Chapter One
Gunnery Sergeant Jack “Gunny” Barr had been on edge all day, but couldn’t put his finger on the cause. It had started in the morning when he’d walked outside and looked up at the sky as the sun rose. A peculiar red filled the sky, giving him a slight feeling of foreboding. Though not a single thing had fallen into place to confirm the feeling until now.
The Marine Second Force Recon team was in the area after completing another mission when a broadcast for help came over the clear channel of the radio, calling all United States units in the area. SEAL team ten was in trouble. The pilot circled the helicopter around and headed back to give them aid. Then it all went to hell.
****
Axel Svenson aka “Swede” was the one person in the hospital Gunny spent the most time talking to. Marine Recon guys didn’t usually mix with other Navy personnel, but Swede was a SEAL and they’d met during a mission that had gone bad. There was no one else in the hospital either of them could talk to about what had gone down that day. Partly because of the security clearance, and partly because only someone who’d been there would really understand. Swede had lost a team member and had a traumatic brain injury. Gunny was concerned about Swede because TBI’s could be serious. By the time Gunny had been released to go home, they’d developed a friendship that began with bonding over the incident.
Gunny was now home and retired from the Marines all of three months, which was making him stir crazy. He’d been making repairs to the small house he owned after he’d finished making the rounds and visiting with all the family and friends that had wanted to see him after he got out. Now that he was back, it was time to work on the house. There was still a lot to be done. Amazing how that list added up after being away from the house for so many years on one deployment after another.
The phone rang, and when Gunny picked it up, he said, “Hello.”
Swede was on the line.
“Hey Gunny, how you doing?”
“I’m doing great. What’s up, shipmate? How’ve you been?”
“I’m out, Gunny. Got the doc’s all clear.”
“That’s good news. Glad to hear it.”
“I’m in Montana.”
“Nice. Fishing?”
“No. Working. Got a proposition for you.”
“All right. Let’s hear it.”
“A buddy of mine started a bodyguard service out here in Montana. The Brotherhood Protectors. We could use another good man. I thought of you. And the job pays well.”
“What’s the job? Who are you protecting?”
“Angelica Glory.”
“No shit?” Gunny whistled.
“Monroe Witham, her manager, just hired us. She’s got a stalker, Gunny.”
“I’m on board. When and where? Give me the details. ”
“Monroe says he’ll fly her out of L.A., quick. Said they’d be here in three days.”
Gunny laughed. “Civilians don’t know the meaning of quick.”
Swede laughed.
They’d both been on many missions where they’d been roused from sleep and had to grab gear and be wheels up within minutes.
“No, they don’t.”
“You just tell me when and where you need me and I’m there.”
Swede gave him the rest of the details, and then hung up. Gunny glanced around the room he’d been working on and then stood, leaving his tools where they lay. There was nothing here that couldn’t wait until he got back. He’d pack and then head out for an early dinner and a beer.
At the bar, he texted his brother.
Got a new job. Headed to Montana.
****
The next night, unable to sleep, Gunny fired up his computer and started to search. His first assignment was for one of the sexiest women in Hollywood. Angelica Glory. She’d stand out anywhere she went, and it appeared she loved to stand out.
A quick internet search told him Angelica loved to party in the clubs. Tabloid speculation about who her latest lover was seemed to change month to month. None of this was fact. He had her dossier in front of him, which listed everyone personally connected to her. It was quite detailed, but anything further he found would be added to it. The dossier listed everyone close to her. Family, close friends, and boyfriends. The names on the list were only a fraction of the names listed by the tabloids.
Angelica’s pattern appeared to be relationships with well-known actors, which lasted anywhere from six months to two years. None of her relationships had hit the three-year mark.
A major storm had kept him grounded in Houston, Texas, and now Miss Glory and her assistant would be arriving in Montana the night before he did. But the rest of the team would be in place. He’d be working with Swede, who would also be their computer guru. Hank ‘Montana’ Patterson was the third man. Montana, who ran the Brotherhood Protectors, was no stranger to Gunny, as Montana and Swede had been on the same SEAL team that fateful day.
The three-man team would work sixteen hours on, eight off in staggered shifts, so there would always be two men on duty at any time. Gunny would be man on point, getting to know Angelica and Lucy and gathering intel to help the team do their jobs. Swede would handle the technical aspects of the job. Montana had other bodyguards working for him and other clients, so he’d have the satellite phone. Cell phone service was poor to non-existent at the house. They’d be using two-way radios, and all their equipment was encrypted to prevent the stalker from listening in.
Swede had dug up plenty of intel for the dossier, but Gunny liked to look at things himself and get a feel for the situation. He much preferred seeing imagery to words on paper.
There were plenty of images of Angelica Glory. Plenty of cleavage to look at, and she liked showing it off. Great body. Carried herself with class in some images and with a haughty air in others. She loved the camera. Pictures could tell you so much.
Lucy Woods, the assistant, now she was intriguing. Pretty woman with long, silky black hair, pale skin, and pretty blue eyes. He noted one mannerism she had of tilting her head to the right and looking up at the camera. Did she know she did that? She didn’t like the camera much. He wondered if the movement developed from being a shy woman with a wish to hide.
He’d meet them soon enough. Closing the computer down, he went to bed and forced himself to go to sleep.
****
His brother called the next day as Jack was at the airport. Jack was glad his brother had security clearance, because then he could be truthful when talking about his new job. He and his twin had few secrets and shared an uncanny way of sensing when the other had something going on. Hank Patterson had not only okayed it, he’d asked if Jack’s brother might be interested in a job.
“Hey, Ted.”
“Jack, I got your message the other day. Been flying. What’s up? You got a new job?”
“Yeah. Bodyguard.”
“No shit. That’s great. Thought you were retired, though.”
“I’m too young to retire. Not used to all this sitting around. Nothing to do but fix this house.”
“I hear ya. Can’t imagine not flying. We’re both too young to retire. So who are ya working for?”
“Brotherhood Protectors. It’s a bodyguard service made up of SEALs and former combat vets started by Hank Patterson. His family has a ranch in Eagle Rock, Montana.”
“Where’s Eagle Rock? Never heard of it.”
“I had to look it up too. It’s in the foothills of the Crazy Mountains in the southwest corner of Montana. Hills and mountains to the west, plains to the east. Bear Creek Ranch is Patterson’s ranch.”
“Sounds interesting. Crazy Mountains, huh. Skiing?”
“Yeah, they’ve got skiing. Big Sky Resort. Biggest ski resort in Montana, and it’s only forty miles south. There’s also the Bridger Bowl Ski area near the Bridger Mountains.”
“I’ll come out and see ya this winter then. We’ll hit the slopes.”
“Sounds good. Yellowstone National Park isn’t far if you come out sooner. Temps are in the nineties right now. About the same as here.”
“Montana is all cowboys and cattle ranches. Why would anyone need a bodyguard out there?”
“The rich and famous come out and buy cattle ranches, horse ranches. They want privacy and seclusion. This first assignment is for Miss Angelica Glory.”
“The actress?”
“Yep.”
“Damn, she’s hot. That’s a plum assignment.”
“Maybe. We’ll see. I’m at Sugarland right now getting ready to board in fifteen minutes.”
“What are you flying out on?”
Jack grinned. Ted, a pilot in the Air Force, knew planes. He’d appreciate this one.
“A Lear thirty five.”
“Nice jet.”
“Sure beats flying commercial.”
“Sure does. Okay. Give me a heads up when you get the new address.”
“Will do.”
****
It began so casually, no one suspected Miss Angelica Glory had a stalker. With so many fans from all around the world, she often received gifts, cards, and letters. So when a single red rose was delivered to Miss Glory’s trailer on the set location in L.A. for the movie she was shooting, Lucy Wood, Angelica’s assistant, put the rose in a vase with water and filed the silly note away in the filing cabinet with the fan mail. Angelica’s fans sent her notes that said all sorts of things, some of them quite silly in Lucy’s opinion.
This card said, one rose for all the ways I’m going to spoil you. – The man of your dreams.
From a regular boyfriend, it would have been a sweet note to receive, but Angelica was currently without a boyfriend and too busy wrapping up her latest movie to have time for one. Lucy shook her head at the note, but didn’t think any more about it.
Every day following, for twenty-three more days, the red roses arrived and they came with the same note, typed in the old fashioned way, with a typewriter using black ink on white paper. By day twenty-four, Lucy Wood was fed up with red roses and silly notes from secret admirers, though she kept her feelings to herself.
Day twenty-five came and went with no deliveries and nothing to file away. On day twenty-seven, Lucy was in the bedroom of Angelica’s trailer on the set, putting away clothes Angelica had strewn across the bed, when someone knocked on the trailer door.
“Coming,” she called out and hurried to the door to open it. A deliveryman stood with a package instead of the usual florist delivery person. Taking the package from him, she saw Angelica hurrying across the lot, calling, “Is that for me?”
“Yes, it is,” Lucy called back, noting there was no return address on the small, brown package. Angelica hurried up and took the package out of Lucy’s hands. She went into her trailer and Lucy followed. Angelica sat on the couch and began opening the package as Lucy sat beside her.
Ripping and tearing, Angelica was like an impatient child at Christmas. Once the package was open, her eyes lit at the red, lacy thing inside. Red was her favorite color.
“What is it?” Lucy asked, leaning closer.
Angelica lifted it up, so Lucy could see it was a red lace, see-through baby doll nightie. A note fluttered down onto the ground.
Lucy picked the note up and handed it to Angelica.
The note read, Wear this tonight, the man of your dreams.
“What is this supposed to mean? Wear this tonight? I don’t have a date tonight.” Angelica crumpled the note and tossed it to the floor.
Lucy picked it up and placed it to the side. She’d file it later.
“No one gives me orders telling me what to wear.” Angelica’s tone became haughtier with each word. “The cup size is too small for me, it will never fit my boobs.” Angelica thrust the nightie at Lucy, saying, “Here, you take it, it will fit yours.”
While true, the way Angelica said it sounded insulting to Lucy, who was far from the double D’s Angelica proudly showed off after her breast augmentation surgery. She liked showing off her cleavage and her bare breasts, and she liked the attention they brought her.
Though it wasn’t a subject Lucy thought about much, the size of her breasts having never been much of a big deal before coming to work for Angelica, Lucy was no more than a C cup on a good day. Unfortunately, her boss had developed a nasty habit of finding ways to put Lucy down, and this was one of them.
Taking the lace nightie, Lucy looked at it. It would fit her. She’d tuck it away for a special night with a special guy, if she ever had one. Which did not seem likely as long as she was working for Angelica. But maybe one day. And if not, she’d use the lace to make something else. Folding the nightie up, she said, “Thank you,” before tucking it into her big shoulder bag.
Angelica often handed off perfectly good things she was tired of, or new things she’d never worn. Luckily, Lucy’s sewing skills enabled her to make all manner of things out of these cast offs and they, along with the jewelry she designed, sold at Bejeweled and Bedazzled, her online Etsy store. While she’d hoped to work in Hollywood as a costume designer one day, for now, she poured her creativity into making her jewelry while working for Miss Glory.
As Angelica left the trailer without acknowledging Lucy’s thank you, Lucy picked up the note and frowned. This note was signed the same way as the notes that came with the roses. She’d check to be sure, but after seeing the same note so many days in a row, she was quite sure the same person sent it.
She went into the office that evening to check and see if she was right about the notes. She opened the filing cabinet and pulled them out and laid them all on the table. Now there was no question in her mind.
The notes were from the same person. The roses were nice, but now sending lingerie? And that note. I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe I should call Monroe.
If Angelica’s secret admirer was someone who knew her at all, he’d have known not to speak to her the way he had in the note. It would not go over well. This had to be someone who didn’t know her.
Lucy got out her phone and dialed. She’d kept all the notes; along with a record of what day and time they were delivered and which company delivered them. She’d learned to time and date everything because she had to cover herself with this job. Too often, there’d been problems.
For one, Lucy kept getting locked out of her email and her social media accounts and kept having to make new passwords. This slowed down her ability to do her job, and when her emails sometimes went missing, she’d started printing them out just to protect herself.
For another, there was the massage appointment she knew she’d made, but Sam, the masseuse, told her he’d never received. So he hadn’t shown up and Angelica had been upset. Luckily, Lucy had been able to get Sam to come out that evening after he had finished with other clients. She’d searched her email account three times, but the email she’d sent was not in the sent folder. From then on, she’d decided not to rely on emails, but to call everything in.
Angelica had implied to Monroe that Lucy wasn’t doing her job. Now Lucy noted everything and made sure she could account for every task she did for the actress if there ever came a time when she needed to. Tonight, though Monroe might blow her off, she was going to report these notes and gifts because she was concerned. It didn’t seem normal, some stranger sending lingerie, and if Lucy were going to make an error, it would be to error on the side of caution.
It being evening and the dinner hour, Monroe didn’t answer his phone. Likely, he was at a dinner club making deals. She left a message briefly telling him what was going on and asked him to call her.
****
The next morning as Lucy was riding in the taxi with Angelica to her salon appointment, she mentioned she’d called Monroe. Angelica shrugged it off. “People send me things all the time. You know that. You shouldn’t bother Monroe with stupid stuff like this.”
Lucy kept her thoughts to herself.
At the Simply Divine Beauty Shop in L.A., Lucy and Angelica stood by the reception desk waiting for the attendant to get off the phone. She hung up and then said, “Miss Glory! So good to see you! What can I do for you today?”
Lucy said, “Miss Glory is here for her nine thirty appointment.”
“Oh no.” The woman shook her head. “You cancelled that appointment yesterday.”
“No, that’s a mistake. I didn’t call to cancel it.” Lucy said, pulling out the email she had sent and the one she had received. “The appointment is for today at nine thirty. Hair color and nails.”
“Well now, yes you did.” The woman took the salon appointment book and turned it around, placing it where they could both see it. “Yesterday at noon. See. You called and cancelled.”
On the appointment calendar was clearly written: cancelled Friday, twelve ten, Lucy Wood.
“We write everything down. You called. You just don’t remember.”
“I did not call to cancel this appointment.”
“Stupid girl.” Angelica faced Lucy, furious. “Stop lying. You screwed up again. Now fix it.” She marched over to the soft yellow leather couch in the reception area and sunk down onto it, waiting.
Lucy watched her march off with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
How could this be happening again? It shouldn’t have, not when I’ve been so careful.
She turned back to the receptionist. “I don’t understand how this happened. I didn’t call to cancel,” Lucy insisted. “Who took the call?
The receptionist raised an eyebrow and said, “I did.”
“Was it a man or a woman who called?”
She gave her hard stare, and then said, “Look, this says Lucy Wood,” she tapped the page three times with her long, red fingernail, “right here. It was obviously a woman.”
“I …I don’t understand.” The whole thing had Lucy confused and frustrated as her thoughts raced.
Why would someone impersonate me and cancel the appointment? This made no sense.
“I don’t understand how this happened. I didn’t call.” She pulled out her own appointment book and opened it. “I would have made a note if I’d called. And there’s no note. It wasn’t me who called.”
The receptionist raised an eyebrow and gave her a look that said she clearly thought Lucy was a liar.
This was not getting them anywhere and Angelica needed her hair and her nails done.
“Can you still do her hair and nails?”
“Absolutely not. There’s not enough time to do everything. She’ll be lucky if we can squeeze her in for a root touch up two hours from now. You know Sebastian has a waiting list.”
“Oh no. I’d hoped you could.”
“Do you want to try that or not?”
“Yes, please see if we can make that happen.”
“I’ll be right back.” The receptionist went to the back of the room and then returned with Sebastian, Angelica’s hairdresser.
He walked over to where Angelica was seated. “Darling! I understand there has been a mix up. It’s so hard to get good help these days. Of course, any spot that opens up is immediately taken. You know how in demand my services are. If only I’d known you were not cancelling. But this is not your fault and I’m making an exception for you today. I will skip my lunch just to fit you in and we’ll take care of those roots. Will that help?”
“Sebastian,” Angelica placed her hand on her heart with her usual flair of drama, “I appreciate you. My roots are a priority. Which you just know. And you are certainly right about the help.” She shot Lucy a glare. “This sort of thing never happened to me before.”
Lucy turned beet red, wanted to protest again that she hadn’t called to cancel the appointment, but knew it would be futile. No one was listening to her or believing her.
How could this have happened?
At least they’d get Angelica in for a dye job. As far as it never happening before, maybe it hadn’t, but Lucy was the fifth assistant Miss Glory had hired. Or rather, her manager, Monroe, had hired. God only knows what had happened to the first four.
“Darling, why don’t you take an early lunch at Pierre’s and have a glass of wine while you’re waiting. They have the most divine waiter there named Avellino. I’ve been dying to ask him out. You ask for him and he’ll take good care of you. Then when you come back, I’ll restore those glorious locks of yours.”
“That sounds lovely. Thank you, Sebastian.”
“My pleasure, darling.”
Angelica turned her attention to Lucy again. “Call them right away and get me a table.”
“Yes, Miss Glory.” Lucy got out her phone to look up the number of the popular L.A. restaurant. She’d be on her own for lunch, yet would still have to keep an eye on her boss. Silly as it was, they’d need two tables, one for each of them. She stepped outside to make the call so she could speak freely. “Yes. I need two tables for one, under the name Angelica Glory, both close enough to see each other.”
That likely sounded ridiculous, but a table where she could keep an eye on her boss was what Lucy needed. Angelica with two hours to do nothing but drink wine and wait for an appointment could spell trouble if her drinking got out of hand in public. This wasn’t a good start to the day.
In the taxi on the way to lunch, Angelica said, “I was embarrassed. And I do not like having to beg. Pay heed. This isn’t the first mistake you’ve made. One more incident like today and you’re fired.”
“It won’t happen again.”
With no idea how it happened this time, Lucy couldn’t be sure of that, but she did know she was competent at her job and gave it her best. This wasn’t a screw up she would have made. Unfortunately, these strange things that she could have sworn she didn’t do just kept happening.
Why did this kind of thing keep happening? Why would somebody call the salon and pretend to be me? Are they trying to get me fired? And if so, who?
She couldn’t imagine who. Her head was already starting to hurt. This was a bad start to what would be a very long day.
****
By the end of the day, Lucy was exhausted and had just kicked off her shoes to rest on the couch after putting a small frozen lasagna in the oven when her phone rang.
Monroe’s name flashed on the screen.
“Hello, Monroe. Thank you for calling me back.”
“Do you still have the notes?”
“Yes. I keep and file everything she receives.”
“Good. I want to see them.”
“They’re at the office.”
“Meet me there in an hour.”
“Okay.”
They hung up and Lucy put the phone down with a sigh, and then went in the kitchen to turn off the oven.
There was just enough time for a quick shower and to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before she had to go out again to make it through L.A. traffic to be at the office in an hour. Eating a sandwich as she drove wasn’t how she’d wanted to end her day, though it did keep the pounds off not having time for regular meals. She really needed a raise. And a day, or better yet, a week off.
By the time she’d made it back to her apartment and had fallen into bed, she was glad she’d made the call to Monroe. He’d taken it seriously and, after seeing the notes side by side he’d made three calls. The first was to the head of a company who advised on security threats such as stalking, the second to a colleague whose client had been shot by a love-crazed fan, and the third to a bodyguard service based in Montana, which came recommended by the colleague. He was taking no chances with his famous client. Now, everything was arranged.
Angelica and Lucy would be flying to Montana to lay low, and a bodyguard service had been hired to protect the actress.
Lucy’s wish had partially been granted. Overtime pay and a vacation. A vacation, which included spending twenty-four-seven with Angelica. And they were leaving in three days.
Luckily, Monroe was informing Angelica of all this. Lucy had tomorrow off to finalize anything she needed to before she went out of town and to prepare for the trip, while also clearing everything on Angelica’s calendar. Not really a day off, but it was better than none.
The following day, she’d be helping Angelica pack. Angelica would have to get her nails done somewhere other than her favorite salon in L.A., if they couldn’t squeeze her in before they flew out. After the way the receptionist reacted to Lucy, she doubted she’d have luck when she called in the morning to ask them to squeeze Angelica in again. She couldn’t even tell them why Angelica was leaving.
Monroe didn’t want the tabloids to pick up the story. The official spiel was Miss Glory was taking a much-needed vacation at a spa.
Lucy couldn’t tell a soul what was really going on. She shivered. Someone was stalking Angelica.