<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell;<\/em> — Macbeth, Act IV, scene ii<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blue eyes introduced himself as a doctor.<\/p>\n Maybe he thought I was in shock.\u00a0 Maybe I was.<\/p>\n Macho guy flashed me a distracted smile before turning away to talk on his cell.\u00a0 The woman pulled out some kind of electronic tablet \u2013like nothing I\u2019d ever seen – and started doing something with it.\u00a0 They both looked pretty serious for people strolling in the park.<\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t hear what macho guy was saying, but he turned back to me, distracted, phone still to his ear, and asked me what day it was.<\/p>\n Friday<\/i>, I said.\u00a0 Duh.<\/p>\n The year?<\/i>\u00a0 He asked.<\/p>\n Oh, man. What were these guys smoking?\u00a0 Well, at least it made me feel an irrational wave of relief: whoever they were, they couldn\u2019t be Worsham\u2019s.\u00a0 His goons were anything but clueless.<\/p>\n More conferring, Macho man and whoever he was on the phone with.\u00a0 The woman, showing him something on her tablet.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, blue eyes finally loosened his own grip on me and took a step back. \u00a0Dr. Leonard McCoy, as he\u2019d introduced himself, peppered me with diagnostic questions, though they were presented with that kind of laconic gallantry I recognized immediately from my own Southern upbringing.\u00a0 I just shook my head, intent on finding my balance again, physically and mentally.<\/p>\n But then, I saw macho guy look at me; really look, as if he hadn\u2019t really registered me before now.\u00a0 I instantly thought how some good-looking men are so full of themselves, they don\u2019t notice you even if you\u2019re right in front of them.\u00a0 But then he looked down at whatever the woman was showing him on her tablet.<\/p>\n And then they both looked back at me.\u00a0 I swear he did an actual double take.\u00a0 Both of them acted like they couldn\u2019t believe what they were seeing.\u00a0 What the hell was this?<\/p>\n I felt the panic coming back, rising like bile in my throat.<\/p>\n Macho guy finally spoke directly to me.<\/p>\n He asked if I was Hanalie Surat.<\/p>\n I think I blurted something like, \u201cHey, go fuck yourself\u201d and turned to bolt, but stumbled, and doctor blue eyes grabbed me.\u00a0 Somehow his calm voice cut through my panic.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why, but I let his arm come around my shoulders as I stood there, every muscle in my body rigid.<\/p>\n Macho guy walked over to me.\u00a0 No question now that all his attention was focused in my direction.\u00a0 He spoke, with a crispness that automatically commanded my attention, maybe even my confidence, like he was used to being in charge.<\/p>\n \u201cLook.\u00a0 We know you\u2019re in danger.\u00a0 We can protect you, but we need your help.\u00a0 There are\u2026 bigger things at stake, and there\u2019s not much time.\u00a0 Will you just\u2026hear us out?\u00a0 Is there somewhere we can go to talk?\u201d<\/p>\n I hesitated, feeling like there was no firm ground under my feet.\u00a0 What the hell was I supposed to do now?<\/p>\n He clearly knew when to press his advantage.\u00a0 \u201cJust\u2026 talk.\u00a0 I guarantee you\u2019ll find what we have to tell you\u2026 interesting.\u201d Again he flashed that charming smile, which I had to admit was hard to resist, even if it was clear he knew just how to use it.\u00a0 I looked to the doctor\u2019s face.\u00a0 He nodded, looking imminently trustworthy, I swear.\u00a0 The woman, still occupied with her tablet, and now carrying on her own conversation with someone – although I didn\u2019t see any evidence of a Bluetooth device – looked up and smiled, too, a warm and reassuring smile.<\/p>\n God help me, for all the weirdness of the afternoon, they struck me as normal, even if it was maybe only in comparison to the malevolent hunk who\u2019d just threatened my life.\u00a0 But that \u201csomewhere to talk\u201d?\u00a0 Yeah, like I was going to go off alone with three random strangers who showed up in a beam of light?\u00a0 What did he think this was, the freaking Twilight Zone<\/i>?<\/p>\n On the other hand, I was all too aware of being exposed out here in the woods, and the Great Outdoors suddenly wasn\u2019t as appealing as it had been half an hour ago.\u00a0 Also, if anyone<\/i> was offering to explain anything<\/i>, I could go for some of that, even if they turned out to be total space cadets.<\/p>\n And yeah, it didn\u2019t hurt that the woman looked like she had her shit together, and the guys were kind of, well, they weren\u2019t exactly unattractive.\u00a0 Not toothpaste-commercial hunky, but then, that hunk hadn\u2019t panned out so well, had he?<\/p>\n Yeah, yeah, I know.\u00a0 Not exactly a paragon of logical thinking, right?\u00a0 But then, I\u2019m only human, and in the end, humans aren\u2019t all that famous for our logic, are we?<\/p>\n In my moment of hesitation, I suddenly recalled a little dive bar, more or less between here and my apartment, the kind of place so dingy and disreputable even the Georgetown college kids didn\u2019t go slumming there.\u00a0 Bob and I had dropped in a few times, in the early days, just for the funky peace and quiet.\u00a0 Yeah, that might do.\u00a0 In fact, a drink sounded like a really good idea about now.<\/p>\n So, spurred mostly by a pressing desire to just get away from here, I heaved a very uncertain sigh and started up the slope.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t even say anything; I just waved, with a half-hearted hand, for them to follow if they wanted.\u00a0 What the hell.\u00a0 Maybe a few beers and some bullshit story weren\u2019t the worst way this day could end up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n < previous\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 next ><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" < previous\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 next > Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell; Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, Yet grace must still look so. — Macbeth, Act IV, scene … Continue reading ![\"trees\"](\"https:\/\/hanilives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo12-150x200.jpg\")
<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n
\n Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace,<\/em>
\n Yet grace must still look so.<\/em><\/p>\n