"I saved your celestial ass the other night."
"You put me in that awful place."
"No. The Kissi did. Or did you forget about them?"
She pushes her fritter and coffee across the table.
"This food smells like death. I'm sure you love it. I don't think we have anything more to say to each other. I'm leaving."
"You going to hide and massacre me in the parking lot?"
"It's tempting."
"No, it's not, and here's why. I went to some people and I traded some things. Got myself a kill switch."
"What is that?"
"They have them on trains. Tractors. Some other equipment. It's a button the operator has to hold down for the machine to work. The operator has a heart attack and dies, he lets go of the button. The switch kills the engine and the machine stops. A kill switch."
"Are you thinking of becoming a train conductor?"
"Better. I'm keeping an eye on this." I take out a small wooden box I bought the day before, a pyx, and slide it across the table to her. "You know what that is. It's usually for a consecrated host, but I put something better inside. Take a look."
Aelita looks at me for a minute, and then touches the box. Probably doing some angel magic to see if it's poison or a bomb or a poison bomb. Finally, she opens it and looks inside. There's a tiny light on the bottom. So small, a human couldn't see it.
"What is this?"
"Look closer, angel. Don't you recognize it?"
She drops the box.
"A piece of the Mithras."
"That's right. A fragment of a fragment of a fragment. I put the rest in the Room of Thirteen Doors. As long as I'm alive, it's safe. But if you ever run me through with that sword again, the glass holding the Mithras will break and burn its way out through all thirteen doors."
"You're lying."
"You kill me and I'll torch this whole little puppet show. Then, when Heaven itself is burning, you can explain to your boss how it's all your fault."
"Even you aren't this mad."
"There's an easy way to find out."
I put the pyx in my pocket and get up. Slide her pastry and mine into the paper bag and roll it closed.
"You don't deserve a fritter."
I leave Aelita there in the booth with the sun coming through the window, thinking about doughnuts and the end of everything.
I DIAL DOC Kinski's number and he picks up.
"Damn. When did you start answering phones?"
"It's a recent and very temporary development. What can I do for you?"
"How's Candy doing?"
"Still a little overexcited. When someone falls off the murder wagon, it can take 'em a while to calm down."