The Man with the Devil's Tongue (A Prologue to the End of the World and Some Other Things)

Chapter 15

They met Perrot ten minutes after their flight landed in France. He had apparently drank too much on his flight and had continued to drink in a sidewalk café while waiting for his support to arrive. He cursed Talbot's jet for taking too long, said that he should have gone ahead without them.

Talbot tried his best to reason with the distraught man, but didn't want to kid him either. Perrot's family was in grave danger. It was decided that they should arrive at the mansion in full force, instead of letting Perrot go ahead alone. Perhaps they should have let him go, though, as he would probably only endanger others in his current condition.

April and Ichikawa kept some distance as Talbot paid Perrot's tab and led him to a waiting car. Talbot put Perrot in the backseat but kept the door ajar, then ran up to April and Ichikawa.

"He's drunk," Talbot told them.

"I noticed that," Ichikawa said.

"Get the bags from the jet," Talbot said. "I'm riding with Perrot. I want you to take a second vehicle."

Ichikawa said, "Ride up on the Devil in a taxi? This is your plan?"

Talbot pointed at the jet. "Get the bags."

Ichikawa nodded and turned on his heels to return to the jet.

April awkwardly remained standing right where she was. She asked Talbot, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Talbot said, "This is going to be a bad day. I'm sorry I asked you to come. You're still so young."

"I'm not that young," April said. "I've lived a lot for my years."

Talbot smiled. "I bet you were real young once."

From the open car door they heard Perrot's wails as he threatened to break down and tear apart the car's interior like a crazed dog.

"I have to go," Talbot said. "Hail a cab and follow our car."

"What if you get too far ahead of us?" April asked.

"The mansion's not hard to find. Any self-respecting cabbie knows Perrot Manor."

Talbot wanted to say more, but the beckoning screams of Perrot called him away. He hurried to the car and shut the door, keeping the screams just to himself and Perrot's driver.

"Homeward," Talbot said.

The driver pulled away from the curb. Once safe from curious onlookers, he sped up and they were out on the country roads racing towards the mansion.

Perrot yanked open a hidden bar in the back of the car. He uncapped a bottle of Scotch and put a good dent into it almost instantly.

"Stop drinking now," Talbot said.

"If I had known who he was," Perrot said, "I would have never stepped into that room. He knew me, of course." He drank more, spilled some on his already stained tie, then drank even more. "How did he know it would be me that came to investigate him?"

"He didn't," Talbot said.

"Of course he did. This entire operation was aimed directly at me. It's all about me."

"Stay focused."

"I'm as focused as a laser, Talbot." He drained the remaining Scotch onto the floor and dropped the bottle. "We have to kill him."

"If it comes to that," Talbot said.

"We have to kill him."

Talbot nodded. "In all likelihood."

"You've done this sort of thing before," Perrot said.

"Sorry?"

"Hostage situations."

"We're not sure that's what this is, but yes, I've handled such situations."

"How often do the hostages die?"

Talbot frowned. "No one situation is like any other."

"I've heard that Lucifer takes no hostages he does not intend to kill."

"Ghost stories to scare young recruits, sir," Talbot said. "The truth is we don't know why the Devil does what he does."

"I think his motive today seems pretty clear," Perrot said. He slumped back into the leather bench seat and started writing his family's names on the window with his sweaty fingers. "He wants to kill my family."

Talbot was getting tired of the sad drunk. "We don't even know that he's at your home."

"A home with a dedicated staff doesn't answer the phone the same day that the Devil learns where I live?" Perrot nodded. "He's there."

Talbot had nothing more to say, no way to comfort Perrot for fear of getting his hopes up.

They rode in silence as the car went from pavement to dirt roads and eventually back to pavement again.

In the rearview mirror, April and Ichikawa's taxi had finally caught up with them.

Talbot had a sinking feeling that he was going to regret today for the rest of his life.

April didn't belong here, at least not yet. It wasn't a measurement of her potential or her God-given abilities, but rather her lack of training in the field.

Haagenti's appraisal of the situation was better than his own. Talbot hated admitting that a demon was right where he was wrong.

They pulled up outside Perrot Manor gate five minutes later.

The mansion was engulfed in flames.