“Yet you have none.”
“I have this gun. I have my enemy on her knees. I have the rest of you at my mercy.”
“You elders of Israel, have you not entered into a covenant with God that you never would betray one another? A covenant not to speak against the anointed.” He was quoting more of what he’d read, a statement made by one of the early church elders.
“Every Saint pledges that,” Salazar said. “We must stay together. We draw our strength from being together.”
“Yet you were surrounded by liars,” Stephanie said.
SALAZAR TRIED TO KEEP REALITY IN FOCUS, BUT TOO MUCH assaulted him. Luckily the angel had remained, watching, staying silent, allowing him time to think. He was angry at everyone, Cassiopeia included. Elder Rowan lay on the ground, his body still, almost certainly dead.
“Shedding human blood is necessary for the remission of sin,” the angel said. “The apostle sinned. He is with Heavenly Father now, happy, and will thank you one day. His tortured soul could only be saved through the shedding of his blood.”
He felt comforted by the knowledge.
Still, Rowan had been a chosen man.
Had he done wrong atoning him?
“Don’t be alarmed if there be curiosities in Zion. If I wished to find the best men in the world, I should go to Zion to find them. If I wished to find the biggest devil, I would also look in Zion. For among the people of God there I can find the greatest scamps.”
Which surely explained Rowan’s betrayal.
What now? he asked in his head, staring at the apparition.
His enemy still knelt before him.
“She must be atoned.”
He agreed.
“All of them must be atoned.”
Including Cassiopeia?
“Her most of all. She betrayed you to our enemies.”
“Salazar.”
Malone’s voice jarred him from the vision.
“It’s done.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is,” Cassiopeia said.
He swung the gun her way. “Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that. You have not earned the right to pass judgment on me, or anyone else.”
“Are you going to shoot me?” she asked.
“Atone her.”
“I can’t,” he called out. “I can’t.”
STEPHANIE WAS CONCERNED FOR CASSIOPEIA. SALAZAR WAS now not only seeing things, he was talking to them. There was no telling what he would do next. She assumed Luke and Cotton had things under control. They’d freely shed their weapons, which meant that at least one of them was still armed. She’d noticed how Cotton stayed close to Luke, keeping him to his right, in front of him, never far away.
That could not be unintentional.
And thankfully, in his present state Salazar was incapable of noticing anything.
CASSIOPEIA TOOK A STEP TOWARD JOSEPE.
He reacted by re-aiming the gun her way, his eyes alight with rage.
“Remember when we were young,” she said, her voice low. “When we were together. When you first loved me.”
“I think of it every day.”
“Those were innocent times. We can’t ever go back to them, but we can have something new and different. Lay down your gun and give this up.”
“The prophet commands me to fight.”
“There is no prophet here.”
“I wish you could see him. He’s so beautiful, bathed in light, full of goodness. He has never led me astray.”
“Josepe, they won’t hurt you if you’re unarmed.”
“They can’t hurt me.”
She stared at Cotton and the younger man. “I’m afraid they can. They’re just waiting for the chance to kill you.”
Not a hint of fear filled any of the eyes that watched her. Instead she read calculation in the cool gazes that came from all three professionals. Josepe was no match for them. They knew it. He didn’t.
“Please,” she said. “I beg you. None of them will shoot an unarmed man.”
Josepe seemed puzzled.
“Don’t you see,” she said. “They came here to kill you. Neither you, nor Rowan, was going to leave here alive.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because it was her job to lead you here,” Stephanie said.
LUKE CRINGED AT STEPHANIE’S WORDS. ON HER KNEES, WITH no weapon, but still on the offensive. Gotta give it to her. He formed a new respect for his boss.
“She’s only trying to antagonize you,” Cassiopeia said. “She can’t, if you lay down the weapon and surrender.”
“You have no power over me any longer.”
“Josepe, you have to listen. These people know what they’re doing. You’re not in control.”
“They don’t seem like a problem to me,” Salazar said. “Killing them would be easy.”
“Then do it,” Luke said.
“I might just blow your knees away and let you live as a cripple the rest of your life. That’s what you deserve. Death may be too good for any of you.”
“Does that include me?” Cassiopeia asked.
“Your thoughts are impure. Your motives tainted. You played with me years ago, and again over the past few days. So yes, it includes you.”
MALONE SPIED THE DISTANCE BETWEEN HIS RIGHT HAND AND the gun nestled at Luke’s spine. Eighteen inches. Tops. It rested facing away, making it easy for his hand to secure a grip. But that had to be done quickly and carefully, signaling nothing to Salazar. Cassiopeia had read their intentions. Thankfully, Salazar was confused enough to not know exactly who to believe.
“Josepe,” Cassiopeia said. “I want you to lay the gun down and come with me. You and I can work this through.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out. Don’t make it any worse. There’s no escaping here.”
Salazar chuckled. “You underestimate me. My two men are out there waiting. I think this is all of the government we’re going to see. I would imagine if there were more we would have seen them already.”
Salazar aimed the gun at Stephanie.
Cassiopeia stepped in between, daring him to fire.
Malone’s hand eased toward the gun.
“I’m not going to allow you to do this,” Cassiopeia said. “You’re going to have to shoot her through me.”
“I feel nothing for you,” Salazar made clear. “Not anymore.”
SALAZAR FOUGHT TO KEEP HIS COMPOSURE.
“She should expect no more protection from you than the wolf might find or the dog the shepherd finds killing the sheep. It is our duty to wipe all of the unclean from our midst. Let Heavenly Father deal with them.”
The angel glared at him.
“When a man prays for a thing, he ought to be willing to perform it himself.”
That he should.
“Kill them all. Start with the lying temptress.”
MALONE’S HAND WRAPPED AROUND THE GUN. HE FELT LUKE tense as his finger found the trigger. Cassiopeia had diverted Salazar’s attention enough to allow the move to go unnoticed.
“If you turn and trample the holy commandments of God,” Salazar said to Cassiopeia, “and break your sacred and solemn covenants, becoming traitors to the people of God, would you not be worthy of death?”
“You cannot do—”
“You have committed a sin that cannot be forgiven in this world.”
Salazar’s voice rose.
“Let the smoke ascend that the incense thereof may come before God as atonement for your sins.”
Malone heard the magic word.
Atonement.
His grip on the gun tightened, but he hadn’t yet freed it from Luke’s belt.
“Stop this,” Cassiopeia said. “Stop it now.”
“You are no different from Judas, who deceived and betrayed Jesus Christ.”
Salazar was yelling.
Working up courage.
“No different at all. The prophets say that we should suffer our bowels to be t
aken out before forfeiting the covenant we have made with God. Judas was like salt that had lost its saving principles, good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of man.”
He slid the gun free.
“One,” he whispered to Luke, his lips not moving.
“I love you, Josepe.”
Cassiopeia’s words sliced his heart.
Was it true, or simply designed to stand Salazar down?
“You’re not worthy of love,” Salazar bellowed back. “You are not to be believed.”