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demon,
both Chris and Gabriel clenched their fists, as if they were ready
to leap from their chairs and seek revenge immediately. When he
finished his story, silence fell over the room.
    Clifford let the information sink in for a
minute before moving on. “Christopher, while you were the
Operations Leader for both missions, Kiren was the Mission Leader
for the retrieval of Taylor and Samantha—Operation Humanity. Kiren,
why don’t you take us through it.”
    In a very high level of detail, Kiren told
the story of the car chase. By the end of her monologue, everyone
was on the edge of their seats, and when she described the
fire-boulder attack and the resulting destruction of the angels’
high-end cars, there were a few cheers and claps amongst the
audience. Kiren beamed at the response.
    One demon who was not smiling was Clifford. A
frown crossed his face. “That was quick-thinking and I commend you
on your actions in the heat of battle, young lady, but I am more
worried about a few of the key facts from your story. First, we had
a spy in our midst. Adrian was assigned to this particular mission
because we thought he could be trusted, but evidently we were
wrong. The information that he must have fed to the angels almost
single-handedly brought down the entire mission.
    “Second, the angels’ willingness to attack in
broad daylight is particularly troubling. Our experience with them
is that they are generally very cautious, but their actions
bordered on reckless abandon. What do you make of it?” Clifford
directed the question to the Elders, but it was Gabriel who
answered.
    “They will do whatever it takes to recapture
Taylor.” All eyes fell on Gabriel. He paused, then said, “As cocky
as the angels are, they’ve realized that they can’t defeat you guys
without Taylor’s help. And they let her slip through their fingers,
which really pissed Dionysus off. He will be willing to take
massive risks to get her back. Our only choice is to take them down
first.” He said the last sentence so confidently, that even Taylor
thought it sounded like the right thing to do; that is, until she
realized that he was volunteering to help.
    “No!” she said sharply.
    Gabriel turned towards Taylor, a surprised
look washing over his face, as though, in the heat of the moment he
had forgotten she was there. “I have to do this,” he breathed.
    “You’ll get yourself killed,” she said
matter-of-factly. Continuing calmly, she said, “The way I see it, I
am the key to everything.” She smirked, enjoying her own joke. At
least, it would have been a joke if it hadn’t been true. A couple
of the Elders chuckled. Sam smiled at her, evidently proud of the
boldness of her friend.
    Taylor continued: “So…if I am the key, then
there are really only two options here. One, you kill me, or I kill
myself….” Gabriel froze at her suggestion. She quickly added, “But
I would prefer to not have to die, if possible. That leaves the
second option: hide me away until the angels can be defeated.”
    Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gabriel
staring at her—his face was proud. He touched her leg under the
table, but she ignored it.
    One of the female Elders broke the short
silence, “I think option two sounds pretty good. We protect Taylor
here, until we are able to win the War. As Gabriel said, the angels
will be forced to take risks to get her back and we will be waiting
to exploit them.”
    Clifford nodded slowly. “It sounds reasonable
to me, if Taylor is willing.”
    “I am,” Taylor said.
    A surprising interruption came from the end
of the table. “What about school?” Sam asked. “And Taylor’s
father?”
    “Easy,” Chris said. “We can teleport into the
student registry office at night, hack a few systems, and ensure
her grades are good and her meal plan is used. To her dad, it will
look like she is still going to school there. Anytime she needs to
make an appearance, we can teleport her wherever she needs to