The window disintegrated pixel by pixel. Despite the holes, I read the words over and over again, until there was nothing left. My mouth felt dry. My hands shook. I turned my monitor off. The darkened office was becoming a tad too quiet for my tastes. What had seemed cozy now felt haunted. It was time to get out and walk around. Checking my watch, I decided I had plenty of time to spare before the meeting with Michael. I popped open the bottom drawer of my desk and grabbed my shoulder holster and, after a brief hesitation, the romance as well. With the gun safely tucked under my arm, I headed for the door.
Excerpted from the LINK-angel site, 2075
LINK-ANGELS, A BUDDHIST'S VIEW:
Buddhism demands that we have no blind faith.
Therefore, I think it unwise to dismiss the LINK-angels completely without first applying the tenets of wisdom and compassion. The term "angel" and their traditionally Christian appearance are somewhat disconcerting to many Buddhists. Yet their message, the idea of a Second Coming, is not unknown to our philosophy.
In the history of the Mahayana Buddhists there exists the idea of the maitreya, or "Future Buddha" – a second Buddha that would come and purify the world. It was also believed that the first Buddha prophesied the coming of the second.
Letourneau could be a bodhisattva, or even, one supposes, this Second Buddha. In some ways it is even easier for a Buddhist to accept the possibility of divine enlightenment to be bestowed upon a mindful individual. We do not have to believe that the man himself is a god, only that his ideas are enlightened. I am not suggesting that Letourneau is that man, however, only that is possible and certainly could fall within the realm of our belief system.
* * *
As to what the LINK-angels are, on the other hand, it is much more difficult to ascertain. Turning again to the Mahayana Buddhists, we find the idea of the Buddha as the manifestation of a universal, spiritual being with three bodies: the Body of Magical Transformation, nirmanakaya, the Body of Bliss, sambhogakaya, and the Body of Essence, dharmakaya. The angels could be a representation of the Body that exists in the heavens, the Body of Bliss.
"Bodhi" or "budi" means "to wake up." Perhaps the LINK-angels are a wake-up call to all of us to return to our more religious roots.
Chapter 5
Over the dissipating storm clouds, a blood-red moon rose low on the horizon and loomed large behind the city skyline. Through the plastic sheath of the walkway I could see it clearly. Full and round, it capped the rooftops like a bowl or, I thought with a shiver, the glow of an exploding Medusa bomb. From the elevation of the skyway, I could see the reddish glint of what had once been the Bronx, but was now a crystal necropolis.
It was that bomb, more than even the angels, that made converts out of a secular society. Though I was only a teenager, I was part of the youth war effort and had signed on to be in the cleanup crew at ground zero; our standing orders were to shatter anything on the streets that looked even vaguely human. Thanks to the Medusa, the Bronx was glass as far as the eye could see. Most people had time to evacuate, but hundreds were frozen as they tried to escape the blast. Crystallized faces, locked in silent screams, stared accusingly as if daring us to desecrate their graves.
"Would you like me to pray with you, sister?"
A voice at my side startled me. I shook off the memories that had flooded my mind. I glanced over at a short woman in the deep purple cassock of the Church of England. She stared up at the moon like I had. Auburn hair touched the tip of her shoulder and framed her round face like a lion's mane.
I smiled down at her, since she was several inches shorter than I. "I wasn't praying ... just thinking."
She laughed softly. The corners of her eyes crinkled slightly. "There isn't a person alive who doesn't look at that moon without a little prayer in their hearts."
The newspapers had been heralding the blood-red moon as a sign of the Second Coming, of Letourneau's divinity. Quieter voices suggested it was simply the Canadian forest fires that caused this phenomenon.
"What if it's not a sign of the apocalypse? Maybe the moon is red just because of the prevailing easterlies?"
"Nature is part of God's plan," she said simply, as if people suggested heresy to her every day. "Nothing that happens is 'just' science, sister. All of it reveals the hand of God."
Her eyes flicked over my dripping raincoat. She started past my eyes to my temple. I flushed; I hadn't realized that I'd been rubbing the implant again. "Do you need a safe place to stay tonight?" she asked. "Maybe some access to a little white noise?"
White noise was a common treatment for info junkies, since it sated their need for constant input. I pulled my hand from my head and backed away. "No thanks. I'm okay."
She nodded at me as if she didn't believe me, but wasn't going to push it. The look in her eye begged me to take that first step and admit I had a problem.
"Before you go, Sister, may I ask you a question?" I asked. She looked puzzled, but nodded. "Do you work with the mentally ill?"
"Of course. It's part of my outreach."
"Ever heard of a company called Jordan River Health Institute? They're no longer in business, but they were a year ago."
She looked surprised, then said, "Actually, I have. Several of my parishioners were scheduled to receive some of their biosoftware. Jordan never delivered."
"Do you remember what the software was supposed to do?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but ..." Her eyes looked up and off to the right as she accessed her LINK-memory. "I think it was supposed to help patients suffering chronic pain. Somehow the software was supposed to stimulate or manipulate the pain and pleasure centers of the brain."
"Really?" Subconsciously I reached for pen and pad then I realized I'd forgotten it. Since the excommunication, I'd been forced to take paper notes like my P.I. ancestors. I'd just have to remember this bit of information. "Do you think they'd actually found the emotional centers of the brain?"
"I doubt it," the nun said. "I mean, I guess I always assumed that's why the orders were never filled. They made promises they couldn't keep." She looked as though she were about to go on, but then stopped. "Why? Why do you want to know all of this?"
"Ghosts. I'm trying to put some ghosts to rest."
"Good luck." Her voice was quiet and, rather than press me, she moved away. "Your church may have abandoned you, Deidre, but God has not."
Startled that she had recognized me, I murmured, "Thanks."
Watching her leave, I felt envious. She had capital letter Faith. I always tried really hard in church to feel the Holy Spirit in me. I never got even a tingle, except when my feet went numb from sitting on them. Next to me in the pew, Eion glowed. The only time I even came close to feeling that kind of fulfillment was when Daniel and I successfully collared a LINK criminal. Eion swore to serve God; I swore to "Serve and Protect." It had been a good balance.
My nose caught a whiff of something delicious. The smells reminded me that my earlier attempt to eat had been rudely interrupted. Following the odor, I made my way to a bustling deli. The holographic marquee advertised great food first in English, Hebrew, and then Yiddish.
I went inside. The low-level conversation noise filled my head, and I let out a long sigh. This was the perfect place to relax until it was time to meet Michael. I ordered a couple of potato knishes from the counter and jockeyed for a position at a table near the window. I retrieved my paperback from my coat pocket. The older gentleman seated next to me raised his eyebrows curiously at the sight of a hard-copy book, but he smiled as if pleased that someone else still made the effort to bother with print. He toasted me with his coffee cup, and I reciprocated with a knish salute.