𝗣 𝗬 𝗥 𝗢 𝗠 𝗔 𝗡 𝗜 𝗔 | BOOK THREE

T H I R T E E N

[graham eaton]

Jolene sits in my Father's office, describing the Ghost, James Barker. He's twenty-nine, seven years older than me. He has dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. He usually has a beard, but now that the cops are after him, he most likely shaved it. He's fair, light-peach colored skin. He has a tattoo on his left shoulder—a butterfly burning up and shriveling to ashes. Beside the tattoo, it says "this action will have consequences." Kind of fitting to have a flaming butterfly with that choice of words. I walk out of my Father's office towards Zeke, crossing my arms.

"She's beat up pretty bad. Her right eye is swollen shut and her nose might be broken. Can I get her an ice pack from the freezer in the back?" I ask.

He nods, looking at Jolene from his desk, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah, of course. What was she doing dating this guy?" He asks. "She's too good for him anyway."

I walk to the back of the precinct where they keep their lunches and some extra ice packs for any victims that come in beat up. I wrap it in a wash cloth and return to her.

"May I?" I ask, gesturing to the pack in my hand.

She nods, staring at the red washcloth. I lift my hand and gently press the cold pack to her face.

"Thanks," She says, exhaling as the cold sinks in and numbs her face. "That feels better, actually."

I grab my phone and call Rory, exhaling.

"Chief, she's speaking with the Police now. We should have a location soon." I say.

"Good work. She's probably going to have to go into WitSec, or have a personal chauffeur everywhere she goes. Talk to your Dad and see what he thinks they should do." He says.

I hang up and look back at the office.

"Is that her?" Jaxon asks, approaching me.

I nod, leaning against Zeke's desk. Jaxon joined the force immediately after getting out of the academy. He was hired a little less than a year ago by my father and immediately followed in his parents's footsteps.

"Yeah, she's gone through Hell and back to get here." I say, watching as she nods to my father.

She stands from her seat and my Father walks her out into the hallway, nodding to me. I approach her, an eyebrow raised.

"How's the ice-pack treating you?" I ask.

She smiles and nods, removing it from her face.

"It's helped a lot actually," She says. "Thanks."

I nod, smiling at her.

"We'll do a reverse search for him and try to find him based on his picture. I'll call you if we find anything." He says, looking at me.

I look down at Jolene then at Jaxon.

"Hey, Jax, can you keep her some company while I talk to my father really quick?" I ask.

He nods and extends his hand to shake hers. I can hear them talking as I approach my Father.

"Rory wants to know what her future holds. Do you guys want her in WitSec? Or do you want a chauffeur?" I ask.

My Father crosses his arms and leans back against the desk behind him.

"WitSec would be safe. She'd be sent to a smaller city in a state far away from here. Like Arizona, or Colorado, Montana even. But, I doubt that the peace would last. If this guy can jump on a plane and move to a whole new city on a dime, she might be in even more danger if we send her away because then we can't track her as easily. Hell, this guy could track her, find her, kill her and we wouldn't even get the report about it until a week later." He says.

I shake my head.

"That's what I'm trying to stop, Dad." I say. "I... I like this girl. She's a nice, good, fun girl who knows what she wants to do in life. I'm trying to keep her around long enough to see if she'll even give me a chance."

My Dad smiles and nods, scratching his eyebrow.

"Yeah. I can tell. She might be able to tell too." He says. "WitSec is off the table. I think personal chauffeur is the way to go until things die down or it becomes too dangerous for her here."

I nod.

"How do you guys pick a chauffeur? Is it like a randomly selected person that has enough intelligence on the situation or what?" I ask.

He leans over to see around me, nods, then leans back to his original seat.

"We usually pick someone who is strong enough that, in case of an emergency where the perp shows up, they can keep them away from whoever they're protecting. We also choose someone that meshes well with the witness and make sure that they're both comfortable." He says.

I nod, uncrossing my arms, tucking just my thumb in one of my belt loops.

"Awesome. Got anyone in mind?" I ask.

He smiles, nodding.

"Standing right in front of me." He says.

I raise an eyebrow and turn around. Jaxon and Jolene laugh, nodding to one another as they talk.

"Jaxon would be a great fit. He's nice, strong, and they're mingling pretty well." I say.

"No, not Jaxon." My father says.

I look around spotting Zeke and Shauna standing at one desk, trading files.

"Zeke and Shauna?" I ask, looking back at him.

He shakes his head.

"I was thinking maybe you could protect her. She trusts you, Hell she called you. Besides—you said you wanted to get closer." He says.

I raise an eyebrow, looking back at Jolene.

"I'm not even a Police Officer. I'm a FireFighter. How am I supposed to protect her?" I ask.

He smiles and hands me a piece of paper.

"You just have to be strong enough that you can protect her. We'll talk to her, see if she feels comfortable. If she is, you'll also file for a concealed carry on for use in emergencies." He says.

I nod. We approach Jaxon and Jolene.

"Jolene, here's the situation. James is a highly dangerous man that we aren't entirely sure of his next move. Witness Security, or WitSec, was the first option of what to do so that you feel safe. The bad thing about WitSec is they move you to some obscure town in the middle of nowhere and you have to restart you whole life under a new name with a new job and everything. Another flaw is we don't know if James would track you or not. If we flew you out, James could track you and hunt you down which is even more dangerous than you staying here because then we cannot protect you. So, WitSec is off the table. Another option is to have a Chauffeur with you. They pick you up in the morning, drop you off at night, sweep the house, go with you to all public events, keep you safe. I was thinking Graham could be your Chauffeur, if you're comfortable with that." He says.

She looks over at me, an eyebrow raised.

"Graham, are you alright with this? I don't want to be a burden." She says.

I shake my head and smile at her.

"You're not being a burden. This is to protect you." I say. "As long as you're safe, we've achieved the goal."

She looks back at my Father.

"What else would this entail?" She asks.