4:00 am

At 2:00 am this morning, I finally let go.

"Tell me about it, Logan." Bling’s voice was gentle as he asked me one more time.

"I was protecting Lauren Braganza and her daughter. She was going to testify against Edgar Sonrisa. I was trying to get her to witness protection when we were ambushed. I promised her that she and her daughter would be safe, but the last thing I remember was Sophy being ripped out of my arms."

"Oh God! What did I do? I’m the great Eyes Only, but I didn’t have eyes to see what I was getting that woman and her daughter into. I’ve got a lot of blood on my hands from that day." With a few words, I poured out all my sorrow and self hatred at what I had done.

Bling’s response was not what I expected.

"It must be really hard, man, to loose your whole security crew in one fight. But at least Sonrisa is dead and Ms. Braganza and her daughter got connected with the witness protection program."

"She did?" I couldn’t believe my ears. I so was sure that everyone had been killed.

"You didn’t know? Nobody told you?" Bling was incredulous.

"I’ve been kinda out of the loop." I could barely get the words out. I was so sick in the hospital, I never thought to ask. Since I came home, the only person I had spoken to was Bling, and I never let him talk about this. I tried so hard to bury it all.

"They made it? But my guys didn’t." Despite my grief for my team, I felt like the knife had finally been removed from my heart.

Bling had kept talking, saying something about how Sonrisa was killed. He told me that Sonrisa’s bodyguard shot him, but no one knew why. Then I realized what happened.

"Max." I spontaneously whispered her name.

"Max?" Bling looked at me in surprise. "I recognize that name. She’s the girl that got you away from the second sniper attempt. Your Doc told me about her. She told him you needed a room with a better view. Then she disappeared." Bling was almost amused when he said this.

Sam had mentioned a second attempt on my life, but it was all part of the cloud that was around me when I struggling to regain consciousness in the hospital. I couldn’t remember the details of anything. But now I knew. "A room with a better view." Max’s sarcasm never fails her. She had visited me in the hospital. It hadn’t been just a dream.

Max had come back. She saved my life and Lauren’s and Sophy’s, and she eliminated Sonrisa. I was so right about her. She does care deeply about other people. She must have put herself at extreme risk to make this happen.

"Has she called yet?" I asked Bling. I suddenly felt an intense desire to talk to her, to thank her for being there for me. She came back when I needed her most. She really is out there pulling for me. I do have an angel watching over me.

I moved over to the window and stared at the spot where I thought I had seen her before. It was almost 3:00 am and it appeared that there was no one out there, but I couldn’t help feeling that she was there for me.

"Thank you, Max." I whispered into the night, hoping that somewhere, somehow she could hear me.