Jimmy's cellphone went off and I about went through the roof. "Scuse me." Jimmy said. He stepped out into the shower area. I finished working on Angel's back. Whatever venom she had been hit with was specific to whatever biology she had, because it was like nothing else I ever saw. I cleaned it up, prevented infection, and gave her some water. "You should drink lots of water and juice this week." I told her. She nodded slowly, forcing herself to sit up painfully.

"You like him, huh?" she said.

"Who, Jimmy? Yes, he's my friend." I said. "How many friends do you have?"

"Seven." she said, but her expression was cagey. This was a kid who had been on the run a long time and did not want to talk to anyone, even someone who had just patched her up and maybe saved her life.

"Can you move your wings now?"

She was able to partly fold them up, but still couldn't compress them down to her back. "Okay." I said. "I'll get you a shirt to cover them up. Just relax, okay?"

"Don't go." she said suddenly, with fear in her eyes.

"It'll be okay." I said, "I'll be right back. And Jimmy is right out that door talking to someone on the phone, he'll keep an eye on you."

"You like him." Angel said with a little smile. This was a topic important to her.

"Yeah, I like him." I said.

"How did you meet?"

Well, kiddo, he came to a crime scene where one mobster doused the other in kerosene and set him on fire, and the fire spread to the kitchen and I had to save the rest of the building, so I was covered in burned marinara sauce and black soot and under seven layers of protective clothing and wearing a mask and he still asked me out. The first words he said to me were 'I always heard firefighters were sexy, never really believed it until now.' There was no way he could have even known I was a woman at that point. His coat and pants were charcoal black. It was when he was still a junior agent and I was a worthless probie eating shit at Ladder 19. "We met at work. We both try to help people." is all I said.

"What's kerosene?" she said.

I got goosebumps. How did she... "It's dangerous. It can cause fires and people I'm going to get you your shirt, okay? A real fire department shirt." I said. I was getting out of there right then. I passed Jimmy, who was getting chewed out by someone or other. He made his hand into a little mouth going 'blah blah blah' as I passed. I rolled my eyes at him.

I changed into my shoes at my locker and snagged a spare shirt, the smallest we had. She'd still be swimming in it, half-folded wings and all. I fixed up my pack and brought it all back.

I helped Angel on with her shirt. She was still sucking in her breath in pain when she moved her arms around to get through the sleeves, but it would be cover her wings and be better than the crummy little blouse on she had. Jimmy was saying something about going somewhere, he had his cellphone loosely in his hand and was kneeling at Angel's side.

"We're going where?" I said.

"To find Max." Angel said.

"To find Max." I said. It seemed to make sense at the time.

Angel explained that Max was supposed to meet at Riverside Park at the "lady with the sword". That was Joan of Arc. "Okay." I said. "That's where we're going."

Blah Blah Blah

We were going back to the side door and everything was okay, but when Jimmy pushed open the door and we stepped out into the night, he suddenly stopped. Angel was grabbing onto my leg.

"Well." Jimmy said. That's when I saw my car had three of those kids on it. The teenagers with the faces like cougars and long black hooked claws. They were pressed against the windows, they were squirming around underneath, like trying to tell if we were inside. But when Jimmy spoke they all whirled around at once.

"Back inside, back inside." Jimmy said.

"But Max!" Angel cried.

I was pulling her back along with me. Those things moved fast. Way too fast. We got inside. Jimmy didn't. They hauled him back from the door and his gun dropped just inside. I slammed it shut, I heard the scrabbling of claws. I grabbed Jimmy's gun and shoved it in my pack. "Come on. Hurry." I told Angel.

The probationary firefighter assigned to our station was in the front hallway when I passed dragging Angel along. He was at the vending machine, the red light all around us. "Hey Lou." he said. All lieutenants are called Lou. "What are you doing here? You're off..." He trailed off, looking weirdly at Angel and her bulging back.

"Hey. Probie. Up here." I snapped. "You on a box tonight?"

"Yeah, the ambulance."

"Gimme the keys." I said.

"What?" he said.

"I don't have time to explain to you what keys are, retard. Just hand them over." He did. Thank god for probies.

"What if there's an alarm?"

"It's a problem solving test, asshole. Now get lost and don't tell anyone I was here." He got lost. "Ever ridden in an ambulance before, Angel?"

"I can't remember." she said with remarkable clarity for a child her age. We rushed down and I unlocked the door, lifted her up into the passenger's seat, buckled her in. I hit the door remote and we gunned it out into the night, I twisted the wheel and we punched it around to the back.

Jimmy was nowhere to be seen. My car was half torn apart, the tires shredded, the windows broken. There was no one there. I pressed down on the gas.

"Where is he?" Angel asked.

"I don't know, sweetie." I said. "But if he's anywhere, he's going to meet us at Riverside Park. With Max."

For the first time since she had brought Max up, Angel didn't seem exactly happy about the prospect of immediately going to meet her. I wasn't happy about it either.

The radio in the ambulance buzzed. "Mizz Rojo." Man In Black Coat. Holy shit, this guy had juice to take over dispatch for his own call?

I picked up the radio. "You better not have hurt him." I said, and immediately felt stupid for saying it. Hey, why not invite them to hurt him?

"I am. In possession. Of your. Associate." he said. "Special Agent. Howell."

"And you want to trade?" I said.

"I feel. We are. In a. Different hmm. Situation since. We last. Spoke do. You not. Agree?" he said. He sounded like a snake. My spine squirmed just thinking of him.

"One for one. Angel or Max." I said. "Not both."

"You only. Have Angel." he said.

Oh, that would not stand. He was not going to be so confident about this. "Yeah, I switched from a car that could carry three to an ambulance that can carry eight for no reason. I only have Angel."

The radio was silent for a long time. Angel was staring at me with utter confusion on her tiny face.

"I would. Prefer Maximum."

I looked at Angel, spoke away from the mike. "Her name is Maximum?" Angel nodded. "Her parents must have hated her." Angel looked like she would tear my head off. "Wait." I told her, then went back to the radio. "There's a parking structure just east of Riverside Park at 109th street. I'll bring Miss Maximum there."

"And Angel?"

"Hi, this is Firefighter Lieutnenant Rojos, and I don't have to tell you anything about Angel because she's not part of the deal. Please leave a message after the beep. Beeeeeeeeeeep."

There was no further response on the radio. "Idiot." I said, re-clipping the mike.

Angel screamed, "You're not going to hurt Max! I won't let you! I won't!" She was flailing around inside her seat belt and her shirt, wings ripping out the seams bit by bit.

"Angel, stop it!" I said, getting frantic although I didn't know what exactly inside me was getting scared of this angry little girl throwing a tantrum. "I'm not going to hurt anyone. I was just playing with the man. You don't want Jimmy to get hurt either, right? He saved you in that building."

She looked at me with tears in her eyes. "You...lied to him?"

"That's what I did. I told him a lie. Lying isn't good, but I really didn't want Jimmy to get hurt." I said, relief creeping over me.

"How...how are we going to..."

"We are not going to do anything." I said. "You are going to find Max and get out of here. I am going to find Jimmy and figure out how to get him free."

"I want to help."

"You can help by finding Max." I said. "Right?"

"...right." she said. She had faith in this Max character, whoever she was. And hopefully Max had the brains to get her and Angel as far away from the showdown that was about to occur as possible.

At 110th street, a car came out of a side alley and slammed into the back wheel. We skidded left. Angel screamed. In that moment of stomach-clenching fear when the ambulance skidded and Angel screamed I knew the Man In the Black Coat had no intention of going through with the deal. He was going to get both Max and Angel, and kill Jimmy and I. That bastard.

I looked back. It wasn't a car.