Just Another Bodyguard

Chapter 1 : A Special Job

--Ryder's POV--

"Wait! Wait," I pleaded, scrambling out of my blankets and my bed with only a pair of shorts on.

It was freezing, and only wearing shorts certainly did not provide me much warmth. I reached out for the shirt I had thrown on the chair the night before. "At least let me grab a shirt-"

--And then, instinctively, I placed some distance between the chair and myself, quickly retracing my steps.

The distance was replaced by two knifes which flew past my nose and attached itself to the wall.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" I shivered and raised my arms in the air, showing them I had no intention of fighting.

"Were you seriously trying to kill me, George?!"

Six figures loomed over me, their killing intent almost apparent. Six of the most skilled and dangerous people I know.

And they were my colleagues.

"No way, Ryder," George said, scratching the back of his head with gentle smile. "I had confidence you'd dodge it."

"Not when it's 3am in the morning and when my senses are still furry and muddled!"

"Oh man, don't be so whiny,"  Ben drawled back, with a thick accent.

"How about I wake you up in the middle of the night and try to kill you?!" I said, exasperated. Just when I finally had gotten a day off...

"So? What are you guys doing here at 3am in the morning?" I took small and tiny steps back, heading for the secret escape back door which they didn't know about.

I didn't even bother asking how they had gotten in, because it didn't take an idiot to know that his house had a couple of shattered window panes and broken doors with these people standing in front of him.

"Boss told us, whoever brings ya back dead or alive gets a pay raise and extra holiday vacation." Drew cracked his knuckles.

Dead... or alive?

That damn old man.

I muttered a couple of profanities under my breath, before asking them one last time.

"Do you have to do this?"

"You know how it works, buddy. Besides, fighting you is a hella fun."

Drew threw a punch at me, and I dodged it swiftly. Using my momentum to my advantage, I lashed out, letting out a fast kick.

He nullified my kick with one of his own, and before I could retaliate, I had to duck, and the air above my head sliced into two with one of George's deadly knife slash.

I gritted my teeth and sweeped the floor with my leg, tripping Drew. In the same moment I grabbed his shirt and used him as a shield from George's knife attack. The moment George had hesitated, I gave Drew's head a good push, making the both of them headbutt each other in the face.

Ben's face had a confident grin as he grabbed my head into one of his signature painful headlocks. I gritted my teeth as I couldn't break free from his grasp, and tried to pry open his arms away from my throat before he really suffocated me.

Seeing John, who had remained silent throughout charging over here, I used Ben's arms as a balance, as I let out a straight kick to John's gut. As he staggered backwards, holding his stomach, I used the firm grip I had on Ben and threw him over my shoulder.

He landed heavily on the floor, and before I could catch my breath, I back-stepped, and a long wooden pole swung past my face, just barely missing my nose. Instantaneously I grabbed the pole and jerked it towards myself, and then stepping on the pole, unleashing a straight kick to Mark's head.