PROLOGUE

Saturday 2:37am

 It was a moonless night, only the stars in the black sky offering illumination against the darkness as he patiently counted them to pass the time in silence. Counting also served in helping him to not think about his aching muscles, tense from crouching so still for so long. It was nearly time.

He had learned patience many years ago as a child, hiding from a drunken father. His father had been a mean drunk and hiding had been his only means of protection. He had waited it out night after night, until the booze was gone and until the man had fallen asleep and only then would he creep from his hiding place and into his bed. The lessons in patience had served him well, just as they were tonight.

It never hurt to do favors, even in the state penitentiary. Favors meant that people owed you and he had called on paybacks for several of those favors tonight. It had taken him two years to bring his escape plan to light and he was not about to blow it now over lack of patience. All the pieces had fallen into place thus far and all that was left was waiting for this last favor and it would not happen until the moment was right.

Once that happened, his cousin would be waiting for him, with a suitcase full of clothing, hair dye, and everything else he would need to be able to integrate himself back into the human population. Yes, he had thought of everything and soon he would have back his freedom and with that, his freedom to settle a score. That had been planned as well and his connections had kept him updated on his enemy. The enemy was the reason he was here to begin with, but the man had yet to begin to suffer.

He heard a noise and the only thing that moved on his body were his eyes. He listened as the footsteps drew nearer, and then faded into the distance. He longed to wipe at the fine line of beaded sweat that had appeared on his forehead, but the risk of movement was too great. He cursed himself for his nervousness to begin with, generally a man of great confidence, but the prize this time was too great. He had killed once for money, but this time he would kill for revenge.

The only part of his plan he had not yet decided upon was how. Death before had been swift, but he did not want that this time. No, his enemy would know of her suffering, just as he had suffered the last four years. Kidnapping her would be easy, he knew all there was to know about her, he just needed to work out the last few details of how she would slowly die and how he would keep his enemy informed of the progression of her death. He had several options and plenty of time to select one.

The soft buzzing of the gate caused him to smile. Yes, it was nearly time.

*****

Saturday 3:30pm

The key slid into the lock on the front door and Paul let out a long sigh. He was home. The shake-up at the bureau following Mike Deatrich’s arrest had caused some long term consequences, one of which had been Paul’s temporary assignment in the VCS. It had meant months away from the farm, and cleaning up after the killings rather than protecting people from them. All in all, it had been a tough year. He thanked God on a regular basis that Monica had managed to push him back onto the right path, because he wasn’t sure how he would have managed without knowing he could lay all his troubles before his Heavenly Father.

He had finally managed to wrangle back his position with the Witness Protection program, despite the fact that all his superiors said that he was giving up the fast track to the top office. He didn’t care about promotions, he wanted to be back where he belonged, and he belonged helping others.

“Are we going inside or were you planning on just sleeping standing up?” the voice was light with a hint of humor and Paul rolled his eyes.

“I’m savoring the moment. You should learn to do the same, Alexandra.”

She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips together in mock annoyance. She hated that name, and it hadn’t taken Paul long to discover that. Their partnership was only a few weeks old and they were still feeling each other out, but so far it was going well. He was friendly enough, if sometimes quiet, but she didn’t like to get too close to those she worked with. He was unsure as to how he had convinced her to come to the farm with him for the weekend to catch up on paperwork, but he wasn’t questioning it. They had been in the city for months now and he needed a little peace and quiet, if only for a few days.

She was head strong, almost determined to not come with him and he had been equally as stubborn, simply telling her to “Suit yourself”, but then she had begun asking questions about the farm, the horses, and to his amusement, the cats, which were now circling his legs, obviously pleased to see him.

Alexandra shook her head, “I would have never pegged for you a cat person, Gatlin,” She chuckled as she set her briefcase as well as her overnight bag down on the chair in the living room.

“They’re not mine,” He replied, “I’m just watching them for a friend,” He smiled softly, thinking of the little angel to whom they would always belong. It had been over a year and he had almost gotten used to the idea that he wasn’t going to see her again, but he still always said that the cats were hers.

“How long have you been watching them?” She inquired, moving to pet Smokey as the gray cat approached her with natural curiosity.

“A year,” He watched as her eyebrows shot up in amusement and his lips twitched.

“Either you are one good friend, or she is one special girl,” she remarked, watching with interest to see his response.

“Monica is a special friend,” He stated and left it at that, “The bedrooms are upstairs. Feel free to take whichever one is to your liking.”

“I’ll leave you to get settled in then,” She stood up and grabbed her bag as she started for the stairs.

“We’ll decide upon dinner in a few hours and then we can plan on working after that, if that is all right with you.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Alexandra replied as she headed upstairs.

He watched her retreating back and then headed into the kitchen. The people who took care of the house and animals always left his mail on the kitchen table and this time was no exception. His bills he generally tracked and paid on-line wherever he happened to be at the moment, so he quickly discarded those along with any junk mail and advertisements. He sorted through them quickly and efficiently before his hand came to rest on one envelope.

His brow furrowed as he noted that there was no return address, though his name and address were neatly printed on the front of the envelope. He tore it open slowly as he considered the fact that it was probably an invitation to some event that he had already missed and he sighed. It was the one problem with his job. His social life suffered terribly.

Paul removed the card from the envelope and his breath immediately caught at the sight of a small glittery angel on the front of the card. He hardly dared to hope and he hesitated to open it, taking a moment to run his thumb over the angel as he allowed the memories to come flowing back easily to him.

He could so clearly recall her tears and his own when they had finally had to say good-bye. It had been the most bittersweet of moments for them both. He had known she would be all right as she was an angel and Monica in turn had been delighted with his recent faith in God. He chuckled, remembering her abundant happiness the day he had finally spoken to Him after her revelation to David; he had never seen her more joyful and the fact that he had been the one to put that joy in her eyes had warmed his heart.

Paul knew that the chances of the card being from the little angel were few and far between. Chances were, she had moved on and he was little more than maybe a warm feeling in her heart when something would trigger the memory. He only hoped that she was staying more or less out of the trouble that he considered her to be famous for, but he knew that Andrew, his former partner always kept a close eye on the often impulsive Monica. It was the one thing that kept him from worrying about her…much.

He finally forced himself to open the card, and he felt tears dampen his eyes and love fill his heart as he read the simple message, “Just wanted you to know that I think about you often and I don’t think I’ll ever stop missing you. I hope the path you found is still continuing to light your way. Kiss my kittens for me. Love, Monica.”

The agent held the card in his hand and smiled, “I haven’t stopped missing you either, honey. Be safe out there and remember you always have an agent in your corner, not that you need one as you know the Big Guy personally.” He glanced down at the card once more and added softly, “And now thanks to you, so do I.”

He checked the postmark and sighed, seeing that it was a few months old and that it had been posted from North Dakota. He wondered how many more places she had been since she had mailed this.

He heard the floorboards creaking overhead and he sighed once more. It seemed that he was destined to have complicated females in his life. He liked Alex. In fact, he could probably like her a lot were their views on things not so completely diverse. He had invited her to go to church with him tomorrow and she had flatly refused. He had not pushed the issue, instead only shrugging and remarking that she should be able to find plenty to amuse herself with here at the farm in his absence.

Paul supposed it was for the best anyway. His schedule didn’t really allow for him to get romantically involved with his partner and his track record with love wasn’t all that great anyway. Lauren had died and Monica was an angel and he couldn’t help but to shake his head and chuckle at the latter. He had been way off base at the beginning of their relationship and he would never forget Monica’s face the night he had tried to profess his feelings for her. She had been unable to tell him of her true nature at that point, and had tried to smooth it over as tactfully as she could but he had come on with all the ease of a Mack truck going eighty miles per hour on the interstate. He was just glad he could laugh about it now.

*****

Saturday 4:12pm

“A happy ending to another assignment!” Monica said with a smile as she walked arm-in-arm with Andrew and Tess.

The crisp fall air ruffled through her hair and threatened to carry off the soft velvet hat she wore. She ducked her head, but her eyes were still sparkling when she looked up at her friends a moment later. The past two months had been busy, but filled with joyful assignments, from happy family reunions to dramatic changes of heart. They served to renew the little angel’s hope and happiness more than an actual vacation.

“Yes, it’s always nice to see everything working out according to God’s plan,” Tess agreed.

Andrew nodded as he glanced down at Monica. It was wonderful to see her smiling and happy and it was something he’d been able to enjoy quite a lot lately. He had to wonder if the recent assignments had been given to them in part to help distract her with happy things after their experience with Faith. Whether or not that was true with each successful assignment Andrew had watched Monica recover from that trying time much faster than he had expected her to, and it brought him a great deal of happiness to see that.

“So where to next, Tess?  Another assignment?” Andrew asked.

“Not quite yet, baby.  We have a little stop to make before we start on our next assignments.”

Monica looked over at her supervisor; her curiosity immediately piqued.  “Oh?  Where?”

A large coach-style bus pulled up alongside the sidewalk and Tess looked up at the sign above the windshield.  “Well, now, that’s a surprise, but I believe that our transportation has arrived.”

“A bus?”

“Yes, Miss Wings, and if you reach inside your pocket I think you’ll find your ticket.

“It’s been a long while since I was last on a bus,” she said as she pulled out her ticket.

“Well,” Andrew joked as he stepped aboard, “I hear that it’s just like riding a bike… you never forget.”

Monica’s eyes narrowed and she lightly backhanded him on the shoulder.  “Well I’ve never ridden a bicycle, so I wouldn’t know.”

They gave over their tickets and quickly found their seats.  Monica smiled with surprise when she saw Lucy’s cat carrier in the seat next to hers.

“I guess where ever we’re going accepts cats,” she said as she grinned and caught Tess’ eye, hoping that she would take the bait.

“Yes, I suppose it must,” Tess replied.

“Oh Tess, couldn’t you give us just a wee little hint?”

Tess chuckled.  The look on Monica’s face was half little-girl innocent, half scheming angel.  “Not this time, Monica… but I can tell you that I think you’ll be happy when we get there.”