Authors: Jacquie Johnson
Chase sighed. “It’s my fault,” he started, but Angela interrupted immediately.
“No. I should have listened to you. You were right about not going to my apartment. And there wasn’t anything there anyway.” She squared her shoulders and lifted her eyes to meet Chase’s. “I’m sorry I ran away.”
When Chase remained silent, Angela babbled, “I’m sorry, Chase. I was sure Daddy sent a package to me. But when I got to my apartment, a man grabbed me. He had a knife. He was going to kill me. Why was he going to kill me?”
“Shush,” Chase squeezed her gently with one arm as he tied off the sutures. “My guess is he was there to kidnap you, not kill you. He wasn’t expecting a fight so when he got one, he tried to use force to subdue you. Can you talk me through what happened?” he asked as he led her over to the bed to rest.
Angela leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes. “I went into the building through the back door. Bernie, the night guard, let me in. I asked him about any packages, but he hadn’t seen any. On the way to the freight elevator, I checked the mail room. No packages. I went upstairs and opened my door. I checked each room.” She stopped suddenly, breathing heavily as she recalled being grabbed from behind. “He came up behind me and wrapped an arm around my throat. I grabbed his wrist, slid out and put him in an arm hold, but he was so much stronger. I couldn’t keep him there. Then he pulled a knife and I got a hold of my gun. I fired over and over until the clip was empty.”
Relating the traumatic events drained Angela leaving her feeling tired, frightened, and unsure of herself. “I had to, Chase. I had to,” she whispered, seeking reassurance that she had made the right choice.
“Yes, you did, Angel.” Chase gathered her close, comforting her with his warmth. “By pulling the knife, he left you no choice.”
Despite his assurances, Angela trembled in his arms. “It was the man from the Fairmont, Chase, the one I followed.”
Chase tensed for a second. She had killed
Chul
-Moo? His arms tightened around her, as he realized how lucky she had been.
Chul
-Moo liked to torture his victims. If she hadn’t acted so swiftly, she would have ended up suffering excruciating pain.
Angela buried her face deeper into Chase’s chest, and he rocked her back and forth, like a parent rocks an inconsolable child, until her body relaxed and she drifted into sleep. After laying her down on the bed, he covered her with a light blanket and opened his laptop. They needed to get out of DC. The question was
,
who could he trust?
Tapping in a sequence of letters and numbers, he opened a dialogue box and typed, “U there?”
Within minutes, he heard a ding and Johnny’s face appeared on his screen. “Heard your girl ran into some trouble today?”
“Fuck!” Chase shot back. “What have you heard?”
“Turn on any television. She even made CNN. There’s a warrant out for her arrest. They’re calling her armed and dangerous. She’s hot though if the picture is accurate.”
“Hold on.” Chase minimized the screen, pulled up CNN, and read the lead story. He flipped back to Johnny. “Picture doesn’t do her justice. As for danger, she’s about as dangerous as a housecat unless she’s being backed into a corner, with her life at stake.”
“Any news from the boss?”
Chase asked, while planning his next move.
“Nothing since he went dark.” Chase could hear Johnny checking each team members’ location in the background to make sure the boss hadn’t come back online within the past few minutes.
“What happened to the office?”
“Don’t know.” Johnny’s answer was concise as always.
“What do you know?”
“Not much. Boss ordered me to relocate two days ago. Said things were getting hot and he might be out of touch.” Chase heard a hint of a smile in Johnny’s voice.
“How hot?”
“Monroe sent some men in to see him.”
Chase groaned. Brian Monroe, FBI Agent in Charge, was a pain in the unit’s ass. He didn’t like Zach and he didn’t like the idea of Zach’s unit operating independently. He had been trying to gain control over the unit for the past two years, claiming Zach’s unit should be part of the FBI.
Like any of Zach’s men would work for the FBI.
The unit specialized in gray areas, something the FBI knew nothing about.
“When he checks in, tell him she took out
Chul
-Moo.”
“You’re kidding?” Johnny inhaled sharply and whistled in astonishment.
“Nope.
She got lucky.” With that, he cut the connection and after confirming that Angel remained sound asleep, he entered the bathroom to clean up.
Ten minutes later, he stepped from the steamy shower and dressed quickly in black sweats and a tight black t-shirt. After unlocking a large, metal supply cabinet, he removed several items, including a box of red hair dye. When she let out a little whimper, his frown deepened.
“Easy, Angel,” he soothed as he brushed a wayward curl away from her face. “You’re safe now.”
Angela’s sleep was fractured by distorted images from the past week.
“Hush, it’s just a dream.
Easy, babe.”
Chase murmured when she jolted upright holding back a scream.
Angela stared at Chase as she tried to recall her dreams. “Daddy was begging me to help him but I just stood there and let him die. Then Derrick yelled at me, telling me to sell the house and go back to DC. That creepy French guy said I had to accept his help. All of a sudden I was in my apartment, fighting with the guy from today but he won. He was holding a knife at my throat and I was on the floor while Cat was talking. He stabbed me and….” Her voice trailed off as she realized that she had died in her dream.
“Cat?
Who’s Cat?”
“Oh my God!
Cat! It kind of makes sense!” Angela bounced on the bed, feeling as though a light bulb had just come on in her head. “Today, Cat left me a message. I heard it as…
well,
you know…anyway, Cat mentioned receiving a present from Dad. No one would expect that.” Angela beamed at Chase, sure that she’d figured everything out.
Chase shook his head, appearing confused by her rambling. “Who’s Cat?” He repeated.
“A friend of mine,” Angela responded. “I need a phone.”
Chase stood, still holding Angela in his arms, and walked to the desk to pick up a secure cell phone. Returning to the bed, he handed her the phone. “If you don’t mind, put her on speaker. That way we can both hear.”
Nodding, she dialed quickly, eager to find out what her father had sent to
Cat
.
The phone rang three times before a sultry voice announced, “You have reached the office of Dr. Catalina Herrera. Please leave a message after the tone.”
“Cat, I’m okay. I’ll call back,” Angela stated before hanging up and dialing another number. When that number rang continuously, she mumbled, “Damn. She’s not answering either number.”
“Is that unusual?” Chase shifted next to Angela on the bed, pulling her closer.
“Not necessarily. She can’t answer when she’s with a client.”
“All right.
Come on. We have work to do.
Time to get the hell out of dodge.”
Pulling her toward the bathroom, he handed her an extra-large t-shirt. “Put this on so I can dye your hair.”
“Dye my hair? Are you crazy?” She stepped away from him as far as she could in the small room. “Stay away from me!” she demanded, holding her hands out in front of her as if she were warding off evil.
Chase reached out and grasped her arm before she could blink. “There’s an APB out for your arrest. Your picture is on CNN. We need to alter your appearance. Changing your hair is a simple option. I could cut it, but I doubt you’d like the results. Your choice though.”
“CNN?”
Angela grimaced when Chase nodded. Stepping into the bathroom, she sneered at the box.
“Red?”
“Red.” Chase opened the box. “We’ll wet your hair in the sink, then put the color on and let it sit. You can rinse it off in the shower once it’s ready.”
“Why red?” she wondered, wrinkling her nose.
“Your hair’s too dark to turn blond quickly, and your complexion’s too fair to go black. It’d be noticeable. The goal is for you to blend in and look natural.” Chase smirked. “Besides, it suits your fiery personality.”
One hour later, Angela stared at her reflection in the mirror. An auburn haired woman with deep blue eyes stared back at her with a surprised expression.
“Get dressed,” Chase ordered, poking his head into the small bathroom and handing her a pile of clothing. Amazed at the speed at which things were moving, Angela pulled on the dark wash jeans, which were a little big in the waist, and secured them with a thick black belt before tugging the forest green V-neck t-shirt over her head. “Stand in front of the gray screen.” He pointed to a nearby wall, and Angela followed his command. She knew she was blindly following his orders but couldn’t bring herself to care. She had taken a life today. Compared to that, nothing seemed to matter.
A few pictures later, Angela had a new identity. According to the fresh off the laminator drivers’ license, she was Michelle Rivers. She made a face at the picture on the identification as
Chase
placed his wallet in the safe and removed a worn black billfold. When he flipped the new wallet open, Angela leaned over and glanced at the name on the id inside. “Anthony Rivers? Are you supposed to be my husband?”
Chase gave succinct nod, as he put the equipment away and began tidying the room. Finally, he walked over to a small door and keyed in a code. The door swung open revealing enough weapons to fight a small war. Chase quickly selected several guns along with ammunition and two knifes. “Give me your Ruger,” Chase commanded before closing the door.
Angela held onto the weapon tightly. “Dad gave it to me.”
“Just give it to me, Angel. If all goes well, you’ll get it back later,” he promised. Reluctantly, she handed it over. Chase sealed it inside a large manila envelope and locked it in the closet. With a final glance around the room, he closed the laptop, stuffed it in a small bag, threw the duffle bag over his shoulder and guided Angela from the room with an arm around her waist.
“Where are we going? I think we should go see Cat.” Her blue eyes implored him to agree. “We need to get out of town, right? So take me to see Cat. She lives in Indiana. No one’s going to look for me there.”
The corners of Chase’s mouth tilted up in an almost smile as Angela made her case. When she paused for breath, he linked their fingers and led her down a small narrow staircase at the back of the building. The stairs appeared to dead end at the bottom, but Chase slipped a finger into a small crevice and the wall slid open. Angela stared wide-eyed at the four vehicles parked in the sub-basement while Chase unlocked a sturdy, gray storage cabinet and removed two bullet proof vests, two black windbreakers, a rifle, binoculars and night vision goggles. Startled, Angela’s eyes snapped up to meet Chase’s. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly as he admitted, “With you, I’m learning I can never be too prepared.”