CHAPTERS 11 AND 12

CHAPTER 11

The unmistakable noise of propellers echoed through the mountains and the woods, like an announcement of hope for the group:

“John is right! There are people looking for us!”, Sally was as excited as her brother.

“We gotta go outside and show them we’re here!”

The boy ran towards the entrance of the cave, but his sister’s voice made him stop:

“Wait John! What about those two men?”

That question remained unanswered for a few seconds. Andrew looked at Monica and noticed that she was paler than before and her human form would not hold much longer without a proper treatment:

“We’re gonna have to take the risk, guys. If we stay here, nobody’s gonna never find us.”

Carefully, he lay his best friend on the ground and walked until the entrance of the cave, checking the surroundings:

“It seems that they’re not here. Let’s go find a clearing where those people in the helicopter can see us, and we have to be fast!”

He held Monica in his arms and kissed her forehead:

“Hold on, sweetie. You’ll get out of here; all of us will, ok?”

The blond angel left the cave followed by the children, and they started to look for an open area where they could be seen by the pilot of the helicopter. Walking on the rocky and inclined terrain was never easy; least was to do this carrying a wounded person in one’s arms. But the group never gave up, on the contrary, although they were physically weak, a sudden inward strength seemed to take control over them and to make them strive for survival like they had never done before.

And that extra dose of effort was soon rewarded:

“Over there! I can see some big rocks and a small river!...”, pointed the boy, spotting a stream that flowed on big rocks, crossing the woods. In some minutes, they arrived at the area, where trees did not grow up, making it possible to spot a lost person from up above.

The helicopter was passing by the place a second time when Andrew and the children raised their hands and waved. And the pilot, together with the other members of the search and rescue team could finally see them:

“Eagle to Fox, do you copy Fox?

“Fox to Eagle, we can hear you.”

“We’ve found them; repeat, we’ve found them!”

Andrew kneeled on the huge rocks that composed the river banks holding his dear friend in his arms; the children sat beside the two angels and they saw the pilot’s signal indicating he had already seen them and asking them to wait there.

The siblings looked at each other with a smiled on their faces:

“We’re going home! Did you hear this Sally? We’re going home!”

The blond angel turned to Monica and stroked her cheek; relief now evident on his face:

“See honey? We’re safe now...”

Without saying a word, she blinked some tears and smiled weakly at him. But suddenly, a noise coming from the nearby bushes drew their attention and they looked to their opposite side, watching horrified when Bill and Jack showed up from behind the vegetation:

“I knew I had got one of them and that they wouldn’t go too far!”, said the black-haired thief, with an evil look in his eyes, “I just wish it was this guy, so that we wouldn’t take so long to find them!”

Quickly, the children hid themselves behind their friends and held each other, both trembling with fear. Andrew stared at the men and, at that moment, the angel felt that something had changed inside him: all the fear he carried with him throughout that journey had been replaced by a sensation of trust in God’s presence:

“You leave us alone!”

“Leave you alone?! You’ve been a pain in the neck for the last two days and screwed up our plans! Don’t you think you deserve a little punishment for all the trouble you made?!”, shouted Bill, with irony in his voice and preparing to push the trigger of his gun. But realising what was about to happen, Jack interfered:

“Hey man, what you think you’re doin’?!”

“Jack will you shut up?!”

“Don’t you see what kind of trouble you’re gonna get us in?! Let them go and let’s gonna get outta here too, soon there’ll be a lot of people around here and I don’t wanna stay to see what’s gonna happen!”

“Ok, but let’s teach these idiots a lesson first!”

Jack put himself between the group and Bill, trying everything he could to dissuade the other thief from hurting someone else:

“Don’t be such a jerk, Bill! Look at them! It’s just a bunch of kids and two adults that are totally defenceless! Isn’t it enough what you did to this woman?!”

“Get outta way, Jack, I’m warning you!”

“No, I won’t get out! I won’t let you hurt these people! And you put that gun down!”, the other man insisted, grabbing Bill’s arm. But the black-haired thief was fast and punched him on the face with so much violence that Jack fell on the rocky ground. With anger shining in his eyes, Bill glared at the angels and the children and, once more, pointed his gun in their direction.

“Sally, John, stay behind me...”, Andrew said, tightening his hold on his best friend.

But, a second before the black-haired man shoot, Jack stood on his feet and grabbed the thief’s hand, causing him to miss the target and fire towards the bushes:

“I’m not gonna let you do this, you stupid coward!”, he shouted, trying to take the gun from his hand. There was a fight, but it did not last too long: one more shot was heard: Jack fell on the rocky soil again, but this time with blood in his stomach. Bill looked down at his former partner and, after, to the group:

“You damn idiots!”, he screamed, furiously, “Look what you’ve done! It’s all your fault!!!

But, before he could even aim his gun at them for the third time, another voice echoed through the woods:

“Freeze!”

A policeman, together with two rangers, was pointing his gun at the thief:

“Drop the gun down!”, he commanded. Bill remained still, as if deciding to continue or not.

“Drop the gun down, now!”

Some seconds of indecision passed by. Once again, the criminal looked at the man who was fallen on the ground, and finally released his gun. Immediately, the policeman and the rangers ran towards him and put a pair of handcuffs on the thief:

“It’s ok now, send the search and rescue, there are two people hurt here!”, he said, already removing Bill from the place.

A minute later, the members of the search and rescue arrived in the place, led by a very familiar face: Tess went to check on Monica while the other two men drew their attention to Jack, who was in critical condition:

“Tess...”, Andrew whispered, relieved to see his friend and supervisor.

“It’s over now, Angel Boy; you’ll get out of here...”, she said, rubbing his shoulder. Both looked down at Monica:

“She’s hurt...”

“I’m gonna take care of her, don’t worry.”

The Irish angel and the other thief were placed on stretchers and carried to the helicopter, together with Andrew and the children, and everybody returned to the city hospital.

CHAPTER 12

Andrew was walking from one side to another, in the corridor of the hospital he, Monica, the children and Jack had been taken to. With a new bandage on his forehead and his forearm in plaster, he had an anguished expression on his face and was impatiently running his fingers through his blond hair. After a few minutes Tess, together with a middle aged man, came out of the ICU:

“So have you finished? How is she?!”, the blond angel eagerly asked.

“Andrew, what are you doing in here?! The doctor said you should be in your room, under observation!”

Although the supervisor was not surprised to see him there, her concern for his human physical condition was evident.

“I just couldn’t, Tess! It’s been over 2 hours since we arrived here and they took her to the ICU! I wanna know what’s happening, I can’t be waiting here...”

“You just cool yourself down!”, she said, with a mock stern look, “Monica will be just fine! Doctor Travis here, together with his colleagues, has just finished working on her!”

The blond angel heaved a sigh of relief when he heard those words:

“Oh, thank you God!...”

“So, you’re the one that took that bullet from her shoulder and treated her wound, hum?”, the doctor asked, “I’d like to congratulate you, son, you did a great job! Your friend has lost some blood, but the bullet didn’t enter a vital organ or vein. But your taking care of her was of extreme importance too. You not only stopped the bleeding, avoiding a hemorrhage, but, by extracting the bullet, you also prevented a possible infection. If you hadn’t been there, if you hadn’t done this, I’m afraid that young lady wouldn’t have survived.”

“I would do anything for her, sir. I would even change places with her if I could.”

Smiling, Tess looked at her ‘Angel Boy’ and it was possible to see how proud she was of him:

“I’d say that Monica had an angel to watch over her all the time, doctor Travis!”

“Can I see her?”, he asked, eager to hold his dear friend in his arms again.

“Well, we gave her some medication for the pain and she’s asleep now...”

The doctor could see the anxiety in the angel’s eyes and elected not to leave him waiting any longer:

“... but I think it’s ok if you went in there to check on her for a few minutes.”

“Come with me, baby.”

Andrew anxiously followed the older angel and supervisor. They crossed the gates of the ICU and Tess opened the second door on their left, allowing him to go first.

Monica was fast asleep and had an IV tube inserted in her right arm. Quickly, the blond angel walked to her bed, holding her hand and softly stroking her hair:

“It’s over now, sweetie. And Tess and I will be right here with you, until you get better, we promise, don’t we, Tess?”

“Of course we will, baby...”, she answered, with some tears rolling down on her cheeks. He leaned and brushed a loving kiss on her forehead.

“There were times I thought that nightmare would never end...”, the angel said, never stopping soothing Monica’s hair.

“I can imagine, Angel Boy. And I’m glad you made it, despite everything that has happened...”

“Where are John and Sally?”

“They’re in a room in the same corridor you should be right now.”

“Are they alright?”

“Yes, the two are still scared and have a few scratches and small cuts, but nothing serious. They’re gonna stay for the night as well.”

“What about the other children, Mrs Peters and Mr Stokes?”

“Everybody is safe and sound. They were found on the road by a couple who was travelling to a town near the campsite in the morning after the accident took place. They immediately asked for help and all of them were rescued and taken to this hospital. I took care of them myself, as my assignment was to be here and help the other doctors at the emergency room.”

He smiled content to hear those news.

“Let’s leave her rest now, baby. You’re hurt too and need to stay under observation.”

Andrew turned to his best friend and whispered into her ear:

“I’ll be back later, Angel Girl. You take some sleep now, ok? I love you.”

He kissed her once more and they left the room. The older angel wrapped an arm around his waist while they were walking in the corridor:

“Tess, why was the police together with the search and rescue team? I mean, how did they know about the thieves?”

“Well, I was together with the search and rescue when they were looking for you two and the children. When we found the precarious campsite used by those men, we knew that it couldn’t have been you who did it, as you didn’t have any material or food with you. And there, we found Sally’s hairpin. As there was a warning on the radio about two thieves who had escaped from a prison in the neighbour state a few months ago, we just connected the facts. So the police was called to help finding you, as that mission became more dangerous.”

“And how did you find us?”

“It was not easy because you were far away from where the accident took place and we went to the opposite direction in the beginning. Only after some time we decided to split up and another group started to look for you near the river. We were almost giving up and returning to where we had begun because there were no more trace of you on the way when...”

The supervisor frowned with a sad look on her face:

“... when we heard two shots...”

A brief silence passed between the two, as they knew that the second shot was the one which came to rest on their friend’s body. Tess kept on talking:

“At that moment we knew that you were somewhere nearby, and so were the two criminals.”

They left the ICU and headed to the 4^th floor of the hospital. But there, in the ICU, in that same corridor, another patient was being operated at that moment: Jack was surrounded by a group of doctors who were trying everything they could to make him survive. But that was not an easy task, considering that the internal damage caused by the bullets fired from Bill’s gun had been extremely serious.

*

Later, at night, Andrew and Tess went to Sally and John’s room and, when they opened the door, the image before their eyes warmed their hearts and made them smile: brother and sister were holding their parents and reporting the adventure they had just lived:

“... in the beginning I was afraid, but, after, I knew we would make it, because we talked to God and He was with us all the time!”, the little girl said.

The two angels looked at each other smiling happily when they heard those words:

“Excuse me...”, the blond angel interrupted.

“Hey, here he is! Come in you two!”, the boy invited, turning to his parents “Mom, dad, this is Andrew. It was him and Monica who were with us all the time!”

The couple looked at him gratefully:

“It’s an honour to meet you, Andrew. I heard that, besides everything you did for our children, you and your friend saved all the passengers in that bus.”, the children’s father thanked, shaking Andrew’s hand.

“Words cannot express how much grateful we are!”, Mrs Hudson said, holding tightly to her daughter, “Thank you very much...”

“You don’t have to thank me, Mrs Hudson. I guess Sally is pretty right: we were not alone there. And, besides this, you have two brave children!”

“Oh, mom, it was Monica, Andrew’s girlfriend, who took me out of the river!”, the girl said. The blond angel’s face was immediately red at that comment and Tess rolled her eyes to the ceiling, secretly amused by his embarrassment.

“How is she, Andrew?”, Mrs Hudson asked.

“Monica is alright now. The doctors examined her and said that she’ll recover pretty soon.”

“Can we see her?”, John asked.

“She is still in the ICU baby, but, if everything goes well, and I’m sure it will, tomorrow she will be removed to another room and then you can see her.”, Tess answered. She and Andrew said goodnight to the family and he went to his bedroom, while the supervisor came back to her work a an ER doctor.

That was the first night they could sleep peacefully after all that had happened, and their prayers were all to thank God for allowing that nightmare to have finally finished.