Angel

By Sherry Myrick

No more postponing, no more delaying, the day is here. The time has come for Sidney Grace Dalton to break the silence and to reveal the hidden truth. She has to inform her sons of the situation of danger, suspension, and fears behind the fate or chance of how their family came to be. From the beginning to the end, a reader will have anticipation as the hidden truth is revealed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638607038

Book preview

Chapter 1

I am Sidney Dalton, and this is my husband, Paul Dalton. We are walking through this foggy parking lot, and both of us are thinking about the conversation we need to have with our sons, Barkley and Darby. We have dreaded tonight for so many years, but it is time, time to tell our children how our family came to be.

Barkley and Darby nodded goodbye to us leaving in Barkley’s car. Darby’s college graduation tonight brought so much joy as well as tears to my eyes. Paul and I reached our car, and Paul, opening the door for me, touched my chin and said, We are doing the right thing. It is going to be difficult, but I know you will say the right things to make them understand.

On the way home, Paul again agreed that the story should be started with me since the beginning did start with me. We were quiet on the way home, and it gave me time to think about how I need to start our history and what part to begin with.

We arrived to our home in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Barkley had finished his master’s degree in education, and Darby had tonight graduated from the university with a chemistry degree and biology minor. We had so much to celebrate and so much thanksgiving to each other.

Paul unlocked the door, and our Congo African gray parrot started singing happy birthday. Ms. Marylyn Monroe thought it was somebody’s birthday because of the efforts I had put in our dinner tonight. Paul had a bottle of vintage champagne that he bought online and was shipped last week.

Barkley and Darby arrived laughing and talking to each other about the crushes they had on certain girls. Ms. Marylyn Monroe sang happy birthday when they came through the door.

Darby said to her, You are ready for your can of soda too, aren’t you?

Ms. Marylyn Monroe showed excitement and settled down for her ten sips of can of soda with spaghetti noodles and vegetables. I put the spaghetti, tossed salad, and garlic bread on the table, and Paul brought the glasses of can of soda to the table after he had given Ms. Marylyn Monroe her dinner. The boys were in such good spirits that I was ready to change my mind again about the discussion of our history.

We were laughing and having such a great time of celebrating our sons’ accomplishments that I hated to change the atmosphere of carefree laughter and joyful smiles to seriousness of danger and reality. Ms. Marylyn Monroe settled down after eating and drinking her can of soda. Darby was expressing his anticipation to start his job on Monday at the local chemical plant. Barkley was teaching at the nearby college, and it seemed like they were ready for their history. And it should not be any kind of interference for their future.

I was still postponing, indulging in the laughs of our sons, and admiring their ability to be optimistic and happy with life. Their outlook on their future was what I was hoping that would not change with the facts I had to inform them of tonight. Paul was and had always been such a supporter of our family’s success that I continued to look at him for the moment for me to start our story and change our sons’ lives forever again. Paul opened the champagne, and I took the first sip to gather my thoughts, for the first words would be the hardest for me. To start to talk about a life I had thirty-five years ago and to remember vividly days that I so wanted to forget would be such a task on my heart.

Paul handed me a refill and started to speak to our sons. Barkley and Darby, your mother and I have so many details of our past to inform you that tonight we have decided not to postpone the history of how our family came to be any longer. We ask that any and all details that we speak of stays here with us for your safety as well as ours.

The atmosphere changed instantly to seriousness as I thought it would. I took another sip of the vintage champagne and took a long look at our sons. How it would seem like the years of their existence were so short-lived as small young boys would be forever. I had to be ready for any and all questions they might have, and that was not going to be easy at all for me or Paul. May 2021 has come too soon.

Chapter 2

I started to speak with Barkley’s and Darby’s eyes on me, and it seemed like I had thought about this moment for years. In my thoughts, I was more composed and determined to do a thorough job to close out any suspension of my love and devotion to this family that came to me by chance or fate.

I looked at our sons and Paul and took a long deep breath to begin. Barkley and Darby were quiet with their attention on us, and I began to speak. We were originally from the South Side of Chicago. I was raised there in foster care. I never knew my parents or relatives or any other form of family as a child or adult. When I was eighteen years old, I worked in a plant for income and benefits until I was hired by the police force of the local precinct when I was twenty-one years old. There in the academy, I met my dearest friend, Benjamin Scott. He was born in South Side of Chicago, but his parents moved to the City of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, when he was ten years old to study the animals that were extinct or becoming on the endangered list. His dad was a zoologist and his mother a journalist. This combination led to many months and years in Tasmania, Australia, that when they returned to the South Side of Chicago, Benjamin was referred to as Taz. I had a family that I had enjoyed and was welcomed with his parents. I listened to their stories of Australia and the animals they had studied and observed in the wild. I was fascinated by the detailed description of the Tasmanian tiger, the head of wolf, the body of a tiger, and the pouch for their young like a kangaroo.

The conversations and tales of the Tasmanian devils and quolls and the efforts in preserving these animals for future generations were so interesting to me.

Taz was a brilliant cop. We were partners for eight years, and then he became sergeant and then chief of police. After he worked as chief of police for months, I was promoted to narcotic division for undercover agent. We were introduced to some informants that took a deal to give us answers to what we asked and thought needed to know in exchange for jail time to elude imprisonment.

The main information was that the leader of all drug operations was a man by the name of Windbreaker. He was named Windbreaker because he always wore windbreakers even in the summer months. He was the most feared and known for his ruthless manner. He had a chip on his shoulder for years, hating cops or any kind of authority.

We had an informer, a stripper from the club, The Stars of Neon. She had tattoos on her shoulders of angels, an angel on each shoulder. We called her Angel. The strippers in the club, The Stars of Neon, were known as Neon Stars, but we only knew Angel personally. The heavy metal band that played at the club was known as Contaminated Ladies. We were in the club occasionally making observations as to the movements of different people—the whereabouts of names and faces that the informers were giving us to shake down the drug deals.

The information was given to us that Windbreaker was making a move. The largest bust ever if we could make it go down. It was in a warehouse on the corner of a popular street known for heavy trafficking of drugs. Large purchases and sells that with this bust, drugs would slow down in our district if not vanish for a while.

Taz called a meeting with all of the narcotic agents. We were giving the details of the mission planned. I was to be with Taz in the warehouse for backup against the entrance of the warehouse. The other agents where the drug deals would be made would be in this position. Everyone had a position, and every position had a plan.

Chapter 3

I understood every move that was planned and memorized everyone’s position. I was not afraid at all for this mission. I had been trained thoroughly, and Taz would be by my side giving orders if positions changed. The Stars of Neon club’s Contaminated Ladies band lead singer had been a reliable dependable informant. His information in the past had led to many drug deals being busted or stopped whether large or small. His name was Beauregard Keith Austin but went by the name of Clueless. Clueless had notified Taz that Windbreaker had hired a group of teenagers to go door-to-door in the South Side of Chicago purchasing old, unwanted, discarded prescription bottles from the elderly. The bottles would be used to distribute the drugs in secure packages eliminating suspicious activity. Angel performed tonight at the club also watching for any information that we would need tomorrow. The actions of Windbreaker confirmed that this was a large drug deal scheduled to be successful. I told everyone good night and went home feeling confident and determined to handle whatever came my way.

At home, I was greeted by the puppy Taz and his family gave me for Christmas. A Great Pyrenees that Taz had presented to me under a Santa Claus hat, so I named him Santa Claus. He was ready for a walk and food. I absorbed my evening with him and thought about the next day events. March 31, 1998, the calendar said spring, but the Chicago sky was dropping large beautiful snowflakes while Santa Claus and I played outside. I went to sleep with the instructions on my mind for the operation in the warehouse.

The morning at the precinct was not calm as usual. Clueless had informed Taz that a drug deal would be going on in the front of the warehouse entrance as well as the exit that had been planned. We had prepared and planned for the one bust but not two. Taz brought in more officers for the exit and moved more to the front entrance. Then evening came, April 1, 1998, everyone’s positions were taken. All radios were given accurate testing before we departed into our positions.

Taz and I were still positioned together at the entrance. All the other officers were scattered, waiting for the signal to start the bust. The dealers arrived on site as scheduled, and everything went as planned until the minute one of the dealers started shooting after Taz said freeze. I fell to the floor from a bullet in the stomach. Many officers fell, and