A Deafening Silence In Heaven - Thomas E. Sniegoski Page 0,64

and opened the blade to slice the pad of his thumb. Blood as black as tar bubbled up from the cut, and he allowed some of it to flow into the keyhole before sticking his thumb in his mouth to stanch the bleed. There was a loud click, and the lock fell away. He caught it in his other hand and jammed it into his pocket, then lifted the corrugated metal door to enter.

The unit was much larger on the inside than it appeared, an attribute for which he’d paid a magick user handsomely when he’d realized that his weapons collection was getting a bit out of hand. He flipped the switch on the wall next to him and fluorescent lights illuminated the cavernous space, filled with rows of metal shelving. Quickly, he slammed the door closed behind him.

Inside the space, surrounded by so many of the deadly things that he loved, the fallen angel began to think more clearly, formulating a plan that he hoped would save his friend’s life.

He reached into that bottomless inside pocket of his suit jacket and found his phone. He couldn’t remember the number off the top of his head, and truth to tell, he had never planned on using it again, but the current situation required him to rethink his past decisions.

He scrolled through his contacts, found the number he needed, and hit the button, listening to the phone ring on the other end for what seemed like forever.

“What do you want?” a voice dripping with angry venom finally growled into the phone.

“You have every right to hang up now, and I wouldn’t blame you,” Francis said quickly.

“You’ve got some nerve calling here after what you did to her,” the voice said.

Francis imagined the guy on the other end snarling, his face twisted with anger.

“You’re right, I do, and I would never even think of doing it if it wasn’t an emergency.”

“Emergency,” the voice scoffed. “I bet.”

“I need her again.”

“No. No way. I’m still paying the price for the last time.”

“I’m sorry, but you know it couldn’t have been helped; there was a situation, and things got out of hand.”

The person on the other end of the phone laughed, but there wasn’t any humor in it. “A situation . . . Do you know what I’ve had to do to get her back to running right?”

“I offered to buy her from you.”

“I could never sell her—especially to you. She hasn’t been the same since.”

“Difficult to manage?”

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

“Doesn’t sound like it,” Francis commented. “Sounds like she’s become quite the handful. I think maybe she got a taste of the wild stuff and liked it more than you care to admit.”

“Don’t you worry about me; she gets more than enough.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“I think this call is done,” the voice said, but there was a hint of something hidden beneath the angry timbre. Something that told Francis that it might not be so difficult to get what he wanted.

“Are you sure?”

“About what?”

“That you want this call to end . . . that you want me to hang up and leave you with—her.”

“She’s been with me for years; why would I have—”

“Admit it,” Francis said. “She’s never been this bad.”

There was a long pause. “And that’s all your fault,” the man finally spat. “If it weren’t for you taking her on that ride—”

“She wouldn’t be so hard to manage,” Francis finished. “She’s getting to be too much, isn’t she?”

Again the man was silent, but this time, Francis could hear the rumbling of a powerful engine in the background.

“Let me take her again,” Francis said, hoping to further weaken an already weak resolve. “It will do her good, and it sounds as though it might do you some good as well.”

“But . . . but what if she comes back . . . worse?” the voice asked, a tremble of fear evident.

“How much worse could she get, really?” Francis asked. “But if it does happen, I promise I’ll help you with her. Do we have a deal?”

“I can’t fucking believe I’m even considering this,” the man on the other end of the phone growled.

The sound of the engine seemed louder now.

“But you are,” Francis said. “And to show what a nice guy I am, I’ll pay you double what I did before. . . .”

“Double?”

“Yeah, and I’ll do my best not to spoil her. Do we have a deal?”

All Francis could hear now was the sound of the engine, rumbling like the purr of some