The Judas Relic: An Evangeline Heart Holiday Adventure Read Online Free PDF Page A

wondered if all archangels did this, or if Metatron was uniquely quirky as a guy who’d once been human. It creeped me out, how he just froze everything, and how it would all return to normal as if nothing had happened, once he was gone.  
    “Now, you show up?” I yanked my hands from my pockets and waved them toward him. “I’ve been calling for you and trying to find out what I needed to do next! And, just now, you show up like everything’s perfectly fine.”
    “Evangeline,” he said, crossing one elegant leg over the other and clasping his hands over his knee. “You do know that there is spiritual warfare going on at every second of every moment of the day.” He shifted his angel wings on the side closest to me and scooted over on the bench. “I can’t always be available when you call, and I will only come to you when I have some answers. I’m not God, you know.”
    “I get that.” I was still miffed that he’d left me in the dark. Maybe if he’d have come earlier I wouldn’t be stuck on this side adventure as Clay’s wife. “You have answers then? What are they?”
    “I don’t have all of the answers. I’m working on it. Remember what I told you, I may be an archangel but I’m not privy to everything. I am not the end-all and be-all, and much of this journey I have to allow you to do on your own. I’ve been instructed this way.”
    I sighed and blew a long piece of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail back out of my face. “I’m aware, and you’re always so good to remind me when I forget. But you must know something.”
    “I do have a tidbit for you. I have learned that you will need to travel to Greece.”
    “Okay. Is that it? Any other answers?”
    “Only that you should be prepared to go directly after the New Year.”
    I nodded. “That’s it?”
    “I’m afraid so. Your friend will need to know.”
    “My friend?”
    “Clay.”
    “He’s not a friend.” The mere mention stiffened my back. I was too upset over the castle, and Griffin, and this play-acting. “You put us together. He’s a partner. That’s it.”  
    Metatron leaned close and I forced myself not to lean away and show him how upset I was that he’d given me so little information that he might as well have not come. He kissed my cheek. “I shall be seeing you soon. Ralph will have some new information for you, too.”
    Finally. I could always count on Metatron to give Ralph bits of information that the archangel couldn’t give to me directly. “I plan to visit him in a couple of days.”
    “Good.” He stared at the skaters and stood, his massive wings spreading and stirring the still air. Then he turned to me, a solemn and serious expression on his face. “I urge you to use caution with regard to this adventure with your partner. Danger lurks among those he trusts.”
    I nodded. “I feel it.” I stared at him, wishing he could give me more, wishing he wasn’t bound by covenants that forced him to withhold information from me. But he’d at least confirmed my suspicions that Clay and I were missing details that could help us to be successful with this heist of his.
    “Merry Christmas, Evangeline.”
    Before I could return the sentiment, he was gone.

Lina

    I returned to the suite to find Clay on the computer, his blond curls mussed up and his green eyes still heavy with sleep. “Hey. Want to see where the painting is being held?”
    I rubbed my palms together, eager to dive into work and give my emotions a rest. “Now we’re talking.”
    Just as we did when we scouted out the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian, Clay moved swiftly through the 3-D model of the building, showing me exits and cameras and blind spots. He pointed at the screen. “Two guards here, one floater, two on every other exit.” He poked the gaps in the blueprints.
    “One floater is going to make it hard. We need to figure out how to get them all in one location so I can take them out with gas or something.”
    He pushed the