I Won't Let You Die Angel

by Neal Goldy

  “Dude.” I murmured.

  His face lit-up with that heartwarming smile. “I’m twenty-”

  “Oh.”

  “-Nine”

  “What?” I shrieked.

  He laughed outright. “Twenty. Just twenty.”

  Two goons appeared in front of us. I skidded backwards due to the change in my body’s moment of inertia, and Neil caught me in time before I could stumble because of the shift in my center of gravity due to my handcuff hands.

  “You are in our territory, Neil. You already know our father doesn’t appreciate trespassing,” barked one of them. Now that I had time to notice it, both devils looked very much alike except that one was bald.

  “I’m not trespassing, you fool. I’ve arranged for an audience with your father. Go sulk somewhere else. You’re not getting anything here.”

  The bald one eyed me top to bottom like I was some nude model on sale. I shifted uncomfortably behind Neil. He noticed and pushed the bald one aside. “Be gone badly. No feast for you.” Neil took me by the waist and urged me sideways into another deserted alley.

  “How dare you bring me to such a disgusting place? Did you see that look on his face?” I spat in disgust.

  “Don’t worry, Janet. You’re with me. No one will dare lay a hand on you unless they want a crucial body part to go missing. You’re safe by my side.”

  Two things shocked me; first, his use of “Janet” and second, his concerned tone. But I was still mad. “I would be a hypocrite if I ever felt safe by your side.” As if on cue, an ugly fatty passed by and I clutched Neil’s arm instinctively. He frowned at me knowingly.

  “Would you mind taking these off?” I lifted my handcuffed hands. “It’s not like I could escape from you here.” I gestured at the smelly surroundings.

  “It’s for your own safety. This way, at least I appear to be your captor and people here won’t dare try to snatch you. Otherwise, they might mistake you as…..”

  “As??”

  “You know….”

  “Ok. Ok, fine. Let it be.”

  It turned out that the audience with Baldy’s father short-circuited the circuits of my brain. Hence, I turned it into sleep mode and took a nap.

  I was in tomorrowland, on the “future ride” with Kevin. I had no idea how he knew this was my favorite place in Disneyland. We were kissing passionately, my skin melting with every touch, my mind fused by the flow of mild electricity inside me. I was breathless, and when I broke away to catch a breath, I took a peek at his gorgeous face--blue eyes emanating such a passion that caressed my senses. His enigmatic smile…… Wait…. Blue eyes….

  The guy was not Kevin! He was several times prettier, but complicated like a differential equation which requires many more variables to solve.

  “Janet”, my name on his lips felt like silk. No one could pronounce Janet better. It was intimate in its own way. “Janet”, he shouted urgently. Why was he shouting? I’m right here……

  “JANET, wake up.”

  I woke up startled. “Why do you have to…”

  “Duh” was all I could utter. Not even twenty-four hours had passed and we were under attack again. Unlike before, this time the attackers were actually disguised as Neil’s “friends.”

  No one was paying any attention to me, but Neil was outmatched by 1:6 and a fat old man with rotten teeth was enjoying the façade. I observed carefully; no one seems to notice me, that’s a plus; I was handcuffed, that’s two minuses. Their back was to me, that’s a positive; I had no weapon, double negative.

  Neil took care of two goons easily and was now brawling with four. For a moment, I was mesmerized by the quickness and handsomeness in the way he was sparring. All of them were weaponless, and to my surprise, even fatter. Beside fatty on the side table was a basket full of fruit and bingo, a knife. Not a fighting one, but it would do.

  I tiptoed towards the table. Not at all difficult when five people are replaying WWF in reality. Fatty was laughing like a maniac. Well, I had to stop rotten teeth’s laugh. I got hold of the hilt and instantly swept it towards fatty’s neck.

  “Don’t move,” I warned and now the laughter vanished. “Order your minions to stop or I’ll hurt you badly.” For a second he was confused and then regarded me like some untamed kitten defying its master.

  Well, I don’t make empty threats. “Stop!” I shouted. Not a leaf cracked. Now, now, people need to take me seriously. “STOP!” I shrieked really loud. That got everybody’s attention.

  Neil was wounded, blood oozing from his forehead and elbows, but he passed me a smile. Fatty snorted, “Did you really think you could neutralize me girl? Why even try? This man abducted you. Cooperate with us and I’ll spare you.”

  I considered it for a moment. “Well!!! It‘s real tempting.” I pressed the knife deeper. “But, no, I don’t think so.” His minions looked bored, but Neil didn’t waste the distraction. He picked up a leather belt lying nearby, grabbed one buffoon by his neck, and twisted. Snap! The goon won’t move again, and Neil did it in less than five seconds.

  Fatty took advantage of my awed state and ducked out of knife range, knocking me over the chair. I crumpled on the ground, puncturing my hips, but held the knife firmly. He was about to smash my face when suddenly he got all stiff and collapsed forward.

  I rolled away from him just in time. I barely eyed a man at the rightmost window when another crunch snapped me to attention. Neil took out one more and now the other two were on top of him.

  The man rushed to Neil’s rescue and gestured towards the knife. I shoved the knife in his direction, into his hand instead of his heart. He stabbed one of the two in the eye and kicked the other. Neil took the advantage and tweaked the last one’s neck.

  For a few seconds, both of them stood there, measuring each other. I thought about interrupting their silent action scene, but decided otherwise.

  “I leave you alone for three, just three months, and you engage yourself in a battle totally out of your league in Mckoy’s own lair”, shouted the man in total exasperation. For a dreadful second, I thought Neil was going to choke him to death, too. But he grinned and hugged him.

  I was completely baffled. It was the first time ever I had seen Neil show any affection.

  “Well, at least you got the chance to save the day. Doesn’t that count for something?” Neil patted his shoulders smiling

  “Actually, this lady here saved the day. Didn’t she?” The man gestured to me. The attention turned towards me and I shifted on my legs. “Um… actually…… it’s just….”

  “It’s all right. You’re really sweet.” He passed me a genuine smile. “Neil! How dare you handcuff your own girlfriend?”

  What? No. “I’m not his girlfriend.” “She’s not my girlfriend.” Both Neil and I spoke at the same moment.

  The man stared at Neil, then me, and again at Neil. “Then why is she here, Neil? Care to explain?”

  Neil sighed and came to me. “Janet, meet my friend Carl, and Carl meet Janet Kanet.”

  Carl’s eyebrows literally touched his hair and he whistled. “This is she? This cute little thing created such mayhem in the underworld?”

  “Excuse me! I would have thanked you for the ‘cute’ compliment if you hadn’t mentioned that mayhem thing.” I scowled.

  “Well, she has attitude for such a little thing.”

  “I’m a person, not a thing.”

  Carl held his hand out in surrender. “Fine girl, be as it is. But right now, we need to rush.”

  Chapter 9

  Carl’s definition of escape plan number 1 was a suicide mission that included jumping from a five-storey window without a trampoline to neutralize the effect of a head-on collision. Of course, the ledges were there, but I was no trekker.

  “I’m not jumping from here. I want to live.” I said skeptically.

  “Then we’ll just have to throw you down.” Carl stated as lightly as if this were some round table conference discussion on the world’s best esc
ape plans.

  “No, we will not”, said Neil emphasizing each word.

  Carl folded his arms across his chest and frowned, “Tell me again why you’re not claiming her as your girlfriend.”

  “Um… excuse me, I’m still here.” I said, rolling my eyes.

  Carl spared me a glance and then turned to climb down the window. “She’s your headache, deal with it or take some aspirin.”

  I turned my gaze towards Neil, “What did he just say?”

  Neil stroked his forehead. “Don’t mind.”

  “Oh! Don’t worry, I never mind.” I added sarcastically.

  Gradually and painfully slowly, Neil finally managed to help me down. Carl was there with a silver Volvo behind him. “What about the BMW? We can’t just leave it here.” I retorted.

  “Is your life more important or that car, sugar? Now, come on, climb in”, ordered Carl.

  “I call shotgun.”

  “No”, snapped Neil. “Get in the back” and then he took the keys from Carl, “I’m driving.” Carl held his hands up, but smiled, “Whatever, dude.”

  Once back on the highway, I tried pleading my case politely, just like a lady. I held my hands up and made my best puppy face, “Please, could you take these off. There are two of you now. Besides, it’s starting to hurt.”

  Carl actually looked concerned. “Come on, why keep this little thing all chained up. Give her some slack already.”

  “Don’t let her innocent face fool you. She single-handily took on three men. Give her a gun and she’ll shoot us straight through our heart.”

  Carl’s head hung like some simple pendulum with its extremities on both of our faces. I bet the angle of inclination would soon increase to 180 degrees. Finally, by some invisible external force, the pendulum stopped at mine.

  “You must be something, sugar. Never in my whole existence with Neil have I heard him confess that someone could defeat him, and you’re just a cute little girl.”

  “Well, I could. Free me and we could have a duel. I bet you’ll enjoy it.”

  “Shut it, Janet.” Neil interrupted.

  “She’ll obey you, but I won’t. Care to explain why the hell you risked annihilating Mckoy’s lair? We live by a code of conduct here. Can’t I leave you alone for a few months?” shouted Carl ardently. But his tone was more brotherly than scolding. Neil just smiled impishly like a child getting scolded by his mother.

  He explained the whole ordeal to Carl. After extricating every thread of details from Neil, Carl finally asked just one more question, “Are you a hundred percent sure they were Mckoy’s men?”

  “Now you doubt my sources, too. So much for trusting my decisions,” pouted Neil. I didn’t know he was capable of this. This Neil was different, different with Carl, carefree and...normal. Why can’t he just be like that with me?

  I mentally slapped myself hard. Why oh why did I fantasize so much about Neil? Why did my stringent mind turn pesky when it came to Neil? Why did all of my dexterous senses take a detour into a black hole when I thought about him or observed him closely? And all of this happening in just one damn day.

  “I knew this was destined to be doomed,” Neil slammed his hand on the steering wheel fervently. “It was for you or else I would not have crossed paths with her. You know I don’t do this sort of assignments. I don’t know why you worship her so intently.” Neil was livid. What was I missing?

  Carl placed a reassuring hand on Neil’s shoulder, “Relax! I will arrange a rendezvous with her as soon as possible. You’ll be out of this by tomorrow, I promise. And we’ll dig out who betrayed you, who arranged Mckoy’s goons to go after you, and who wants this assignment to be doomed.”

  Neil’s posture didn’t relax. “What got you?” inquired Carl.

  “I don’t know! I don’t like this. It was not supposed to be like this”, exclaimed Neil.

  “Chill, dude, I know we had a difference of opinion on this, but you don’t have to be sleazy,” interceded Carl.

  Neil ruffled his hair, “You don’t understand.”

  “No, that’s where you are wrong, I understand you only too well.” Carl turned unexpectedly and something pierced my wrist and boom…

  Waking up dizzily on a couch has become my quarterly routine now. My five senses took their sweet time to adjust and apparently my sixth sense never works. But unlike before, this time I woke up on a much more comfortable couch and whoa… it turned out that I was in a five-star hotel.

  Carl was lazily sprawled on the king-size bed and regarded me with a smirk. “Sleeping beauty awakes.”

  I sat cross-legged, giddiness still receding. “What have you done to me, blindfolding was much a healthier method.”

  “Etorphine Hydrochloride straight into the veins.”

  “An absolute instant sedative….. That’s how we took ‘rotten teeth’.”

  That’s an absolutely great idea--much easier than brawling.” I exclaimed.

  “And less messy, don’t forget to mention that”, said Carl crooning, putting himself in a sitting position.

  “Yeah.” I said, rolling my eyes. “But tell me, Mr. Pharmacist, why use it on me?”

  “You were eavesdropping.”

  “It’s not called eavesdropping. It’s not like I could malfunction my ears. And if you have so many problems with me, why not get rid of me. Let me leave,” I said, emphasizing the word “leave.”

  “You know, that idea is really tempting. You babble a lot. Without you in the same room, I’d be able to concentrate on my next move.” He tapped his finger on his forehead, as if pondering his thoughts.

  “The next move is to immobilize more innocents?”

  He shared a crooked smile, “How predictable, sugar. But no, for now I’ve my mind on chess only.”

  “Chess? You play chess?” I stared at him, baffled.

  “Why such an expression, sugar? I often tend to indulge myself in brain-consuming activities.”

  I composed myself. “I love chess. It’s the best pastime. Let’s play.”

  “No one’s playing anything.” A voice burst my happy bubble. And I caught a drool-worthy sight. Neil was standing there just in his boxers, towel in hand; he probably had just taken a shower. Our eyes locked and involuntarily a stupid smile escaped my lips. To increase my ecstatic mood, he smiled back, and God he managed to look ineffably sexy.

  Carl cleared his throat. That broke Neil’s trance and he quickly glanced at Carl.

  “Enough sweet talk.. Did you do as discussed or not?” asked Neil.

  Carl looked grim. “Um, actually Majestic couldn’t be available.” Neil raised his hands in exasperation.

  “But, we got Storm”, added Carl quickly. “Tomorrow, if it’s fine by you.”

  Neil just nodded. “That means we just have today to kill.”

  “Why kill, my friend? Enjoy….”

  Neil smiled mischievously. “And what is that, my friend?”

  “There’s an opera show nearby, this evening in fact.” Carl stated with excitement.

  Neil literally rolled his eyes a perfect 360 degrees. “Not that again. Why don’t you try to live in the 21st century, brother?”

  “Oh, come on, Neil”, Carl literally begged.

  “I’ve never been to an Opera.” I said intervening.

  Two pairs of eyes bore on me intently.

  “Who invited you?” asked Carl wryly.

  “You handcuff me, blindfold me, keep me famished, and let me wear oversized clothes, but I never complain. I mean, yeah, I complain a little. But you certainly aren’t thinking of locking me up here alone while you go party, are you?” I blabbered angrily, looking at Neil.

  Neil regarded me coldly and turned towards Carl. “Ok, last time. But we can’t leave her here.” He wagged a finger at me.

  “I didn’t know that you can’t live without her even for a second nowadays”, chuckled Carl.

  “This is no joke, dude. Last time I left her alone, she managed to escape easily despite my best atte
mpts. And she was half unconscious that time. I’m not taking that risk again.”

  “Great, so it’s decided, we’re going to the opera. What are we wearing?” I asked excitedly.

  “There’s a vintage boutique on the ground floor. We’ll find outfits that match the theme.” replied Carl enthusiastically.

  Neil’s expression was drastically livid. “You two, seriously! I’m surrounded by goofy people.”

  “Ignore him”, said Carl is picking up his coat. “Let’s go.”

  After so long, I enjoyed shopping. Neil joined us eventually, and Carl made sure he tried on every fourth outfit, which annoyed Neil beyond anything and entertained me beyond this universe.

  After a little chitchatting with Carl, we discovered that we had lots in common. I mean, come on, I never thought I’d enjoy wandering around with someone like him, a criminal. Whatever theories and facts I spewed out, he always had something to say about it unlike Neil. He was just like Kevin, I mean not romantically, but in just a couple of hours, it looked like I’d made a friend.

  Chapter 10

  “No, I don’t think matter can be created from nothing.” I said, taking a sip of my cappuccino. We were discussing the Big Bang theory and everything related to the origin of life.

  “So it means you are not a believer?”

  “That’s not exactly true.”

  “Have you read ‘Angels and Demons’? It debates these theories in a real dramatic way.”

  “Yeah, and I like the ‘antimatter’ theory. If you give it a thought, it really makes sense. Every particle has its counterpart. It’s the prime rule of nature.”

  “And it’s my damn rule that you two will now shut up with your theories or I’ll commit suicide due to madness,” shouted Neil slamming his latte on the table. And so we gave ourselves a little pause.

  Later that evening, I put on the strapless crimson dress that the salesgirl so adamantly chose for me. My turquoise pendant did not go with it at all, but I hadn’t the heart to take it off my neck. So I chose to let it be. I let my long black hair down and applied some make-up that, again, that salesgirl made me purchase.