The Lost Angel

Chapter 18

I stood in front of a rundown building on the outskirts of Moscow with Jeremy in wolf form. The wolf in question whined and tried to push me back. I smiled but shook my head. I could feel that John needed me, he might be hurt. I waited in the freshly fallen snow that came to my ankles in a fur trimmed ankle length coat. I could tell there were two people in the shadows watching me but I still stood there waiting. Jeremy whimpered again and nudged my hand.

“It’s alright Wolfie. Be patient, they’ll make themselves known soon enough.” My hand slid into the soft fur at his neck as we waited.

Waiting was not that much fun, however, I did it for two reasons. I was showing my so-called friends the respect they thought they deserved. The most important reason was so they knew that I knew they were there. If they weren’t I would have gone into the building. A figure started forward out of the shadows to my right.

“Widow.”

“Well Angel, I don’t know how you knew it was me. Although I’m glad you took my message seriously since you came alone. Well except for your dog,” she sounded nervous. Jeremy growled low in his throat at the mention that he was a dog. Her brown eyes flicked to him momentarily before returning to me.

Brittney was average all the way around. She was five foot four, with brown hair and eyes. I always wondered why she was never satisfied with just being ordinary. She blended in better than I did. Sometimes I wish I was that plain.

“Well Widow, you never could stay in the shadows since you loved being the center of attention. Patience was never a virtue you learned and blending in for long was never a strength of yours.” The contempt in my voice couldn’t be hidden causing Jeremy to chuckle. “My wolf friend seems to follow me everywhere now a days. I can’t seem to shake him for long, so when I boarded a plane, he did too. Does he make you nervous?”

“Huh. Why would that horse make me nervous? He’s just a dumb mutt after all.” She attempted to sound nonchalant but I knew better. Jeremy growled louder and her eyes shot to him.

“I don’t think he likes that, Britt. He seems pretty intelligent to me. Hell, he’s following Angel around. Doesn’t look like a mutt either.” Michael strode out of the shadows closer to my left smiling. “How have you been Angel?”

“Same stuff, different day Plague.”

He frowned, “Angel, please don’t call me that. You of all people know how much I hate that nickname.” Michael was always classically handsome. The boy next door, that happened to be on the football team. Bright green eyes, brown hair and about six foot one. I remember many nights smiling and laughing with him. The memories caused my heart to hurt.

“Well please forgive me for using the nickname that, in my eyes, you earned this day. You kidnapped the closest thing to a father that I have and destroyed ever good memory of you in the process.” My voice came out like a whip, making him flinch.

“Don’t change the SUBJECT!” Leave it to Widow to lose her cool.

“Britt, calm down.” Michael still looked at me but tried to calm her down with his voice. “Angel is a friend…”

“No, she is not! She’s a selfish b***h. The star agent, all through training and after graduation. Everybody loves her and wants her help and attention.” Her voice was raising ever so slightly, “she even had you fooled. You two were together all through training but even you couldn’t see what she is!”

“Widow” My voice was soft and strong, although my mind was racing. What was she talking about? She hated this life and didn’t want to take lives, right? Michael was looking at her curiously, probably trying to figure out what she meant. Her eyes swung to me with murderous intentions. It seemed that she has been planning my death for a while now. Then it hit me.

“You always wanted to be an assassin. The reason you did all of this and acted like you didn’t is because of one thing. You began to hate me and everything about me when I came to the agency. This was never about John at all. You don’t care about that. It’s me. I was first in everything, including with Michael.” My voice was sad as the realization needed to be explained.

“Britt?” Michael sounded hurt, “Is that true?”

Widow truly lost it then, “she’s lying! I hate killing people and having their blood stain my hands.”

We might have believed her but the dreamy quality to her voice gave her away. She truly enjoyed taking lives and if I had to guess she revealed in the fact that she had that kind of power. Looking into Michaels eyes told me everything. She had lied to him and manipulated him to further her purpose. I could see the hurt transform before my eyes.

“We can tell you’re lying Widow. How could you do this?” The anger in Michael’s voice hurt my heart. He was always so calm and happy. What happened to him since I had seen my friend?

Widow laughed hysterically, “well what better way to get rid of my rival than to turn her lover against her. You never would be mine fully though, would you? She is everything you hate and yet you are still in love with her. So, it stands to reason that she is the only thing standing between you being mine.”

As she spoke her hand began to inch towards her gun at her side. She laughed again and pointed the gun at me, firing. Before I could react, Jeremy jumped in the bullets trajectory. The two bullets hit him in the chest and he laid on the ground at my feet.

“Wolfie!” Fear gripped me.

Before I could go to him, I was wrapped up in Michael’s arms. I heard her shoot twice more as he twirled us around so his back was to her. The bullets hit him. I heard a scream as I caught Michael in my arms. The shock had me reacting instead of thinking with tears choking me. I pulled the gun at Michael’s side and opened fire. I noticed that she was on the run now but I still tired to unload everything in the clip into her. I heard her cry out and blood flew out of her left arm, that was the only shot I landed.

“Michael? Please tell me your wearing Kevlar.” I could feel the tears starting to fall.

“No beautiful, I’m not. Please don’t cry my love. I’ve always wanted to go in your arms, looking into your beautiful eyes.” He took a shuddering breath and closed his eyes momentarily in pain. “I have always love you, Angel. Even though I know you could never truly love me until you remembered who you were. Just don’t bury me my love, scatter my ashes to the sea.” With that statement, he took one last hard breath and was gone.

I closed his eyes and crawled through the snow the short distance to Jeremy. Shock and confusion warred for dominance in me as I watched the bullet fragments being pushed from his body. Widow must have used hollow points, she really wanted me dead. My hands hovered above his fur trying to figure how to help. I had a feeling he was awake but his eyes were closed. Maybe he was just concentrating on ridding his body of the foreign metal. I noticed that where the fragments left his body the skin was repairing itself quickly. I sat back on my knees in awe, could I do this? Finding out who I was became more important at that moment.

I contemplated what my life was before as I watched the last piece of metal eject itself. The skin healed completely almost instantly. A mist formed around us as the last wound healed and he shuddered. That familiar power began to stir again and I watched in horror as his body became a mass of fur and twisted limbs. I tired to wrap my mind around what I was seeing. It looked painful and messy, for lack of a better word. It was over before I knew what was happening and Jeremy lay before me nude. That must be way he had my strap a bag on his hind paw with his clothes in it.

“Hello chere.” I just stared. “Before you ask, no that doesn’t hurt me to change forms. The only reason it would is if the change was forced on me by one of your kind. If you let me get dressed, I’ll find your father. That way you can stay with your friend. I can hear your back up coming.”

“Can I do that too? Heal myself?” My voice was barely a whisper as I watched him pull on pants.

“I’ve never heard of your kind being able to heal themselves but we don’t know what you’re capable yet. We will find out together.” He pulled on shoes and a shirt.

Before I knew what was happening, he was gone to search for John. I just crawled back to Michael and sat at his side. I attempted to meditate to calm my nerves but my mind was racing. Jeremy said back up was coming, that has to be Jake’s doing. I could here snow crunching before an entire team appeared, armed for war. They froze seeing the scene in front of them.

“Widow got away. I wounded her in the arm but you won’t find her here any longer. My partner went to go get John.”

Jeremy emerged taking most of John’s weight. He looked bruised and tired but otherwise unharmed. His voice was still strong as he spoke, “take that traitor away.”

“No.” I could only look at John as his anger surfaced, I was too numb. “Michael threw himself in front of me, saving my life. I will honor his last request of me. The Black Widow is the traitor and she manipulated and lied to Michael in order to enlist his aid. I will accompany his body home and while he is being cremated. Then I will put him in his final resting place.”

John’s face softened, “my angel. If he saved your life then we will regard him as a hero.” I nodded.

“Delta team do a sweep for Widow. Alpha team, escort Angel and Jeremy back to the airstrip with Michael’s body. I’ll wait here with Delta.” I looked up at John giving orders. I wasn’t leaving him.

“No, you will not.” Jeremy looked at John and spoke to him like a naughty child. “With all due respect sir, this young lady risked her life and lost a friend to get you back. I will not allow you to stay here and have her worry about you.”

To say John was shocked, would be an understatement. He stared at Jeremy a moment before turning to me. “Protective of you, isn’t he?”

I turn to look at Jeremy and smiled. “Very”

“Fine. Let’s go then. Delta be quick but through with your search.”

The flight back to HQ was quiet. I refused to leave Michael’s side, so his body was in the back of the plane. I sat there just silently sobbing. I had failed him. All of the long nights that we spent talking and laughing together were playing in my mind.

“Why did you have to leave me? I’m so sorry Mike.”

“He wouldn’t want you to cry chere.”

I hadn’t heard Jeremy join me. I stilled and turned to him. I had, in my own way, loved Michael. He was right though, I was never fully in love with him. I stared at Jeremy with the silent tears falling. I realized at that moment that I never felt about Michael as I do about Jeremy. That caused my tears to fall more rapidly as I launched myself into Jeremy’s arms. It felt like home as soon as his arms wrapped around me. He sat there through the rest of our flight just holding me and allowing me to cry.

Delta team found only bloodstains in some places but there was nothing else to be found. I knew Widow had gotten away, she had a knack for it Widow and I would have our day, I could feel it in my soul. Somewhere in the future, I would ensure that she would pay for what she has done.

Once we had returned to HQ, there were a lot of questions to answer. John went to the hospital wing to be checked out. Jake informed me that they were keeping him for observation. As promised, I didn’t leave Michael’s side the entire time. I had to threaten a few people that wanted to keep me from him. He was taken to the morgue to be processed, but I wouldn’t let anyone touch him. I ended up cleaning his body myself. Jeremy, of course, was with me. He didn’t say anything but wouldn’t leave my side. As I turned Michael over to clean the wounds on his back, I noticed he had a tattoo. He had gotten an angel tattooed between his shoulder blades. The angel in question was wearing black leather with two hand guns in her hands at her sides. Under her the words, ‘Always my Angel’ flowed.

The tears came back as I realized that I had never given him enough of myself. We had been together, but I only gave him what little I could. He never deserved that. Jeremy wrapped me in his arms again, allowing me to cry into his chest. I wasn’t sure how long we stood there, although he never complained, his arms loosened. He knew that I had to finish cleaning the body before it could be handled.

By the time they came for his body, he was fully cleaned and ready. They were gentler with his body now. Brooks had joined us, telling me that word was spreading. Everyone was talking about how Michael had given his life for mine. He was indeed being treated as a hero. I still wasn’t speaking but before they placed his body into the crematorium, I placed my forehead on his and said goodbye.