I Won't Let You Die Angel (5 page)

“Are we in Diagon Alley?”
I stared at the alley ahead of us. Is this even America? “I thought that was in
London.”

“What?” Neil asked frustratingly.

“Well, you must be aware
about my thing for fantasy. Harry Potter is my favorite hero. Ah, no, actually Percy
Jackson equally qualifies.”

He stared at me as if I’d
spoken in Sanskrit.

“Never mind, I don’t expect
you to read novels and especially fantasy after all. You must love the ‘20 most
wanted criminals’ type of books.”

“Actually, Hermione and
Annabeth both have much more wits than your so  called heroes.”

I stopped in my tracks.
“You’ve actually read those books.” I was surprisingly glad. Neil was the first
person ever who appreciated my reading genre. None of my friends could digest the
fact that as a science student, I could actually believe in fantasy.

“You might not be as old
as I assumed,” I said excitedly.

“What did you guess? Thirty?”

“Not thirty.” I squinted
through the corner of my eyes. He frowned.

“You’re not thirty? Right?
You don’t look like it.”

“No.” He said blandly.

“Then?”

“Then what?”

“Dude.” I murmured.

His face lit-up with that
heartwarming smile. “I’m twenty-”

“Oh.”

“-Nine”

“What?” I shrieked.

He laughed outright. “Twenty.
Just twenty.”

Two goons appeared in front
of us. I skidded backwards due to the change in my body’s moment of inertia, and
Neil caught me in time before I could stumble because of the shift in my center
of gravity due to my handcuff hands.

“You are in our territory,
Neil. You already know our father doesn’t appreciate trespassing,” barked one of
them. Now that I had time to notice it, both devils looked very much alike except
that one was bald.

“I’m not trespassing, you
fool. I’ve arranged for an audience with your father. Go sulk somewhere else. You’re
not getting anything here.”

The bald one eyed me top
to bottom like I was some nude model on sale. I shifted uncomfortably behind Neil.
He noticed and pushed the bald one aside. “Be gone badly. No feast for you.” Neil
took me by the waist and urged me sideways into another deserted alley.

“How dare you bring me to
such a disgusting place? Did you see that look on his face?” I spat in disgust.

“Don’t worry, Janet. You’re
with me. No one will dare lay a hand on you unless they want a crucial body part
to go missing. You’re safe by my side.”

Two things shocked me; first,
his use of “Janet” and second, his concerned tone. But I was still mad. “I would
be a hypocrite if I ever felt safe by your side.” As if on cue, an ugly fatty passed
by and I clutched Neil’s arm instinctively. He frowned at me knowingly.

“Would you mind taking these
off?” I lifted my handcuffed hands. “It’s not like I could escape from you here.”
I gestured at the smelly surroundings.

“It’s for your own safety.
This way, at least I appear to be your captor and people here won’t dare try to
snatch you. Otherwise, they might mistake you as…..”

“As??”

“You know….”

“Ok. Ok, fine. Let it be.”

It turned out that the audience
with Baldy’s father short-circuited the circuits of my brain. Hence, I turned it
into sleep mode and took a nap.

I was in tomorrowland, on
the “future ride” with Kevin. I had no idea how he knew this was my favorite place
in Disneyland. We were kissing passionately, my skin melting with every touch, my
mind fused by the flow of mild electricity inside me. I was breathless, and when
I broke away to catch a breath, I took a peek at his gorgeous face--blue eyes emanating
such a passion that caressed my senses. His enigmatic smile…… Wait…. Blue eyes….

The guy was not Kevin! He
was several times prettier, but complicated like a differential equation which requires
many more variables to solve.

“Janet”, my name on his
lips felt like silk. No one could pronounce Janet better. It was intimate in its
own way. “Janet”, he shouted urgently. Why was he shouting? I’m right here……

“JANET, wake up.”

I woke up startled. “Why
do you have to…”

“Duh” was all I could utter.
Not even twenty-four hours had passed and we were under attack again. Unlike before,
this time the attackers were actually disguised as Neil’s “friends.”

No one was paying any attention
to me, but Neil was outmatched by 1:6 and a fat old man with rotten teeth was enjoying
the façade. I observed carefully; no one seems to notice me, that’s a plus;
I was handcuffed, that’s two minuses. Their back was to me, that’s a positive; I
had no weapon, double negative.

Neil took care of two goons
easily and was now brawling with four. For a moment, I was mesmerized by the quickness
and handsomeness in the way he was sparring. All of them were weaponless, and to
my surprise, even fatter. Beside fatty on the side table was a basket full of fruit
and bingo, a knife. Not a fighting one, but it would do.

I tiptoed towards the table.
Not at all difficult when five people are replaying WWF in reality. Fatty was laughing
like a maniac. Well, I had to stop rotten teeth’s laugh. I got hold of the hilt
and instantly swept it towards fatty’s neck.

“Don’t move,” I warned and
now the laughter vanished. “Order your minions to stop or I’ll hurt you badly.”
For a second he was confused and then regarded me like some untamed kitten defying
its master.

Well, I don’t make empty
threats. “Stop!” I shouted. Not a leaf cracked. Now, now, people need to take me
seriously. “STOP!” I shrieked really loud. That got everybody’s attention.

Neil was wounded, blood
oozing from his forehead and elbows, but he passed me a smile. Fatty snorted, “Did
you really think you could neutralize me girl? Why even try? This man abducted you.
Cooperate with us and I’ll spare you.”

I considered it for a moment.
“Well!!! It‘s real tempting.” I pressed the knife deeper. “But, no, I don’t think
so.” His minions looked bored, but Neil didn’t waste the distraction. He picked
up a leather belt lying nearby, grabbed one buffoon by his neck, and twisted. Snap!
The goon won’t move again, and Neil did it in less than five seconds.

Fatty took advantage of
my awed state and ducked out of knife range, knocking me over the chair. I crumpled
on the ground, puncturing my hips, but held the knife firmly. He was about to smash
my face when suddenly he got all stiff and collapsed forward.

I rolled away from him just
in time. I barely eyed a man at the rightmost window when another crunch snapped
me to attention. Neil took out one more and now the other two were on top of him.

The man rushed to Neil’s
rescue and gestured towards the knife. I shoved the knife in his direction, into
his hand instead of his heart. He stabbed one of the two in the eye and kicked
the other. Neil took the advantage and tweaked the last one’s neck.

For a few seconds, both
of them stood there, measuring each other. I thought about interrupting their silent
action scene, but decided otherwise.

“I leave you alone for three,
just three months, and you engage yourself in a battle totally out of your league
in Mckoy’s own lair”, shouted the man in total exasperation. For a dreadful second,
I thought Neil was going to choke him to death, too. But he grinned and hugged him.

I was completely baffled.
It was the first time ever I had seen Neil show any affection.

“Well, at least you got
the chance to save the day. Doesn’t that count for something?” Neil patted his shoulders
smiling

“Actually, this lady here
saved the day. Didn’t she?” The man gestured to me. The attention turned towards
me and I shifted on my legs. “Um… actually…… it’s just….”

“It’s all right. You’re
really sweet.” He passed me a genuine smile. “Neil! How dare you handcuff your own
girlfriend?”

What? No. “I’m not his girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.” Both Neil and I spoke at the same moment.

The man stared at Neil,
then me, and again at Neil. “Then why is she here, Neil? Care to explain?”

Neil sighed and came to
me. “Janet, meet my friend Carl, and Carl meet Janet Kanet.”

Carl’s eyebrows literally
touched his hair and he whistled. “This is she?
This
cute little thing created
such mayhem in the underworld?”

“Excuse me!  I would have
thanked you for the ‘cute’ compliment if you hadn’t mentioned that mayhem thing.”
I scowled.

“Well, she has attitude
for such a little thing.”

“I’m a person, not a thing.”

Carl held his hand out in
surrender. “Fine girl, be as it is. But right now, we need to rush.”

Carl’s definition of escape
plan number 1 was a suicide mission that included jumping from a five-storey window
without a trampoline to neutralize the effect of a head-on collision. Of course,
the ledges were there, but I was no trekker.

“I’m not jumping from here.
I want to live.” I said skeptically.

“Then we’ll just have to
throw you down.” Carl stated as lightly as if this were some round table conference
discussion on the world’s best escape plans.

“No, we will not”, said
Neil emphasizing each word.

Carl folded his arms across
his chest and frowned, “Tell me again why you’re not claiming her as your girlfriend.”

“Um… excuse me, I’m still
here.” I said, rolling my eyes.

Carl spared me a glance
and then turned to climb down the window. “She’s your headache, deal with it or
take some aspirin.”

I turned my gaze towards
Neil, “What did he just say?”

Neil stroked his forehead.
“Don’t mind.”

“Oh! Don’t worry, I never
mind.” I added sarcastically.

Gradually and painfully
slowly, Neil finally managed to help me down. Carl was there with a silver Volvo
behind him. “What about the BMW? We can’t just leave it here.” I retorted.

“Is your life more important
or that car, sugar? Now, come on, climb in”, ordered Carl.

“I call shotgun.”

“No”, snapped Neil. “Get
in the back” and then he took the keys from Carl, “I’m driving.” Carl held his hands
up, but smiled, “Whatever, dude.”

Once back on the highway,
I tried pleading my case politely, just like a lady. I held my hands up and made
my best puppy face, “Please, could you take these off. There are two of you now.
Besides, it’s starting to hurt.”

Carl actually looked concerned.
“Come on, why keep this little thing all chained up. Give her some slack already.”

“Don’t let her innocent
face fool you. She single-handily took on three men. Give her a gun and she’ll shoot
us straight through our heart.”

Carl’s head hung like some
simple pendulum with its extremities on both of our faces. I bet the angle of inclination
would soon increase to 180 degrees. Finally, by some invisible external force, the
pendulum stopped at mine.

“You must be something,
sugar. Never in my whole existence with Neil have I heard him confess that someone
could defeat him, and you’re just a cute little girl.”

“Well, I could. Free me
and we could have a duel. I bet you’ll enjoy it.”

“Shut it, Janet.” Neil interrupted.

“She’ll obey you, but I
won’t. Care to explain why the hell you risked annihilating Mckoy’s lair? We live
by a code of conduct here. Can’t I leave you alone for a few months?” shouted Carl
ardently. But his tone was more brotherly than scolding. Neil just smiled impishly
like a child getting scolded by his mother.

He explained the whole ordeal
to Carl. After extricating every thread of details from Neil, Carl finally asked
just one more question, “Are you a hundred percent sure they were Mckoy’s men?”

“Now you doubt my sources,
too. So much for trusting my decisions,” pouted Neil. I didn’t know he was capable
of this. This Neil was different, different with Carl, carefree and...normal. Why
can’t he just be like that with me?

I mentally slapped myself
hard. Why oh why did I fantasize so much about Neil? Why did my stringent mind turn
pesky when it came to Neil? Why did all of my dexterous senses take a detour into
a black hole when I thought about him or observed him closely?  And all of this
happening in just one damn day.

“I knew this was destined
to be doomed,” Neil slammed his hand on the steering wheel fervently. “It was for
you or else I would not have crossed paths with her. You know I don’t do this sort
of assignments. I don’t know why you worship her so intently.”  Neil was livid.
What was I missing?

Carl placed a
reassuring hand on Neil’s shoulder, “Relax! I will arrange a rendezvous with
her as soon as possible. You’ll be out of this by tomorrow, I promise. And
we’ll dig out who betrayed you, who arranged Mckoy’s goons to go after you, and
who wants this assignment to be doomed.”

Neil’s posture didn’t
relax. “What got you?” inquired Carl.

“I don’t know! I don’t like
this. It was not supposed to be like
this
”, exclaimed Neil.

“Chill, dude, I know we
had a difference of opinion on this, but you don’t have to be sleazy,” interceded
Carl.

Neil ruffled his hair, “You
don’t understand.”

“No, that’s where you are
wrong, I understand you only too well.” Carl turned unexpectedly and something pierced
my wrist and boom…

Waking up dizzily on a couch
has become my quarterly routine now.  My five senses took their sweet time to adjust
and apparently my sixth sense never works. But unlike before, this time I woke up
on a much more comfortable couch and whoa… it turned out that I was in a five-star
hotel.

Carl was lazily sprawled
on the king-size bed and regarded me with a smirk. “Sleeping beauty awakes.”

I sat cross-legged, giddiness
still receding. “What have you done to me, blindfolding was much a healthier method.”

“Etorphine Hydrochloride
straight into the veins.”

“An absolute instant sedative…..
That’s how we took ‘rotten teeth’.”

That’s an absolutely great
idea--much easier than brawling.” I exclaimed.

“And less messy, don’t forget
to mention that”, said Carl crooning, putting himself in a sitting position.

“Yeah.” I said, rolling
my eyes. “But tell me, Mr. Pharmacist, why use it on me?”

“You were eavesdropping.”

“It’s not called eavesdropping.
It’s not like I could malfunction my ears. And if you have so many problems with
me, why not get rid of me. Let me leave,” I said, emphasizing the word “leave.”

 “You know, that idea is
really tempting. You babble a lot. Without you in the same room, I’d be able to
concentrate on my next move.” He tapped his finger on his forehead, as if pondering
his thoughts.

“The next move is to immobilize
more innocents?”

He shared a crooked smile,
“How predictable, sugar. But no, for now I’ve my mind on chess only.”

“Chess? You play chess?”
I stared at him, baffled.

“Why such an expression,
sugar? I often tend to indulge myself in brain-consuming activities.”

I composed myself. “I love
chess. It’s the best pastime. Let’s play.”

“No one’s playing anything.”
A voice burst my happy bubble. And I caught a drool-worthy sight. Neil was standing
there just in his boxers, towel in hand; he probably had just taken a shower. Our
eyes locked and involuntarily a stupid smile escaped my lips. To increase my ecstatic
mood, he smiled back, and God he managed to look ineffably sexy.

Carl cleared his throat.
That broke Neil’s trance and he quickly glanced at Carl.

“Enough sweet talk.. Did
you do as discussed or not?” asked Neil.

Carl looked grim. “Um, actually
Majestic
couldn’t be available.” Neil raised his hands in exasperation.

“But, we got
Storm”
,
added Carl quickly. “Tomorrow, if it’s fine by you.”

Neil just nodded. “That
means we just have today to kill.”

“Why kill, my friend? Enjoy….”

Neil smiled mischievously.
“And what is that, my friend?”

“There’s an opera show nearby,
this evening in fact.” Carl stated with excitement.

Neil literally rolled his
eyes a perfect 360 degrees. “Not that again. Why don’t you try to live in the 21
^st
century, brother?”

“Oh, come on, Neil”, Carl
literally begged.

“I’ve never been to an Opera.”
I said intervening.

Two pairs of eyes bore
on me intently.

“Who invited you?” asked
Carl wryly.

“You handcuff me, blindfold
me, keep me famished, and let me wear oversized clothes, but I never complain. I
mean, yeah, I complain a little. But you certainly aren’t thinking of locking me
up here alone while you go party, are you?” I blabbered angrily, looking at Neil.

Neil regarded me coldly
and turned towards Carl. “Ok, last time. But we can’t leave her here.” He
wagged a finger at me.

“I didn’t know that you
can’t live without her even for a second nowadays”, chuckled Carl.

“This is no joke, dude.
Last time I left her alone, she managed to escape easily despite my best
attempts. And she was half unconscious that time. I’m not taking that risk again.”

“Great, so it’s decided,
we’re going to the opera. What are we wearing?” I asked excitedly.

“There’s a vintage boutique
on the ground floor. We’ll find outfits that match the theme.” replied Carl enthusiastically.

Neil’s expression was drastically
livid. “You two, seriously! I’m surrounded by goofy people.”

“Ignore him”, said Carl
is picking up his coat. “Let’s go.”

After so long, I enjoyed
shopping. Neil joined us eventually, and Carl made sure he tried on every fourth
outfit, which annoyed Neil beyond anything and entertained me beyond this universe.

After a little chitchatting
with Carl, we discovered that we had lots in common. I mean, come on, I never thought
I’d enjoy wandering around with someone like him, a criminal. Whatever theories
and facts I spewed out, he always had something to say about it unlike Neil. He
was just like Kevin, I mean not romantically, but in just a couple of hours, it
looked like I’d made a friend.