Promptly at 8 a.m., Bluey awoke from sleep mode and began his job of mapping out the entire ventilation system and layout of the first floor.  Along the way, he placed speakers in the vents above every first floor room.  The speakers, each of which had a receiver set to a unique frequency, would be able to broadcast whatever Rollie and Angie sent to them.

As Bluey traveled throughout O’Brien’s house, Rollie kept track of what was in each room.  They had the blueprints for the house, but blueprints could not show them what every room was being used for or the positions of furniture.  Rollie and David, having been in the house, had written down what they remembered, but a more accurate layout was needed.  Bluey was taking photos from every angle in each room.  From those, Angie would create detailed three-dimensional images, which would come in handy in the event that the feds needed to rush the place.

Once Bluey was finished, Rollie sent the results to Angie, who was at the loft, there having been no reason for her to be at the warehouse today.

Though several of the others dropped by occasionally, Rollie’s only constant companion for most of the day was David Rain, who was busy recording and listening in on O’Brien and his men.  Thanks to the device Rollie had installed on the phone line going into the house, they were able to listen to all of the phone calls, plus get the phone numbers of who was being called.  They’d already identified three people involved in the organization because of this.

After Bluey was finished, Rollie called Elena and Mira to let them know.  They and everyone else would be arriving that night to witness the big show.

“So, what exactly got you involved in police work?” the young federal agent asked.  “I read the file on that incident you got involved in back in ‘88.”

Rollie smiled.  “Yeah, that was how it all started.  Leo McCarthy was the detective on the case.  In the beginning, he and I butted heads, but I guess we both saw things that we liked about each other.  Leo and I worked together to get the bad guys.  Afterwards, we kept seeing each other on occasion.  We became good friends.  Leo eventually started coming to me for help, borrowing equipment, asking for my input.  In time, I became more and more involved in some of his cases.  I almost quit doing it, though, back in ‘95.  There was a screw-up on a case I was helping Leo with, and I almost got killed because of it.  I was in the hospital for two weeks.  On top of that, some people involved in the case blamed me for what went wrong even though it was in no way my fault.  After that, I decided I’d had enough and told Leo no more.”

“Yet you went back to it.”

“Yeah, well, if you read my file, you already know about that little incident where I was framed for theft and murder.  After that was all over with, I ended up right back in the midst of things.  Don’t ask me how.  It just kept going on from there, even after Leo was killed.”

David nodded, smiling.  “I have to say that I greatly admire what you’ve done for the police and the bureau, Rollie.  There aren’t many civilians out there who would commit themselves to helping stop crime like you have.”

Embarrassed by the comment, the Aussie did not reply right away.  “I guess I just enjoy sticking it to the bad guys, just like Leo did.”

“Have you ever considered becoming a cop or a federal agent?”

Rollie laughed.  “Noooo, that’s definitely not for me.  I love what I do . . . or, rather, what I did.  I did special effects for movies since I was nineteen years old and Manny Ramirez hired me.  It’s a job I loved.”

“If everything goes the way we want it to, will you go back to it?”

“I honestly don’t know.  I’ve found a new home and a new life, one that I also love.  It would be hard to leave it.”

“Being a minister you mean?”

“Yeah.  It’s not a vocation that I’d ever have imagined myself being in, but it is very fulfilling and rewarding.  And the people on the island where I live are wonderful, the best.  I’ve made a lot of great friends there.”  Rollie sighed.  “But there’s no point in trying to decide what I’m going to do until this is all over with.”

The conversation changed to another topic.  Rollie found out a few things about David and his life.  What he learned earned his respect and admiration.  The young federal agent was clearly very dedicated to his job and to putting away criminals.  In some ways, he reminded Rollie of Leo, possessing the same passion, drive and determination, not to mention the same courage.

David was relieved by Ted Simmons at five o’clock.  Unlike David, Simmons wasn’t a very pleasant companion, Rollie not caring for the agent’s attitude.  Fortunately, Dingo came over at 6:30 with dinner for himself and his son and stayed the rest of the evening until it was time for him to go get Angie.

Everyone assembled at the warehouse at 11:30.  O’Brien had gone to bed half an hour ago and was now asleep.  The eyes of everyone in the warehouse were glued on the camera feed for the bedroom and on the monitor that showed the positions of everybody in the house, the inhabitants being identified as glowing red dots.

“When are you going to start the show?” Mira asked.

“As soon as O’Brien’s men are far enough from the bedroom that they won’t overhear what goes on inside,” Rollie replied.

Almost fifteen minutes passed before it was clear.  With a smile on his face, Rollie reached for a button.  “Okay, boys and girls.  Let’s rock and roll.”

“Irwin O’Brien.”

O’Brien was roused from sleep by the sound of his name being called.  His eyes blinked open to stare up at the darkened ceiling of his bedroom.

“Irwin O’Brien,” repeated the deep, resonant voice.

Grabbing the gun that was underneath his pillow, O’Brien quickly sat up, his eyes darting about, his weapon sweeping the room.

“Who’s here?  Show yourself,” he called out.

Near the wall across from his bed, a pinpoint of light appeared.  The light grew slowly, taking on a vaguely human form.  Then the light faded, and O’Brien gaped at what stood in its place.  Clothed in a flowing white garment, the man before him glowed with a soft, unearthly light.  His face was flawless, beautiful in its perfection.  Dark, all-knowing eyes gazed at him.  But the thing that rendered O’Brien utterly speechless with shock was the pair of enormous, snow-white wings that rose from the man's back.

“Who are you?” Irwin finally whispered, his gun aimed unerringly at the figure.

“I am a servant of the god you once worshiped, Irwin O’Brien, He whom you have forsaken in your quest for wealth and power.  You have cast aside the teachings of the Lord and descended into a life of evil.  You commit acts that are abhorrent in the sight of God.”

O’Brien shook his head.  “No.  You’re not real.  This is a trick.”

The ‘angel’ spread his arms.  “You see me standing before you with your own eyes, Irwin O’Brien.  Have you then lost all belief in He whom your father and mother taught you of?  Does the evil in your heart blind you to the truth?  The power of the Lord is real, and I am His messenger.  I am here to give you a warning.  If you do not turn from the path you have chosen and redeem yourself in the eyes of God, your soul will be condemned to everlasting damnation.  Even now, the Gates of Hell await your arrival.  Your death will be upon you soon.  You can choose to spend your final hours as you are living now or you can turn away from evil and seek God’s forgiveness.  Your time is short, Irwin O’Brien.  Once your soul departs this world, no Earthly power will save it.  Only in the mercy of God can you find salvation.”

The angel’s form grew translucent.  “Heed my words and remember,” he said, his voice echoing with distance.  Then he was gone, and the room was dark yet again.

O’Brien reached for the light on the bedside table and switched it on.  He scrambled out of bed, threw on his robe, and strode to the door.

“Vincent!  Thomas!” he yelled.  Immediately, two men came running up the stairs.

“Yes, sir?” both of them inquired.

“I want my room searched from top to bottom!  Check everything, the outlets, the walls, the furniture, the vents.  I want you to search every inch of this room for any kind of electronic devices.”

“Yes, sir.  We’ll do it right away.”

“I’ll be in my office while you search.”

Back in the warehouse, everyone watched in concern as O’Brien left his bedroom while several of his men started searching the room--everyone, that is, except for Rollie and Angie.

“They’ll find the equipment you planted in there,” Whitmore said.  “This whole operation will be blown.”

Rollie smiled.  “No, they won’t.  Knowing how paranoid O’Brien is, we anticipated that he might do something like this.  They aren’t going to find the speaker we planted unless they tear the wall apart, and the only bug or camera in that room is what’s attached to the holographic projector.  As for it. . . .”

Rollie pressed a button on the bank of controls beside one of the monitors, and an image came up on the screen.  It appeared to be the inside of the air duct.  He then reached for a remote control unit similar to one for a radio-controlled car.

“The projector is mounted on a wheeled platform,” he explained.  “With this remote control, I’ll take the projector around the corner of the air duct so that O’Brien’s men won’t see it if they take a look in there.”

As everyone else watched, Rollie carefully rolled the projector down the air duct and around the nearest corner.  Once it was out of sight, he turned off the camera.  He'd already shut everything else down in the room so that it would not be picked up by the scanners.

“So much for that.  O’Brien’s men aren’t going to find a thing now.”  He grinned.  “And while they’re tearing the bedroom apart, Mister O’Brien is going to have another visitation,” his voice deepened and took on an evil tone, “from the other side.”

O’Brien sat in the chair behind his desk, thinking about what had just happened.  There’s no way it was real.  Someone, probably those men who were supposedly from the electric company, had planted something in his bedroom.  What they had hoped to accomplish from it, he didn’t know, but, whatever it was, they weren’t going to succeed.  He was too smart to fall for something like this.

A deep chuckle coming from the left side of the room made O’Brien spin about, his hand snatching up the gun he’d laid on the desk.

“Who’s there?” he called.

There was another chuckle, then a deep, malevolent voice stated, “You humans so amuse me.”

Suddenly, fire erupted near the corner of the room, the smell of sulphur permeating the air.  O’Brien was about to call for help when a figure stepped out of the flames, one that made O’Brien’s eyes widened in shock, disbelief and a touch of fear.

The man, if that’s what he could be called, stood nearly seven feet tall.  Scarlet-colored skin covered a powerfully built body.  The man’s face was triangular in shape, the bone structure well defined.  His eyes were coal black, horns rising from his forehead.  He smiled, displaying a row of pointed teeth.

“Hello there, Irwin,” the man said pleasantly.

“What are you?” O’Brien asked.

The man laughed.  “Oh, come now, Irwin.  Don’t tell me that you don’t recognize me.  Why, we’re old friends, you and I.  I’ve been watching you very closely these past few years, and I have to say that you are quite delightful, wonderfully evil.”  He rubbed his hands together and smiled gleefully.  “I am so looking forward to having you as a . . . guest of mine.”

“You’re not real,” O’Brien stated emphatically.

“Oh, really?  Well, if you choose to think so, that’s entirely up to you.  Doesn’t really matter to me.  You and I will be seeing each other very soon, regardless of what you think.  Oh, and forget about what that guy upstairs told you.  You’re doomed.”  He took a step closer to O’Brien.  “Your soul belongs to me, and I’m going to have it.”  He leaned in closer, and O’Brien swore that he could smell the fetid odor of death on the man’s breath.  “Nothing can save you.”

The devil-like creature laughed, stepped back, and disappeared in another burst of fire.

O’Brien stumbled out of his chair and ran to the door, screaming for his men.  Several came rushing up to him.

“Search this room too, now!  Tear the place apart, if you have to.”

“Sir, what are we looking for?” one of them asked.

“Don’t question my orders!  Somebody’s playing a trick on me, and I want it stopped!”

O’Brien stalked off to the library.

“Blue, to the library,” Rollie ordered his electronic dog.  The robot quickly negotiated the air duct until he got to the room.  Going up to the vent, he positioned himself until the image of O’Brien became visible on the monitor.  The man was pacing back and forth, muttering to himself.

“It’s definitely having an effect on him,” David commented.

“Yes, it is,” Angie agreed.  “He sure does look rattled.”

“Well, that was quite a show you put on, especially that devil.  How did you make the holograms respond to O’Brien’s questions and comments?”

“Angie and I made guesses about the kinds of responses O’Brien would have to the angel and the devil and recorded various replies,” Rollie told him.  “As it turned out, he reacted just the way we first anticipated, so our main recording worked out fine, but if he had varied from what our first guess was, we could easily have switched to another recorded response and covered up the switch over with a burst of light or flames.”

“So, what’s the next step?” Whitmore asked.

“Though O’Brien is telling himself that what he saw tonight wasn’t real, some fear has been planted in his mind,” Rollie replied.  “Both the angel and the devil told him that he’s going to die soon.  That’s going to make him nervous and even more paranoid than usual, which is exactly what we want.  We’re going to start playing on that paranoia.”

“How?”

“Having that man of his killed just because the guy’s little brother joined the police force proves that O’Brien doesn’t fully trust his men and will easily believe that one or more of them will betray him.  We’re going to be using that mistrust.  We’re going to make Mister O’Brien start to believe that there is a plot against him being conceived by his own men.”

“What do you hope to achieve with that?” Gail Barker asked.

“We’re hoping to find out where O’Brien has all his records on the organization,” Angie replied.  “That’s what we need to bring him and everyone else down.”

“I don’t understand why we can’t just get a warrant and search the house,” Simmons said.  “We’ve got the statement from Robert Dales now.  That would be enough to get a warrant issued.”

“The problem is that we don’t know for sure if the records are there,” Elena said.  “We’d be taking the chance that they’re not.  And if we get a warrant and search the house, it’s going to make O’Brien more cautious.  Chances are that he’ll assume he’s being watched.”

“And if he thinks he’s being watched, he won’t go anywhere near those records,” Rollie added.  “We want O’Brien to be scared and not thinking clearly.  We want him thinking that everyone is out to get him, and that he’s not safe.  We also want him to think that there is a plot to take over the organization and that the records are needed for the plot against him.”

Mira nodded, smiling.  “Which would make him want to assure their safety.”

“Exactly.”

Whitmore gave a nod.  “Sounds like a good plan.  When will you put the next step into motion?”

“In the morning,” Rollie told him.  “According to what we’ve learned, O’Brien is going to be at home all day.  Thanks to Bluey, we’ve got every room on the first floor wired for sound.  At the push of a button, we can have O’Brien hearing whispered plots against him.”

“It sounds like you’ve got things well in hand, Reverend Tyler,” Whitmore said admiringly.

“I hope so.”

Everyone continued watching O’Brien.  About twenty minutes later, one of his men came in.

“Sir, we thoroughly searched both your bedroom and your office, and we didn’t find anything.  There’s no sign of tampering or of anything having been planted.”

O’Brien stared at him narrowly.  “You checked everything?”

“Yes, sir.  We ran scanners over both rooms and checked visually as well.  We didn’t find a thing.”

O’Brien turned and walked away a few feet.  He stood still for a moment, then turned back around.  “All right.  I want everyone to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.  Increase the patrols outside.”

“Yes, sir.”

The man left.  O’Brien paced for a few more minutes, then exited the room.  Everyone turned to the monitor that showed the positions of all the people in the house.  They saw one of the red blips go up to the second floor and enter O’Brien’s bedroom.

“It looks like he’s going back to bed,” David remarked.

“Yeah,” Rollie agreed.  He turned to the others.  “Well, that’s it for the rest of the night.  We should all get a little sleep.  The show resumes after breakfast.”

The feds all left, leaving Angie, Dingo, Mira and Frank with Rollie.

“Mira, I need you and Frank for something later, so don’t come over in the morning.”

“What do you need?” Francis asked.

“Angie’s going to be doing some snooping around in the FBI’s database.  We know that there’s a traitor either in the FBI or the U.S. Marshals.  Neither Elena nor anyone else at the bureau can do any searching via computer without taking the chance that the guilty party will find out.  Angie has the best chance of learning their identity without tipping them off.  If she does find out anything, she’ll contact you.”

“Why contact us?  Why not tell Elena or Whitmore?” Mira asked.

“Because if Whitmore finds out who the traitor is, he’ll probably have the guy arrested, and we don’t want that yet, and if we tell Elena, she’ll have to report it to Whitmore.  Right now, we just want to know who the person is and keep an eye on them.  Mira, Frank, do you think that you could get some of the guys at Midtown South to do a little off-duty surveillance?”

“Sure, no problem, Rollie,” Frank assured him.

“What do you want us to tell them?” Mira asked.  “Do we tell them that you’re alive?”

“No.  Tell them that the person they’re following may be a crooked fed who had something to do with my murder.”

The two cops nodded, knowing that, once they told their fellow cops that it had to do with Rollie’s murder, there would be no shortage of volunteers for the duty.

“I’m afraid that you two may also have to do a little breaking and entering,” Rollie told them.  “If Angie does find anyone who looks suspicious, we need to plant bugs in their house, car and phones.”

“Not a problem, Rollie,” the policewoman said.  “We’ll do whatever it takes.”

The Aussie gave them a smile of gratitude.  “Thanks.  You guys head on home and get some rest.  It’s going to be another long day.”

“What do you want me to do, Rollie?” Dingo asked after the detectives had left.

“I don’t have anything for you, Dad.  Angie’s going to be at the loft all day again, so she won’t be needing your services.  Actually, you should probably go to work again, like you did today.  If someone is keeping tabs on you, we don’t want them getting suspicious about your long absences from work.”

Dingo nodded.  “Yeah, you’re probably right.  Let me know if something happens, though.”

“You bet.”

Rollie said goodbye to Angie and his father, giving Angie a long kiss.  Then he retired to his bed.  For a long time, he lay in the darkness of the warehouse, thinking about what was to come.  According to the FBI profile done on O’Brien, the plan they had conceived should work, but Rollie knew that they could not be certain of that.  If it didn’t, he’d have no choice but to implement his backup plan.  The Aussie knew that Angie and the others wouldn’t agree to it, just as Daniel hadn’t.  But he had to take the chance.  He couldn’t keep hiding forever, especially now that Angie was back in his life.  One way or another, O’Brien and the organization were going to be brought down.