Chapter eighteen

I’ve been asked to attend the Golden Globes but not as someone’s date. I guess I’m no longer considered arm candy, so Sofia would be my escort. Poor girl wasn’t happy when I explained that she would have to wear a designer dress, heels and have a makeover. Yup, she wasn’t happy camper.

“How can you ask me to do something so against my beliefs,” she whined.

“Sofia, it’s fun and you’re going to look so pretty, and I have to go, and you’re my bodyguard, so you might as well make the best of it and let your beauty shine.”

“Pretty I don’t need. What do you think my old Army buddies will say if they see me?”

“They’ll wonder how they could have overlooked the fox that was kicking their ass,” I laughed.

“God, I knew I would hate this job,” she lamented.

“Come on Sofia, its not that bad. I do it several times a month for the cameras. You can do it, just once?” I pleaded.

“How can I say no to such a pathetic little girl, alright, I’ll go, but if some guy makes a pass at me, both you and he will be sorry,” she growled.

“Yes,” I said, with a fist pump and giggled at the scowl on Sofia’s face.

I won’t go into the daylong makeover Sofia and I experienced the day of the award show, but suffice to say Sofia cleans up real nice. The makeup people did wonders to cover her scars and the mid thigh dress she wore left no doubt she had killer legs hiding under those drab trousers she has always worn. She even managed four-inch heels during the walk down the red carpet and the party afterward. She might have complained before the show, but I think she enjoyed the attention she got from more than a few men. Sofia might sound tough, but I think she enjoys being that girl, she missed living with her four brothers. I didn’t miss her blushes, when one or more handsome men approached her. It’s nice to see a girly side of my tough bodyguard.

* * *

In a dark office above gentleman’s club in Las Vegas a light skinned man was talking on the phone. Sweat was dripping from his chin onto his obese waist as the demands were being made from the other end of the conversation. The demands of living the life of a club owner was apparent from the disgusting weight carried by the out of shape man.

Dan Fountain had bought ‘Legs’ gentleman’s club ten years previously with ill-gotten funds embezzled from a union trust fund and disappeared as quickly as the funds had. When he took ownership of the club he weighed around one hundred seventy pounds, or thirty pounds more than his five foot seven frame should carry. He quickly fell into the roll of club owner, sleeping from dawn until dusk and then living the life of harem owner. Exercise was a foreign word in his vocabulary, other than demanding sexual favors from the entertainers in his club.

Dan loved his food and booze and over then next ten years his weight grew to more than three hundred pounds. Sweating and labored breathing had become a fact of life with Dan, and so did the disgust of having to service him when he wanted to break in a new girl. Dan wasn’t well loved, but then again what slave master is?

“Look, I’ll get the money for you, I just need a little more time,” Dan said.

“You don’t have a little more time, two weeks, or you’re dead, and I want all of it, seven million, not a penny less.”

“But I only borrowed four, and there was a million interest,” Dan whined.

“That was when the loan was due, now it’s seven and I want it two weeks from today.”

The phone went dead and Dan lowered his handset to the cradle, his white pasty hand quivering like Jell-O. Dan knew the reputation of the man whom he had borrowed the money from and he didn’t want the agony of a slow tortuous death as repayment of the loan.

If only the kidnapping in Naples had gone off as planned he wouldn’t be in this mess. He would still have had a million dollars left after paying the loan shark back east, but no, the idiots he hired had failed in the attempt. Now he would have to grab the girl here in the states which made his involvement much more visible. Unfortunately the job had to be done quickly and the only person he could call was the same person that had fucked up so badly in Naples. He could do the job himself, but he wasn’t a kidnapper or killer and was smart enough to know his limitations. He was a club owner and knew what the men who frequented his club wanted, as did he, and killing some dumb broad wasn’t it. Now, if he could talk the cunt into a blowjob then he’d be a happy camper, but she was nothing more than a big pile of money as far as he was concerned. Unfortunately for him, after he split the ransom with the loan shark and then with the guys doing the actual grunt work, he’d be lucky to walk away with his pants. At least his dick would be intact and he would still have his life when this was finally over.

He picked up the phone and dialed a number. The phone on the other end rang until it went to answering.

“You know the drill, leave a number and who you are and I’ll return your call, Maybe.”

“Marco, This is Dan Fountain and I have a job for you, call me.”

Dan disconnected the phone, unzipped his pants, called on the intercom for Candi, his newest treat to come to his office and waited for Marco Costas to return his call.

* * *

Sofia has become a very good friend and I should mention she now attends school with me. When this whole bodyguard thing started she would drop me off and do her thing until school let out in the afternoon. Since she was being paid, that meant wandering the school or sitting in the car for the time I was in class or at practice. There were complaints from several parents of other students that they didn’t like anyone loitering around the school. We had a conference with the principal and it was decided that Sofia would stay with me for the whole school day, classes included. To say that went over like a fart in a perfume factory would be an understatement. Sofia was pissed but finally crumbled to the wishes of her agency and some prodding from me.

“I won’t do it,” she said.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because I’m too old to be going to school again, especially high school.”

“You’re only twenty-eight. I realize you’ll be retiring soon and collecting social security, but I’m sure you could pass for forty,” I laughed.

“I could pass for eighteen if I wanted,” she said.

“Yeah, right,” I answered sarcastically.

“I know what you’re doing Amanda, and it won’t work. I’m not going to attend school with you.”

“Fine, be a quitter. Go back to an easy job somewhere else. I thought I was more important to you than this,” I yelled, as the tears started to fill my eyes.

My feelings for Sofia were coming to the surface. She didn’t realize what an impact she had made on my life and the sisterly feelings I had for her. She was almost as close to me as Cindy and the thought of losing her was devastating.

“Alright, I’ll do it, but only because I love you Amanda. If you were like any other of the brats I’ve watched before, I would have been out of here, but you’re not, you’re a lovely young lady.”

I ran and hugged Sofia for as long as she would let me, which wasn’t long. Sofia wasn’t one to show physical emotions, but she did hug back.

I kind of described Sofia before but what I didn’t mention was that she looked young. Even though she was twenty-eight, she looked ten years younger and could easily pass for a high school student. The thing that made her look older was her clothing. She almost always wore pantsuits or jeans, always looking like a bodyguard. She had a very professional look about her and you could tell she meant business. Now we were asking her to abandon the professional look and become a student, well a faux one, but a student just the same. That was the reason for her out burst.

The weekend after I convinced Sofia to become a student, she had a makeover. Her idea of going to a salon was to have her hair cut enough to take the split ends off, pay the twenty dollars and be on her way. The word style wasn’t even in her dictionary.

I had a photo shoot in San Francisco, which meant I had to be pampered by the stylists provided by whom ever was paying for the shoot. The way these things work is that I would get a whole makeover when I arrived, I’d model for several pictures, have my makeup done over and over as the shoot progressed. The stylists would sit around and wait for me to finish with each set of pictures and then go back to work on me. Since they weren’t doing anything anyway during their down time, I talked them into working on Sofia while they waited for me, hence she had a very private makeover and it didn’t cost her a dime.

I explained that I wanted her to look like a high school student and not some glammed out model. Her hair was styled and her makeup done with age in mind. The finished product blew me away. Sofia was cute, very cute, and looked to be seventeen if she was a day.

She scowled at me when the stylist finished. She hated wearing makeup, until she looked in the mirror. The scowl left her face when she saw the innocent teen girl looking back at her. She didn’t smile, nor did she frown. I didn’t know how she would react, and then I saw the tear run down her cheek, followed by a beautiful smile. Sofia was pleased.

* * *

Dan answered the phone on the second ring.

“Dan Fountain.”

“Hey Dan, you called?”

Dan knew Marco’s voice from the many special jobs Dan had asked him to do over the last few years.

“Marco, glad you called back. I have something for you to do and I don’t want it fucked up like the last one you did for me.”

“That wasn’t my fault. I was told the people in Italy were competent, but I was wrong. What do you need?

“The same thing, except the girl’s home and I need her to disappear and you have a week and a half to get the job done. I can’t afford any more fuckups.”

“Look I’m sorry, but if the job is here, I’ll have a lot more control than a job in bum fuck Egypt.”

“You’d better because this is a matter of life and death. The payoff will be three million dollars for you and however you want to split it is your business.”

“It’s the same girl?”

“Yes, she goes to school in Auburn California so it should be easy for you. I don’t know where she lives except for the town near her school. Get your guys and get your butt out to the West Coast and finish the job.”

“What do you want me to do with the girl?”

“After we get the money, get rid of her. I don’t care how you do it, dump her off some where or kill her, it’s up to you.”

“I’ll call the guys and we’ll be on a plane before nine tonight.”

* * *

Sofia might have been attending school with me, but she wasn’t doing the work I had to do in class. She spent most of her time reading novels in the back of the class. All the other students knew she was protecting me from harm, so her non-attention to studies was understood. Sofia even made friends with some of the other girls in school. I had mentioned that she was very pretty after her makeover and was having the expected reactions from some of the boys, which although flattering, made her wonder about the wise choice she had made. Luckily for the male students she didn’t have to let them know in no uncertain terms that she was off limits, her verbal jibes were enough of a deterrent.

“He’s cute and I think he likes you,” Melisa mentioned to Sofia as we walked to the car for our ride home.

“Melisa, I’m twenty- eight years old and wanting to date a boy ten years my junior isn’t something I would even consider. The idea makes me shudder.”

“Come on Sofia, you’d look good together.”

“Melisa, please, let it go. I have absolutely no interest,” she replied, constantly scanning the area around us.

As we reached the car, Sofia visibly stiffened.

“Girls, get in the car. I think I’d like to go shopping,” she said, watching the traffic passing slowly on street in front of the school.

What raised Sofia’s awareness, was the appearance of a dark blue SUV driving in the line of traffic congested with the students running for their rides home. It was like any other SUV, the kind you rent at an airport, midsized, dark in color, clean and shiny with minor scratches on the doors. It was driven by a man with a dark complexion and recently styled hair. He was above average in height, his head almost touching the roof. His passenger was shorter, probably Asian and was wearing a shirt with a tie and no coat. They were both watching intently as they drove. Sofia wouldn’t have even noticed the car, except that it had driven by just a minute earlier in the opposite direction. Maybe it was nothing, but it wasn’t her place to make that kind of judgment and her training told a whole different story. The first clue as to who they were was the slow speed they drove and re-appearance minutes later going the opposite direction. The second was the occupants, two men in line with cars containing a driver only, waiting for their child. Sofia knew who and what they were, only now she had to find out if they were after Amanda, or some other unfortunate student.

Sofia started the car and drove slowly from the student’s parking lot. She turned right at the street and headed toward the left turn lane at the intersection, The divider island in the middle of the street prevented drivers from turning left across the lanes of traffic. Before the island was added several traffic accidents had injured more than one student as drivers failed to look each direction before crossing the street.

Sofia made a U turn at the signal and proceeded toward the shopping mall two miles from the school. I noticed that she was checking the rearview mirror more than usual.

“Sofia, is something wrong?” I asked.

“Just doing my job, not to worry,” she replied.

But I did worry. It hadn’t been that long since Milan and having a bodyguard made forgetting that much harder to do.

Sofia drove into the parking lot and proceeded to the Target end of the mall, driving up and down the lanes as if she was looking for a parking spot near the stores, passing ones that were open that wouldn’t require much of a walk.

“Girls, we’re being followed and I’m not sure what the guys are going to do. They probably aren’t going to do anything today, but I want you to be aware and do everything exactly as I ask you to do.”

“We’re being followed, why?” Melisa asked.

“I don’t know, maybe they’re just paparazzi, or they could be something worse, I don’t know. Don’t worry, I won’t allow anything to happen to you girls.”

My body went numb recalling the close call I had in Milan. I’m not much of a crier but when Mom threw her arms around me after the attempted abduction, I could barely contain myself. It was the most I had ever cried and the relief of being saved from the thugs was more than I could bare. I’m not sure if the tears were from fear or relief and I didn’t want to go through the same thing again.

“Is this like one of those TV shows with bad guys and everything?” Melisa asked excitedly.

“No, Melisa, it’s not. I might be wrong, but I’m trained for this sort of thing so we’re going to go into the mall and just act as though we’re just three high school girls shopping.”

“I love shopping, especially with danger,” Melisa laughed.

“Melisa, it’s not funny. I was almost taken and that’s why Sofia is here now.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s not everyday we have bad guys in Auburn. You know how I love mystery novels and I didn’t think I’d be living one.”

“You might not be, but we’ll see. Let’s go,” Sofia said.

We exited the car and walked to the mall, three teen girls on a mission. The look was perfect, as Sofia had decided to wear a denim mini skirt today, which showed off her gorgeous legs to the maximum. There was no doubt that had prompted Melisa’s remark about some boy being in love with Sofia. I just wish Sofia was more conscious about her looks. She really is a very pretty woman, scars and all.

We walked to the mall and entered through the large row of glass doors. When they closed Sofia turned and looked back toward the parking lot to see if either of the men followed us. The Asian one did. The driver stayed with the SUV, parking several rows away from our car. She didn’t say anything to us, knowing that we would turn around at every chance we had to see who the bad guy was, if he was even a bad guy.

We spent about an hour exploring the usual stores, spending a half of an hour at Forever 21 trying on several outfits girls our age wore. Even Sofia seemed to be caught up in the fun, but refused to try anything on, not wanting to let us out of her sight, should she enter the changing room.

“You’d look good in this,” Melisa said to Sofia, holding a very short lacy dress in her hands.

Sofia took the dress from Melisa and held it in front of herself, smiled and handed it back.

“Only if I was ten years younger,” she laughed.

“I don’t know why you keep saying that Sofia, you look like any other girl in our school and it would look really nice on you.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Absolutely.”

“Maybe next time I’ll try it on, but we have to go now. Did you want to buy anything?”

“I’d like this mini,” I replied.

“Well hurry, we have to get Melisa home.”

I purchased the cute skirt and we headed back to the car. Sofia would stop and look in the windows of the stores we had already passed and I wondered why.

“Sofia, we already looked in these stores. Why do you keep stopping?” I asked.

“Just observing, Amanda, not to worry.”

I finally got it. Sofia was looking at the reflection off the glass to see if we were still being followed, we were, and not be obvious that she was tracking the Asian man who was fifty feet away.

We reached the car and Melisa rode in back with me in front, Sofia driving.

“Girls, I want you to listen to me carefully. First I want you to act as though nothing is happening, we’re just three girls returning home from shopping. Don’t start looking around like you’re trying to find a lost treasure because I don’t want these guys to know I’ve spotted them. I’m going to drive from the mall and I’ll lose them before I drive you home. What I do will seem strange since we’ll be driving a different way home. Remember, I’m the professional and everything will be okay.”

“God, this is so much fun,” Melisa giggled excitedly.

Sofia started the car’s motor, put the transmission in drive and pulled forward from the parking space. I should mention that I had bought a BMW X5 SUV so Mom or any other family member could drive us in style, plus I thought the car was cool. Sofia liked it because it had the handling package and the V8 engine that was as powerful as just about any car on the road.

We exited the shopping center and drove toward old town, the buildings left over from the gold rush days and on the other side of I-80. Sofia didn’t rush, nor did she give any indication that she knew we were being followed. I thought she would have used the handling and speed of the car to lose the men. I was wrong, she just took her time driving slowly in the right hand lane heading toward town. I didn’t realize it at the time that she was timing the signals, getting closer and closer to the yellow and red lights. She finally timed her speed just right and barely made it through a yellow light before it turned red. She looked in the rearview mirror and laughed.

“Well girls, time to go home. We just lost our new best friends and I don’t think we’ll be seeing them again until tomorrow.”

It was then that the penny dropped. Sofia was going to make the guys following us miss the signal and give ourselves a minute head start, home. Mission accomplished. Sofia pushed down on the accelerator and moved quickly away.

* * *

“Hey boss, it’s Ken.”

“Yeah and what did you find out? Did you find the girl?”

“Yeah, me and Carl found her easy just like you said, at her school.”

“Did you follow her home?”

“No, we lost her.”

“What do you mean, you lost her?”

“She was with two other girls and they went shopping after school. The stupid bitch driving was driving so slow she made us miss the traffic signal.”

“Couldn’t you just drive through the red light?”

“There were cars between them and us. We didn’t want to drive right behind them, even dumbass broads like that would have spotted us.”

“Tell me about the other two girls, are they going to be a problem?”

“Marco, you’re talking to me and Carl. They’re just a couple of hot looking high school girls, heck I might be tempted to take the one with the legs and have a little fun before we off them.”

“Fucking A Ken, I sent you up there to grab the model chick, not screw some tasty meat who hangs with her. Put your dick back in your pants and pay attention to your job. The guy that hired us doesn’t have time for you to be screwing around. If you can’t follow them home then grab the girl from school and be done with it. We only have nine days before the guy has to have the money and it’s going to take two of those for the parents to put the money together, which means we have only four or five days to put this thing to rest.”

“Okay, okay, I get it, but you should have seen Miss Legs, even you would have been tempted.”

“Just do your job. I don’t want any screw ups.”

* * *

“Thanks for taking us shopping, Sofia, see you tomorrow,” Melisa said, exiting the car.

“Melisa, wait, I want to talk to you. I don’t think it would be wise on your part to ride with us until we find out who these guys are,” Sofia said.

“Please Sofia, let me ride with you and Amanda, this is exciting.”

“And dangerous.”

“But you don’t know for sure if those guys are bad or just someone in love with Amanda,” she giggled.

“Melisa, believe me when I say this, they have no love interest in Amanda and I’d worry if I had to protect Amanda and you. I’ve grown quite fond of you and I really don’t want to endanger you.”

“But you know how I feel about the books I read, please Sofia, I won’t get in the way, and besides, if they’re watching us, they’ll know we always ride together. If I start driving myself to school they’ll know something’s up.”

“I’ll think about it and let you know my decision tomorrow.”

“I’ll be your best friend forever if you let me ride with you,” Melisa laughed.

“I thought I was your best friend already?” Sofia countered.

“I’ll let Lauren know,” Melisa said, as she entered her car.

Lauren is Melisa’s very best friend in the whole world, being that way since they met in high school. Lauren lives in Auburn so that was the reason Melisa rode with us, and the fact that she buys clothes with the money she saves on gas leaving her car at my house. There was no doubt Melisa would be on her cell phone before she turned the corner from our house to tell her BFF about the exciting afternoon she had after leaving school. I swear the whole school will know by morning.

Melisa came, bright and early the next morning, wearing a miniskirt and nice blouse. Let me explain that Melisa never wear skirts to school, “The boys keep looking up my skirt to see if they can see my panties,” she would moan, so jeans and a T-shirt with a college logo on it were her uniform of choice.

“You’re wearing a skirt today?” I asked, in amazement.

“Well yeah, you never know who you’re going to run into,” she giggled.

“Like who?”

“Like those bad guys, I have to look my best,” she laughed.

Sofia had come out of the house before me, which was our daily routine, so she could check the area before she drove us to school. Today she had chosen to wear low riding jeans and a cropped top. If I didn’t know better, I think Sofia is beginning to enjoy her disguises to look as much like a student as possible.

“Wow, you look hot today, Sofia, change your mind about that boy who likes you?” Melisa laughed.

“Melisa, I decided to let you ride with us, so don’t make me regret my decision, and I certainly don’t want to get arrested for delinquency of a minor,” Sofia growled, as she tried to cover her smile.

We jumped into the car and were driving down 80 until we reached Bowman, a town you would miss if you blinked your eyes. Sofia was always checking her rearview mirror and easily saw the blue SUV enter the highway from the onramp heading west. It stayed several hundred yards behind our BMW hoping not to be seen and since the guys knew where we would be headed, following close wasn’t something they had to do. Just observe and decide where to make the grab, easy peasy.

Sofia parked the car in an open space and placed her Sig Sauer 9mm pistol in the gun safe in the glove compartment. Rules prohibit anyone to carry a pistol or any firearm on school property. It didn’t bother me because I thought Sofia was Wonder Woman and who needed guns if you were as good as her with her hands and feet?

Lauren met us at the front door and couldn’t help commenting.

“We’ll look at you,” she said, looking at Melisa.

“Just something I threw together,” she blushed.

“You look good for a change,” Lauren replied.

I should mention Lauren is the clothes’ horse at our school. Everything she wears is immaculate and very stylish. I should take lessons from her, but modeling clothes all the time doesn’t especially compute into being stylish when one is away from her job. Cindy and I are very much alike. We wear something that looks nice but is practical. We still go to our special spot with the birds and just sit to help forget some of the stresses in our life. Sofia doesn’t like the openness of the area because it makes protection more difficult, but she understands why we go there. Wearing a mini or dress would just ruin the clothes and not to mention the chance of catching poison oak on our legs. Let’s just say I wear more than my share of jeans.

Sofia looked toward the street and saw the blue SUV park across from the high school with both men staring as we walked into the school.

* * *

“The boss said we have to hurry and get it done,” Ken said to his partner.

“Might as well do it after school then,” Carl replied.

“How do you want to do it?”

“We’ll move into the parking lot and when she comes out we grab her and get the Hell out.”

“There were too many people around yesterday.”

“Fuck it, those stupid kids will move out of the way if we drive fast enough, and yesterday was a fluke because the girl is supposed to have after school sports. Marco said she’s some kind of all-star.”

“Okay, let’s do it.”

Ken and Carl waited until school was over and the parking lot emptied with the exception of cars driven by student athletes. Ken checked the surrounding area before driving to an empty space next to the BMW. They waited until practice was over and started the engine of the car and left it idling. They exited the car and stood between our car and theirs.

Sofia spotted the guys from across the parking lot and froze. As long as there was space between them and us I would be safe.

“Girls do exactly as I tell you to do, turn and walk back to the gym.”

“Why?” Melisa asked.

“Because those guys are here to take Amanda, now move.”

The three of us turned and walked back toward the gym. Ken and Carl saw us change directions and saw we would have to walk fifty feet before we would be in the safety protected corridor leading to the gym. They ran back and jumped into the SUV, spun the tires and drove toward us.

“Run,” Sofia yelled.

The SUV was gaining on us and I knew it would be close as to whether we made it or not. The entrance to the gym is two hundred feet down a wide corridor from the parking lot. Removable bollards prevent cars from driving to the entrance of the gym so Carl had to stop the car after we had run through the openings between the stiff iron posts. We were a quarter of the way to the gym when we heard the car doors slam shut and feet running after us. A quarter of the way meant we had run fifty feet but had one hundred fifty to go. Sofia looked back and saw we were as fast as the bad guys but they had something else going for them, they were armed and Sofia wasn’t.

It would take seven seconds for us to run the next one hundred fifty feet and another two point four seconds for the guys to reach us, or it would take five one hundredths of a second to find a bullet in our backs.

‘Don’t stop,” Sofia shrieked.

Ken pulled his pistol and yelled,” Stop, Amanda, or I’ll shoot.”

Sofia is a trained marksman and knew running and aiming a pistol was useless if you were trying to hit anything, unless the target was three feet away and even then it might be iffy.

“Go, get into the gym,” Sofia said.

Sofia grabbed a trash container and pulled it over spilling the contents all over the corridor causing Ken to slip.

“You’re dead bitch,” he roared, as the pistol discharged and the bullet flew toward Sofia.