Free The Watchers by Wendy Reakes Page B

was about to speak. She couldn’t bear not to see them again.
    He stopped her. “You won’t know when or where, but when we send for you, you must come. The moment is imminent.”
    “I want more than anything to know more and to be with you again, even though I can’t imagine why you chose…”
    “Not you. One other. A woman. She can help us.”
    “Who is she?”
    “You will know soon.”
    “Can I contact you?”
    “It is possible, but it would be rare for us to respond. Many have tried and failed. We are not to be used for your purpose. What we do, we do of our own accord. We answer to no man.”
    “But how could I contact you…if I wanted to? Just as a matter of interest.”
    “Use the ley lines as others have. Find a dousing rod, a stick that has fallen to the ground. You may not tear it from the tree. Concentrate your mind on your message and we may connect with it. Or we may not.”
    Uriel pulled back from her as the Watchers under the lintels stepped further away into the blackness. The meeting was over.
    “Wait.”
    “You have one more question.”
    “Yes.”
    “You want to know the message of the stones. This place you call Stonehenge.”
    She nodded. “Yes.”
    “It was built to collect the Kudos?”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “It is one thing to look farther than you see, but it is another to look too far.” He regarded the stones at the side of his magnificent form. “Your people are either too blind, or you read more into things than is required. This is a symbol of that. The Henge marks the place between life and death, what is real and what is not. It is the middle ground, infinity; it is nothing. It is everything.”
    “Please…” she stepped forward two paces. “Tell me what is going to happen? What were the messages for? Is it the end for us…?”
    “Farewell, Lakey.”
    “Wait, my name’s not Lake…”
    But they were gone.
    Now, at two AM , despite her soothing hot bath, Mia was on edge. She tightened her robe and gazed with longing at her soft bed. She wanted more than anything to slide beneath the sheets and sleep forever. Instead, she went to her desk in the corner of the room. She turned on her PC and waited for it to fire up. “Come on, come on…” She strummed her fingernails on the side of the keyboard. There. She typed in her password, Watcher1 . A picture of Tom larking about in Times Square flashed onto the screen. She was in.
    She checked her IMS for a message from him. Nothing!
    She did the calculation. She hadn’t had any contact with Tom since yesterday morning.
    “Where are you, Stoney?” Mia muttered to herself. “Where are you?”
     
    Tom could feel his cell phon e vibrate. Text message from Mia it said on the display. The guard was only a short distance away. He should ignore it. He had more important things on his mind that didn't involve chatting with Mia for hours about the Watchers. He could tell her about the siege, and where he was right at that moment, but she'd only freak out. He didn't want to put her through that.
    Only moments before, he’d sent a text to his contact at The Star. Tom had told him to get in touch with the feds, or whoever was dealing with the siege, and tell them that he was on the train, awaiting instruction. They still hadn’t called back and that was five minutes ago. Earlier, when he’d called 911, he couldn’t hear or be heard over the noise of the train, so he’d had no choice but to hang up. So far, the benefit of having the only cell phone on the train was no benefit whatsoever.
    He saw Jay peer around the seat. Everyone in the carriage was silent. The only noise was coming from the motion of the train as it made its way through the city. They had already figured they were heading West, Pennsylvania way.
    Tom touched the cell cradled in the palm of his hand, willing it to come to life. His thumb moved across the screen. View message from Mia. ‘ Where the hell are you? ’ It read as if the words were