by Kelly Oram
I didn’t realize how worked up I was until my necklace lit up. I quickly tried to get control of myself, but I wasn’t fast enough. Teddy was watching me very closely. “You sure you’re okay?” he asked.
I realized I had tears in my eyes, my whole body was shaking, and I probably looked angry enough to scare Hitler. I was lucky my eyes weren’t glowing.
I didn’t offer any explanation for my sudden mood swing or the fact that I was ditching him. I couldn’t think of one, and frankly, I didn’t have the time. I simply said “I have to go” and took off.
It was easy to make myself go, but once I got there I realized exactly how screwed I was. There were people everywhere—media, police, fire and rescue, curious bystanders. Even SWAT was there with a hostage negotiator. There was no way I was going to be able to stop that guy without dealing with the police or being caught on camera. Up until now people had talked about me, but no one had managed a picture. Now I was going to have to go up on that roof and actually work with the police. I was going to be so exposed.
And so screwed.
Oh, well. What was I going to do, not show up?
I took a deep breath to brace myself, and then supersneaked past the crowd. Perhaps I should have made my presence known down at the police barricades instead of bursting straight out onto the roof and sending the crowd of police into a panic. I nearly got shot when the roof access door slammed shut behind me.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Relax!” I said, holding my hands up in surrender when I found a small army of guns pointed at my head. “I thought I was the guest of honor at this party.”
It took them all a minute to register who they were looking at. Not a single one of them was sure how to react. They kept their guns trained on me, but I saw all of their eyes turn to the man in charge. He noticed their stares too and forced himself to say something.
“How did you get up here?”
It was hard not to roll my eyes. There were more important things to worry about. “I took the stairs. Do you all want to put down the guns so I can go stop this creep from killing an innocent girl?”
“Oh, no you don’t, miss. You have a lot of questions to answer for!”
“Like what? Is it a crime to help old people out of a burning house or keep a couple of morons from drowning?”
“How about interfering with police business and leaving the scene of a crime, for starters?”
I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but I don’t have the best record for playing nice with cops. I haven’t really had the best experiences with them, and I don’t really respond well when they try to strong-arm me. “Well, I’m sure you can you understand my need for anonymity,” I said, unable to hit the mute button on my sarcasm.
“You can’t keep doing what you’re doing.”
“Oh yeah, ’cause I’m the bad guy here. Never mind the man threatening to throw a little girl off a ten-story building.”
“You are not above the law! You are dangerous, and you have no business here.”
That was it—I let go of my control on my energy. I tend to do that when people make me really angry. I balled up my hands into tight fists at my sides and closed my eyes. When I opened them again I knew they were glowing an eerie yellow. My hair also began to whip around my head the way it does, as if I were standing in a whirlwind.
There was a collective gasp and everyone seemed to back up a step.
I took a deep breath and calmed myself enough for my hair to settle. “Look. That nut job is asking for me. I am willing to work with you right now to get that little girl to safety. Do you want my help or not?”
I expected him to say no. He might have even been going to, but then another man jumped in front of him before he could give me an answer. “Yes,” the man said quietly. He was wearing a Kevlar vest and a navy jacket that said negotiator. He met my eyes with intensity. “We need you.”
Well. At least someone recognized what was up.
“I can’t guarantee your safety,” the grumpy policeman mumbled.
I shrugged. “You can’t guarantee yours either, and you’re out here.”
“That’s different.”
“Yeah, I’m probably a little better equipped to handle him.”
The negotiator eyed me curiously. “Can you fly?”
He’d asked the question seriously, so I answered it sincerely. “No.”
“Bulletproof?” he asked hopefully.
“I know I can take a beating way more severe than most people could survive, but my boyfriend thinks that if I can get a paper cut or scrape my knee, then I’m not completely impervious. He’s pretty good with theories, so I’m going to stay on the safe side and assume bullets can kill me.”
While Inspector Cranky Pants seemed insultingly astonished that I had a boyfriend, Mr. Hostage Negotiator slipped off his own Kevlar vest and handed it to me. I shook my head. “Thanks for the thought, but I think I’d be better off without that.”
“But you just said you aren’t bulletproof.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t know that.” I waved my hand in the direction of the ledge the crazy guy was causing all the trouble on. “No need to tip my hand. Plus, there’s just something unsettling about the thought of an electrically charged girl wrapped in a metal vest. I want to help that little girl, not fry her.”
The man was tongue-tied, but he managed to set the vest down and handed me something else. “Microphone and an earpiece,” he explained. “If you go out there you have to do exactly as I say, all right? I know you’re a very special girl, but you aren’t trained to deal with men like him.”
He stared me down as if he expected me to argue and blinked a few times when I held out my hand. He handed me the wire, but I gave him back the earpiece. “I can’t put that in my ear. Just talk to me. I’ll hear you.”
After I attached the microphone to my clothes, I looked back at the negotiator to find him watching me with a sense of awe. “Miss?” he asked. “How did you get like this?”
I shrugged, not wanting to think about the worst moment of my life right then. “That’s a story for another time.” I patted myself down. “Is this thing on? Can you hear me?”
The man nodded.
“Okay, then. I guess we’re ready. Where is he?”
The sea of law enforcement officers cleared a path revealing a small flight of stairs that led to the highest part of the roof. They were silent as I passed them, their gazes following me with admiration.
I squirmed under their stares. I’ve never liked getting that kind of attention. I’ve always seen my powers as a curse, something that made me a freak. Ryan was the first to ever show me the positive side to them, but I still had a hard time with the thought of people accepting me the way I am. These people were looking at me as if I were some kind of god.
I squared my shoulders and looked straight ahead, holding my breath, face set in grim determination. Just before I reached the front of the barricade, I felt a hand come down on my shoulder. “Miss?” One of the officers had stepped forward, his eyes glossy with a layer of tears. “I have a son the same age as the little girl you found in Tennessee.” His voice broke and he looked back at all of his peers. “Most of us think what you’re doing is amazing. Thank you for coming.”
“Don’t thank me yet. That little girl out there is still in danger.”
“You’re going to do great, Angel.”
That made me smile. “Angel. I like it. Thanks for not going with Super Babe.”
The man chuckled, sharing a real grin with me for a second. I stepped away from his grip and started to turn away, but then stopped. “Oh, just for future reference? You might want to spread the word that it’s not smart to touch me when I’m not expecting it. It’s not always safe.”
I gave the man a dangerous smile and let my energy flow so strongly the hairs on his arms stood on end even though he wasn’t touching me anymore. He gasped and took a step back, not necessarily frightened of me, just shocked by the intensity of
my glowing eyes, and smart enough to see the danger I presented.
The next thing I knew I was in the no-man’s-land halfway between the cops and the crazy guy on the ledge. “Okay, Angel,” I heard the negotiator say in a low, calm voice. Apparently he’d liked the cop’s nickname for me. “Approach very slowly with your hands in plain sight. Try to keep calm and don’t show any fear when you address him.”
I glanced behind me. The negotiator had pushed his way to the front of the barricade, waiting to see if I could really hear him. I gave him a nod of understanding and then turned my attention back to the man on the ledge.
“Hey!”
The guy whirled around, a bit startled, and yanked the girl even closer to him. He pressed the gun against the side of her head and she released another round of sobs.
I sucked in a breath. I wanted to tear this man apart for what he was doing.
“Easy, Angel,” the negotiator said behind me. “You must stay calm. Try to act like you’re on his side. Let him know you understand that he’s in control of this situation.”
Did he seriously want me to coddle this jerk? Bat my lashes, and say please?
I meant to. I really did. But when I opened my mouth what came out was, “I’m here, jerk-off. Why don’t you let the girl go and we’ll have a chat?”
“Shut up!” the man screamed at me. “You can’t tell me what to do! You think you’re so much better than me? Some kind of angel?”
I scoffed. “I never claimed to be an angel, but seeing as how I’m not the one putting an innocent girl’s life in danger, yeah, I definitely think I’m better than you.”
“What gives you the right to play with people’s lives?”
“I’m not playing with them. I’m saving them.”
The man burst into desperate sobs and screamed, “You didn’t save my son! He was only three years old! He needed your help, but you didn’t save him!”
I felt like I’d been slapped in the face. This was the last thing I’d been expecting, and I had no idea how to respond. “I’m sorry about your son.”
“You’re sorry?” the man shouted. “My son is dead! An innocent little boy! You wouldn’t help him, but you’ll come to save this brat?”
The man shook the terrified girl in his arms and I accidentally blitzed all electronic equipment in the immediate area. I also blew up my necklace again, darn it.
“Where were you this morning when my son was drowning in the neighbor’s pool?”
I felt bad about the guy’s kid, but he was seriously starting to piss me off. He only had a minute or two more of talk left before I just gave up and went Super Jamie on his butt.
“I didn’t know about your son,” I said through clenched teeth. “I don’t have some magical, psychic mind powers that tell me when someone’s in trouble. Where were you when your son needed your help?”
“He was passed out on the couch, drunk!” the little girl blurted. “It’s where he always is!”
“Shut up, you worthless piece of trash! You were supposed to be watching him! It’s your fault he’s dead!”
The man started to shake the girl again and that was it. I had to do something. If I could just get him to move his gun away from the little girl’s head, I could move fast enough to take him down before he had a chance to fire it or throw himself off the building. The only way I could think of to do that was give him something he wanted to point it at more than his daughter.
“Hey, douchebag!” I yelled. “I’ve got news for you. You’re the reason your son is dead, and if you don’t let your daughter go right now you’ll be joining him on the other side.”
I waited for the man to turn his gun on me, but he kept it plastered to the little girl’s temple.
I could hear the negotiator’s frantic questions and commands, but I ignored them. This needed to end.
“This garbage ain’t mine,” the man sneered at me. “She’s my slut wife’s kid. I never wanted her, and she let my son die. If you come any closer, I’ll kill her. I’ll kill us both. I swear I will!”
The man took a small step back, bringing himself as close to the edge as he could go and still keep his balance.
I took a breath. I didn’t think the guy had the guts to really do it, but what if I was wrong? What if I just pissed this guy off and he went through with his threats? I was pretty sure I could catch them before they went over if that happened, but seeing that little girl so close to the edge made me realize it wasn’t worth the risk.
“Okay,” I said pulling my hands back up in surrender, the way the negotiator was pleading with me to do. “All right. I’m not coming any closer, and I’m turning off the power.”
I took a step back and forced my energy to settle down. The man with the gun seemed to gain some confidence once my eyes were back to normal.
“Look, you don’t really want to die, do you?” I asked, then pointed to the little girl. “And she’s not really the person you want to hurt, is she? If she were, I wouldn’t be here.”
The man pushed the gun harder against his stepdaughter’s head, his grip on the handle tightened so much that his knuckles went white. His eyes sharpened on me.
“There are multiple sharpshooters pointing guns at your head right now.” I didn’t know if that was true, but it sounded good. “The only reason they haven’t shot you yet is because if you die you’ll fall and take that little girl with you. If you shoot her, you’re a dead man.”
“You think I care? My son is dead.”
I shrugged. “I think you’d rather see me die than her, and you won’t have time to kill us both.”
“Angel!” the negotiator hissed. “What are you doing? Just ask him what his demands are. Ask him how you can make it up to him. Play up your remorse for his son’s death. Don’t put ideas into his head. He’s unstable. He really will shoot you!”
“Exactly,” I whispered and then raised my voice to address the crazy man again. “Go ahead and do it,” I said. “Shoot me. I deserve it. People have been hurt because of me. People like your son.”
The gun flicked my direction just the tiniest bit, but it wasn’t far enough away from the girl’s head for me to make a move. The plan was working though, so I had to keep going. “You know what I was doing this morning while your son was dying? Watching reruns of So You Think You Can Dance on the Internet.”
Bingo. That totally did it. The man called me a very derogatory name and flung his pistol in my direction. The moment he acted, I took off at full speed. Before he even had time to pull the trigger, I ripped the gun from his hands and yanked both him and the girl a safe distance from the ledge. The girl scraped her knee when she fell to the ground, but she didn’t seem too mad about it when I snapped the handcuffs in half and told her to run to the police. I don’t think people had even made sense of what happened before the girl was racing across the roof to safety.
“Hey, negotiator man, it’s all clear,” I said as I pressed a knee into the perp’s back and pulled his hands painfully behind him. “Come get this jerk and throw his butt in jail for a long time.”
Seconds later a whole team of guys did exactly that. There was chaos for a minute as they dragged the guy off, and then I was left standing on the rooftop with a small handful of cops, the negotiator, the grumpy guy who seemed to be in charge of the operation, and the news helicopters that had been circling, getting the entire thing on film.
“Well done, Angel,” the negotiator said as I handed him his microphone back. “Thank you for your cooperation.”
I wanted to feel good, but the sick feeling in my gut hadn’t left. “Please don’t thank me. In a way, all of this was my fault. That man did all this to get to me.”
The grumpy cop huffed, annoyed that I’d taken responsibility before he could shove it in my face. The negotiator rolled his eyes at the other man and said, “You can’t blame yourself for that man’s actions, but there are better ways of using the gifts you’ve been given. Come back to the station with me. I could intro
duce you to a lot of people. You could do so much more good, help so many more people if you were working with us instead of around us.”
The guy seemed sincere, but it was an offer I could never accept. His face fell in disappointment when I shook my head. “I’m sorry. If I turned myself in, who knows what would happen to me. The government might lock me up because they are scared of my power, or they’d try to study me.”
“They wouldn’t.”
I shook my head again. “You can’t promise that, and I can’t risk it. Thanks for having faith in me, though. I’m really sorry about what happened today, but I have to go now.”
“Now hold on, young lady!” Captain Frowns A Lot started to yell.
I wasn’t in the mood to hear him lecture and threaten me—and I certainly wasn’t going to let him arrest me—so I took off. I was on the ground out front of the building before he even finished his sentence.
I was about to make a run for it, but I saw all the camera crews there and I made myself stop. People went crazy when they realized who was suddenly standing in front of them. I waited out the frenzy of cheers and questions, then asked the nearest reporter for her microphone. “I just want to say one thing,” I said, ignoring her questions. “This is the last time I ever respond to a threat like this. Anyone out there who thinks putting innocent people in danger is a good way to get to me, know that no matter what you do, I won’t show up. Policemen of the world, if it ever happens again, you’d better just kill the jerks because I’m not coming. The United States doesn’t negotiate with terrorists and from now on, neither do I.” I started to hand the microphone back to the reporter, but couldn’t resist saying one last thing. “Oh, and Super Babe? Really? You guys couldn’t get more creative than that? Worst nickname ever. Stick with Chelsea’s Angel, or come up with something less idiotic. Please. I’m begging.”