Phantoms

for Satan or the name of one of the other fallen angels. He wasn’t sure which it was.
    Gordy Brogan was the most religious one among them, a devout Roman Catholic. When Bryce came out of the field lab, the last to leave it, he asked Gordy to look at the names toward the end of the print-out.
    They stood on the sidewalk by the lab, in the dwindling light of day, while Gordy read the pertinent lines. In twenty minutes, perhaps less, it would be dark.
    “Here,” Gordy said. “This name. Baal.” He pointed to it on the accordion-folded length of computer paper. “I don’t know exactly where I’ve seen it before. Not in church or catechism. Maybe I read it in a book somewhere.”
    Bryce detected an odd tone and rhythm in Gordy’s speech. It was more than just nervousness. He spoke too slowly for a few words, then much to fast, then slowly again, then almost frenetically.
    “A book?” Bryce asked. “The Bible? ”
    “No, I don’t think so. I’m not much of a Bible reader. Should be. Should read it regular. But where I saw this name was in an ordinary book. A novel. I can’t quite remember.”
    “So who is this Baal?” Bryce asked.
    “I think he’s supposed to be a very powerful demon,” Gordy said. And something was definitely wrong with his voice; with him .
    “What about the other names?” Bryce asked.
    “They don’t mean anything to me.”
    “I thought they might be the names of other demons.”
    “Well, you know, the Catholic Church doesn’t go in much for fire-and-brimstone preaching,” Gordy said, still speaking oddly. “Maybe it should. Yeah. Maybe it should. ‘Cause I think you’re right. I think those are the names of demons.”
    Jenny sighed wearily. “So it was just playing another one of its games with us.”
    Gordy shook his head vigorously. “No. Not a game. Not at all. It was telling the truth.”
    Bryce frowned. “Gordy, you don’t actually think it’s a demon or Satan himself or anything like that—do you?”
    “That’s all nonsense,” Sara Yamaguchi said.
    “Yes,” Jenny said. “The entire performance on the computer, this demonic image it wants to project—all of that’s only more misdirection. It’s never going to tell us the truth about itself because if we knew the truth, then we might be able to think of a way to beat it.”
    “How do you explain the priest who was crucified above the altar at Our Lady of the Mountains?” Gordy asked.
    “But that was just one more part of the charade,” Tal said.
    Gordy’s eyes were strange. It wasn’t just fear. They were the eyes of a man who was in spiritual distress, even agony.
    I should’ve noticed this coming sooner, Bryce berated himself.
    Speaking softly but with spellbinding intensity, Gordy said, “I think maybe the time has come. The end. The time of the ending. At last. Just like the Bible says. That was something I never believed. I believed in everything else the Church taught. But not that. Not judgment day. I just sort of thought everything would go on like this forever. But now it’s here, isn’t it? Yes. The judgment. Not just for the people who live in Snowfield. For all of us. The end. So I’ve been asking myself how I’ll be judged. And I’m scared. I mean, I was given a gift, a very special gift, and I threw it away. I was given the gift of St. Francis. I’ve always had a way with animals. It’s true. No dog ever barks at me. Did you know that? No cat has ever scratched me. Animals respond to me. They trust me. Maybe they even love me. Never met one that didn’t. I’ve coaxed some wild squirrels to eat right out of my hand. It’s a gift. So my folks wanted me to be a veterinarian. But I turned my back on them and on my gift. Became a cop instead. Picked up a gun. A gun . I wasn’t meant to pick up a gun. Not me. Not ever. I did it partly ‘cause I knew it would bother my folks. I was expressing my independence, see? But I forgot. I forgot about where it tells you in the Bible to honor thy father and thy mother. What I did instead was hurt them. And I turned my back on God’s gift to me. More than that. Worse than that. What I did was to spit on the gift. Last night I made up my mind to quit the force, put away the gun, and become a vet. But I think I was too late. Judgment was already underway, and I didn’t realize it. I’ve spit on the gift God gave me, and now… I’m afraid.”
    Bryce didn’t know what to say to Gordy. His imagined sins were so far removed from genuine