Natural Born Angel (27 page)

G
olden afternoon light passed through the blazing orange and red leaves of the oaks that covered the open picnic area on the hillside. Autumn leaves lazily spiralled their way down to the grass. The oaks had turned the earth into a carpet of yellow and scarlet. Up above, Griffith Park extended up and over the hills for hundreds, if not thousands of acres: an oasis of wilderness right next to Angel City. A small, woodsy little shack off to the side of the tables served as a café.

It was the day after the election, and Maddy had wanted to ask a certain non-Angel’s advice.

Tom had already been waiting at a picnic table for ten minutes when Maddy arrived in a rush. He was wearing old jeans, a T-shirt and his leather jacket, which Maddy reflected was like his uniform when he wasn’t wearing his
actual
uniform.

“I’m
so
sorry I’m late. I got caught in traffic.” She remembered how annoyed Tom had been the first time she’d kept him waiting.

Tom sipped his coffee. “I haven’t been waiting long. I’ve been making friends with the squirrels here,” he said, motioning to a squirrel that was running to and fro across the leaves with an acorn from an oak tree. “Just don’t get him started, or he’ll never shut up.” As if in response, the squirrel started chirping and then dashed away and disappeared up the rough trunk of a tree.

Maddy laughed. It was so nice to remember there were creatures in the world who couldn’t care less about the Angels.

“This park is great,” Tom said, looking around appreciatively at the wilderness. “I never would have known it was here.”

“I used to come here a lot with my uncle when I was a girl. We would walk up the hill and then go to the Griffith Observatory, and I would look at all the planets. And then we would go and get pie at this all-pie restaurant. The Angel City sign is just over there.” Maddy pointed west. Her mind cast back for a moment to that simpler time.

“It’s quiet,” Tom said appreciatively. “And an all-pie restaurant? Sounds good.”

Maddy looked around with her own appreciation – no paparazzi in sight. They tended to stick closer to Runyon Canyon Park, which was one of the hottest Angel-sighting spots in town.

“I got you something,” Tom said. “For your Commissioning.”

“You did?” Maddy said, surprised and slightly uncomfortable.

Tom nodded, reaching into his leather jacket. He had something in his hand. He extended his palm. A set of golden naval aviator wings, maybe three inches across, sat there. They glittered in the fading afternoon sun.

Tom grinned at her. “Well, go ahead, take them. They’re for you.”

“They’re beautiful,” Maddy said. She reached forward slowly and took them in her hand. The gold was warm to the touch. The detailing was incredible.

“Turn them over,” Tom said.

Flipping the wings over, Maddy discovered he had engraved
NATURAL
on them.

“Your call sign,” he said. “If you’re ever on the flight deck, just show them these.”

“I don’t know what to say. How did you get these? Are you going to get into trouble?”

“Don’t worry about that. I wanted to get you something to celebrate. I hadn’t . . . acquired them by your Commissioning. But now you can have them. I’d be proud to have you on my wing any day.”

“Thank you, Tom,” Maddy said slowly. Was it OK for her to accept them? Yes, she decided. Tom was just her flying instructor. “It’s so thoughtful of you.”

“I remember when I first got my wings. How I felt. It seemed like everyone thought I couldn’t do it, given my pedigree. But I proved them wrong.”

Maddy nodded, holding the small golden wings between her fingers. Autumn leaves continued to fall behind them. A light breeze sent them spinning as they descended to the ground.

“I’m getting a little cold. Should we go for a walk?” Maddy said. She buttoned up her jacket.

They made their way up one of the wide trails, up the hill. Not many people were on the packed-dirt path, so they had some peace. Birds chirped enthusiastically in the trees, and the thicket of oaks gave way to stands of tall palm trees. The palms were so tall and spindly they seemed to extend to the sky itself. Soon the gleaming observatory appeared further up the mountain, a white pearl on the hillside.

Maddy was wondering how to bring up what she’d set up this meeting to discuss, but Tom beat her to it.

“So I guess you know my new boss doesn’t like Angels too much?” Tom said.

Maddy gave him a questioning look.

“President-elect Linden. Technically he’ll be the commander in chief of the military.”

“Oh,” Maddy said. “Angels” – she’d almost said
Jacks
– “are pretty upset about it.”

“Upset? They have no right. After what Churchson did. . . How many innocents were murdered, just for the Archangel to try to consolidate Angel power?” Tom shook his head in disgust. “Well, it’s blown up in their faces. Did you know that just a few hours ago in DC, Congress passed an emergency measure to form the Global Angel Commission with Western Europe, China, Russia, India, Brazil, everyone? Leaders and emissaries are all flying to Washington from around the world. Linden will be sworn in as the president of the GAC tonight. He’ll be leading everyone. All of this is happening at top speed to deal with the Angel corruption crisis. The current president is taking a back-seat role. Big change is happening, Maddy. We may be here to witness it.” There was a certain excitement in Tom’s voice. “Now it’s only a matter of time before the Immortals Bill passes. They’re calling the Angels ‘fallen’. Churchson’s crime was like pouring petrol on to a flame. All Angel activities will be suspended, punishable by jail, while they determine what reforms have to be made. There will have to be huge changes to Protection for Pay. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Maddy was completely silent. She remembered what Jacks had told her. About decisions.

Tom looked at Maddy’s face. “What? I mean, you’re excited for this, right?”

Maddy looked off into the distance.

“We’ve talked about this before, that you wanted to help bring change to the Immortals. That’s why you started, you told me. Well, now you have a chance.”

“That’s not entirely why I started,” Maddy said. “There were many— ”

“That’s not what you told me. You told me once that a hero will fight for an idea. Now you can use your position to work with President Linden and bring real change. Now, Maddy. Not five or ten years from now. But tomorrow. Think about that.”

“But what will happen to the people who need to be protected in the meantime if the Immortals Bill passes while he reforms?” Maddy asked. “There are some Angels who think that the change needs to happen from within. Is Linden’s way the right way? I met him, you know, Senator – I mean, President – Linden. He came to the diner. He knew my father.”

“You met him?” Tom asked incredulously. “What was he like?”

“Honestly, Tom, he seemed somehow . . . good. Or at least his intentions were. But I don’t know in my gut that what he’s doing is right. Maybe he’s wrong about all this and we’re headed towards a disaster we can’t even imagine.”

“Neither you nor I can answer that. But it may be the only way.” Tom’s eyes were becoming deep and rich with a kind of fire and conviction as he turned to Maddy. “The Angels could say they’re going to change. But how can you ever trust them? They denied that you even existed. They needed to keep their image clean. That’s enough for me right there. You said yourself that they called you an abomination.”

Maddy felt unsure. She felt an old pain at the word
abomination
. She turned away, looking off to a small grass-covered ravine that had a trickle of a creek running down it.

“Maybe you’re right.” Maddy was shocked to hear herself saying those words. “I . . . I don’t know yet, Tom.”

The pilot had come up behind Maddy. He put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just important. This isn’t something you have to decide right now. But you may have to make the decision sone day soon.”

There was comfort in his hand on her shoulder. Maddy felt it represented something real, something concrete, something different. For some reason it also scared her.

Tom looked at her, an unreadable expression in his eyes. “I also just wanted to let you know, if you ever want to take the plane up again, just tell me. Maybe we’ll fly all the way to Santa Barbara.”

“Thanks, Tom. I appreciate it.” She held the wings in her hands. “Thank you for everything. You’ve been a great friend.”

The pilot’s gaze remained on her.

“I should go, though. It’s getting late.”

Maddy turned to start walking down the path, back towards the cars.

Suddenly what seemed like a thousand flashes fell upon Maddy and Tom at once, absolutely stunning them. A herd of photographers charged up the hill, calling Maddy’s name.

The paparazzi had found them.

Maddy shielded her face and, stunned, hurried as fast as she could towards the car park. Tom, cursing, tried to follow her through the crush of photographers to his pickup. Maddy’s mind raced a thousand miserable directions as she imagined the field day the media was going to have with this situation.

But the biggest question in her mind was, how had they found them?

And then she saw, just down the hill where the cars were parked: a redhead getting into a white Porsche and zipping into the sun-spangled afternoon back down into Angel City.

Emily.

T
he media-circus response was swift and ruthless. Pictures of Tom and Maddy, along with a video of her covering her face as they ran down the hill and Tom threatening some of the photographers, sped across the internet and TV stations within minutes.

“
Maddy Flies High with Pilot Hunk! Devastated Jack Sits at Home, Wings Clipped!
” read the title of the post on TMZ, the first of eight that night. The media had already started doing background on Tom, pulling up everything they could find. Maddy was frantically looking at blogs on her phone while driving towards her house. Damage control was necessary. Very necessary.

She’d texted Jacks and called eight times. He hadn’t picked up, not once. All she could ask herself was, what had she done?

Maddy’s Audi squealed into her parking garage, and she quickly went to the elevator. Darcy was calling. Again. She didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t answer.

Once inside her apartment, she turned on the TV to check the damage. And it was bad.

A! was running a graphic of her face, with cutouts of Tom’s and Jacks’s faces on each side of it.
“AMERICA’S SWEETHEART CAUGHT IN LOVE TRIANGLE!”

Ew.

She switched over to ANN and was met with commentary from one of the newer Angel “experts”, Colleen Theo, who was notorious for being extra sensationalistic. “Maddy clearly hasn’t been getting what she needs from fading star Jackson Godspeed, so apparently she’s looking elsewhere. And, frankly, who can blame her when she has a sexy decorated fighter pilot like Tom Cooper? He could take me to Mach 2 any day of the week.” Colleen creepily looked directly into the camera when she said this. Maddy had to turn the TV off.

She tried to call Jacks again. She paced around her apartment as the phone rang, walking back and forth over the white shearling rug.

Voicemail again.

I have to go and find him. Explain things.

Maddy picked her keys up from the counter. Opening the door, she almost ran into Jackson.

He was standing there in a blazer with a V-neck T-shirt underneath, his blue eyes piercing her with seriousness. Maddy held her breath.

“Going somewhere?” Jacks asked flatly. He was silhouetted by the hall light behind him.

“No – I mean – yes,” Maddy stuttered. “To find you,” she finally got out, defeated.

“Are you going to invite me inside or just stand there looking all guilty?”

“I’m not guilt— ” she started firing back, but held her tongue for the time being. She moved out of the way, keeping a watchful eye on Jacks as he came in.

“I had to hear from Chloe,” Jacks said coldly, shaking his head. “Maddy, what’s going on?”

“Nothing!” Maddy protested. “Jacks, I swear!”

“Why were you on a date with that pilot then?”

“It wasn’t a date. . .”

“It looked like a date. The media seems to think it’s a date. You know what they’re saying about me!” Jackson was furious, his hands curling at his side in anger. “It’s . . . it’s humiliating!”

“Tom and I are just friends! You know that!” Maddy said.

“
Tom
,” Jacks said, scorn in his voice. “Friends? All you ever told me was that you’ve been training with a pilot to help with your flight skills. You didn’t say you were friends. And not that you were going on romantic hikes together.” The anger and hurt in Jackson’s voice filled it in equal measure.

Maddy moved to Jacks, pressed against him. “Jacks, don’t be like this.”

He wouldn’t look at her. She took his face in both her hands and turned his face to hers. “Jacks, look at me. Look at me. He’s been my tutor, and now he’s a friend. Tom’s just a friend. I
promise
.”

Jacks held her gaze a bit longer, and then turned away.

Although she tried to stop them, a few tears began running down her cheeks. She swiped them away with the back of her hand and was able to stop them from coming uncontrollably. “It was Emily, Jacks.”

“What?”

“How the paparazzi got tipped off.”

“Maddy, you’re being paranoid,” Jacks said. “Emily’s a nice girl. Sometimes she can get a little carried away.”

“
Nice girl?
” Maddy said. “Why are you defending her? What’s going on, Jacks?”

“Nothing is going on, Maddy. Quit trying to change the subject.”

“You just want to think she’s a nice girl, Jacks,” Maddy said. “But she somehow followed me or something. She sent the paparazzi. Don’t you see that this right here is what she wants? To poison us?”

Jackson looked at Maddy. “I’m sorry,” he said at last, his voice lowering. “Maybe I overreacted. If you say he’s just a friend . . . I have to trust you. Out of anyone, I should know not to always believe what the media says.”

Maddy moved closer to Jackson again. He let her embrace him this time. “I’m sorry, Jacks.” She pressed her face against his shoulder.

“How did we get here?” Jacks asked, shaking his head.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know.”

“I think you should probably call Darcy now.”

“I . . . OK. That sounds like a good idea.”

Stepping away from Jacks, Maddy picked up her phone and made the dreaded call to her publicist.

Darcy wanted Maddy out, in public and looking happy, so the next day saw Maddy jaunting all over the Immortal City. The blogs were still on fire over the potential love triangle, and the Angel networks had locked on to it with a death grip.

The day started with very public morning coffee with Jacks, of which the paparazzi caught every moment. Plentiful Angel City sunshine shone down on smiling Maddy and Jacks. When asked about Tom, Maddy said, “He’s been a great help in my flight instruction,” and left it at that. Although she knew that might sting the pilot’s pride, she couldn’t worry about that now. She had to salvage things. Maddy and Jacks walked away hand in hand, the photographers’ cameras snapping and whirring.

She then went home and changed. Darcy was insisting she make an appearance at the launch of a new Angel organization that funded the arts for young Angels with the help of corporate sponsor BMW. She didn’t really want to go, but given the problems she’d just landed on the lap of her publicist, she also didn’t want to be too difficult.

“MADDY! MADDY! HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH TOM? WHAT DOES JACKS HAVE TO SAY? MADDY, RIGHT HERE!”

Maddy didn’t answer; she just smiled and waved, walking in among the other Angels as the photogs did their thing.

Suddenly, to the side, Maddy saw a group of protesters penned off by metal fencing. They waved signs and were shouting at her and the other Angels as they arrived. The signs bore graphic pictures from the bombing.

They pressed angrily against the barricades, which normally held back rabid Angel fans, not Angel detractors. The ACPD and private security attempted to keep them back from the red carpet, which baked under the hot sun.

They screamed:

“ANGELS ARE MURDERERS!”

“LIARS!”

“WHY ARE YOU HIDING CHURCHSON WHEN YOU’RE ALL GUILTY?!”

“YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR WINGS!”

Maddy’s brow knit in concern as she looked at the people so furiously screaming at them. Suddenly a few of the protesters reached into their rucksacks and began hurling rotten vegetables towards the Angels. The girl Angel just in front of Maddy received a disgusting
splat
of a tomato that exploded across her expensive, almost sheer dress. She shrieked. Other Angels began dodging the rotten veggies, and Maddy ducked under what looked like a putrid yam as the police extended their batons to try to handle the crowd, which was becoming more and more unruly.

In a daze, Maddy rushed into the reception area for the event, where she was ushered towards the back gardens. Calming classical music was playing on the speakers as she passed a priceless fountain that had been designed by one of the twentieth century’s greatest Swiss architects. The shouts of the protesters had already faded into the background. All the museum staff had big plastic smiles on their faces, as if they had no idea there was practically a mob scene just outside.

Maddy thought of the fury in the protesters’ eyes. And how strange she felt being the target of it. It was unsettling. Didn’t they know that she, too, disapproved of the terrible thing Churchson had done? That most Guardians probably also felt awful and hoped they would find the Archangel and bring him to justice?

It was a sunny, warm day, even though winter was just a page or two away on the calendar. The organizers had decided to hold the luncheon in the back sculpture garden of the museum. Maddy looked at the modern art masterpieces sprinkled throughout the garden. The museum itself loomed large in the background like a behemoth, a work of art itself. She knew the pieces were supposed to be very “important”, but some of them just looked like a block of black marble, not sculpted at all. One was brass and looked just like a giant balloon animal, the kind you get from a clown when you’re a child.

Darcy helped introduce Maddy to all the important people at the event. She posed for more pictures with the BMW backdrop and gave some sound bites about how important it was to fund the arts.

Throughout the event, Maddy’s mind kept wandering back to what had happened yesterday, with both Tom and Jacks. She had texted the pilot an apology. Maddy was sure the media had been hounding him all day – she’d seen footage of him getting into his pickup and driving away from base last night with a bunch of photographers taking photos of him. He didn’t look too happy to see them.

But Tom was more concerned about her: “
Are you OK? Is there anything I can do?
”

“
I’m fine, Tom
,” she had written. And left it at that.

She was also concerned about Jacks. Even though he seemed to believe her that Tom was just a friend, he still had an edge, an edge that, she realized, had been growing in him over recent months. Whenever it was almost too much, Jacks seemed to pull back just in time. Become old Jackson again. The one she felt so calm around, the one who could still turn her into a silly, Angelstruck girl.

A voice came from Maddy’s side. “You must be Maddy. I’m Rachel,” a young woman said. She was wearing a matching lavender skirt and top. She was blushing. “I’m the event producer, and I just want to thank you so much for coming. Have you been to the sculpture garden before? What’s your favouurite piece?”

A photographer came up to take some photos, and a few other people at the event stepped closer, curious to hear Maddy’s response. Out of the corner of her eye, Maddy saw Darcy eyeing her.

“I. . .” Her mind was going blank.

Maddy stood there, her mouth agape for a moment.

“What I mean is. . .” she said, her words growing faint. But it wasn’t because of the question.

“Maddy?” Rachel said. “Are you OK?”

But Rachel’s voice was already somehow distant, in some other world. It was like Maddy was going through a tunnel.

Maddy’s mind suddenly was overtaken by the clearest of images snapping into focus: the instrument panel in the cockpit of a small jet. The digital screens were crisp. And flashing red. The numbers on the screens were fluctuating wildly. And then out of the window. The emerald-blue water. Rushing towards the glass, impossibly fast. It took her breath away.

Maddy saw the water strike the cabin. She saw the nose crumple towards the pilot. There was no time to see more.

The Gulfstream jet disintegrated against the water surface just as surely as if it had been striking concrete.

A spray of water and plane. And body parts.

Maddy was there as it happened, with pity and fear as instant death took the man.

She instantly knew the frequency. That energy, that aloof entitlement. It was now revealed for what it really was: cowardice. She saw the man’s eyes, long tunnels with ghosts in them. Then the image widened out, and she saw the bloated, flushed face.

Maddy’s eyes shot open, a shriek having just left her lips. Rachel and Darcy and others were standing near her.
Are you all right? Are you all right?
Their voices still seemed far off. Blood roared in Maddy’s ears.

She’d seen the face of Jeffrey Rosenberg.