CHAPTER VIII "Devil's Angel"

=== Halcox-Jameson-Mental Institution / Fresno ===

Tessa had been running away, out of the garden via a construction area where the drainage system was repaired. Flight was simply a logical reaction. She needed a moment alone to process all this… This bracelet-psycho was her father? When she reached the car, her thoughts had nearly achieved the usual 'so-what'-state. He was her father? Okay, why not. Lots of guys and chicks made flings everywhere and if they were too dumb for using protection – kiddies were just the normal shit happening! Moreover, Tessa had no particular warm feelings towards Nelson; so she felt now a little gloating. It was just like kicking against his tibia. Ha! I am not even your daughter, you asshole! She slammed the door behind her and leaned back on the seat. On the other hand, she had closed the chapter 'family' a long time ago. It really didn't matter. The only thing THAT mattered was that Stephan came back and started this fucking car, so they could make it to Mexico! She checked the fuel. It would last – she thought at least.

„Am I crazy, because I feel for you that way, Stephan?" Juliet's voice sounded somewhat anxious, but she did not turn her gaze from his face.

„I don't know…" he whispered. „All I know is that I love you. And that I can't exist without you." They kissed, reluctantly and cautiously, as if they had to test first, if their feelings were still alive and not only a memory. Sensing the first tiny flames beneath the ashes of time, they both didn't dare to move on.

"I dreamt of you night and day," Juliet said. "Sometimes, I SAW you standing right in front of me and reaching out for me, and when I wanted to touch you, you were gone!" She was holding him, afraid he would dissolve into an unreal vision again. "I'm so sorry I left you alone that day… let them take you… I can never…" Her voice drowned in new tears.

The two nurses burst into the recreation room of the security's staff. These were some men hired especially for escape attempts or patients becoming dangerously violent. Under normal circumstances, they had not much to do, and therefore the guys sat in front of the TV, watching a baseball game. The game was nearing the end, and their eyes glued at the screen. It took a while, before the information of the nurses got through.

"Why didn't you guys answer the phone?"

"Didn't hear it… So what's going on? Another escape attempt from old Charlie? He won't come far with his 80 years!"

"Look at this!" The nurse gave him the newspaper. "This missing girl and this criminal, they are here in our house!"

"The police would have taken me anyway," Stephan answered, hearing Juliet's self-accusation. "There was nothing you could have done against it…" But if you only had said a word, you would've spared me the nightmares I had killed you… He did not express these thoughts, though. His angel already felt guilty enough. He did not want to see her cry or in pain; he could not bear this. "There was nothing you could have done, Juliet! They sentenced me to lifelong preventive detention. Nothing would have changed that…"

This time it was he, who had broken the spell; who had destroyed the protective shell of irreality around them.

Juliet looked up to him, grasping the truth, too. "You were not released… you… ran away…"

He let his head drop in a silent agreement. „Five years ago. I took the opportunity when they transferred me to another facility. I killed one of the guards… I think, I killed one of the guards… I hid in the old cabin of my parents - the one I always wanted to show you, remember? It was such a wonderful place; always loved it… The first weeks I nearly starved; only survived with dry beans and rain water. I just did not dare making fire or going into a settlement and buy food … I was afraid they would catch me again… and I knew… I knew I wouldn't stand it for yet more time…"

Not even Juliet's gentle hands caressing over his head and back could cover the painful shards which stuck in his mind. „… They said, they tried to heal me, but everything went worse… They gave me some drugs, I don't know… but I sensed how I started to change… and not for the good. I lost the grip on reality, on time… on everything. I was afraid to become completely insane - funny, isn't it? They didn't understand … and I feared some day I would not even have the memory of you anymore. I had to go! I had to run!"

The security staff of the institution was finally ready to go, armed with an electro shocker. "Shouldn't we get assistance from the police?" one of them asked now. "What if this moron has a gun? Guess no one has checked, girls?"

"Of course not – he came in like any normal visitor! Who the hell could imagine he's a killer, man? We have to do something!"

"Overreaction gets us nowhere. If this guy is that dangerous, I don't want anyone of my staff getting injured! - Jay, call the police! And we make sure he doesn't escape anywhere and doesn't suspect anything! Let's go! We take the route through the east wing and then up through the morgue!"

Juliet was reclining in Stephan's arms. "Then, you asked me to come with you… I answered this question certainly a thousand times ever since… but no one was there to hear me. Take me with you now, Stephan! Wherever this might be! Just take me away from… from this place!"

"I will, my angel…." However, he could not go through the bureaucratic procedure and wait for the doctor's examinations, fill staples of paperwork! He had to leave as quickly as possible himself! And he couldn't simply carry her through the entrance! No? Stephan looked around. The curious nurse watching them earlier had gone. The small garden area, the wall… the wall was partly torn down because of the constructions going on! Without thinking any further, he lifted Juliet up.

Tessa was bored and nervous. Perhaps she might be better off and away, before the police showed up, she wondered. What took Stephan so long, dammit? Would he come back after all? Shit! The girl began to search the car (he might have left some money here, just in case) but found only this idiotic book from Nelson! You really don't walk one step without your favorite, eh? Out of boredom, she shuffled through some pages. Eventually, her eyes got caught by some sentences: '….I saw her arms moving graciously. She wore silver bracelets. Shining. Tingling. I knew what I had to do. This was the enemy, who had to be vanquished, had to be silenced, if I wanted to survive. The blade was in my hand. It opened the well of blood, the well of redemption… once more…'

The girl let the book sink on her knees. It's about HIM, she thought. From one second to another, all the weird things she had experienced in this psycho-cabin made sense! She reached out for the door, ready to run, when Stephan showed up besides the Ford, with her mother in his arms. What the fuck…? You haven't just kidnapped her, have you?

"Move aside, Tessa, quick!" He lowered Juliet down next to her, and then changed to the driver's seat. Doing this, he got a glimpse of the book in the girl's hands. Emotions washed over his face; she did not dare to decipher them. "You read it?" He turned away, started the engine before he had even closed the front door completely. "Read it through! Up to the last page!"

The old Ford was speeding along the street with squeaking tires. There was no way of getting out of the car now; they were too fast!

"The last pages are missing!" she shouted, without knowing why.

"The last pages I will re-write today!" Stephan's answered, while he passed a red traffic light towards the city's border.

Re-write? What the hell did THAT mean?

"Don't be afraid." The voice of her mother and the touch of her hand made Tessa only feel weird. She did not want to talk to her; she did not know what to say! She wished to have still her little knife, like always. But she had nothing!

"He's gone! Crap!" The security man swore and the accompanying nurses looked around uneasily. "And he took our patient!" One of them noticed, pointing at Juliet's shoes still standing on the sidewalk.

"And where's this girl?"

"No trace of her, too! Damned shit! They must've gone through the construction area! And of course none of the workers found anything weird in letting them march out!"

"At least no one got hurt."

"Not yet…so what about –" The nurse stopped mid-sentence, when two police officers showed up and thus answering her question.

=== Fresno / Police Station ===

Senior Detective Rowleys walked nervously through the room, waiting for the Marshall's office to call back. Some minutes ago, they had received the important news from the Halcox-Jameson-Institution. The fugitive psycho had a second hostage! It surprised Rowleys always again, how easy such situations got out of control. "This would not have happened, if we had had enough men in the first place to hunt him down," he repeated to one of his colleagues. The door opened. "We have informed all police patrols of the city," a female officer reported. "And we are going to block the main streets. Detective Caulder takes command of this operation."

Rowleys thanked her. However, he knew, they had not enough manpower. If this guy was smart enough he would slip through! The Detective sighed. He was about to go back to his computer, when the door opened again. "I have found one of the doctors treating this man back in Porterville!" The officer waved with his cell phone. "Got him on the line right now, Sir!"

The Detective reached out, and the phone changed hands. Listening to the voice on the other end a moment later, Rowleys suppressed another sigh. '… I know this man personally, and I can only warn you! He is unpredictable and highly intelligent. He is dangerous…'

Rowleys made a sign in officer Betty's direction. "Get me Caulder on the other line, hurry!"

Half an hour later it was clear they had either missed the fugitive or he and his two hostages had left the car and were hiding elsewhere. Senior Detective Rowleys was again involved in a discussion with the Marshall's office: "I need air-support NOW! … Yes, I know that already. But-" He covered the phone with one hand and turned to his waiting colleagues. "Why the heck this bank robbery has to happen exactly TODAY? Half of her air patrols are on the hunt down to Nevada!" His attention got back to the phone. "Yes… yes, I hear you. Yes, Highway Patrol is informed, but for a maximum efficiency we need air support!" He lifted his eyes to the ceiling in a pleading gesture. "… Yeah… I KNOW you do everything possible!" Then he hung up. It seemed, an orphan girl and a patient from a psychiatric clinic weren't nearly as important as 600.000 bucks!

He paced up and down, waited for any news, any change of the situation. The hands of the big clock moved slowly. Rowleys literally felt, how the fugitive slipped through the thin line of police, just as the minutes passed. The signal of one of his officers' walkie-talkie let him gaze avidly in the respective direction. And he was not disappointed!

"A routine traffic control near Tulare reports a blue 1985-Ford fifteen m/h above speed limit! They checked the license plate – it is our wanted car!"

"Great job!" With some fast steps, Rowleys crossed the office to the map on the wall, in order to determine the patrols which were close to the target and could give chase!

=== On the road ===

Some miles after Tulare, in a rather deserted area, the car made a cranky noise and lost speed abruptly. Stephan cursed. The old Ford twisted sidewards and finally stopped; now half hanging down the shoulder in the bushes. Tessa grasped the opportunity the same second and jumped out of the car. Stumbling and running she tried to get away as fast as possible – wherever this might be! But the next moment Stephan had reached her, grabbed her firmly and dragged her back down the shoulder. "What are you doing? The police will get you!"

"Leave me alone!" Tessa hit after him with all her strength and fervor. "You won't kill ME! I'm not one of the stupid chicks!"

"'Course I won't kill you!" Stephan nullified the last attempt of the girl to get away and pinned her back against the grassy ground. Fear began mixing with the burning anger in her eyes.

"You are my child, Tessa! You are my daughter…" During the last words, his voice broke. He let her go and sat up again. Now they stared at each other, and he was the first to look away. When he lifted his head again, the girl still knelt there, arms folded in front of her chest like a protective armor. But she was still there! Stephan reached out and embraced her.

"I am sorry…"

Now Tessa pushed him back. Someone saying 'sorry' to her was something she could handle even less than an attack. It made her feel vulnerable. Struggling to her feet she shouted: "Everybody is sorry today – so what? What the fuck we gonna do now? Without the FUCKING CAR?"

"It's sunset soon. We look for shelter. I think we drove by a farmhouse 15 minutes ago."

Stephan stood up and went back to the Ford to help Juliet. Deep in his mind, he knew their odds to escape stood astronomical high against them, but he refused to think about it. It was like a fail-safe procedure kicking in every time, when the fear of being caught got overwhelming again. He could not go back! He could not be trapped between white lifeless walls, chained to the devil more with each day and night! And he could not allow the ones he loved were brought back into the dungeons either!

Tessa sighed frustrated. She was damned sure the police would get them all very soon. But trying to hitchhike down to Mexico was an unreal thing, too, given that her picture was in the news everywhere. Concerning this, Stephan had been right to hold her back! Well… she decided, if she was returned to the children's home – she would just run away again, like every time before! Hands in her pockets, she followed the two whackos, who called themselves her parents.

More than an hour later after an exhausting walk through rough area, they reached the ruins of a barn and some other abandoned buildings. Tessa went looking for some leftover food cans anywhere, while Stephan brought Juliet into the closest building. The last part of the way through scrubs and stones, he had carried her again. Maybe later, he would find a better night's shelter, but for now, he was content to have a little rest. He let Juliet out of his arms and put his jacket on the ground. She really looked frail and frozen, but in his opinion, this only enforced her beauty. She was unearthly, angelic, indeed… He caressed her face. "I have you back… My beautiful angel…"

"Stephan…" She took his hands and smiled through tears. "I'm ugly, old and ugly."

"Don't lie to me!" He saw her shiver and wrapped her in the jacket. Then he bowed down and kissed her on the forehead, the eyes, and finally on the lips.

Detective Caulder had been on the tracks of the fugitive since the call from Rowleys reached him. Perhaps he had been a little too cautious in his effort not to rise any suspicion and thus to provoke a psychopathic person to violence. Anyway, he lost the old Ford and took the wrong turn westwards. When he realized his mistake, it was already getting dark. He drove back to the "55" and there, just by accident, he discovered the wanted Ford, hanging empty - of course – in the scrubs. Together with his colleague, Caulder checked the immediate surroundings, and then pointed in the direction of some ruins already dissolving in the twilight. "I think it is there, where they went."

"Yes. Looks that way." The other officer had switched his flashlight on and let the light wander over the ground and the bushes. "They definitely took off in that direction, at least after what I can see now."

"I go!"

"We should wait for reinforcements, man…"

"No, costs us too much time! Come on," Caulder padded on his companion's shoulder. "I had some weeks psychological training, remember? I get this done!"

=== In the old barn ===

"They will find us and bring us back…" Juliet let her head rest on his chest. The moonlight shimmered on her features.

"No, they won't!" Stephan's right hand stroke through her hair and gently lifted her head up. "No one can catch an angel! An angel spreads its wings and flies out of the deepest prison!"

"We cannot run into… nowhere!"

"We run into heaven. Where you are, is heaven." He smiled happily. "I love you! Nothing… no one … can catch us…"

They kissed again, and life seemed to flow back into her, touching everything with its magical power. Stephan's hands followed the curves of her body. He gave up every effort to restrain. "Let me have you again," he whispered in her ear. "Release me, redeem me… forever…" They lay down, with only his jacket beneath, but now the coldness of the air did not reach them anymore.