03: He Knows What's He's Doing

Ashton Ryan Coopers, a 24 years old man has his priority set. Work comes first, work comes second and It's also work which comes at last. In a nutshell, he is a pure workaholic as he has nothing else to occupy his time. His dedication, seriousness and honesty have earned him a prestigious name in his work field. He had joined PSF (Phoenix Security Firm) when he freshly graduated from school. He couldn't continue his study furthermore as he had to be the only bread earner for his family of 2 members.His mom and him. Now that he has lost his mother due to cancer, he finds himself confined with work most of the time. 

He is a skilled man in several fields but he expertises in hand to hand combat and shooting. Now that he has 7 years of experience in the security firm, he has become one of the most trusted and skilled employees. That's the reason why when the company had to send one of their employees to become the bodyguard of  Enrique Davis, a vicious criminal wearing the mask of an elite businessman, Ashton got chosen as the spy. 

It was his first time working as a spy but he did a pretty good job. Not gonna lie, he almost got caught a few times but his expressionless face always saved him from that mishap. If the FBI officer in charge of the case of Davis wasn't the husband of the owner of the MSF then he wouldn't have to be there in the first place. 

Though, the FBI officer  whose name is Jonathan Moore, didn't want Ashton to be assigned to the job. Instead he wanted one of his junior officers to play the role but due to the chances of the identity exposure, he didn't have any other choice but to choose one of those who originally has the actual record of being a responsible bodyguard. Undoubtedly, Ashton is one of the best. But Jonathan has other things to say right now. 

"Didn't expect such recklessness from you. You could have had her killed." Jonathan sighs, maybe it was a bad idea to involve people other than FBI officers in this case. 

"He had only two bullets left. He shot one at you, I just needed him to shoot the last one." Ashton answers to a very disappointed Jonathan. 

Ashton had seen Davis loading 6 bullets into his revolver before they took off for the meeting held at Sky Have club, he also had seen Davis shooting 4 bullets when the shooting started. It was mainly his men who protected him or else Davis would be dead within a second. They were attending a meeting about human trafficking before the shooting started. Yes, Davis led a human trafficking circle along with other illegal works. Police were trying to find clues to catch him red handed but either most police officers were sold off to  money or the honest ones were murdered or transferred.

 Finally, 2 years ago the case was sent to Jonathan Moore, senior FBI officer. He had set many undercover traps for the crime lord but the criminal was clever enough to dodge all the traps until Jonathan found out Davis was in an urgent need of a personal bodyguard and where could he go to hire the best bodyguard when PSF is the most renowned and popular security firm around the country? Fortunately, Davis was unaware that the FBI was trailing behind him so Davis didn't mind that the owner of the firm is actually the wife of an FBI officer or he was just foolish enough to ignore such significant information.

Jonathan finally had a perfect plan to catch Davis red handed as Ashton provided him with the information that Davis would hold a meeting with another gang leader regarding the human trafficking issues. But before Jonathan could strike with his team, the two crime lords had already started shooting at each other starting from a small disagreement. Nonetheless, both gang leaders are now arrested with their injured and uninjured gang members.

"So? You think you can do that? It was a life and death situation!" 

"I was aware of my actions and their consequences. I take full responsibility. " Ashton starts which has Jonathan rolling his eyes. 

"I've worked for him for almost 3 months. By now I'm well aware of his habits.He is a man who can't control his anger and he takes his off on the very person he is angry at. I was provoking him to make him angry at me because I wanted him to shoot me. His aim is never that good anyway." Ashton finishes. 

A quality that you must have when you are in charge of security is great observation skills. Ashton has developed this skill throughout the years of working. It wasn't hard for him to study Davis. Davis was a bastard with an anger issue who didn't think twice before taking any action. 

"Don't do it again." Jonathan says, giving up arguing with the young man.

"Are you indirectly asking me to work for you again?" Ashron smirks, messing with angry people is sometimes amusing but it's hilarious when you can mess up with a serious person like Jonathan. 

"Listen kid-" 

"Yeah,the kid is fine." Ashton points his finger towards the ambulance standing two or three feet away from them. He knew Jonathan was mentioning him but he was done talking so he changed the topic. He knows it's a success as Jonathan forgets about him and with a worried face he approaches the ambulance.With that Ashton takes his leave after sparing a glance at the girl who was taken hostage to make sure she was okay.

Jonathan slowly takes a seat beside the stretcher where Iris is sitting right now while a paramedic is questioning about her mental health. She looks all shaken up and scared. That's a good sign, she hasn't gotten into a deep shock. 

When the paramedic leaves Iris turns to Jonathan with a long face, playing with the hem of her t-shirt. 

"I'm sorry." She whispers with a low voice, finally finding her voice again.

"Are you alright?" Jonathan asks instead. He is disappointed that he had to meet her at a place like this, It's the least place he ever expects to see her.

However, he knows that It's not the right time to ask her why she was here but It's the time to make sure she is alright and stable. She must be horrified right now, he is worried she will have endless nightmares about this day. 

"Please don't tell dad." She looks up to him with teary eyes, alerting that anytime they might fall. Jonathan chuckles at her and pats her head. 

"Silly girl. Don't worry about dad now." He assures but Iris still seems distressed. 

"I-" she can hardly form any words being worried about the whole ordeal. 

"It's alright, sweetheart. Don't stress out. Just remember your father loves you the most." Jonathan says soothing words to her while embracing her with a fatherly hug. 

Jonathan already informed Iris's father. He has the right to know that his daughter just escaped a life and death situation and now she is well and unharmed.

Richard was more worried than angry at her daughter for her action. Jonathan knows Richard was close to having a heart attack, his worry was that severe. After talking to Jonathan, Richard immediately rescheduled all his business meetings and booked a plane ticket to fly to the city as soon as possible, they talked about it earlier. 

"Are you good now, sweetheart? Do you need anything before you go to the hospital?" Iris feels guilty to the core, It's all her fault that everyone is worried to death. 

She can sense her father was already aware of the incident. She isn't worried about upsetting her dad anymore, she is worried about his health. He gets petrified if she gets a small paper cut. So, It's no surprise that the news of her escaping near death situation landed on him as a nuclear bomb. 

Shaking her head to reply to him in the negative, she starts to talk to him again. 

"Is anyone else hurt? How are my friends? I couldn't talk to them." She isn't so selfish to think about herself only, of course. 

"They are alright. Just a bit shaken up." Hearing that from him makes her feel less worried now. She really wants to talk to them herself so that she can make sure they are alright. 

"Do you want to talk to them?" It's like he took words from her mouth. Feeling grateful that he could interpret her facial expression, she nods her head. 

Her throat is still sore from being nearly choked to death. She is sure she has a bruise formed on her neck. Apart from being in shock and mentally tormented, she isn't that hurt physically.  A sore throat and a few bruises here and there. 

"Alright. But you need to get to the hospital in a few minutes so keep it short,am I clear? Iris nods her head, trying to smile at Jonathan's playful tone but she can't smile,not when she wants to cry. 

After a short while she gets greeted by guilty looking Lilith,Grace and Emily.

"Such a shame that Emily couldn't bang any guys today." At least she tries to lighten up the heavy atmosphere that is dragging everyone's mood down. Trying to smile,but her smile doesn't reach her eyes,neither does theirs'. 

"I'm sor-" 

"Stop right there Grace." Iris cuts her off, clearing her sore throat she continues 

"You didn't know something like this would happen. Neither did anyone. Stop blaming yourself." She has to take a moment to rest her vocal cord as it hurts if she talks too much, so she tries to keep her tone low,low enough that everyone can hear her. 

"You tried to back off but we didn't let you." Emily comments which makes Iris roll her eyes. 

"I'm not a kid, guys. I can make my own decisions." She huffs , " I need you all to make me a promise. " 

All three of them eagerly nod their heads. Ready to do anything to make it up to her. To be honest, all of them felt equally guilty since all of them basically forced Iris to tag along. When they got out of the scene, they were tired and scared. They hurriedly made their way towards Grace's car but then they realised something was off. It's actually someone. 

With the same speed they turned around to look for Iris, none of them agreed to go without Iris but they were caught by the patrolling police, they had to stay away. Somehow, Lilith overheard a voicemail over a police officer's walkie talkie, talking about the targeted criminal taking a hostage, a hostage who was apparently identified as Iris Smith. All of them lost their mind, crying and praying to get their back alive.

"We all are alive and unharmed. It's all that matters. You guys came back for me which shows how much you guys care about me. That's already enough for me. Please, don't feel guilty over something that wasn't in our control." And her little speech calls for a group hug though it lasted for a few minutes. Iris was taken to the hospital. All of her friends' parents had already arrived so after some statements and inquiries, police let them go home as none of them were severely injured that required  urgent medical attention.

On the way to the hospital Iris's mind was roaming around only one thing. Earlier,she overheard her uncle and that guy's conversation as they were standing not so far away from her. She has to thank that guy. She doesn't know what would happen if that unknown guy didn't step up, she doesn't even want to know. Though, at first she disliked that guy for his immaturity but after overhearing him, she thinks he deserves a thanks from her for saving her life.