The Planck Factor

Chapter 27

My mouth must have resembled a landed grouper's. My lips kept flapping, but I couldn't find the words.

"What?" Sadly, it was the most intelligent thing I could think of to say.

Flattop smiled and reached into his back pocket. I tensed, then relaxed, feeling stupid as he pulled out a wallet and opened it.

He handed me a card. It read Joseph Cotter, A-Team Security.

I gaped at the card, until I finally found my voice again, hiding somewhere beneath my liver. "Wait. Are you telling me my sister hired you as my bodyguard?"

Flattop (or Cotter, if that was his name) nodded. "Your sister gave us the okay to tell you. She knew you were caught in something bigger than you could imagine."

"Hold on," I said. "A couple of people have died." I waved the card under his nose. "I need more than this to be convinced. Anyone can have business cards made up."

Cotter frowned. "I'm sorry. Will this do it?" He opened his wallet again and displayed his driver's license, then flipped to a card that showed he was state-certified in California as a bodyguard.

"I . . . I have to call my sister," I said, my voice faint with disbelief.

"Go ahead. But I think we need to get you out of here."

As Cotter and his redhead assistant led me further down the stairs, I was able to reach Liz on my cell.

"Jess! Are you okay?" Her voice sounded tight with near panic.

"I'm okay." For a moment, I thought I'd burst into tears but I struggled to contain them. "Well, that's a lie. I feel like shit. I met my bodyguards, by the way."

"Jess, I hired them to make sure no one hurt you."

We had clamored down to a basement garage and my bodyguards hustled me toward a car. (Like Alexis. Not again!)

"Just so I'm sure, tell me their names."

"Joe Cotter and Billy Sullivan."

Billy Sullivan? Now, how weird was that? My protagonist Alexis' surname was Sullivan. This had to be a bad dream. They say truth is stranger than fiction, but honestly . . . this was way too much.

"Okay," I said, sliding into the back, while Cotter and Billy took their places up front. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Liz had actually hired these guys. However, I still had a few questions for her.

"So, exactly why do I need to be guarded?" I asked, settling back in the seat and wishing I could feel as relaxed as that pose.

"I'll explain everything after the guys bring you in."

"Bring me in?" I asked. "Where?"

"The safe house."

Although the words "safe house" made me feel anything but, I tried to relax during our ride out of town. As we drove, I asked Cotter, "Well, if you're my bodyguards, where the hell have you been all this time?"

"Your sister called a meeting with us yesterday. Shortly after you arrived at the Navy Memorial. I told her we were watching you, but she seemed to feel you'd be safe there. She was anxious to meet with us out of your view and discuss the latest developments with us. She's the client, so we had our meeting."