****

Some hours later, Frank and Lina were still in his office and he had yet to let Lina out of his grasp. Contacts and channels had confirmed that it was Litha's car at the airstrip where a deadly shootout had occurred earlier that morning. The two Agents killed were Darrin Harket, Litha's friend from the Academy, and Monty Betlatch. Numerous other Colombian citizens and Luis Mendoza himself. No word on Litha.

Replacing the angel was a formless entity, a silvered eye that gazed down upon all as a ring of silver perched with every incarnation of 'God' known to man… Litha swore softly and holstered her gun as she felt the eye turn to her… a great eye so bright it nearly blinded her..

'Are you God?'

'… I am the place where negative and positive meet and become one…'

'It was you who opened the Gates of Death to me.'

'… pinned between these two points is consciousness and present tense. Between these two points, these two pinpoint spikes is crucified this: The unspeakable suffering of God.'

'Do not mock me with the suffering of God. You leave children without their mothers and husbands without their soul mates.'

'… Ah, but radiating from this suffering is the ineffable mercy of God.'

'Mercy? MERCY?!' Litha's voice rose to an abnormally loud pitch as she screamed at the entity, at God. 'Where is the mercy in telling a three year old that her mommy is never coming home? Where is the mercy in giving me this little show and tell, showing me what a bitch I was in not telling my husband what I was doing? You who inspire men to slaughter thousands all for Your 'mercy' and 'Grace', for Your forgiveness yet punish them for killing in your name… You speak to ME of Mercy?? DON'T!!'

'… it is the best of all possible worlds, Lilith.'

"Frank… we need to talk. I think Cody has cracked this file and found out what was going on and where Litha is."

Frank looked up at Jake and Alex, then nodded. "Go with Monica Lina. Here, don't forget this." He handed her the pristine white feather, but frowned when he saw a smoky smudge on the top tip of it.

"Tell me what you have," he said finally after Monica and Lina had disappeared out of earshot.

Litha sighed and shook her head. Suddenly she felt so drained and tired. Part of her wanted to just lie down and sleep. But, despite of it all, all she could see and feel was the ache and pain that she knew Frank and Angelina would feel if she gave up. And radiating from this suffering: the ineffable mercy of God. Mercy… 'So… here it is… I am faced with the decision to live or to die.'

'… and what answers have you come to?'

'That ultimately… we are all responsible for what we do. There is no 'justice' in the world and hell is truth seen too late.'

"… and the truth is?'

'The truth is… I just don't care.'

The entity chuckled softly. '… So, is there any point in killing me?'

Litha blinked for a moment, the smell of singed hair in her nose still from the feather of the angel's wing. She smiled and looked back at the brilliant eye and Deific ring. 'I am the murderer… and he is me… and we are all contained in the ineffable mercy of God… so you ask if there is a point in killing you? Is that your logic?'

'… do you not see that if I am you… and you are me… if you shoot me, then you would shoot yourself. What is the point in that?'

'It's called consolation. Putting a bullet into 'God' is the consolation prize.'

'… do you think that would make things better?'

'No time like the present to find out.' Litha drew her twin Heckler and Koch pistols..

'Will you look Pandora's Box in the eye and unlock it for all who follow after you? I am an outgrowth of the necessity of being. I create, and am myself created by the Must Be. I am trying to retrieve Time and thus end suffering; I can only do that which I can do. Pull your trigger, and complete my crucifixion.'

Litha shrugged. 'I will. I choose life.' She pulled the triggers, sending two bullets into the center of the being. A brilliant shattering of light exploded out of the pupil of the eye and the silvered ring of deities exploded into a high pitched howling squeal that reverberated around her. Litha ducked, her arms shielding her head and eyes as she was sucked into the black void created where the light had been.

****