CHAPTER 27

Andrew opened his eyes groggily sometime later, a fragrant smell filling his senses and he wondered if perhaps he had been dreaming. His eyes immediately moved to Monica and finding her still asleep, he gazed around the room, his eyes growing wide at the many splashes of purple and white that seemed to surround the two angels.

Lilacs and Paul.

The agent managed a grin in Andrew’s direction as the angel sat up on the cot and looked around the hospital room at what must be fifteen different vases filled to the hilt with Monica’s favorite flower. In addition to the lilacs, there was a balloon bouquet, a stuffed cat that looked amazingly like Lucy and a large plastic jar of bubbles.

“She’ll tell you that you went overboard, but secretly, she will love it,” Andrew commented, taking the styrofoam cup of coffee that Paul offered him.

“I owe it to her that I’m alive to go overboard. Besides, even an angel deserves to be spoiled sometimes,” He replied, casting a tender look in the sleeping angel’s direction, “She still hasn’t woken up?”

“She was awake earlier but not for long as she is tiring easily,” He explained, taking a welcome sip from his cup, “How did things go today? Have they caught David?” His voice held a hint of the familiar anger as he asked the question.

“Not yet. He and Mike must be lying low, but they’ll find them.” He didn’t miss the controlled fury in Andrew’s eyes and he understood it all too well. It hadn’t taken him long to develop an intense sense of protection for Monica and Andrew had known her for decades.

A soft, small gasp caught their attention as they both turned to Monica. She had woken up and her eyes were wide as she took in the garden that her hospital room had become. Forgetting herself momentarily, she tried to sit up more, but pain that took her breath away stopped her movement.

“Easy there, darlin’,” Paul was standing immediately and moved to her side in order to calm her.

“Paul,” A weak smile crossed her face as she reached out and waited for him to grasp her hand, “You’re all right.”

“I could say the same about you,” He grinned, his tiredness forgotten with his sudden happiness at hearing her utter his name.

“I’m going to go and stretch my legs,” Andrew remarked, knowing Paul wanted to talk to the little angel, “Paul, do you need anything?”

“Not anymore,” He replied, causing Monica to blush slightly and his grin to widen.

“You did all this?” She asked softly as Andrew left the room and she turned her eyes to the agent.

“Monica, it was the least I could do after what you did for me,” He replied steadily, his expression turning completely serious, “I’m not sure that words have been invented to tell you how thankful I am to be alive and I owe that to you.”

A quirky grin played on her face, “Well, I owed you one,” Her voice held a hint of teasing but seeing that the serious look never left Paul’s face she continued, “You’re my friend. Anyone hurting you was not an option if I could do something to prevent it.”

“You shouldn’t have done it-.”

“Yes, I should have,” She was quick to cut him off, “No matter what had happened to me, God was taking care of me, however, we still have a little work to do between you and Him and I need time to take care of that.”

His eyes widened, wondering how she could have known about the things he had been thinking about earlier, but he didn’t yet feel ready to really discuss it, “Well, there is that, I suppose.”

Sensing his reluctance to discuss God as of yet, she changed the subject, more than willing to give him time, “The flowers and balloons are lovely Paul,” She commented, watching as he picked up the stuffed cat and she smiled sweetly, “She looks like Lucy!” Taking the toy from him, she stroked it lightly, before looking up at him once more, “Andrew is reluctant to tell me, but I know that you will,” She looked a bit uncertain, “How bad is it? It’s hurting when I breathe, so-.”

“It isn’t bad at all,” He was quick to reassure her as he squeezed her hand, “It hurts when you breathe because the doctors had to rebuild one of your ribs. There was a little damage to your shoulder blade and a good bit of soft tissue damage, which will heal. You were very lucky and because of that, we were all very lucky.”

She nodded her head slowly, taking it all in before she asked the next question that was bothering her, “Where is David?”

He was able to contain his own anger at the mention of the man, though barely, “We don’t know yet. He and Mike are missing, but it is only a matter of time before they are found.”

“He was instantly sorry, you know,” She was quick to say, “I could see it in his eyes and on his face.”

It took all he had to hold his tongue and not tell her that David did not yet know the meaning of the word “sorry”, but somehow he managed to, “Unfortunately, honey, sorry won’t keep him out of jail.”

Monica looked down at her hands and continued stroking the stuffed animal she held. “I know that.”

Her mind was flashing back to the moments just before and after the shooting. Those feelings were something that no one ever deserved to experience: terror and hopelessness and fear. She had felt them all, and she knew that if she hadn’t been there then Paul might not be alive. She could eventually forgive him, but that didn’t mean that she thought he didn’t deserve any punishment. Human justice demanded that he be punished, and after everything that had happened she couldn’t disagree.

“Hey, you know, I hear that the cafeteria downstairs actually makes a pretty mean mocha java. How would you like me to sneak one up to you next time?” Paul could see that her thoughts were turning inwards and he didn’t want her dwelling on anything except getting well.

Monica smiled as she looked up at him. It was obvious that he was trying to distract her, but she still thought that it was sweet of him to try. “That would be lovely… but I’m not sure my doctor would approve.”

“Well, that’s why I would be sneaking it in,” he explained. “Anyway, the sneaking makes it more exciting.”

Her eyes twinkled as she shook her head. “Don’t you think we’ve all had enough excitement for a while?”

“Bad excitement, yes. Good excitement, no. You can never have too much of that. Just remind me that I need to sneak around Tess too. She doesn’t strike me as a coffee lover.”

“No,” Monica agreed, “she’s always trying to get me to cut down.”

“Yes, but while the cat’s away, the mice will play.” Paul failed to notice the slight widening of Monica’s eyes, or the way her eyebrows shot up under her bangs.

“What’s this about cats and mice?” Tess asked, with a touch of suspicion.

“Oh, nothing, Tess,” Paul said with a nervous smile. “Just discussing Lucy, that’s all.”

Tess wasn’t buying it, but she played along anyway, stifling the chuckle that threatened to emerge from her throat. She moved to the side of Monica’s bed and looked her little charge up and down, taking note of every mark and every bandage. She finally met the Irish angel’s gaze and held it, just memorizing every nuance of her dark, expressive eyes.

“It’s good to see you awake,” she said simply, but her words held the deep and unshakable love that she felt.

Monica reached out and took Tess’ hand, pulling the older angel closer. “I felt you with me,” she said. “You and the Father. You pulled me back.”

Tess quickly blinked away a tear as she sat down on the edge of the bed. “Well, I wouldn’t say I pulled… you were already fighting, Monica. I just helped by giving you a little something more to hold onto.”

“I’ve already thanked Him,” Monica said, “so now I’ll thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me, baby. We’ve been through an awful lot together, Angel Girl, and there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you.” Monica didn’t say anything, and Tess could see that she was about to get teary eyed herself. “Besides… I just got you all broken in as my charge… I don’t want to have to train anyone else.” She smiled and winked, and that was enough to make Monica break into a wide grin.

“Did you see Andrew out there?” Paul asked.

“I saw him getting off the elevator down in the lobby. He said he’d be back in a few minutes.”

For some inexplicable reason, Paul felt uncomfortable leaving Monica alone without at least Andrew as protection although he smiled inwardly, thinking that Tess was probably an even bigger threat. In his head, Andrew was still his partner, and Monica was still his responsibility.

“I hate to leave so soon, Monica, but I really need to check and see how the search is going.”

The angel looked at him lovingly and hugged her stuffed kitten closer. “Don’t worry about me, Paul. I’ll have this little one to keep me company in your place.”

He chuckled and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. Somehow, in the midst of everything, the physical boundary that he had placed between them after learning of her true nature had been torn down. His love for her hadn’t diminished, it had simply changed, and the little touches that he had once avoided now just felt natural. Monica immediately noticed the change and looked up at him with a little bit of surprise and a lot of happiness. Their friendship had grown so much in the past weeks and now it felt perfect.

“I’ll check back in later tonight.”

“Paul?” she called as he was opening the door, and he turned around, a question in his eyes. “I’m sorry about Mike.”

He nodded, seeing the sympathy echoed in her expression. “So am I, but I’m even sorrier that this whole mess ended up touching you. He’ll pay for what he’s done, Monica. I’ll make sure of that.”

He had five passports laid out on the bed and he scanned each of them, trying to decide which name, which picture he wanted to become. He was wearing a full beard in one, a thin mustache in another. He had even donned a bald skull cap for one. He still remembered that case. His head had itched like crazy under that thick rubber. Well, no matter. If he went bald this time, it would be for real. He needed to disappear for good, and he was one of the few men in the U.S.A who could actually do it and do it well.

This was certainly not the way he had expected things to go, but he was nothing if not a planner. Meticulous was the way he thought of it. His ex-wife had called him a few less pleasant things.

He pounded his fist down on the bed causing the passports to bounce out of their careful arrangement. If only that damn drunk had done what he was supposed to do. The satisfaction he had felt when word came in about a shooting at the hotel had quickly been replaced with fury and a controlled panic when the next report announced that the only victim was a young waitress.

What was Paul doing with a waitress in his room anyway? Mike shook his head. So much for his belief that the agent was still pining over his fiance… Lisa? Laura? What had her name been? He tried not to think about the witnesses whose deaths lay at his door. He concentrated instead on the money that was now sitting in an off-shore bank account.

He glanced at the passports again and swept up the one of him as a bald man with thick-rimmed glasses. Hank Olsen. He was rather fond of that name. Yes. He’d give things one more day to settle down and then he’d set out for Chicago. From there he was just a plane ticket away from a life free from worry in a country free from extradition.






David tried his best to stay well hidden in the abandoned warehouse until after night fell, knowing that would be the safest time to make a move. He was exhausted. He had been all set to board the first plane he could find that morning until his eyes had come to rest on a newspaper someone had left in the park and his heart had nearly stopped at seeing the sketch of him and the picture of Mike on the front page. They were looking for him.

His hopes of escaping had been quickly dashed by this realization and he wasn’t sure of why he had expected anything less. People were looking for him and the ones that weren’t at the very least had seen his picture and it would only be a matter of time before someone recognized him as the sketch was good.

Kristin.

Surely she was now aware of what had happened as what was on the front page of the paper would also be in the news and he felt unbridled guilt fill his heart. She didn’t need this stress. It was bad enough that he had made the last several months hell for her, but now he had shot someone and that someone had also been her friend. He had betrayed his wife so badly that he was certain that Kris would be thankful to finally see him in jail, though his heart filled with great sadness at the thought of never knowing his baby.

He would have made a poor excuse for a father anyway. What kind of father would even consider taking money from a criminal to kill someone? His one small glimmer of relief in this whole thing was that Monica had lived and if he had been a praying man, he would have hit his knees the moment he had read that, and thanked God above for sparing her life. He hadn’t killed anyone, but the fact remain that he had been holding a gun with the intention of doing just that.

He gazed out the window, his eyes resting on his apartment building. He hadn’t known where to go, but he had remembered the abandoned warehouse across the street and figured it would be as good a place as any for him to gather his thoughts. He had watched the police come and go from the building all afternoon and now things seemed quiet. He started to lower his eyes when a taxi pulling up in front of his building caught his eyes and his breath caught as well as he saw Kristin emerge slowly from the backseat after paying the driver.

Hope sprang up in his heart as he watched her walk into the building. He was going to jail, of that much he was certain, but at the very least, he could try to make things right with Kristin before that happened.