Free A Guardian Angel by Phoenix Williams Page A

information he could get at surface
value. Anything that could be inferred from observation, from lurking
in the shadows like he did now. It was all at his disposal. All he
had to do now was call her. No, he admitted, he knew he wasn't taking
notes while he was here. There was nothing he wanted other than to
see Haley Flynn. All he needed was to know what she was still okay.
    It was a while
before he saw her in the bedroom with the large, exposed windows. She
was wearing a girlish blue collar shirt over a pink tank top,
carrying a suitcase that she tossed out of view. She then disappeared
behind the wall after it, leaving Andy by himself.
    He pulled out his
cellphone and dialed her number by memory. It rang twice before he
could see her pop back into view with her phone to her head. Her lips
moved out of sync with the words, off by just a fraction of a second.
“Andy! How are you?” she greeted.
    “I'm good,
how are you?” he replied. He kept an eye on her just as she
slipped back out of view from the window.
    “Great,”
she breathed. “I've made such a breakthrough with work. Do you
want to go out tonight?”
    “I'd love
to,” Andy said quite honestly, “but I have work to do.”
He wasn't lying.
    “Oh, man,”
Haley groaned. “Because I'm flying out to deliver my report in
like literally a few hours.”
    Andy could feel the
warmth in his flesh decrease. Raising an eyebrow, he began to feel
dread. “Really?” he said.
    “Yeah, Andy,
I'm so sorry,” she answered. “I was able to finish up my
report and I need to bring along some of the evidence I've gathered.
I won't be coming back.”
    Then he felt it.
Crushed into the corner he felt he could not escape from. The light
of hope had ceased even being small beams that broke the darkness.
There was nothing but fear now as his realization carved into his
brain. It etched like the chiseling of a tombstone. Either he or
Haley Flynn's fate will be sealed tonight. One of them must die.
There were no words, nothing he could manage to say, nothing that
could blink onto his consciousness so he hung up the phone and then
turned it off. He pulled out of the alley and fled, scaring himself
half to death when he accidentally cut off a police cruiser.
    He sped up to give
it room when the siren flared up and the lights started flashing.
Andy pulled over to the right in front of someone's yard. The cop car
pulled in behind him and then sat there. It laid still for quite a
while, its siren silent but the lights loudly danced through his back
window. Finally, an officer stepped out.
    He rapped on the
driver side window. Andy let it down.
    “Officer, I'm
sorry for cutting – ” Andy began.
    “Do you know
how fast you were going?” the officer interrupted. He was a
strong-jawed white man with a furry black caterpillar asleep above
his lips. Or so it looked.
    “When? When I
sped up so we didn't collide or the rest of the time?” Andy let
slip out.
    “Do you want
trouble?”
    “No, sir.”
    “Then watch
your mouth. Don't get smart with me.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Please step
out of the vehicle,” the officer ordered. He seemed to be
chewing on a piece of gum or something.
    Andy obeyed with
reluctance, moving so that he wouldn't upset this volatile
representation of the law. He was instructed to close his door behind
him, which he did.
    “Sir, please
turn around and place your hands on the hood of your car,” the
officer instructed.
    “Why?”
Andy asked.
    “Sir, please
do as you're – ”
    “Am I being
arrested?” Andy asked, gesturing to the car. “For cutting
you off?”
    “Do not
interrupt me!” the police officer bellowed at him, drawing his
handgun and pointing it at the hitman. “Hands on the hood!”
    Fine, Andy
thought sourly as he did what he was told. The anger was clear upon
his brow. He jumped when he began getting frisked. “Hey!”
he wormed around. “What the hell?”
    “Shut up!”
the officer shouted in his ear. He rested the barrel of his