yeah.  the man is thirty feet down the same track. their voices echo off the curved walls, come from everywhere. how either of these two got here isn't important. who will get out is.
put your weapon on the tracks and step out with your hands above your head.
that's just not going to happen.
now put down your weapon on the tracks and -- ground begins to vibrate. tunnel starts to glow.
gutsy? well that's a new one. the two exchange a look.
thanks.
i knew you still cared.
i know, nobody's luck lasts forever. he meets her eyes. exactly. he really does care. weiss breaks it off, leaves. angela turns to close her locker door, notices her reflection does not turn. she grabs the door, looks back in. reflection is as it should be. she shudders, slams the locker door.
i killed a man today. another one. father garret sits on the other side of the mesh window.
most cops go twenty years without firing their gun. not me. i always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
i didn't even see his face. i just pulled the trigger and he went away. just like all the others.  angela in the shower -- trying to wash off the guilt.
i'm trying. her eyes close.
i'm trying real hard.
she.  she fell from the roof?
isabel would never in a million years take her own life. never.
wait, hold the door! angela, gets to the elevator, looks in. john stands inside alone. this should be the first time we realize they were in the same hospital.
going down? john pauses as the doors start to close.
i'm not staying long either. john glances over and for the second time they make contact. something about her eyes. john stares a bit too long. angela looks back toward the fireplace.
my business with him is urgent.
so you're rude no matter where you are. john gives her a look. the two men shake hands and start to part. john and angela make their move toward the men. both are surprised when angela goes for father garret and john goes for -- -- the snob, officially known as gabriel. yes, that one.
why is he stalling on this? my sister needs a catholic funeral.
she didn't commit suicide.
father.  david -- this is isabel. please.  father garret stares at her, tries to be compassionate.
i'm sorry, isabel.  she lowers her head. and in that brief moment of silence --
l.a.p.d. this is dodson, hello? dead air. the next phone rings. angela reaches for it when the next one rings, and the next, the next. the rings hop phone to phone in intimidating mockery. angela freezes, forces herself to stay calm. sure enough, the rings abruptly cease. angela reaches over, rips the page from the printer, leaves.
mr. constantine? john looks up, spots angela. those eyes again.
i saw you at --
and --
i'd like to ask you a few questions.
could you just listen then? angela sets her lapd detective badge on the table.
please?
my sister was murdered last week.
her name was isabel. isabel dodson? she looks for a reaction. none.
you don't remember her?
you sure?
she was a patient at ravenscar. then last tuesday she just decided to step off the roof.
isabel would never take her own life.
look, i know i'm not making much sense -- hell i'm not really sure what i'm doing here.  i just feel -- the circles you travel in -- the occult, demonology, exorcisms.  john just stares at that spider in the glass. trapped.
i believe someone got to her, mr. constantine, brainwashed her into stepping off that roof. some kind of legion or cult.
well i thought with your background and experience, you could at least point me in the right direction.
my sister always talked about a world better than this. heaven as some call it. she wasn't afraid of dying because she knew it was waiting for her. what everyone fails to grasp is that if she had really taken her own life --
you're not the only one afraid of hell. john tries not to let that get to him. she leaves. he glances out the window, watches her pass by. so long. good riddance. but something's not right. those deep shadows on the buildings seem to be moving. john watches, confused, realizes they're heading in angela's direction.
you mean like angels?
look, i see terrible things every day. a mother drowns her baby. a ten-year-old shoots his father. but it's not demons, it's the evil that men do. behind them, a streetlight blinks out. then another. they're not looking back so they don't see it.
i don't believe in demons.
what is that?
wings? john rummages through his trench coat -- fishes out that cloth beeman gave him. the one supposedly wrapped around moses.
are you kidding? of what?
why?
what was that? i saw wings -- and teeth -- they were flying. what the hell were those things?!
what? you can't be serious.  this is impossible.
my sister? never in a million years. john makes the decision.
how?
these are all isabel's things.
yeah, why? john ignores the box of items, picks up the cat. he studies it a bit, then sits back in a chair with it.
don't you need candles and a pentagram for this to work?
john? what happened?
how? how did you do this? john tries not to stare into those eyes too long. fails.
you attempted suicide. john sees she's looking at his wrist. the hint of a jagged scar can now be seen under the sleeve.
but you're still here. alive.
sounds like you're trying to buy your way into heaven.
why you? i mean many go to hell, why were you able to escape?
god has a plan for all of us.
isabel saw things too. john looks up. moment is lost when her cellular rings. the cop in her reacts, flips it open.
detective dodson here.
seances, crystals -- channeling.  our father thought she was just trying to get attention. she certainly did that.
she'd tell everyone about things she said she saw. crazy things. things that hadn't happened yet. she'd scare my mother to death, talking on and on about revelations and the end of the world. then one day she just stopped.  never said another word.
two months. this time. he pulls out a drawer, looks at the bottom.
i already did all that. john runs his hands under the steel bed frame.
now you're insulting me.
you saw everything she left behind. in that box.
i'm not like my sister.
that was a long time ago.
there's nothing here. angela seems unbalanced. john gets more aggressive.
how should i know?
i don't know!
the tree.
there must have been a tree in our backyard.  when we were kids.  john may not be buying it but he's not saying anything. his fingers trace these words carved below the symbol --
cor?
there is no 14h act in corinthians. john's face goes pale --
there's a difference?
so why haven't i seen this book before?
what do you mean -- flickering candlelight slows to a stop, catching angela mid-question and the room in that dim half-light. john turns and is inside --
-- not here on this side? john turns, covered in sweat. he's holding a book she's never seen, is already flipping through it.
where did that come from?
whose son? john stands, his brain going into overdrive.
john, what are you talking about?
whose son? god's?
but demons can't come and go, that's what you said.
isabel.
so it's impossible.
she knew. that's why she killed herself. but it doesn't make sense.
john, she sacrificed herself to beat him. john nods. your point?
why is she in hell? one of those rare moments where john has no answer.
maybe he's not here.
what? john heads across the lanes. swarm gets thicker and thicker. angela keeps up with him, covers her mouth. they approach the pin area of the center lane. the source of the swarm is slowly revealed. in the catch trough is a solid mound of flies. john leans closer, spots a hand protruding from the mound.
oh god -- john goes ballistic, screams to the walls --
john, you need a doctor.
john?
there were no trees in our back yard. john finds angela across the room in his doorway.
but you knew that already, didn't you? john meets her eyes. sees the questions piling up.
you see something in me.  something isabel had.
i need to understand -- john just shakes his head.
why not?
i'm not isabel.
dammit, john -- they killed my sister! that stops him cold.
i can't let them get away with that. even if it means going down the same path she did. now if you won't help me get there, i'll find my own way. but i won't run. never. the two stand there -- locked in this moment.
please.  john can't believe this day -- looks her dead in the eye.
do i take off my clothes or leave them on? john?
john.
why water?
what will i see? his eyes say it all. enough.
lie down?
for how long?
all those people.  so sad.  john nods, helping her understand.
 i've always known.  where the bad guys are.  where to aim, when to duck.  it's not luck.  i've always known.  tears stream down her cheeks. john reaches out to touch her when her eyes clamp tight in pain --
it was rolling toward him -- not a ball -- something smaller. shiny. she stops, kneels to the floor. john walks up to join her. something glints in the catch trough. she reaches down, plucks it up and brings an odd coin into view -- john's face contorts with rage as he takes the familiar coin.
can you kill him? what about the balance?
what about me? i can't stay here forever. john turns to her -- locks on those eyes. he reaches into his coat pocket as he walks up to her. she shudders as his arms wrap around her face and for a beat they're cheek to cheek. when he pulls back she sees he has clipped hennessey's amulet around her neck.
so i'm going.
something's coming.  she stares at her surroundings with an increasing sense of dread. then hears the rumble and tires screeching.
you were in danger.
i'm catholic, john -- i know the crucifixion story.
so that's it -- he's got everything he needs to escape.
what is that?
impossible. the beast goes right up the wall and disappears above the building.
i lost it. bam, something lands hard on the roof, denting it a good foot. a huge clawed talon punches into the sheet metal, starts shredding it right over angela. talon thrusts in. angela dodges it -- her amulet swinging wildly. john hits the brakes and the beast flips off the roof and onto the hood -- right into view. a muscular anomaly with eyes that are unmistakably balthazar's. he lashes against the windshield with an extra appendage. thank god for safety glass. he jerks back his embedded talon, pulls the entire windshield out with it, smashing it on the hood. glass particles explode into the car. john throws the car into a spin, slamming the barracuda into several parked cars. balthazar is uprooted, is thrown from the car. angela looks back, sees balthazar rolling into traffic.
he's down --
he's back. here comes balthazar through traffic on all fours --
john, he's back and he's gaining!
thank you, john. he nods, beat. wipes a trace of blood off her brow, puts a hand on barry's shoulder. hold a beat on this gritty family tableau.
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