War-N-Wit, Inc. – MeanStreet, LLC Read Online Free Page B

interlude nearly as much.
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    “Yo, whut up?” Gabriel barked into the mouthpiece of his desk phone. He cocked his head, listening intently. “That’s impossible. Nothing like that’s happened in millennia.” He frowned. “Definitely. We definitely need a meet. How ‘bout four o’clock?” He frowned harder. “ No , not Eastern Standard Time. Get with the program! Universal time. This is a universal problem. Of extremely universal consequences. You calling Raphael or do I need to?”
    The wall of Gabriel’s office dissolved into a blaze of light . A mini windstorm blew into the room on a flurry of beating wings, sending papers swirling off his desk. The wall reformed and Micah, in compact angel form with wings high and proud, blew into the room, cradling an unconscious body. He flew lightly over to the couch and gently deposited his cargo on it, positioning a couch pillow carefully under her head. Poor baby. She’d be awake pretty quick but that first out-of-physical body trip was a killer. Knocked everybody out.
    He compacted his wings tightly, stalked over to Gabriel’s desk and slammed a fist down on the wood.
    “Good. See both of you then,” Gabriel said into the phone. He hung up, leaned his chair back and propped his feet on the desk. “And what’s got your feathers in an uproar?”
    “ Set-up! You set me up ! This was never a preventative mission! It was never about the baby! It was a harvest ! Of a new angel!”
    “And your point is?”
    “You lied to me, G!”
    “I did not! I never told you a damn thing that wasn’t true. You’re the one who assumed your assignment was to save the baby. And you still don’t have it right. Exactly. She’s not an angel. She’s a second-chancer.”
    “ What did you say?”
    “Second-chancer. Not full angel. But she deserves a second chance to be.”
    “The hell you say!”
    “Micah. She’s a teenage cat burglar. Look at her clothes. Look where you found her. What you think she was doing in that mansion? Looking for gumdrops? She and her Dad have been pulling jobs for years!”
    “And just why do you think they—and more specifically she— was doing that?”
    “Okay, so the Dad had his back against the wall trying to take care of her Mom. And she did it to take care of her Mom and keep her Dad out of trouble. Shoulda known you’d pull that out of her essence on the way up. Still doesn’t excuse it.”
    “You sonofabitch.”
    “Hey! That’s an insult to the Grand Conductor, not just me!”
    “You can’t take the heat, get outta the kitchen! She is not a second-chancer! She shouldn’t even be dead! She’s a baby herself! Why the hell couldn’t you just let me handle the cult and take care of the baby?”
    “It was her time , Micah! Free will only goes so far. It was her time and this was her way . Or would you have preferred we leave her on earth until all the innocence and good she had leached out of her soul? What then? Where would she go when that time came?”
    “Innocence and good would never have leached out of that girl’s soul! She took thirteen knives in her back to save that baby, G! Thirteen! Twisted! Knives! ”
    “She reminds you of somebody, doesn’t she? Like Hannah?”
    Micah’s face twisted and darkened.
    “Don’t talk about my little sister!”
    Gabriel’s face softened. “Look, Micah. I know you’ve never understood why Hannah didn’t come up with you. But some humans are born to be repeaters. Living many lives before their harvest. Because they’re strong , Micah. Not because they’re inferior. Because they’re on a different path. A path through many lifetimes, touching many people. As humans.”
    “Then why didn’t I have the choice to repeat? To go back into other lives with her?”
    Gabriel shrugged. “I’m not the Grand Conductor. I can’t answer that. One more time. Free will only goes so far. ”
    “ That girl is not a second-chancer!”
    “That’s not your