Protected (Seabrook #21)

Prologue

Killian

I make my way down the long hallway on the bottom floor of the Crowell residence, my eyes scanning the rooms as I go.

I pass by the empty kitchen, and then check the large living room. Both maids are already at work here, one is vacuuming, while another uses a remote to open all of the curtains, letting the first morning light inside.

I’m still not used to working in the environment I’m in, and neither is my crew. Normally we would be guarding someone more high profile than the man who hired me.

Pierce Crowell is the new CEO of Boslin, a healthcare company based here in Redland. He has more zeros in his bank account than the average man can dream of, for certain.

However, he still doesn’t have as much money, or power as most of the men I’ve guarded over the past six years. Some made their money through seemingly honest means, like Pierce Crowell, while others held most of their money in several offshore accounts for obvious reasons.

Pierce seemed to have no obvious, immediate need for me and my team, which felt strange, but I knew that it would be easy money and we had just wrapped up a year-long contract overseas that had been extremely difficult, and we needed something simple for a while.

I know that after the murder of the CEO of the largest healthcare company in the country a month ago, a lot of people in the industry had become squeamish about their own safety.

There was word that the hitman, that was still at large, had a list of people in the industry he was going after, but I couldn’t imagine a man like Crowell was even on his radar. Considering that Boslin has only been around for two years now, and is a small fish in a big murky pond.

I couldn’t say that I felt bad about the havoc that the murder had caused amongst the CEO’s. I’ve never been known for providing services to the most honorable men, but those that profit off of other people’s misery were in a different class of deplorables in my eyes.

Crowell hired me knowing that I was more than just a bodyguard with a security team surrounding me.

We offered more than just your run of the mill protection services.

We have ears and eyes all over the world, and trusted sources that alert us to any potential threats.

We have enough experience between the six of us to handle any immediate obstacles that arise.

Because an obstacle is all that anyone who tries to harm my client is.

No one had ever been harmed under my watch, and because of that our unit was paid generously, and very well respected in our field.

But despite me being the head of my team, Pierce Crowell hadn’t wanted me to go alongside him and be in charge of his safekeeping.

He insisted on using my second in command, Malakai, to be with him throughout his day-to-day tasks.

For me, he had someone else who needed protection.