Hostage (26 page)

‘So what happened?’ asked
President Mendez, his expression grave as he faced them.

Dirk stepped forward and gave his report.
‘First and foremost, your daughter is safe and unharmed,’ he began, before
proceeding to deliver an account that was more or less accurate, although Connor’s
actions were not presented in a favourable light. ‘So you see, Connor’s lack
of
communication and disregard for protocol resulted in your daughter
being placed unnecessarily in harm’s way. Fortunately, as soon as the panic alarm
was triggered, my Secret Service team secured her safety,’ Dirk concluded.

‘Why couldn’t you just track
Alicia’s position like the last time?’ asked George.

‘She switched off her
cellphone,’ explained Kyle. ‘Alicia’s got wise to our
tricks.’

‘Short of implanting a GPS tracker,
there’s not much we can do about that,’ Dirk said. ‘The panic alarm
pinpoints her position, but only when
she
triggers it.’

President Mendez frowned and sighed.
‘I take your point. And she certainly won’t accept any further invasion of
her privacy. Once again I must apologize for my daughter’s wayward nature. Like
her mother, she needs her freedom. But there’s one matter I need clarifying. Who
actually tackled the two gang members?’

Dirk was slow to answer, clearly reluctant
to give Connor any credit. But Kyle spoke up.

‘The two threats were eliminated
before
our arrival, Mr President,’ he replied. ‘By Connor, in
fact.’

Connor looked over at Kyle in surprise.
He’d not expected the agent to back him up, especially with his boss present. Nor
apparently had Dirk, whose jaw fell open in disbelief.

President Mendez gave a satisfied nod, as if
he’d almost expected that answer. Striding over to Connor, he laid a hand on his
shoulder. ‘Well, Connor, you’ve certainly lived up to my expectations. I
knew I could trust in a Reeves bodyguard. Keep up the good work.’

‘Aren’t we all missing the point
here?’ interjected Dirk. ‘We were lucky this time, but we can’t risk
this happening again.
Ever.
’

‘Perhaps the shock of the mugging will
convince Alicia of the necessity for Secret Service?’ suggested George.
‘Maybe she won’t be so eager to fly the nest now.’

‘I sincerely hope so,’ Dirk
replied. ‘But we can’t guarantee it. And we can’t have
anyone
on the team going along with her escapades.’

The director stared at Connor, making it
known that he blamed him for the fiasco.

‘But, Dirk, this is precisely the
reason we hired Connor in the first place. He should be congratulated, not
criticized,’ said President Mendez. He held up his hand to prevent any further
protests from the director. ‘Let me have
another
word with Alicia. And
hopefully this will be the end of it.’

With a weary shake of his head, he walked
back to the window and gazed out at the Rose Garden.

‘Sometimes, I think bringing up a
teenage daughter is harder than governing the country.’

That evening Connor pounded the punch bag in
the White House gym. Now that the adrenalin rush from the attack had faded, the harsh
reality of what had happened hit home. Only with hindsight did he realize how close
he’d come to serious injury and even death. He may well have dealt with both
gangsters and protected Alicia, but he’d still got stabbed in the process. And he
found himself agreeing with the Director of the Secret Service – next time he might not
be so lucky or be wearing his stab-proof shirt.

That thought made him train harder. He
pummelled the bag.
Jab, cross, jab, hook!
His hands began to tremble under the
effort. But he had to ensure his combat skills were up to scratch. From now on, he vowed
to do extra martial arts training every morning. Not just for his own safety, but for
Alicia’s too.

His phone rang. Pulling off his punch mitts,
he picked it up and saw the Buddyguard logo flashing for a video call. He pressed his
thumb to the screen and Charley’s concerned face appeared.

‘Are you all right, Connor? You missed
your report time,’ she said.

‘Just overshot on my training,
that’s all,’ he replied, wiping the perspiration from his brow with a
towel.

Charley saw straight through his attempt at
bravado. ‘I know what happened, Connor. Secret Service got in contact when they
were trying to locate you and Alicia. Next time, don’t switch off your mobile. I
can’t find you otherwise.’

Hearing the edge of concern in her voice,
Connor said, ‘Sorry, my fault. I made some serious mistakes today.’

He sat down on the weight bench and retold
his version of the events: his decision to follow Alicia and not to inform Secret
Service; allowing her to take his mobile and switch it off; his stupidity in forgetting
the second gangster; and his failure to defend himself properly.

‘Don’t be so hard on
yourself,’ said Charley, trying to comfort him with a smile. ‘You should be
proud of what you achieved. The bottom line is Alicia’s alive and unharmed thanks
to your quick reactions. And Colonel Black issues body armour precisely for those
moments when we’re overwhelmed or taken by surprise.’

Connor felt better hearing this from
Charley. Since she was the most experienced member of the team, he valued her opinion.
So he decided to bring up the other issue that had been gnawing away at him since the
start of the operation.

‘I’m getting to like
Alicia,’ he admitted, then saw Charley’s lips tighten in disapproval.
‘As a friend,’ he
hastened to add. ‘Which is why
I’m finding it hard not letting her know who I really am.’

‘It’s for her own safety,
Connor,’ Charley reminded. ‘You’ve just proved today how valuable your
presence is.’

‘But doesn’t this go against the
very principles of being a bodyguard? Colonel Black’s always stressing how
important integrity and honesty is to our job.’

‘Yes, it does,’ admitted
Charley. ‘But sometimes due to the nature of an operation, a buddyguard has to
remain covert – even to their Principal. Your role is to protect Alicia, but it is the
President who is our client. We’re required to comply with his instructions, and
that means concealing your true purpose.’

‘But I can’t hang around Alicia
forever without her eventually suspecting something.’

‘Colonel Black’s well aware of
that possibility,’ Charley admitted. ‘And we’ll have to cross that
bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, stay on guard. I fear there may be a storm
coming.’

Connor sat up straight. ‘Have you
intercepted more threats?’

‘No, exactly the opposite. It’s
gone quiet.’

‘They literally came out of
nowhere
,’ revealed Alicia to her friends, who sat transfixed on a
picnic bench in the schoolyard. ‘One moment we were walking to the park, the next
these two gangsters jumped us.’

Not exactly out of nowhere
, thought
Connor, recalling their carefully planned assault.

‘I bet that was terrifying,’
said Kalila.

‘Too right!’ Alicia replied.
‘But Connor wasn’t scared. He leapt straight into action, even though one of
them had a
knife
.’

The girls all gazed at Connor in awe.

‘You’re
so
brave,’ remarked Paige.

‘It was nothing,’ replied
Connor, wishing to play down his role. ‘Anyone in my shoes would have done the
same.’

‘No, they wouldn’t,’
protested Alicia. ‘Connor, you took them
both
down in seconds. You were
truly amazing!’

‘Serves them right too,’ said
Grace.

‘But where were the Secret
Service?’ asked Kalila.

Alicia offered a guilty smile.
‘We’d given them the slip.’

‘Yeah, but who needs Secret Service when
you’ve got Connor!’ laughed Grace, striking a fighting pose.
‘He’s a ninja warrior!’

Nudging Kalila, Paige whispered, ‘If I
didn’t already have a date for the prom, I know who I’d want to take
me.’

‘Hands off, Paige, he’s
mine!’ said Grace, putting a possessive arm round Connor’s shoulders.

Alicia gently pushed her friend away.
‘Hey, you’ve already got a date with Darryl.’

‘Darryl
who
?’ replied
Grace innocently and the girls laughed.

Although flattered by the attention, Connor
hoped it would soon die down. If any of the girls actually
did
take a fancy to
him, this might compromise his ability to protect Alicia. There was even the risk one of
them might guess his true role.

As the girls pressed Alicia for more details
of Connor’s heroism, Connor glanced at his new watch – a gift from the President
for protecting his daughter. He’d felt awkward at accepting it, but the President
had insisted. Surprisingly, Dirk Moran had also encouraged his acceptance, afterwards
instructing Connor to wear it night and day. It was then that Connor discovered the
watch had been implanted with a micro-GPS tracker by the director. The Secret Service
had also been granted access to his mobile-phone locator. Dirk was taking no more
chances with him – wherever he went, the Secret Service would know.

‘I wish I’d come along
now,’ said Paige. ‘It sounds so exciting.’

‘Next time I’ll call you, so you
don’t miss any of the action,’ joked Alicia.

‘That reminds me,’ said Kalila,
rifling through her bag. ‘My eldest brother bought me a new cellphone.’

‘Lucky you!’ said Grace.
‘The most my brother’s ever given me is his old console.’

Kalila pulled out a slim touchscreen phone.
‘I’d better give you my new number.’

Finding their mobiles, the girls bumped
phones and transferred contact details.

‘What about Connor?’ Paige
suggested. ‘You never know when you might need his protection.’

‘Well … OK,’ said Kalila,
turning shy at the idea. ‘But if you do call me, Connor, I’ll have to put
your number under a girl’s name, just in case any of my brothers happen to
see.’

‘No problem,’ said Connor,
unlocking his mobile. ‘You can put me in as Daisy if you want!’

Giggling at the suggestion, Kalila bumped
phones and Connor accepted the incoming vCard containing her contact details.

‘So this is where the tough guy hangs
out?’ said Ethan, swaggering over to their picnic bench. ‘With the
girls!’

Behind Ethan, Jimbo glared at Connor, doing
his best to intimidate him. Connor groaned inwardly at their appearance. Clearly, word
of Alicia’s mugging was spreading through the school like wildfire.

‘Not jealous, are we?’ goaded
Grace.

Ethan snorted. ‘Me? He only beat up a
couple of street
bums. I’ve hit more home runs this season than
any batter in the state. There’s no contest!’

‘But Connor
saved
Alicia’s life,’ said Kalila.

‘Well, if
I’d
been with
Alicia, those bums wouldn’t have got within spitting distance in the first
place.’ He turned to Alicia and puffed out his chest. ‘Next time you want to
go out in DC, stick with me.’

Connor couldn’t believe the
boy’s arrogance. And he very much doubted whether Ethan would have even noticed
the gangsters approaching, let alone have had the courage to stand and fight.

‘Speaking of which, Alicia,’
continued Ethan. ‘Have you come to a decision yet?’

‘About what?’

‘The prom!’ he cried in
exasperation.

Alicia looked thoroughly unimpressed by his
second clumsy attempt at asking her.

‘Sorry,’ she replied and faked
an apologetic smile. ‘I’m already spoken for.’

Connor glanced over in surprise. This was
news to him. And judging by the reaction of her girlfriends, news to them too.

‘
What?
’ exclaimed
Ethan, disbelief written all over his face.

Alicia looped her arm through
Connor’s. ‘My knight in shining armour is taking me.’