Angelique flew through the back road that led to the Church. Silently calling out to Gabriel again, although she already knew he would not answer. She was alone in this, and that's exactly how she would face Danny.

Angelique pulled her car in front of the rectory, parked, and tried desperately to swallow the fear that lumped in her throat. She would have to go the rest of the way on foot. She felt so completely unprepared to deal with this.

Unlocking the door to the rectory with a key she knew her father left hidden under the mat, Angelique stopped briefly to search for something... anything, to use for protection. She took a rather large knife from the kitchen and, wrapping just the blade in a kitchen towel to create a makeshift sheath, she slid the knife into her belt at her back, hidden under her jacket. She knew if Danny had a gun, she most likely would never get close enough to use it, but it never hurt to be prepared.

Angelique was grateful that her Father and Agnes were at the hospital. God only knows what Danny would have done if he found them here.

Summoning every ounce of courage she had left, she traveled through the backdoor to the woods and the glade where Danny had said to meet her. Thinking several times on that fateful day. Angelique fought against the fear that those images evoked.

Then she thought of Rebecca, the horror she saw in the young girl's eyes the day she had ended up at her shop. She swore to Rebecca she'd be safe and Angelique was going to keep that promise no matter the cost.

Stopping only a moment, Angelique took in her surroundings. She prayed to God Michael got her message in time. He may be her only hope. She turned north, toward the glade.

As Angelique neared the clearing, she took care of where she stepped, trying very hard not to make a sound. The closer she got, the more her fears threatened to overtake her. However, Angelique knew she must remain calm if she was to get Rebecca and herself out of this alive.

The glade was now in view, but she saw no sign of Danny or Rebecca. What if it was all a wild goose chase? What if Danny had some other purpose to draw her away from her apartment or the shelter? She believed him capable of anything at this moment.

Angelique stepped into the glade and out into the open. Suddenly, she heard a crack of a branch somewhere to her left and she turned toward the noise. Distracted, someone had grabbed her arm and twisted it up behind her from the right. She didn't even see it coming.

Wincing from the pain being caused, she tried to turn to see who had her, but they remained directly behind her and out of view.

"Where's Danny?" she said, steeling herself against the pain, but no answer came from her captor.

What if this was all a setup? What if Danny had just wanted to lure her out here to kill her?

With that in mind, she instinctively fell back on her martial arts training, wrapping her left leg around her captors and with a sweeping motion, pulled his leg from under him. She threw her entire body weight backward to bring them both crashing to the ground. Her assailant released her when he felt himself falling. With the amount of momentum, neither of them could stop what Angelique set in motion.

Her captor took most of the damage as he hit the earth with a thud and she landed on top of him, knocking the wind from his lungs. Angelique rolled off of him and quickly got to her feet, putting as much distance as she could between them.

She pulled the knife from her back and waited for him to get up. There was another crash through the brush, and someone else entered the glade. Angelique stared wild-eyed and prepared to fight. Assessing her attackers, she realized they were just boys, teenage boys. She decided she wouldn't harm them if possible.

She would need to disable them if she could. There wasn't much chance of escaping. If she ran, they would easily overtake her, even with her knowledge of the grounds. The one teen helped the other to his feet. As Angelique studied them, she realized she had seen them before. They were with Bobby the night she took Rebecca into her store.

Noticing the knife in her hand the one boy pulled out a billy club. Oddly, Angelique sent up a prayer of thanks that neither boy had any weapons more dangerous than that. Obviously, they didn't think it would be necessary.

Angelique just waited. Waited for one of them or both of them to make a move. The boy with the club advanced first, seeing that the other was still trying to regain his breath. Angelique stood slightly crouched, dropping her center of gravity to keep her more balanced should he decide to rush her, holding her knife with the handle pressed against her palm and the blade pointing down toward the earth.

Not being able to withstand waiting any longer, the boy rushed at Angelique, swinging his club at her. She held up her blade arm, using the knife as a sort of shield to take most of the brunt of the club as she sidesteps the boy. Using a lower kick, she swept his feet from under him, knocking him to the ground.

He managed to keep hold of the stick as he fell, but Angelique wasted no time. She stomped on his wrist and the pain caused him to open his hand. She kicked the club from his reach, but the boy grabbed Angelique's ankle and pulled her to the ground.

Slightly winded, Angelique quickly kicked the hand holding her with her other foot, causing him to release her. She rolled away, taking up a defensive position, and slowly made her way over to the club. As she bent to pick it up, she realized her mistake, but it was too late. The other teen ran to tackle her and did so, quite successfully.

They wrestled on the ground. She still held the knife and waved it wildly toward him. This immediately attracted his attention. He tried to disarm her. She reached out with her other hand and grabbed the club, hitting the boy at the side of his temple, causing him to blackout, but now she trapped herself under the boy's weight.

Angelique struggled to wriggle herself out from under him, but before she was successful, the other teen had advanced on her, easily removing the club from her hand. Her knife hand lay trapped under the lifeless boy on top of her. 

Angelique was prone, and the boy swung for her head, but Angelique rolled slightly, using the boy's body that lay on her as a shield to take the blow. She untangled herself the rest of the way, just in time to feel the rush of wind by her ear, telling her just how narrow her escape had been.

She again got to her feet. Angelique looked like a wild woman. Her clothes, now soiled in several places and leaves from the ground, were sticking out everywhere from her haphazard ponytail.

The teen looked briefly at his friend. Perhaps wondering if he was alive. Angelique could see his doubt. She was sure they must have thought their task simple in the beginning. Once they had seen her step into the glade, this tiny waif of a blonde, they approached her overconfident, and that was their mistake.

Now he tried waiting her out. Her blue eyes were intense as they stared a hole right through him. Several times he broke eye contact to see steal a glance at his friend, who wasn't moving at all. Angelique could see fear and uncertainty in his eyes. 

"You don't have to do this?" she said, staring at him, waiting for his decision to make a move. 

"He isn't dead," she told him. "Only unconscious, but he will be no help to you should you pursue this."

She saw the flicker of self-doubt come across his face.

"I don't want to hurt you," Angelique told him. "I just want to know where Rebecca is?"

The boy's courage to fight this woman was faltering fast. She could see it in his posture as he seem to slouch slightly, looking a little less tense but still just as wary.

"If you tell me where she is, I will let you both go. You can even come with me and we will call someone to help your friend," Angelique offered, nodding in the direction of the teen boy without breaking eye contact.

He was close to deciding, but that decision still seemed unclear. She didn't have to wait long for an answer. The teen straightened up and dropped the club.

Angelique sighed deeply as she lowered her guard, but still held on to the knife. The teen looked lost, and Angelique felt herself pitying him.

She knew the life most of these street kids lived. They became what was around them and it was never anything good. Life did not give them a chance to become who they should be. Children with a future.

As the teen took a step towards her, Angelique heard a shot ring out. Wide-eyed, the boy looked shocked as he grabbed at his chest. Angelique, on instinct, dropped the knife and ran towards him, grabbing him as he fell to his knees. Still staring at her, he pulled his hand from his chest and there was blood covering his hands.

Angelique looked wildly around to see where the shot had come from but saw no one.

"I'm sorry," the boy said, as he stared into Angelique's eyes.

Angelique got around to the back of the boy. She took the towel still had stuck in her belt and applied pressure to the wound. "Stay with me, okay?" Taking the boy's belt from his waist, she slid it around his chest and pulled it tight so she could keep the pressure applied.

"He's here," the boy said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Becca is with him."

Angelique knew of whom he spoke. She gingerly laid the boy down. Angelique saw the blood staining her own shirt. Gently rolling the boy to his side, she saw the shot had gone straight through. Removing her jacket, she pressed it under the belt at the boy's back and stood to meet her destiny head-on.