Chapter 6

Jake

           "You what?" 

She exclaimed furiously. She glared at me before turning to look at Mike who had just come through the door. She then turned back to glare at me without saying anything to Mike.

       "Do you care to elaborate on what you just said?" She asked calmly, too calmly for my peace of mind. It was like she would attack at any moment if I didn't answer her fast. It was both scary and amusing.

        " I said I changed my plans for today. We have something else to do and I don't see why you had to ask me that, it wasn't like I owed you an explanation you just had to follow orders given to you because that's what I paid you for." I shrugged uncaringly. 

One, because my previous security guards didn't have a problem with me changing my plans as I pleased so I didn't see what her problem was. Two, because I secretly liked seeing her riled up not that I was going to tell her that anytime soon.

             "Really? Is that what you think? That it's none of my business if you change your plans or not?" She turned to Mike who was silently watching in amusement. "Can you believe him?"

           " No wonder your last bodyguard ended up the way he did,  how could you just change your plans all of a sudden and you're just telling me now? You employed me for a certain reason and that is to keep you safe, which means I get to know not a second late when you change your plans because there's no way to do my job if I'm in the dark about things like this." She raised her voice a little bit in a calm way even though I'm sure she would like to rip my head off the way her hands were clenched tightly around her iPad. Poor thing.

      I didn't say anything for a minute so she could calm down.

     " You know who you're talking to right?" I said raising my brows.

      " Mr. Owens, are you trying to inquire if I forgot who my boss was? Because my answer would be no. I said those things so you could learn from your mistakes, sir." It was my turn to glare at her now. She was on my probation list and she dared to talk to me that way? Oh, she was fired.

      I opened my mouth to give her my verdict but was interrupted by deep-throat laughter. Typical Mike. Can't he be serious for a second? But then I haven't seen him laugh that way since forever and I looked at him in surprise.

       " Before I say my piece let me just say this Jake. You're keeping this woman, she's perfect for you." He said when he managed to catch his breath back.

       " Thank you Mike but that woman has a name." She replied with a smile. Was it bad that my employee had never smiled at me but kept flashing her teeth at my friend? No, I didn't think so,  it just meant she feared me more even though there was a weird feeling that always went through me when she did that and I wasn't ready to recognize it for what it was. Hurt.

         "If you're done with your lover's reunion, can we get to the plans for today?" I said with more bite than usual and I avoided Mike's reactions.

        "Yeah let me fill you in on the way Elena."

          " Okay." She said and turned to pack up her things before she walked out the door.

            "So..are you going to tell me what's up to your ass this morning?" He asked me when he was sure Elena was out of earshot.

       "Drop it, man. She just infuriates me." I shrugged and drained my now cold coffee.

         " Well, you were supposed to tell her about the change of plan yesterday so she could prepare. She was right you know." He stated in a reproaching manner.

      " Are you on her side now? I just didn't want to okay." I started walking to my bedroom when he replied and what he said left me unsettled.

      " Maybe you just like her." He replied and I just shook my head to prevent it from processing that sentence and went into my room. 

***

Ashley

       If someone else was in the car, they would probably be wondering about a lot of things right now.

 Like why we were taking just one car which only included Mike, Jake, and me? or why I was stuck in the back seat even though I was their only protection? Or why they hadn't told me anything ten minutes on the road? Well, that person wouldn't be alone, I was confused as well and on my way to getting seriously angry.

        "Maybe you should fill Elena in on what we're doing today before she decides to destroy us with the anger brewing in her," Mike said to Jake with a huge smirk on his face enjoying the show, if there was one.

I didn't know how they got along with each other but I guessed opposite attracts right?

Jake sighed and turned toward me since Mike was the one driving.

      " I'm not going to tell you anything more than the fact that we're going to check out a possible location for a group of kidnappers." He said in a bored tone and Mike snorted.

       " Way to go man. You just threw that in her face like that? You could have explained in detail you know?" He said as he pulled over in front of a supermarket.

      " You can explain it to her for all I care, I just don't have time to go into details." Jake shrugged in reply and I looked at both of them in confusion as I got out of the car after them.

       "What do you mean we're checking out a possible location for kidnappers? And why we parked in front of a supermarket? Is this the location?" I asked both of them but Jake just shook his head and muttered something under his breath that sounded like 'damn infuriating woman!' to me.

  Mike turned towards me and smiled in amusement.

       " Cm'on, I will answer your questions while walking or Jake's going to leave us." He started walking down the road opposite the supermarket.

      " You should know by now that Jake's last bodyguard died during a shoot-out." He started and I nodded.

    " They shoot out happened while we were staking out at a possible location as well and he used his life to protect Jakes. Nothing was meant to go wrong but we later found out that they had Intel on us." I looked at Jake who was a step ahead of us not interested in whatever we were saying since he was focused on something on his phone.

     "Wait. How does this have to do with the company?" I wasn't seeing something I was supposed to and I knew when I finally realized it, I'll regret not knowing beforehand. It was right there but I couldn't grasp it.

   " Jake's looking for someone he lost." I stopped in my track when he finished his sentence. Oh no! I mentally slapped myself. Of course, he would be looking for locations if he wanted to find 'her' but there was nothing I could do since I was stuck with them. 

It would look suspicious if they were suddenly found out. I guessed I would have to go along with them for now and I knew the master won't be pleased with me when he finds out.

     " Elena? Are you coming?" I looked and saw both of them staring at me weirdly.

      "Uh yeah. I was wondering why it's just three of us staking out." I quickly covered up even when I knew what the answer would be. I wasn't some amateur at this.

    " Uh because we're just checking this place out if it's the right place." I nodded as if I just understood what he meant. We stopped in front of a warehouse after walking for another thirty minutes and saw two guys walking towards us.

   "You shouldn't be here." One who looked like he sunbathed all his life gestured at us to move along. Yeah, this place was definitely it but I couldn't understand why we were staking out like this. 

Weren't we supposed to be in hiding and spying on them? One glance at Jake answered my question when he winked at me. They were both crazy, no wonder they needed a new guard.

    Jake scratched his head as if he was oblivious and smiled sheepishly.

           " Sorry man we just love the view over here and as a freelance photographer, we wanted to take some pictures okay?" He waved his phone and made to walk past them but was shoved back by the second guy with the mole on his forehead. Had he ever heard of surgery before?

The sun-bleached guy opened his jacket to show a gun and Jake raised his hand in surrender and gestured for us to leave. I furrowed my brows and followed them and didn't say anything till we took our seats in the car.

          "So will someone tell me what the hell just happened?" It was certain they did something I wasn't aware of and I wanted to find out what it was. Mike turned towards me and started to speak but I shook my head.

       " No, Mr. Owens should explain this time." Mike faked a hurt expression and turned to face Jake.

       " The lady has spoken," Mike said with a teasing smile while turning towards me. " Who said I did anything?" He asked and sighed when I gave him a blank look telling him I wasn't stupid.

    " I will tell you what you want to know if you stop calling me Mr. Owens and call me Jake." I nodded in reply impatient to know what he did and he chuckled.

    " Impatient much? I just slipped a tracking device in his jacket pocket which also has an audio receiver." He shrugged and started the car.

      " How do you know he wouldn't find out?" 

    " Cm'on he was dumb enough to think I'm a freelancer, why would he think I did something like that?" Mike chuckled at that and I nodded in agreement even though he couldn't see me. I guess he was smarter than I credited him but that doesn't mean he wasn't still stupid for going against master though.

           "What are you going to do with the device then and how did you know there was something like this here?" I asked for the last time.

         " We'll discuss that when we get back, let's just get out of here first." He replied and the ride back was silent but my head wasn't.