Chapter 1

It was another cold, wet, windy night in Chicago. The kind of night that no one wanted to be out in. I was doing my rounds in the large office building I worked as a security guard in, thankful I didn’t have to be working in the rain that had been coming down in sheets since around noon that day. I could hear the rain pounding against the plate glass windows in the offices and I heard the wind whistling between the tall high-rises that surrounded my Hubbard St. office building.

It was just past 8:00 pm and the last of the office workers had left for the night. I was going out on my rounds and checking to make sure the exterior doors were locked and all the office windows shut against the storm.

I was working a twelve-hour shift that night because one of the other guards had called in sick and the company needed someone to work the extra shift. Since I didn’t have a life to speak of, no “significant other” and I wasn’t the socialite that some of the younger guys were, I didn’t mind working. Besides, I could use the overtime!

With my building being the size it was, it took almost an hour to make my rounds, checking the offices, the doors, the staircases and all the other places that needed to be looked after. We’d had a vagrancy problem lately with the homeless trying to sneak into the building to stay warm. It happened every year about this time of year when the weather began to turn. So I had to make sure that no one was in the building that wasn’t supposed to be.

It was on my second set of rounds when I spotted her. I was up on the third floor checking one of the offices at the end of the hallway. I entered the stairway next to the office I just checked when I heard footsteps running up the stairs above me. I ran up the stairs quickly and saw her.

“Stop!” I yelled as I took off after her. I caught up with her on the next landing just as she was turning to continue up the stairs. Grabbing her by the arm, I pushed her back against the wall; careful to position myself off to one side, lest a well-aimed kick find a soft spot between my legs!

“Let me go! Let me go!” she shouted, which was less than useless since we were alone in the building and there was no way I was going to let her go. She struggled for a minute or so until I showed her it was pointless. Then she stopped struggling and started to cry.

“Please mister, please let me go. I wasn’t doing anything, I just wanted to dry off and get warm. It’s freezing outside!” she said. I knew she wasn’t kidding since I had just started my shift and had come to work in the same conditions!

“I know it’s miserable outside, but I can’t let you stay here. You aren’t supposed to be in the building,” I said.

“Please! I don’t have anyplace else to go! The shelters have all filled up and it’s too wet and cold to be outside on a park bench! I’ll catch pneumonia or something! Please, please don’t send me out there in this weather! Please, mister, I don’t even have a coat to wear!”

She sank down on the floor sobbing uncontrollably, her face in her hands. I looked down at the young girl. All she had to call her own was what she was wearing and an old beat up daypack, the kind of a kid would take to school to carry their books.

As I looked down at the young girl crying on the floor, I thought about my own daughter Rachael who would be about her age by now. She lived in Texas with her mother now; we had been divorced for about ten years and I hadn’t seen Rachael for almost four years since her and her mother went to Texas.

I was torn as to what to do. I didn’t want to turn this young girl out into the streets in weather like this. Hell, the streets of Chicago were dangerous enough even on a good day! And this girl seemed way too young and way too vulnerable to be able to handle herself on the street with all the crime and depravity out there.

I had a lot of friends in the Chicago P.D. and hearing the tales they would tell, I didn’t even feel comfortable walking on those streets and I carry a gun! With the weather being as miserable as it was that night and with no safe place to get in out of it or sleep, turning her out into that weather would be almost criminal in itself.

But my job is to watch over and protect the building from all kinds of trouble – fire, flood, physical damage, and vagrants. The latter category this young girl sadly fell into. I knew that if word got back to the office that I let this girl stay inside even in this bad weather, it could mean my job.

And what if she was to get the idea to cry rape or something. We were here in this building alone, she was considerably younger than me and I had the badge and the gun. It would not be a stretch to have her claim I molested her. And that would get me fired and possibly even jailed for being a nice guy!

Still, this girl was clearly in trouble and her alternatives were few. If I threw her out of the building, she would have to try to find some overhang somewhere to get out of the rain. She would instantly get soaking wet and with the infamous Chicago wind, she would very quickly catch a cold, or worse. And putting a pretty young thing like her on the crime-ridden streets of Chicago would be like tying a raw steak to your neck and swimming with sharks!

I stood there trying to come up with a solution. Finally, I decided what I would do. I helped the young girl to her feet and told her to follow me downstairs to the basement where my security office was. She picked up her bag and followed behind me slowly, not knowing what was going to happen but not looking forward to her chances.

Once we got down to the office, I unlocked the door and held it for her. We went inside where there was a small desk and an old leather couch. “Have a seat,” I told her and she sat down quiet as a churchmouse. I had to write down some notes in my security log and she sat there watching me, almost holding her breath as she wondered what would happen now. Would I throw her out into the weather? Would I call the cops to haul her off?

I finished my log entries and then turned my chair to face her. “So what is your name, young lady?” I said, acting very stern and no-nonsense.

“Becky ... Rebecca Hamilton,” she said softly, looking down at her hands as she played with her fingers nervously.

“Well, Miss Hamilton, you have put me in a very tough position tonight. If I go by the book and do what I am supposed to do, you and I will go upstairs and I will escort you to the front door, and put you out of the building. You are not supposed to be here after hours and I could get into a hell of a lot of trouble having you here.

“However, I also know what the weather outside is like as well as what the streets of Chicago are like. I am a father and have a daughter almost your age, so that part of me doesn’t want to kick you out,” I said.

“S-so what’s gonna happen to me?” she said, looking up at me. I could see her tear-filled eyes and her cheeks still wet from crying. She was an attractive young girl and despite the gravity of the situation, my cock stirred at the sight of her.

“I cannot, in good conscience, send you out in weather like this and have something happen to you. Besides being a father, I am a security guard and supposed to protect both life and property. I am therefore going to take a chance and let you stay here with me tonight.

“However, you will have to go with me on my rounds so I don’t think you will be getting much sleep tonight. I can’t leave you here alone or have you anywhere in the building unsupervised. So the choice is yours – you can come with me on my rounds and then stay here with me when I take my breaks, or you can take your chances outside in the weather,” I said.

Becky didn’t have to search very long or very hard for her answer. “I will stay here with you and go with you on your rounds. I don’t want to get any wetter than I have gotten already,” she said, plucking her shirt between her fingers and holding the wet garment away from her.

“Yes, we should probably do something about that,” I said. I went to the locker and got out my spare uniform shirt. “Here, go behind the locker there and get out of that wet shirt. Put this on, it will be huge on you, but it’s dry. Then bring me your wet shirt, and I will hang it over the heater to dry out,” I said.