Paid Protection (short story)

Here's one I wrote from the perspective of Lera, the leader of a private security team working for a high-value corporate target.

Source

A protection job, what fun. Lera Briffost walked through the sprawling penthouse apartment in the Pyri district of Jex. It was the best that money could buy and was worth more than she could ever hope to earn. The client, Raymy Youtler, was paranoid; not without cause. There had already been two attempts on his life and he wasn't hesitant about telling her about the deaths of recent "protectors." They clearly weren't very capable if they let themselves get killed. Amateurs.

It had been a long drawn-out discussion when they got offered the job. Graige Carte wasn't happy about taking on the work. "No way. I'm not getting killed for some corporate rat." He argued, addiment about his stance. Graige refused to budge even a little; as far as he was concerned he didn't want to protect any sleazy corporate heads, or "Corpses" as he called them. Not that Lera didn't agree with him; the idea of putting her life on the line for someone like that didn't appeal to her either.

That changed when the most important point was brought up by Warte Probell. "How much?" He growled under his breath after having stayed silent for most of the conversation.

"Well over the odds." Lera's replied. 1,000 Tokens per day, each. Raymy was very serious when it came to his own life and he expected to get the best care that money could buy.

The pay was enough to even make Graige change his tune. Lera knew she could have negotiated further, but, the prospect of what they could buy with the money already on the table was too great to lose. She did, however, wangle another arrangement; a 10k bonus, if they were to kill any would-be assassins, and 20k if they were to capture them alive. Raymy's pockets were clearly deep and his life was worth clearing them out.

As far as she was able to gather he had some position of extreme importance in the field of robotics and artificial life. He wasn't a scientist, engineer, or one of the important minds however, no. Raymy was instead a large stakeholder of some kind. After spending some time looking into him, it turned out that he inherited a large fortune, and since then he had reaped his rewards, in the most hands-off way possible. When presented with this information, he was able to shine a bit more light on himself and talk about some details, boring details as they were.

The company was called Tridu Tech, and it wasn't the only one he had shares in, but it was the one he had the largest stake in. His parents had been proficient in the field and had managed to secure the majority of their assets and shares during the Free Space Invasion. Apparently one of their final living acts was the complete reconstruction of the, now, headquarters of Tridu Tech, which they achieved by selling a large portion of shares in other companies.

"You have found out so much. Any idea who is trying to kill me?" Raymy asked with hope in his eyes.

Lera could only shrug and shake her head. "No idea, I'm not a detective, I just wanted to know who I was going to be working with. If I was to warrant a guess, however, I'd imagine they have hired The Guro Sprinters." His eyes widened when she said that, Lera assumed it was because he had heard of them.

"Who are they?" He asked after a moment of silent shock.

"They're a small group, but here on Jex they have a reputation." She didn't want to tell him just how much their reputation exceeded their name. Even if she did think a bit more talking may have extended the pay; too much though and he may have not felt comfortable hiring her band. A calm client is a happy client after all.

The night was quiet; no sounds, no movement, nothing. The sensors had been strategically placed inside and out. Graige was posted outside the main bedroom and Warte was patrolling outside, while Lera took the first watch inside. She was looking forward to switching positions though; some air would be well deserved and there was only so much to look at in the place. Art, statues, and holo-projections of highly sought-after pieces that were far too valuable to buy, but too beautiful not to look at.

Not that she could really appreciate it; art was never really her scene. Weaponry though was a little bit more interesting to her. Raymy had offered to show her some antique weaponry his family had collected over the years. An offer she refused, not wanting to get too comfortable with him. She knew from experience that the more comfortable a client got, the more likely they were to lower the pay.

"Checking in." Lera's communicator chimed. She raised her arm and hit the button.

"Read. Check." She replied, then waited a moment for Graige to come in. "Graige Read?" She waited a little bit longer.

"What's going on?" Warte asked, the sound of the night's wind blowing in the background.

"No answer. I'll check on him." Lera said as she turned to make her way to the bedroom.

"Want backup?" Warte asked.

"Negative." She replied, thinking it was better to keep him where he was. "Keep me posted." Lera shook her head. She was charmed by the way he worried, even though it got tiring.

Before arriving she could hear talking and she unholstered her pistol and approached with care. She got to the corner and peeked out. Sure enough, Graige was in position and talking to his communicator.

"What's going on?" She asked and to that he stood up, shaking his arm.

"This thing isn't working. I could barely hear you, did you not hear me?"

"No. What have you done to it?"

"Nothing, it must be faulty. Stupid thing." Graige said while shaking his head. He huffed as he sat back down. "This isn't good."

"LeR..a. Caaa.. You.. HeeAAR Me?!" Warte came through on her communicator distorted and she raised her arm to speak.

"Yeah. I can hear you." She waited patiently for a reply but there was none. "Hello?"

Graige stared at her. "Should we go and check on him?" Lera gritted her teeth while looking at the communicator.

"No. You stay here, I'll go and check in on him, keep your eyes and ears open, this could be an attempt." She said while turning and she took off running the way she came. Come on, Warte. Hold it together.

She made it to the door leading out into the grounds and she saw a shadowed figure charging at the door, she raised her pistol taken off-guard by the unseen person, then noticed them stop and stretch their arms out. Walking into the light she could see the familiar face of Warte and was in a slight panic. "What's going on!?" She shouted, half relieved and half still shaken.

"You tell me? All I was getting from you was static!"

"Come on, we have to get back to Graige! Something isn't right."

The two of them made it back to him within seconds, slightly out of breath from the short bursts of sprinting. She slowed down as she turned the corner, noticing Graige sitting down. Still, almost too still for her liking. As she stepped forward, she cleared her throat. Nothing. He didn't turn or look in her direction, he just continued to stare forward.

"Graige?" She asked, wishing for any kind of response, but there was nothing. Now in front of him, she shook him. Still nothing, it was like he was heavily asleep, or sedated. No blood, no injuries of any kind.

"What's wrong with him?" Warte asked while feeling for a pulse. "He's still alive." He continued. Lera turned for the door just past Graige.

The room was dark and there was only one way in or out; which was the door she just walked through. Her shadow stretched out in front of her, clawing at the bed where Raymy was laying. "Raymy? Mr. Youtler?" She whispered. Her voice was firm enough to wake someone.

Reaching the foot of the bed, she moved to the left and the light from the doorway shun over him. Blood stains glistened as the light bounced off them. All she could do was shake her head. One minute, maybe less. She would have muttered the words to herself if she could find her voice. She failed; the sensors didn't sound, there's no sign of forced entry, nothing. Lera was almost ashamed to admit it, but the disappointment she felt wasn't for the dead man in his bed, not for the job that was now going to be a stain moving forward. She was mainly disappointed for the money she had already spent in her mind; the pay that they'll never receive. "Warte." She called out, still staring at the body.

He came into the room, and instantly, he knew what was going on. She just stared at him and he raised his hands and held the back of his head. Warte was clearly thinking the same as her.

"Well, I guess that's gone." He whispered in the most disappointed tone she had ever heard him use.

"Yeah, that's it," Lera replied. "Is Graige okay?" Warte nodded.

"He'll be fine. Whatever it was, it wasn't lethal." Lera nodded to that.

"Good. I guess we'll load him up, call the Peacekeepers and leave." Warte let out a sigh, as if deflating.

"Yeah." Lera watched as he raised his head quickly and stared at her, before looking around. "Or, you know. We would have to fill out a lot of paperwork, those Peacekeepers would want to know this and that."

Lera nodded. "Yeah, they'll most likely question us all night."

"Such a high-value person. They might even accuse us." Warte pointed at the two of them as he spoke.

"We haven't been paid, signed a contract, done anything. There's nothing tying us to this scene, so we could just leave."

Warte couldn't help but give a cheeky grin. "Exactly. We did work these last few hours. We can't do that for free."

Lera shook her head. "No, no we can't."

Warte waved a hand to the room. "He has all of this stuff here, he won't need it and doesn't have any kids or anything."

"It would probably just end up in the hands of the government anyway."

Warte nodded. "He offered us good pay, and me, I'm not an art person, I couldn't tell you how much this stuff is worth."

Lera shook her head. "Neither could I, so I suppose we just take it all, or at least as much as we can carry." She felt a smile grow. "You know, just incase the value doesn't match our rates."

They both just stared into each other's eyes for a long moment. Their stare broke, as they both ran in different directions, in the hope of evaluating and taking everything they could fit into their transporter. Lera had a flash that she had just been given the key to the city. It was all free, all hers, and there was nobody who could stop them.

Lera couldn't help but think of Graige; imagining the look on his face when she and Warte tell him that they weren't in the private security business anymore. No, now they would be in the art business; which as she knew it, is far more lucrative.