by Tanya Allan
“Bang!” she said, and Ivan was thrown back, his brain completely destroyed by force of mind. He died instantly.
She heard the approaching sirens, so turned and quietly jogged down the road, careful to keep her feet on the compacted tyre marks. She then hid behind a tree as the first police vehicles arrived, and then cautiously continued until she arrived at the hotel. She shinned up the same drainpipe and was in her room quickly. She undressed and cleaned her boots in the basin.
She slipped in to bed and lay there for a while. She tried to get her head round what she had just done, and found that she had no remorse at all. These were men who had killed and corrupted and deserved to die. The system had failed, and would continue to fail those it was supposed to protect because the system had to follow rules, and these bastards didn’t.
She made a pact with herself, that never again would she take life on this scale, but she felt she owed it to Gordon.
She remembered that gentle giant, and began to weep again. She cried herself to sleep.
7.
London was wet but not cold.
Rebecca met the plane, and the two women wept in each other’s arms for a long time.
Michelle had returned with Gordon’s coffin, and the police were only too happy to facilitate her departure from Russia.
They had come to her Hotel room and found her asleep.
The police officer on duty outside the door was adamant that she had been in her room all night.
She was escorted to the police HQ once more, and she found that there was a flurry of activity, with military units assisting.
“What has happened?” she asked the senior officer, he was senior to the local chief.
“There was a development in the early hours of this morning.”
“What kind of development?” she asked.
“We are not precisely sure. There was a firearms incident and several fatalities have been reported,” he said, clearly at a loss to understand what had actually happened.
“Is this anything to do with the bomb in the hotel?” she asked.
“We are not sure, but very likely as there have been items found which would indicate that the device was constructed there. But it looks like there was some kind of battle between different factions.”
“Will I be allowed to leave?” she asked.
“Of course. But should you be required to give evidence, then I would ask that you leave details as to how you can be contacted.”
She agreed, and asked about taking Gordon’s body home.
He told her that the papers were to be signed by the necessary official that very morning, and that once the post mortem was concluded, she could take him home.
She returned to the hotel and packed her meagre belongings. Gordon’s personal effects were given to her by a young officer who was clearly upset by some of the sights he had witnessed over the last 24 hours.
Michelle was genuinely in shock and mourning on one level, on the other she was assessing her powers, and wondering how to deal with them effectively.
She waited at the town hall, and as she sat in the waiting room with another police officer, a small deputation from the factory came to see her. They were worried what would happen now Gordon was dead, and she assured them that she would ensure that everything was kept as it was. They handed her a huge bunch of flowers, and she openly wept.
Some of the women had been there when they had struggled to make the works efficient again, so they wept with her.
She received her necessary documentation, and was escorted past the growing ranks of the international press. In a large van provided by the local state, she went directly to the airport with Gordon’s coffin.
Rebecca had contracted a local undertakers to collect the body of her son, and remove it to their premises pending the funeral. She took Michelle in a taxi back to her flat.
“You poor darling, it must have been an absolute nightmare?” she said. She was shocked at Michelle’s appearance. The tall girl was very pale, and the scar was very obvious. Her eyes were vacant and she was on the verge of tears the whole time.
“Rebecca, I am so sorry, I couldn’t save him,” she said, breaking down again.
Rebecca just held her and sobs wracked her for several minutes.
Finally, she composed herself, and told the whole story of the bomb blast.
“I awoke when the window broke, and just screamed and dived into the bath. It was all so quick. He never woke up, so there was no pain, no suffering. My God, he was such a mess,” she said, and the tears started again.
Michelle stayed with Rebecca, only returning to Gordon’s flat to collect her clothes. The funeral was arranged, and the two women supported each other. Gordon’s sister was located and returned and so there were three women in black on in the front row.
Michelle existed in a sort of numb limbo for several weeks, unable to face any contact with the company. Eventually, she had a meeting with the other directors, and was relieved when they announced no changes in immediate policies.
She found that Gordon had already altered his will in her favour and left her everything. She went to the cemetery, and cried over his grave.
Colonel Jim Robertson was excited.
Various reports of strange activity had filtered through to his office from the NYPD. Three separate tales of the Avenging Angel came to his notice, and he read them all with increasing interest. Normally cranks and other freaks were just able to confuse the issue, but there was something different in these tales.
For a start, the individual made no attempt to draw attention to herself. Indeed, she actually avoided any contact with the police of press. Cranks liked the publicity, and she appeared definitely not a crank.
Jim and Kyle had flown to New York, and made their way to Captain Mancetti’s precinct.
The good Captain was on his seventh cup of coffee of the day when the two uniformed Air Force officers were shown to his office.
He stared vacantly at his unwanted and unannounced visitors.
“Gentlemen?”
“Captain, I’m Colonel Robertson, and this is Major Bennett. We’re investigating sightings of an unusual nature. We understand that you have had a peculiar series of incidents that could be attributed to a person with allegedly special powers. Is it possible we could have the details of these events?”
The Captain was unimpressed.
“What, like the goddamn X files?”
The two officers glanced at each other.
“Similar, yes.”
“So, you think this broad is a fuckin’ alien or somethin’?”
“Not necessarily an alien, but something, certainly.”
The Captain handed over the file.
“There’s been nothing recently, so I think she’s left town. She ain’t committed any offences, but if you find her, see if you can persuade her to join the force. It’ll make my job a whole lot easier,” he said, signifying an end to the conversation.
Jim took the file and after reading through it sent several of his people to take further statements from the witnesses, and the picture was even more interesting now.
He had a pen picture of a very tall and incredibly beautiful woman, with long blonde hair, and immense strength, power and speed.
Witnesses saw her out-run a thief who was already over one hundred metres ahead of her. She bound him and carried him back to the scene of the crime. She was also alleged to have snapped the blade of a large knife between her finger and thumb. One of his men actually found the knife, but they were unable to obtain fingerprints as it had been exposed to the elements for too long, and the few witnesses thought she’d been wearing gloves.
The other report had her lifting a car thief off his feet with one hand, and he weighed over 250 pounds.
But the one he liked the best was the young female pickpocket. Lieutenant Pierce located her through the CCTV, and although the tall caped woman was never clearly identifiable, the girl was.
&nbs
p; It seems the entire conversation took place mentally, and Jim was now certain that this tall woman was a possible link to the aliens. He had no idea how, but he just had a feeling that if he found her, then he would be one step closer.
He was looking at the few blurred CCTV stills of the tall woman. Her face was illusively in darkness, but he felt he was getting closer.
All the witnesses remembered her speaking with a New York accent, and he was sending his team there to tighten the search.
He was just making the final arrangements when Kyle came in.
“Sir, before you get all excited about the Big Apple. I have just picked this off the Reuters news agency.”
He produced the report of the strange goings on in Russia, when an entire wing of the Russian Mafia seemed to have wiped themselves out in one fell swoop.
The report was vague, but it mentioned a British couple who were trying to set up an electronics and computer works there. Apparently, the locally recruited manager was skimming a lot of money from the company and planning an insurance scam. Fearing the British couple would find out, he attempted to have them killed, but the assassins somehow managed to shoot each other, and then confess all to the police, implicating many other people, including the manager of the plant and the boss of the local Mafia.
Steps were taken to kill the couple again, and although the man was killed, the woman survived with minor injuries and intended to return to the UK with her fiancé’s body. However, just a few hours after the attack, the persons suspected of carrying it out were all found dead, killed by each other’s guns, just like the assassins of a few nights previously.
The Police found the leader dead a short distance away, yet a post mortem found no wounds, but his brain showed severe trauma, despite no marks on the skull and no breaks in the skin.
Police were completely baffled about what happened, and the British female survivor of the two attacks was asleep in her hotel room with a police guard on her door.
The deceased British Businessman was a Gordon Fenwick, who had been in New York recently on business. His fiancée, Michelle Czakan, was also his interpreter as she is fluent in English, French and Russian. She is believed to have originated from the Ukraine, and had become a British Citizen quite recently,
There was a photograph of Michelle as she arrived back at Heathrow with the body of her fiancé.
Jim stared at the photograph.
She was blonde, very tall and stunningly beautiful.
He looked up at Kyle.
“It’s her.”
“Come on chief. It is a coincidence.”
Jim shook his head.
“No, look, they were in New York recently, I’ll bet you a million dollars that it was at the same time the Avenging Angel struck.”
“She’s British, the witnesses say the Angel was a New Yorker.”
“Look at that surname. Czakan is not a British name, she originated in the Ukraine.”
“It’s hardly common to New York either.”
“New York had thousands of immigrants. But I have a feeling about her, and I don’t actually think her nationality is an issue.”
“So what do we do?”
“Check the couple’s recent itinerary. If they were in New York at the same time as these reports, then book us two tickets on the next available flight to London.”
Michelle was unaware of the US Air Force’s interest in her, and was trying to make plans of her own. Rebecca was completely overcome by events. She may not have been desperately maternal, but she had always taken Gordon for granted, and now he was gone, she saw in Michelle her only link with her dead son.
Then something happened which caused Michelle to review her whole strategy. She missed her period, but had put it down to stress. However, the sickness was something else.
She went to the doctor, and was stunned to be told she was pregnant. She had always insisted that Gordon use a condom, but realised that one must have sprung a leak. It was hardly surprising, as their lovemaking had been excessively athletic and enthusiastic.
She was sitting in Rebecca’s flat when the latter returned.
Seeing the younger woman in some unease, Rebecca asked her what the matter was.
“I went to the doctor today, and you are going to be a grand mother again,” Michelle said. “I’m having Gordon’s baby.”
“Oh dear God. Are you sure?”
Michelle nodded, as she was still numb and unsure how she felt.
“You are sure that it is….. um, his?”
“Gordon was the only man. I have not known any other.”
Rebecca felt awful, so put her arm around Michelle.
“Then at least we’ll have something to remember him by.” Rebecca said.
“I would rather he was still here.”
“So would I dear, so would I.”
This had never been part of Michelle’s plans. She considered an abortion, for about a microsecond. There was no way she could ever do something like that, but then began to feel glad that she still had part of Gordon alive inside her.
Rebecca started to get bossy, by arranging for her to see various expensive consultants and such like.
Michelle, who was only six weeks pregnant, told her, in no uncertain terms, that she wasn’t playing her game. She moved into Gordon’s flat, which was now hers, and spent a couple of weeks redecorating the whole flat.
A few days later, she was wearing overalls and covered in paint when the doorbell rang. She had an old scarf over her hair, so she went to answer it with paintbrush in hand. As she approached the door, she immediately knew who was there and why they were here. She smiled slightly and opened the door.
Jim and Kyle stood there, both wearing smart suits, but still looking like military officers nonetheless.
“Miss Czakan?”
“Yes. Can I help you?” she said, with a Ukrainian accent.
The men looked at each other, as she started sowing seeds of doubt into both men’s minds.
“My name is Colonel Jim Robertson and this is my colleague Major Kyle Bennett. We are U.S. Air Force Officers attached to a special unit that investigates strange phenomena. Could we come in and speak with you for a moment?”
Michelle frowned, making it appear that she was somewhat confused.
“You say you are from which Air Force?”
“The United States Air Force, Ma’am,” said Jim.
She discovered that they had been observing her for several days, but she had been so preoccupied with the baby that she had been completely unaware. Mind you, she had done nothing for them to see, in any case.
“What has the United States Air Force got an interest in me for?” she asked, making no move to let the men in.
Jim looked rather uncomfortable, so looked at Kyle.
“Ma’am. There were some reports of activity in New York when you were there a few weeks back. You may be able to assist us,” Kyle said.
She opened the door and walked back into the flat.
“Come in, and mind the wet paint,” she said, so they followed her.
She had finished the living room, and it looked pretty. She had got rid of the modern angular furniture, replacing it with antique furniture with top quality soft furnishings. Flowers and ornaments abounded, and there was a real feel of home here.
“I am sorry, but I have to do this now, as with the baby on the way, I will not be able to do it later.”
“You’re expecting a baby?” Jim asked, surprised.
“My fiancé was murdered in Russia; you may have read about it. I was feeling unwell and I only found out I was pregnant a couple of weeks ago. He would have been pleased,” she said.
The men were standing in the living room, so both men had to look up at the tall girl.
“Please, sit. Would you like some coffee or tea?” she asked.
They both asked for coffee and she went out to the kitchen.
“This ain’t the Angel,” said Kyle.
“Hmm,
maybe. She isn’t what I expected. That’s for sure.”
Michelle brought the coffees back, having made herself a herbal tea.
“I mustn’t drink caffeine, - the baby,” she said, apologetically. The officers took their coffees and drank in silence for a few moments.
“So, what is this about?” she asked. Making their unease and doubt double with every moment.
Suddenly their mission seemed very lame, and Jim felt that he was way off base. Kyle was embarrassed and wanted to cut and run. After all they had kept observation on this girl for over ten days, and she had not done anything make them feel she was the one.
“We are just checking tall, fair haired females who were in New York between certain dates. Three separate incidents took place, and we are eager to locate the person, so we can get some idea as to the truth of the events,” Jim said, struggling to explain without actually saying anything.
She frowned.
“I was in New York on business, how does this affect me?”
“Ah, did you have occasion to come across any crimes being committed?”
“Not unless you include sexual advances by certain board members,” she said with a smile.
“Were you alone for any long periods?”
“I had a day’s shopping, as I was not needed for many meetings as I was an interpreter. I was also a PA, but Gordon, my fiancé, did not need me for all his financial meetings.”
Kyle looked at the girl. She was tall, but her figure was very feminine, and she did not appear to have the muscle development he expected of someone who carried a bound thief for as far as she had. Her nails were long and painted, and she did not exude any weird sense of power or strength.
She seemed very sad and lonely. Then he remembered the terrible events she had experienced recently, so he felt guilty for intruding at this time. He glanced at Jim, and noticed he seemed equally uncomfortable.
“I am really sorry to intrude like this. But we believed you may have been able to help us. You see, to be honest, we are seeking to help the person. It’s weird, but we believe that a person with some amazing powers is somewhere out there, so we want to help them use those powers for good. We also believe that we could learn from them, and from wherever they got the powers from.”
