Rage of Angels

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FORTY (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTY (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIXTY (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (#litres_trial_promo)

BOOKS BY SIDNEY SHELDON (#litres_trial_promo)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#litres_trial_promo)

COPYRIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER (#litres_trial_promo)

EPIGRAPH (#ulink_661ebeef-6dbe-5614-97eb-ba9ec595cfec)

‘… Tell us of the secret hosts of evil, O

Cimon …’

‘Their names may not be spake aloud

lest they profane mortal lips,

for they came out of unholy darknesses

and attacked the heavens,

but they were driven away by the rage of

angels …’

from Dialogues of Chios

PART ONE (#ulink_72a8e5e0-3775-52c6-ab33-2d663d104690)

Chapter One (#ulink_f8c63ad9-21b7-5f61-8f8a-5f3e2dd4c01a)

New York: September 4, 1969

The hunters were closing in for the kill.

Two thousand years ago in Rome, the contest would have been staged at the Circus Neronis or the Colosseum, where voracious lions would have been stalking the victim in an arena of blood and sand, eager to tear him to pieces. But this was the civilized twentieth century, and the circus was being staged in the Criminal Courts Building of downtown Manhattan, Courtroom Number 16.

In place of Suetonius was a court stenographer, to record the event for posterity, and there were dozens of members of the press and visitors attracted by the daily headlines about the murder trial, who queued up outside the courtroom at seven o’clock in the morning to be assured of a seat.

The quarry, Michael Moretti, sat at the defendant’s table, a silent, handsome man in his early thirties. He was tall and lean, with a face formed of converging planes that gave him a rugged, feral look. He had fashionably styled black hair, a prominent chin with an unexpected dimple in it and deeply set olive-black eyes. He wore a tailored gray suit, a light blue shirt with a darker blue silk tie, and polished, custom-made shoes. Except for his eyes, which constantly swept over the courtroom, Michael Moretti was still.

The lion attacking him was Robert Di Silva, the fiery District Attorney for the County of New York, representative of The People. If Michael Moretti radiated stillness, Robert Di Silva radiated dynamic movement; he went through life as though he were five minutes late for an appointment. He was in constant motion, shadowboxing with invisible opponents. He was short and powerfully built, with an unfashionable graying crew cut. Di Silva had been a boxer in his youth and his nose and face bore the scars of it. He had once killed a man in the ring and he had never regretted it. In the years since then, he had yet to learn compassion.