“Remind me again why we’re staying in a shit motel,” Jeremy said. It was Friday morning and he was lying on one of the double beds in a small room in the Roadside Motel. The yellow wallpaper and its bright flower border smelled of years of smoke and dirt. The twenty-inch jvc was securely bolted to an aged dresser, and Jeremy had almost given up trying to get the remote to work.
Maury pulled the heavy drapes closed on the second small window and turned to his brother. “We’re staying here because this shit motel is a short drive from Yale and the Beinecke Library. We’re staying here because it’s right on the highway. And we’re staying here because shit motels like this let you pay in cash. Places like these never care about anything.”
Jeremy seemed unconvinced. “You’d think the Vatican would have a better system. Can’t they get fake credit cards or set up some hideouts around the country?”
Maury flipped open his suitcase. “Maybe the church doesn’t want to waste any money on a dead ass like you.”
Jeremy laughed and tried the remote again. He desperately wanted to get something out of the piece-of-crap television — something to keep his mind occupied. He pressed the buttons carefully. He’d lost almost all feeling in his fingers, and didn’t want to snap one off.
Maury held a bottle of pills up and shook it. “Did you take your ten-in-the-morning pill?”
Jeremy kept pushing buttons on the remote. He held his other hand out, and Maury dropped a large purple pill into his palm. Jeremy popped it in his mouth.
Maury also took a pill then set the bottle down. “I’m going to call the church. Keep the volume down.”
Jeremy looked at him with disgust and held the remote in the air. “I can’t even change the volume with this piece-of-shit remote.”
“Whatever.” Maury pulled a large phone out of his suitcase. It looked like an antique cell phone. It was really an untraceable satellite phone with a dedicated line. From anywhere on the planet they could flip the phone open and be directly connected to Cardinal Espinosa. Maury turned the phone on, waited until the signal-strength bar showed, and pressed send.
The line rang three times before a voice answered. There was no greeting, no small talk, just the accented voice of the cardinal. “You have arrived?”
“We’re here,” Maury told him.
“Keep this phone on and do not stray far. I will contact you very shortly. Do you have a vehicle?”
“We rented one at the airport.”
“Thank you.” And the cardinal hung up.
Maury pushed end and dropped the phone into his suitcase.
“And how is the old fart today?” Jeremy asked, grinning.
“He’s great. He sends his love.”
“Let me guess — he said for us to just sit around with our fingers up our asses until he calls again.”
Maury shrugged. “What else?”
“Fine.” Jeremy stood up. “I think I’m starting to stink. I need the cream — you got some there?”
Maury dug around in his suitcase and pulled out what looked like a large bottle of shampoo. He handed it to Jeremy who headed into the bathroom. Maury called after him, “Let me know when you’re almost done and I’ll put the stuff on your back.”
“Thank you, sweetie,” came the singsong reply.
Maury shoved the suitcase to one side, dropped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, barely listening to Jeremy whistling in the bathroom. His eye patch dug into his forehead, and he pulled on it to relieve the pressure. He’d only started wearing it recently, because his eye had become infected. Then it rotted out. Maury felt as if things were getting worse and worse.
He marveled at his younger brother’s ability not to take anything seriously. All of life was a game to Jeremy. He didn’t worry about the long-term; he didn’t worry about the church’s control over them. Maury did. He wanted out, even if it meant the end of them both. He just wanted out.
What really bothered him was that he and his brother had never had a choice. No one had ever asked them if this was the life they wanted. The church had capitalized on their vulnerability when they were young, and never gave them a choice.
That was going to end — Maury would make sure of it. This trip to Connecticut was the last time they traveled anywhere for the great Cardinal Espinosa.
Jeremy didn’t know, but almost a month ago Maury had confronted the cardinal. He had shown up, unannounced, in the office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and demanded a meeting. He knew the cardinal wouldn’t refuse — he couldn’t risk a scene.
Maury demanded that the church release him and his brother. The cardinal had smiled and nodded.
“Stop fuckin’ grinning at me,” Maury demanded. “Living like animals with our bodies falling apart is no laughing matter.”
“My son,” Espinosa said. “You misunderstand. Your life has been a tremendous gift. Every second you continue to breathe is a miracle.”
“It’s no goddamn miracle to me.”
The cardinal winced at the sacrilege, especially in his office. “Please don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.”
“Why?” Maury raged. “We are God-damned, aren’t we? You told me yourself many times.”
The cardinal spoke slowly, patiently, as though talking to a child. “You are forsaken. Both you and your brother are born in the line of Nephilim. That is true.”
“And only you can keep us alive with your potions and medications. I know that. But I want out.”
Espinosa raised an eyebrow. “Out? My son, I know you feel you have suffered a lifetime of pain, but I assure you that you have been spared a suffering you couldn’t imagine. I smile only because I knew you would be in my office to request this thing. I knew you would come to me.”
“Then give us our medication and let us go. No more missions.”
“It is not my release that you seek. You must pray for God to welcome you back. It is the heavenly Father who has declared your lineage an abomination.”
“To be quite honest, your Eminence, I don’t give a fuck about God’s opinion.”
The cardinal sucked in a breath. “Not in His house. You will not profane in His house again.”
They glared at one another.
Finally, Espinosa spoke. “There will be one more mission. The last and most important one.”
“One more?”
“Yes,” Espinosa said. “Wait for me to contact you, then complete this one last task. After that you will be free.”
“No more missions?” Maury asked.
The cardinal smiled and nodded.
And this is it, Maury thought. The last mission.