Chapter One

Ben was not kidding. 5AM sharp we were up and ready, heading to the airport. We had been in such a rush that I had to put on my shoes and shirt in the car, it kind of emphasized how serious this whole thing is for me. Ben's rush to get me on that plane to a place of safety was comforting but annoying at the same time. I am not a fan of being rushed to do things, in fact I hate it with every fiber of my being.

"Alright, come on. We're boarding right away." Ben says in a rushed tone, speed walking in front of me while beckoning for me to follow. We're surrounded by heavy security and many clicking cameras, with eager voices calling out for me to look at them. The location we are flying to had been made confidential so nobody could follow or beat us there. We are set to fly in my private jet, just me, Ben and our few guards that we had decided to take with us. Finally making it to the boarding gates, the swarm of people following after us seems to disappear along with the loud voices of the paparazzi as we got further away.

"Right this way, mister Mitchell." Abdul, my head of security beckons. We walk down the stairs that lead to the outside where the jet awaits our arrival on the runway. Ben makes sure that we waste no time boarding, and not long after we're shooting down the runway and lifting off into the sky, heading off on our way. "Will you chill the fuck out now?" I ask Ben as he sits next to me with his hands folded in his lap and his leg nervously bouncing up and down.

"No, I won't chill the fuck out, until we land this plane safely and get you on that ranch." His stare is hard, worried and cold. I look right into his eyes, my own glare challenging the authority that his seems to express. "I'm not a child Ben, I know this situation is serious, but we are in the fucking sky! Relax for two seconds." I snap, "I don't need you adding onto my already large amount of stress right now." His tense shoulders seem to relax a little, still not completely though. I understand that I am his responsibility, and that he is only trying to do his job of keeping me safe, but he isn't the only one in this.

My life is the one that is being threatened, and even with all these precautions that we had taken, I still have this nervous feeling that won't let go of me, a pit of fear in my stomach. Maybe we didn't take enough precautions... What if we overlooked or missed something?

"Mister Mitchell, a word?" Abdul speaks to my left from his own seat, snapping me from my thoughts. I turn to face him and nod my head for him to continue. "This is Carl Fox, he is our newest addition to the team, hired by mister Ferguson himself as your personal guard...your shadow in technical terms." I look towards the man next to Abdul, reaching across to shake his hand. "A pleasure, Fox."

"He will be with you at all times throughout the day. I would like to kindly ask that you ever leave his side or go anywhere without informing him beforehand, for your own safety." Abdul continues before Carl could return my greeting. Carl only nods his head before returning his attention to the book that he had apparently been reading. "So why are we going to this ranch exactly? I mean it's your family's, won't it eventually get figured out, traced back to you?" I ask Ben, my silent paranoia getting the better of me. "The chances are almost zero, making it a risk that I  am wiling to take. They'd much rather look into locations associated with your family than mine, in fact I don't think they'll even bother with mine." he pauses, "Even if they did, it'll take them ages to get to Ed, and we'll be on our own turf." 

"You sound very certain about this, Ben." I just hope you're fucking right, I add in my head. With that, the conversation naturally dies out and most of us decide to get some sleep to make up or the amount we have missed out on.  It seems that I had been especially fucking tired, because by the time that I woke up the plane as landing at a private hangar surrounded by a seemingly endless field. Looking out the window I see a dirt road in the very far distance, but that is the extent of the surroundings out here. When I look outside the opposite window to my left, I see a red truck parked on one of the little clear patches in the field, I guess that's our ride. "Come on, Ed's outside." Ben says as he gets up and retrieves our luggage from the overhead compartment.

We step  out of the jet, and the first thing that hits me is this fucking heat! Holy shit, people live in this? "Low and behold." The man leaning against the truck speaks, his voice deep and rough as though he's a heavy smoker. A cap rests on his head. The guy is a good few inches taller than  I am, and I'm 6'2. He wears a pair of worn blue jeans, brown leather boots and a black and white checkered shirt. You sure ain't a style god, I'll tell you that. "Ed, it's been a minute." Ben says, walking up to the man to shake his massive paw of a hand. Judging by the scabs and calluses and scabs littering his hands, I'd say he is a big manual labor guy. "Ed, this is Marx Mitchell, the one we're here to protect." Ben says and ushers me to come closer. The man, or Ed, shakes my hand as I stick it out  with a firm grip. "Welcome, city boy. Name's Ed, as you've heard. You two, load them bags up in the back of the truck so we can get going." He orders us.

"What about the guards?"  I ask, noticing that it's only a two seated truck. "They are being picked up later, they need to get all their stuff first. Abdul will be briefing them afterwards, as well as assigning them their jobs for the time that  we'll be here. Somme of them are staying here to make sure no unauthorized landings take place here." I  nod my head and follow after Ed and Ben as they walk towards his truck. I go to open the passenger door, but Ben stops me and gets in instead. "Sorry boy, that's Ben's seat. You get on in the back." Excuse me? 

"The back? What the hell? No, Ben, you get in the back." I say. "I'm leaving in thirty seconds boy. If you ain't in the back  of this truck, I'm leaving you with them guards." With those as his  final words, Ed gets into the truck and starts the engine, the truck roaring to life. I stand my ground, still not getting in, but to my utter  surprise the truck shoots away leaving me in the dust. Literally in the dust, the spinning tires leave me covered from head to toe...that fucker!

"Welcome to country life, mister Mitchell..." I hear Abdul's voice from behind me as he takes my shoulder and leads me to the rest of the men. What a great fucking day this has been.

Y'all, that's chapter one, whoop!

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All the love!

*AHL*