“Adding you as a client has allowed us to expand. You know Jane and Flo; they’ll work as primaries for Rita and Halle. We’ve added some other people I’ll introduce you to next time we’re in LA. I’ve brought in a longtime friend, Andy Lewis, to manage the LA group.
“For the Cuba trip, I’ll bring Paul and Cassidy,” Fritz shared.
I’d wondered if Rita had been shortchanged in this deal. It sounded like Fritz had everything covered.
“What are your plans for the rest of the day?” Fritz asked.
“Let’s see. No school or athletics … teenager … hmm,” I contemplated.
“Brook has paintball guns. Let’s go there,” Cassidy suggested.
“We could practice protection drills,” Fritz added.
“Paintball guns sound like fun, but I’m not sure I want to do protection drills,” I said.
“Cassidy needs the work for Cuba,” Fritz said to convince me.
She eagerly nodded her head. It seemed I was outnumbered.
“As long as we get to do some other stuff,” I complained.
◊◊◊
It was interesting to see Fritz work with Cassidy. He showed her how he handled me getting in and out of cars, walking through crowds, and various other scenarios. Brook disappeared after about half an hour. I guess she was as bored as I was.
Fritz invited Paul to act as the bad guy. Cassidy shot Paul in the nuts three times in a row.
“Why did you shoot him there?” Fritz asked.
“If he’s wearing a vest, it won’t do him any good,” Cassidy reasoned.
Everyone knew that Cassidy wouldn’t be carrying a gun, but we were just having some fun. I’d been trained to shoot center mass. If you ever pulled the trigger, it wasn’t a game. I think Fritz realized that his young charge had done enough serious stuff for one day.
That was when the ambush happened. Paintballs were whizzing all around us. Fritz pushed me into the SUV while Paul ran for the driver’s door. I watched him get hit several times. Cassidy’s eyes got big as Paul went down. She came up firing, and Brook and Jim both took paintballs in the chest. That attracted the fire of everyone else, and Cassidy was mowed down.
Fritz was next. He peeked around the car, but Tim had snuck up behind him. Fritz must have sensed something because he twirled around and they shot each other at the same time. Then everything got quiet. Wolf came to my door and used his paintball gun to tap on the glass.
“It’s over. You can come out now,” Wolf said.
I just shook my head ‘no.’ Fritz stood up and smiled.
“Good job, everyone. David, you did the right thing by not opening the door,” Fritz said.
I figured out where Brook had gone: she’d gathered my friends for the ambush. I spotted Jane and Flo, Fritz’s other security people. They were in town to do some training before Fritz left for our trip. Fritz admitted he’d set it all up to see what I would do. He’d lost a bet with Cassidy. Fritz wagered I would try to help and get myself shot.
Even if it had been real, I would have gone into the car. In the center console, there was an extra handgun. I couldn’t do much other than get in the way if I were unarmed in a gunfight.
Once the object lesson was over, it was time for fun. Fritz had a paintball game we could play as teams.
“It’s a variation of
Paul and Fritz got to pick teams. They were both jerks: I was picked last. Fritz selected Flo, Jane, Brook, and Cassidy. Paul chose Wolf, Jim, Tim, and me.
Paul pulled us together.
“Fritz is a sneaky bastard who can appear out of nowhere,” Paul warned. “He used to be an expert at infiltration, back in the day.”
“I agree. I’ve always wanted to learn how Fritz moves so quietly. More than once, he’s scared the shit out of me,” I added.
“Flo and Jane are good shots. I’d bet he puts them as guards on their flags. How good are Cassidy and Brook?” Paul asked.
“They’re both good shots. Cassidy is much better, but Brook can hit what she points at,” I offered.
“What about you guys?” Paul asked.
Wolf likened his skills to the Rock, Jim thought he was Vin Diesel, and Tim chose to go with Wolverine. I, of course, was—cue the music—Bond, Ian Bond, the character I would play in the James Bond movie. Paul explained how dead we all were.
It was decided that we would play defense because Paul predicted that Fritz would try to win quickly. Our flag was placed in a small meadow where they would have to cover twenty yards of open ground to capture our flag. Paul was a crafty one. He helped us find hiding places where we could support each other. Paul had Jim, Tim, and Wolf fan out close to the meadow. He climbed a big oak tree so he could get up high. He wanted me to roam through the woods to see if I could spot them as they approached.
