Seduced By The Candidate (The Candidate, #1) (4 page)

“Jake! You fucking son of a bitch, I
nearly shit myself.”

Jake Armstrong grinned at Goulding’s
obvious displeasure and then roared with laughter.

“You’ve been out of the army too long
Bill. You’ve gotten soft and slow.”

Jake was enormous and as angry as he
was, Goulding had to admit, he was impressed that the man could still move so
silently. They had first met just before Goulding went to Afghanistan for his
first tour and he had liked him almost immediately. Jake had been a member of
the Special Forces, specializing in counter intelligence and espionage. Although
their individual responsibilities meant that they moved in very different
circles, they had remained firm friends ever since.

After the accident, contact had been
fleeting and as close as they were, circumstances had meant that they had
drifted apart and Goulding hadn’t seen Jake since an alcohol fuelled argument
nearly ten years ago. It was something that Goulding deeply regretted and he
had tried to phone Jake to apologize the next day when he had sobered up, only
to find out that he had shipped out on another tour.

In line with army protocol, it had all
been very hush-hush. No one could or would tell him anything else. As time went
by and his life moved in a very different direction, Goulding’s intention to
rectify the wrong had become less and less pressing. Eventually he had stopped
trying to track Jake down completely, but he never forgot the night in question
and the unforgivable things that he had said to him.

The passing of a decade had done little
to age the hulking giant that stood before him. He was as intimidating as ever.
He stood a shade over six foot four inches tall, with shoulders so wide that he
had to turn sideways to get through the door. His barrel like chest was
crisscrossed with muscles toned through hours of exercise and discipline. Each
of his arms was as thick as one of Goulding’s legs. His flat, narrow waist had
thickened slightly, but his tree trunk like legs and size fifteen army boots
remained unchanged leaving Goulding with little doubt that Jake still cut a
truly impressive specimen.

As awe-inspiring as his physique was,
it was Jake’s face that lived forever in the memory. A twenty inch neck
supported his square-chinned features and a rugged masculinity that belied an
intelligence that lay behind the facade. He had taken the military requirement
for a short, clean haircut to its ultimate extreme and wet-shaved his head and
chin so that they shone, smooth and un-sullied. His blue-grey eyes could be
full of mirth or cold with ruthless efficiency, but they never hid the constant
calculations of a man born into his trade.

He also sported an ugly scar that ran
from just below his left eye, across the bridge of his nose and ended at the
corner of his mouth. It had been a gift from an Iraqi soldier that had
surprised him in a knife fight and he had come perilously close to losing his
eye. Despite the horrific nature of his injury he had used it as a reminder of
what happens if you let your guard down, even for a second. His sanguine
attitude had been the inspiration for many of the men that fought at his side.

As Goulding looked him over, he noticed
that he was in civilian fatigues and not the usual army attire that he favored.

“Jake...I”.
Bill was unsure of how to start. “When you last saw me, I
wasn’t...wasn’t at my best. I wasn’t myself. I didn’t mean what I said...”he
trailed off.

“Bill, that’s all in the past, ancient
history. I know you were in a bad place and I never held it against you.”

“All the same Jake, I’m sorry.” Bill
sincerely spoke the words that he’d waited a decade to say.

Jake swallowed hard and nodded,
“Appreciate that Bill.”

Both men looked around awkwardly,
uncomfortable in the face of such unfamiliar emotion, then Goulding punched
Jake savagely on the arm.

“What the fuck are you doing man? I
could have killed you.”

“Please,” Jake grinned again. “You’d
have been dead long before I had a chance to break sweat.”

Goulding grumbled something that Jake
couldn’t hear, but eventually looked up again.

“Seriously man, why were you stalking
me?”

“I started out with the intention of
finding you, making sure you were safe and then giving you a message. Then,
I…uh”, he shrugged, “just thought I’d have a little fun!”

“Fun.
Fun!”
Bill said the word slowly and repeated
it with a hint of outrage. “And they say I’m an asshole!”

Both men laughed. It hadn’t taken long
to slip into the usual banter that they had enjoyed for so many years and they
both realized that they had missed the interactions more than they cared to
admit.

“What was the message Jake?”
Asked Goulding.
“And more importantly: why are you in
civvies?”

Jake suddenly looked sad and rubbed his
scar distractedly.

“Fucking cutbacks.
You give your life for your country, dedicate yourself to whatever it
asks of you and then some little prick in Washington who’s never got as much as
a sniff of some real action decides that the figures don’t stack up and
‘numbers need to be trimmed’.”

“Oh man, that’s shit. I’m really
sorry.”

Jake shrugged his massive shoulders and
did his best to swallow the melancholy.

“S’alright Bill.
Something will come up.”

“Nothing in the pipeline?” asked
Goulding.

“No mate, not really.
Seems that when your CV consists of one hundred and
one ways to kill an enemy soldier, they’re not exactly skills that are
transferable to an office environment!”
His smile was genuine enough, but
it was obvious that he couldn’t hide his disappointment.
                      

Another silence pierced the air and
Goulding was wondering how best to steer the conversation in a less painful
direction, when Jake suddenly started.

“Shit man, I almost forgot why I
tracked you down in the first place. You’ve got some heat and I’m not sure if
you know about it.”

“Heat?” asked Goulding, not entirely
sure how Jake could have learnt about the men from his past. “What exactly do
you know?”

“Ever since this election thing really
picked up, I’ve been keeping an eye out for you. Partly because we go way back,
but if I’m honest, since I was released I’ve not exactly had a lot to do.” Jake
smiled, cleared his throat and continued. “About a week ago I started seeing
this fella sniffing around you. He was asking questions, trying to dig up some
dirt and generally acting pretty suspicious. I’m surprised your security detail
didn’t pick him up
themselves
.”

“Ah yes...security.”

“You do have a security detail don’t
you Bill? For fucks sake man, you’re about to be elected the God-damn
President, you’ve gotta have security. I thought tonight was a one-off, but if
I had been a real crazy you’d be splashed all over this alley by now.”

As graphic as they were, the sense in
Jake’s words and his ‘demonstration’ had worried Goulding and he couldn’t help
but nod in agreement with the big man.

“I’ll sort it Jake,” he said.

“Make sure you do...I mean it.”

Jake’s eyes blazed with intense concern
and Bill could no longer look at him.

“I will, I promise.”

No one said anything for a second and
then Jake continued.

“Anyway, I trailed this fella for a few
days and then we had a quiet...er...’discussion’.”

“Discussion?”
Goulding smiled wryly.

“Er...yeah.
I talked, he listened. I threatened, he answered.
That
kind of discussion.”

“I see...,” Bill rubbed his neck
tiredly. “Should I be expecting a letter from his solicitor?”

“Shit no, we were cool when we parted.”
Jake waved away his friends concern. “Anyway do you wanna hear this or not?”

“Sorry.”

“He was a journo looking for dirt on
you so that he could make a bit of cash selling a story that I’m sure wouldn’t
have cast you in the best of lights.”

“A journalist?
What could he write about that they haven’t already written?”

“Not sure mate, but it wasn’t the usual
shit they’ve been peddling. No matter how heated our ‘discussion’ got, he
wouldn’t be warned off and kept insisting that he knew something about you that
was worth some real money to the right buyer. Mentioned something about a
company called Quest Realtors. Not sure if that means anything to you?”

As Jake mentioned the name, all of the
blood drained from Goulding’s face and he felt a chill run down his spine that
had absolutely nothing to do with the elements. Seeing Jake’s concern he
managed to reconstruct the mask that served him so well when he did his meet
and greet shit with the general public.

“Just some people I knew a long time
ago Jake.
Nothing to worry about.”

“Okay Bill, but you don’t look so hot,
you sure you’re okay?”

Goulding wasn’t okay, he was far from
being okay, but this was neither the time, nor the place to go into this.
Deciding that he would need to think about this carefully when he was on his
own, he decided to change the subject.

“Really Jake, it’s nothing. Anyway, I’m
more concerned that a buddy of mine is struggling to find a life outside of the
army.”

“It’s not too bad Bill,”
lied
Jake unconvincingly. “Something’s bound to come up.
Hopefully sooner rather than later.
I don’t need to burden
you with my shit.”

“Jake, you’re my oldest friend and
you’ve just done me a huge favor. You’ve also highlighted a glaring deficiency
in my current security arrangements and I want to rectify that right now. How
would you feel about coming and working for me?”

“I’m not looking for charity Bill,”
said Jake, suddenly defensive.

“It isn’t charity Jake. You were an
excellent soldier, maybe the best I ever saw and you’ve already proven how
vulnerable I am. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have at my side, watching
my back and managing all of my security arrangements. I want you to be my head
of security. What do you say?”

Jake still looked unsure.

“I don’t know Bill...” he said and
stared at his feet.

“Look Jake, this is a real job, with
real prospects and a real salary. You can handpick the rest of your team and
have complete freedom. I’ll start you off on a salary of $100K. If all goes
well, I’ll even bring you to the White House with me. Sound good?”

For a moment, Goulding thought that
Jake was going to refuse his offer, but when he finally looked up the dazzling
grin had returned.

“You had better have some decent coffee
Bill. I get the feeling that this gig is going to have me working fucking hard
for every dollar of that hundred grand!”

The two men shook hands and parted on
the understanding that Jake would be at the office at eight the following
morning. Goulding knew that he would never be able to sleep until he had run
through the situation with Quest Realtors in his head and doubted that he would
be able to do that in the sumptuous opulence of his hotel suite. It was a place
he went to sleep and watch a bit of television—it wasn’t a place he went to
think. For that, he needed to be in the place that he felt most at ease, he
needed his office.

* * *

John Lyndsey had been genuinely upset
at his boss’s comments. Although he knew that he could be easily placated by
Goulding’s charm and sincere apologies. He wanted to take a little time so that
they could both get some perspective on the situation. It was preposterous
arguing about such a ridiculous point. Everyone knew that Elvis couldn’t hold a
candle to Lennon. He hadn’t even written his own songs for fucks sake!

He had sulkily fallen back on familiar
comforts and spent a couple of hours in a local bar, drowning his bitterness in
the anonymity of the afternoon drinker. As he set his empty glass on the bar
for the fifth time, he realized that the alcohol had settled his mood, but that
it had also fuelled a much more primal urge. He wasn’t exactly the kind of man
that attracted a great deal of female company, but he was a man nonetheless and
he still had the same urges and desires as anyone else. His strict Christian
upbringing hadn’t helped, nor did the fact that he still lived at home with his
parents and it had been nearly nine months since he had last been with a woman.

John looked around the bar and even
though he was empowered by the alcohol, he still knew his limitations. The bar
maid was young and pretty, not exactly factors that worked in his favor and he
quickly dismissed her as a realistic option.
Strike one
. That left just two women in the bar and both were as
untenable as the barmaid. The first was draped over the arm of a large man that
sported a jacket in the colors of the local college football team. Young,
pretty and attached—even worse than the barmaid!
Strike two.
The second was sat alone at the bar and at first he
thought she might be perfect, but on closer inspection he saw that she was
somewhere between fifty and sixty years old, or that years of alcohol abuse had
made her appear so. She was also drunk. No drunk didn’t quite sum it
up,
she was completely shit-faced and seemed to be summoning
up supreme levels of resolve to merely prevent herself from toppling sideways
off the stool. S
trike three and you’re
out
!
.
0-3,
not exactly a great showing, but then again it was pretty much par for the
course.