Guardian Angel

Published

Prologue

July 1, 2010

​

I never planned to become a hero; it was an accident. I just wanted to disappear for a bit.

​

Dozing in and out of sleep, the woman’s desperate scream jolted me from the black, dreamless void. I flipped to my feet in an instant; the scream echoed through my sleep-fogged brain.

​

What happened? I scanned the surroundings; looming silhouettes of HVAC equipment, spindly trees, loose construction material. Nothing moved.

​

Where am I?

​

Right. The half-finished rooftop garden finally registered. University Hospital.

​

Not surprising. It was the tallest building on campus, and I often climbed it when I was too lazy to Run to the ROX radio tower.

​

A vague memory of yelling at my cell phone flitted across my brain, and I winced. After screaming myself hoarse in a fit of juvenile rebellion, I’d powered the phone off and climbed the roof’s service ladder with a driving need to escape. Then I’d settled onto the half-finished patch of park sod to watch the sunset, and…I must have fallen asleep.

​

Then did I imagine that scream? Dream it?

​

It was late—far later than Sara’s new curfew allowed—so the school had long closed. And with the ER and Trauma Wards under renovation for another two weeks, there was no reason for someone to come looking for medical attention.

​

Maybe it was a girl returning late to her dorm? Predators weren’t uncommon on campus, despite numerous revisions to security.

Excitement mingled with adrenaline in my stomach. If some drunk girl was screaming, then she needed help. A voice in my brain quickly reminded me that I was a young college girl myself, even younger than most, but I shoved it aside. I wasn’t just ‘some girl,’ and if I could help, then I would.

​

I skidded to the edge of the roof. Bright lights illuminated the empty campus, offering a clear view of the open sidewalks and barren Green surrounded by various college buildings. Unity Fountain sat in the center of the Green where the brick sidewalks all came together to form a central hub. Nothing moved but the water. Moonlight mixed with the warm amber light from the wrought iron streetlamps, designed after the university’s original gas lamps, to cast thin shadows that gave little room to hide.

​

Brow furrowed, I set my hands on the roof’s edge, leaning over to scan the sidewalk just below. Still nothing. I frowned. It was a dream after all. I tamped down my disappointment.

​

A flicker of light caught my eye, and I leaned further over the edge, using my knees as an improvised clamp to keep from tumbling off the roof. One of the third-floor rooms had a light on, and I squinted. Vague shapes played against the white curtains, people it seemed, and at least one had raised hands.

​

Wasn’t the third floor all labs? X-rays and blood work and such? Why was someone in there so late?

​

A gunshot exploded in the night, accompanied by a chorus of screams as the lighted window shattered. I lost my anchor and scrambled for a sturdy grip.

​

Well, that escalated quickly.

​

I rolled backward onto the roof. The time for thinking was over. It didn’t matter why or who or how, I needed to act before people got hurt.

​

Racing for the door, I grabbed my phone from my back pocket. I powered it on but hesitated to call.

​

Not an hour ago, I told Sara I hated her. Kale would hardly appreciate that. But he wouldn’t leave me here to fend for myself, would he? Not if someone was in trouble. Right?

​

I tried the roof’s metal door. Locked.

​

“Judo,” I swore, trying the handle a few more times. I could go down the ladder and come back up through the hospital, but that would take time I didn’t have.

​

What about the broken window? But no, that wasn’t likely. The window was four floors down, and I had nothing to anchor me if I fell. I needed help.

​

Gritting my teeth, I hit Kale’s number. It rang. And rang. And rang.

​

Shouts filtered through the broken window. I rushed to the edge, but the voices were too distant for me to make out more than a few shouted words. Someone sobbed; a woman cried out as a man suddenly shouted. Was he defending her or menacing her?

​

“Please, Kale,” I begged. “I’m sorry, okay? So please, please pick up.”

​

The phone clicked.

​

“Kale!” I tempered my relief to a whisper. “Thank Judo.”

​

“That’s all you have to say?” Kale’s voice rumbled dark and gravelly over the phone. “Sara’s been crying herself into hysterics for hours, Angela. Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been—?”

​

“I know you’re mad, Kale, and I’m sorry. I swear I am.” I leaned over the roof again, trying to see into the broken window. Why hadn’t anyone else reacted to the gunshot? The hospital stood apart from the rest of campus, but not that far. At the very least, hospital security should have responded. “I need your help.”

​

Kale scoffed. “Of course, you do.”

​

“I’m at school.” I scraped my nails across the concrete ledge as my body itched to move. “On the roof of the hospital.”

​

“How in the seven—”

​

“Someone broke in.” I felt a dull ache in my fingers and stopped scraping. The last thing I needed was my DNA at a crime scene. “They have a gun.”

​

Kale swore. And not one of the watered-down kiddie ones he used for Sara’s benefit. “I’ll call it in ASAP. You did good letting me know.”

​

“Who said I’m letting you know?” 

 

The raised voices escalated, and I just knew…The gun went off, and the woman screamed denials. My grip tightened on the phone. “I’m requesting backup.”

​

“Angela!” Kale’s voice went distant as I pulled the phone away. “Don’t do anything stupid!”

​

“Stupid?” I scoffed. “When have I ever done anything stupid?”

​

“Angela—!”

​

I ended the call. Time to do something stupid.