General investigations
Karen then started to call around the other angels. First one will be the Mercurian...
She dialed the phone number that she remembered from a case not too long ago, involving data theft from the police department. The angel had been exraordianrily helpful in tracking down the fence of the stolen records. A quiet feminine voice that Karen did not recognise answered the phone.
"Mr Sicrem's office, Mary speaking. Can I help you?"
Karen answered. "Hello Mary. This is Karen McKinnon. I'm trying to contact Mr Sicrum with regards to some recent events. Is he in at the moment?"
"How do you do, Ms McKinnon. I am afraid that Mr Sicrem has just been called to a snap conferance in Paris and left immediately. He has taken his secretary, and left instructions to forward his messages. I am afraid he was not clear about when the conference was ending, but if you wish I can cirtainly pass along any message."
"Ah...I don't suppose you have a contact number for him at all? This matter is rather urgent?"
"I am afraid not. I can cirtainly forward something urgently, but all matters are being handled by this office in his absence."
"Well could you forward to him a message that i am trying to contact him about any information he might have on a mutual friend's recent silence. My number is ..."
Scribbling of pen against paper. "Cirtainly. I will pass that allong. It may be a while before he gets this missive, but it will get to him. You have a good day."
Karen then tried to call the other one she had a number for, with much the same greeting message.
Jhedakiel, Elohim of Gabriel, working in the Justice department (Jed Fulcrum)
Karen dialed the next number, and received a similar platitude, followed by a description this time of a case in Seattle that required Mr Fulcrum's attention. This time Karen was given a contact number, Jhedakiel obviously having had more forethought.
She dialed the number, and got an answering machine.
"This is Jed Fulcrum. I will be checking my messages twice daily, so please leave a message after the tone. I will be on the move quite a bit, so please do not try other means of contacting me. Thankyou."
Karen left a message "This is Karen McKinnon and you can contact me on my mobile on .... If you have the time, i'd like to chat about some recent occurences. Thank you."
Two for two now. That left only Sgt Francine Mills, and that would involve a trip out of the office.
Melanie came back into the room. "Well we have a breif power fluctuation that everybody noticed. I could call the power depertment and see what they have to say... but It looks pretty city wide. Did you find anyone?"
Karen looked quite worried, and shook her head "No...the two i've called both left this morning - ostensibly on business trips. I've left a message for one. The only other one i know about works across town... hang on a moment.. ."
Karen then dialed information to see if she could get a number for Ms Mills.
She then looked up at Melanie, gesturing her to take a seat. "Ok...what do we know so far? That something happened this morning that effected the Sympony in some way. It completely blanked me out, but had less of an effect on you. It also may or may not have affected the city's power supplies (it might be
worth getting in contact with the power company that supplies this area to determine whether it was an actual power fluctuation or whether it was something all humans felt because of the disturbance to the symphony...i'll leave that to you if that's ok?). Jean is disturbed, which in itself is very worrying. And the two angels i've tried to contact have abruptly left this morning... though both made time to leave excuses, which suggests that they weren't in a dire rush."
Melanie answers. "Well, they could have left any time today from the description you gave. Oh, sure, I'll look at that power thing. Umm, where was I? Oh, yeah, well, that is not nessisarily true. If you for example were in a dire rush, I have plans in place to cover for you. I wold have to assume that the friends of the others would be similarly efficient. It is possible by my guess that they might even have left in the last hour, since the thing happened..."
"As for where to go from here....well, I'd like to remain at my desk for the time being and will try to call a few more people. I'd rather that you didn't leave the office for the moment either. It might be worth trying to track down other angels to see if any of them know anything...though i begin to suspect that they'll be as much in the dark as we are. I'm sure i noticed a story in the paper the other day that sounded like there was an angel behind things. If we can track down one of the fallen, or even something that indicates whether their activities have been affected by this it could also lead to more information. I suggest we watch news channels and then the papers as they come out. Perhaps a search of recent news items would be good too - I'll start with what i have here. Do you have any other ideas?"
She shook her head. "Makes sence. We are relatively safe here." She paused. "The news is a good idea... Something this cosmic is bound to have mundane repercussions. Maybe a carefull reading could show something up. Aside from that, your guess is as good as mine. Probably better." She smiled.
Before Melanie left, Karathiel concentrated and willed her heart out of her chest and into her hands and held it out to Melanie. Her expression showed both trust and concern, as she asked "Would you please keep this for me? I don't want to ask you to do this, but it seems to me to be the only choice i have at the moment until i can find out if Jean will take it back or until i find somewhere to hide it."
Melanie blinked at Karen several times, and swallowed. Karen could see that she was crying, as she wordlessly heldsout her hand. There was a moment of light, and a symphonic chord that softly swelled through the area. And then it was done. Karen could feel her strong connection to Melanie become more intense, and then knew her heart was within her. She glowed faintly for a moment, and then all became as it was.
Melanie's hand was still in Karathiel's for several moments, and then finally, Melanie dried her face, nodded, and walked to her office.
Once that was over, Karen pulled out the mini TV set that she kept in the desk and flicked it to the news channel, turning the volume down low so that she could just hear it in the background as she turned back to the phone. The news will take some time before it becomes helpful she realized... and so leaving it on would draw her attention to it, if anything of interrest happened.
She tried to track Ms Mills by phone...even if it was to mean calling the building she worked in and going from there.
And this time she obtained sucess! She found the number with only a rudimentary search.
Mrs Mills was aparently on the way out of the building.
"Hello, Karen? How are you... Listen, the organization is moving at the moment. Some things have just come to our attention, things that were missing. We are not sure if we will get much time to act... How are things with you? Any investigations show anything? Has your boss uncovered anything? There is going to be a meeting in Paris for some of my people, and I can keep you informed."
Karen says "Ok...that'd be great - my mobile number is ...., call me anytime. At the moment i'm just trying to gather any information i can, because i have no idea about what's happening. Is there anything you know that you can tell me quickly? Anything i might be able to check up on here? What was missing, and act on what?"
Enigmatically the other angel says, "You will have noticed what went missing for a while, and we are not sure what /that/ means. I don't know, maybe..." then the comment ends abruptly.
Karen continues. "I'm afraid my investigations haven't turned up much at the moment, except that whatever did happen had a much lesser effect on my companion and it did on me, yet the effect on her was greater than that on most people. I'm following up a few mundane leads at the moment, trying, if possible, to figure out what effect it might have had on those below, or if it might have originated there...no results so far. My boss hasn't sent word of what he's uncovered as yet. When i spoke to him he was still coping with the rush of every one of us trying to speak to him at once because of the Silence. I'll let you know as soon as i discover anything. Do you have a number i can get you on?"
"I am afraid we and most of the others will be difficult to reach by normal means for the next while. But I will get back to you on whatever we discuss. If you find anything, send a message to this post box."
Karen hated having to deal with Laurence's people... they were mostly still lost back in the fourteenth century.
"One thing I did find out, that you might be better able to look into... One of my associates has gone missing since it happened. In New York city. Pastor Nathaniel. No one has been able to contact him. He is a people person and may have been distracted by things, but we are a little worried about him."
"Asside from that, we are as much in the dark as you, I am afraid. I had better get going. Talk to you soon."
After the conversation ended she settled down, splitting her attention between the news channel and whatever news papers are within reach. She searched through the papers for any sign of anything divine or diabolical, and watched the news for anything that may have been a consequence of the silence.
It took some time to do so, and Melanie returned before she was finished with the papers. Karen rediscovers the news posts, and became certain she picked some faint resonance with each of them, but beyond that there was nothing in particular, except her overall watching indicates that there was a marked increase in the amount of bad news from yesterday. Only her acute perceptions would notice such a thing, but it was there none the less. Accidents, violence, you name it, it was high tonight.
Melanie waited till Karen finished her article.
"I have discovered something, but I am not sure what. There was a power fluctuation, and the first time I spoke with the people at the local station, they were concerned about it, and calling back allong their chain of command, but when I called for an update, the guy on the other end acted like I had never called him in the first place. It wasn't just a hush job, he honestly didn't sound like he recognised my voice."
Karen frowned "Most peculiar...do you think it's worth going down and checking it out? I'd imagine that what happened was some sort of interferance - perhaps our side or perhaps theirs. from what i can see in the papers, our side is definitely on the lower hand right now...there seems to be higher levels of violence and crime than previously. I can't be certain whether it is because diabolical influences are increasing, or it's simply the lack of divine influences. I believe everyone is in a spin because of this... perhaps we should be looking at doing a little damage control. Perhaps it might be worth you doing a little subtle redirection of people's efforts as i determine what areas need the most attention" She then sighed. "Unfortunately at best this would cover this area, and i'd imagine the bad things are worldwide."
Melanie nodded. "It is a bit out of my league, but I can cirtainly use the phone and work on the emergency forces. But I would like to check out that thing at the power plant. It is a bit late now, perhaps tomorrow morning."
Karen nodded "See what you can do...i think it's far out of both our leagues, but anything to help will be appreciated by those who need it. And as for the power station, i think I'll head in there with you..."
"I've picked out several articles in the paper that might have some relationship to potential allies" She pushed forward the articles she had cut out "...perhaps you might try to see if you can dig up any leads on any of these?"
She nodded stoicly. Then sighed, "So much to do, so little time to do it in." and took the pile.
Karen grinned "It's not as bad as it seems...although...are you tired? It is rather late and although sleep isnt' my first concern, it should be one of yours...perhaps i might be able to use your spare room? I can keep an eye on the news and gather myself together while you sleep? Maybe once we've sorted through this pile?"
"The one person i did manage to contact was off to a conference in Paris, and said she'd keep me posted about what is discovered, but knowing her type it'll be by sea mail or something, so we obviously can't hold out breaths for that. She did ask me to look up someone here in NY who has apparently gone missing today: Father Nathaniel. I might try my hand at locating him... or at least see if i can find somewhere we can start."
Melanie frowned. "There are a few church registers that are public information, and I think someone did put them all online a while back. He shouldn't be too hard to find. I'll get to work on this lot."
"Thanks Mel! I really appreciate it! I'll get to work tracking down Nathaniel."
Karen then started to do a ring around, trying to find out where Pastor Nathaniel was supposed to be stationed, and she began to try to talk to anyone who knew him.
She kept an eye on the newspapers and news chanel for anything which may possibly be linked to Shedim demon activity or with anything relating to any of her cases prior to the Silence.
An hour or two passed, and some essence returned to her. Karen got a hold of father Nathaniel's home phone after a bit of work. But there was no answer. She tried people in his clergy, and found that he would be supervising service in the morning, it being Saturday night. He lived in Queens, New York, and ran a church there, in a slightly less upmarket portion of the burough.
And then Karen noticed something that makes a cold shiver run down her spine. The evening newspapers reported it.
In the very same area as Nathaniel's church, there had been a spate of people claiming ufo sightings and lost time. These events were normally assiciated with Shedim activity. The bright lights that people claim to have seen are most often the celestial form of the possessing entity, the bizarre experiments they vaguely recall are often seepage from the Shedim mind to the host, or even just concepts from the shedim form inflicting themselves upon the unwary mortal. The lost time is most often a period of possession. It was possible there was a Shedim at work in the very area of New York where Nathaniel was missing from. Of all the demons, the Shedim have been the most active and most difficult to respond to of Hell's minions.
Karen gets the names of two people that have claimed they saw ufos, in NY.
She attempted to track down the addresses of these people and get phone numbers for them. She also put some thought into getting together some cover story explaining why she in her official capacity would be interested in these areas... perhaps try to make a link between the kidnapping of Sonja Morgan. She looked into the area to try to find if there were any a building or organisation which could contain something that she might want to investigate, even by a wide stretch of imagination... or failing that, scanning the news, she hoped she might find an appropriate crime in the area to investigate. Something that might be urgent enough for her to go straight out there tonight.
Karen found the adresses and phone numbers from the phone book, and also found a dozen open cases in the area that were under the juristiction of the local police. She gave the local station a call. They in turn were more than happy to turn one of their cases over to her since she come up with a reasonable connection between the building the theft in question was committed and an apartment where Sonja lived for a while. So she had her excuse. The case file she could pick up from the station any time she liked, and involved the theft of several religious icons from a person's house.
Melanie came in at about 11pm. "I have found one or two things about these articles you pointed out." She outlined the facts. "This article in the News of the world, attributed to a staff writer, is one of several like it that have shown up over the last ten years or so. All accutare, all sensational, all moral. They are the first news articles that hit at scandals in the UK that within a month or two involve the removal of bad politicians and criminals from positions of authority. Whoever the staff writer is, is a remarkable investigator."
"The excerpt from the LA times is a bit strange. I followed up on the references to the 'Cloak' it mentioned, and it seems there have been many hits upon law enforcement and justice personel over the last few months, all attributed to this mysterious figure. The police are investigating at tremendous cost but have found no leads."
"That band you had me look up, Etherial Skies, were supposed to be performing in Luxembourg tonight, but they cancelled their midnight show at the absolute last minute. This cancellation happened about twenty minutes after the silence. Aside from that, I can find out little about them except that the lead singer has been up on drug trafficking charges here in the US about seven years ago, and did a year inside and another in a drug rehab facility."
"That last one, though, from the New York Daily Courier, has no major things about it I can find. Except for the fact that the boys in question reportedly can't remember how they got into their situation before the rescuer showed up. I have the names of their parents and their address."
Karen sighed "Well we have a couple of choices...we can either wait until tomorrow morning or move now if you feel up to it, and try to get in touch with the various people that we have as contacts. I think most can wait til the morning, but i'd very much like to go and check these names out...If Father Nathaniel needs help...then now is most likely when he needs it."
Melanie nodded tiredly. "Well, I have had a full day, but can pull an all nighter if need be. The power station will wait, and most of the other things we have found seem to be all in New York or even further afield. If you like, I could book you on a flight up there tonight, and maybe get home for some rest, then investigate it in the morning, and maybe join you later if what you find warrants the two of us being there... Or your suggestion of crashing at my place is just as good. We could investigate the power then head on up to NY then together. I am amenable to either, and I told James what to expect from the next couple of days at least."
Karen saw how tired Melanie was and realises that by the time she got to NY it'd be too late to see most people. "Ok...lets give it up for the moment and head back to your place. I'll keep going through this stuff and watching the news. You need the rest. Then we can head out fairly early in the morning to check out the power station, and then perhaps get a 10 or 11 am flight to NY? I'll call about that. The rest we can do as we come to them."
Melanie nodded thankfully. "I had the spare room set up just in case."
Karen quickly called to book whatever flight she could get for the morning for both her and Melanie, made all other appropriate arrangements, and then they headed off to Melanie's home.
Karen spent most of the night as described, plunging into the electronic and paper media, and sat the entire time next to a power point. About 7am next morning, she and Melanie said farewell to James then headed out to try and find the guy Melanie talked to at the power station.