Chapter One

 

 

“God, I hate dealing with whiney, over-dramatic women.”

Dirk had really been pumped to get into private security once his discharge from a special branch of the military was official. Some of his company buddies hadn’t decided what they were going to do after, but he had been planning for quite a while. It was a surprise the more he thought about it, only because he’d never been anything more than a fly-by-night type of guy.

What he wasn’t thrilled about were his latest three jobs and that he’d just gotten a call for another.  All women. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the ladies, but protecting them was a whole other issue. The ones he’d been dealing with had money, and status and they damn well knew it.  They thought their shit didn’t stink and that he needed to be at their beckoning call because he was being paid.

“Sorry ladies, not how I work.”

And usually he didn’t have any trouble telling anybody either. Dirk’s business wasn’t run like a personal escort service for the rich and famous. He was in security. To him, that meant someone had done something to piss off somebody else and needed protection. It usually wasn’t a long-term thing either. He didn’t advertise his business and there was no store front where everyone could stop in. It was by word of mouth and recommendation only.

He took a lot into consideration before making the decision to take a case. Extensive behind the scenes research, partly because it was what he was used to but also because he needed to know anything and everything there was to know about who he was protecting. That included research of their family members, neighbors and any friends that he might find odd or interesting. Helped him to know exactly what he was up against.  Everybody had secrets buried in the closet but the less that surprised him during his detail, the better and safer everyone involved would be. The only exception to that was the person who referred a client. It was usually someone he knew well or that knew of him and had the right references.

The file he currently held in his hands wasn’t one he was too keen on taking, however. He’d had this woman as a charge before and she was as unpleasant as anyone he’d ever run across. It would be easy because all her background work was already done but she wasn’t stress-free or simple by any sense of the word. And she really didn’t need protected from anything other than herself. As he read through the letter attached, his personal line rang.

After hesitating a second or two, he picked up the unknown call to a familiar voice.

“Hey man, good to hear from you, what’s up?”

Corey Wallis was an old childhood friend of his who worked for the department of defense and had been the one to give him his first job lead when Dirk was discharged from the Marines. He was one of those exceptions to the rule. He trusted the man with his life. It also helped that Corey had been a marine once too.

Dirk listened to what his friend had to say and agreed once or twice during the conversation.

“You know it’s only because I trust you that I’ll take on this case without knowing any of the details. You are sending the info at some point, right?”

His friend informed him that a large packet would be coming to him via random courier at his usual pickup spot and that he had to go but they’d catch up soon. Dirk clicked off his cell and threw it on the couch. Then he picked up the repeat client paperwork from his desk and fed the papers into the shredder one at a time and he was all too thrilled. That’s how trustworthy his friend was. There was always a small percent he was being played but he’d deal with that later.

“All I have to say is it better not be another woman.”

***

Avery Hanson glanced out through the soiled drapes onto the parking lot of the seedy motel she’d resigned herself to stay in. All day she’d had the feeling she was being followed which made her afraid to go back to the hotel she was originally in. Her mother was a prim and proper woman and would roll over in her grave to see her only daughter in that kind of an establishment. Places like this didn’t bother Avery though. She’d been in and out of dozens of them chasing leads.

“Do the best photo ops always need to lead to the most trouble though?

Why couldn’t she have just told herself to walk away before someone saw her? Avery’s dad was beyond pissed, she’d never heard his voice take on that harsh a tone before. It was downright mean and she couldn’t get it out of her mind.

She always carried burner phones in case of an emergency when she was doing her work. Wouldn’t want anyone being able to trace her if she needed to make a call. Tracking down her dad in the department of defense wasn’t what she had in mind for that phone though.

Avery’s dad, Bill Hanson, never made it a secret that he thought his daughter was a fuck up and boy if she didn’t prove that point today. He didn’t support her line of work in the first place and having to call him for help in cleaning up a mess she’d been specifically told to stay away from didn’t bode well.

When she’d first referenced the mess to the Under Secretary of Defense, her dad, he didn’t let her even finish explaining. His voice switched from a calm and collected government official to an angry dad of a daughter who’d just witnessed and photographed the Deputy Secretary being murdered. Doesn’t get more fucked up than that.

He told her to go back to her hotel, keep a low profile and stay there until he got back with her but of course, as any kid probably would, she didn’t listen. Partly because she was an adult but mainly because there was someone keeping tabs on her so she needed to protect herself. He’d disconnected before she could tell him her concerns and going straight back to the hotel wasn’t smart. She’d seen plenty of movies to know she should drive around a while but then what if they already knew who she was and where she was staying? 

Better than most, she knew the ins and outs of sleazy motels and dive bars and there were a few people she’d met that might be able to keep her hidden. She probably shouldn’t have bothered to call her dad at all, he had enough on his hands with the murder directly affecting his department. It also meant her dad could be in danger as well but she couldn’t think about that now, she needed to keep her distance from him for his own safety.

She tried to busy herself with unpacking her backpack and refolding and packing the clothes to get her mind sidetracked but had no luck.

“I am so stupid. This is going to get me killed.”

Flipping on the TV, she scanned through the available channels but every station had an emergency news flash about the Deputy Secretary and that there would be a press conference shortly to let the American people know what was going on. She knew better though, they weren’t about to let anyone know the gory details or they’d have mass hysteria.

Avery turned off the TV, unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched. She couldn’t help but look out the window one last time before jumping in the shower. When briefly scanning the lot again for anything out of place, she caught sight of a car she hadn’t seen before, parked straight out from her room. She could see a person sitting in the driver’s seat but the windows were darkened so she didn’t have a clear enough view.

“Great, they found me.”