Battle Angel by Scott Speer Page B

an entire populace remained hidden inside. Random demon scouts were prowling the borders, disrupting attempts to bring in support from the outside and making the city truly feel under siege. Outside Angel City, the rest of the world watched in horrified anticipation for what was going to happen when the demons struck next.
    And as if trying to remain underground from the Council and the Angel Disciplinary Council Agents wasn’t enough, the resistance also had reason to believe its members could be specifically targeted by the demons because of their efforts. Just another reason for the group to be extra, extra careful.
    Sylvester thought back to how all this had begun for him. Back in his apartment, he’d been tracking demon sightings and “events” across the globe as the demons amassed their army. A derailed train in England. A five-alarm fire in an apartment complex in Beijing. Innumerable tragedies, all seemingly unrelated, but eventually they all started to add up. He had been getting anonymous tips from a woman, who turned out to be Susan, and Sylvester had made it all the way to the inner sanctum of Gabriel and the Council of Twelve to plead his case. But the Council denied his request for action. It had been more concerned with the human-Angel war. The demon sinkhole arrived just days later, and Susan swooped in to talk Sylvester off his bar stool. So it was that she and Detective Sylvester—and one other—had formed the resistance.
    Susan had been privately working against the Council for years, organizing an underground resistance within the ranks of the Angels. Hers was a protest of conscience against the way the Angels had drifted from their true purpose. Throughout all the recent discord, Susan had remained quiet. She became an Archangel and trained new Guardians, all the while waiting for the right moment to move against the Council. Her organization went deep, with spies across every branch of the NAS, so when the Angels had decided to sit out the demon war and leave the humans to their fate, she knew it was time. That was when she found David, her old friend.
    Publicly moving against the NAS had put Susan’s life in danger, and she had been denounced by the Angels at once. They’d started a smear campaign against her, trying to discredit her with all kinds of lies. But still she’d moved forward despite everything, with Detective Sylvester by her side. This was too important for her to waste time worrying about herself. The resistance was what mattered.
    An operative sipping coffee looked up as Sylvester approached. He was Sylvester’s ACPD partner, Sergeant Bill Garcia.
    “Didn’t we agree you’d go home and spend some time with your family, Bill?” said Sylvester.
    “My wife and kids understand what’s at stake,” Garcia said. “I won’t
have
a family if the demons win.”
    Sylvester’s brow darkened.
    “And you know we can’t trust the ACPD,” Garcia continued. “The Angels have informants everywhere. I’ve got enough vacation days to cover this time away—don’t you worry.”
    Detective Sylvester nodded, and put his hand on Sergeant Garcia’s shoulder. “Just make sure you get out of here and go see them at some point. They’ll need you, too. When the time comes,” he finished gravely.
    Sylvester’s gaze traveled to where the tech brainiacs had set up. They made up a large team of Angel and human communications experts working around the clock to try to trace Angel communications. They knew that even though the Angels had gone down to the sanctuary, the Angels were still communicating around the globe to Angels in other countries, as well as communicating on secure channels inside the sanctuary itself. By tracking these communications they would be able to judge the state of the Angel leadership and the loyalties of the Guardians. And it was vital to Sylvester and Archson’s group to have advance notice if one of their spies was uncovered—that way, their operative would