A Wolf in the City

26. Very First Job.

Raven.

“General Veer Arush was just acting crazy if you ask me, I mean, does it make any sense for him to have seen a man at first and then seen a wolf and not the man anymore, he also claims that this wolf threatened him, and last I checked, wolves do not speak. Man is just crazy, maybe he was off his meds that day.” Ara says as she loads her gun.

We are all at the shooting range practicing our shootings. Shooting guns is easy. Anyone can point a gun in a random direction and pull the trigger. It’s not that difficult.

Shooting guns on target however is not so easy. Especially moving targets. Especially when both you and your target is moving. Movies always make it seem like you can run while your target is running, and all you have to do is aim your firearm in the general direction and shoot as many times as needed. Unfortunately, bullets do not magically float towards the target. It’s not that simple.

The biggest common misconception that a lot of people miss about guns is that bullets travel in a straight line. No. That is wrong. Bullets NEVER travel in a straight line. The moment the bullet exits the gun barrel, gravity pulls it down. From there, a number of factors— most of which you can’t really control— can affect where that bullet ends up.

Now, with all of that in mind, try running around and shooting moving targets effortlessly—just like Clint Eastwood does. Yeah, not so simple, is it?

So when I got so good at shooting guns, naturally so, I made sure to rub it on everybody’s face. First time I even shot a pistol I was right on target. I enjoyed it. Feeling that there was a thing I could do that well gave me quite a boost.

I look at a newbie like me and how the the cold metal makes greyer the skin of his hand as if his blood ran from the gun. Father had said that the chill was because the weapon took hostage a part of your soul; he said you only got it back if you used the gun for love, for protection and defence. Apparently, it was part of the natural order of things and the gun, something made of the matter of this universe, had to obey it as much as we did.

“I feel like we might be downplaying the case of this man simply because he was never a good leader in the first place, which is quite unfair, everybody deserves justice.” Caleb, another one of our colleague says.

“Yea, right, tell that to the men who had to have their legs amputated due to the boots form his sham of a company, the same men whom instead of getting justice got money in envelopes instead. These men leave their families, their parents, their wives and kids to fight for their country and what did they get, bad boots that renders their legs useless. It was not by being shot at or impact of some fight but because of stupid fake boots and you think he should be pitied. I would not even be surprised if it turns out that this was done by one of those men and covered up as wolf marks or whatever. He can go to hell for all I care.” Ara says, already getting riled up about the conversation we were having.

She shoots multiple times at the cardboard dummy at a good distance away from her, I do the same but while I get five in, she gets seven in.

“Can you all take a break from the injustice and wolves of the country and speak on the eye candy in this office?” Another lady diverts the topic easily.

Even without hearing her say it, I already know that this eye candy is none other than Dante Barlowe.The women here talk about him like he is some saviour of the world and it just gets on my last nerve, they inflate that psychopath’s ego way too much for me to cope and the funny thing is the fact that he hardy even gives anyone of them attention.

The only time he gives me attention too is when he wants to get on my nerve or mock me about something. That dimwit.

“You ladies over hype this man way too much, you all need to take a chill pill, there are more good looking and able bodied men even in this workspace, ugh!’ I say, not bothering to hide my irritation.

”Hm... says the lady that I have caught ogling at this same man more than thrice!” Ara lets out my secret and I scoff, “oh, hell no! I am never ogling at that psychopath, I was just hating on him through my eyes.” I say lamely and the ladies laughs.

“I do not know why you both love getting on each other’s nerves but the fact still remains that he is the king of men.” Ara says again and I roll my eyes at all these titles and stuffs that they keep using to describe him. Its no wonder that the psychopath acts like a freaking god around here, these people enable him to.

I am about to start another round of shooting when I hear my name get called, “Miss Martinez, the head wants you in his office.” The guy says and I immediately drop what I am doing to heed to his call.

I knock on my boss’ door and he asks me to come in. I greet him while looking around at my surroundings and taking in the beauty. The office is built with fresh air and health as a priority. As such, air from the outside arrived in floor vents and left through the ceiling directly above.

There are two white boards, hanging on Velcro straps, marked with information such as dates on a calendar or a morning routine notice . At eye level, a group of papers, a stack of waiter pads, and a portable USB mic and above them lie some older papers and notes. Post-It notes line the walls to the right, and to the left nothing.

There is a small desk at seat level that squeezes inside the reformed closet doors, and on it lie a phone, two monitors, and a cup of pens. Various knickknacks cover the desk, but its appearance is clean. On the floor lies a PC tower that hums quietly on the inside of the desk opening.

Mr. frank sat corporately dressed before his desk.

“Miss Martinez, I called on you to let you know that you have been assigned to your very first job which is to protect the prime minister’s daughter, you will be doing this alongside with your colleague, Miss. Jin and I can only hope that you do your best even as a newbie.” he says and it takes a lot of effort for me not to jump up right before him due to the excitement.

I was finally getting into this, dad would be so proud of me.

I had gotten so interested in this since I was little because it was dad’s job and whenever I saw him doing his job of protecting important people of the nation, I always feel so proud, it made me feel like my dad was simply a super hero and that is why I decided to follow in his footsteps and now my dreams are simply coming through.

“Thank you so much for this opportunity sir, I promise to not disappoint you.” I say.

“Well, we shall see, the prime minister’s daughter is a very difficult young lady and we have had so many issues with her, the only reason we are bring back female bodyguards and taking the males we had assigned is because she tries to seduce them just so she can go out alone. She hates been followed so she ends up sneaking out on her guards alone so this can be tricky for you. I am telling you this so that you can know what you are dealing with here, you would hate to be caught off guard by things like this, I assure you. But do not be scared, I am sure that Miss. Jin will guide you along the way.” He explains and I nod.

“So that will be all then, Miss Martinez. You would be seeing your ward today when she comes around to the palace and you will start to guard her henceforth. However, I would like to let you also know that Miss. Karen Imani can be very rude but you have to act like non of it gets to you, is that clear?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good, you may leave now, I’ll let you know whenever it is time.”

I walk out of the office as I ponder over and over about where I have heard the name Karen Imani asides from papers and tabloids and then it hit me.

It is the same Karen from the horse riding date with kai. I would be guarding that mean spoilt brat.

But it can not be that bad, right?