Guarding His Body. A.C. Arthur
“There she is.” He swerved off the road, pulling up behind the stalled vehicle.
Before Bree could stop him he’d jumped out of the car and was heading toward the driver’s side. Bree reached down, retrieved her gun and stepped out of the car, as well. She watched as Renny bent over, looked into the driver’s side window, then walked around to the passenger door.
Her gun down by her side, Bree came up on the back of the car, passed the driver’s side while peeking in herself, then began to make her way around the front of the car. She heard it before she saw it, a speeding vehicle. When she turned, there were no headlights, but she could see the phantom outline. Renny was just standing there, looking into the passenger-side window.
“There’s nobody in there. Where is she?” He stood, his body halfway in the street as the car got closer. He turned the moment he heard the engine behind him and was about to jump onto the hood of the car when he felt something slam into him, knocking him to the ground. The car whizzed by as he lay there. He rolled over, trapping the person who had tackled him. He heard something fall, looked to his right and saw a gun slide over the asphalt. Then he looked down into her face.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he yelled when they were safely inside his car pulling back onto the road ahead. “Why would you jump out there when you saw that car coming? Are you crazy?” His heart was pumping, his mind reeling with possible scenarios.
“I was doing my job, thank you very much.” Bree leaned over to strap her gun back to her leg.
“And what the hell is that? Why didn’t you tell me you were strapped?” He was driving like a maniac, in a hurry to get to his parents’ house to see if Adriana was okay.
“I’m a bodyguard. It makes sense that I’d be armed. And for your information that’s what I was doing when I tackled you to the ground. The car was coming right at you. I saved your life, Bennett!” She wasn’t accustomed to being yelled at by people whose lives she saved. She reached into her pack and dug out her phone.
“Why? I didn’t ask you to. I would never ask you to put yourself in danger for me! I can’t believe you did that! And who the hell are you calling?”
“I get paid to do what I do and I’m calling Sam to see what the hell is going on. Why would Adriana call you? She’s supposed to be with Gary.”
Renny didn’t get a chance to ask another question before she was talking on the phone.
She spoke quickly into the phone. “Sam? It’s me. Have you heard from Gary? Where’s Adriana?”
“Adriana is here having dinner with her parents and Alex. Where are you?”
“Renny got a call from Adriana saying that she was stranded. But when we got out to her car there was no one there, and then someone tried to run him down.”
“We’ve been here for the past two hours. Gary’s here with her. It must have been a ploy.”
Bree looked to Renny, who by his grim expression had heard the conversation. “Okay, we’re on our way.”
“No. Get Renny home. I’m going to lock things down here and I want you to do the same with Renny at his place. Make sure everything’s working, and call me when you get there.”
“Fine.” Bree disconnected the line. “Adriana’s okay.”
“Let me guess. This so-called stalker has just stepped up his game.”
Bree only nodded because the fierce look in Renny’s eyes held her quiet.
He hadn’t spoken another word to her during the ride back to his place, and he’d only grunted when she told him that’d been where they’d been instructed to go. Upon getting out of the car she retrieved her gun again and walked close beside him, telling him they’d take the stairs. He’d looked down at her, then at the gun in her hand, and clenched his jaw, but still he didn’t speak.
Renny pulled out his keys and let them into the condo, pausing to punch the new security code into the pad on the side wall. He dropped his keys to the table and went straight to the bar in his dining room and poured himself a drink.
Bree moved to the canvas on the large wall in his living room and checked to make sure the surveillance camera she’d installed behind it was working. Beside Renny’s very advanced audio entertainment center, she’d installed a tiny box that kept track of outside intruders. She checked to make sure it was running and operational. He didn’t make a sound behind her and she was getting a little antsy. His silence, not the events that had taken place or the impending danger this could signal, bothered her.
When she turned he was downing the glass of brownish liquid, his eyes resting fiercely on her. She looked away, reached into her pouch for her phone to call Sam.
“Sam, we’re here and everything is secure. So what happened?”
“It was definitely a setup. Somehow they got Renny’s cell phone number and called with a voice-over sounding like Adriana. She was never in danger and she was never stranded. Yesterday her car was acting up so she took it to the shop. About a half hour ago the body shop called to say the car had been stolen.”
“But I don’t understand, Sam. Why Renny?” Renny didn’t have any connections with the business besides the family name and neither did Adriana.
“All I can figure right now is that he’s targeting the most unlikely subjects. It would be too obvious to attack Mr. Bennett directly, and the loss of one of his kids would be far more devastating. We’re gonna have to step up our security. We can’t risk another setup.”
“I agree. What do you want me to do?” Bree paced the floor as she talked; moving kept her calm. Without really thinking about it she went to his balcony and pulled the horizontal blinds closed, then moved to the other windows and made sure they were secured, as well. Renny was in the same room with her occupying space and brooding like a volcano waiting to erupt. She wondered what he was thinking, what he was feeling. This had to be a shock to him. After all, he hadn’t placed much credence in this whole stalker business in the first place. A direct attempt on your life was difficult for any civilian to take.
“I want you to stay with him 24/7,” Sam said with finality.
“What?” Her movement stopped.
“I know what I’m asking is difficult, Bree, but we don’t have a choice. I’ll try to find someone to take over for you as soon as I can, but for now it has to be you.”
He was right, she knew it and it was her job—everything else she was feeling was secondary. “I understand, Sam. And don’t worry about finding someone else. I’ll be okay.” She said the words, but her heart hammered in her chest as she acknowledged his closeness. She smelled him, felt his strength and anger just behind her. She didn’t get the chance to turn before the phone was ripped from her hand.
“What the hell is your problem, Desdune? How could you give your sister a job like this? Do you know what she did out there tonight? Do you know how much danger she put herself in because of this little job you gave her?”
Renny was yelling at Sam and Bree turned to look at him, stunned at his words. Why was he still fussing over what she’d done? It was her job.
She didn’t know what Sam’s response was, but by the way Renny continued to yell into the phone it wasn’t a good one. “This is ridiculous, and risking her life for mine isn’t worth it!” Renny roared, then clicked the phone off and tossed it across the room.
He was on her before she had a moment to blink, his hands grasping her shoulders as he shook her slightly. “You will never, ever do that again! Do you hear me? You will not put yourself in danger on my account!”
His face was scant inches away from hers, she could feel his breath whispering across her face. She opened her mouth to speak, to argue with his stupidity, and then his lips stole her words.
Fierce,