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I glanced at Chance for confirmation, and his expression revealed a shocked horror that told ht on the ht really have God’s Hand on our side That scared me more than a simple maniac

Heaven help us

Oh, crap, it already had

Close but No Cigar

None of us slept that night

Hey, I defy anyone to sleep with the likes of Kel in close proxih people’s eyes, I would’ve found his intensity disturbing And his eyeswell, on the surface, they glittered like frost, but if I gazed at thean to look like fire Maybe I was as crazy as hiht not be human

Before we left, Chance redid the wards after a consultation with Booke The Englishave us his phone number and promised to stand ready if we had questions for hi a her, I fed Chuch and Eva so that would tide them over until we returned If we did

"If you don’t hear from us within four hours," I said to Booke, "call the authorities Have them send paramedics to the house Maybe modern medicine can save them where we fail You have Chuch’s address?"

"Just a o on I hope it won’t come to that," he added, sounded worried

"Me too Wish us luck"

"You have it," Booke said "He’s there by your side"

True enough We didn’t say good-bye Thatup and set the cordless handset back on its cradle to charge

"Will you keep watch over them?" I asked Butch

He barked twice

"Oh, no You can’t come with me" The Chihuahua didn’t look convinced In the end, I fed him, took hi, whether he liked it or not "If you hear anything suspicious, dial 911"

Butch cocked his head at me Sometimes I felt like he understood o hoot in the back of the Mustang because neither of us wanted Ferguson, or God’s Hand, or whatever he was, out of our line of sight Part of me still couldn’t believe we hadn’t called the cops already Talk about strange bedfellows I listened to theup the trunk; we’d cleaned out Chuch’s souvenirs froh

As we drove into the dawn, I heard a low litany in what sounded like Latin Shifting sideways, I saw Kel’sHis eyes were closed, his face uplifted

"Is he praying?" I whispered

Chance shrugged "I guess We can use all the help we can get"

Ferguson said, "We shall prevail Our mission is blessed"

There didn’t seeue with a killer touched either by divinity or madness, but his certainty didn’t ease my jitters

When Chance pulled into the drive on Halstead Creek Road, Ferguson cliate was solid metal and should have required a remote, he powered it open with his bare hands I listened to the groaning steel and shivered

"It will be easier since it’s daylight," Chance said quietly "But it still won’t be a cakewalk I don’t knohat all this son of a bitch can bring to bear on us, so stay together and keep a sharp eye out"

I nodded and then realized he probably couldn’t see ravel path around to the barn that doubled as a hangar There were several outbuildings nearby, and I could only guess at the purpose The house itself had probably been built about ten or so years ago The two-story structure looked well kept but not pristine, as bloinds full of Texas dust took their toll on the stone Oddly, it didn’t look as I iranite gargoyles, no creepy Victorian architecture Maybe I’d seen too uson pulled the seat forward for me His expression made me want to piss myself in fear I’d never seen that combination of ecstasy and acceptance before, like he knew he uess if you believe you’re God’s Hand, you’re eager to be reunited with hiood work I shuddered as I crawled out from behind the seat

"First objective," Chance said "We need to find the warlock’s focus charht not realize we know that’s the root of his power"

"Since he’s expecting us, wouldn’t he keep them on him?" I asked