Chapter 7

After breakfast Howard and Tommy excused themselves. "Martin," April asked, "would you look through these with me? I'm not sure what to look for." She had a stack of dossier on possible body guard candidates.

"On your first pass, don't look for what you want; look for what you don't want."

"Why are the names blacked out?" she asked.

"We all have a bias towards some names. Howard does this for me so my bias doesn't show in my selection. The name shouldn't matter, I want the best person and I shouldn't care about their sex or race or make assumptions based on something as spurious as a name. All of these people are highly recommended or they wouldn't be on this table. The name is unimportant," He paused, "but the other data is. Look at this one. #4 has had 3 jobs in the last 7 years. All jobs done very well but #4 never sticks around long. You need someone who will be with you for the next ten to fifteen years, so #4 is out."

"And #3 is out too," April stated, "#3 sets the conditions of employment without knowing what the employment will be. One of the things I admire about Howard is his lack of ego. I can see how good he is yet he doesn't flaunt it. #3 would be a pain in the ass from day one."

"Do you see any others you need to eliminate from the search?" Martin asked.

"No, nothing obvious sticks out."

"Then invite the others for an interview."

"You mean bring them here and violate their thoughts?" she asked.

"That's one way of looking at it."

"Martin, we need to talk about Yoshima."

"Let's talk while we walk. I'd rather none of the staff overhear us."

They took coats, boots, and hats from the foyer closet and walked outside to the running trail. Martin took out his phone and made a call.

"Security."

"April and I will be on Blue Trail. We will be walking slowly."

"Yes sir, shadows will be out."

Martin put the phone away, stood looking into the forest; admiring the snow covered trees and giving the security guards time to begin to move.

"Martin, have you decided how to move against Yoshima?"

"Perhaps."

"Does it involve killing his people?"

"Yes. Some of them."

"Then get another plan. Unless they knowingly supported the attack on us we can't kill them. I won't allow you to be a serial killer."

"April that would make our task much harder."

"Tough shit."

"April, he and his people killed your family. They tried to kill me and they will try to kill you. They will try again. I don't know why. I don't care. I care only that you are safe."

"Feeling those two men die was terrible, even though they were going to kill me. I don't want to feel that way again. Will you agree to kill only if absolutely necessary?"

Martin held out his hand to her. She accepted his hand. "I promise to kill only as necessary to protect us. I promise to cause you as little pain as possible," he said.

"Have you considered going to find Mary instead of Yoshima or one of his allies?"

"No. Why?"

"She seems to know everything? I know almost nothing. Why don't I grab hold of her and not let her loose until I find out what we need to know?"

"Don't kid yourself April, first you know more than you think and some very important things. Nor would it be easy to 'grab hold of' Mary. Let's think about it as we walk. I wonder if we could get William to help us. If we swore not to harm her no matter what we found out, we might be able to meet with her."

"Are you so sure you want to try?" Martin asked.

"Yes. Give me your hand."

"No."

"Give me your hand," she chided. "I need the practice."

"I can read your thoughts as well, I know what you want."

"Okay, there are other benefits for me, but I do need to practice and you are the only one who can help. Tell me something, when two old ones come together to procreate, do they wear all their clothes?" By now she had his hand and the answer was clear.

Martin had planted a seed, when he disappeared, she would go to William.

Howard and Tommy brought six prospective guards/supervisors out to the compound for interviews. They had finished their interviews and were waiting for April or Martin to check for ulterior motives or other hidden agendas. Martin was busy with other business so April did the interviews. The first interview went well - the woman was honest in her answers. She would be a good hire for a guard. The second interview also went well, but the man was too inexperienced. The third interview would lead to an epiphany for April and Martin.

As April sat at Martin's desk, a man who looked to be in his late twenties walked into the room. He was dressed in a navy blue jacket with grey pants and a conservative tie. He was 185 centimeters and lean, no more than 85 kilos, with short blond hair and blue eyes. He was handsome in a rough way, yet the room was still empty. April realized with a shock that she could read no thoughts from him. Taking care to hide her reaction, she took out her phone and called Martin. When he answered she said, "Martin, did you get the set of figures that I send you?"

"Are you in danger now?" was his reply.

"No, I'll bring you another set right now."

Looking up at the man she said, "Mr. Akins, will you excuse me for just a moment?"

"Of course," he said looking confused.

April removed some papers from the desk's file drawer, stood up, and stepped through the door behind her. She speed dialed another number as she walked down a hall.

"Security."

"Tommy, this is April. Don't let anyone near the interview room."

"I just received a call from Mr. Martin ordering us into that room?"

"I am countermanding that order. I'll call Martin to explain. Pull back out any of your people that are near the room. Daniel Akins is most likely an assassin. I don't want him alerted, but do not let him escape."

"Yes ma'am."

Another quick call and she had Martin on the line. "Martin..."

"Are you safe?" he interrupted.

"Yes. We have an old one in the interview room. I couldn't read him at all. I had Tommy pull our people back."

"Where are you?" he asked.

"I'm headed towards the gun locker."

"Do you have a weapon?"

"The 10 mm."

"Take the safety off and stay where you are. Call your guards to you. I'll meet you at the locker."

By her watch it was fifty-eight seconds, but it seemed closer to five minutes before Barbara and Stevie found her. Apparently adrenaline time is five times as long as normal time, she stifled a laugh. They moved to the weapons locker, meeting Lynn on the way.

Martin was already there with Howard, Tommy, and Martha, the three guards he trusted the most. All but Martha were donning body armor, Martha was on guard. When Howard finished putting on the armor and a helmet, he watched the door while the others finished equipping themselves.

"Is the rest of the compound secure?" Martin asked Howard.

"As best as we can tell. All other candidates are together. Monitors show no movement other than our people. I have pulled the roaming teams in closer to the house. Staff is being moved off the compound."

"Good. Stevie, go to security and review the room video recording of Akins from the moment he entered. Report anything unusual to Howard and continue viewing and updating."

"Yes sir," she replied as she left.

"Howard, go to the alternate security post and take over from there."

"Sir?"

"You asked me if April was like me. So is Akins. This may be a worst case breach. There is the chance that the security post may be taken out. The breach may be the first step in an all-out attack, if so, we'll need coordination."

"In any event, only April and I can go in the room at first. Don't bother to complain," Martin interrupted Tommy. "It has to be this way. We'll throw in a couple of flash-bangs and go in fast. You must stay back more than 30 meters or surprise will be lost. Once you hear us go in, the rest of you can come up fast. Try to leave Akins alive but your lives are more important than his."

Dan Akins was losing patience. Without even a greeting, his interviewer had just gotten up and left saying she would be back in a second. Well, a second had passed, so had a minute or two or more. Why weren't there any other seats in front of the desk? Should he move over to the chairs by the bookcases or remain standing at this desk? Was this some sort of test? Had they found a mistake in his resume? They couldn't have found a mistake. He was too careful. He always claimed less experience than he had. He was probably the only person in the world who didn't inflate his resume. If this was some sort of chicken-shit test he wanted nothing to do with these people. He didn't need the money, he just needed something to do.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the door behind him open and the sound of two hard objects striking the rug. A quick glance showed what the objects were. He closed his eyes, covered his ears with his hands, opened his mouth, and dove over the desk. He was quick, very quick, but hadn't made it behind the desk before the flash-bangs exploded. It took him a moment to figure out which direction up was, but he did hear people coming into the room. No way I'm going for the door, he thought.

"Martin, Howard here. He is behind the desk."

"Copy," Martin replied. "Begin to spread security out."

"SHOW ME YOUR HANDS," Martin yelled. Flash-bangs leave the victims hard of hearing for a while. When the two hands appeared, Martin yelled again, "STAND UP FACING AWAY FROM ME."

"You can stop yelling," Dan said, "I can hear you." Dan stood and faced the wall.

"Turn around and walk around the desk."

Shit. Do they have enough fire power? Can they tell I'm unarmed? At least they seem business-like and not psychotic. Business-like, now that is a laugh. What the fuck is going on? There were now six people facing him, all in body armor, all armed with M-16s, and all aimed at him. Okay, I am going to view this as good experience to have and will label it as the Interview from Hell.

"Face down on the floor." Martin continued to give the commands.

"Hands on your back, ankles crossed."

"Tommy. Lynn. Put your weapons down out of reach and secure him." If you don't have a weapon on you it can't be taken from you - Martin had learned that from his teacher long ago. Tommy and Lynn used duct tape to tie Dan's hands and feet together.

"Lynn," April said, "Find some clothes for Mr. Akins. Sweats will be just fine."

"The rest of you, to your Alert Posts, please," Martin added. He nodded to April.

She walked forward across the once beautiful rug, now ruined by the flash-bangs, stamping out where a fire had started. When she got to Dan Akins she put her hand on his neck. "Why are you here?" she asked.

His impression of them was surreal with a mixed bemused admiration of their sophisticated tactics. However, they had to be lunatics, or involved in illegal dealings to use such overkill.