Bodyguard by Melanie Shawn

12

Gage

I couldn’t believemy shitty luck. Now, not only did I have four protectees instead of just Savannah, but one of them was the most stubborn person I’d ever met. And also the least likely person in the world to just do what I told her to do without question.

Two very bad qualities in a protectee. Two qualities that were pretty likely to get us all killed, actually.

This was going to be the biggest challenge of my career. If not my life. I just hoped to God I was up for it.

“Come on,” I ordered, gesturing down the hall.

“Where are we going?” My mother blurted out, her eyes wide and frightened, her voice thin and reedy with terror.

“Marjorie, he’ll explain it all later. For now, just listen to the boy!”

Damn. I had never heard my father raise his voice. Not once in my entire life.

It was so shocking that it snapped my mother right out of the panic spiral she’d clearly been about to enter.

She nodded. “Right. Of course you’re right,” she said, and started down the hall. Savannah followed right behind her, and my father helped my grandmother along.

I brought up the rear, hustling them all into the control room.

I glanced at the monitors, saw where they stopped their car. It was a spot about a half a mile from the cabin.

I was impressed. The spot had good cover and was far enough away from the cabin that, if I hadn’t had all of the surveillance equipment installed, I never would have suspected their arrival.

There were three of them, and they set off toward the cabin at a slow and measured pace, heads on a swivel.

Judging by their shoes, they hadn’t been expecting to end up in the wilderness approaching a remote cabin that day. I wondered if they were keeping an eye out more for men with guns, or for bears.

Knowing I only had a few minutes to prepare, I armed myself heavily, taking about half the armory with me.

I half expected my mother to protest, or my father to try to put a stop to it, but all four of my charges just stood there silently, eyes wide, watching me.

When I was ready, I faced them. “We don’t have much time, so listen carefully. I’m not going to repeat myself. When I close this door, it can’t be opened from the outside. You’ll be safe. No matter what you hear or see on the monitors, do NOT come out. I don’t care what happens. If I’m killed—”

“Killed!” My mother cried, but I pressed on. There was just no time. As I continued my speech, my father put a comforting arm around my mother. She looked like she might pass out, but she stayed quiet.

“—then call the police. It will take them a while to get here. We’re pretty far out. But don’t come out until they get here. Even if you think you see those men leave. You stay in here until the police get here. Got it?”

They nodded, all four of them looking pale and shell-shocked. It tugged briefly at my heartstrings, but I pushed away the pangs. I wanted to comfort them. There was no time, though. I needed my head in the game.

Without another word, I stepped out of the control room and shut the door behind me, relieved to hear the satisfying thunk of the lock’s tumblers falling into place.

The minute the door closed, I put Savannah and my family out of my mind. I had to. There was no way to approach going into battle while your mind was partly taken up with other concerns. And make no mistake—that’s what this was. A battle.

And not only that, it was a battle where I was seriously outmatched. Three to one.

I had two things working in my favor, though.

One—they didn’t realize I knew they were coming.

And two—they had no idea how good I was.

I positioned myself just on the other side of the hall corner from the front door.

I could have gone upstairs and shot at them as they crossed the empty expanse that led to the front door. They wouldn’t have any cover, I’d designed it that way. And if there were only one assailant approaching, that was definitely what I would have done.

The advantage of that tactic would be to minimize risk. Take the targets out before they ever crossed the threshold.

There were disadvantages, too, though.

Having to cross a wide and empty swath of land would already have them on guard. They would be ready to jump at the slightest sound. When I took the first one out, the other two could scatter quickly, and I’d end up having to chase them down through the woods. Not an ideal situation.

Once they breached the front door, ironically, their defenses would come down a little. I knew guys like these—I knew their skillset, and I knew their mentality.

Once they’d gained entry, they’d get cocky. They’d think they were in control. They’d feel like they were right on the edge of obtaining their objective, and they’d get overconfident. Adrenaline would flood their system, and they’d lose their edge. Everything would start to blend into a blur of action.

It was because there was a distinct blind spot in their mindset, because of the situations they usually dealt with. They were used to being in charge, to dealing with scared debtors or witnesses. They were intimidating men, and they were used to dealing with people who were easily intimidated.

I could take advantage of that. They weren’t used to dealing with trained operatives, and even if they’d been briefed on my skills, they didn’t have the kind of experience to equip them to function at my level.

Still, even though my plan of attack was going to be based on that knowledge, I wasn’t going to let my guard down. The biggest mistake you could make was underestimating your opponent. So even though I was prepared to seize the advantage when they did that, because that was what my experience told me was the most likely scenario, I was not going to assume it was true. I would stay loose and prepared for all eventualities.

I took a deep breath. Readied myself.

I had a plan. Hopefully it would go smoothly. But, there was a saying: no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. So if smoothly wasn’t in the cards, I was ready.

The front door handle rattled.

Okay. Good piece of information. They hadn’t even tried to hide their position, or test the door as silently as possible. They were closer to amateurs than anything.

One of them started kicking at the door.

I could’ve locked all of the reinforced bolts that the door was equipped with, but I hadn’t done that. If I made it impossible for them to enter through the front door, they’d go searching for an alternate entry point. Then things would become more unpredictable.

Of course, I hadn’t just left the door wide open, either. I hadn’t wanted them to get suspicious.

No. Locked but not fortified. That’s what the types of people they usually went after would do. So that’s what would put them least on their guard.

I wanted them underestimating me up until the last possible second.

The door burst open, and they pushed through the threshold, their body language bold and imposing.

They stood in the doorway in a triangle formation, one out front and two trailing just behind. The one in front was the leader, I figured. Take him out first. Cut off the head, and the chicken flops around aimlessly.

“Come on out, you miserable bit—”

Before he had even gotten the entire word out, I had put a bullet between his eyes.

He crumpled to the ground, and the other two stared at him, mouths agape.

I took advantage of their stunned inaction and took out the second before they could get their wits about them.

I was hoping to take out the third before he sprang into action, as well, but the second man going down lit a fire under third guy’s ass, and he turned and sprinted out the door.

I stepped to the open doorway and took aim. The guy was down before he’d even made it across the clearing.

I holstered my weapon and dragged the body into the house. That was the last thing I needed while I got my parents and Savannah squared away. Some hobbyist with a drone spotting a dead body on my property and calling in the authorities.

I laid the man’s body down next to the other two and quickly searched all of their pockets.

Displaying a level of professionalism that their actions hadn’t hinted at, none of them had any ID or personally identifying items on them. In fact, none of them were carrying anything, with the exception of the leader, who had a burner phone in his pocket.

I flipped it open and looked at the call log. There were five outgoing calls, all at one hour intervals, to the same number. I quickly memorized it, then replaced the phone in the dead man’s pocket.

I headed back to the bedroom and gestured at the security camera just above the control room door, letting Savannah and my family know that all was clear, and they could open it.

The door swung open, and the four of them stood there, pale and shaken. None of them said anything for a moment, until my grandmother broke the silence. “Well, hot damn, kid,” she said. “I guess you just saved our asses.”