Chapter: 15

"The Third Heaven"

Sagun or Shehaquim

The 3rd heaven is unique for many reasons. According to Enoch, hell
lies within the northern boundaries of the third heaven. Sagun (or
Shehaqim) is ruled over by Archangel Anahel and three subordinate
saraim: Jagniel, Rabacyel, and Dalquiel, and is the residence for
Archangel Azrael, the Islamic Angel of death.

The northern region of this heaven has a river of flame that flows
through the land of cold and ice, here the wicked are punished by the
angels.

The southern lands are a bountiful paradise, thought to be the Garden
of Eden, where the souls of the righteous will come after death. Two
rivers, the river of milk and honey and the river of wine and oil
flow here. This heaven if where the "Tree of Life can be found. The
beautiful celestial garden is where all perfect souls go after death
and is guarded by 300 angels of light. It was also recorded that the
entrance to this heaven is a gate of gold.

http://www.steliart.com/angelology_7_heavens.html

Chris awoke to bright light blinding him. He squinted, trying to
diffuse the pain that was throbbing behind his eyes.

As his eyes finally were able to focus and images became clearer, he
realized that the light was coming from a light fixture directly
overhead. He blinked several times to wash away the crust that
seemed to have formed on the outer rim of his eyes and looked around
his surroundings.

He saw that he was in his hideaway apartment on the outskirts of the
Vegas Strip known as Sagun or the Third Heaven to the Celestial
organization. Not many people knew of this place, especially not
anyone outside of the seven. He knew was safe here for at least a
little while until he could get his head together.

He got up from the bed he was lying on and almost fell back when a
sharp pain stab him in his right side. He looked down and saw his
blood flowing freely down his side to pool upon the white sheet of
the bed. He had been slashed by something sharp and he did not
remember how or when it had happened.

He grabbed his head in bewilderment, hoping to still the beating drum
that was now resounding within his skull. After a while it subsided
to a softly thumping rhythm that he could basically ignore and he
tried to remember what happened.

The last thing he remembered was taking his leave of Lucien via an
Ezra trick and hitching a ride with one Queen Bea, a known Madame of
the Vegas Strip.

Queen Beatice Santiago was a lean, slightly older Latina who drove a
1965 Ford Mustang convertible as her chariot to patrol her kingdom.

In fact, Queen Bea was also known for her addictions like Larabee to
exotic cars and antiques. Chris had met her a few months after the
death of his family during one of his jaunts to a private auction of
exotic cars in San Francisco.

Of course, back then he no idea who she was, even though he had heard
of the infamous Madame who practically owned the Vegas Strip industry
of prostitution outside of DeCorsia's share.

It was much later when he and Buck were invited to one of Marco's big
shindigs that he had discovered his faux pas situation of Beatice
Santiago and Queen Bea being the same person.

He also found out that DeCorsia left her alone as long as he got his
41% cut of the profits.

Since that night in San Francisco, they had remained best of friends
and as their paths crossed regularly, they always made an effort to
try and renew that night.

Queen Bea was a safe confidant as far as Archangel Michael was
concerned. As safe as Vin, Buck or anyone of the boys of his team
was. He had saved her girls more than once from the cruel and
psychotic advances of Marco and his men. Queen Bea had owed him and
in the business that they were in, you never left a debt unpaid.

Archangel Michael condition did not go unnoticed by Queen Bea. She
did not succeed in the business she was in by being dense. She saw
the blood stain that was slowly developing on the right side of his
shirt and although she never asked him about it, it still worried her.

She said, "I never asked, Mike, I will not ask now. All I will say
is that you take care of yourself and I advise you to get someone to
watch your back."

Chris looked at her hard as he was about to exit the car. "Now, why
would you say that, Queen?"

"Let's just say considering the fact that you are bleeding all over
my immaculate white car seat and that there have been some people
asking around about your whereabouts, you need to be real careful."

"And what did you tell these people?" questioned Chris, glaring
angrily at her.

"Mike, you wound me deeply," she answered touching the place where
her heart was. "I owe you a lot and if playing deaf, dumb and blind
helps to repay that debt, then so be it." She smiled at him
wickedly. "Plus, where else can I get a good lay when I want one."

Chris smiled back coldly, his green eyes dancing with
iniquity. "Well, Queen, you do throw one hell of a party," he said
laughingly as he stepped out of the car. "Take care of yourself."

"You too, Mike," she said as she drove away towards the setting sun.

It was at this point that all Chris could remember was getting into
the apartment and unceremoniously crashing onto the bed still dressed
in the same clothes.

But he still for the life of him could not remember how acquired the
wound. His memory still had holes in it and it did not bode well for
him.

He knew that the others would sooner or later find his safe haven and
he knew then that Marco's men would not be far behind. He needed to
move on to his next alternative site before then. Trying to keep the
others safe and keep himself out of Marco's hands was becoming
extremely difficult.

His only regret was in the fact that he had watched as Lucien had
returned to the room at the motel only to be captured by his own men.

He knew Lucien was only trying to help, but unfortunately, he was a
liability to Chris' plans. He just hoped that the others would not
be too hard on the young man. He was a good agent once and all in
all, he was still considered a friend. The problem is that he had
returned at an inopportune moment. He would resolve the issue later.

Right now, though, he was currently bleeding all over the floor and
the bed of "Third Heaven" and the precious life giving liquid was
slowly being depleted from his body. He felt the light-headiness and
thirst increasing with every drop of blood that left his body.
Already the room had seemed awfully hot and he was sweating
profusely. He swiped at a drop of sweat that fell into his eyes and
wondered how long he would last before he would black out.

He staggered over to the one bureau in the room and pulled out a
handkerchief, which he used to press upon the wound in his side. The
instantaneous of pain crippled him and he bent over at the waist,
grabbing onto the edge of the bed. His breathing became rapid and he
felt as if he could not catch his breath. He knew he was on the
verge of passing out, but he could not afford to at this moment.

With cautiousness and precision, he walked over to the bed and gently
laid himself upon it. He thought that maybe if he rested for a
while, he could regain some of his strength. Still holding onto the
blood-soaked cloth to his side, Chris realized that he could not stay
conscious for very much longer.

But that would be the least of his problems, for he did not hear the
front door of the apartment open or the clicking of heels on the
linoleum floors that was approaching the bedroom in which he was
lying in. His green eyes so full of pain were becoming heavy and
although the mind was willing, the body was weakening. He could not
hold them open much longer.

As they were about to close, he saw the form a person appear in the
corner of his sight, just out of the way of his peripheral vision.

"Who's there?" queried Chris frantically, fearing that DeCorsia had
found his hiding place.

The person moved closer to the bed, kneeling down to become eye to
eye in front of Chris.

The blond leader gasped in shock. "Nadia?"

"Hello, Christopher. So good to see you again," said Nadia, touching
his face tenderly. "You don't look so well, dear. Looks like you got
a bit of trouble here."

"How did…did you…find me?"

"Oh, Christopher, my darling. I have never stopped looking for you,"
she answered, kissing him gently upon the forehead. "Don't worry,
Christopher. I am here to take care of you."

"No…no, you're…working for Marco!"

"That's where you are wrong, my darling. I don't work for Marco.
Marco works for me," said Nadia chuckling softly.

Suddenly, a young black man came walking into the bedroom.

"There are no others in the place, Mrs. DeCorsia."

"That's Miss Diaz, Devon," replied Nadia, glaring angrily at her
henchman.

"Yes, Miss De…I mean, Miss Diaz."

Nadia returned to Chris who was progressively losing
consciousness. "Hey, Chris," she said, tapping him gently on the
cheek. "Stay with me, lover."

Chris' hazel eyes re-focused onto Nadia's face, but it was becoming
difficult.

"Where's your handsome friend? Huh?"

"What…what are you…t…talking about?"

"Your friend and lover, Archangel Gabriel?"

"Vin? What would…you want with…Vin…for?"

"Let's just say that I need some type of incentive."

"Incentive…incentive…for what?" asked Chris, trying to catch his
breath. It was getting harder and harder to breath.

Nadia noticed how pale Chris was becoming and she knew she was
running out of time. She turned to the direction of the other men
who were busily scrounging the other rooms. "Devon! John! Sean!
Get in here quick!"

She heard faint, yes, Miss Diaz coming from outside the room as the
men hurriedly came to do her bidding.

She then turned back to Archangel Michael and said, "We will have to
discuss this later, my love. For now it seems that you're not well
and although there were times when I said I wanted you dead, that was
not true."

She then turned back towards the doorway to find her three men
standing awaiting her instructions. "Devon, you and Sean pick him up
and carry him to the limo. John, call Dr. Gustafen. Have him meet
us at the house."

"Yes, Miss," replied John as went to the phone that was in the living
room. It was the last thing Chris had heard as he finally gave up to
the darkness, his strength now totally spent.

Nadia stood aside while the two men picked up the unconscious blond
agent to carry him to their car waiting outside.

Once they were gone, Nadia picked up the black bag that was lying
next to bed. She opened it up and looked quickly inside. A huge
smile came over her face. "Well, well, my love. It seems we have
been a bad boy. That would explain a lot."

She then closed the bag and went to follow the others out of the
house.

Nadia took her place in the back of the car with the unconscious
Christopher Michael Larabee, holding his head in her lap so that he
could lie down comfortable in the stretch limousine. Devon rode up
front in the passenger seat next to the driver. John and Sean got
into the other car, which was parked behind them.

"Home, James," she said with a smile at the driver. The driver
nodded back that he understood, although James was not his name. But
no one questioned Nadia.

Nadia then leaned down, kissing the blond man that was lying on her
legs and said, "We're going home, Christopher. Just where you always
belonged."

She chuckled silently as the cars sped towards the setting sun and
the Vegas downtown area.


**********************************************************************


Chapter: 16

"The Fourth Heaven"

Machanon or Machen

The 4th heaven Machanon it is ruled by Archangel Michael, "Is the
site of the heavenly Jerusalem, the holy Temple and its Altar"
(Godwin, p. 122). It is here that, according to Enoch, that the
Garden of Eden is actually housed, not in the third heaven. It is
said to house the city of Christ and is the native seat of the
angels. St. Paul's Apocalypse describes it as " It was all gold, and
12 walls encircled I and there were 12 walls inside. There were 12
gates of great beauty in the circuit of the city and 4 rivers
encircled it. There was a river of honey and a river of milk and a
river of wine and a river of oil. "

http://www.steliart.com/angelology_7_heavens.html

As Archangel Gabriel rose up to consciousness, five of his senses
came alive instantly. He eyes focused and he found himself looking
into a pair of green, mischievous eyes and realized that he was still
at Machanon, the 4th heaven, as it was referred to by the seven, which was

Chris’ ranch. No one outside of the group knew of these names. Even

Chief Travis did not know. It came in handy when they wanted to secretly

signal where to meet. They would refer to one of the heavens and each of them
would know where to go.

"Ezra?"

"Mr. Tanner," said Ezra Standish, acknowledging that the tracker was awake.

"It is good to see you have revived from your therapeutic libations."

"Ah, I guess, uh…what?"

"How was your rest?" Vin noticed that he held a cup and assumed
since it was morning that it was coffee.

"Oh. I guess it was fine. Ya got anymore of that?"

"Oh, indeed I do," answered Ezra, passing him a cup from the
nightstand besides the bed. "I wagered Nathan that you would be
waking up soon and would be in dire need of some liquid rejuvenation."

"'Preciate it." He grabbed the cup, as he sat up straighter against
the backboard of the bed. He then took a tentative sip of hot liquid
and let it soothe the ache within his throat and head.

Once he had taken enough of the healing black elixir to feel human
again, he asked the question which was currently plaguing
him. "Where is everyone?"

"Mr. Jackson, Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Wilmington are still in conference
with our wayfaring angel, Lucien Caymen. The adolescent, Mr. Dunne,
is currently working at narrowing down places that Mr. Larabee might
abscond to and keeping Chief Travis at bay. And as you can see, I am
attending to a young bull-headed gentleman with a concussion and
damaged ribs that did not want to rest."

Vin rubbed weary blue eyes and when they finally refocused on the
gambler, he glared at him knowing there was something that he left
out of the conversation.

"So, I guess that means that Lucien ain't told them anythin' about
where Chris is, huh?"

"To tell you the truth, Mr. Tanner, I do not believe that Mr. Caymen
knows any information in conjunction with the whereabouts of Mr.
Larabee. He seems to be just as much in the preverbal dark as we
are."

"Ya really think so?"

"Yes. I do, Mr. Tanner. I think Mr. Caymen has under estimated Mr.
Larabee's resourcefulness. I think we all have. We have been trying
to find a man we know and he no longer exists," answered Ezra,
looking thoughtfully into the blackness of his cup.

Vin knew that Ezra was talking about how Chris had changed. Vin knew
you could not track something that changed its nature so quickly and
efficiently. It was just impossible.

"So, Ez," started Vin as he took another sip of his coffee. "What do
ya have in mind?"

Ezra smiled, as a ray of sunlight from the window seeped into the
room, alighting his gold tooth like a jewel.

"Well, my dear distinguished Mr. Tanner. I think that we should join
our companions in their conference with Mr. Caymen. I have something
that I think will persuade our errant seraph to see things our way
and assist us in our pursuit of our absconder, Mr. Larabee."

"And why Ezra, would ya think Lucifer would be of any help to us,
considerin' he knows as much as we do about the whereabouts of Chris?"

"Let's just say that Lucien or Lucifer, as you like to call him,
probably has more insight into the realm that our illustrious leader
has decided to escape to. Just look at the motel he was residing
at? Our Mr. Larabee would not be caught dead staying at the
habitation that we just came from, unless he was on a stake out or
undercover. And he most certainly would not, if he was in his right
mind, associate with Devil's Own."

"He would if he had another reason."

Both Vin and Ezra turned to see Buck leaning casually against the
opened bedroom door.

"And what does that suppose to mean, Mr. Wilmington?"

"It means that you don't know who really Lucien is," said Josiah, as
he also entered the bedroom, taking a stance next to the chair that
Ezra occupied.

"And, who might that be…?" queried Vin.

"Lucien is Chris' half brother!" shouted JD, who came running out of
breath into the room. He had almost knocked Buck down trying to plow
through the two big men who stood in front of the doorway.

"What?" Ezra was shocked by this revelation.

"Ya not serious?" questioned Vin.

"JD's right," replied Buck. "Although I still don't understand how
you found that out, considering it's not common knowledge. But,
yeah, Lucien is Chris' half-brother. Chris' father had an affair
with another woman and Lucien was the result of that relationship."

"Wow!" said JD, his mouth open in astonishment.

"JD, close your mouth, boy. Ya starting to look like you got
lockjaw," came Buck's comment as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Ya knew this, Buck, didn't ya?"

Buck knew Vin was making a statement, not a question.

"Yeah, I did, Vin. I met Lucien about five years after me and Chris
became good friends."

"Five years after?" inquired Josiah. "Why five years?"

"Well, Chris didn't know about Lucien until that time."

"He didn't?" JD was curious as to how Chris did not know that he had
a brother out there somewhere. He, being an only child, had always
wished for a sibling. Not to be alone in this cruel world. But his
mother had just lived long enough to give birth to JD.

But then he remembered that he was not alone. He had six companions
who were more than friends. In fact, he could say he had six
brothers who watched each other's backs and that was enough family
for anyone.

"He did not know about Lucien until he was fifteen years old."

Now it was Josiah's turn to interrupt. "You mean the relationship
went on that long?"

"From my previous conversations with Chris, it would have probably
gone on for longer, had it not been for the death of Marie Caymen,
Lucien's mother."

"How did she die, Buck?" asked Vin. He knew he was asking Buck a lot
by recounting Chris' secret past. But he needed to know everything
in order to help his friend. They all did.

"Don't know, Vin. Chris never told me. All he said was that he had
found out he had a brother. The reason why I know that Marie
Caymen had died was because Chris' father took him to her funeral to
be introduced to his half-brother Lucien."

"Oh, lord. How could his father do such a thing to such a young
boy?"

They turned to find Nathan standing in the hallway.

"Nathan? Who's guarding Lucien?" asked Josiah surprised.

"He's handcuffed to the bed frame. Unless he can find a saw he ain't
going anywhere. Besides, Ariel's in there with him," answered
Nathan, smiling broadly.

"You know you are a very cruel man, Mr. Jackson."

"As long as he behaves himself, there should be no problems, Ezra. I
came here to tell you that we could hear every word in the next
room. In fact, Lucien was getting pissed off, although I don't
understand why."

"It might be because he's hearing Buck recount his family secrets,"
declared Vin. Vin also assumed that Lucien was upset about the
secrets of his family being discussed without his family's knowledge
or consent, which meant he was more like Chris than he was willing to
admit.

"You still did not answer my question, Buck."

"Well, Nate, to tell the truth, Chris and his father never got
along. His father was always in the streets, trying to pawn his get-
rich-quick schemes to anyone who would listen, while in the meantime,
Chris' mother was slowly dying inside out from drug abuse."

"No wonder Mr. Larabee is so guarded about his past. It would seem
that his childhood was not as paternal as he makes it out to have
been," noted Ezra. Ezra knew about not having such a supportive home
life. His mother had pawned him off to relatives, one after another,
while she worked her confidence jobs.

"It was the reason why Chris and I hit the streets. You come home
to a drug addictive mother and no good father all the time, why
bother living at home. Lucien was the lucky one. He had one decent
parent at least for part of his life. Marie Caymen from what I was
told was the most gentle, loving, caring mother any son would wish to
have. Unfortunately, she was Lucien's and not Chris'."

JD turned with, "And Chris grew up with this all of his life?"

"Did Chris' mother know of the indiscretion of her husband?"

"No, Ezra. She never did. She was too high most of the time to even
know she had a son who was in the streets most of the time. When
Chris' mother finally died on an overdose of heroin, he was really
screwed up then. He took to the streets like a fish to water. He
never forgot about his baby brother and made provisions for him. He
even paid his way through college, unfortunately, it did not keep him
out of trouble and he ended following our path to crime."

"But you and Chris changed. You were given a second chance by the
Chief."

"Yes, we were, Josiah. But Lucien's second chance was given away
when Nadia entered our lives."

"Ah, yes," nodded Ezra in deep thought. "The infamous Nadia Diaz,
now Nadia DeCorsia."

The others turned to look at him in astonishment and disbelief.

Ezra looked up at them with innocent eyes. "What?"

Vin gave him a Larabee glare. "Nadia Diaz is related to Marco
DeCorsia?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you about that?"

"No, you didn't, Ezra," said Josiah, annoyance crossing his face
slowly. None of them knew about Nadia being related to DeCorsia.
This was bad. Chris was related to the devil's own and now Nadia was
related to one of the worst demons of hell. It could not get any
better as far as Josiah was concerned.

"I apologize for my omission of the fact that Nadia Diaz marital
status was one to, Sergio DeCorsia, Marco's brother," explained Ezra
quickly. "But of course, you know, he's dead."

"And that means what…?" probed Buck.

"I do not…exactly…know. In fact, I'm a little confused," responded
Ezra.

Vin was stunned at that fact that anything could confuse Ezra. "Well,
we need to find out and fast. I have a feelin' that Chris is in the
middle of it all somehow." He then started to raise himself off of
the bed, but was quickly pushed back down by numerous hands.

"Oh, no, you don't, son," said Josiah.

"There ain't no way I'm letting you get up out of the bed right now,
Vin," stated Nathan authoritatively. "You need to rest and heal."

"But Chris needs help more than I do. Nate, can drug addictiveness
be hereditary?"

Nathan looked at the others, one by one; each of them knew what Vin
was thinking.

"Nathan?"

"Well, Addictive disorders or diseases tend to be hereditary.
Currently there are ways being researched in order to isolate the
genes that influence vulnerability to alcoholism and substance
dependence. So far though, there has been no real evidence or
breakthrough as of yet. But you know, Vin, addictive disorders can
come from other areas such as personality issues and environment
issues."

"But wouldn't ya say with Chris it's probably hereditary considerin'
his mother?"

"I can't say that, Vin. He could be more disposed to its influence
because of his environment as a child, but since we don't have Chris
here, it would be guessing. He would need to be evaluated."

Vin understood Nathan's hesitancy at labeling Chris' condition. The
man was a highly respected agent in the organization. He was also a
parolee based on what Buck had told them which meant his drug use
could put him back into prison.

"Tell you what," interrupted Buck. "Why don't we find him first,
huh?"

Vin knew Buck was trying to change the subject and Vin decided to go
along with it, for time being. But sooner or later they needed to
deal with what could have caused such a drastic change in a person in
the first place.

"Ya right, Buck. We need to find him and fast."

"I believe another in depth conversation is in order with Mr. Caymen,
don't you think so?" suggested Ezra.

"Yeah, I think you just might have an idea there, son," replied
Josiah, as he turned and headed for the door.

"And just where do you think you're going?" asked Nathan.

"To have a conversation with a devil," he replied, walking out the
door towards the guest bedroom.

Vin and Buck both started to rise from the bed, but they suddenly
stopped when they noticed that Nathan was glowering at them angrily
from his position near the door.

"And you two?"

"You let Josiah go," said Buck giving his best childish moan.

"Mr. Wilmington, I think it best you and JD get in contact with Chief
Travis. I'm sure he's wondering what is going on with Mr. Larabee
and it would prevent you from damaging our only lead into locating
our lost soul."

"Ezra, now why would you think that I would…?"

"Ah, ah, ah, Mr. Wilmington," said Ezra, shaking his finger at him.

"Alright. But I don't like it!" He and JD then walked out of the
room towards the living room that was designated as the war room.

"And as for you…" started Nathan as he walked towards the bed and
Vin. "It's time for you to get some rest. We'll wake you as soon as
we have anything concrete." He fluffed up Vin's pillow and gently
pushed the young sniper back on to the bed.

Vin knew he was not going to win this argument. He knew that his
friends were only trying to make sure that he stayed healthy. But he
also knew that his best friend was in trouble and that worried him
more than his own pain. He would go along with them, but there was
no way that a bunch of city boys were going to keep a good country
boy down.

*********************************************************************************************

Chapter: 17

The Fifth Heaven

Mathey or Machon

The 5th heaven Mathey is the seat/home of God, Aaron, and the Avenging Angels.
The beautiful southern region is where God can be found while the northern boundaries are said to be ruled by Metatron's twin brother Archangel Sandalphon or Samael (Camael, Chamuel). This region was like a great void of fire and smoke, which had no firm ground above or below.

A terrible desolate place where it is said the fallen Grigori (watchers) angels who sinned and cohabited with woman were imprisoned;

In the southern regions, on the other hand, reside the ministering angels who endlessly change the praises of the Lord.

http://www.steliart.com/angelology_7_heavens.html

* * * * *

Lucien’s subconscious slowly became aware of something wet and sticky dripping upon his face. He tried to raise his right hand to swipe at it from where he lay, but for some reason he was unsuccessful in his attempt.

As his mind now became clearer, he realized that it would probably be best if he opened his eyes so that he would be in a better position to judge his current surroundings.

As his blue eyes opened and became focused, they came to rest upon the ugliest face he had ever seen. Of course it belonged to a Doberman by the name of Ariel.

“Ariel, you mangy mutt, get off of me!” exclaimed Lucien, pushing the huge dog off the bed.

The Doberman seem not to have any inclination to move off the bed, but further ingrained himself into Lucien’s ribs.

“I don’t know why Michael ever adopted this dog!” said Lucien to no one in particular.

“He protects outcasts and underdogs,” said a deep voice off to the side of the room.

Lucien craned his head to look on the other side and found Josiah Sanchez sitting in a chair on the other side of the bed.

“What do you want, Josiah?” asked Lucien, rubbing his eyes.

“How was your rest, my son?”

“I’m not your son.”

“No. You’re not. But you are Chris’ brother.”

“Well, I knew it wouldn’t take Buck long to blab to the whole world.”

“It wasn’t exactly Buck. You see we have JD and JD is very good at what he does, especially when it comes to retrieving information. Especially, when it comes to information that is very sensitive and off limits. It was one of the reason why he was sent to Juvie when he was younger,” responded Josiah, a small smile forming on his face.

“And where did Michael find you, Josiah?”

“That my dear, Lucien, is another story.”

“I figured as much. Michael has a bad habit of picking up strays,” replied Lucien snidely.

“Those strays are what keeps Chris going, Lucien and you were one of them, if you remember.”

“I remember, Josiah. I also remember that he choose his friends over his own brother! I remember the pain of betrayal and I remembered the agony of watching your only kin throw you to the wolves!” yelled Lucien angrily.

“You still holding Chris responsible for your indiscretions, Lucien?” asked a male voice off towards the doorway.

Lucien and Josiah turned to see Archangel Buck “Chamuel” Wilmington leaning up against the opened bedroom door.

Buck glared at the younger version of Archangel Michael. He and Lucien were like oil and vinegar. They never could agree on anything and when it came specifically to Christopher Michael Larabee, it was all out and out war between the two.

There was several times where Lucien tried to see what his brother saw in Buck Wilmington. He knew they shared a mysterious and dark past, but he did not know what that past consisted of. He did know that his brother was fond of Wilmington and he knew that nothing he could do or say would change that. He also knew it did not only apply to this tall moustache man, but to all of the seven of his group. But secretly, Lucien only wished it applied to himself too.

“Indiscretions? I think not, Buck. I consider them my brother’s faux pas.”

“You know, Lucifer, one day you will admit your mistakes. When you do, I think your brother will be willing to take you back into the fold.”

Lucien laughed loudly. “You think I want back into the fold, Buck? To become an Archangel again after I was pushed out of paradise?”

“I believe that your statement is inaccurate, Mr. Caymen,” responded Ezra as he stepped in the room and into the fray of the conversation.

“And how’s that, Ezra?”

“You were never pushed out of paradise, Mr. Caymen. You deemed it more beneficial to join Miss Diaz in Hell,” answered Ezra, taking a stance to the side of Josiah’s chair.

Lucien snickered at the comment. They thought he had left with Nadia on his own accord. At this point, he also determined that his brother must also think the same thing. Very well, then, if that was what they thought, then so be it. He would not waste his energy trying to justify his actions to them nor to his brother. His only concern at this moment was saving his brother’s life, no matter how much he thought his brother hated him.

“Whatever,” replied Lucien dispassionately. “Now, why don’t you three get to the point before tomorrow. My current position is very uncomfortable at the moment.” He pulled on the handcuff and rattled it to make sure that they understood his meaning.

“The point is we want Chris Larabee and you are our only lead as to his whereabouts,” explained Josiah.

“And what makes you think I know anything?”

“Because you have seen the inner sanctum of the DeCorsia family. You have been deeper than any of us, including Chris,” stated Ezra.

Lucien smiled peevishly at the trio. “Sorry to burst your bubbles, but that is not true.”

“It’s not true that you have information on the world of DeCorsia?”

“It’s not true that I know more than Michael…Chris, when it comes to the DeCorsia family.”

Josiah, Buck and Ezra looked at the young blond confused.

“Michael is an expert when it comes to DeCorsia. What do you think he has been doing these past few months, huh?”

They turned to each other, not knowing how to respond to Lucien’s insinuations.

“Michael has been back lot dealing with the DeCorsias. He is very close to the father of the family.”

“But he and Marco are enemies,” said Buck, surprised by this information.

“Yeah, duh, so what! Marco and his father are enemies but it doesn’t stop them from doing business. Michael has been playing the game and from what I have seen, he plays it really well.”

“I don’t believe you! Chris would never get in bed with these guys. At least not without a good reason!” exclaimed Buck, pacing the room angrily.

“Buck, calm down,” said Josiah.

“Listen Josiah, do you understand what he’s saying about Chris?”

“I heard him, Buck, but you need to calm down. Getting all riled up will not help Chris in anyway.”

“Josiah is indubitable correct, Mr. Wilmington. This will in no way aid in our quest to find our lost Mr. Larabee,” interrupted Ezra.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass, Ezra. I just want to find Chris. I promised Sarah that I would take care of him and right now I’m doing a poor piss job of it,” explained Buck, his eyes showing how the missing blond was breaking his friend’s heart.

Lucien saw the pain and anguish in those eyes and realized that maybe there were other people who cared about the older blond Archangel. Michael was his brother, but he was also in some way a brother to these men. The ice-cold heart of the disgraced Archangel opened to the light. He decided he would assist these men in finding his brother and after they had retrieved the wayward Archangel, he would then plan his next steps in the process of turning his brother to his cause.

“What do you want to know?” he asked reluctantly.

“Tell us about Nadia Diaz and how she fits into the DeCorsia family business,” requested Josiah.

Lucien sighed and then took a deep breath to relate to them what he knew about Nadia Diaz and the DeCorsia family business. He especially did not like relating to them the actions of his naughty brother for he knew it might change the way they looked at him when he returned.

* * * * * *

Queen Bea was glad about her decision to not leave after she had dropped Archangel Michael off at the two-story apartment on Desert Drive. She knew the other apartment in the building belonged to one, Buck “Archangel Chamuel” Wilmington, the Vegas madam’s best friend. She also knew that he was not home. If he was the thin, Latina woman would have been invited into the building without preamble.

She watched the strange black woman and the four men put Archangel Michael into the back of a black limo and drive off towards downtown Vegas. She knew it was trouble and although the Archangels never assisted in her business ventures, they never interfered and they also had helped her girls out more than once when they were backed against the wall with dangerous johns.

She picked up her cell phone and dialed the number to the Larabee Ranch.

The phone rang three times before someone picked it up.

“Yello? Larabee’s Residence, your dime, my time. Speak!”

“JD, is that you?”

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“Queen Bea, honey. I’m looking for Buck. Got some real interesting information for him.”

“Buck’s kind of busy right now, Queenie. Why don’t I just give him a message, hmm?”

“No, JD. I need to speak to Buck. It’s about Michael.”

At the mention of the name, Queen Bea heard JD dropped the phone with a clatter. She knew he was probably hurrying to get Buck Wilmington on the phone. It was not a long wait.

“Hey, Queenie, Buck here.”

“Hey, Buck. How’s they hanging?”

“Just fine, Queenie. JD said you have some information for me about Chris?”

“Si, mi amigo. Not too long ago I picked Michael up not far from Waverly and South Side. I dropped him off at the apartment.”

Buck knew the apartment that Queen Bea spoke about was the only one that she knew of in Vegas. It was their other safe house and also where he and JD currently resided.

“How was he? Did he say anything to you?”

“I’ll tell you, Buck, he didn’t look too good. He was bleeding real badly and he was pale. It looked like someone marked him but good. He was nervous and concerned about anyone knowing he was there. I mean really concerned, almost to the point of being paranoid. I’ve never seen Michael like that. It was kind of spooky and weird.”

“Thanks, Queenie. Well, be leaving for the apartment right now,” said Buck excitedly. He was about to hang up when he heard Queenie’s shout.

“Hey, Buck! Don’t hang up! There’s more!”

Buck put the receiver back to his ear again. “Like what?”

“After I dropped him off, I didn’t leave. As a matter of fact, I’m still here. I decided to stick around cause I figured that Michael seemed to be in a lot of trouble and might need some lookin’ out for.”

Buck smiled. He knew how much Queen Bea was infatuated with Chris. She thought of him as a sexy lay and would love to get into the man’s pants. But he knew that currently Chris was too obsessed with revenge to think of anything else.

“That’s nice of you, Queenie. You’re a real friend.”

“Well, so is Michael to us ladies. But let me finish. Right after Michael goes into the apartment about an hour later I see these two limos pull up. A lady and three men step out and go into the apartment. About a half hour later, they come out draggin’ Michael between them. They put Michael in the limo with the woman and then they take off. They were headed back to the Strip,” described Queenie.

“Queenie, now listen very carefully. Do you remember what the woman looked like?”

Queen Bea when on to describe the woman in detail and the men that was with her.

“Damn!” cried out Buck.

“What is it, Buck?” inquired JD, now worried about the information Queenie was revealing to Buck.

“Do you know them?” came Queen Bea’s question on the phone.

“Yeah. I most certainly do. Listen, thanks for everything, Queenie. You get yourself home, okay.”

“Si, no problemo, Buck. Take care of that man for me, si?”

“I will, senorita,” replied Buck and placed the receiver back on to the cradle.

“Buck, what did she say?”

“She said that she picked up Chris and dropped him off at the apartment.”

“Mathey?”

“Yeah. She said that Chris was bleeding bad from a knife wound.”

“Aw, Hell. We better tell Nathan then,” said JD as he started to walk towards the room that held Nathan and Vin.

“Wait, Kid,” said Buck quickly, grabbing him by the arm. “She also said that a woman and three men came and took him away. From what she described it sounded like Nadia.”

“Shit!”

“You got that right. Listen, go get Nathan and tell him to join us in the other room with Lucien. I got to tell the others this little tidbit. We need a plan fast.”

“What about Vin?”

“Leave him be. The boy refuses to admit he’s hurting and in the condition he’s in he’s not much help to us now.”

“But you know if you leave Vin out of this he’s gon’na be pissed.”

“I know, JD. But right now if I let something happen to him too, when we do catch up with Chris, he’ll shoot so many holes in me, you’re gon’na be able to blow Dixie through me,” he said smiling gently.

JD knew he was right. Chris cared a lot about the Texan and he would never forgive Buck if something happened to him because of Chris. It was his duty to watch over all of them. Chris expected nothing less.

“I’ll tell Nathan,” answered JD as he left to go to the other bedroom.

Buck then went over to the bedroom that held the only other blood relative alive of one Christopher Michael Larabee.

* * * * * *

Chris Larabee awoke to pain. The pain seemed to encompass not only his head, but his body as well. Even the hair on his head hurt. Based upon this discovery he knew he was in trouble, just not how much.

He slowly pried open his green eyes and found that he was now laying in a huge, brass bed that he did not recognize. He was also covered in a light sheet decorated in Navajo sand designs. Whoever owned them had to have money. These designer sheets were very expensive.

He lifted the sheet carefully from his body and noticed that he was bandaged around his waist. The white contrasted the red stain that decorated the bandage. Chris could tell that the wound had stopped bleeding since the stain did not seem to get any bigger than it was.

He tried to sit up in the bed and he felt the tightness inside the bandage. Someone had stitched up his side. Someone, who had medical knowledge, but that also meant the person was someone who would lower his standards for money. Again it spoke to whoever owned this place had power and the money to back it up.

He decided he needed to move now and move quickly. He knew who owned this place, the expensive bed, sheets and curtains; the décor itself spoke volumes of the personality behind it. Chris knew that Nadia Diaz owned the place and knew that it did not bode well that he was in one of her beds.

Chris tried to sit up again. He was determined not to have the pain stop him from getting himself out of his enemy’s clutches. He knew the boys were probably looking for him. He knew that Lucien probably was also looking for him too. It was unfortunate that they both did not have the time to catch up on to what was current in each other’s life. If he did not get out of here now, though, he doubted if they ever would.

The thin blond felt the pain as he stood upon unsteady legs next to the bed. He looked down now that he was uncovered by the sheet and noticed that he had been undressed completely.

He scanned the area to establish where his clothes might be held and detected the closet to the side of the room. He opened the door and found his pants and shirt nicely cleaned, as best as they could, considering the condition they were previously in. Chris dressed speedily, hoping that no one would enter the room until he had left.

Once he was finished, he bent down to pick up his gray loafers to slip them on his feet when something black caught his eyes in one corner of the darkened closet. He moved in closer and found that it was his black bag.

At first, Chris was elated to find that his bag was still within his reach, but then it also meant that Nadia knew of his demons and would probably use them against him. He knew she wanted him, but he could not figure for what. The only thing he could

He opened the bag and took out the bottle of pills that were hidden in the side pocket. He popped one quickly into his mouth and swallowed without water. He knew the pain pill would kick in and then he would be able to move a little better.

In the meantime, he took his time putting his shoes on, picking up his bag and walking towards the door that led to freedom. The stitches pulled and tugged his still tender skin as he did so. Slightly bent, Chris closed his eyes, waiting for the sensation to abate before continuing on.

He cautiously moved out into the hall and found himself in a very long hallway. There were two more doors to the left and right of the room he was in. The house was huge considering all the rooms that existed on the floor he was on. It was like living in a hotel. But he should have known when it came to Nadia’s tastes.

The blond made a swift decision. Still in pain, he moved down the left of the hall, hoping to find an exit out of the building.

Regrettably, it was not to be.

“And where do you think you are going, my love?”

Chris turned around to find Nadia standing behind him with two men.

He straightened, as he would not let Nadia see him in pain. It would give her the upper hand and Chris knew that would be a mistake.

“What did I do to deserve your interest, Nadia?” asked Chris, trying to send his best glare.

“Stop glaring at me, Christopher. You’re lucky to be alive from my conversation with my doctor. It seems you lost a lot of blood and I wouldn’t be running around here like this if I were you. How about you come back to bed?” beckoned Nadia with a crook of her finger.

Chris leaned against the wall of the hall for support, trying to keep the pain at bay. He knew that although he could feel the euphoria of the pain pill move through his bloodstream, it would not sustain him enough to keep him upright for long. He needed to leave now, but Nadia was delaying his exit.

“First of all, you are not me, Nadia. Secondly, don’t ever try to tell me what to do,” replied Chris, backing away from her.

Nadia knew what he was doing. She still did not have her other prize as of yet and knew she could not let Christopher go until she had Archangel Gabriel in her hands.

“Don’t do this, Christopher,” she said, motioning for the two men to approach him. “You know you can’t win.”

Nadia felt the burning gaze that came from Chris. She knew she had touched a very sensitive nerve with that statement. Christopher Michael Larabee was not a man to give up easily and she had just thrown down the gauntlet at his feet.

“I can’t?” asked Chris, his voice trembling with fury.

Nadia knew she was in trouble.

“Sean, Devon, please escort Mr. Larabee back to his room. He’s not a well man.”

“I’ve taken my medicine, Nadia. So I don’t need any of your assistance any longer,” replied Chris as he felt the euphoria of the pills taking effect. The pain and weakness that came with his wounds were silenced.

Nadia felt the hair on her head rising and a chill just crept over her body. It was the chill of something dangerous walking over her grave.

She had pushed the blond too far this time. She had played with fire and now was about to get burned.

“Christopher, I have always loved you. Why can you not see that I only want the best for you.”

Chris’ anger was growing at the insinuations from Nadia that she had done what she had for the greater good of all. He knew the only reason why Nadia does anything is due to selfishness and self-preservation.

“Because Nadia, you’re too ruthless a bitch to love anyone. Look at what you did to my brother. Look at what you planned to do to me. I thought we were friends, but you just proved to me that you don’t know the meaning of the word,” Chris answered furiously.

“Christopher, the things that I have done for you I would never do for any other man.”

“Not even Sergio?”

Nadia went silent. Her brown eyes radiating such hatred at him that Chris knew that if looks could kill, he would be dead right now. But then they softened somewhat and Chris could see Nadia calming herself internally.

“Sergio was different. If you had known him, you would see why he was the only other man besides you to receive my love. But it seems that I must convince you how serious I am.” She then turned to her men and said, “Find me Archangel Gabriel and bring him here.”

“But, Miss Diaz, we can’t leave you alone with this man,” said Devon, the young black bodyguard.

“Devon. How many times do I have to tell you? I can take care of myself. Just take Sean and the limo and do as I have commanded, comprehend?”

Devon, thoroughly chastised, signaled for Sean to follow him down the stairs and out of the house.

Nadia felt her men leave the floor. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a semi-automatic that she immediately pointed at blond Archangel.

“What? You gon’na shoot me?” taunted Chris as he moved closer. Confronting Nadia was dangerous, but he knew he had to escape in order to warn others of her plan to abduct Vin. “If I’m dead what good would that do, huh?”

“I don’t need to kill you, Christopher. All I need do is wound in order to incapacitate you,” responded Nadia, smiling wickedly at him.

Chris knew he was in a bind. Although the pill he had taken made him feel stronger than he really was, he knew it was false strength. In fact, a small wind could knock him over right at this moment. But he needed to keep up for appearances. Nadia would pounce on any weakness and Chris was resolute not to show any.

“Now, Nay, don’t be a bitch,”

“Which you keep reminding me of it and it’s really starting to piss me off. I advise you to get back into the bedroom, love or you’ll be crawling there.”

Chris was too exhausted at this point. The pill was wearing off and the pain in his side and head was returning in full force. He knew if he did not lie down soon, he would either faint, vomit or both.

Nadia saw the chink in Chris’ armor. The doctor had told her that Chris was lucky they found him when they did. He had lost a lot of blood and if he bleeding had continued, he would have died.

The doctor had told her that the lean Archangel needed to rest to build back up his strength. Unfortunately, Chris never did what Nadia asked him to. Now she was trying to force him into submission, but it seemed that his body had finally given up the fight.

Chris, bent over at the waist, walked slowly back towards the bedroom. He knew he could not fight Nadia. Not now, not in the condition he was in. He had to stay alive and escape to warn the others. He had wished he had never made the pact he had with the Patron of the DeCorsia family. But he thought his plan would work. Regrettably, it failed and so did he.

He finally stood shivering next to the bed as Nadia came into the room behind him.

“Lay down, Christopher. I will have the doctor come and take a look at you. You don’t look well at all.”

Chris turned to confront her, but before he could utter a word, the floor seemed to come up at him and he found himself looking at Nadia from it.

“Oh, Christopher, my darling,” started Nadia, as she began to help Chris up from the floor and back into the bed. “You are ill. I should have known. Don’t worry. I’m going to take care of you.”

“Nay,…Nay, please don’t do this. Please,” begged Chris as he was laid upon the bed. Once there, Nadia started to undress him.

“Hush…hush, my love. I know how much Gabriel means to you and it is the only way I can prove my point,” she said in a voice much like scolding a naughty child.

“Like…Like you…you did with Lucien?” asked Chris accusingly.

“Tsk, tsk. Close your eyes and try to rest,” she said, finally removing his last piece of clothing and pulling the sheet up around his body.

Chris knew he was fighting a losing battle. Nadia would not listen to any of this pleas or arguments. All he could hope was that he would regain his strength quickly enough to escape and warn the others. He prayed that it would not take long as he was pulled into the darkness of unconsciousness.

Nadia watched as his eyes gradually closed and knew her love had given into the weakness of his body.

Now she needed to finalize her plan. Gabriel would soon be a part of her collection and then Christopher would be under her complete control. She smiled as she closed and locked the door the bedroom that housed her love and went to locate the good doctor.

* * * * *

Chapter: 18 of ?

The Sixth Heaven

Zebul

The 6th heaven Zebul is ruled by Archangel Zachiel (Sachiel) and his subordinate princes Zebul (during the day) and Sabath (during the night). This stormy, snow ridden dwelling is home to the seven phoenixes and the seven Cherubim who sing the praises of God. A multitude of other angelic beings also reside here. It is like the angels University of knowledge who study an array of subjects including astronomy, ecology, the seasons, and mankind.

http://www.steliart.com/angelology_7_heavens.html

* * * * *

Buck “Chamuel” Wilmington paced furiously across the bedroom floor. They had released Lucien from the handcuffs a while ago and Nathan was busily checking him over due to the bruising he received from Buck’s anger at the motel.

Buck glared over to where the black healer was working on the young blond. “How is he?”

“He’ll live. A few cuts and bruises and I think the worst is from him trying to pull out the handcuffs,” explained Nathan, eyeing the Archangel on the bed.

“Well, I wouldn’t have tried to escape if I thought you did not have any malice towards me, but we know differently, don’t we?” said Lucien as a small smile adorned his face.

“If you weren’t Chris’ brother, I’d tear you a new asshole, Lucifer!”

“Buck, calm down now,” came Nathan’s soothing voice. “This is not doing Chris any good.”

“And what he did has? Nadia has Chris! What do you think she’s doing to him?”

“Buck. You need to lower your voice. Vin’s in the other room sleep and I’d like to keep it that way, if you don’t mind,” scolded Nathan. “I don’t need him getting upset and since you’ve taken the decision to keep this a secret from him, then you should also take precautions on keeping in him in bed.”

Buck glanced in shame at the doctor. “Sorry, Nate. It’s just that you know how I feel about Chris. He’s the closest thing I have to family and I ain’t about to lose him.”

“We do understand, Buck,” interjected Josiah. “Chris means just as much to us as he does to you. But we need to think calmly about this, brother. I know it can be hard, but everything that God puts before us is never easy and always has a purpose, my friend.”

Buck sighed tiredly. He knew the others were only speaking reason. But when it came to Chris’ safety, Buck’s reasonable side seemed to always fly out right through the window. “Okay, guys. But this one…” said Buck, pointing towards Lucien. “…he’s mine.”

The others knew they could object to Buck’s statement but did not because it was a waste of time. Buck would not be allowed to put one finger on Lucien. As long as he kept to the bargain, they would not let Buck take his aggression out on the ex-Archangel. They needed his expertise to free Chris.

“You have to catch me first, Buck,” laughed Lucien. “Ouch! Go easy there, Mr. Jackson.”

“Just call me Nathan and don’t instigate. Buck is not someone you want to piss off. Clear?”

“Crystal, Mr. Jackson.”

“It’s not enough we have to put up with Ezra’s formalities, now you want to join the club,” stated Nathan as he tied a bandage around his now red, raw wrist.

“Sorry, Nathan,” apologized Lucien.

“Accepted. Buck, I need to check on Vin. Think you can contain yourself until I get back?”

“We will insure that Mr. Wilmington does just that, Mr. Jackson,” answered Ezra, smiling haughtily.

“Good. I’ll be right back.”

“Oh, Nathan, remember. Don’t say anything to Vin about what we found out about Nadia kidnapping Chris. He’s already in bad enough shape and knowing him, he’ll want to go. We can’t take the chance of something happening to him too,”

“Alright, Buck. But I think you’re asking for trouble. If Vin finds out…”

“He won’t, Nathan. He won’t.”

“Let’s hope so, Buck.” Nathan then walked out of the room, leaving JD, Josiah, Buck, Ezra, Lucien and Ariel in the room.

“So, Mr. Caymen, let us go over what you have told us. We all know Nadia was the wife of Sergio DeCorsia, Marco’s brother and the son of the head of the DeCorsia Empire,” started Ezra.

“And that she is currently trying to slither her way back into the business of Vegas,” added Josiah.

“Did you just say slither?” queried Lucien.

“Yeah,” replied Josiah. “Like in snakes, Satan, the accursed one, you know. The one God kicked out of heaven.”

“I thought he kicked Lucifer out of heaven?” questioned Buck.

“He kicked a lot of the so-called bad angels out of heaven,” responded Josiah.

“Approximately, 133,306,668 angels fell from the Heavens in a total of 9 days or so it was assumed by Bishop of Tusculum in 1273,” piped in JD.

“JD, my son, you are a wealth of knowledge,” said Josiah.

“That’s why you guys hired me.”

“That wasn’t the reason, JD. We hired you because Buck told Chris if he didn’t he would of beat the shit out of him,” laughed Josiah.

“Very funny, preacher. Buck would never in this right mind threaten Chris over me,” he said, looking directly at Buck for confirmation.

But he found Buck’s eyes were focused towards the ceiling of the room.

“Buck?”

“I advise you to desist your line of questioning, Mr. Dunne,” interrupted Ezra. “It would beneficial if you let it go.”

“But…”

“But nothing, son. Drop it,” commanded Josiah, eyeing Buck sympathetically.

Josiah knew that Buck was not what he seemed. Others thought of him as a braggart and a man who could only think with what was below his waist. But Josiah knew differently. He knew that Buck had a big heart when it came to others and when it especially concerned anything about the kid.

But he also came to respect JD and because of that respect, he would never let the kid know that he had a guardian angel watching over him. Buck did not want to do anything that would jeopardize the young man’s self-esteem and confidence. Buck also knew that if JD did not have something that Chris saw was worth having as part of the team, no matter what ole Bucklin had told him, it would not have changed his mind. Chris had chosen JD because he knew he was up to the task.

“Excuse me, gentlemen. But I think we need to keep our focus on the current situation.”

“Yes,” agreed Lucien. “Now, Nadia has already ingrained herself back into the Vegas fold. What she did not know was the Michael was also a part of that group?”

“What are you talking about?” asked Buck, suspiciously.

“Michael…I mean, Chris is deeply in bed with the DeCorsia family. Has been for the past few months.”

JD, Josiah, Ezra and Buck all looked at him as if he had two heads.

“That’s impossible, Lucien,” stated JD matter-of-factly. “Chris would never stoop to their level.”

“He has and he will, JD. The Archangel Michael that you all knew a year ago is gone.” Lucien knew that they all needed to deal with the truth now instead of when they caught up with Nadia and Michael.

He shook himself from his reverie and saw that they were all waiting for further clarification of his statement.

“Michael or Chris as you call him lost not only his wife and child a year and a half ago, but he also lost who he was. The person who came to Vegas years ago to do the right thing is gone. He was killed the day his home was put to the torch by person or persons unknown.”

“Yeah, unknown, my eye!” spat Buck. “We know who did it!”

“Do you really, Bucklin? I doubt it. I doubt if Michael even knows who did it.”

“But you do, Mr. Caymen?”

“Yes, Ezra. I most certainly do. You see Ezra, it’s the only reason why I never really left the area. Of course, Michael did not know that I was still in Vegas. It was hard hiding from him. But with money and the right people, even the impossible can be accomplished. In all this time, I watched Michael every day. I watched him deal with the DeCorsia family getting dirtier and dirtier, entrenching himself into their murk and mire. Did you know that Michael condoned a hit on one of the top lieutenants in the DeCorsia crime family? Did you know that he even asked that they bring him the finger of the dead man to him to confirm the hit? Michael is more than an agent for Celestial. Michael is also the right hand man for the DeCorsia Patron, Roberto DeCorsia.”

JD and Ezra stared at him stunned. They could not believe that this was Chris Larabee that Lucien spoke about. They believed that Chris was the hard working, agent, and although his life was scorched by the incident of family’s death, his morality was intact.

But they did not see the look on Buck’s or Josiah’s face. The two older agents turned to each other and seem to say that they were not surprised by this information and it did not go un-noticed by Lucien.

“Buck? Josiah? You knew this?”

Buck looked shamefully at the floor, while Josiah got up from his chair, making a motion to leave the room.

“Sit down, my dear clergy,” said Ezra. He knew there was something going on and that he and JD were not privy too. “I and Mr. Dunne here would like an explanation of what Mr. Caymen is talking about.”

“Look Ez, it’s kind of a long story…”

“I am all ears, Mr. Sanchez.”

“So am I,” interjected JD.

“Me too,” added Lucien.

“Please do import upon us this new information.”

“Boys, listen. Josiah is right about it being a long story and one that I think it’s not our place to relate to you right now,” inputted Buck.

But it did not dissuade Ezra, JD or Lucien. They insisted on hearing it.

Buck sighed dejectedly. He had lost the argument and now he had to pay the price. He started to disclose Chris’ past that had been a guarded secret for so long. Now they would all know, whether good or bad came from it, there was nothing else he could do.

“Well, it started when Chris and I were growing up in New York…”

* * * * *

After Buck had finished and Josiah added his own piece of the account, Lucien, Ezra and JD could only gawk at them with open mouths.

“So, what you are telling us is that the Christopher Michael Larabee we have known for the past few years is a false persona?” asked Lucien.

“And that the real Archangel Michael is the one currently running around Vegas with Nadia Diaz?” added JD.

“Basically, yeah,” answered Buck.

Lucien could only shake his head in disbelief. He knew something was wrong with Michael but he did not know what. Now, Buck Wilmington, his brother’s long time friend, had just explained to him that there was nothing wrong with his brother. That this was the real Christopher Michael Larabee he had been spying on for so long. He was too shocked to say anything else.

At that moment, Nathan came bursting into the room, pushing the door aside and slightly out of breath

.

“Nathan? What’s wrong?” asked Josiah. The young black doctor was looking around frantically.

“Have any of…you seen…Vin?” questioned Nathan, looking to JD or Buck for information.

“In the other room, isn’t he?” answered Buck.

“No, Buck. He’s not.”

“Did ya check the bathroom?” inquired JD.

“I checked the bathroom, the garage, the kitchen, the barn, the guest house and every square inch of this house and ranch. He’s not here. I also noticed that his truck is missing.”

“Aw, shit!”

“That’s right, Buck. I think Vin heard that we were planning on leaving him out of the rescue and went after Chris on his own.”

“But Nathan, in his condition he won’t last an hour out there,” said JD, also frantic now about their companion.

“If that, JD. I know, I know. We have to go search for him.”

“What about him?” asked Buck, pointing to Lucien. “Do we trust him?”

“I thought we put all that aside, Bucklin.”

“Don’t call me that or I’ll rip your damn heart out!”

“But you let Vin call you that,” said Lucien childishly.

“That’s because I know him. I don’t know you.”

“Yes, you do, Buck. I’m Chris’ brother, remember?” Lucien retorted.

“Why you damn, no-good, low-down, two-bit, son-of-a-bitch…”

“Buck! Lucien! Shut up! We don’t have time for this,” interrupted Nathan. “We need to find both of them, now!”

“Nathan’s right, Mr. Wilmington. Our esteem colleague, Mr. Tanner is very proficient in locating missing seraphs and with Nadia on the prowl his life could be in jeopardy.”

“So, what’s our next step?” asked Josiah.

“Lucien, do you know where Nadia is currently staying?” asked Nathan.

“She owns a very large property on the affluent side of Vegas in one of the upper gated communities. Very secure and well guarded by her hired men.”

“How many men you think there are?” questioned JD.

“I’d say about ten outside on the house perimeter and about five inside. Her two most trusted Devon and Sean are always by her side. They have cameras all over the area and the entrances and hallways to the house are secured with pressure-sensitive silent alarms. No one goes in or out with a code key card.”

“You know an awful lot about her, Lucien,” said Buck, mistrust dripping in his voice.

Lucien could hear the distrust in Buck’s tone of voice. He knew that although they had all agreed to trust one another, it would not be easy to gain the trust of the tall moustache agent.

“Let’s just say that Nadia has become my personal project.”

“You mean Nadia has become your project for revenge,” interjected Josiah.

Lucien turned his blue eyes to glare at the older man. Buck smiled secretly, realizing how so much the younger Larabee was like the older Larabee.

“You should know me by now, Bucklin,” replied Lucien, looking at Buck instead of Josiah. Buck winced at the use of his given name by this young blond. “I don’t deal in revenge. I only deal in punishment.”

“Punishment is the Lord’s specialty, my son.”

Lucien then turned his blue glare on the older priest. “Listen Priest, me and the Lord don’t like each other much. So don’t preach to me about specialties, okay?” said Lucien irately.

Josiah could tell that he hit a nerve in the young man. To Buck, the display was something he would expect from an older green-eyed Larabee, rather than the younger blue-eyed Larabee.

“I hate to interrupt this very intense theological discussion, but can we get back to the matter at hand?” said Ezra.

“Yes. The longer we sit here and argue, the longer Vin and Chris will go missing,” agreed Nathan.

He was concerned not only about the young sniper, but also about their leader. He knew that the longer Chris was out from under their watchful eye, the more time he had to acquire the drugs his body would be craving constantly, making it harder to get him clean.

Suddenly the phone rang from the other room.

“JD?”

“On it, Buck,” and he ran out of the room.

It was not long when he returned, the cordless phone to his ear, motioning for the others to pay attention.

“Yes, Chief. I know, Chief. Yes, Chief,” was all the others heard JD mumble. He then said, “Hold on for a minute, okay?”

JD then put the phone on mute and turned to the others. “Chief Travis wants to see us in his office within the next two hours. He says don’t even think of trying to get out of it. He wants Chris in his office with us, no buts about it,” JD whispered fiercely. “What we gon’na do, Buck?”

Buck knew that their time had run out with Chief Travis. They had been running circles around him for two days now, but now it was becoming an impossible task. Chief Travis would not be fooled for too long. They would sooner or later have to produce Archangel Michael or they would have to tell him the truth about his whereabouts.

“Tell him we’ll be there, JD,” said Buck resignedly.

The others started to object and Buck held his hand up for silence.

“Listen, maybe the Chief has some insight as to why Chris has been acting the way he has. I mean, right now we’re all stumped and out of answers. The Chief probably has other agents infiltrating the DeCorsia cartel. Maybe they’ll have some more information on Nadia’s security set up that we can use.”

“It’s possible,” said Ezra. “But not likely,” he thought to himself.

Ezra knew that the agents working under other sections of the organization were not as proficient in retrieving valuable recognizance as it was with the Archangel group. Chris Larabee’s group was at the top of the class and if they did not have that information then neither did anyone else in Celestial.

But he did not want to kill the other’s hopes and he knew that they needed to try and get Chief Travis off their backs at least for a little while. If they put their cards on the table, so to speak, Ezra knew that Chief Travis might give them a little leeway in working to find the other two stray angels.

“Okay. I’ll tell the Chief that we’ll be there,” informed JD.

“Good boy,” said Buck, slapping the young genius on the back. “Josiah, you take care of Ariel while the rest of us get ready to roll. Lucien will ride with me, Josiah and Nathan in Josiah’s minivan. JD, you and Ezra take Chris’ truck.”

“I will not go back to Celestial, Wilmington,” piped in Lucien immediately. “Not for anything.”

“Not even to save Chris?”

Lucien looked at Buck as if he was deer caught in a pair of headlights. Buck had used the only thing that could persuade Lucien to submit to re-entering the one place he swore he would die first before going.

“I swear. When we find Chris, he’s going to owe me big time.”

Everyone smiled. They knew that Lucien was not the only one Chris owed. They were thinking about a lanky, long-haired, sniper and tracker that they knew of.

***********************************************************************************************

Chapter: 19

The Seventh Heaven

Araboth

The 7th heaven is the holiest of the holy heavens. Araboth is ruled by Archangel Cassiel and is home to God and his Divine Throne it is also the abode of human souls waiting to be born.

It is also home to the highest orders of angels - the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones.

It is in the 7th Heaven that Isaiah has a glimpse of God and the Christ and "hears the Most high dictating the program on his (Christs) earthly manifestation and return."

http://www.steliart.com/angelology_7_heavens.html

Vincent “Gabriel” Tanner sat in his truck on Ventura Avenue in downtown Vegas, his blue eyes peering through the open window on the right side of truck. He was waiting for one of Queen Bea’s girls. Her name was Sukia and she was a native Hawaiian who had came to Vegas to find her fame and fortune. All she found was greed and lust on the streets of Vegas and in order to survive she became a lady of the night.

But Sukia was lucky, as Vin well knew. She had fell into the company of one Queen Bea instead of one of the other pimps and madams that ran the houses in Vegas. Queen Bea was known as one of the gentler madams of Vegas. She treated her girls like they were her daughters and no john was able to take advantage of her girls and live. Not with Queen Bea.

Vin scanned the area thoroughly while trying to ignore the pain in his side that was aching. He had been sitting here, waiting like this for the past ½ hour. He knew the others probably have discovered his absence and he needed to get moving. He knew that to sit in one place too long was asking to be found. If he wanted to stay free and look for Chris he had to keep moving.

He had heard the others talking in the other room and he knew that Nadia had Chris. He also knew that Chris was on borrowed time. The last time he saw his friend he was so high with drugs and alcohol that he did not even know him. It was the reason why he had hurt Vin. He thought he was someone sent by Marco. He could not convince him that he was his friend Vin Tanner because of the hold the drugs and alcohol had on him. Now in his time of weakness, Nadia had captured his blond friend and Vin was determined to get him out of her clutches.

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he noticed a young black-haired, tall Amerasian* girl coming towards his truck. She wore a tight skimpy blue skirt, with black high heels and low-cut strapless top. Her long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail down her back and her dark brown eyes were encircled by blue eye shadow that was too thick as far as Vin was concerned. He knew this to be Sukia, his informant on the Vegas streets.

She walked over to the open window that Vin was situated at in the truck and gave him a huge smile. “Hey, Gabriel, how’s things going?” said Sukia. She looked Vin up and down. Her smile turned to a frown. “Hey, you don’t look so good? What happened to you?”

Vin only shrugged off the comment. “I’m fine, Sukie. Listen, I need a favor. Have ya heard anythin’ about Archangel Michael on the street?”

Sukia glanced hesitantly at him, wetting her lips as if all of a sudden they were dry. Vin knew by Sukia’s action that she had some information but was thinking about whether or not it was something that she could tell Archangel Gabriel.

As if a thought had made the decision for her, Sukia moved to the other side of the truck, opened the door and got in. She said, winking slyly at Vin, “Let’s go for a ride.” With that, Vin smiled back broadly, turned the ignition, put the truck in gear and drove away down Ventura Avenue and hopefully to something that would help him find Chris.

* * * * *

Chris gradually awoke with a coldness that made his body shiver painfully. He did not know where he was or what had happened. The only thing that stayed upon his mind was the pain and the thought that relief lie within a certain black bag.

He tried to sit up but found out for some reason that his body was weak and that he could barely lift his head. His watery green eyes looked around and he noticed that he was no longer in his own home or the hotel where he and Lucien were staying. In fact, he did not know where he was only that he was here.

The bed beneath him smelled of perfumed sheets and not of his standard clean sheets or the bleached-smell of hotel sheets. There were curtains on the windows of silken white, but beyond that there seemed no light, which meant there was either shades or blinds obscuring the sun’s entrance.

His body told him it had to be day instead of night, even though he felt as if he could sleep for another three days. The pain in his side was slowly coming to life and joining the pain of his drug-starved body. The cramps from withdrawal were becoming intense and Chris did not think he could hold out long against them.

He finally got his body to response to his command and slowly but surely rose into a sitting position in the bed. Now he remembered. He was at Nadia Diaz’ house, the last woman on Earth he would have anything to do with. And he remembered something else. She was after Vin and he knew that meant that Vin was in danger. He did not care what happened to himself, but his friends, no one touched. Not even Nadia.

He moved his legs out from under the sheet and noticed that he was practically naked. He saw that his jeans and shirt was placed on a chair on the other side of the room. The shoes that he had bought were also strewn on the floor near the chair. The problem was getting to the other side of the room. Currently his legs were not working as a team with the rest of his body.

The blond agent stood up on shaky legs, wrapping the sheet around his body and walked to the chair. Once there, he dressed quickly as possible for a person in his condition. He knew he was going through withdrawal and he knew it was not a pleasant feeling. He needed to get dress, get his black bag back and then find Vin. He prayed that the others were watching out for his friend. He felt God owed him considering he had already lost so much over the past couple of years.

As soon as he was completely dressed, he started to search the room for his black bag and the rest of his personal items, although he had a feeling that they would not be within easy reach. To his surprise though he found both his black bag and his wallet, watch and wedding ring all within a sliding closet within the room.

The relatively easy success he had in finding these items told him that either Nadia was ignorant to the fact of what the items were in her possession or that she had no fear of them or him leaving the premises without her knowledge. This deeply worried Chris. The Archangel decided he needed a plan, a plan to escape and a plan to warn his fellow Archangel Gabriel.

First he had to get himself back on his feet. In order to do that, he had to do something that a few months ago he would never had done. To keep ahead of the people that would destroy him, Archangel Michael had to become part of the slime and garbage that ruled Vegas. He had to become one of them and he had to work harder and longer at acquiring what they wanted.

Unfortunately, only a super human being could do it alone, so the battling angel relied upon the products of mankind to give him the strength to do what he must do. But as time went on he was becoming more and more dependent upon them. He had thought in the beginning that he could handle them, control them because he was so knowledgeable about the way they destroyed the body. In the end though, his pride and his vengeance had made the foolhardy decision for him. There was no way out except through rehabilitation and he knew he would not survive it. So, he decided if he must go out, then he would go out with a bang and make sure that he took the vileness that was Vegas with him.

He opened the bag and started rummaging around for the pills that he kept in it. As he got deeper and deeper into the belongings, he noticed that what he sort was missing.

“Damn!” he thought to himself. “I should have known that Nadia would not make it that easy.” He ran his hand through his sweaty blond hair in disgust and disappointment. He knew that he was in trouble and if he did not get his so-called medications back, he would be useless to Vin and the others, let alone himself.

He stood up on his trembling legs, still carrying the black bag and his other possessions, and started a slow progression to the door. He tried to turn the knob to the door but found it was lock. But Chris knew it would not hold him.

He looked into the black bag for his lock-pick kit that Ezra had given him as a Christmas present a year ago.

It was the brunt of a joke that went between them when Chris had locked himself in the office backroom accidentally and had to stay there overnight with no way out. Ezra also gave him lessons in how to get out of locked rooms and such, free of charge.

Of course, Ezra did not think Chris would take him seriously and learn the skill, but he did and caught on quickly. He became very proficient at it, as Ezra would come to say, as good as himself.

Regrettably, it was not to be. Chris could not find the kit anywhere within the bag. Nadia had not missed a trick and had probably taken that also to insure that he would stay put where she expected him to be.

Throwing the bag on the floor, Chris bowed his head in resignation. He was stuck here for the time being and Vin was out there somewhere as Nadia next victim. He sat with a thump dejectedly onto the floor with is back against the bed. What was he going to do? Nadia had taken all his advantages away and had left him to suffer in pain in his one room cell.

Chris banged his hand repeatedly on the mattress of his prison bed, waging against a war inside of himself that he could not win at this time. Chris felt betrayed by his body and his mind. Vin would suffer because he could not escape and he would suffer because one of his own would suffer.

Finally, his aching, hot body could take no more and while still sitting on the hardwood floor of his assigned bedroom, Chris closed his eyes and succumbed to the shadows of weariness.

***********************************************************************************************

Chapter: 20

The Twelve Angelic Orders/The First Choir

To understand about the celestial orders/hierarchy it is important to know exactly what an angel is. Briefly it can be described as: a spiritual being that is believed to be much more powerful than a human. In Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other theologies an angel can be one who acts as a messenger, attendant or agent of God.

Regarding the celestial orders/hierarchy, the majority of scholars believe that angels are divided into clearly defined ranks and depending on the rank of the angel it will have separate honors and duties.

Orders of the First Choir are: Supernals - Celestials – Illuminations Will of the

The First Choir is the non-tangible "invisible" one and the expression of the loving intention of the Source of the Whole of Existence. Within the 1st Choir are three Orders of Beings of Pure Light, which are everywhere, and nowhere at the same time, and thus an "extension" of God Himself - The Source of the Whole of Existence.

This first Choir forms a kind of Trinity and the means for The Source of the Whole of Existence to extent his Divine Will, Wisdom and Light downward to the next Orders of Angels and so on to the physical realms.

These Angelic Orders are listed each as they came into being and into there Choirs.

The first order of angels were the first companions for the Source of the Whole of Existence also known as the Holy Twelve or the Angels of Presence.
Then the second order came into being and so on in the same capacity. In actuality they came into being simultaneously before there was time.
Each order took on different roles and a variety of duties as they interacted with the universes.

The first angels existed as brilliant shinning light, and radiated tremendous loving everywhere.

Supernals - are those beings, which are extensions and the first intentions of the Source of the Whole of Existence. Each of these twelve possesses an ascending and descending principle of creation in balance, harmony and synchronization with each of the twelve. The Holy Twelve assisted the angels in becoming aware of the wisdom of all things.

Members of this Angelic Order:

Michael
Metatron
Suriel
Sandalphon
Astanphaeus
Saraqael
Phanuel
Jehoel
Zagzagael
Uriel
Yefeiah
Akatriel.

http://www.steliart.com/angelology_angelic_orders.html

“For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, And a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.”

--Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

* * * * * * * *

Sukia sat in the parked truck of Archangel Gabriel, studying the man with a deep scrutiny. She had saw the way he favored his side, which she knew from experience of suffering from the same ailment that he most likely had very badly bruised or broken ribs. His face was carrying a good size shiner on in the area of his right eye, but to Sukia, it did nothing to scar his already gorgeous looks.

She had also watched as he tried not to show any pain on his handsome face, but those baby blue eyes could not fool Sukia. She knew them too well to fall for any of his “I’m fine” ploys.

Vin kept his eyes straight ahead as he felt Sukia’s eyes upon his being. He knew the young woman was appraising him, taking in every movement and gesture that he made since meeting her. He knew that Sukia had a slight infatuation with him since the day he had saved her from an irate john who wanted to cut out her tongue for just telling him the truth about his sexual prowess.

Although Sukia was not his type, he could not see any man refusing her charms. They were just too plentiful and a man would have to be crazy to ignore them. But Vin had other things on his mind right now. One of them was a tall, lanky blond with an evil temper and he needed to find him.

Vin turned full face to the young woman and said, “Spill it, Sukie. What do ya know?”

“Well, I had this john last night, his name was Devlin, or something like that. He likes kinky sex, you know, whips, chains and all that. He likes to talk a lot during these paid sessions and most of it is about his boss.”

“And who might that be?”

“Her name was Nadia Diaz.”

Vin eyes widened in excitement. He had found what he was looking for.

“Ya wouldn’t have to know were she’s staying at, would ya?”

“Sure. For a price.”

“Always for a price.”

“Hey, I can give you a discount,” answered Sukia, smiling coyly.

“A discount?”

“Yeah. We can call it even.

“And how ya figure that?”

Sukia moved closer to his position and put her arms around his shoulders, her eyes sensuously moving up and down his body.

“Sleep with me, Gabriel,” she whispered into his ear.

Vin calmly removed her arms from around his shoulders and placed them gently back into her lap. “I can’t, Sukie.”

“You can’t or you won’t?” she questioned.

“I can’t. Don’t get me wrong,” Vin replied, his eyes taking in the fullness of her womanhood peeking out from her tight tank top. “Any man be crazy not to want ya, but right now my friend needs me and it’s important that I be there. Ya can understand that, can’t ya?”

Sukia looked at him disappointed, but she knew he was right. If he had not come to help her as friend when she needed help, she probably would be dead right now.

She nodded reluctantly. “Hmmm. I guess we’ll never know, huh?”

“Never say never,” said Vin, smiling gently at the young woman.

“Okay. Here’s the deal. This guy says his boss Nadia is infatuated with a certain tall, lanky, hot-tempered blond. He also talks about how he thinks he would be a better lover since he was willing. As he goes on and on about his issues and his unrequited love, he slips up. During this time he says his boss’ name, Nadia Diaz, but he also calls the blond Michael.”

“Did he mention where they were at?”

“Nah. I don’t think he was that careless, but there is someone who might know where she resides. Do you know Snake Eyes?”

“Ya mean Jake Snake Eyes?”

“That’s the one. He knows about every resident of the upper echelon of Vegas, where they live, where they hangout, who’s part of their entourage, everything.”

“Where can I find him?”

“He’s always on Las Vegas Boulevard on the Strip. Right across from the Luxor Hotel and Casino. Usually he’s trying to rip off some tourists.”

“Would he be there now? It’s kinda early.”

“Time matters not to Snake Eyes. He’ll be there.”

“Thanks, Sukie. I know how much this is costin’ ya.”

“Yeah, yeah. You keep saying that but you have yet to pay me back,” responded Sukia, winking at him.

“I will. I promise. When things have settle down around here,” he said cupping her chin and placing a kiss upon her cheek.

“I heard that one before,” said Sukia, opening the door and exiting the truck.

“Take care, Sukie,” said Vin, starting up the truck and driving away.

“You too, Gabriel. I have a feeling you’re going to need it,” she replied as she watched him drive towards Vegas Boulevard. “I just hope you don’t get snake bit.”

Turning in the other direction, she started walking towards her crib and a brief solace from the night vermin.

* * * * *

Chief Travis sat at his desk while looking at the five men seated in front of him. He noticed that the thin blond agent and his blue-eyed Texan friend was nowhere around. This bothered the elderly chief of the Celestial organization immensely. He knew that those two missing pieces were the glue that kept the Seven Archangels together. He needed to find out what happened to his men.

Buck looked pensively at Chief Travis, wondering what he was thinking. Albeit he already knew the gray-haired man concerns were on that of his two missing friends. He and the others had decided that they would come clean to their superior and in that they determined they might receive extra help in locating their missing comrades.

Ezra was next to Buck, picking at the hole in the oversized chair that he sat in. He was the only one who objected to the plan. His objections were around the fact that he did not think Chief Travis, a reputable man of law and order, would be of any help to them. The people that they were dealing with had no morals, no values. There was no conscience whatsoever to appeal to. Ezra felt that guile and deception was the only answer to the problem. But unfortunately, the others had outvoted him.

“So, Buck, you want to tell me what is going on? And where are Chris and Vin? I thought they would be here also. I told you all to be here at this meeting,” started Chief Travis, his ire showing through his calm exterior.

“Well, Chief, to be honest with you, we don’t know where Chris or Vin are. You see Chris has been gone for the past three days. Vin has been missing since early this morning. We believe that he went out alone to search for Chris. We’ve put some feelers out for them, but we have a feeling that since they don’t want to be found, we won’t find them.”

Travis shook his head in confusion. “What makes you think they don’t want to be found? I don’t understand what’s going on with you boys and you had better explain yourselves.”

Josiah sighed and quickly related the events that led up to the disappearance of their leader and their second in command.

Once his narration was done, Chief Travis leaned back into his chair and looked at each of the five men in consideration.

“This is very disturbing news, boys. Nathan, did you get a chance to review his condition?”

“From the little time that I had, Chief. He left before I could get back with more extensive equipment. But basically, I say, he was going through withdrawal. Lucien says at the motel it seemed to be getting worst.”

Chief Travis stared at him in shock. “Wait a minute. You said nothing about Lucien being back.” He was glowered directly at Josiah and Buck.

“We sort of forgot,” answered Buck, trying to look remorseful.

“I’ll bet. So, where is he now?”

Buck turned to Josiah, who then turned to Ezra who then looked at the door behind them.

“Lucien, please make your presence known,” shouted Ezra to the closed door.

The door opened slowly and Lucien walked into the room of Archangels.

“Lucien, I am surprised that you came back,” stated Travis. “I did not think that you would return to the scene of your crime.”

Lucien stood, smirking at the older Archangel. He did not wish to be here under any circumstances, but the others had convinced him that this was the only way to help his brother, Michael.

“First of all, you should not be surprised when it concerns my brother, Chief Travis. And second, the crime was not mine, but Nadia Diaz.”

“And from what I understand, she has also returned to the scene of her crime,” added Travis.

“For the acquisition of one thing,” interjected Ezra.

“Yeah. A blond by the name of Christopher Michael Larabee,” put in Buck.

“And it seems that our dear Mr. Tanner has decided to go after them,” explained Ezra.

“Well, then,” started Travis. “It seems that you boys have your work cut out for you, now don’t you,”

The room burst with shouts and activity.

“What?” exclaimed Buck.

“And what does that mean?” came Josiah’s question.

“You can’t be thinking of leaving them out there?” asked Nathan.

“Their our friends!” shouted JD.

“You are condemning them to a certain demise, sir,” commented Ezra.

“Calm down! Calm down!” shouted Chief Travis.

The men became quiet, looking to their head of the organization for his explanation.

“I’m not saying that we leave Chris and Vin to the hands of this…this woman. What I am saying is that the other groups do not have the expertise or the knowledge to deal with this type of situation. You men do,” he finished, eyeing each and every one of them.

Although most of the six looked at Travis with concern, only one looked on smug and confident.

“All right, Ez, spit it out,” came Buck’s request.

“I could have told you all so, but of course, you did not heed my misgivings around the situation.”

“What Ezra is trying to say, Chief is that he was against us coming to you and wanted us to try to resolve the situation on our own,” explained Josiah.

“And Ezra is right. There is something you need to know about Chris. Chris was working for me, undercover.”

“What did you say?” asked Lucien, staring at the man in shock.

“Chris was working for me undercover. He was assigned to infiltrate the DeCorsia family cartel. Unfortunately, something went wrong.”

“Yeah! They turned him into a junkie!” shouted Buck.

Nathan motioned for Buck to calm down. He knew there was more to Travis’ story.

“Chris was very adamant about finding out who killed his family. Our investigation showed that someone working for the DeCorsia family was involved. Chris decided the best thing for him to do was to integrate himself among the top family members. He became very close to Roberto DeCorsia, the patron of the family by successfully completing deals between his family and the other crime families of the organization. I don’t know how he became addicted to the drugs. He was in there really deep for a long time.”

“Yeah,” piped in Buck. “We know. For the past four years we’ve been watching him spiraling down into the gutter. And I can tell you Chief it’s not good. I think he’s become too obsessed over his family’s death and doesn’t care what he has to do to find their killers. Even if it means getting down and dirty with them. A couple of days ago we were going to confront him about it, but then this happened.”

“This organization was to be the ears and eyes for the government. We knew Chris was dirty from the time I arrested him. But when he met Sarah he was honestly trying to change, as much as could be expected from a man like him,” defended Chief Travis. “I did not know that he had let his old habits back in.”

“After losing his family, what did you think was going to happen to him?” asked Ezra, staring haughtily at Travis in doubt.

“I don’t know, Ezra. But not this,” replied Travis, holding his hands out in exasperation.

“Chris has demons to fight,” stated Josiah, looking at Travis.

“We need to find him before it gets any worst,” said Nathan, standing up and walking to the window. “He’s out there, somewhere and I know he’s suffering from withdrawal.”

“I don’t think he’s suffering from that, Nathan,” came Lucien’s statement.

“What do you mean?” asked JD, curiously.

“I mean, that black bag I brought to him, at the motel, it had pills in it.”

“And you gave it to him?” shouted Buck, standing up angrily and walking menacingly towards the young blond.

Josiah and Ezra intervened before Buck could reach the young man and both grabbed on to Buck, while he viciously fought to escape.

“Buck, calm down, brother,” yelled Josiah, trying to keep the tall, brown-haired man from attacking Lucien.

Buck then turned his energies towards his friends. “What do you mean, calm down? Chris is out there, with a bag full of what he craves, given to him by his own brother!”

Buck then turned back to his original target. “How could you? He’s your brother! He’s always protected you!”

“At first I didn’t know. I assumed they were a prescription that he was given for his depression over the death of his wife and son. You know, like Prozac. He was acting all strange at the motel and I thought those pills would help him. I had no idea what they were. When he got violent, that was when I decided to get a car and bring him back to you. But then he escaped and I had the unfortunate meeting with you,” elucidated Lucien.

“What do you mean escaped?” queried Josiah, suspicious at the comment.

“I had locked the door from the outside. I took the key. He should have never been able to get out, but somehow he did.”

“Oh no,” mumbled Ezra.

“Okay, Ezra. What did that mean?” said Buck, turning towards his green- eyed companion. He knew Ezra was hiding something.

“Well…it may have something to do with Mr. Larabee benefiting from my exceptional tutoring,” answered Ezra shamefully.

“Ezra…?”

“Well, Buck, on certain occasions Mr. Larabee and myself have been using passages of time in increasing his knowledge of, say, the art of extracting oneself from imprisonment or a confined room.”

“In other words,” began JD. “He taught Chris how to use that lock pick set he gave him for Christmas.”

The others looked at Ezra and if looks could kill, Ezra figured he would have been dead at that minute. In response, Ezra rolled his eyes to the ceiling trying to look innocent.

“Well, that explains a lot,” said Lucien.

“Okay. So what do we do next? How do we find them?” asked Lucien. He was concerned about his brother being with Nadia too long. His fears extended from the fact that Michael might be going back to his old ways.

Michael was a different person back in New York. Back then, Lucien was actually afraid of him, afraid of what he was, afraid of what he had done and what he might do.

Michael was not the Archangel agent that had married Sarah Connelly and had a beautiful son, Adam. Michael was a person that cared about nothing but Michael and what he wanted. There were times when Lucien wondered if he was born to other than the Larabee family and had met Michael then, would he still be alive after he had stolen from Michael, probably not.

JD jumped excitedly. “I think if we all pursue our contacts and hit the streets we can dig up something. Ya know nothing goes on in Vegas that someone doesn’t know about.”

“The kid’s right, sir,” put in Josiah. “There are plenty of sinners out there with information to sell.”

“Well, then, as of today, you are all officially assigned to this case. Until Archangel Michael and Archangel Gabriel are found, I am designating Archangel Barakiel as leader,” announced Chief Travis.

At that statement, Buck and Lucien stood up to stare at Travis as if he was foaming at the mouth.

“You can’t be serious!” cried out Lucien, his blue eyes conveying his doubt about Travis’ decision.

“Oh, but I am. Ezra holds a position within the Sarim as do you all. That means he has just as much right to hold this title as do you all. It is my decision and it stands.”

“But Chief, do you know what you’re doing?” came Buck’s irate question.

“Yes. I do. Ezra had the wisdom to know that I could not help. He also knew that it would better to work with your own resources than the ones I have available.”

The others could only sit in silence as they knew what Chief Travis had said was true.

“Well?” asked Travis. “What are you waiting for? An invitation?”

The six men all stood up and starting walking out of the office. Ezra hesitated before following the rest out. He turned to Chief Travis.

“Chief, what I did not ask is what would happen if Chris is found, let’s say, not in the same condition that he left in?”

“If you’re asking me Ezra, what I am going to do once Chris is found, I would say it depends on what condition he is found in. You know that we have no place for a habitual drug user in the organization. Most likely his parole would be revoked and he would be transported to a drug rehabilitation facility and after, probably back to prison.”

Ezra could look upon their organizational leader with eyes of sorrow and sadness. Chris’ career would be over if they could not bring him back to Travis in the same way that he had left.

Travis saw the conflicting emotions in Ezra’s face at the sentence he had passed on his friend and brother agent. Ezra knew it was a death sentence for Chris Larabee and so did Chief Travis.

“If you can bring him back and he willingly will enter a drug rehabilitation center then maybe we can talk about good behavior and his past good record. I could get the committee to take that into consideration when thinking about his penalty. How does that sound?”

Ezra eyes brightened at the notation. He knew with the help of the others that they could bring Larabee back into the fold.

“I’ll let the others know. Thanks, Chief,” said Ezra walking out the door.

Chief Travis watched him go, praying that the help of the other six, Archangel Michael would return as his Patron for Law and Order.

The Sarim: The House of the Chief Celestial Angel Princes

*******************************************************************************************

Chapter: 21

The Twelve Angelic Orders/The First Choir

Celestials:

The Second Order of Angels maintains the connections between Divine Thought and Wisdom and its manifestation into the physical realms. They appear as shinning silver light. They are known as the Celestials. Few ever appear to humans or 3rd density realms. They are present throughout all of existence.

Member of this Angelic Order

Celestial (Astarael)

http://www.steliart.com/angelology_angelic_orders.html

“Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:21

* * * * * *

Vin had driven to the street that Sukia had told him that Snake Eyes would usually carousel. So far he only saw the typical Vegas tourists, regaling in the sins of the Vegas Strip.

He knew what Jake Snake Eyes looked like. He had busted him on a drug felony charge five years ago when he was a cop on the Vegas beat before joining Chris’ group.

He had been there for the past two hours and his head was aching fiercely still from the hit he took from Chris three days ago. Nathan had told him that the headaches would persist for a while and that what he really needed was an X-ray and a MRI. But Vin had refused, more concerned about Chris being on the dangerous streets of Vegas. Now the headache had come back with a vengeance.

He was about to give up and go to one of us other places to look for him when he spotted the man. He watched as a short, thin, Native American man with long black hair sidle up to a tourist who was waiting for the next bus downtown. He wore jeans and a leather vest with no shirt and a headband of red and black held his hair in place.

Vin spied Jake Snake Eyes hand slowly dipping into the pocket of the man and knew he was trying to lift the man’s wallet. Vin decided that while Jake Snake Eyes was preoccupied this was the best time to approach him.

He got out of his truck, and cautiously moved to stand behind the thief.

“What ya doin’, Jake?” he whispered into Jake’s ear.

Jake jumped, his hand removing itself quickly from the pocket of his intended victim, empty. Jake turned to see the steel blue eyes of one ex-cop staring down at him.

“Vin Tanner! What a surprise! What’s a waischius like you doing around here?” A sardonically smile flitted across the man’s face.

“Jake, Jake, Jake. What did I tell ya about stealin’?” said Vin, grabbing the man by the arm and leading him away from the now startled tourist.

“Hey, hey, hey. That’s my arm you pulling there. And who says I was stealing?” said Jake, trying to get his arm out of the vise-like grip.

“Jake, come on, now. Your hand was so deep in that man’s pocket, I thought ya hit oil.”

“Listen, Vin. You can’t do anything to me! You ain’t a cop anymore, remember?”

“Ah, but I can still have ya put in jail for pickpocketin’.

“Now, you wouldn’t do that, would you? Considering how far back we go together.”

Vin gave the man his best Larabee glare and watched as he cringed in doubt.

“I guess you would. Alright, so what can I do for you?”

“I am lookin’ for a woman who goes by the name of Nadia Diaz.”

“Never heard of her,” piped up Jake. “If she’s here, she must have just snuck her way in.” He then chuckled at his own comment.

Vin did not think it was funny and he did not think that Jake was being honest with him.

Vin grabbed him roughly by his vest and shoved him down the street towards his truck. “Listen, Jake. I can make it hard for ya if ya don’t play ball with me, do ya understand?”

“Yo, yo, Vin. Listen…ouch…listen to me,” cried Jake as he was dragged down the street.

“No! Ya listen to me!” exclaimed Vin, his eyes burning bright with the anger he felt towards the man in his grasp. “I ain’t got no time to be hagglin’ with ya. I’m lookin’ for this woman and she has somethin’ that I want. Either ya help me or I can find other ways to pay ya back for the knife ya put in my back a few years ago. Ya understand me?”

Jake Snake Eyes knew what Vin referred to and he was hoping that the ex-cop would have forgotten the incident. But it seemed he was wrong in his assumption and it also looked like it was going to be something he would always regret.

“Okay, listen. There’s rumors about a new player in town. They say this woman is trouble. Even Marco DeCorsia is afraid of her.”

“Do ya know her name? Do ya know where she lives? Where she hangs out? How can I find her?”

“Whoa, whoa! Listen, man, this woman is Heávohe. You know the devil. She’s bad medicine. You don’t want to find her. I’m telling you this for your own good.”

Vin could see that Jake was serious. He was really frightened about this woman and there was not much that could frighten Jake.

“Do you have a name?” asked Vin again, this time more insistent.

“She…she calls herself…Nadia. I don’t know the last name. Never asked.”

Vin eyes lit up at the name. He had found his quarry.

“Do ya know where she hangs out? Where does she live?”

“Well, you have to promise me that if anyone asks, you did not hear from me,” responded Jake, his eyes looking around the area.

Vin could not believe that a woman could turn such a tough hombre into a weeping piece of jelly. Vin knew she had to be real bad news. “Cowboy, what have ya gotten yourself into?” he thought to himself. He then turned back to Jake and said “They won’t hear it from me.”

“Okay. I’ve seen her hanging out at the Twenty-One Club pretty regular. Don’t know if she has a place there or not. But she’s there almost every night.”

“Ain’t that Marco DeCorsia’s club?”

“Yeah, yeah. She also hangs out a lot at the Sands too.”

“Is that it?”

“Well, there was this one time that I was working on the corner of the Sands and her driver came by with this big black limo. I heard her say to him that she was wanted to go home to Paradise Road.”

“Pretty ritzy area.”

“Yeah. Only big money there.”

“Is that it?”

“Listen, Vin, I wouldn’t shit you. That’s all I know.”

Vin looked intently at the young Native American trying to determine if he was lying.

Jake knew what Vin was thinking. “I swear, Vin. I kid you not, man.”

Vin only continued to stare.

“Come one, man,” pleaded Jake. “I told you everything!”

Vin slowly released his hold on the man. “Okay, Jake. Ya better be straight with me. If I find out otherwise, I will hunt ya down and there will be no place ya can hide that I can’t find ya.”

Jake Snake Eyes knew how true that statement was. He remembered the day Vin was a cop and how he had tracked him down, even outside the Las Vegas limits to find him. He was not someone to take lightly.

“You won’t. I guarantee it,” said Jake, nodding.

“Go on and get out of here.”

Jake Snake Eyes did not wait for another invitation. He walked quickly away from the irritated young sniper.

“And I better not see ya on this corner again!” yelled Vin as he watched the young man speed away down the street.

Vin then got back into his truck. He had a place to start. He just prayed he wasn’t too late as he drove his car towards the outskirts of the Vegas Strip and Paradise Road.

* * * *

As he slowly approached consciousness, Chris felt a smooth, cold surface against his cheek. He could not distinguished what is was and cracked one green eye open and found himself looking at a huge encompass of white marble.

His body ached fiercely and the chills seemed to be getting worst. He could not stop shaking from them. His stomach was joining in on the party, doing somersaults that was creating such nausea that he knew he would not be able to hold any water or food down for a long time.

He ultimately decided he needed to move since the cold surface was just adding more cold to his already shivering body. With a groan he sat up and opened both eyes to find that the cold surface that he was lying on was the side of a toilet.

He remembered now. He was so sick from withdrawal that he had ended vomiting for hours. He had fallen asleep from exhaustion in the bathroom immediately following the emptying of his stomach. Unfortunately, the only thing left in it was bile. He had not eaten since he had left the motel room he had shared with Lucien and it seemed at that moment that his stomach did not believe there was nothing left to come up.

He grabbed the toilet tank and pulled himself up on shaky legs. He was uncoordinated and confused. He knew nothing of time or reason. Only that he was in great pain. He moved gradually over to the sink in the bathroom and turned on the tap water. He splashed water on his face, believing it would make his head clearer and also used some of it to wash away the taste of bile from his mouth. He also noticed that his side was burning and looked down to see a white bandage with stains of red. He could not for the life of him fathom how it happened. In fact, there was very little that he could remember at this point. The pain was the only thing that had his attention at this point.

As he was limping out of the bathroom, he heard someone unlocking the door and trying to enter the room.

He looked around the room for something to assist in his escape, but there was nothing available.

The door opened and Nadia Diaz with the two of her men entered the room. Neither of the men were ones that Chris recognized from their first meeting. It seemed that Nadia had plenty of men to protect her. It seemed to be an army in fact.

As Nadia stepped further into the room, her hands hidden behind her back. Two men accompanied her, one was tall, bulky, red-haired Caucasian man and another was a short, older, African-American man. They were dressed in dark business suits. Their attire was determined by their positions within Nadia’s organization. The men moved to stand on each side of her, semi-automatic weapons held pointed directly at Larabee.

“Hello, my love. I see you are up and around,” she said smiling wickedly.

“Yeah. No thanks to you,” replied Chris as he sat down wearily upon the bed.

“Looks like you are bleeding again. I should have the good doctor look at it.”

Chris was in pain, tired, angry and worried about his friends. He was beyond his breaking point. “What the hell do you want from me, Nadia?” he exclaimed.

“Don’t you know, beloved?” responded Nadia, teasingly. “It should be obvious to you.”

“Well, I know it’s not love,” said Chris, smirking slightly and bowing his head tiredly. “You’re too heartless.”

“Why, Christopher,” she replied, as she walked closer to him. “Of course, it’s love. I’ve always loved you. And I will prove it to you.”

Chris head came up to stare directly at her with eyes of green. “How’s that?”

“You will have a playmate soon.”

“A playmate? What in the devil are you talking about?” Chris was in too much pain and was getting annoyed at Nadia’s cryptic statements.

“I’m talking about a longhaired, blue-eyed, Texan,” she answered with a huge smile.

“Vin!” cried out Chris, standing up from the bed.

Nadia and the men watched as he swayed briefly, but once his coordination returned he started to close the distance between them.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” said the tall red-haired man waving the gun around. “It would be very painful.”

“Then do it. Kill me!”

“These gentlemen are excellent shots, Christopher. They have orders to only wound you and in your current condition, it would not be a pleasant experience.”

“Why don’t you just leave me alone?” said Chris, despondently as he sat back down on the bed.

“Because, my beloved, I would not have what I want.” Nadia moved closer so that she stood over the depressed and sick blond. “I do love you, Christopher. I will do anything to make sure that I have you. Don’t you understand?”

Nadia brought her right hand from behind her back. She held out the bottle of pills that Chris had been looking for.

Chris looked up into her brown eyes and read there that she was offering him the one thing he craved for. His mind raged in torment. If he took Nadia’s offer, then he would be tied to her forever. Never again would he be free or his own man. He would be Nadia’s man and he would be condemning Vin to the same fate or worst.

Nadia could see his hesitation at accepting her offer. She was hoping that he had sunk so low and that the pain was so great that he would not have a second thought. But he was strong. Stronger than she had first assumed, but she should have known. They had not named him Archangel Michael for nothing.

Chris finally sat straighter and said, “No. I don’t understand.” Nadia knew he was also saying that he did not want her offer.

“Very well,” Nadia said miffed and placing her hand back at her side. “Sooner or later, you will come to me and you will want my offer. Especially if you want to see your friend again.” She then turned around, followed by her men out the door.

“I’ll see you in hell first, Bitch!” Chris called after her retreating back.

The door slammed soundly and Chris heard the click of the lock.

After he was sure that Nadia and her henchmen would not return, he crawled up to the top of the bed and curled up into a ball as pain overtook him. He hoped that he did not bite off more than he could chew and he was still worried about the soft-spoken Texan. He did not know how to protect him. He had failed his friends. Nadia knew how much he cared about the scruffy sharpshooter. She knew that he would do anything to save his friend, including selling his soul to the devil if he had to. What had he got them into? He said aloud, “You better watch your back, Cowboy.” The blond archangel then closed his eyes and let the darkness take him where it will.

* * * * *

Marco DeCorsia sat at his usual table at the Twenty-One Club. Nadia had called him earlier and said she was on her way to talk to him. She sounded excited and he liked her when she was excited. If she were happy, then he would be happy. Or at least that was the way he thought.

The club was pretty much crowded even at the current time of day. In fact, Vegas never really sleeps except for the couple of hours of closing stipulated by the law of the State of Nevada concerning gambling casinos. But Marco’s club was more than that and because it was it got around the required closing time.

He was about to order another Martini when he noticed Nadia and two of her men crossing the crowd towards him. He smiled as she came closer to his table. Sooner or later she would belong to him or she would belong to no one. He would make sure of that as soon as he had acquired one Archangel Michael and the knowledge in his head concerning his father’s side of the business.

Nadia sat down, while her men stood behind her, alert for anything that would threaten their client. She put her hand up in the air, calling for one of the young female waitresses who usually took care of the more prestigious clientele. The dark-haired Caucasian waitress came over to the table and quickly took Nadia’s order. She then disappeared back into the crowd to fulfill the order.

Nadia then turned her attention to DeCorsia. She smiled lightly at him, creating a vision of a cat that swallowed a canary secretively.

Marco knew Nadia had some juicy information for him and he was getting excited at the anticipation of its disclosure. He moved his hand across the table and touched her gently on the hand. “Nadia, my love. You look absolutely radiant. What have you done with yourself, dear?”

“Oh, Marco, stop the bullshit, ” came Nadia’s trite comment as she pulled her hand away from his. “You know how it really irritates me.”

She then looked about the club and saw that Marco was doing a lot of business even at this time of day. “I see the tourists have been keeping you in the green.”

“Yes. And if you would only accept my offer of proposal of marriage, you could share in its wealth.”

“Please, Marco. With Sergio’s wealth and property, I hardly call myself part of the working poor.”

“True, true. But if you would marry me, then you would have even more. Together we could remove my father from his lofty throne, you and I could have it all.”

“You know, Marco. Your problem is that you are too greedy. You have enough, enjoy it before it’s too late.”

“Look who’s talking. You don’t seem to be enjoying your financial wealth.”

“There is more to life than money, Marco.”

“And what would that be?”

“Love, Marco. Love. If you had ever experienced in your lifetime you would know what I am talking about.”

“Oh, but I do, my love. I love you.”

“You love my wealth, Marco. Not me. If I did not have your dead brother’s holdings or your father’s ear, you would not be saying that.”

Marco thought briefly on what she said and replied “I think I would love you if you did not.”

Nadia eyed him doubtfully. She knew Marco like she knew herself. Marco loved only one thing. That was money. He did not love his brother, as Nadia knew he had hired the hit man that took her husband’s life. And she also knew of how he tried to get his father killed by rival cartel. No. Marco loved no one but Marco and he would not, could not, love her.

“Marco, I came here to tell you one thing. I have Archangel Michael in my possession.”

Marco stared at Nadia in amazement. This woman had done what he could not with all the power he held in Vegas. He smiled delightful at her at the prospect of his goals coming true. Archangel Michael was the only thing that stood in the way of his achieving his dreams.

His questions came fast and furiously. “Where is he? What have you done with him? Can I see him?”

“Hold on, Marco. I told you before that I had two reasons for working for you. One of them was Archangel Michael.”

“What was the other one?”

Marco did not know that Nadia’s other reason was that she wanted to avenge her husband’s death by finding his killer. He would not know until it was too late.

“That is my own private secret, Marco.”

Marco although slow, was a not a stupid man. He knew Nadia had something up her sleeve with that comment. He just could not prove what, at the moment. But he would, there was no doubt in his mind. Instead, he turned the conversation back to his immediate concern. “So what do you plan to do with him?”

“I plan to make him my own.”

“You don’t mean you plan to marry the man?”

“I don’t have to marry him to make him my own,” said Nadia smiling impishly.

“But I need the information that he carries in his head concerning my father’s dealings with the cartel members.”

“I know, I know. I will get it for you. But Larabee is mine, let me make that perfectly clear,” she said tapping her finger onto the table. “Mine alone.”

Marco knew that look. He would not be able to budge her on this one and it would not be smart of him to push her too far considering she had his father’s ear.

“Very well, Nadia. But when do you think you will have the information. I do have a deadline. My father meets with the other cartel members in New York by the end of the next week.”

“Give me five days. I’ll have the information for you.”

“Are you sure? I mean this is Archangel Michael were talking about, not some simple snitch. He’s known for his close-mouthed attitude and protectiveness of others secrets.”

“I have an ace up my sleeve,” responded Nadia, her eyes lighting up.

“And that is?”

“Don’t worry, Marco. All you need to be concerned with is that I have the leverage to get what you want. You just stay away from Archangel Michael. Get my drift?” she said, leaning towards him with a menacing face.

Marco now understood why men were afraid of Nadia. Her dark eyes showed that there was nothing she would not do to get what she wanted.

“I understand perfectly, my dear.”

“Good.”

At that moment, the waitress returned with her drink. Marco saw that it was a gin and tonic. She gulped it down with one swallow and slammed the glass on the table. “I’ll call you when I have the information and we set up a meeting place.”

“Very well, my dear. Please feel free to use any of my resources. They are at your disposal.”

“Don’t need them, Marco. I have my own resources,” she answered starting to walk away. Her men followed her through the throng of club crowd.

Once she was gone, Marco smile turned to a frown. He said to no one in particular, “We shall play it your way, my dear. For now.” He then went back to sipping his Martini and watching the green flow in.

* * * * *

Vin sat in his truck, a block away from the Twenty-One Club. He had watched as people came and went about their daily business, each looking for their pot of gold.

He had been sitting there awhile after leaving Jake Snake Eyes and his ribs were killing him. He wished he had taken some of Nathan’s painkillers with him, but he was in such a hurry he had forgot. His headache was no better and he knew it would get worst as time wore on. His symptoms of dizziness and nausea came and went as the hours dragged on. He wished Nadia would hurry up and put in an appearance before he passed out.

He was about to call it day and go over to Paradise Road, when he noticed a young black woman, accompanied by two oversized gorillas come out of the club. The way she walked, the way she carried herself, Vin knew this was Nadia Diaz.

He waited until they got into the limo and drove off before he started up his engine to follow her. “Damn!” he thought. “This is my lucky day,” and promptly followed the limo from a safe distance.

Vin did not see the other black car behind him a block back. He did not see as it started up also and went down the same way the limo and Vin had taken. If he had, then he would have known that it was not his lucky day at all, but Nadia Diaz’s lucky day.

TBC

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