by Neal Goldy
I Won't Let
You Die
Angel
By Neal Goldy
Copyright 2015 Neal Goldy
This book is the copyrighted property of the author,
and may not be reproduced, scanned or distributed
for commercial or non-commercial purposes.
Quotes used in reviews are the exception.
No alteration of content is allowed.
Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance
to persons, living or dead, or places, events or
locales is purely coincidental.
The characters are productions of the author’s
imagination and are used fictitiously.
Adult Reading Material
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
Chapter 1
“STOP fiddling with your pendant, Janet!!” exclaimed my almost best friend Nicole.
I just realized I was clutching it too hard. I sighed nervously.
I admit. I’m nervous. It’s the third time in my whole freaking life that I’m nervous! Nicole finished my hairdo was grinning, obviously happy with her work.
“Now, you are looking perfectly gorgeous”, said Nicole giving me a quick peck on the cheek, careful not to ruin my makeup. I couldn’t stop a smile emerging at the sweet gesture. In the past few months we have grown quite close.
She handed me a silver clutch her favorite and grabbed a can of soda to relax. Well, I have no time to relax. I checked myself last time in the oversize mirror. I looked pretty. Generally, I am not categorized among the pretty, but today Nicole rocked it. My long black hair was up in a twisted sort of hairdo that I didn’t really recognize, random wisps dangling here and there. I was wearing a turquoise dress, perfectly fitting each curve of my body, along with the turquoise pendant that my mom gifted me about four months ago. I never got the chance to wear it or rather I didn’t want to. Well, now is not the time to dwell over our rocky relationship. The doorbell rang at the same time that I checked my silver watch. I sighed.
“Calm down, Janet. Your prince charming has arrived along with his golden chariot.”
“Shut up Nicole.”
She walked towards me with utter delicacy, took my arms, and dragged me out of the room we shared. “Come on, I’ll escort you.”
We descended the stairs and almost collided with Nicole’s cheesy brother, Rusty. He shot us an irritated glance and hurried past us to his room. Professor Collins walked towards us with an easy smile and took me in a quick embrace. “Have fun, Janet. It’s the first time ever I saw a boy coming over for you. Enjoy your life. Don’t be just a little scientist.”
“Look who’s talking.” Nicole gestured accusingly at her mother. Professor Collins ignored her and steered me towards the porch. I gave her a genuine smile and walked towards my almost boyfriend, Kevin. Well, the word almost dominates my almost perfect life. Kevin smiled at me and came forward for a quick kiss. I was already feeling nervous; now I felt dizzy. Kevin steadied me on my feet and took me to his car, opening the passenger door. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a shadow, but when I turned, there was nothing, probably my nerves. I shrugged and stepped inside.
It was our first date and we were off to his parent’s anniversary party. Ever since I started my freshmen year at the University of California, Berkeley, I had been irrevocably drawn towards him. He has a nice physique, well-taut body, golden hair, gray eyes -- always watching you curiously – and a fluid voice. Every girl in our year is crazy about him; I never imagined I would be the lucky one to catch his eye. He is perfect in every sense, perfect for me. We are similar in every aspect, we have the same goals, same career path; we fit perfectly together like missing pieces in a puzzle.
A little screech of tires snapped me out of my reverie. I glanced at Kevin and found him looking at me with those big gray eyes. “What?”
“You look absolutely stunning.” He traced his knuckles on my cheeks. “I can’t take my eyes off you.” I flushed.
He stopped the car abruptly. Looking around, I noticed we were on a narrow street with dirty looking houses and metal scraps in the surroundings. The look on Kevin’s face was not giving anything away. I started fiddling with my pendant again, wondering if I had sufficient mint.
He blinked several times and then said something that could become the joke of the century, “You are not Nancy?”
Saying that I was surprised would be an understatement.
“Of course I’m not Nancy, Dumbo, I’m Janet!” I said with irritation.
“But…. How? ….. What? ….. I don’t understand.”
“What is it, Kevin? Why are you acting so strange?”
“Strange!!” He shrieked. “You are the one who’s strange. What are you doing in my car and where is Nancy?”
I was now annoyed beyond my temper. “You asked me out on a date. You were excited to acquaint me with your parents and you picked me up from my place.”
His annoying expression now changed into a puzzling one. He was staring me in disbelief, speechless for a moment, and then he started shaking his head violently. “No. No. NO. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t ask you. I like Nancy. I was going to ask her. You were never in the picture.” It was my turn to be speechless. It was like a painful slap; I was never in the picture! All those months I tried to fit in his picture and now when my dream had come true, he was ruthlessly crushing it.
I tried to remember Nancy. She was cute… blond hair, gray eyes like Kevin’s, about a quarter of a foot shorter than me. When she moves, it’s like a cat walking. When she speaks, honey drools out of her artificial pink lips. She is the perfect picture of a Barbie doll turned real woman, and she also happened to be our neighbor. Of course, he likes her. Everybody likes her.
Kevin was still looking at me defiantly. I was so not going to show him my internal turmoil. I channeled all my disappointment and disgust into anger and blasted, “Then you should have asked her instead of making a fool out of me as well as yourself by bringing me a bunch of red roses, my favorite chocolates, and kneeling down in front of whole freaking college.”
With that, I stormed out of the car, slammed the door hard enough to make him flinch, and rushed towards a nearby unoccupied cab. Once inside the cab, I slapped my fist on the front seat -- which made the cabbie jump -- and allowed myself to ponder my almost miserable life.
Life felt stable since I joined UC. I had a home here, and although not mine, I was more than welcome. My dad had first acquainted me with Professor Lucy Collins when I had first enrolled and urged me to live in her house rather than in the dorms. She hugged me that day like I was her own daughter, I felt hugely overwhelmed by emotion. I always longed for such affection from my mom. She’s a photo-journalist in New York and although my parents are not divorced, they are distanced.
Dad rarely gets free from his work at NASA, but I have no complaints. He loves his work, as I love science. I love learning new things, discovering facts and it’s the rea
son I studied so hard to get enrolled in Electrical and Computer Science Engineering at UC, Berkeley. From the first day there, I had a huge crush on Kevin. He was intelligent, elegant, well-mannered, handsome and more, everything I could want in a guy.
I found a new friend as well, Nicole. When I arrived first and Professor Collins told her I’d be sharing her room, she freaked and gave me the cold treatment. But as we started to understand each other, we found that we were quite complementary. She’s everything that is opposite of me; and in our unique way we have built the best duo of friends ever. She’s taller than me, has shoulder-length brunette hair, which she said she had dye just before my arrival, and her hazel eyes are always expressive. She has no interest in science and is way too happy in the College of Arts at Cal.
The cab stopped jerking me sideways. I glanced out of the window to see what caused the abruption. We were near my house – er Professor Collins’s house – just a block away. Police vans were everywhere; neighbors were assembled outside. My heart raced with panic, my mind formulating dangerous assumptions. I shot out of the cab, paid the cabbie hurriedly, and sprinted towards the house.
As I hurried past the police, explaining that I live here and saw the wreckage, I stopped in my tracks, stumbling over my own messenger bag – which had been thrown out of my room and fell onto my knees. The house was in ruins, broken furniture everywhere; the windows were cracked, broken glass here and there, and the front door half dangling on weak hinges. Blood was everywhere-- on the porch and splattered on the lawn.
A wave of nausea swept over me, an ambulance siren deafening my ears.
Ambulance…. I exhaled the breath that was caught involuntarily. I stood up, stumbled again, and reached the vehicle. My heart stopped for a few seconds. Nicole was lying inert, her limbs rigid, blood covering her off-white shirt turning it into a crimson hue, her face too pale to be alive.
I gasped. No…… no….this is not happening. Nicole can’t be dead.
Chapter 2
“Watch it girl.” A pair of hands yanked me away from Nicole. “You will make her situation worse.”
Worse!! What can be worse than this? Then I watched Nicole closely and relief flushed over me. She was alive, the slow rise and fall of her chest emanating the trace of a life-force. “What happened?” I asked, blinking back the tears that were brimming in my eyes.
“We are examining her. Medical speculation indicates she might be in coma,” Replied the nurse dismissively.
I stood there for a few minutes staring nowhere in particular. How could this evening turn out much more sinister? Half an hour ago I was dancing with rapture. And now….
“Where is Professor Collins? Where the hell is Rusty?”
The officer nearby stiffened. I realized that I shrieked out loud.
“That punk ran away when he saw us and as for Lucy Collins….. She’s missing.”
Missing!! “Rusty ran away! He left his own sister dying and escaped!!” I shouted in disbelief, a hint of malice clearly in my voice. I knew Rusty was an unbelievable jerk and had been acting strange recently, but how could anyone run from a situation like this. I felt my head bursting from nausea and a headache.
The officer stared at me warily, then finally asked “Where were you when all this happened?”
“I ….. I was…..”
The ambulance’s back door was closing. I stepped aside to climb inside. Suddenly strong muscular arms pulled me away from the ambulance. I protested in vain. The officer stuffed me in the police van; and before I realized what was happening, the van was pulling away. “Stop. Stop. I have to go to Nicole. Stop. She needs me. Why are you capturing me? I am not a fugitive. STOP.”
No one cared about me shouting and struggling. The van raced away and after about fifteen minutes, I found myself sitting on a rocking chair in an interrogation room. The officer sitting across from me studied me like I was some hard-core criminal on the loose. I tried to regain my cool. There’s no way I could solve this problem by losing my temper. This must be tackled tactfully.
Finally, mustering all of my willpower, I asked in a calm tone which surprised me more than the officer, “What is it, sir? You are clearly mistaken, I am not a fugitive. Please, I have to see my friend and contact her parents. She needs someone by her side. I’ll answer all your questions, but please let me see my friend just once.”
The officer gave me a rueful glance and sighed, “Mr. Collins left yesterday for his operation in Iraq and we are trying our best to locate Mrs. Collins. Your friend is receiving the best treatment possible and will recover. Besides, we want to believe whatever you say Miss Kanet but…”
“But?”
“But we assume you had a strong hand in this vile situation.”
I was losing my cool like an exponentially decreasing curve. “You are mistaken, officer. I was not in the house when it happened.”
“That’s what troubles us, Miss Kanet. You leave and not a minute passes before an attacker wrecks the Collins’s house. She/he tormented your friend and frightened her brother for almost fifteen minutes, destroying the house recklessly – especially Nicole’s room -- and storming out without a trace. Then you return fifteen minutes later unscathed.”
I blinked in disbelief. Was he blaming me for my friend’s comatose situation? Was he blaming me for not being squashed? What’s wrong with the police these days? If you can’t catch the real culprit… just grab an innocent one.
“Are you listening to yourself officer! I live there. Why would I cause such peril? Nicole is my best friend and the aforementioned room also happens to be my room. You just said they were tormented for fifteen minutes. If you were aware of it, why didn’t you take any action? Was it because you were waiting for the criminal to escape so you wouldn’t be inconvenienced?” I replied furiously.
The officer eyed me eerily. “Your impertinent behavior won’t be tolerated here Janet Kanet. You are under arrest until other evidence comes into view.”
Under arrest! Was he for real? I wasn’t even punished once during my entire life. I was the type of girl who always walked the line, never troubled a single soul, not even when I was a child. Now I was under arrest for a crime I couldn’t fathom. For a moment I was tongue-tied. I desperately wished for all of this to be a nightmare and that I’d wake up with Nicole by my side. I blinked several times hoping the officer would disappear into thin air. But that ugly, fat, old man was still standing there as if waiting for me to try to escape so he could shoot me on the spot.
I finally took a deep breath, knowing that being treacherous wouldn’t help my situation. “Fine, I’d like to contact my parents first.” The officer looked at me like I’d grown horns.
Suddenly the door opened and a guy in a black suit entered. I’ll admit that I almost forgot about my perilous situation as I stared at him shamelessly. Handsome would be an inferior word to describe his perfect features. He was pretty: black silky hair combed in a businessman-like manner, well-taut body, sharp chiseled cheekbones outlining his face, chocolate-brown eyes that could hold any girl immobile. He must have been in his early-twenties. He chuckled at my obvious admiration and fixed his gaze on the officer.
“My sincere apologies, officer, but I must borrow your prisoner here who also happens to be a charming young lady. You must not torment such a pretty face.”
He winked in my direction and I couldn’t stop blushing. His voice was hypnotic. I must have lost my goddamned mind to be held mesmerized by this man in such highly adverse circumstances. But who is he? Is it possible that my father somehow heard of my state and had sent a lawyer? He was too handsome to be a boring lawyer. He could be a scientist or an astronaut. Oh! How badly I wanted to kiss an astronaut. I snapped out of my mental palace and tried to pay attention to the conversation. The man showed a few papers to the officer and the look on fatty’s face gave me unusual satisfaction.
At last, he turned towards me and sighed dejectedly. “You may leave with him.” With this he stormed out
of the interrogation room frustratingly. I stood up triumphantly and gave the man an alluring smile. “Oh, thank you so much my knight in shining armor. You totally saved the day. That ridiculous fat clunk of an officer was trying to restrain me against my will and without any evidence.”
Now, imagine yourself in a big bubble flying in the blue sky, and then imagine the bubble bursting and you start to fall freely with the velocity of g = 9.8 m/s2 . His next words made me feel that way. He stifled a smile and said, “I don’t mind helping damsels in distress, but in this situation, I must say that you are stuck with me for a while.” Then he offered his hand for a handshake, “Agent Chris Gold, FBI at your service, Madame.”
My approaching hand stopped midway and I stared at him open-mouthed. What’s that Indian saying my father used to tell me? … Fallen from the sky and stuck on a date palm.
“Umm, well…Why would the FBI intervene in a local case? Is it due to Mr. Collins?”
“No, but it has to do with national security. I’m afraid that the person who attacked your friend might be an escaped terrorist. A highly guarded terrorist broke free and next we know he’s been spotted not a few yards from Collins’s house. It can’t be mere coincidence.”
I let out a frustrated breath, “Now the day can’t get worse. But before anything, Agent Gold, I would like to visit Nicole. I won’t say a word in your interrogation if you restrain me from seeing her,” I added stubbornly.
He snorted, “I forgot, girls can be very obstinate when they want to be.”
“Are you a misogynist, Agent Gold?”
“Of course not Miss Kanet. I am clearly a feminist. I often appreciate the beauty of god’s favored creation, aka women.” He winked mischievously. God help me, but is my adversary flirting? “After you, and please call me Chris.” He gestured me forward and I obliged.
