7 yrs, Gone and Forgotten

Chapter 6: Dinner & Discussions

      The dinner was silent as we all ate the beautiful French cuisine that had been prepared for us. The only person that seemed to be out of sorts and noticing me was Mildred, her looks were making me incredibly uncomfortable and self-conscious. Her smile held kindness while I felt like her eyes held daggers and they were pointed straight at me. I was extremely happy when dinner was done, and we all took our coffee in the gazebo in the garden under the moonlit sky.

     “Scott son, did you hear of the news from the pavilion today?” Scott’s dad, Arthur, asked suddenly while we were sitting sipping our coffee.

      “Yea I heard just before we came, I am trying to find out who it was, but haven’t had any luck yet, and the cameras were down in that corridor at the time unfortunately.”

      “What happened?” Mildred asked nonchalantly, but I could hear the curiousness in her voice.

     “Evidently some burly man was trying to kidnap a small girl and turns out she put the beating on him without even breaking a sweat. The eyewitnesses said she moved like it was the most natural thing they had ever seen, and the guy struggled.” Theo spoke proudly.

     “Oh really.” Mildred squeaked as her eyebrows hit her hair line and she directed her eyes straight at me. “And what do you plan on doing with the girl or guy if you find them?” Her question was directed to the boys, but she couldn’t take her eyes off me.

     I just rolled mine like a teenager being scolded and focused my attention back on the boys. “Well recruit her of course.” Theo answered while he toyed with the handle of her cup.

     “I don’t know about that. It could have been a fluke thing, I mean how long have we been doing this and not one female has passed our test, if we find her, she passes the tests then we will see about recruiting her.” Scott grunted while staring at the small tiki torch.

    “Scotts right Theo, if you find her, test her if she passes then hire her. Shoot, Lee and I might like having a woman around more than Lance and Lane since you are so hell bent and bound on having detail on Lee.” Mandy laughed.

     “What kind of tests?” I covered my mouth as soon as the words came out while they all looked over at me. I instantly regretted saying anything but oh well, it was already out so might as well play along.

      “Well dear, things haven’t changed much since I handed the business over so I will tell.” Arthur chuckled like Santa Clause as he sat straight in his chair, and we all focused our attention on him. “The first test is a written test, what if scenarios so to speak. No one has ever got a hundred percent on it, not even my boys here, but Scott scored the highest at ninety five percent so as you can see that isn’t a deal breaker. The next test is an obstacle course, it’s set up on the back of the property here. Basically, it involves some crawling, running, jumping, swinging, climbing, and falling. We need to make sure that those we hire can pass this, you never know when you will be on a protection detail or in charge of a training session that these skills could mean life or death. But the final test is hand to hand sparring. Now in my day it was with whomever oversaw the company, because you had to be the best to be in that situation, but I am not sure if Scott has changed that or not.”

      Scott laughed for the first time in two days, “It hasn’t changed dad. It is still the same, and like you said we have never had a female pass the obstacle. They always give up when it comes to the wall, which is only the second obstacle in the course.”

      “I have an idea.” Mildred piped in and we all turned to her. “Instead of trying to find her, why don’t you offer open interviews. Start the test as their first interview. You will probably only have about twenty-five or fifty females show up for the interview, I mean after all girls around here would rather shop and sip coffee than to break bones and use their brains.”

       “Now Auntie Milly I take offense to that. Tell you what, you all do it. And just for the hell of it to prove Auntie wrong, me and Lee will do it, right Lee?” Mandy smiled at me, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.

       “You can’t be serious? Come on, just look at the two of you, one is a designer, a very feminine position and the other is a business manager s***h secretary, you really want to do this?” Scott taunted.

      That feeling from earlier washed over me again, I felt like I was being challenged and it was now or never to prove my point that I wouldn’t submit to any of them. I looked at Mildred and she was studying me with her beady little eyes, and I just smiled before I turned my eyes back to Scott. “You set it up, we will be there.”

       “What did you do to our little innocent Lee?” Arthur laughed.

       That was enough for everyone to break out into a laugh just before the air became thick again and Mildred opened her mouth to speak, “Lee tells me that you may be expanding to the states Scott?”

      Arthur slapped Scott’s back, “That’s great news son, you know I have some old friends in that area, I would love to go with you and make a few visits.”

     “Not so fast guys, we have to provide detail first in two weeks when they come, there are stipulations in order for us to get their business.” Scott replied to his dad. “But if all goes well then of course dad you can travel with us.”

      “What kind of stipulations?” Arthur asked curiously.

     I didn’t give time for Scott to answer before I opened my mouth, “I am expected to apologize to the owner of the company’s wife for something that I did not do and was not in the wrong about. And personally, I won’t, that’s like submitting to someone, saying it’s okay for them to run over me. If I was in the wrong, I would be the first to apologize, but I did nothing wrong and will not apologize.”

     Scott opened his mouth and closed it a few times like a fish out of water, but Arthur was the one to speak up, “Scott son, that’s the kind of people you need on your team.” He pointed towards me, “Lee is absolutely in the right and should not be responsible for apologizing for something she didn’t do. And we don’t need to work with people who expect it, that only means they are shady, and we don’t want to be involved with those kind of people.”

      Scott rumbled for a few minutes and then looked over to me with a half-smile, “Got it dad. Now if you all will excuse us, it’s time to get back.”

      We said our goodbyes and quietly made our way to the car. My mind was racing about the events of the night. Mildred was the most unnerving of them all, the looks she was giving, for some reason it didn’t feel at all feminine, it felt like she suddenly became a hunter and I, well I was her prey. I had never felt that way before but that night something changed, something came to life in that woman, and it felt like pure evil. I was pleased with the fact that Arthur felt the same way I did, and it seemed to lighten Scott’s mood enough that he was walking more freely and didn’t seem to be so tense.

     We were soon on the road, and the night stars were passing by the window quickly. Scott cleared his throat, and I directed my attention to the front seat. “Are you two serious about going to interviews if we open this up?”

      “We are.” I stated before I even thought about it, something was telling me I had to do it, no ifs, and, or buts, about it. “But I have a question. If the last test is a sparring match with you, if you are the best and no one has beat you, how do you hire them?” I didn’t know why it was so important but to me it was, and I needed to know.

      Theo laughed and answered before Scott had the chance. “It’s two rounds on hand to hand. Both rounds are won if the other taps out first. Round one is normal, but round two is where everyone gets stuck. The new trainee trying out for the spot has to do it with a blind fold. You aren’t judged on if you can make Scott tap out or not, because no one ever does. Instead, you are judged on your skill, how fast you move, how strong you are, how well in tune your natural instincts are. That’s why we are the best at what we do and are called from all over the world for help. And also, why we don’t have a large number of employees, very few make it through all the tests. But the ones that do, are highly sought after.”

     I hated that inner curiosity, but I just couldn’t help myself, “And what if Scott tap outs before the other?”

     They both laughed and Scott shook his head, “I would gladly bow down to the one who makes me tap out, but you will soon see they all submit to me.”

     I crossed my arms and sat straight in the seat before giving a wink to Mandy. “Game on then boys.” I sung.

     I noticed the glance between the brothers before Scott looked into the rear view mirror at me. “Alright smarty britches who in seven years has never even raised her voice until last night. Be ready, interviews begin next Friday, the test will run three days. Sunday we will have our new trainee and when we meet the new clientele the Friday after, that trainee will be at the dinner with us.”

     “Sounds good.” Mandy winked back at me.

    I didn’t know why it was suddenly so important, or why I suddenly felt the need to do this. But I made myself a promise in that car that night, whatever happened in my former life stuck with me in my memory somewhere, and now I had a point to prove.