29th March
Joan usually appeared very calm and collected, regardless of the crisis that she was managing. As she sat in her office at Bovington camp with Etienne, Helen and me, however, I thought that I had never seen her look so unsettled.
‘He never told us that he knew Arkangel,’ she said, ‘and that makes it even more mysterious why he chose to contact me on the day he was killed to say that he wanted pass on information. Why only then?’
‘They couldn’t have known each other that well,’ I suggested, ‘or Leadbetter’s surveillance of Sam for ARK wouldn’t have been necessary.’
‘Perhaps Arkangel didn’t trust him,’ ventured Etienne.
‘If Sam knew Arkangel,’ reasoned Joan, ‘he could have taken action to have Arkangel caught at any time during the two years that he was involved with the operation. The fact that he didn’t, must mean two things: firstly, Sam didn’t want Arkangel to be caught during those two years and secondly, there was some reason that he felt he couldn’t bring MI5 into his confidence about what he knew.’
Etienne looked at his watch. ‘Archangel will text you with his videolink contact details in about five minutes,’ he said to me. ‘You need to be ready to make that call.’
~*~*~*~*~
The face of Arkangel on the screen was younger than I had imagined. Of course, as Joan had pointed out, this might not be the true face of Arkangel – although the interview would, in some way, be led by him.
The face was white and European. He appeared to be about forty years of age. He was clean shaven and had closely cropped black hair which gave the impression of someone who might be a monk.
‘Good afternoon, Mr. Morrison,’ he said in a neutral, southern English accent.
‘Good afternoon, Arkangel,’ I said. ‘I’m pleased that you are seeking a more civilised way to communicate with me.’
‘I am sorry I underestimated your abilities, Mr. Morrison.’
‘You must have known what Sam Collins could do as a result of his access to the book.’
‘He made predictions, but he did not raise the forces of Hell against his enemies. You realise that you will answer to God for whatever you did to God’s representatives.’
‘Those representatives of God tortured people at Meadowcote to gain information for you, and they then dumped the bodies in a grave in the church,’ I replied. ‘You are equally guilty for that and whatever happened or happens to Harris, Rider and Hartnell.’
Arkangel appeared slightly shocked. I was unclear if that related to what I had said about the activities of Harris, Rider and Hartnell or the implication in my sentence that at least one was not dead.
‘Which of them is still alive?’ enquired Arkangel.
‘Too many questions,’ I replied. ‘Why did you want to talk to me?’
‘You are in possession of documents that give you supernatural powers. They are rightfully the property of the Church. I want to understand why you wish to retain them and what it would require to obtain them from you.’
Etienne’s now familiar voice came through the concealed earpiece. ‘Try the questions about Sam.’
‘Sam chose not to give them to you.’
‘For Mr. Collins, that was less important. He was helping us. You, however, may have discovered things that you have no right to know.’
‘Like September the thirteenth.’
Arkangel appeared to remain calm. ‘Knowing the date is one thing; knowing what, where and how is something else.’
Arkangel had a point there. My mind went through the facts I knew that were associated with the date. ‘I don’t intend to talk about nuclear weapons, and I don’t intend to talk about Betelgeuse,’ I said.
Arkangel once again moved his head in a slight indication of surprise and concern.
‘Do you support the plan?’ he asked directly.
Etienne was silent – no help was forthcoming from him about how to respond to a question about a plan on the subject of which I knew nothing. Then the answer came to me. ‘It very much depends on which plan,’ I replied.
Once again, Arkangel looked uneasy. I was reminded of the techniques used by fake spiritualists. Cold reading was an approach whereby a charlatan would infer information from the words and body language of his or her subject. That information could then be fed back to the subject to create the impression that the charlatan was aware of things that he or she could not possibly have known by normal means.
Etienne finally proposed an analysis: ‘He’s worried about you having the ability to predict the future because you might learn of some plan that he’s involved in. Sam evidently already knew about it.’
Arkangel spoke again. ‘Which plan do you support?’
‘It’s not entirely accurate to say that I can predict the future,’ I said, sidestepping the direct question. ‘That is quite possible in circumstances in which the causative factors are well defined, but you know as well as I do that the plans you are thinking of are very dependent on the actions of a very few people. I am aware of what might happen, but I can’t say with certainty, as yet, what will happen. I will, however, be watching and possibly taking action as appropriate.’
Etienne spoke: ‘Well done – that’s very good.’
‘I take it that you will neither be providing me with the details of Mr. Collins’ discovery nor withdrawing your involvement from this matter.’
‘That is correct,’ I replied.
The screen went black.
I sat in silence for some moments. ‘I don’t understand,’ I finally said – partly to Etienne and partly to myself.
‘What don’t you understand?’ Etienne’s voice came through the earpiece.’
‘Arkangel clearly believes that Sam really did discover texts that allowed prediction of the future and possibly gave access to other powers.
‘According to Leadbetter, Sam was supposed to have known Arkangel. In that case, Sam obviously never told Arkangel that the texts and any associated abilities were a complete fiction.’