I’d hurried reached for the phone, not wanting to disturb her.
It was so early in the morning, the sun had just started to rise. I crept out of the bedroom.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Mr. Jackson, this is your handler speaking. Report to the home office immediately. Please pack your bags. Head of security has instructed that you move out of the safehouse with Speaker Finley’s daughter immediately. A new guard is being sent there as we speak to take your place.”
“What? Why?”
“No time for questions. Just do what you’ve been told if you want to keep your job. We will answer any questions you have once you report to our headquarters.”
The phone line went dead, and the happiness I felt plummeted.
I locked myself in the bathroom, thinking.
As the minutes ticked by, I realized I didn’t have the luxury of time to waste. I would just have to report to headquarters to figure out what this was possibly about.
Deciding not to wake or worry Natalie, I quietly and quickly went to the guest bedroom, where I packed up my belongings and then made my way out of the house, waiting for the replacement guard to arrive. He showed up almost the instant I stepped foot out of the house.
“Is this the safehouse for Speaker Finley’s daughter?” he had asked as he pulled into the driveway.
I nodded. “Take care of her until I’m back.”
“Sure thing.”
And then I set off to the security headquarters, without a doubt in my mind that I would be back. Whatever issue had arisen, I would solve it and get back to Natalie before the end of the day, because there was simply no way that I would leave her.
But hours had gone by, and I remained stuck at the headquarters, wondering why on earth I was there in the first place.
“Colt Jackson.”
I’d been restless in the waiting room. I had even tried calling Speaker Finley several times, only for his phone to go straight to voicemail.
I stood, entering the room where I was to meet with my handler. A man who briefed me on any new jobs, we weren’t exactly friends. He gave orders, I followed them. It was pretty simple.
“Good afternoon, Colt,” my handler, Jared, said.
I pursed my lips for an instant, momentarily finding it difficult to return a polite greeting. I knew that the instant I opened my mouth, angry words would come out, demanding an answer for why I was so unceremoniously awoken at such a fucking ungodly hour, only to have to spend hours waiting to see him. But instead, I managed to clear my throat and remain respectful. This was, after all, the guy who gave me assignments. “Good morning,” I said.
“Please, close the door and take a seat.”
I did as I was told, positioning myself in the chair directly across from him. He leaned back in his chair, looking a little too nonchalant for my liking. I folded my hands in my lap and stared pointedly at him, eager to know what this was about. I’d been doing my job, so there was no reason for me to be here, as far as I was concerned.
“So, how’s it going, Colt?” he asked. Jared was a middle-aged man, vibrant and in good shape. He was ex FBI and he always managed to speak in a friendly tone, even during the most trying of times. This had always been a trait I admired about him—until now. I could tell that something unpleasant was on the way, and I didn’t appreciate the false pleasantries he was attempting to show at me. I wanted him to get to the point and stop wasting my time.
“Pretty good,” I said, deciding to keep my answers short and to the point in order to not prolong things.
“And how is Ms. Natalie Finley doing?”
“Fine.”
“Is she? Coping well with all the drama going on with her father at the moment? I know how close the two of them are. It has to be hard for them to be separated like this.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Sure. But Natalie is a smart girl. She understands that all of this is being done for her own protection, and that her father would have it no other way.”
Jared nodded. “I understand that she’s a smart young woman. So I have no doubt that she understands logically why these measures have been put into place. I guess what I’m referring to is how she’s doing emotionally and psychologically.”
I tilted my head. “She’s fine…”