listen to me. Where can we find the angel who talked to you?”

Gabe winced as the blood pooled in his self-inflicted wounds. He started to shiver from the loss of blood, and Coletti took off his own jacket and placed it on top of the young man. Coletti knew it wouldn’t be long now, but he still needed to know one final thing.

“He told you to fight against evil, didn’t he?”