Incognito (One Direction)

Chapter 16

Getting the hidden meaning in the message was the last thing that was on Eliza’s mind. When it came to the shows, she just wanted to make sure that the boys could get into the venue without getting mobbed.

These girls could rival the guy in the hoodie.

They were in a bad mood because they just got mobbed on the way in. The girls had closed in on them, grabbing whatever part of the boys that they could hold onto. Liam’s shirt had stretched. Niall got hit in the head. There were scratches on some of the boys’ arms. Zayn got even moodier because of it.

Right now, they were rotating on interviews before they could get their sound check. After sound check, they would have another round for interviews. After that, they would have thirty minutes to eat. After eating, they would get the first batch of meet and greet. Then they would get ready for the show. After the show, they would have the second batch of meet and greet.

It was standard, but it was the first show since they had been briefed about their attacker or attackers. They were apprehensive that something would happen out in the open.

“Don’t look so tense,” Eliza told them. It was probably time that she trained them in some bit of how to handle crisis and panic situations. They were in bad shape. It was like they were expecting every interviewer or photographer or fan to be the one after them. It was unhealthy.

It was their break and they had the table laid out with food for the boys.

“Look, if you’re this worried, I’ll show you a few tricks,” Eliza said, standing up and cracking her knuckles. “Come here Paul.”

Paul raised his eyebrows, but nonetheless went toward her.

“Amy, are you sure…?” Zayn said, looking doubtful. “You realize that Paul is three of you already?”

“He can snap you like a twig,” Louis commented, just observing, with his chin resting on his knuckle. He looked very bored. Usually, they would get into some trouble, but since the schedule was tight, they were being good boys today and not getting up to much mischief.

“Trust me, I can handle myself,” she said, smiling. She was rethinking if she should show them that she was physically capable of defending herself. That would lead to a little more of suspicion from them, but she had to do this. She wanted them to know that if a tiny girl could overthrow a fully-grown man, then they could defend themselves as well.

“Come at me bro,” Eliza said, extending her arms on either side of her.

Paul went forward and got hold of her. She slipped away easily from his arms and got on her back and kicked both feet at his gut. Her muscles went into automatic mode and she used a Chinese getup to get on her feet. A hunched down Paul already looked surprised, and then she went toward him and did a series of simple self-defense tricks that she knew anyone with normal functioning parts could do.

By the end though, Paul was on the ground. He had tried retaliating, but she just avoided it easily. She didn’t try to defend herself with strength, because she knew that Paul was stronger than her. Instead, her style was slippery and avoidant. While Paul was taking swings at her, she just ducked and turned and stepped aside, like she was dancing. Whenever his side was vulnerable, that was when she took a hit.

She didn’t hit Paul anywhere that would cause actual injuries though. It was merely temporary jostling and a little pain.

“Where did that come from?” Harry said, his jaw open. His eyes were wide. “I think it’s you that we need to worry about, Aims.”

“Pressure points,” she said, pointing to certain areas of the neck and the torso. “You’ll want to hit those areas because that will keep them frozen momentarily, and you can either attack or run away.” She chose not to answer the question, because she ended up showing more than what she was intending to.

“That was impressive though,” Paul said, not even the least bit ashamed of getting schooled by a girl.

“Thank you,” Eliza said. She turned to the boys. “But did you see the things that I did? Those are what you can do in a situation. It’s easy to do and you’ll do it with more strength than me.”

“Could you show us again?” Liam said, standing up and looking eager. He did some boxing, from what Eliza knew. “Don’t inflict any harm on any of us though. The demonstration was enough.”

Eliza taught them slowly and systematically. One by one, the boys ended up going around her to watch and to try it out on someone.

“Here, do it to me,” Eliza said after showing what to do when someone tried to stab them with a knife. It was a move that avoided the stab and then with the defender ending up taking the wrist and elbow and twisted it in a way that made the attacker drop the knife. It was also a position that could have the defender in control, because it would get the attacker’s hand in a very painful position.

They did it gently to her, one by one, and she had to admit that they did learn pretty quickly. There was some bit of pain that would shoot up her arm, but it was harmless.

“Now try to get out of that,” Louis said, when it was his turn. He looked very proud of himself.

She rolled her eyes, ducked under his arm and gave him a back kick. Eliza couldn’t have gotten out of that hold if she tried attacking blatantly and up front. So there was a need for some uncomfortable positioning of her arm before she could get him to let go…after some attack of course.

“Ow,” Louis said, staggering back a few times. It was a relatively harmless kick, just enough to get him to let go.

All of them looked to her again, with more wonder this time.

She really should begin to act more like a damsel in distress if she wanted to keep her cover.

“Where do you pack this strength, Amy?” Zayn said, looking even more scared than before. “Are you sure it’s not you who’s after us?”

Niall broke out into laughter. “Are you sure it’s not you who’s after us…” he repeated, as if the idea were preposterous.

“Yeah, he would know,” Eliza said matter-of-factly, jutting her thumb at the laughing Irishman. “I’d been alone with him several times, and he seems fine, aside from the obvious state of mind right now. Is he always like that or just around me?”

“Been alone with him, I see,” Zayn said, wagging his eyebrows and looking at Harry.

“Oh why don’t you two just shut up?” Eliza said, giving in and smiling.

“I wasn’t saying anything,” Harry said, his dimples showing and making him look like a little boy that had done something wrong.

Eliza backed down, because she had a retort that was coming out that wasn’t at all conversational, because it involved how his body language and facial expression said otherwise. That would then go into a long, tedious explanation, and they would just find that boring. Eliza really didn’t want to do that. As bad as she was with getting along with people, she knew how to talk to people.

It was just that she preferred being alone and working alone.

She glanced at him and then looked back at Louis.

She heard Harry whisper to someone, “Did she just blatantly ignore me?”

Not much of a whisper. She didn’t mind to make him know that she heard it either. “If it’s against a bigger and stronger person, the best you can do is to avoid and be slippery. That’s the best option you’ll have.”

“What if I’ll be too scared to even move, Amy?” Louis said, genuinely looking frightened. He was normally so fearless and mischievous. Seeing actual concern in him made her think that this was a situation that they never really took seriously before. “What if he has weapons?”

There was a pause when Eliza just thought of what to say, because there really wasn’t anything useful in comforting clients. That was the reason they were hired in the first place. They couldn’t take care of themselves.

Paul was the one who answered for her. “Then she’ll make sure that she’s around all the time so that she can kick his ass for you, Lou.”

Louis seemed to like that answer. “You know what Aims, you really have grown on me. I like this new you, the one that isn’t a bitch that has something stuck up her ass.”

“I second that motion,” Zayn said, raising his hand and grinning.