The Lost Angel

Chapter 6

“What the…. everyone get ready. We don’t know what’s coming in that door but they won’t be able to take us off guard.” I pulled two knives from the small of my back as I said it and prepared for a fight.

Jake and Sara did the same. Jake must have told her to always keep some sort of weapon on hand because she never carried anything on her before. Lee readied his throwing knives; he hadn’t taken them off when he got back from the market. Brooks and Jason reached under the workbench and produced shotguns with shells attached to the handles. What can I say? I like to be prepared and having weapons hidden around your home is a smart idea. You never know when and where you might need to defend yourself. Both shotguns were loaded, all they needed to do was pump them and aim.

We were all ready for whoever or whatever was going to come through those doors. We might not make it out alive but we wouldn’t go down with out a fight. John would know what happened when or if he got my email. What none of us suspected was the evacuation crew to pull into the garage. I saw Jason lower his gun and Sara holstered her knives to my right. To my left Lee put away his knives and Brooks relaxed his position but didn’t completely drop his gun. Jake and I were the only ones still in fighting stance, we knew not to let our guard down until the vehicle pulling in was confirmed to be Agency. We had heard of many agents being taken out because they thought someone was with them and instead, they were just posing as agents.

The moving truck pulled into one of the empty spots in the ten car make shift garage. I could see someone behind the wheel but couldn’t tell who it was.

“Get out of the truck and identify yourself!”

“Angel, it’s the evac crew. Why are you ready for a fight?” Sara really didn’t understand. I still had a lot of work to do with this crew.

Jake answered her before I could. “We don’t know that Sara. Angel’s just making sure they are who we think they are. It looks like the evac crew but it could be imposters. Agents have been killed because they trusted the wrong people.”

“Oh I never thought of that. I’m sorry Angel. I really do have a lot to learn.” Sara pulled her knives back out and assumed a fighting stance. Jason and Lee followed her.

“It’s ok Sara. We’ll have time for that after this mission's over.” My attention never left the truck, it wouldn’t until I knew we would be safe.

A man got out of the truck with his hands raised in the air palms toward me. He was roughly six foot with red hair, pale skin, and green eyes. He was built like a body builder and probably had an amazing six pack hidden under his uniform. Unfortunately, he looked like a model out of a clothing catalog with chiseled features and an amazing crooked smile. He might make me change my mind about not dating agents.

“Angel, my name’s Adam. John sent me and my guys to get you and your crew out of here. He said you wouldn’t believe me unless you met all of us and I give you a message. Guys get out here!”

Six men tumbled out of the back of the truck and came walking slowly toward Adam in the same manner, arms up palms out. “This is my crew. From left to right, that’s Steve, David, Jeff, Tony, Ben, and Aaron.”

“Ok Adam. I’ve met your crew. Now tell me why I shouldn’t give the word and have my crew take all of you out.” His smile faded and he raised an eyebrow at me.

“Man, John was right about you. You are paranoid, aren’t you? Anyway, John said to tell you”, here he made quotes in the air, “Angel, I’ve decided to pay for the wedding.”

“Thank the gods you’re here.” I holstered my knives. “It’s ok everyone, put away your weapons. They’re the real thing. Adam, do you need anything to get started?” Brooks took Jason’s shotgun and placed them on the bench while Lee, Sara, and Jake holstered their knives.

Adam smiled at me, “we don’t need anything. You know, you’re prettier than I thought. The pictures don’t due you justice at all.”

Oh great. “Um…thanks. Jake, what’s the status on the packing?”

“All of the weapons are packed and I believe we’ve all packed our rooms as well. I don’t know about yours but knowing you it’s already done.”

“Good. All right Adam, everything is packed and ready to go. There will be red X’s on the doors that you need to get boxes out of. You can start in the training room with the weapons. Lee, would you go mark the doors for them. The rest of you get your carry-on bags and meet back here. Let’s get moving.”

My crew took off toward their rooms and Adam’s crew followed them to get to the training room. Adam was standing with his hands in the pockets of his jeans just smiling at me. I was starting to get a little creeped out by this guy and then I remembered something that John had told me about him. “He’s a good worker but he doesn’t always think with the right head. Adam will never be an agent because he’s distracted too easily by a pretty face.”

“Well, Angel, what are you doing after you get back to the states?”

“Adam. I don’t want to be rude because John taught me better than that but I can’t think of another way to say this. I don’t mix business with pleasure so you don’t have a chance with me. You’re a good-looking guy and probably a nice one too but I’m not interested. We have work to do and not a lot of time to do it so I suggest you help your crew while I get mine ready to go.” I really didn’t want to be mean to him but sometimes you didn’t have a choice.

His smile faded and he nodded, “I didn’t think you would. John tried to warn me but I didn’t listen. I’m sorry Angel. I know you don’t get involved with anyone you work with. No wonder I can’t get out in the field.”

He chuckled and it sounded a little sad. He tried to be a good agent but for some reason Adam couldn’t change his ways. Maybe I could talk to John and see if I could try to help him work through his flaws. When I became one of the top agents, they had made me kind of a mentor to the other agents. I tried to make an appearance to help the newer agents when I returned home from missions. It depended on how much time I had until they sent me on another one. I liked to stay busy if I could. But maybe he could be my full-time student.

Adam and I headed for the other rooms in the safe house in silence. He walked behind me and stared at the floor. I wanted to talk to him but I didn’t know what to say so I stayed quiet. No wonder everyone thinks I’m cold and heartless. As we passed the other rooms my crew were hard at work packing all of their belongings. Lee had already marked the doors with red chalk. When you gave him a task to do, he did it efficiently. He already had all of his things packed and was double-checking everything with a clipboard when we passed his room. I must be rubbing off on them because they were all developing some sort of OCD.

I left Adam in the training room and headed up the stairs to my rooms. I needed to get ready, my crew didn’t know it yet, but I had a plan. It wasn’t going to be easy and no one would like it but I think it might work. I remembered reading somewhere in all of the files on our target that he “fancied the ladies”. That could be my way in. At least once a week he called an escort service for the company of a young lady. I’ll have to check if he already has this week. Wait, what day is it? I could never keep track of time for some reason. I’ll have Jason check, he knows everything.

My room was just how I left it. I was really going to miss this room. The four suitcases I had packed were lined up at the foot of my bed ready for transport. I had already packed my bag for tonight and it was lying on my bed. To bad I wasn’t going to need it anymore. I crossed the room and headed into my closet. If I wanted to play an escort tonight, I needed to look the part.

I had packed up a lot of the clothes and shoes but some of them were still in the packaging. I went to the racks of clothes and pulled a black cami from the racks. On my way back to the vanity I grabbed a black and blue plaid skirt. I laid them across the back of the chair and went back to the racks. I needed to find a shirt to go with the rest of the outfit. I thumbed through what I considered party shirts and was finally able to find a shear long sleeve black shirt that would shimmer when I moved. Now that I had an outfit, I needed some shoes and accessories to match. I went to the right shoe rack that held different kinds of high-heeled shoes and boots. I choose a pair of black laced up knee high boots that would add a nice touch to my outfit.

I shut the closet door just incase anyone came in and went over to the built-in dresser by the vanity. Again, I was reminded of just how much John liked to spoil me. This dresser housed more lingerie than a Victoria Secret store. There were several different types of bras and panties all in matching colors. Some of the things in these drawers I didn’t even know how to wear let alone the names. I settled for a black lace push up bra with matching shorts.

I was about to get ready when there was a knock on the bedroom door. Pausing with my shirt half way up I wondered who could be bothering me now. There was too much to do and we couldn’t waste time. I let my shirt fall back in to place and decided to answer it. I had just opened the closet door when I heard the other door open.

“Angel?”

“I’m in here Sara.” I turned back around and sat down at the vanity. What could she want?

“I wanted to talk to…” Sara had stopped short of the door and was staring wide eyed at the amount of clothing in this space.

“Who did you want to talk to?” I couldn’t help but chuckle. I was going to have a talk with John.

“Huh?” She sounded far away. She seemed to shake herself out of her daze and started staring at me instead of the clothes.

“I know, I know. There are more clothes in here then I could wear in a year. Now what’s up?”

“Oh! I wanted to talk to you. Are all of these yours? It’s like my own personal paradise in here.”

“Sara.” I was starting to get annoyed.

“Ok sorry. That wasn’t what I wanted. I think I have a new plan since the other one is pretty much all over the news. I wanted to see what you thought before I suggested it out loud in front of the guys.”

“Oh. I…yeah. Let’s hear it.”

Did she hit her head when we were fighting? This was different. She normally just blurted out whatever she was thinking in front of anyone who would listen. Maybe she was learning or maybe it was an act. I really hoped it was the former and not the latter. The latter would mean a whole lot of trouble we didn’t need.

“Well, I haven’t even told Jake about this yet because, let’s face it, he won’t like it. I remember reading in the files on our target that he frequents an escort service. What if we insert an agent in with one of his normal girls and then have the rest of the crew on the perimeter. What do you think?”

“Sara, I think you read my mind, although I didn’t think about the perimeter at all. That’s an excellent idea. I think I would want you and Jason further out than that. You two are my best snipers and being our cover will be an important job. You’ll be my cover and Jason will get the boys. The boys shouldn’t need as much cover as I will. They’ll have the trees to cover them for the most part but I’ll be exposed. Once we’re done then you’ll need to set charges in the rifle cases to get rid of the evidence. Ok, here’s what we do. You get the guys together and I’m gonna get dressed. Tell them to meet in the control room in thirty minutes.”

Sara lit up like a Christmas tree, “I will Angel. I won’t tell them why either. Thank you for everything. You really are the best.”

Sara took off to find the boys. She was becoming useful, who knew. I followed her to the door and locked it behind her. I had thirty minutes to get ready and that was going to be cutting it close. My hair was almost dry so I pulled out the clip on my way back to the closet. Tossing the clip on the vanity and turning the curlers on I started trying to make myself look like a high-class escort. I stripped off the clothes I had on and started putting on everything laying over the vanity chair. As I put the lacey undergarments on, I slid my hand along the material of the bra. It was soft for lace and made me feel soft and very feminine. The shirts and skirt were next but I waited on the boots. I needed thigh highs and maybe a garter belt to add to that come get me look.

My hair had some natural curl to it but the curlers would make spirals around my face and shoulders. Before I applied my makeup and the rest of my outfit, the curlers were ready to be put in my hair. I had three sets of curlers because my hair was too thick and long for just one set. I began the pain staking process of rolling up my hair. This was the longest part and I hated it. I always had to section it off and wrap from bottom to top. The back half of my hair was wrapped when the intercom in the bathroom buzzed. Ignoring it, I started to wrap the right side of my hair.

“Angel. Can we talk?”

I got up from the vanity, still wrapping a strand of my hair, and went to answer Jake. Securing the strand, “What Jake?”

“In person.”

“Fine. I’m busy at the moment but I’ll unlock the door for you. Just come in when you get up here.”

“Two minutes.”

I exited the bathroom and unlocked the bedroom door. I didn’t care if Jake saw me in curlers. It was nothing new for him. Back in the closet, I finished with the right side of my hair when Jake stepped in the doorway from the bedroom. Without saying anything I started on the left side of my hair.

“Angel, why wouldn’t Sara tell me what the reason was for the meeting in the control room? I tried to get her to but she said you would tell all of us why soon. What’s happening?”

Without me having to ask he went over to the dresser and routed around until he found a garter belt and black thigh highs to match my outfit. He was always trying to help me get ready without looking like he was. That was the great thing about Jake, he knew what to do without being told. He tossed them on the floor next to my boots then started to empty the drawers into the only suitcase left in my closet. I had opened the last one next to the vanity for all of the lingerie.

“We have a new plan. Sara helped me figure it out and we were going to clue you guys in on it. I don’t have a lot of time to explain but I will when we’re all together. I only have fifteen minutes to finish getting ready. So, I’ll meet you in the control room.”

“You’ll never change will you.” He was smiling so I knew he was teasing me.

“Never. You’d miss me if I did.”

“True. Need some help?” He tossed the last of the lingerie into the suitcase and zipped it up.

“I will but not at the moment. In about ten minutes I’ll need to take my hair down. Get ready for our mission and come back if you can.” I finished the last strand of hair and smiled at my adopted brother.

He leaned down and kissed my check, “you got it.”

By the time Jake got back I had my makeup on and the rest of my outfit in place. Without a word he started unrolling the back of my hair for me. He worked on the back while I worked on the front. This was one of the last things I had to do to be ready.

It took us half the time it would have taken me to do it and when it was all done Jake went into the bedroom to wait on me. Running my fingers through my hair would finish it off. I slid my boots on and tied them up. Spraying some perfume on before I walked out, I looked in the mirror and froze. Now I could see what everyone had been talking about. I looked like a vixen dressed like this. My thigh highs peeked out from under the skirt when I moved and my breasts formed a shelf with the push up bra. Between the low-cut party shirt and the cami, the world had a wonderful view of my cleavage and belly button.

Jake turned toward me as I walked out of the closet and his breath caught in his throat. “Oh my God Angel. You look gorgeous. Let’s get downstairs before you see yourself and change clothes or something.”

Smiling, I just shook my head and allowed him to place his hand on the small of my back to lead me out of the room. Jake knew I hated to dress like this. I like to be comfortable more than fashionable or “cute” as Sara called it. He normally liked to torture me by taking pictures and dragging me to any public place. It’s the only way he could prove that I knew how to dress like a girl.

We made it through the training room without running into anyone. Although I wanted to run into someone from the evac crew because I wanted them in the control room with us. Once we entered the hallway leading to the first-floor bedrooms, we saw one of Adam’s men. I think his name was Tony and it looked like he was coming back for more boxes. He had some light moisture coating his arms and face, it looked good on him. His brown hair was cut into a short mohawk on top of his head and he had dark brown eyes that almost looked black. His body was athletic with a bronze skin tone. The only down side to this man was his height. Without my boots on he was still about two or three inches shorter than me.

When he saw us, he stopped dead in his tracks and his mouth dropped open. I stopped in the hallway about a foot from him and gave him a tiny smiled. That caused his eyes to go wide. Well, that’s interesting.

“Tony, is it?”

He just nodded and his eyes went a little wider. A task that seemed impossible since his eyes had already widened enough before. I couldn’t help but smile wider. Did I always have this effect on people and just didn’t notice?

“Could you do me a favor and collect the others from your crew? I’d like to see you guys in the control room.”

Again, he nodded, apparently unable to form words just yet. I watched him stumble to get moving so he could collect the others. Behind me I heard Jake chuckle, as we started moving towards the control room again. I turned toward him with a look of pure curiosity plastered on my face. What was so funny to him?

“You really have no idea how beautiful you are Angel. That’s the best thing about you. You’re humble.”

“I don’t see things the way others do Jake. I don’t see what’s on the surface when I look at people. I’m always looking underneath it all to see what angle they’re trying to play. So, I don’t see what most people see when they look at me. It makes it easy to be humble.”

Jake opened his mouth to say something as we entered the control room but promptly closed it. There was a look of pure shock on his face. Adrenaline spiked through my system as I realized I left my bag upstairs with all of my weapons in it. I wouldn’t be able to take any weapons into the complex with me so I didn’t grab my bag or put any on my person.

Jake was frozen in place and wouldn’t look away from the other side of the room. Whatever horror this room contained; I would have to face it head on. I just hope it didn’t cost me my life. I turned my head towards the direction Jake was staring at and I froze.