Giorgio (Vigilance 1)

He ran at the man, driving his head into the man’s midsection and knocking him back. Before the man recovered, Giorgio kicked his feet out from under him, then got his arm around the man’s neck. He held on even as the much larger man struggled. A few seconds later, the man slumped to the ground, and Giorgio stepped back. The asshole had never stood a chance against him.

A twig snapped as I took a step. Giorgio looked up, gun suddenly in his hand.

When he saw it was me, he lowered the weapon. “Jesus, I could’ve shot you. I told you to stay inside.”

“I was worried about you.”

His eyes widened. “You were—”

“Yes. What if you needed help? You’re not invincible, no matter what you think.”

“I can do the best job of keeping you safe if you listen to me.”

“I’m not very good at listening. I never have been.”

“No shit.”

As I moved closer, I got a better look at the man on the ground. “Oh my God.”

Giorgio held up his hand to keep me from moving closer. “What is it?”

“That’s the man who came to my apartment. Alan’s driver or bodyguard or whatever he is.”

“You’re sure?”

“Can I get a better look?”

Giorgio aimed his gun at the man. “You can now.”

I looked him over carefully. “Yes, I’m sure. You can check the security footage from my building. He’ll be on there from when he was knocking at the door.”

“I’ll make sure my boss does that.”

“Pack up all your things. We’re going back to town. If they found us here, they’re tracking us somehow. We might as well be where you’re comfortable and I have my people close by.”

“What about him?” I gestured to the unconscious man.

“I’ll have him taken care of.”

Was he going to kill him? “What does that mean?”

“It means somebody will pick him up and take him somewhere secure where he can be questioned.”

“Is that code for tortured?”

Giorgio sighed. “We’ll talk more in the car on the way to Boston. Right now, I want you to get packed.”

At least we wouldn’t be stuck in this cabin anymore. I’d actually have space to do my work, but I didn’t like how easily Alan had tracked us down. “How do you think they found us?”

“I don’t know, but I assure you I’m going to figure it out.”

I packed as quickly as I could, taking much less care with my possessions than I usually would. I wanted to get out of there. What if they sent somebody else after me? I supposed Giorgio would beat them up too, even if they were larger than him like the man he’d brought down. As scared as I was, I had to admit it was hot seeing how easily he’d defeated the man. He wasn’t even breathing hard. Maybe he really was invincible.

It didn’t take Giorgio as long to load the car this time. I dreaded the two-and-a-half-hour drive, but even once I was home I doubted I’d be able to relax, not when I felt like someone was watching me. At least I had Giorgio to protect me.

Giorgio was silent as we started the drive. All I could think about was how I could’ve been killed. Eventually Alan or someone who worked for him would have gotten to me if I hadn’t listened to my mother. She was going to love saying “I told you so” when she found out what had happened.

Out of the blue, Giorgio spoke. “I was a sniper in the army. Special forces.”

“Wow. So when you say you never miss…”

“I’m really fucking serious.”

“And after the army?”

“I lost Thomas on my last mission. After I came back to the states, I drank a lot and felt sorry for myself.”

“Shit.”

He sniffed. “Yeah. Things didn’t end well. That last mission was… It was fucked up, and I got out afterwards.”

I wanted to know more, but I could tell this wasn’t something I should push him on. “You’re not just feeling sorry for yourself now.”

“No. Now I work for an organization that takes care of problems for people.”

“Problems like mine?”

“Yes. Sometimes we don’t wait for people to come to us. We see a problem, and we eliminate it.”

“You kill people?”

“Occasionally.”

That should scare the shit out of me, but my instincts told me Giorgio was a good man. Those same instincts had told me there was something wrong with Alan, but I’d ignored them. I wasn’t going to ignore them now.

“I let that man live today, but if he’d come for you, I would have shot him to ensure your safety. I won’t hesitate to use deadly force. I’m here to protect you. I may not be what you traditionally think of as a bodyguard, and that’s certainly not my usual function, but I assure you, you’re safer with me than you would be with anyone else, except maybe my boss or the other senior partners.”