Unbound Faith (Bulletproof #1)

by J. L. Baldwin

  “Okay, so what’s the deal? I mean what do I have to do with the girl and why is she in danger?” I ask, trying to sway away all the dirty thoughts I have of her under me, in the shower, on the kitchen counter, against the wall and everywhere in between. She was an angel with the body the devil would love to get his hands on. Maybe I’m that devil. I sure as hell wouldn’t want anyone else looking at her. The strange sense of protection mixed with an overpowering desire for possession shocked me. Chief cleared his throat and I looked up from the file. There was something about his look that made me want to smack him, if it wasn’t a risk of losing my job.

  “Okay her name’s Elizabeth Jaydelyn Burgess, she’s twenty-six, and she works at a newspaper. Her past has gotten her into some danger and you need to protect her, you know keep an eye out on her.”

  Now, I’m kind of annoyed. Throwing the file down on the desk, I cross my arms across my chest in defiance. “I’m not a goddamn babysitter, Chief. Why can’t somebody else watch after her?” I yell. At the same time, everyone turns in our direction giving us the stink eye.

  “Marshall, shut the fuck up and do your damn job. You’re the only one who can handle it. Now, do it or you’ll be out of a job and I really don’t want to have to go to that extreme.” Sighing in defeat, my anger and annoyance continue to boil over but I try and calm my nerves. This was the last fucking thing I needed right now. Chief doesn’t say another word as walks away and into his office so I grab my phone to check my messages. Nothing. Not even a ‘last night was amazing.’ Good, Courtney didn’t sneak my number when I was in the shower this morning. Or she has and is waiting for the right moment to make her comeback. I sure as fuck hope not.

  “Well what a way to get the chief all riled up this morning, Zac. I say you’ve done a mighty fine ass job getting him pissed off before the day even starts.” Craig mocks as he strolls up to my desk, coffee cup in hand and wore that stupid smug look he always wears. Always a fucking asshole. Not like me, but still one nevertheless.

  “Whatcha talking about? Chief loves me. Which is why he picked me for a special assignment.” I say, grinning like a Cheshire cat just to annoy Craig. There’s nothing in this world I’d rather be doing than making it out like I got the grade A gold assignment when everything else was simply bronze.

  “You keep thinking that man. But hey, you want to kick it at my place later? Lucy’s been asking about you and when you’ll be back over.” I smile at that sentiment. Lucy is Craig’s little girl. Barely five years old, and cute as a button. Soft brown hair, bright blue eyes and just a full cuteness bundle. I always told him he should put her into modeling but he won’t have that. I was so glad when he told me he gained custody of her from his crazy as shit ex, and her psycho family. But the end result was worth it. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Lucy. Which is why Craig named me the godfather.

  “I wish I could man, but I need to get a jump on this assignment. Tell Lucy I love her though.” I say, smiling wide. Lucy always managed to keep a smile on my face even when my emotions ran away with me. I’ll have to make it up to her somehow. Maybe I’ll buy her one of those American Girl dolls she loves so much.

  Craig snorts into his coffee mug at my remark clearly not buying any of it. “Yeah you’re wanting to get a jump on something but it ain’t the assignment. Just say you want to bang that chick already and get it over with. And we can all move on with our lives.” Craig says, taking a sip of his hopefully scalding hot coffee. To my luck, it’s not scalding hot dammit. Unfortunately Craig was right. It’s not a lie, because it’s exactly what I was thinking.

  “Ha, of course you would think that way. What if my ideas are pure with the girl?” I ask which causes Craig to cough on his coffee as he laughs from that ridiculous notion. “Ha if you expect me to believe that, then my mom is the Virgin Mary and I’m baby Jesus.” He jokes, laughing as he wipes the dribble of coffee from his chin.

  “Yeah, fuck you too.” I half joke. Craig can see right through my facade. The way I was drooling over the picture proved my thoughts were anything but pure with Elizabeth. Or maybe she wants to go by Jaydelyn. Or Jayde. The name of a beautiful gem to match an even more beautiful angel. God, what was I doing thinking these things? If Craig heard me say these things out loud, I’d be branded a pansy ass in zero time. I was finished up flipping through the file when Chief walks back out into the office carrying another file. This one is a little smaller. “What’s that chief?” I ask, pointing to it. Chief doesn’t say anything until he hands the folder to me. “Well this is the same case, just a different area. It’s your undercover identity.”

  I scrunch my eyebrows together, thinking I didn’t hear him correctly. “My identity? Why do I need a new identity?”

  “Because my boy, you’re going undercover. And your new identity needs to take over your life as soon as you walk out that door. A new identity with a new name and job is important when you’re trying to maintain confidentiality.” I flip open the front page of the file and a single word stands out above the others. “Bartender? Isn’t that a bit cliché?” I question, unsure if that was the right choice. There are a million different fake careers he could have chosen but bartender? Maybe it would work out in my favor. I certainly wouldn’t be drinking any of it, that’s for sure. Not after the hell of a hangover I had this morning that I’m still trying to recover from. Chief smiles and nods noticing my hesitancy. “It’s the best one to keep your real identity a secret. Take it or hand over your badge.” He says with a hint of warning in his voice. Meaning I better take it, or bye - bye paycheck. “Alright fine, I’ll take it. But I don’t have to like it. I worked through college as a bar tender and I swore I’d never go back to that world. Hell, why didn’t you go ahead and make me a stripper while you’re at it.”

  He chuckled softly at my joke. Chief wasn’t a small man so his stomach shook when he laughed. “Trust me, stripper was an option, but we had to keep it as inconspicuous as possible. So bartender it is.” I shake my head in disgust. Just a few years ago, I would have been all over working as a stripper, having women claw all over me, sticking dollars in my G-string. If they were really hot, I would have let them have a little piece of the Zac attack, which is the name I was ‘assigned’ in college, but hell, not now. Not when there was somebody’s life in danger. Shit, her life is in danger.

  The folder of lies feels smoldering as it lays heavy in my hands. According to the information, I graduated from Stanford with a GPA of 3.2 with a major in Bioengineering. Odd choice of a major but I go with it. The apartment I supposedly live in is on the higher end of town. Well isn’t this just great? My fake persona has a better life than I do. Is it psychotic to be jealous of yourself? I hope not. Okay, small details stand out at the top of the page. Just regular things like a regular person would do. Another detail catches my attention. I also model on the side for various magazines. Is there anything Chief hasn’t come up with for my new life? Handing the file back to him, I settle back down into the chair, tapping my fingers on my knee, letting my thoughts swirl around in my mind.

  “What’s going on son? What are you thinking?” He asks me quickly as he stuffs the folders back into his leather briefcase and I look up to see his eyebrows raised, waiting for an answer. Should I tell him what I’m thinking or should I just walk out? Taking door number one, I question exactly what’s on my mind.

  “Chief, what kind of danger is she in? I mean how bad is it?” There were a million things that could be going on, but fearing the worst will drive me insane. Chief wastes no time before diving right in. He sighs and leans back in his chair, not meeting my eyes when he speaks. “We aren’t sure. I know it’s somebody from her past. Somebody who really wants her for something. We’re still investigating.

  “Then how did her file come across your desk?” I ask, curiosity controlling the questions rolling off my tongue.

  “We’ve been watching her for a while. There was so many different factors in this investigation so we’ve kept
an extra close eye on her.” Chief says taking his own cup of coffee and filling it up with the luke warm brew. Coffee was kept in large supply around here, and we abused it quite often.

  “One of the agents, Charlie who is still very new to the agency, called me after he left his post one night. Said she was really upset and from what he saw, she looked scared out of her mind. It’s to our understanding somebody has been following her, keeping a close watch on her for an entirely different reason.”

  Chief gives me one last smile before escaping into his office, not bothering to delve out any more information about the case or Jayde. I can’t get her picture out of my mind. She’s so beautiful. So pure and innocent. Craig looks over from his work area with a smug look and flashes a wide knowing smile at me.

  Finally, I shout at him. “What?!” I ask, getting real tired of his vague ass smirks.

  “Nothing man, should I start taking bets when you’ll get into this one’s pants?” He smiles mischievously and I flip him off. “Shut up Craig. I’m not getting into her pants.”

  “Yet.” He finishes exactly what I’m thinking. Ignoring his smile, I stand up and walk over to the coffee pot to pour myself a fresh cup of coffee. What Chief said keeps running through my head. She’s in danger. We must protect her. But how can I protect her when all I want to do is be with her? Above her. Inside her. Which is pretty fucked up to want to bang somebody before I even got a chance to meet them. I got to keep my head straight on this one. Lord knows what’ll happen when I finally do get my hands on her. That floozy from the previous night flashes back into my memory and I shake it off. There won’t be any more of those. Not if I have it my way.

  Chapter 2

  Jayde

  Greed has got to be one of the most vile things in the world. No wonder it’s considered one of the seven deadly sins. It has a way of making people go crazy. It’s never ever good enough. More money meant more power thus equaling in more everything. I wasn’t accustomed to the greed my family had to deal with. There was nothing I could have done that could have prepared me for what happened when greed shook our family, our livelihood. Being middle class seemed to be much more thrilling than living with what I had to live with. Before the death of my father, money is what my mother thrived on. There wasn’t a thing money couldn’t buy. The bigger the house, or the more expensive the car, the happier she was.

  I never knew money could change a person, but it did. I hated her for it. Don’t get me wrong, my mother was kind and sweet, but when money was waved in her face, all hell broke loose. Suddenly it was all about power and money, and nothing else seemed to matter. Constantly being in a dark despair of money seemed to be her way of mourning my father’s death.

  Turning eighteen should have been a huge milestone. I finally got my inheritance which I reluctantly accepted at that tender ole age. After that, things started to change for the better. It was stated in my father’s will my sister and I would inherit millions of dollars my mother couldn’t get her greedy little paws on. My sister Sarah took her share of the money and stashed it away into savings while she continues to work at the coffee shop down the road. I tell her over and over she’s crazy for keeping that job but she told me she loves it so who am I to argue? Then there’s me, who instead of investing the money decided to spend it wisely doing something I’ve always wanted to do, college. Sure, it only took a small chunk but I didn’t have any loans afterwards. Working like a dog wasn’t in the cards for what I have planned for my life so I chose something I knew I would enjoy and would love to do for the rest of my life.

  Journalism was my pride and joy. Ever since I was a little girl, I loved researching and making notes of what I learned. There were still notebooks stashed away somewhere from when I was about six years old which houses little news reports of silly things from my childhood. Snooping out the juicy stories and bringing them into the light has always been something that interested me. It wasn’t until last year when I got my big break, crashing a sweet sixteen and finding out the senator was sleeping with his maid’s daughter. Oh, it was such a good story. The look on his face added to the joy I felt from busting him in his dirty deed.

  After that happened, he resigned from his role rather quickly. Once the story was leaked, I took pride in knowing I was well on my way to my dream. It was the big break which led me from my internship to a full time job as a top news reporter. Finishing up my undergrad degree at UCLA in Journalism later that summer, I was set. From that day on, everything was golden and I was on fire.

  Laying there staring up at the ceiling, there’s so much that has happened over the past few years. I landed my internship right before college was over and I was thrilled. Who knew it would land me into a job I would love? Like clockwork each and every morning, Sarah is up early and starts knocking on my bedroom door.

  “Jayde sweetheart, let’s go or I’m going to be late for work!” She says with a hint of sheer annoyance in her voice. The soft hum of the vibrating toothbrush echoes down the hallway. Staying up extremely late updating my blog was not the best idea in the world. A Brunette Bibliophile was slowly growing into a huge success which seemed to happen overnight. Something I built from scratch was now an overnight success and I couldn’t be happier. It definitely helped my journalism articles for work. The time slowly started ticking away with every passing moment I laid still in this bed staring up at the ceiling.

  “Jayde!” Sarah yells again more aggressively this time. Damn, my bed is too comfy to leave. Inwardly groaning, I sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes.

  “Five more minutes, please?” I groan then more knocking. Damn, she’s persistent this morning. “Nope, you got to get to work. You’re twenty-six now. Your big sister can’t keep waking you up like this. Come on, you just got a huge promotion and you don’t want to be late, now let’s go.” The loud click of the bathroom door being shut can be heard as she continues getting ready for work, leaving me alone again to collect my thoughts.

  “Ugh, alright I’m coming.” It takes maybe twenty minutes before I’m completely ready to go. Walking into the massive country kitchen that’s decorated specifically with women in mind, due to the bright yellow curtains and knick knacks spread out along the tops of the cabinets. Our family collected a lot of antique knick knacks. From old baby dolls, to glassware to everything in between. The mahogany cabinets only added to the beautiful layout of the kitchen. The unfinished hardwood floors don’t take anything away from the beauty of the kitchen. Sarah is sitting at the island that was put in a few years ago while finishing up her breakfast and clicking away on her phone. She’s probably playing that addictive Candy Crush Saga game. A game I have yet to get into. I don’t understand the hype. You crush candies and move up hundreds of levels.

  Staring at her, I analyze the situation. Sarah has her careful concentration face on which I don’t even think she realizes she does. She chews on her bottom lip when she’s concentrating. I always catch onto those little things. Being perceptive and intuitive was a part of my personality and something I learned a long time ago. We’ve barely spoken over the past few days. And passing each other in the hallway saying ‘hi’ and ‘goodnight’ or ‘good morning’ isn’t cutting it for me. The little fact I’m getting ready to move out lays heavy in the air like the elephant in the room.

  Sarah looks up from her phone briefly then smiles. “What?” She asks curiously as I simply shake my head with a smile.

  “It’s nothing but what do you think we’re going to do when I move out?” I ask as I pick up my plaid Louis Vuitton cross body purse and sling it across my body, carefully avoiding my hair which is now in long chestnut waves cascading down my back.

  Sarah slides her phone into her purse before grabbing a granny smith apple for the road. “What do you mean? You’re not moving out for another couple of months, right?” That’s what she thinks, I think to myself. There’s a pretty good chance I could find a place before the two month mark was up. The whole thing still hurts like hell whe
never I think about it. I don’t want to leave her but I also don’t want to live in this house forever. There are too many bad memories in this house.

  “Right, but it won’t be the same, you know? I mean we’ve lived together ever since…well…” I trail off with my sentence, noticing my emotions getting the better of me. Mom didn’t want to burden us with her petty greed so she took off not long after our father died. That destroyed both of us. Part of me still hasn’t forgiven her yet. We spent the rest of our childhood’s being raised by my Aunt Clara and my Uncle Roger after moving into their farm house just a few miles up the road. Our Aunt and Uncle owned a huge farm house which sat on about five hundred acres and basically became my playground. The horses Uncle Roger had were always my favorite. One in particular named Buttercup, was my favorite. She was a Palomino colored mare with a spitfire attitude. Roger said she reminded him of me. Which I could see due to my tough exterior and not willing to take no for an answer from anyone.

  As much as I loved my Aunt and Uncle, I was glad I had Sarah in my life. Sarah was only fourteen when our father died, so she wanted to have a hand in raising me which was fine with Aunt Clara and Uncle Roger, so they didn’t argue.

  “I know little sis, I know. It sucks but luckily Aunt Clara and Uncle Roger took us in without question. And our childhood was pretty damn amazing if I do say so myself. You loved being with Uncle Roger and Buttercup. She became your baby. I am glad for one thing though, I’m glad they kept paying for the house so we could move back into it one day. Isn’t that something to be happy about?” She asks. Her usual perkiness is strangely frustrating this morning. Even though I’m used to it, there were times I wish she was more blah.