Bars had always been a fun place for me. Little did I know that someone in the bar that night was not my friend. Just watching me from the other side of the room as closely as they could. Of course, I was oblivious.
"Michael!" My best friend in the world, Matt Hickson, was throwing me a birthday celebration at one of my favorite sports bars, Riled. "Get over here and take a shot, mate!" He yelled when he drank too much. The entire bar was aware of him that night.
Matt worked for me. How could I not hire my best friend? He was the only one that actually tried to be my friend in college. I was the genius prodigy and he was the imported British guy. It worked for us. We were inseparable from the first pint together and the first shot of Tequila just sealed the deal.
Jimmy, the owner of Riled, didn't care that I was under 21. No one thought of me as a kid. They all saw me as the guy that owned a few successful companies and had more money than knew what to do with. As far as anyone was concerned, I was the buddy that was always around to have a little fun and let off steam.
Standing at the bar between two college-aged hot blondes, I looked up at Matt who decided it was shot time.
"Why don't you let me give you a shot?" The blonde to my right was very attractive in her naughtily short black skirt, knee high black heeled boots and soft pink baby doll t-shirt that said 'College Barbie' on it. Yes, she was.
"No, let me do it," the other said with a lot of jealousy in her voice.
"How about you both give me a shot?" They agreed as we left the bar, for more room to breathe, to a table across the room.
Matt had about twenty over flowing shot glasses on the table. He knew what it was to have fun and often got me caught up in the middle of it. Or maybe it was the other way around.
Both girls grabbed a shot and poured it into their mouths. Knowing what they were going to do, I kissed one and then the other. Both gave me the shot with their tongues. It made me feel like a bit of a whore, but that was Matt's idea of fun.
Carrying each shot glass, I went to put them down they both appeared on the table four feet from my hand. That was the first time it had happened. I was too drunk to notice it, but someone noticed and took notes of every move made that entire night.
Over Matt's head a distractingly beautiful young woman watched me and our group celebrate. She smiled when she noticed me watching her. Something about her was so familiar and there was an overpowering draw to her. Winking at her, she shyly looked down and toward her friend sitting across from her. She had gorgeous translucent crystal blue eyes that made me feel a burning desire to get to know her.
As I thought about it, a man walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek, not the 'I'm just friends' type of peck on the cheek either.
"Michael, we staying or going? What do you want to do?" Matt had the table staring at me waiting for an answer. There was an overwhelming urge to stay and find the right moment to sneak in and meet the girl with those electric blue eyes, but Matt loved to bar hop.
"Let's go! Tallyho!" It wasn't worth it. I'd be back and something inside of me bet she would be too. Her look had said as much to me as mine did to her.
Throwing my jacket on, I did notice someone in the room watching me or the group. They weren't dressed in suits or anything like that, but they were a bit off in the bar, though. It was kind of a posh sports bar. You got everything from shorts and sandals to suits, so even suits didn't look out of place. It was the pressed jeans with creases, ironed and tucked in polo shirts with black tactical boots. I knew about the boots. I owned a pair. These weren't the knock off mall shoe store type of boots. You had to know what you were looking for and where to get them. They all looked like the style made with Kevlar that you would typically see cops wearing.
Walking out the door, heading for my limo out front, there were two clones of the guys flanking the doors. The only difference was the color of polo shirts they were wearing. I turned my head as if not to notice, but they were not hiding from anyone.
Following Matt and the girls, I was last into the car. With the door shut and looking out the tinted windows, the two men from inside joined the two outside. They sprinted to a navy blue sedan across from the entrance of the bar.
"Bob," my driver was a 45 year old ex-cop. "Navy blue sedan," yelling up to him.
Bob was never much for words but always needed more detail than anyone else. "The Ford with the four guys in polo shirts?" He didn't miss a thing. Actually, he never missed a thing.
"That's the one," yelling across the interior of the limo. "Bait and switch?"
"I'll make the call," Bob said as he pulled out his cell phone. Watching him talk to our friend Hans, who owned a Limo rental service, I couldn't help but think of my first time meeting Bob.
Los Angeles can be a strange place for an outsider to be when you aren't use to a lot of celebrities around and even more strange when you are use to it. I had just come out of a meeting in Hollywood about designing a new technology for many different company's both public and private. Walking past the doorman onto the sidewalk, I heard a gunshot echo out into the air and instinctively spun out of the way as the bullet whizzed past my ear and through the front double paned window of the building. The second shot came right behind it. Thinking I was about to die, a 6' 5" 230 pound mass tackled me out of the way all in slow motion.
Lying face down on the sidewalk I peered through the glass to see a man on the ground in the lobby. A pool of blood, pouring from his neck, was growing all around his head as he stared out the window right into my eyes. Anger swelled up in my mind and my eyes twitched as I closed them and could feel my body shake violently. It felt like my body was shaking forever with my eyes shut in the darkness.
Gripping my ribs tightly, Bob threw me over face up. I could hear a voice deep in the background. It sounded so far away. The closer it got the less the less my body shook and I could feel my hands releasing the tension they were holding onto.
"Dude! You alright?! Are you hit?!" Bob was holding me in his arms. The odd thing was I knew his name, as if he had told it to me already. It was an image of a thought that passed through my mind.
"Bob," his jaw fell open and a puzzled look crossed his face, "I'm fine. He missed me."
His deep raspy voice was a little squeaky with surprise, "How did you know my name?" It was the right question to ask, but I didn't have the answer to that.
"Hmm. Good question." He helped me off the ground. Remembering the guy in the lobby, I turned to look. My face felt flushed as my eyes widened fixated on him.
The man, Fred Willis, was being helped up off the floor by a group of people. The blood on the floor had disappeared leaving just a ring of residue showing where the puddle was and the hole in his neck was gone. Fred Willis. How did I know that name?
Right then a flash of thought shot through my head. My eyes were twitching so fast shutting them was my only option. My right hand was shaking as I could see Bob and a woman about 5' 5" playing with a small boy and an older girl in some sand on a sunny beach. Remy, the woman's name was Remy. She was calling out to Austin and Lexie as they ran down the beach. Then an image of a gun in a holster on the side of Bob's hip as he flung Lexie up into the air. There was a sign that said 'Del Rey' on it in white and green. Shaking my head violently, I hunched over with my hands on my knees.
Bob still had his hands on me and steadied me as I swayed. "Are you sure you didn't get hit with one of those?" His concern was more than genuine and unexpected for a complete stranger.
"I'm fine, Bob. Just fine." Swaying a bit more, I started to go down when Bob grabbed me before I could hit the pavement.
"Yeah, right," he picked me up and put my hand around his hips. We walked into the lobby and he sat me down on a bench.
Outside on the curb eight police cars showed up with uniformed cops jumping from them with guns in hand. It was easy for me to tell what Bob was just as if I had known him from before that day.
"You better go talk to your peers, Bob," staring down at the ground trying to piece together the puzzle. "Remy's going to have a heyday with this one, I should think."
Bob let go of my arms and stood at defensive attention with an inquisitive look on his face. "Do you know me from somewhere? Have we met?" He was a cop. A detective in fact. He, as all detectives must, needed to know. There is nothing in the world that drives a detective more insane than not knowing.
"No, Bob," honesty was best. He seemed genuine so it was only right to do the same. "I have never met you or your family and didn't know who you were before the 4 minutes and 30 seconds ago when you tackled me," looking up at his puzzled stare. "Bob, I'm not going anywhere. I promise. I will try to explain it all to you later. For now, those cops need your help," pointing to the newly arrived officers.
As if he understood in some strangely cosmic way, he nodded and ran off to the officers headed into the lobby. He was barking orders as he whipped out his badge and flashed it all around the room to every officer and security guard. That was Bob, never missed a thing as he pointed up to the rooftop across the street.
"Done," Bob echoed back through the passengers in the limo. "Everyone, please hold on for just a moment," he said in a nice soft yet 'in control' tone.
Everyone but Matt and Michael was showing fierce expression of terror as it took only a second for this to unfold. Roaring to life the engine tore the tires on the road as Bob took the next right at a very high speed. The rear-end of the limo got loose and slid around the corner. The black car barreled to the next street where Bob yanked the car to the left making the car slide in the opposite direction.
"Dude," Matt shouted over to me. "What the Fuck?!"
"No worries! Just a little bit of trouble which should be a lot of fun for everyone," the women looked a little bit freaked out. "You've seen car chases in the movies and always wondered what it would be like in real life, right? Well, here you go!" It was a bold move, trying to get them excited so they wouldn't panic.
"Hell yeah!!!" Matt was following my lead. Thank god for that.
Another right, two lefts, and two more rights and we were on the freeway. I looked behind the limo to see the navy Ford sedan and now there were two black Chevy's following it at the same speed. Now, being paranoid is one thing, but when you see three cars weaving in and out of traffic trying to keep up with a limo driving at ridiculous speeds you don't have to be a detective to tell you someone is chasing and someone is being chased.
The girls were smiling by that point; we'd made it fun for them. I wasn't feeling so delighted by the whole thing. What the hell were these people chasing after us for? I was just hoping it wasn't another person trying to kidnap me. I'd had enough of that.
"Here they come," Bob yelled back pointing to his right. Out the right side of the window everyone looked as three more limos, identical in make, model, year and color, were pulling up the on-ramp. The girls started to point and giggle.
As the cars pulled up around us, two in front and one to the right, Bob reached down and hit a button on the dash.
Pointing out the front of the limo, I looked at Matt. "Watch the license plate." Everyone spun and looked. The license plate of the car in front of us rolled as did the one on the car to the right. It would hold the plate for about 5 seconds and then spin again to show another plate. Each plate was a different state as well.
"That is fucking cool shit," Matt burst out to the enjoyment of the ladies. "I feel like I'm in the middle of a Bond film!" No one seemed freaked out anymore. Instead they all seemed to be having a good time.
Bob and the other limos started to play '4 Car Monty' on the freeway around and in the traffic. I'm sure it was quite the spectacle from the outside and even better if you could see it from above. Looking back, I watched as the three cars were doing a decent job keeping track of the limo changes. They might be able to make money off the streets of New York. But, I would never make it that easy.
"Here comes the rest!" Bob pointed to the right for the next on-ramp. A gasp and some chuckles rang out as six more of the same black limos were pulling up onto the freeway. License plates on them all were already moving.
"Hmmmm. Wonder if they will be able to keep up with this set?" Laughing as I scanned my guest's faces.
"Fucking rich people!" Matt was almost in tears he was laughing so hard.
As the ten cars started to move around the freeway I couldn't help but wonder who it was that was after us. It might have been 'us' and not 'me' they were following. It seemed odd that they were at my bar and waited for me to leave to exit the building. Of course, I did leave last though.
"Bob, get pics of the plates. I want to know who they are." It was an order, but in an assuring tone.
"Already did, Boss," he was quick to respond like he knew the request was coming.
The car swerved and weaved as we exited the freeway with some of the other limos. There was more splitting up happening every few blocks. The splitting up kept happening until there were no other cars following us.
"I knew I hired you for a reason," which grabbed a chuckle from the audience.
Bob looked into the rearview mirror, "Boss, where do you want to go?" Interesting thought really. Going out would be a bad idea. This would just happen again and it was too early for Matt to call it quits for the night, especially with all the women in the car. He'd be complaining for weeks.
"The Playhouse!"
"Got it!" Bob immediately put up the dividing window of the cabin and the front seat. Then the glass frosted over and became opaque. It was impossible to see out. That was the reason it was installed. I had about three places in the city no one but Bob and Matt knew about, but only one was completely hidden.
"Great! Did you restock from the other night?" He had a Cheshire grin across his face. He was right; we almost destroyed the place three nights before in the middle of what Matt declared my 'Birthday Week'.
"Ladies, if you don't mind, I'll need you to stay the night. You'll each have your own room for the night. Someone will take you home in the morning or afternoon when you want to leave." A kind of stunned silence fell over the crowd. All the girls turned to each other and looked from one to the next.
The only red head of the group spoke up first, "Sounds good to me, but what if I don't want my own room." The wink she gave me was enough for a cat fight type of tension to cover the cab. All the girls were talking at once trying to get a word in to me or Matt.
"Ladies. Ladies!" I had to yell before they would stop clamoring on. "Why don't we just have a good time and let the chips fall where they may…..or in this case the heads fall where they may." Nods all around signaled I had used the right tone. And although it had never come out of my mouth before, it temporarily soothed them.
With the girls talking amongst themselves, Matt leaned over and whispered, "Dude, what the hell was that all about?" hearing the concern in his voice. It was natural; Matt and I were like brothers in every sense of the word except the technical part.
"I really have no idea," turning and looking at him. "I'm guessing another Industrial Espionage kidnapping, but something feels off this time, Matt. I mean Really off!" His eyes reflected the concern and I'm sure my expression wasn't helping him. "I can't believe I'm going to ask this, but can you take care of them," pointing to the girls, "while I look into it? This one has my nerves spinning." I didn't lie to him. It really did feel off and my nerves were a little shaky, but not because of the men following us. It was something else that crossed my mind about the bar. It was the only other detail that was passing through my mind, the girl with the hypnotic crystal blue eyes.