Samantha couldn't go through this again. She looked down at Angel's corpse, the rose petals scattered over her body, then walked away from the field where Angel had been collecting material for her next piece. She was alone in the dark with the body.
It was Samantha that found her. Angel had been planning this short excursion, but she decided not to request guards as it disrupted her creativity. Sam didn't think anything of it. They had been fighting fiercely lately, every day, about the way their lives were wasting away in the firehouse, about Chloe, about Bailey, and the long hours at work, about Jack's recent absence and how everyone just waited patiently for his next move. Angel told her plainly that she refused to live out the rest of her life anxious and stagnant.
Samantha had come here alone, wanting to clear the air with her old friend. To make things right again, or as right as they could be.
She didn't call the police, but instead quietly picked up the blank note lying on Angel's chest. And she left. She left not for home, but for the airport.
Sam used the old credit card and identification Bailey had given her under the name Samantha Lawson. Two years ago, she was hiding behind a false identity to come out of isolation. Now she was using it to escape.
From a layover in Miami, Samantha dialed from a payphone. The agent covering for Angel answered. "Dr. Waters, we are concerned. Angel has not yet returned. Have you spoken with her?"
"Uh, no, I haven't. Can I speak to my daughter, please?"
"She went to sleep about half an hour ago."
"Wake her."
"Samant-"
"Please, sir. Wake her."
"Is everything-"
"Just put her on the phone."
The receiver was set down, and a minute lately, a groggy voice answered. "Mom?"
"Sweetie, I'm sorry to wake you darling. I need to tell you something very important. You have to listen to me, and you have to trust me, alright?"
"Okay, Mom… what's wrong?"
"Chlo, you need to know that I love you. You are the light of my life, honey. You need to trust me on that, always, okay? You need to know that everything I do, everything I will ever do is to protect you. I love you with all my heart, and I always will."
"I love you too, Mommy. What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong, baby girl. You get back to sleep now. Everything will be different in the morning, but know that your mommy loves you and keeps you in her heart wherever she goes, always. Promise you'll always know that, okay?"
"I promise."
"Goodnight, Chloe. Sleep well."
"Night, mom."
With that, the agent picked the phone back up. "Chloe is back in bed. Listen, Dr. Waters, I need to know what the hell is going on."
"I need you to call Bailey, and send the team out immediately to the field where Angel was working on a piece for me. You know the location, correct?"
"Yes, but-"
"Call Bailey." With that Samantha hung the phone and hurried to her next plane flight.
---
The hot air wrapped around Samantha like a boa constrictor. She stepped out of the humidity into the still quite hot motel room. Palm trees waved back and forth through the window. She heard the sound of a fan blowing the hot air around the room and car engines in the background as she set her purse down on the bed. That was all she had taken with her. With a sigh she pulled the blank note out of the purse along with the small black light she had carried with her at all times now for years. She placed the note on the bed and ran the black light over it.
YOU WILL FALL.
I WILL CATCH YOU.
Sam left the note sitting on the bed, and moved to look out at the steam rising off the pavement in the distance, the palm trees swaying softly, the sandy roadsides and the cars rolling down the highway. She started to cry silently, knowing that it was all over for her. She realized that in staying in Atlanta she was not only putting loved ones at constant risk, but she herself was living a lie, trying to exist in a world where she did not fit. Angel was gone. Chloe would forgive her. And the team would never find her. She was smart enough to evade them.
And so was he.
The door opened.
"You're a fool, Samantha."
He looked as broken as she did. Walking to her slowly, he wrapped his strong arms around her, and she clung to him like a lost child, soaking his shoulder in her tears.