Guardian Angel: Flight or Fight

by Sean Michael

  Or escaping out the little window.

  Nothing. Damn it.

  He opened the door, bursting in, ready for anything.

  Daniel sat up from where he'd been sleeping, ears under as he floated. "What? Fuck! God damn!"

  "Jesus Christ, you trying to drown yourself?" He grabbed Daniel by his arms and hauled him out of the tub.

  "Uh, no. I was sleeping."

  "In the tub..." He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around the naked body. "There's a perfectly good bed for you upstairs."

  "I was tired. Hot. I like the water."

  He snorted. "Well you're not allowed to drown on my watch. Come on, I'll show you to your room."

  Daniel rolled blood-red eyes, mouth swollen and bruised dark from earlier. "Does it have a bathroom?"

  "What?" He wondered if Daniel was on something and tried not to feel guilty about having tackled Daniel and done that to him.

  Daniel shook his head, rubbed his forehead. "Fuck. Sorry. I'm in hotel mode. I haven't been in a place that wasn't a bus or a hotel in months."

  "Look, why don't I show you to the bed and you can have the shut-eye you need. Want." He grinned. "The bedroom doesn't have a bathroom, but there's one right down the hall."

  "I'm supposed to go home. This concert and then home."

  He nodded, leading Daniel upstairs. "Hopefully tomorrow, yeah?"

  "No hopefully. I got a vacation coming." Fuck, the man was whipcord lean and smelled fine.

  "Doing anything special on this vacation of yours?" He knew an ATF agent who was interested...

  "Swimming. Sleeping. Then more swimming."

  "Let me guess -- you like the water." He chuckled, that maybe explained the sleeping in the tub.

  "Yep. Got a pool at my house. Get to see my horses. Maybe do some riding, some camping. Anything, so long as it's home."

  He opened the door to the first room at the top of the stairs, grunting in satisfaction as that proved to be where the guys had put Daniel's bags. "Here you go."

  "Thank y..."

  He didn't know what knocked him to his knees for a second, the sound so huge, so unexpected he couldn't process it.

  Shit.

  Fuck.

  He wrapped himself around Daniel and dragged the man down onto the floor, gun out as he crawled them over to the bed. "Get under it," he hissed.

  Daniel grabbed the suitcase, dragging it with him. "Not getting blown up naked, man."

  That startled a laugh out of him. "No getting blown up, period."

  "Excellent plan. I'm a big fan. What the fuck is going on?"

  "Candid Camera's looking pretty good now, isn't it?" He pulled out his phone and flipped it open, hit autodial. "What the fuck, Jer?"

  "It's the ALL, man. Better hunker down."

  He closed the phone back up. "Fuck. Stay here."

  Daniel nodded, working on a pair of jeans, digging out socks and boots. Keeping low, he made his way to the oak dresser, pushing the fucker in front of the door. Shit, that would keep pretty much anyone from gaining entrance through the door, heavy as it was.

  Then he upended the bed onto its side and put it in front of the window. "You know how to use a gun?"

  "Does a bear shit in the woods?" Two pocket-knives went into pockets, then t-shirt and over shirt.

  He reached down for his ankle piece, checking the chamber and handing it over. "Anything comes in that door you shoot it, our guys will radio first."

  "You got it." Daniel checked the safety, looked natural as he could be. "Man, you should've just given me my fucking phone."

  "Because you have a direct line to the militia and could have headed this off at the pass?" He ducked automatically as shots were fired.

  "Go fuck yourself. I'm a god damn singer." He got a snort, a wink, a towel tossed at him.

  The shots got closer. That wasn't good.

  "How's your crawling skills," he asked as his eyes landed on the trapdoor in the ceiling that he was counting on getting them into the attic. If they could get to the other end of the house and get down a drainpipe or something, they maybe could make it to one of the cars.

  "We going up into the crawlspace or out the window? 'Cause I ain't staying in here."

  "Crawlspace. And yeah, we're getting the hell out of dodge. Let's go." He grabbed the small desk and shoved it under the trapdoor. "You first."

  Daniel nodded, reached up and pulled himself into the space, tight ass disappearing. Rafe admired it, and more shots fired reminding him why they were here. He went over and pushed open the window just enough a man could get through it and then went back to the open space in the ceiling, pulling himself up after Daniel and closing the trap door behind him.

  "Careful," he muttered.

  "Yeah, no shit. Stay on the boards or you'll go straight through the ceiling."

  "Yeah, if the fall didn't kill us, the ALL would. Is there a window at the far end there?" He couldn't see anything past Daniel's ass. Not that he was complaining about the view.

  "Yeah, one of them little round ones. Watch the nails in the roof now, they're a bitch."

  He snorted. "That sounds like the voice of experience."

  "You know it. Five years on a roofing crew." The man could move, sliding and shifting on the thin beams.

  The shooting had stopped, but his phone didn't ring and that wasn't a good sign. Not a good sign at all. He and Daniel had to get to one of the cars and get the fuck out of here. They made it to the window without anyone popping up through the trapdoor. "How's it look? Is there any way for us to get down?"

  Daniel shook his head. "Not with the size of your shoulders, man. We can go up, maybe, or down into the house."

  "I have to be honest with you, Daniel. I've seen the schematics for the house, but this is my first time here. And we had three other guys here besides myself and I have a hunch it's just you and me left. We've got limited ammunition between us and I have no idea how many guys are out there, though I suspect from the intel that it'll be a half dozen at least, maybe even twice that. We don't get out of here and we're screwed."

  "Fuck. Okay. Okay. Uh. If we go up on the roof, we can wait them out. You got my phone, we could call the cops."

  He nodded. "Roof it is. I'll call the boss. See if they know what the hell is going on, if they've got someone coming."

  "Okay, I'll find a weak spot in the shingles. You hold tight out of the way." Daniel started poking around, searching, pushing at the boards. It felt wrong, letting Daniel take care of him, do the doing. But this was the plan, so he crouched in the corner, hoping like hell Daniel could get them up onto the roof before the ALL got into the room they'd been in and realize they were up in the crawlspace because they were sitting ducks up here. "Okay. Here." Daniel pried a piece of soffit off, then another. "I'm going to check it out."

  Then there he went, up and out.

  Fuck.

  If they made it out of this alive, his ass was so grass.

  He was out of his element though. Not out here in the field, but Daniel... he had a feeling if they'd let the ALL kidnap him, Daniel just might have not only bamboozled his way out of it, but taken some of them down in the process. He heard thumps coming from the other end of the house.

  "Hurry," he hissed, “they're at the bedroom door.”

  One dirty hand stuck down toward him through the hole. "Come on then. Don't fucking fall. I need a minute to fix the shingles."

  He grabbed Daniel's hand and hauled himself up, staying low.

  "Careful of the pitch. We're on the back -- looks like dormer windows are under us."

  "You got an English translation for that?" Shit, he hated looking stupid and boy, was he looking stupid tonight.

  "The roof is tilty and you're standing on a window."

  He moved over, lying flat on the roof. "You think if we're still and quiet they'll miss us here? Think we've gone out the window and into the woods?"

  "I sure as shit hope so."

  He lay next to Daniel, nodding.
"So... you ever get an inkling from Sam that something was hinky?"

  "Shit, man. Sam's family. Some cousin or something. My Aunt Peggy wanted him in the band."

  "Peggy Martins? She's one of them. One of their supporters anyway. Lots of money and favors, though she's not been actively involved with anything illegal that we know of." They spoke quietly, the stars bright this far out of Oklahoma City.

  "Hey, now. Don't go badmouthing my Aunt Peg."

  "I'm not badmouthing anyone. We've got proof she's been giving them money, Daniel. And you say she's the one who wanted him in the band. I'm not saying she knew what they were planning, but she was accommodating to him once he told her he wanted in your band."

  "Yeah, but that's just a favor, you know? Being cool to family."

  He turned and gave Daniel a look. "And was that what Sam was being when he planned to kidnap you into the ALL? Being cool to family?"

  "Nope. That was Sammy being a jackass prick." Daniel gave him a wink. "Must've got that from his daddy."

  He chuckled quietly. "This is more than being a jackass prick though, Daniel. They want you alive, but I'm guessing I'm as expendable as the other three agents who were guarding this place."

  "Well, I'm gonna pray Sammy doesn't know nothing about that."

  "That's pretty naive. He was in on the kidnapping you plot. What makes you think he didn't know about plan B?"

  "Because he's my kin, man. I know him. He's no killer."

  "That's what the militia are all about, Daniel."

  There was a shout from in the house and he put his hand over Daniel's mouth, going as still and quiet as possible. If they were found out, he was dead and Daniel was kidnapped. Daniel nodded, mouth closing, eyes huge. Shit, it would be easy to forget the man didn't do this for a living.

  His gun clenched in his other hand, his whole body was tense. Daniel breathed through his nose, each breath hot on Rafe's hand. He'd have moved it except he was absolutely frozen, keeping still, quiet.

  "Gideon! They took off out the window, man! Down the North side of the house."

  "I didn't see nobody run, man! Not nobody!"

  "Well they obviously came up here and this is the only way out unless they went back down."

  "Search the house again and then we'll take the woods."

  "Fuck, that son of a bitch is wily. You sure they got him here even?"

  "It coulda been a decoy."

  "No, I found his stage costume, Captain."

  "He's not a city-boy, Captain. He's a camper, a hunter. These woods wouldn't scare him."

  "He'll make a great Leaguer. Find him. Now."

  Rafe could feel Daniel growling, tensing up to move. He tightened his hand over Daniel's mouth in warning, caught the man's eyes and shook his head. Fuck, there was fury there, and fear, and a shocked disgust.

  "Later," he mouthed. Daniel could shout and scream and rant and be as pissed off as he wanted to be once they were safe.

  Daniel looked into him, staring, watching, slowly relaxing. He nodded. Yeah, that was it. Just be cool, pretend we're not here, wait the fuckers in the house out. He loosened his hold on Daniel's mouth, let his hand slide away. Daniel sat, leaning on the roof shingles, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

  And they waited. Hearing the ALL calling out to each other as they searched the house, the grounds. Finally they took off into the woods, leaving a man behind to guard the vehicles.

  "What now?"

  "Well. We can shoot him and run like hell for one of the cars and hope we make it before the guys in the woods get back here. Or we can try and get him up close and personal, more dangerous, but quiet. If one of us goes for it, the other one can cover, which might mean we're back to running for a car, but has a chance at doing it quietly."

  "I'm not shooting anybody. I'm a hunter, not a murderer." Daniel shook his head. "There's got to be a non-lethal way."

  "You could hypnotize him with your dulcet voice," he suggested dryly.

  "Don't make me beat you, asshole."

  "I'll take a raincheck for a time we aren't being hunted by men with guns. You don't want me to shoot him, you come up with a better idea."

  "Oh.. .Okay. Okay, I can." To his horror, Daniel slid down the dormer window, then headed down the fucking drain pipe.

  Fucking shit.

  He did the only thing he could; he got a bead on the asshole left behind and waited to see what stupid fucked up thing Daniel did next. The man obviously hadn't been paying attention -- these guys had already killed three men. Non-lethal had pretty much already sailed.

  Daniel did the dumbest fucking think he'd ever seen. The bastard just walked right up to the guy left by the car, tapped him on the shoulder and knocked the son of a bitch out with one punch.

  "Jesus fuck." He slid down the dormer window and shimmied down the drain pipe, dropping the last ten feet in his haste.

  "Are you insane?" he hissed, grabbing the guy's legs and dragging him over behind one of the cars. "Get in the Lincoln. The keys should be under the sun visor."

  "I didn't kill him." Daniel slid into the driver's seat, grabbed the keys and started her up. "Come on, pretty boy. Let's ride."

  He snorted. "Watch out who you're calling pretty and shove over -- I'm driving."

  "Fuck off. Get in the car. And you are pretty. Move."

  Jesus Christ, this guy had been nothing but trouble from the moment he'd pulled him out of range of the deranged fan. He got into the car though, there was half dozen assholes with guns out for them and he wasn't stupid.

  "Let's get out of here."

  And he was not pretty.

  Chapter Two

  Dan shot down the road like a bat out of hell, hand throbbing and pounding, head doing about the same. Fuck a duck, he was sure going to get to the city, find him a hotel and a cup of coffee and a couple of pain pills and a nap. Then tomorrow?

  Home. H. O. M. E. Home. He was going to stomp a mud hole in Sammy's ass and walk it dry. Asshole. Stupid bastard. Little prick.

  He hit the highway going eighty-five, driving like a man with a mission.

  "Shit, Daniel, you get us killed on this highway and all that drama will have been for nothing." The pretty boy ATF agent was clinging to the car door.

  He arched an eyebrow. Okay. That was a touch weird. "What? I'm driving fine."

  Rafe snorted. "Right. Oh!" Rafe reached in his pocket and picked up his phone, dialed. "Boss? Archangel. I'm on the move with the primary. We've got trouble." Rafe winced and Dan could hear an angry voice, though not the specifics.

  "Tell him to be nice and I won't get nasty about this whole thing. Oh, and I want a good hotel room on the far side of OKC." He grinned over, swerving to miss a raccoon in the road. "Oh, and archangel? That's adorable. Is your real name Rafael?" Man, if he was going to get hit, kidnapped and fucked around with, he might as well have fun.

  Rafe flipped him the bird and gave him another glare. "Yes, sir. No, sir, given that information I think we should pick the hotel ourselves at random. Yes, sir, I'll make sure it's within the budget. I'll check in sometime in the morning. Yes, sir. Yes, sir." Rafe hung up and sighed. "They're sending a clean up team into the safehouse. Looks like there must have been a leak of some sort -- they knew exactly where to find you."

  "Hey, maybe they knew where to find you. I am a goddamned singer. Which reminds me, give me my phone. I need to call Aimee." His manager would be in a panic and the poor girl was six months pregnant.

  "You're supposed to still be in my custody," Rafe told him. "And I keep telling you that you were the target of a kidnapping plot. These guys want you on board and they don't care how they get you there."

  "Yeah, because I am the joining type. Give me the phone, angel." Oh, now. That was cute and irritating. He liked it.

  Rafe glared at him. "The name is Rafe. Or Agent Gialto."

  "Nice glare. Does it work often?"

  Rafe's mouth dropped open and then snapped shut again. "People are trying to kidnap you. Three agents a
re wounded, captured or more likely dead. We're on the run from a band of militia men with guns. Are you always this glib, or only when it's a life or death situation?"

  "Usually when it's a life or death situation, sometimes when I'm fighting a migraine, periodically when I'm trying to get my feet under me, almost always when I break my hand." His temper flared, white-hot and sudden. "And let me remind you -- I ain't done dick to have somebody kidnap me, I didn't hurt your agents, and I didn't ask the militia to play follow the leader!"