The Andre Miller Saga

Andre Miller 74 The Summons

The send-off for the vacations at the airport was filled with "Are you sure?" and "We can stay." By the bucket load. Andre and Conroy ushered everyone through security, on their way, and then drove back to the house.

"So, what the hell am I going to do for two weeks with no moppet to drive me insane?" asked Conroy with a laugh.

"Dad, you're 96 years old, I'm 66 years old. Neither of us has anything to do other than me going to question Fontaine. I think well-deserved napping is not out of the question."

"You can nap if you want, I have a research project I have been working on, and no, I am not going to tell you what it is."

Andre laughed, "OK, keep your secrets, so long as it doesn't lead to another apocalypse, I'm good with it."

"We have enough of that already, I'm good."

The next day Andre was picked up for his questioning session with Fontaine. Becker presented him with another packet of redacted documents concerning the questioning of the four captives that had worked with Jay.

"We're making progress, slowly, but you're doing much better than we expected." Said Becker as he handed over the folders.

"I've been negotiating with celestials and elementals since I was in my early 20s. Some of them were much harder to deal with than Fontaine. I just didn't hate them. I've never been one for overt animosity, but with her, it's hard to keep it pushed down sometimes especially when she tried pushing my buttons." Andre responded.

"That's understandable, she did hound you for a decade. One thing we're no closer to finding out is what this Jay person's final plan is. Fontaine doesn't know, that much is obvious, but the four prisoners who worked with them don't either, which in itself is telling about their want for security. We did find out that one other accomplice is working with Jay. None of them know much about him, other than the name Deacon Wilson and the fact that he's a master marksman with a variety of weapons." Becker said.

"So be on the lookout for snipers got it. Shall we get started?" said Andre.

"Let's." Becker ushered Andre into Fontaine's interrogation chamber.

She looked much better than she had when Andre had first seen her 3 weeks prior. The bruising was gone and the swelling with it. Her fingers were still crooked from repeated breaks, she would never have full use of them again unless a major healing spirit was invoked, and that was unlikely as she was so full of bad karma that no celestial spirit would touch her.

"So, what shall it be today, Andre? More rehashing of what little I know of Jay and their people?" she asked.

"No, today I want to know why, you had every chance to excel, you pull amazing grades in high school and junior college. During your first four years of college, you held a 3.96 GPA. You didn't need any infernal help to graduate. Law school was a breeze, 3.97 GPA, you graduated Summa cum laude, first in your class, and you had a future ahead of you with any law firm, infernal or not, you wanted. But even with all that you inked a deal with demons for more. Was your want for power that great that near perfection wasn't enough?" he asked.

"I wanted to be so good that I was unassailable." She replied, "I was .02 GPA ahead of second place in my class. He missed one question more than I did on the final. That was too close. I signed my first deal to have him killed. My graduation class was in mourning for his loss, I mimicked it perfectly, I even dedicated my speech to his memory. You see it wasn't simply enough to be the best. I had to be untouchable. Until I met you my career was nearly perfect. I had minor things, but that comes with everything, nothing can be truly perfect, but I was as close as possible."