Read Demon Accords 6: Forced Ascent for Free Online Page A

listen.  After a moment, he spoke to us.
     
      “Benson says there is a large cop presence in the Park, near the Loch path, just past the ball fields.”
     
    “He’s there now?” I asked, feeling another memory just under the surface when he mentioned Loch. 
     
    “Yeah, heard it on the scanner and swung by to check it out, but he can’t get close.  Lots of CSI types and quite a bit of higher brass.  They’re keeping everyone, especially reporters, far away.”
     
    I pulled one of my earpieces away, able to hear Benson’s voice over the sound of the helicopter.
     
    “I think I see the Commissioner ,” he said.  An electronic whoop-whoop sounded—like a police car might make.  “Gotta go.  Call ya right back.”
     
    Deckert bemusedly looked at the phone, then up at Doug and me.  The phone buzzed suddenly and he answered it, putting it on speaker.
     
    “ I’m back,” Benson’s voice announced without preamble.
     
    “Ask him if he still sees the commish,” I said.
     
    Deckert relayed the question.  “Oh yeah, he’s here alright,” was the reply.
     
    “Where?” I spoke loud enough for Benson to hear me.
     
    “Two feet in front of me and man, does he look pissed!”
     
    The sounds of cursing came through, along with what sounded like the phone being dragged through a field.  A different voice spoke next, one that I knew.
     
    “Gordon, you there?” Police Commissioner Rielly barked.
     
    “Yes Commissioner,” I answered, giving Deckert, Doug and a now-alert Tanya a shrug.
     
    “ Where have you been the last twenty-four hours?”
     
    I raised my eyebrows at Tanya and she nodded.  “Albany, Commissioner, why?”
     
    “ You got witnesses?”
     
    “Ten or twelve,” I answered.
     
    He sighed.  “ Where are you now?”
     
    It seemed counterproductive to be telling an authority figure our location when I was trying to stay out of sight, but the NYPD is a different beast altogether and despite not liking the man, I had come to at least respect him.  Tanya gave another nod, agreeing with my thinking.
     
    “In a helicopter, headed to the city,” I answered.
     
    “Tell the pilot to bring you here… to the North Meadow in Central Park ,” he said.
     
    I leaned up and relayed the request to the pilot, but he just shook his head.
     
    “We can’t land there!  City would have our asses,” he yelled to me.
     
    “ Put him on ,” Rielly directed.  I handed the phone up and the pilot, who looked annoyed, grudgingly accepted it.  The co-pilot took the bird’s controls and the pilot concentrated on the phone.  Then he sat straight up, eyes straight ahead, nodding.  “Yes sir! Got it!” he said, handing the phone back to me with an angry jab.
     
    Flying straight past the Downtown Heliport, the pilot flew further up Manhattan and five minutes later, we were setting down in Central Park in a makeshift landing zone marked out with road flares.  We jumped out of the chopper, Tanya speaking to the pilot a moment, and we all ran bent over till we cleared the rotor wash.  Benson stood like a wall, surrounded by police types including The Man himself, Commissioner Rielly.
     
    “Commissioner, what’s going on?” I asked as we approached.  His suspicious cop eyes looked us all over, me particularly, for a second.  Then his harsh demeanor shifted to something slightly softer, say from diamond to granite.
     
    “We got six dead bodies and if you don’t have an airtight alibi then I’ll throw the whole damned department at you till I get you dead or locked up,” he said.
     
    “We’ve been in a meeting with Senator Gleeson, Congressman McFeeney, and the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, plus our attorney and four Secret Service men,” Tanya answered him.
     
    He looked at her a moment, then ran one hand through his short, military-style hair.  “Actually, I’m glad to hear that, although it terrifies me at the same time.  I suppose you didn’t have anything