The Bodyguard » Niall Horan

03 » Thanks For Listening

I hated traveling by metro. It was always overcrowded, often filthy and it's commuters loud.

With my weekend bag between my legs, I was sat next to an old man and a teenage girl wearing an extremely short dress. She was provocatively munching her chewing gum. Her sound was so loud, that I could tell which punk rock song she was listening to.

A little further away, a lady was chatting away on her telephone. Her voice blared through the metro. She must've been from somewhere near Edinburgh, Scotland. She was talking about a bad break-up, and how she was better off without that 'bastard.'

I was very happy to arrive at my stop, Parsons Green, and fled the metro as quickly as I could.

It was a short walk from Parsons Green to the Matrix Complex. The vehicle I was allowed to drive in, had been taken back by the Bureau until I finished my mission and I refused to put down half my loan for an Uber. I had been informed that his management would be arranging a vehicle, an armored one luckily. I expected to receive it later today.

Kids were playing in a park I crossed, their mums chatting on benches whilst checking up on their children. It was a nice day, considering it was only April.

After a few minutes, I arrived at the destined address. It was a humongous building, guarded by two men. I had no trouble passing them. Inside I was met by a secretary. 

" How can I help you?" She asked me. She had put her hair into two topknots, which reminded me of my old photos as a kid.

" Hi, I'm Sadie Iverson, I've got an appointment," I told her. I had repeated that sentence a dozen times before leaving my house today. I still couldn't get used to that name.

The secretary stared at her computer. "Oh yes, right. I will show you the way." She stood up and left her desk unattended. Risky, I thought.

We passed dozens of rooms until we ended in some sort of conference room at the far end of the building. I had noticed the pictures of all their signed celebrities on the wall in the hallways. I also noticed Niall on one of them. I was the only one here yet.

"They should be arriving shortly. Please, make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink? Coffee, tea or perhaps some water?" The secretary asked me. " Water, please." I nodded as I sat down on one of the luxury leather chairs. I put the bag on the floor next to me. 

The secretary came back with a bottle of water. " If there's anything I can do for you, you can push that button right there. It's a straight connection to me." She said and left the room with a smile.

I unscrewed the cap of my water bottle and took a sip. I took a good look around. It was boring, like all conference rooms. The table wasn't that large, so I expected this room to be used for small gatherings. Considering how new the carpets and the chairs looked, the room wasn't used often. The table wasn't scratched and the walls had paintings with inspiring quotes hanging on them. Probably very expensive, but I had no eye for that kind of thing.

There was some tumult on the other side of the door, of which I could only hear half. "- that's idiotic, because-" The door opened, and a group of people came walking in. Five men, one of wich was our destined popstar. I stood up, when Niall's eyebrows rose.

" What's this? I thought they'd be sending an MI6 agent?" He had turned towards a man wearing a suit, probably his manager. I couldn't place the other three men. Probably two bodyguards and an extra guy studying his case from a distance.

" This is someone from the MI6. This is Mercer Fulton." The manager told his client. Niall's flabbergasted face went from his manager to me and back to his manager. He burst into laughter. " You mean I will be protected by a woman?" I clenched my hands into fists behind my back. What a dick.

" For how long has she been working for them, anyway? I thought they'd be sending their best agent. I was expecting a man, not a woman." He snorted. His manager shot an annoying glance in his direction.

" Mercer is a really good agent. I've seen her resume myself. Besides that, she will be your girlfriend. Perhaps that'll burst your sales a little." His manager said, clearly pushing Niall back to the place he was supposed to be. " You mean a set up couple? Are you insane?" Niall managed to say. " I am not going to pretend to be in love with that human! You better find something else!" 

Something burst inside me when he called me 'that human.' I strode calmly towards him, and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the wall. I pinned him down rather easily.

" Hi, I'm Mercer. Nice to meet you." I said, my voice calm and controlled. Behind me, I heard how Niall's manager pushed his bodyguards back. I tilted my head to the side and stared at him, my eyes clenched to slits.

" Oh, nice to meet you too, Mercer. I'm so happy you're here to protect me." I imitated his voice. " You're welcome. Niall, wasn't it? You forgot to introduce yourself. That's alright, you probably assume the whole world knows your name. " I said pushing him a little harder against the wall.

" Say, Niall. I'm very good at my job. I have the skills to turn perfectly fine people into cripples, break their bones and even kill them in a matter of seconds. Only when it's deserved, of course. I can torture people without my conscience being bothered by it and I can drive a car like no other woman can. What I'm doing right now, I can keep up the whole day. I am trained to protect my people, and this task is currently limited to you. Trust me, out of all people I could pick, you'd be the last person to be my fake boyfriend. But you don't hear me whine, do you? No. Because I'm no fool and I do what I'm told. Yes, I would rather be on the beach in Australia than being here having to teach you a lesson here about how women are perfectly capable of working for the MI6." Niall's face was full of fear. " Thanks for listening." 

I dropped my hold of him and walked back to the chair I had been sitting in seconds ago. His bodyguards, his manager and his plus one stared at me with surprise on their faces. Niall frantically put his collar back into it's original position.

" So, my real name is Mercer, as you might have heard. Because no one can ever know my real name, you will from now on know me as Sadie Mae Iverson. To be able to do my job, my bosses as well as yours," I said to Niall, " decided that I have to pretend to be your girlfriend for the time being. No fun, for either of us, but we'll have to make the best of it." 

I looked back at his manager. " My boss told me there'd be a vehicle present after we'd be done. An armored one, for the safety of our client." 

His manager nodded. " It's on standby," he said and looked over at Niall again. " Miss Iverson will have to move in, so she can protect you at home, too." 

" You've got to be kidding me, right?" Niall started to remind me of a kid in a toy store, who's mum just refused to buy his desired toy for him.

 "Niall, this is for your own good. It's this, or house arrest for the next months. I can't afford you to be killed on the spot." 

Niall was staring angrily at his manager. " Fine. But don't think you've heard the last of it." He moved his glance to me. " I'm ready. Let's go." he grumbled. 

" Fine." 

I grabbed my bag off the floor. In passing, Niall's manager handed me the keys. " it's a black Range Rover Vogue." He said. As I took the keys, he added: " Make sure he'll stay alive." 

I nodded. " That's my job, after all."