Who guards the guardians Part 1
Sharon's viewpoint
It was a strange way to conduct an interview. Six women in evening gowns investigating a possible terrorist attack, could this night get any stranger?
I sighed; certainly this hadn't been how I'd envisioned spending my evening when I'd left home tonight. I mean here I was, spending the evening with Brenda, but sure as hell not as I'd hoped an hour ago when we'd been dancing together impossibly close on the terrace.
I'd imagined taking her home, losing ourselves in each other, discovering that tempting body so beautifully packaged inside her lovely dress and exploring the sounds of pleasure I could coax from her all night long.
Instead I'd been standing in the command trailer with Brenda when Jane had asked her to come inside as they had a lead on the driver of the wreck now decorating the driveway of the hotel. In turn she'd looked at me and raised an eyebrow, before summoning me with a nod of her head and a smile.
Following her inside the foyer we had been introduced to a man who claimed to know the identity of the driver and the possible motivation for the attack.
We were now sitting in a small room in the back of the hotel, Brenda and I, Maura and Jane, Natalie and Anastasia, all sitting around in a semi-circle as William Harakaia took a seat.
Brenda led off, as my iPhone lay recording on the table in front of our witness.
"Could you please state your name and occupation please?"
"William Harakaia, personal protection specialist"
"Mr Harakaia, could you please repeat what you told Agent Romanov a few minutes ago"
"Sure, the vehicle that blew up outside the hotel was the one that the group I was providing protection to arrived here in this evening. It was being driven by one of my team mates, Tony Jefferson" Brenda nodded.
"You mentioned a group that you were providing protection to; could you give us some details about them please?"
"Talisman Personal Services provide protection services to VIPs who feel their personal safety's at risk. The company was contacted to provide protection to a rap artist known as D-Crypt; threats had been made against his life so his record company wanted him protected"
"What was the nature of the threat?"
"D-Crypt apparently slept with the girlfriend of a rapper from New York, that was bad enough, but then he'd pushed out a song boasting about it, which pissed off the boyfriend. Threats were made and his record company decided D-Crypt needed some protection, at least until this blew over" Brenda frowned, possibly at his choice of words.
"If there was a threat against this rappers life, why wasn't the police notified?" Harakaia laughed; a genuine belly laugh. Eventually he subsided enough to talk.
"With these guys, it's not good for the street cred to call in the co…police. I swear these punks and their precious reputations… Complete tools, y'know" Several of us nodded as he continued.
"This sort of thing happens a lot, it's practically an institution in the rap game, they have these stupid feuds running all the time" He shrugged. "Idiotic I know, but it means there's usually work for people like me" Brenda, nodded, taking it in.
"Do you know the name of the person who D-Crypt had the feud with?"
"Oh yeah, a guy going by the name of G.B.H…" He shrugged. "Obviously not his real name but they love their aliases, makes them sound tough"
"Had there been any explicit threats made by G.B.H. that you're aware of Mr Harakaia?"
"Look, can you call me Bill, I'm not really a mister, just a guy doing his job" Brenda smiled that lovely, charming smile, setting him at ease.
"Why of course Bill, call me Brenda, and these are Sharon, Maura and Jane. I understand that you've already met Natalie and Anastasia" He nodded.
"Well, not formally, but they kinda stayed in my memory when they poured cold water on Paul's proposition earlier, so I asked to see them" He nodded at Ana and Nat. "They're kinda hard to forget" He looked around at us and smiled. "Hell you all are"
Brenda nodded and ducked her head before looking back up at him and smiling softly, using that Southern charm of hers, I swear that woman was born to this.
"Why thank you Bill, that's very kind. Now about those threats…"
"Oh yeah, no, nothing explicit like a note, instead they were taking the piss out of each other with their songs. They're releasing songs out to their fans via the net, trash talking each other, basically giving each other shit. Apparently that's how these things are carried out. It's an East coast West coast thing"
"In what way?" It was Natalie, asking quietly.
"Oh, the main recording studios are in New York or LA, they have a different sound and image and don't get on. These sorts of feuds happen regularly apparently, it's like product differentiation, these different sounds I mean. Could have fooled me, to be honest it all sounds like shit to me" Brenda smiled as I saw Bill warming up to us. I'd watched her do so many interviews, she could be the good cop or the bad cop as the situation called for. Tonight was good cop.
"So D-Crypt was affiliated with a local studio, which one?"
"Oh yeah, he was signed to Street Cred Studios. I know, I sure as hell hadn't heard of them either before this job, but they were paying the bills. Apparently D-Crypt's a rising star of theirs" He rolled his eyes at us. "I have my own opinion of him but that's not really important is it?" Brenda smiled winningly.
"Sure it is Bill; you're the man on the spot. Tell us about him" A look of distaste crossed Bill's face as he spoke.
"He's a street gang punk, plays all suave and flashes the gold and shit around, but it's all flash. Underneath that he's a street punk, not even a good one. He's got a silver tongue, quick with the words y'know, but it's all a kinda veneer, underneath it he's a low grade piece of shit" Brenda nodded slowly.
"Why"
"I've watched him, he sends his mate Paul out, trolling for women, especially the really pretty ones like these two" He indicated Natalie and Anastasia. "Once they come and party he turns on the charm, gets them drunk and high then he fucks them over. He likes it rough, very physical. Once he's finished, he hands them over to his gang of mates to use. It's pretty ugly" Jane leaned forward.
"You think that's what happened to that other rapper's girlfriend?" Bill nodded at her.
"Sure, they told me they'd showed her a good time 'West coast style' apparently" His disgust was obvious. "She was apparently out here visiting friends and shopping, she and a girlfriend went out to a club, D-Crypt got them drunk and did them both, then handed them over to his mates like usual" Ana frowned.
"And you were ok with that?" Bill looked up at her.
"It happened before we were brought on board, but to answer your question, no. I get paid to keep people safe, not be their conscience. I see a lot of things, some of them nasty, a lot borderline illegal, but I protect celebrities. Not exactly a great collection of human beings to start with hey" Brenda looked up at him.
"So he and his friends used these girls and sent them home, then boasted about it in his music? Charming" Bill nodded.
"Brenda, welcome to my world. Many of the celebrities I deal with, I personally wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire, but I get paid to protect them, not like them. I protect them from crazed fans, psycho stalkers, obsessed exes, rivals and god knows what else. I mean I don't blame G.B.H. for what he wants to do. If he'd done that to my wife or girlfriend, I wouldn't rap about it, D-Crypt and his mates; they'd already be dead, you don't fuck with family y'know?"
Looking at him I didn't doubt he'd do it, he looked like someone you didn't wish to mess with. Brenda continued the questioning.
"What can you tell me about your partner, Tony Jefferson?" Bill shook his head.
"Tony was a good guy. I'd worked with him on a few jobs before. Good at his job, he was a pro right. Careful, thorough, I was happy to have him on the team. He has a girlfriend, someone's gonna have to tell her" He sighed. "That's Carl's job I suppose"
"Who's Carl?" It was Anastasia.
"Huh, oh, Carl Walters, he's the boss of Talisman Personal Services. He's the guy who started the company and he recruited me, recruited all of us actually. Good guy. He'll probably be down here soon, Freddie's already phoned him in to bring him up to speed" Brenda nodded.
"Freddie?"
"Oh, sorry, he's the third member of the team doing protection tonight. We do a 12 hour shift, then another team takes over, then a third team takes over. We share the work, so we work 12 in 36, means we stay sharp. He's babysitting D-Crypt until we can get a new car and a new team here to take over the watch" I leaned forward.
"So you actually have nine people assigned to watch D-Crypt? That's a lot of manpower for one person. How much does it cost for your services?"
"It's not cheap, about 15 thousand a day for a full team, depends on the job really, often it's just one or two of us, it depends on the threat level. We were told there was a credible threat and that Street Cred Studios were willing to pay the money until they could get things calmed down with G.B.H. and his studio" He shook his head sadly. "Looks like they were right" His head came up and he looked around at us all and sighed.
"First time we've lost a detail member, as far as I'm aware. I mean we've had people injured, but killed? First time, to a car bomb for fuck's sake. I'd thought I'd seen the last of those in the sandpit" Ana leaned forward.
"Iraq or Afghanistan?" He looked over at her.
"The 'stan. Did three tours there, that's where I met some of the other guys in the company"
"I've been trying to place your accent Bill, its familiar. What's your background?" He nodded at Anastasia.
"Kiwi; LA's a long way from Auckland for a bastard Maori pakeha eh?" Brenda looked confused.
"Pakeha?" Maura answered.
"New Zealand born of European ancestry, Bill's ancestry is part European, part Maori" He nodded at her, respect in his eyes.
"You're good, real good. I doubt one in a million people outside New Zealand knows what a Pakeha is" Maura blushed slightly and smiled. Ana nodded and drew the conversation back to the original thread.
"What unit, the Regiment?" He looked at her for a moment, appraising her, before nodding.
"Yeah, what about you, you were there weren't you" Ana nodded.
"One tour there, another in Iraq. You mentioned that you met other people working for Talisman there?"
"Oh yeah, Carl was a Navy SEAL, he worked closely with other special forces guys, we all did. Anyway, we kept in contact. When he got back and got out, he started doing close personal protection for celebrities. Lots of people need some kinda protection and a SEAL; that's quality, people recognised that. Business took off and he started recruiting people from similar backgrounds. I was thinking of getting out, seen too much y'know" Ana nodded quietly as they shared a look.
"Anyway, I got an email from Carl, outlining what he was doing and offering me a job. It sounded like interesting, kinda safe work, so I said yes. All the protection people are ex-Special Forces guys from a bunch of different countries, so we can offer the right skills to match the threat" He shook his head. "Sorry, I sound like a sales brochure" Brenda nodded.
"So you were part of a three person team looking after D-Crypt. Did you see any other threats before tonight?"
"Nothing concrete, I mean the studio was taking it seriously; they were the ones picking up the tab. We'd been babysitting D-Crypt for almost a fortnight, so it was costing serious money, but nothing to indicate a threat until tonight" Brenda looked up from the iPhone lying on the table recording everything.
"Was Tony in the car the whole time?" Bill nodded.
"Yep, standard operating procedure, don't leave the vehicle unattended for exactly this reason. That's why we do three people, two stay with the principal while one covers the transport" Jane looked up, curiosity visible in her eyes.
"We initially thought it was a terrorist attack, you're suggesting it wasn't and they were after D-Crypt. Could they have been after your partner" Bill sat there for a moment, thinking it over.
"I suppose it's possible, I mean he was a Green Beret, tours in half the hell holes of the world in the last decade plus, he could have had enemies. Mind you, you could say the same about any of us y'know. All ex-Special Forces, none of us on Al Qaida's Christmas card list" Brenda frowned.
"But you don't think it's their work?" He shook his head.
"Nah, not big enough, not enough collateral damage, too many survivors, it ain't them"
I thought about the work they did, thoughts rolling around in my head. I spoke up, catching his attention.
"You mentioned that you provided protection services to celebrities. Could this have been something to do with a previous job Tony, you or some of the others might have done for a celebrity, something coming back to bite you"
Bill sat there for a moment, his mind spinning. I had to remind myself this man was no mall guard. All the US Special Forces community people I'd ever met had impressed me with their intelligence, over and above their other skills they were smart. Most of them were at least bilingual, usually had a degree or two in various useful subjects and extremely capable at what they were trained at.
I doubt that other countries Special Forces people were any different, if they were it was unlikely that a US Navy SEAL would have hired them. Bill slowly nodded his head.
"I suppose it's possible, we protect some weird people, not all of them all that stable. The worst are the rap stars" Brenda nodded.
"Go on, why are they the worst?" Bill smiled at her.
"Most of them think they're tough, some of them came up from the street and may be, but they also think ownership of an Uzi proves they're tough" Bill snorted a bit, a professional commenting on amateurs.
"Then there's the people they hang around with, their posse. Most of them carry guns as well, no training, but they carry guns. First rapper I did protection for, a car backfired one night while we were out, me and the other protection specialist jumped on the principal and pushed him to the ground, his posse stood around like dick heads, pulling guns out and waving them round" He shook his head at the memory.
"Most of them carried automatic weapons with the safety off; bloody amateurs. One even had a gold-plated Uzi for god's sake" Bill just looked at us, then shook his head slowly. "I thought shit like that was an urban legend, turns out I was wrong. The way they were waving guns around, if one of them had sneezed they would have killed each other" He shrugged. "No great loss, but we rapidly came to the conclusion that the biggest threat we faced was the posse" Brenda leaned forward.
"Do you think it's likely it was someone like that?"
"People with a mentality like that; they fix problems with a gun or a knife. I suppose it could be someone like them, but car bombs aren't really their style" Maura spoke up, a look of concentration on her face.
"Who knew that Tony would be driving the car?" Bill looked at her and nodded.
"Good question. It could have been any of us; I drove last time. Tony was tired of dealing with the crap we were getting from D-Crypt's mates, so he chose to drive, it meant he got to spend the night away from them in the car" I saw Brenda's eyes narrow, probably at the same thing I was. Catching her eye I nodded and she tipped her head slightly to me to go ahead.
"When was the decision made as to who would be driving?"
About an hour before we left, we told Paul, D-Crypts manager, who would be doing which job tonight" Brenda nodded.
"Bill, you mentioned you were getting crap from your principal, what kind of crap?" Bill looked across at Brenda.
"Not from D-Crypt, he was cool that way; he'd happily sit with us and listen to some of the things we'd done, he was interested y'know? I don't like the man but he was willing to listen, to learn. It was his posse, some of them didn't like the fact that D-Crypt had some new people around"
"Why not" It was Jane asking the question. Bill turned to look at her.
"Most of them were hangers on, D-Crypt pays for their lifestyle as part of his entourage, so they don't appreciate new people in their patch, even if we are only there for a short while" Ana nodded slowly.
"Anyone in particular not happy?"
"A couple; I didn't have an issue, but Tony may have been seen as more of a threat, all things considered" Natalie tilted her head as she considered Bill
"But why him in particular Bill, why Tony rather than you or the other member of your team, Freddie?" Bill looked up, surprise on his face.
"Oh, Freddie and I were the wrong colour to fit into their world, Tony was black"