Page 2 of Close Protection

On screen, the intruder resorts to a different method.

Within seconds, he trashes everything in sight. Papers go flying, the computer monitor is smashed and thrown to the floor and all the desk drawers are yanked out. He’s getting desperate.

He grabs my father’s lab chair and throws it into the Perspex screen protecting the chemical room inside the lab. I flinch as the chair bounces off the window. Seeing that didn’t work, he resorts to attempting to kick down the door, the force knocking his hood off to briefly reveal a buzz cut and a short full beard before he harshly tugs it back into place.

Realizing his kicking is pointless, he stalks over to Daddy’s desk and effortlessly flips it over. How that action was supposed to break the lab window I don’t know, but hey, no one ever said criminals were smart.

But then my breath halts as he pulls out a gun.

A real-life gun.

As in, shoot-and-you-die gun.

He swiftly loads it and releases the safety, firing at the door. The thumbprint lock explodes, causing the electricity to short out and the door to open. He proceeds to look through all the serums and mixtures my father has in there before pulling out his phone and calling someone. The footage has no sound so I don’t know what he’s saying, but clearly he’s telling them what he’s found, or not found. After thirty seconds he nods, puts his phone back in his pocket and walks out the way he came.

‘I don’t want to frighten you, sweetheart,’ Daddy says, pausing the video and turning the screen back around. ‘But I wanted to show you just how violent this man is so that you understand why I now need to take measures to ensure your safety. What if they have our address and what they’re looking for is in this very study?’

‘Do you know what they’re looking for?’ I ask, surveying the room, feeling my stomach lurch.

As the children of Hezekiah Green, the founder of the Greenway Group, my father and his siblings have had multiple security scares over the years, so have always taken the necessary precautions to ensure their safety. With large security teams at their offices and smaller ones at their respective homes, I’ve always felt safe. Even the schools me and my cousins attended were highly secure, so I never had anything to worry about.

Until now.

None of this makes any sense. What in this study could they possibly want?

My father heads up the Greenway Discoveries division of the Greenway Group, which specializes in chemical engineering and new inventions. From what I know about his job, nothing confidential leaves his office and when he works from home he uses codewords when speaking about confidential projects so nothing can leak.

So what would they want from here that they couldn’t get from his work office?

‘Honestly, I don’t know,’ he responds, sighing as he rubs a hand down his face, looking back over to the screen. ‘A couple of other offices were ransacked as well, so at least I know they weren’t solely focused on me or what was in mine But that doesn’t mean that I won’t take extra precautions when it comes to you.’

‘Okay, but how did the security guards at work not hear the gunshots?’ I question.

‘They were in the middle of a shift change so there was no one on the top floors. Which means whoever these people are, or whoever they work for, they’ve been watching this building and everyone in it for far too long to just give up when they don’t find what they’re after.’

My stomach drops as I try to come to terms with the facts.

Bad man with gun.

Works for even worse man who has been planning this for a while.

Bad man didn’t get what he’s after. Now, bad manwith said gunis angry he didn’t get what he wanted.

See now, that’s not ideal.

‘Hopefully there is absolutely nothing to worry about,’ my father continues, snapping me back to reality, ‘but I can’t take that risk, not when I have you to protect. So I’ve increased the security around the house, and I’ve also hired a close protection officer to stay with you until we can be sure this is over. His name is Milosh Petrov,’ he blurts out.

‘You’ve hired aclose protection officerto watch me?’ I reply slowly. ‘Like a bodyguard?’

‘Yes, exactly like a bodyguard.’ Daddy eyes me carefully,almost bracing for impact as if I’m a bomb that might detonate.

‘So let me see if I’m understanding this correctly,’ I say, my voice as soft and measured as I can get it. ‘You saw that security footage, and instead of, oh, I don’t know,calling the police,you thought the best course of action would be hiring a random guy to follow me everywhere?’

‘Daphne, of course I’ve taken the necessary steps to report what happened. The house is completely safe, I’m sure of it, but this is just an extra step. I am a concerned father, give me this.’ He smiles softly. ‘You’re all I have, darling. I need to keep you safe.’

Before I have the chance to respond, there’s a soft knock on the door and Amelia pokes her head round with a friendly smile. ‘Sorry to interrupt, George, but Milosh Petrov is here.’

‘Wait. I’m sorry, the bodyguard is here? Now?’ I ask, appalled by the lack of notice.

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