Joshua Graham - Terminus

From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a tall figure in a long black leather coat scanning the lobby.

Johann.

The big bad angel had come looking for him. Nick glanced around for the nearest exit—couldn’t teleport and just vanish before Matthew’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, I just remembered something I have to do,” he said, his back to Johann. “I’ll be off now.”

“You look nervous.”

“I look nothing of the sort.” He patted Matthew on the head. “Listen, after I leave, you go and stand with your mum, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Goodbye, Matthew.”

“Later.”

Nick got up and slipped away, eyeing exits that led to the courtyard. He looked back at the spot where Johann was standing.

But he was no longer there.

He turned back and bumped into an elderly woman who grabbed his arm to keep from falling.

“Terribly sorry, ma’am.” He steadied her, but they’d drawn the attention of a tall woman standing at the nearest courtyard exit door. She started toward them.

Right away, Nick recognized her.

She was a member of the quartet that had met with Lena last night—Leatherchick, who’d launched the gangster through the air with a light shove. She pressed a tiny receiver into her ear and spoke. Nick read her lips as easily as the morning paper.

Found him.

The last thing he wanted was to deal with Lena. She’d fired him, what else was there to discuss? And why send all this muscle after him?

Leatherchick was headed straight at him, her face exuding all the congeniality of granite.

Nick did a brisk one-eighty.

But somehow Johann had managed to get through the crowd without knocking anyone down. Just a few steps away, he called out.

“Nikolai!”

No way . Caught between these two? Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? With all eyes on Johann now, Nick could escape without anyone noticing. If his teleportation abilities didn’t fail.

He set his mind on the Coronado Bridge. When nothing happened, he focused harder.

Leatherchick pushed past two heavy men as if they were tall blades of grass.

A group of Japanese teens rushed up to Johann, shouting “Samuel L. Jackson! Samuel L. Jackson!” and thrusting souvenirs at him to autograph.

By now, Nick should be somewhere around the bay. Nothing. Come on! He focused on the walkway outside the hotel.

Still nothing.

Leatherchick was just a few steps away.

Johann broke free from his fans.

Was the ability to teleport hindered by the stress, or had Nick lost it altogether?

Without a moment to spare, Nick rushed into a throng of Japanese youths. Almost instantly he reemerged as a bespectacled Asian kid with an ebony mop that fell over his eyes. Leatherchick was talking to Johann.

“Did she send you?” he watched her say.

“No. You?”

She shook her head. “I followed him. What are you—”

“Same team, Serena. Same objective.”

Nick headed for the revolving doors. He would have liked to hear the rest, but in his uncertain state he didn’t know how long he could maintain this construct. He also didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to teleport. Assuming he could still do it at all.

Better check in on Lito Guzman.

HE EXPECTED THE SUCCESSFUL TELEPORTION to land him in a drug lord’s lair, not a large suburban house with piles of boxes, “moving sale” signs against the walls, and no furniture but a chair and card table.

Nick stood outside the room where Lito sat speaking into his cell phone. Though he’d listened in on humans for countless years, for some reason he’d never felt it was eavesdropping.

Until now.

“You’re not hearing me, Eduardo,” Lito said. “I don’t care if the Hernandezes go over to the Suarezes, I’m done…Then that’ll just have to be on their heads on judgment day, nothing to do with me…I said no….You can do whatever you want with all the assets after I take my share…”

He laughed. “Maybe I have gone loco. But for the first time in my life, I’m a hundred percent sure of what I’m doing. With all due respect to Papi I have to do what’s right, you know? That doesn’t include selling women and children….Of course they’ll come after me, they already have. But guess what? I have God on my side…I just know, okay?

“Yes, my old friend. I’m saying goodbye to Maria tonight before I leave for London. Can you believe she asked me to come to the Cabrillo event with her? Guess she’s gotten religious too.”

He was quiet for a few minutes, shaking his head but listening patiently.

“I’ll tell her everything, just pray she’ll believe me. And forgive me. I’ll try and convince her to come with me, if she won’t I’ll just leave.” He passed a hand over his face, weary and seamed with regret. “If she refuses to leave with me, promise you’ll look out for her, okay? Be especially careful about Joey…Yeah, he’s the worst of them…Yeah…Sure…All right, then.” He drew a lugubrious breath. “And Eduardo…Thank you, for everything.”

The next thing Nick heard was a gun being cocked.

“You! Come out here with your hands where I can see them!” Lito’s chair fell as he stood, gun pointed.

Nick emerged from the shadows, his hands up.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “The front door was open and—”

“You!” Lito said, lowering the gun.

“I wasn’t breaking in, you know.”

“Of course not, you’re an angel.” Lito slipped the gun behind his belt and reached out his hand. Nick took it.

To his surprise, Lito kept hold of his hand and pulled him into a one-armed man hug. The wound from the bullet graze had stopped bleeding but it still ached a bit.

“Now I know I’m doing the right thing.”

There was no mistaking the sincerity in his eyes.

“What do you mean, Lito?”

“If being rescued by an angel isn’t a sign from heaven that it’s time to turn my life around, I don’t know what is. And now, here you are again. This isn’t just another sign, it’s a confirmation.”

“I just came to tell you…” How best to put it?

“I’ll do anything you ask.”

“You need to be careful. You’re in a great deal of danger.”

“Obviously.” He smiled. “But you’ll protect me, right?”

Awkward.

“Well, you see…” What good would it do to explain that in a little while he’d no longer be an angel but a human just like Lito? Better just finish what he came to do and leave. “I’m no longer assigned to you,” he said. “Not sure anyone is, actually.”

“What?”

Just tell the poor bloke.

“There’s a bull’s eye painted on your back.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I’m here to warn you, because you’re on your own now. I can’t protect you anymore.”

“Just like that, you’re checking out?”

He gave Nick a thoughtful look, held his gaze for a moment, then sighed.

“Guess this is goodbye, then.”

“I’m afraid so. You’d better get to London as fast as you can.”

“I just have one last thing to do before I go.”

“Be careful, Lito. I mean it.”

“Don’t worry.” Lito patted the gun behind his back and mustered a brave smile. “I can take care of myself.”

“Take every possible precaution.” Nick put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. Lito’s eyes brightened. He stood taller, looked stronger. If only Nick could protect him a bit longer…

“I’d best be going now, my friend.” One last handshake.

“Thank you, my friend.”

“What for?” Nick said.

Lito smiled. “My life.”