24. Angel
Chapter twenty-four
Angel
“Stand down,” Roger says through our comms. “Return immediately.”
I glance over at Owen and then at Scott, who both appear equally perplexed by the order. “We’re prepared to neutralize targets and bring them in for questioning. Are you sure?”
“There’s been an incident. Return to the cabins now.” His tone brooks no further argument from the team. Faith and Jaxon also acknowledge the order, and the way Jaxon does so means he’s just as confused.
We wait until Ken and Eva duck back behind the moss before we reverse crawl from our position until we’re far enough away to stand without being seen and our voices won’t carry. Owen finally breaks the silence that has stretched across our comms.
“All clear. Roger, please tell us what’s going on.”
Instead of Roger, it’s Vinny who responds. “Roger is currently engaged with more pressing matters. He’s on the phone with Director Finnegan, calling in a special favor.”
“Somebody better tell us what’s happening,” I say. “We were so close. Instead of walking back empty-handed, we could be bringing in two people for questioning, two people who appear to have the same objective as we do and might have information vital to us.”
“That’s what we’re trying to discern,” Vinny says. “Jerry was on the phone with Daisy and Bennett when a bomb at the Bloom residence was triggered. The last thing Jerry heard was the explosion before the line went dead.”
Owen’s eyes widen when he hears that his sister is, yet again, at the center of an attack. “Let’s go!”
At the pace we’re moving, what took us four hours to travel one way only takes an hour going back. Remaining hidden in the shadows or covering our tracks is not an option for any of us when Daisy’s life is on the line.
The one thing I can say for this team is that they remain calm under pressure. Yes, there’s urgency, but no one is panicking or losing their mind. No one is cluttering the comms with accusations, worry, or suspicions. Everyone is murmuring prayers as we await further news.
Jeremy and Jack are waiting for us at the staging area where we hid our ATVs, their truck idling and ready to take us to the cabin. Before getting in, we ensure all safeties are on before tossing our weapons and rucksacks into the back.
“Thanks for the lift,” I say, slamming the passenger door closed and feeling like a sardine in the back seat.
Jack, who is in the front passenger seat, turns around and looks at Owen first, then me. “Neither one of you needs to be operating a motor vehicle with everything going on. It’s dark outside, and operating an ATV requires concentration even when it’s daylight.”
Jeremy’s eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. “This is faster, and we all want information. Roger isn’t saying anything until he has all the facts.”
I hadn’t paid attention to the setting sun because my world was already turning dark.
I’ve been focusing on the softness of Daisy’s lips, the way she fits perfectly in my arms, and how I might never get the chance to hold her again.
Six months I wasted because I was too stupid to admit the connection we shared was real.
Owen isn’t really listening as he whispers a prayer like a mantra. “Dear God, please let my sister be alive. Please let her be alive. Please let her be alive.”
Gripping his shoulder in solidarity, I whisper, “She’s alive. I know it. Daisy still has a mission, and there’s no way she’s going to let a little thing like a bomb stop her from accomplishing it.”
When Owen looks at me with red-rimmed eyes, he gives me a grateful smile. “I pray those words are true, Angel. I’m just afraid she’s running out of lives to spare.”
Scott rolls the window down an inch to let out the cloying air that is starting to feel suffocating under the weight of our minds drifting to worst-case scenarios. “We’ll find out soon enough.”
Vinny comes out to greet us when he hears us get out of the vehicle and trek up the hill toward the cabin.
“Here’s what we know so far. Daisy is alive and well.
She was performing CPR on Bennett when the police and ambulances arrived, and they’re both currently at Rampart Regional Medical Center receiving aid.
That’s the last update I have for you regarding their well-being. ”
It’s enough for now. I don’t have to look at Owen to know that his shoulders have lost the tension they were holding because mine have done the same. “What do the police know?”
“Nothing,” Vinny says. “As soon as Jerry informed us of the incident, the call was made to Director Finnegan. Within 15 minutes, two special agents showed up at the scene and took over. It saves Daisy from needing to explain why she and Bennett were breaking into the Bloom residence to start with, or why a CIA officer was committing a felony on U.S. soil.”
Vinny follows us into the cabin, and Faith rushes over to hug me. “Daisy’s okay, Angel. Jaxon and I prayed all the way here.”
Jaxon grips Owen’s shoulder as Owen lets a solitary tear fall. It’s a tear of joy, relief, and his worst fear not being realized.
“Everyone prayed.” Then Jaxon quotes Matthew 18:20, a verse my family has always taken to heart. “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
“Prayer is the most powerful tool in the arsenal,” a voice says in my ear. No one acknowledges the comment, so I take out my earpiece and inspect the device. The voice doesn’t disappear. “Unity and reliance on the Father dims the darkness so one focuses on the Light. He is here and with you all.”
Not meaning to, I say the angel’s name out loud. At least, that’s who I believe is talking to me, although he isn’t making his presence known. “Uri.”
While the name doesn’t mean anything to most everyone in the room, it definitely catches Roger’s attention. “Angel, might I have a private word with you outside?”
“If it’s about my sister, I’m coming too,” Owen says.
The three of us leave the cabin, cross the walking path, and head into the woods to speak privately. Roger looks around. “How do you know that name?”
“Well… uh… um….”
“Daisy used to say that name in her sleep,” Owen says. “I always wondered if she subliminally knew the name of her captor even if she claimed she didn’t know it.”
“It’s not her captor,” Roger and I both say simultaneously.
Owen looks at both of us with a pointed glare. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Uri leans casually against a Douglas fir, gesturing for me to explain. “He’s ready to hear it.”
“Why didn’t you allow me to say anything before?”
Chuckling, Uri says, “You and Daisy were breathing toxic air. Your friends and family would have listened, but they would have chalked up your experience to a hallucination. Ask your friend Roger how the encounter in his youth was received by his peers. Now they’ll know you’re speaking with a sound mind. ”
“I’m not so sure about that,” I say, only half joking.
Owen follows my line of sight toward Uri, then looks back at me. “Angel, who are you talking to?”
“Is Uri here?” Roger asks, glancing around the area. There’s a childlike excitement in his voice I’ve never heard from him.
I nod, then tell the story of our rescue.
“Daisy wasn’t joking when she said the rocks fell away from divine intervention.
At first, it was just Eva and Uri moving them by hand, but when you and the rest of the team approached, Eva fled, leaving Uri to finish the job.
Uri prayed to God, and that’s when the mountain shook. ”
Owen looks so confused right now. “The mountain never shook, Angel. We never felt a thing.”
“I’m telling you, it did. Uri is an angel, Owen, and it’s not the first time he’s protected your sister.”
Owen looks to Roger for confirmation. “She never said anything to me. You never said anything. Why? I would have believed her.”
Roger grips his shoulder. “To be honest, I don’t know if she believed it herself at the time.
Daisy was so young, and her experience was traumatic.
But when she told me the story in the Grahams’ kitchen, I knew it to be true.
So when she asked me to keep it a secret, I did.
I’ve been in the same position and knew exactly how she felt. ”
Roger tells the story of when he was in college, back home for the summer as a camp counselor. His parents were devout atheists, and he was alone on a mountainside, questioning God’s existence. Roger asked for a sign. And he got one.
The side of the mountain broke free, and he was buried alive in a rockslide.
Then a stranger happened upon him in the middle of nowhere and dug him out.
The man looked like a cross between Jesus and a lumberjack, but Roger knew the man was sent by God.
It took years before he shared the story with anyone, and most nonbelievers were more than skeptical.
Even those who do believe in God often give him a polite smile when they hear of the miracle.
“Uri carried Daisy to the Graham homestead because the couple could be trusted. His voice guided her along the path, gave her hope when she wanted to die, and then he used his God-given strength to carry her the rest of the way when she could go no further,” Roger says.
Uri smiles as Roger shares Daisy’s encounter. “He gives credit where credit is due. I like that. The Father is the source of my strength, as He is the source of yours.”
Owen mulls over what Roger has told him and what I’ve told him. “So Uri is some kind of guardian angel, and he’s been looking after my sister for all these years. Wow!”
“Not just Daisy,” I tell him. “The woman who helped rescue us is the same woman Kenneth Johnson was talking to at one of the lost buildings we saw earlier today, Eva Vidal, also known as Maarika Kivem?e.”
I wait patiently for Owen and Roger to come to the same conclusion I did when we listened to Eva and Kenneth’s conversation. Roger purses his lips. “We may have miscalculated.”
“If Eva is innocent, then why did she run in the mines?” Owen asks. “Why did she try to kill you and my sister?”
Now that Eva’s identity is known, I glance over at Uri, who nods his approval.
“Eva didn’t set the bomb in the mine. The man in the photo did. Uri urged her to send the picture to us, knowing that Daisy and I would go.”
Owen searches for Uri but doesn’t see him. “Why would God send an angel to trap you in a mine?”
This is the part that will upset Owen the most. “The man who set the bomb knew he was being watched and was hoping to make that person disappear. Uri sent us in to draw attention away from Eva and buy her some time. And just so you know, Daisy’s identity is compromised.”
Roger heads back to the cabin. “We should have the rest of this conversation inside. Will Uri be joining us?”
Uri shakes his head. “I’m needed elsewhere, but remember what I told you, Angel.
Dark times are ahead. Daisy is still in danger, and sacrifices will need to be made.
Her life and the lives of many others will depend on it.
But victory is all but assured as long as you put your faith in the Father and pray fervently.
Your heart will be tested in the coming days, so keep your focus on the Light so that you do not lose your way. ”
As I turn to leave, Uri stops me. “One more thing. Pass this message on, as there are members of your team who carry doubts and regrets and wonder if this is where they belong.”
“Who?”
“That is between them and God, but here is the message for you to deliver: Everything that has happened in your lives, the successes, the failures, the loves, the losses, and every moment that has shaped who you all have become, has brought you to this moment. To this team. To serve a greater purpose than yourselves. Each one of you, at some point in your life, has asked, ‘Why, God?’ It is human nature to do so. The Father did not cause the suffering you have endured, but He allowed it to strengthen you and prepare you for what He has called you to do. This fight is only one of many that lie ahead.”
I head up the stairs and turn around, about to ask if I’ll see him again. Instead of a seven-foot-tall angel, all I see is an empty forest.