Armageddon Crazy

In the distance he could see the river. He imagined the four giant figures moving majestically against the tide. Of course, it would be a nightmare to pull together, and despite Cableman's optimism, the odds were still against him. To sell it to his own people alone would be a major task. They would bitch like shit and demand triple overtime, but in the end, they would make it happen. If – when – those images went up, it would be a triumph. It might also convince half the crazies in the nation that the Day of Judgment had really come. If that happened, he wouldn't lose any sleep. In fact, he'd be secretly delighted. Scare the hell out of the si

He was starting to get excited. The huge project really wasn't going to be that hard. There was simply a great deal of work. No new systems had to be devised. The program they had developed to run the Horsemen was capable of adapting to the new designs. The designs themselves might take a little time, but that was Ma

A soft moaning reminded him. She had killed the La La

"Charlie? What are you doing?"

He continued to stare out through the curved window. "Just designing the end of the world, honey."

"That's nice, Charlie. Real nice."

Carlisle

"Proverb's agreed to give himself up."

"Why should he give himself up? The warrants have been cancelled. He isn't a fugitive."

"He says, and I quote the statement, 'Although my own conscience is absolutely clear, I feel that unresolved questions remain that may prove an impediment to the normally cordial relations enjoyed between myself and the deacons of New York. Accordingly, I shall present myself at the main entrance of the CCC Astor Place complex at noon of Tuesday next, in the hope that any misunderstandings may be clarified.' "

"And he wants us to see that he gets in and out alive?"

"In a nutshell."

"He sounds like a very paranoid individual."

"He has every reason to be. The deacons want him dead."

Carlisle, Reeves, and Donahue were crowded in the captain's office: It was the latest in a series of grim meetings. Parnell was sitting behind his desk patiently fielding their questions. It was clear from the drift of the conversation that Carlisle and the others were less than happy about the situation.

"And we're expected to stand in the line of fire?"

"Where else should we be?"

Reeves grunted. "I don't recall signing on for some holy war."

Parnell was not amused. "Do you recall what you did sign on for?"

Reeves shrugged. "What I don't understand is why this has to be turned into a sideshow. Surely, whatever the problems are, they could all be settled in private? This high-noon grandstand seems like Proverb's just sticking it to the dekes one more time."

"It's not something that we were consulted about."

"Ours not to reason, right? "

The captain was starting to lose patience. "This is a delicate situation and there's pressure coming down on all sides. Washington feels that our deacons went too far with that mess at the Garden, and they want the appearance of reconciliation between them and Proverb. They've also put the block on their arresting any more Elvi, because that's making waves in the South. Proverb is obviously going to do his best to turn the whole thing into a media event, and that suits Washington because they need to do something to stop the rumors that are ru

"What about the deacons? Where do they stand in all this?"

Parnell half smiled. "They're madder than a bunch of wet cats."

"They're not crazy enough to try something against Proverb, are they?"

"Not officially, but we all know they've got their death squads."

"Yeah, but-"

"Yeah, but nothing. We can't afford to take any chances. There are deacons who might just be far enough over the edge to pull something. We also still have to take the Lefthand Path's death threat against Proverb seriously."

"So where do we figure in all this? Surely this is primarily a job for the uniforms."

"I want a large concentration of plainclothes officers in the crowd."

"Are we expecting a crowd?"

"There'll be TV cameras and the whole bit. I already told you that Proverb's going to make the biggest possible deal out of this. You can bet that he'll get his followers out on the street."

"So there's no way to screen everyone who's going to get close to him."

"None."

Carlisle shook his head. "I'm getting awfully tired of this nonsense."

Parnell had the look of a man who had heard it all too often. "We're all tired, Harry. It goes with the territory."

Parnell clearly wanted the meeting to move on and get down to details, but Carlisle was not ready to let it go.

"It does? It was only a couple of days ago that the deacons had a warrant out for me. Is that part of the territory? To get thrown in a camp for just doing your job?"

Parnell stared at him bleakly. "So what are you saying? You want to resign?"

Harry Carlisle sighed. "No, I don't want to resign."

Parnell nodded. He knew that Carlisle was not going to quit. The man was too damn stubborn.

"So, shall we get on with it?"

Winters

There was still an hour to go before Proverb was due to arrive, and the crowd was already causing traffic problems in the surrounding streets. Astor Place was completely closed off, but the mob that had turned out to see Alien Proverb had filled the square and was spilling out onto Broadway and Third Avenue. Winters could not imagine where they had all come from. Was Proverb's machine really that good? He would have thought that after the beating they took outside the Garden, Proverb's followers would have been content to lie low and lick their wounds. Like most of the junior deacons, Winters blamed it all on Washington. It was as if they were afraid of Proverb. As far as he and his colleagues were concerned, it was childishly simple. The STG had made the first move outside the Garden. All that had been needed was to follow it up with mass arrests. It had been done before, and there was no real question that Proverb was anything but a subversive. If Washington had not lost its nerve, the whole business would have been cleared up in a couple of weeks. As it was, Winters and the other disgruntled deacons had to content themselves with mixing in with the TV cnews and taping the faces of the crowd for future analysis. All they could tell themselves was that the day would come when they would be turned loose to round up Proverb's heretics, and they intended to be ready.

Winters' mood did not improve when he spotted Harry Carlisle in the middle of a group of plainclothes PDs. He had hoped that the man would be dead by now. Over a week had gone by, and he had heard nothing from the Magicians. He had wanted to say something to Rogers, but he had realized that any word would violate the oath that he had taken in the basement of the whorehouse. All he could do was wait and fume. It angered him to see Carlisle walking around safe and sound.