"Not till I've put him away."

Mike gave a loud moan and his eyelids fluttered. I poked his Adam's apple with the muzzle of the gun.

"Wake up, Mike!"

He moaned again. I brought my face close to his.

"It's over, Mike. We need the Seal and we need it now."

"Bi . . ." he whispered. "Bi . . ."

"Bye?" Mr. Needlemier said.

" 'By' what, Mike?" I asked. "What is it by?"

"Bite me," he gasped.

"No thanks," I said. "I think I'll just shoot you."

"Tell him we have her," Op Nine said.

I looked at him. Who did we have?

"Tell him we have his mother."

"You're bluffing," Mike said. "There's no way."

"Michael," Op Nine said softly, coming to stand beside me so Mike could see him. "Michael, you know me. You know what I am. You know Section Nine."

Mike's eyes had gone wide.

"I don't believe you," Mike said.

"I shall tell her that. I'll explain you didn't believe us."

"Shut up," Mike shouted. "Just shut your pie-hole, Padre. I'm not giving up the Vessel."

"The Great Seal has been lost," Op Nine said. "What use is the Vessel to you now?"

"Well, for one thing, it's the only thing that's keeping Al here from blowing my head off."

Op Nine smiled grimly. "Tell us, Mike, or I will give the order."

He held out his hand toward me. I got it immediately, and handed him his cell phone.

"Well, Padre, I love my mom, don't get me wrong, but I always thought my life might have turned out just a wee bit different if it hadn't been for her. You know how it is, Al-we got no choice when it comes to parents, and some of them are woefully underqualified."

"This is Nine," Op Nine said into the cell phone. "I am authorizing Execution Code Delta-Alpha-Tango. Repeat: authorizing Execution Code Delta-Alpha-Tango."

"Lemme talk to her," Mike said.

Op Nine was pretending to listen to the nonexistent person on the other end of the line.

"Yes. Advise her that the Hyena refuses to cooperate."

"Tell her self-preservation trumps familial loyalty!" Mike shouted. Then he said, " 'Hyena'? That's my target name?"

"Very good," Op Nine said into the phone. "Yes. Execute Delta-Alpha-Tango immediately."

"Wait!" Mike yelped. "Okay! Stay the code!"

"Stay," Op Nine said. The hand holding the phone dropped to his side. "Where is the Vessel, Mike?"

Mike took a deep shuddering breath. "I'm lying on it."

I groaned. We hadn't moved him to search. I grabbed him by the shoulder and rolled him off the couch. He hit the floor with a "whoomf!" I yanked off the cushions and threw them across the room. There was a cavity right in the center covered by a hinged door. I pulled the door open and brought out the Vessel. A lot lighter than I thought it would be, it was very plain, no fancy designs or markings of any kind, made of brass or bronze, I guess, the metal hammered very thin.

Op Nine flipped the cell phone closed and slipped it into his pocket. Then he turned to me and held out his hand.

"I said it was hope that separated us from them," he said to me gently. "But so does mercy, Alfred."

"Okay," I said. "But some things are unforgivable too."

I handed him the 3XD.

"There," Op Nine said in that same gentle voice. "You see, Alfred? He is here. You've just provided us with the evidence."

50.

"What now?" Mr. Needlemier asked.

"Now some answers," Op Nine said. He pulled Mike from the floor and plopped him down on the sofa. "What is Operation Utopia?"

Mike started to smile, but the look in Op Nine's eyes killed it.

"A very noble cause that a very stupid kid ruined," he said after a pause.

"The Charter is explicit in regards to-"

"Oh, don't quote the Charter to me, Padre," Mike said. "This is bigger than the Charter."

"Your termination was a hoax, wasn't it?"

Mike looked away. Op Nine didn't seem to care.

"What was the director's intent, Michael?"

"In a word? World peace. Oops. That's two words."

"The director went outside the Charter, did he not? He arranged your phony termination, the extraction of the Great Seals from our Vaults . . . He wanted you to free the outcasts in order to-what?"

"You're the SPA. Isn't it as plain as the boils on Al's face?"

"Blackmail? The director would use the fallen to enforce world peace?"

"It's beautiful, doncha think?" Mike said. "Once we made our little demonstration in the desert, who's gonna have the guts to challenge the Company's new world order? No more petty dictators or rogue states mucking around with peace and security. Somebody breaks the rules, we break the Seal. Perfect. Or at least it was on paper. Of course, we never considered the Kropp factor." He looked at me. "One day I'm gonna kill you, Al, swear to God."

"OIPEP wants to take over the world?" I asked.

Op Nine shook his head. "Not OIPEP, Alfred. Merryweather. It seems our director has decided to throw the Charter out the window. We have been duped."

"That's okay," I said. "I'm getting used to it." I turned to Mike. "So that's why you tried to kill me? Merryweather knew about my blood and he was afraid it might be used to fight the demons?"

"Of course he knew," Op Nine said. "It was contained in your dossier. After Mike 'stole' the Seals, I gave the order for Ashley to extract you. I did not know for certain, but I hoped your . . . gift might be useful in the 3XD. Therefore Merryweather needed Mike to extract you first."

"In an extreme way," I said. I started for the door.

Op Nine said, "Wait, Alfred."

"We're almost out of time," I said. "We have only two hours to get to Florida."

"I'm not sure that is entirely wise," Op Nine said.

"We don't have a choice," I shot back. "They'll consume us if we don't go."

"But if we go, there is nothing to stop them from consuming us."

"Well, that's been the problem all along, hasn't it?"

"Game's over," Mike said. "There's no way out."

"I might be able to help," Mr. Needlemier said. "But nobody has bothered to tell me exactly what is going on with these Seals . . . and who this OIPEP is . . . and what these demons are . . . and . . . and et cetera . . ."

We ignored him.

"Look, Op Nine," I said. "It's just the two of us, and I was given a deadline in Chicago with the clear understanding that if I miss it, there's gonna be hell to pay-literally. I guess I made what you call a deal with the devil-more like sixteen million of them-but it was either that or lose all hope and that's about all that we have left."

Mike laughed. "What about your health, Al? Oh. Never mind."

"Where's that tire iron?" I asked Mr. Needlemier.

"Alfred, you do not understand them as I do," Op Nine said. "You cannot presume they operate in good faith."

"No, I'm presuming they're going to keep eating me until I'm used up. Not dead. I'm already dead. I'm the walking dead, Samuel-that's the message of the maggots. It's already too late for me, but maybe it's not too late for the world."

"Paimon will not risk returning to its prison. It will never surrender the Seal."

I took a deep breath. "Why don't we blow it up?"

He gave me a quizzical look.

"How much of my blood did you put in those bullets? It couldn't be more than a drop or two. What if we . . . used more?"

"Alfred," Op Nine said. "What you're suggesting-"

"I think that's a terrific idea," Mike said. "Let's blow Al up."

"I'm serious," I said. "If I can get close enough to Paimon . . . it might give you a few seconds."

"Hey, Saint Alfred," Mike said. "Where was the death wish at the ravine? You had the chance."

I stared at Mike for a long time. The ravine. His hand on my wrist. The black sword in my other hand.

I had it then. The answer popped into my head the same way all my memories had in the morgue.

I turned to Mr. Needlemier. "Where in Florida is the Devil's Millhopper?"

"Gainesville."

I turned to Op Nine. "I've got it now. I think I know what has to be done."

51.

Mike trailed behind us as we trotted to the Lexus.

"Tell me the truth," he called after us. "You never had my mom, did you?"

Op Nine turned. "That is something you will not know until this is over-however it ends. You have been neutralized as a factor in this affair, Michael."

"I never liked you," Mike said. "And you can bet your bottom dollar the director's going to hear about this."

"Should we succeed, he will no longer be director and you will no longer be an operative. Both of you have violated our most solemn oath never to interfere with the affairs of any nation." His dark eyes glittered. "And by doing so, you have endangered the very thing you intended to preserve."