Page 3 of Guarding the Athlete
We all stiffened, like little rabbits sensing a predator nearby.
Wanda sank down a little in her chair. “No ma’am.”
Lois let her glare linger on Wanda another few seconds before continuing. “Here’s all the incidents so far…”
She passed around a stack of papers outlining the time, place, location, and other details about incidents suspected to be related. None of us dared suggest that she use the very expensivescreen on the wall to project the list and save some trees. Lois liked paper.
I skimmed the handouts, seeing that every attack involved the highest ranked soccer players, all of whom had gone to the International Games in addition to playing for their respective teams. It had started off like basic stalker shit, but now the attacks seemed to be escalating.
“This guy’s been quiet for a coupla weeks,” Lois continued. “But now he’s shown up in Seattle. He left a message for Ruby Wozniak, the team captain here in Seattle.”
Another stack of papers was distributed, this one showing a defaced door and a perfectly made bed with some kind of weird little stuffed animal on it. I squinted. Was the bear a biker?
“Ruby’s father is also the team owner for the Seattle Starfish, so needless to say he was concerned not only as the owner but the father of their star player. We’re going in on close protection, starting this afternoon.”
We all straightened, waiting for our assignments.
“Diaz, I want you doing your mumbo jumbo computer shit, see if you can find any chatter on the interwebs about this, or any hits out on players, whatever you could find.”
Did I mention Lois was a Luddite? Anything involving tech was pretty much a mystery to her. Fortunately Wanda was a grade Ahacker. If there was anything helpful out there on the web, she’d find it.
“Martha, you’re going to take a temporary administrative assistant job. That will get you into the main office and give you an excuse to be talking to the players and anyone interested in the team,” Lois continued. “Teresa and Angie, you’ll be on comms monitoring the team. The rest of you will rotate in through stadium landscaping, concessions, or posing as fans.”
Lois looked at me and I fought the instinct to shrink back in my chair. “Weatherby, you’re on close protection for the player, Ruby Wozniak. I want you with her twenty-four seven until this is over.”
I resisted a groan. If there was one thing I hated, it was athletes. I’d never once met an athlete who wasn’t an asshole, and my work here at Sapphic Security had done nothing to improve my opinion of them. My last job was as a temporary bodyguard for a baseball player who thought he was God’s gift to women. I’d spent as much time fending off his advances as I had protecting him.
“What’s my cover?” I asked.
“You’re gonna be a writer doing an in-depth series of interviews on women’s soccer. That way if we have to move you to another player, we won’t have to change up the story.”
“It’ll be hard to explain why a writer is hanging around with someone around the clock,” I pointed out.
Lois gave me a look that could melt steel. “Figure it out, wouldja? Christ on a cracker, do you need me to help you figure out how to wipe your ass too?”
My boss was nothing if not colorful.
“No ma’am. I’ve got this.”
“Good. I considered having you stay at one of the safe houses, but that will make it too obvious Ruby is under protection. Wanda and Martha, you’re on locksmith duty. You’ll go to the client’s house and secure it. Change the locks, add cameras, the whole shebang. Be sure to wear the uniforms.”
A fake locksmith service was one of our many covers.
“Understood.”
Lois looked around the table, her expression turning even more stormy than usual.
“I know most of you idiots are mated now, but for those of you who are not…” she made eye contact with me, Marilee, and Janice. “Stay. Away. From. The damned client!”
Her voice rose angrily with every word. She felt very strongly about people mixing business and mating.
The funny thing was Lois had met her own mate while working a security job. And while Wanda, Martha, Bella, Angie, and Teresahad all met their mates while serving as bodyguards, it wasn’t exactly their fault. None of them had gone into their jobs looking to hook up with the client. But fate was fate, and you couldn’t predict when you were going to meet your mate. Every supe knew that.
“I have zero interest in finding a mate,” I assured her.
I’d learned early on that love came with conditions and pain. My parents weren’t fated mates – although supposedly they fancied themselves in love at some point. That love didn’t keep my father from treating my mother like shit. The worst part was that she was so besotted with him she was willing to take whatever abuse he dished out. I’d decided long ago that I would stay single, no matter what happened. I wasn’t cut out for relationships.
But even if I did meet my mate somewhere along the way, that didn’t mean I had to act on it. I was an expert at shutting down my emotions, and I was in control of my vamp at all times.
