Page 18 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“Thanks, Joe,” Wilson said before he left.

Wilson went to his office, where he’d dropped his backpack and coat upon returning to HQ. He had to complete his mission report. He thought about what he and Joe Lassiter had talked about. For some reason, he didn’t see it as a big deal that he’d be leading other team members on active cases again. Was it? Was he missing something?

His text message chimed. He checked the screen. It was Rae. He had forgotten about the call he’d said he would make to her. “Sorry, I had an unexpected meeting. Can you give me another half hour?”

“Sure,” she replied. “Nothing important, just wanted to bounce something off you.”

He got busy on the mission report. The sooner he finished it, the sooner he’d be able to go back to his place and pack for his trip the following day, which he was looking forward to. The other team members had sections on the report to fill out as well. Once theirs were all in, as team leader, it was his job to review all sections and then submit the completed mission report to Shepherd.

He easily completed it in less than a half hour. Then he dialed Rae.

“Hi Jimmy,” she answered on the first ring.

“Hi Rae, sorry for the delay. How are you?”

“Good, good. Are you getting this bad winter storm where you are too?” She knew his headquarters was in the Chicago area, but she knew not to ask any specifics regarding the location.

“Yes, I spent all day driving up from southern Illinois in the worst of it.”

“That had to be pretty slow going,” she said. “It took me double the amount of time just to get home from work this evening.”

Wilson checked the time on his watch. He always enjoyed messaging and talking with her, but tonight he just wanted to be on his way to his place to pack. “Yes. I’ve just finished work and am still at the office. It’s still coming down and I have to drive home yet.” He tried not to sound grumpy or like he was rushing the conversation.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that. I said this wasn’t important. It could have waited, Jimmy.”

“No worries. I know the roads are bad, otherwise I would have called you on my way home.”

“So here’s what I wanted to bounce off you, get your opinion on. I’m thinking of going to school to be a teacher, but I never finished high school, even though this identity the Marshals gave me says I did. Will that be a problem? And do you think I can handle the classes? I’ll only take a class or two at a time, so I won’t overload myself. But I really love working with the kids.”

“Rae, I think that’s great that you want to do more. Yes, I absolutely think you can handle it. And most schools have tutoring centers you can go to if you need extra help.”

“Yeah, I read about the tutoring center on the college’s website. I’m sorry to always be bugging you with stuff but I have no one else who knows who I really am that I can talk to.”

“It has to be lonely,” Wilson said.

“I feel like I’m living a lie most the time because I can’t tell the people in my life anything about me,” she said. “And I couldn’t talk to the teacher I work with about this either.”

“Well, in a way you are living a lie, but with very good reason. Rae, you have to remember all the good you did by helping us. What you did took a lot of courage, courage none of the people in your life in Iowa could even fathom. We’ve talked about a lot, your childhood, how you ended up where you did. You survived a lot of things most people wouldn’t have the guts to survive. And look where you are now, contemplating going to college. I’m proud of you and I hope you are too. Instead of asking yourself and me if you can handle college classes, you should be telling yourself that you will handle the classes, no doubt about it.”

She chuckled into the phone. “Thanks, Jimmy. You always give me a different way to think about things. Thank you for your friendship.”

Rae kept talking, but his thoughts diverted his attention away from her.

The word friendship gnawed at him. Is that what they were, friends? Until he and Garcia were so near to where she lived and had time, he hadn’t considered visiting her. Nor had he told anyone on the team that he was in communication with her. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed or wanted to hide their communication. And even now when he thought about it in those terms, he couldn’t quite get himself to use the word relationship but that’s what it was. Any ongoing interaction between two people is some sort of relationship.

But that still made him ask himself, were they friends? And if not, what were they? He always enjoyed chatting with her, be it texting or phone calls. He reached out to her as often as she reached out to him. But now, he had to question his motives on why he did. Obviously, he was getting something out of this relationship, or he wouldn’t continue it.

“Jimmy, are you there?” she asked when he said nothing.

“I’m sorry, yes, I was distracted for a moment, work stuff.”

“I should let you go. Thanks again. It looks like the preschool and daycare will be closed due to the weather tomorrow. Since I should be home tomorrow, I plan to fill out the application to start the next term at the local community college.”

“That’s great Rae. Just stick to the ID the Marshals set up for any of the questions and you’ll be fine. Have a good night.”

“You too. Drive safe on your way home. Bye.” She said and then disconnected the call.

She stared at her phone for a few moments after ending the call. He had been very distracted. She wondered what his job was like and what kinds of things were discussed at the unexpected meeting he’d just had. She knew he did a dangerous job. Anyone who took on the cartels and high-level drug dealers risked their lives.

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