PARKER SECURITY
The Complete Series (Books 1-5)
by: CAMILLA BLAKE
Copyright © 2019
All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. All characters appearing in this work are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to events, businesses, companies, institutions, and real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
BOOK ONE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
BOOK TWO
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
BOOK THREE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
BOOK FOUR
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter18
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
BOOK FIVE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
BOOK ONE
Chapter 1
Jason
Nothing had been the same since it happened, but that wasn’t the sort of thing you would want to openly admit to, even to your closest friends. The good thing was, people weren’t recognizing me the way they had, and that was just fine with me. Maybe I couldn’t disappear off the face of the planet, but anonymity was second best. I kept my head down and did my work. It was stupid to take a risk like I had, even if at the time everyone thought it was a good idea.
I stopped and grabbed coffees before heading into work. It technically wasn’t my day to do so—it was Cole’s—but I knew he’d forget because he was so excited about tonight’s job. It was, in fact, all he’d been able to talk about for the past few weeks.
When Julia saw me walk through the door of the coffee shop, she gave me a little wave and then got on it: two lattes, one with whipped cream, one with no foam; one double Americano; two coffees, one with room for cream, one black. I sipped the black coffee while she steamed the milk for the fancy drinks.
“Cole free from coffee duty?” Julia asked as she crammed the two lattes into the tray carrier.
“Nah,” I said. “He’ll be resuming his regular schedule after tonight, I’m sure. Or maybe he’ll need a night or two of recovery.”
“Big event?” Julia raised her eyebrows, which were partially obscured behind the tortoiseshell glasses she wore. She had one of those wide, friendly faces with rosy cheeks that I didn’t think was the result of a daily application of blush. How long had Julia been slinging coffee here at Superior Coffee Co.? For as long as any of us could remember. After the allegations came to light, she was one of the few people who had straight out asked me if it was true, and when I’d told her it wasn’t, she’d nodded and said she believed me.
“Yeah,” I said. “Some DJ. Isa. DJ Isa. No, I think it’s just Isa.”
Julia shrugged. “Never heard of her. Though that’s not saying much.”
“She’s a pretty big deal, apparently. A local girl, though, so that’s partly why there’s so much hype around the event.”
“Well, if she only goes by one name, then, yeah, I’d say it sounds like she must be someone pretty big. Like Cher or Madonna.” Julia fit the last of the drinks into the holder.
“I don’t know if she’s Cher or Madonna level, but I am expecting to be up at least until the sun rises.”
“Good thing the coffee was extra strong today then.” Julia plucked a bag of chocolate-covered espresso beans from the display rack next to the cash register. “Better take these, too. Just in case. They’re on the house.”
I made a show of offering to pay for them, though it was just that—a show, because Julia would, every so often, comp me something. And as far as I knew, I was the only one she did this for. I paid for the coffees on the company card and then slid a five of my own into the overflowing tip jar.
“Thanks, Jules,” I said.
She smiled and her face flushed a little. “See you around, Jason.”
I carried the full coffee tray, plus my own as I walked around the block to the office. Our office was downtown, right around the boundary
where the Union Square shops start to encroach on the Financial District businesses—or vice versa, depending on how you wanted to look at it. We were on the twentieth floor of a thirty-two-floor art deco building, which was also the home to a boutique hotel, two cosmetic-dentistry offices, an architecture firm, a valet parking garage, and a bunch of other places that were listed on the directory but I’d never actually stopped to read. According to Lena, there was a doggy daycare in the basement of the place, but that information had never been verified.
The lobby was bustling with people as I walked across the marble floor to the elevator banks. I kept my eyes forward, though I could sense the woman next to me was looking at me. Luckily, an elevator arrived before she was able to say anything, and I took a step back to let the car-full of people out, and then stepped in. I pressed 20 and then moved to the back as a throng of people pushed in.
The smell of coffee was strong in the enclosed space, and I held my arm up to keep the tray from getting jostled. That was the last thing we’d need to deal with—someone knocking into me and getting a scalding beverage spilled all over them.
Only a few people exited by the time we got to my floor, so I had to do the side-shuffle out. I felt my shoulders relax a little once I was free and the doors were closing behind me; being packed in like that in such a small space always made my heart race a little.
I’d been working at Parker Security Services almost since its inception fifteen years ago. Drew Parker was the founder, and was someone I’d known almost my whole life. My older brother, Ryan, had gone out with Drew’s sister, Ashleigh. Had things not happened the way they had, Ryan and Ashleigh probably would have gotten married, and Drew and I would have been brothers-in-law.
Our company had around fifty people who worked for us in varying capacities, depending on the event, but the core five were Drew, Cole O’Keefe, Lena Curtis, and Ben Parker. Drew was the founder, owner, president, whatever you wanted to call it, but the five of us really ran the company together, bouncing ideas off each other, making sure each of us was on board before moving forward with any big new venture. The company had grown bigger and more successful than I think any of us had expected, but Drew wasn’t the sort of person to let it go to his head. He didn’t get drunk on power or abuse his authority. He was, for the most part, just the sort of person you would want to work for.
One of our long-term clients was Heathens, the club that Isa would be playing at tonight. We had some of our lower-level guys who worked security there every night, but once or twice a month Heathens would throw a big party with a globally known DJ and they’d require more than just the usual crew to run security. Tonight was one such night, and, as we always did before an event like this, we’d have a meeting in the office just to go over any final details that people needed to be aware of.
We gathered in the conference room, the five of us along with the seven other co-workers who’d be going along with us. Drew had swapped out the huge table for several leather couches and chairs. There were plenty of side tables and coffee tables for people to perch their drinks on, which was important because people always had their coffee or an energy drink, or, in some cases, distilled, purified mountain spring water (it seemed like every so often someone would decide to go on a health kick and try to be vegan for a few weeks, or only eat things that grew out of the dirt. Drew liked to keep things laid-back in the office because he expected everyone to be on their A game out in the field.
“The night has finally arrived!” Cole said, rubbing his hands together. He really did look like a kid on Christmas morning. A few of the guys laughed. Lena rolled her eyes.
“I listened to that album you suggested,” Ben said. “It wasn’t bad, if you like that sort of music.”
“That sort of music,” Cole scoffed. “You mean the only kind of music!”
“Yeah, I’m really so thrilled to have to spend the next twelve hours being aurally assaulted by the monotonous pounding of what amounts to nails on a chalkboard,” Lena said. She usually didn’t work at Heathens, or any of the other clubs we provided security for, but tonight was a big event so we needed all hands on deck.
“Did you just say oral assault?” Cole asked. He stuck his tongue out and crossed his eyes at her.
“All right, all right,” Drew said. He was sitting next to Ben on the recliner couch. “I think we can keep this relatively brief, because everyone here has worked Heathens before—right? Everyone knows Ian, the owner?”
“Yes,” we all said.
“I don’t anticipate there being anything like what happened in Los Angeles,” Drew continued. “Everyone heard about that?”
Most people nodded, but a few just looked around. Drew looked at Cole. “Would you care to enlighten those who don’t know what I’m talking about?”
“There was an incident at Club Bubble,” Cole said. “An overzealous fan had managed to get right next to Isa during her set—”
“Was it you?” Lena interrupted.
Cole ignored her. “—and somehow pull her shirt down. It’s unclear whether or not it was intentional—the fan said he was just trying to give her a hug—but obviously we’d like to avoid that sort of thing happening again, especially considering it was all over YouTube and Facebook.”
“Well,” Lena said. “I mean, it might not have been such a big deal if she’d, you know, pulled up her shirt.”
Cole shrugged. “She gets in the zone,” he said. “When you’re as musically talented as she is, that sort of thing just happens, and getting your top pulled down isn’t going to snap you out of it.”
“Wow,” Lena said. “Did she tell you that herself?”
“Okay, okay,” Drew interrupted, holding both hands up. “Settle down, you two. I don’t anticipate there being a problem like that at the club tonight, since there’s actually a stage and they don’t have the DJ down on the floor the way it was in LA. But we all know that there’s going to be a big crowd tonight, and we need to keep things safe for everyone involved. I’m going to have Lena and Jason up in the VIP lounge. Cole, you, Ben, and—”
“Wait a sec—I don’t get to work the VIP lounge?” Cole said. His eyes widened. “But… I…”
“I’ll get you an autograph, fanboy,” Lena said, the grin on her face stretching ear to ear.
“You’re going to be down on the main floor with me,” Drew said. “You’ll be right by the stage. Ben, we’re going to have you near the bar to start and then you’ll move over to the stage right before Isa’s set starts.”
Drew went over a few more things with the rest of the crew, saying that he expected the crowd tonight to be enthusiastic and excited but not violent—which was a relief to hear because the last big party at Heathens had been a Dutch Gabber House DJ and I had spent most of the night and into the early morning hours breaking up fights and hauling kids all amped up on speed out of the club. And I swear it took about a week for that heart-hammering bass drum to stop reverberating around my head.
***
When we worked an event, unless we needed to be covert, we wore suits and ties. Lena, too, though occasionally she’d mix it up and rock one of those skirt suit things. People respect a suit, Drew had said on more than one occasion. Even if they might not consciously be aware of it—it’s something that’s hardwired into the human brain.
I wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but people certainly did look at me differently when I was wearing the suit as opposed to when I wasn’t. I kept several suits in the small corner office that Cole and I shared, in a cedar wardrobe that Cole had found on Craigslist. My suits, with the exception of one, were all black; the exception was a herringbone-gray one that I seldom wore but still kept because it fit me better than any other suit I’d ever owned. Cole also kept his suits there, too. Parker Security’s dress code didn’t allow for anything crazy like zoot suits or patterns, but Cole would tuck a brightly colored kerchief in the pocket of whatever suit he was wearing. He had a stack of them on the top shelf in the w
ardrobe.
I got dressed quickly, tying the cranberry-colored tie without even really thinking about it. There had been a time in my life when my fingers had seemed to go every which way, the fabric getting wound in knots around my neck. It was my brother Ryan who had finally told me to use a mirror when I was doing it, and that had done the trick. Now, of course, I didn’t need the mirror, but I still glanced in it quickly just to make sure I looked all right.
My hair was getting a little long. I’d always kept it short because it was the sort of hair that would start to get a little wave to it if you let it get too long, and it was approaching that territory now, strands of it starting to encroach over my ears. I flattened those down and smoothed down the top, making a mental note to stop at the barber’s tomorrow.
“Yo, Jay, you ready?” Cole called from the other side of the door. “We’re heading out!”
“All set,” I said, opening the door. He whistled.
“Lookin’ good! Jocelyn said she might stop by tonight.” He grinned.
I tried to return the smile, but it probably came out more like a grimace. Jocelyn was one of Cole’s friends that he’d tried to set me up with. We’d gone out for drinks a couple of times, and she was nice, and undoubtedly hot as hell, but we hadn’t slept together and I didn’t have any plans to do so. Past experiences had led me to believe there was no such thing as no strings attached, no matter what the other person might be saying.
“Yeah... she’s nice and all, Cole, but...”
He tilted his head. “You not interested?”
“I don’t know, man. I guess so. I just haven’t been feeling it lately.”
Cole took a step closer to me, put his hand on my shoulder. “You gotta get back into the game,” he said. “I know all that stuff that happened messed with your head a little—and I’m not saying it shouldn’t have; it would’ve messed with mine, too—but you’ve got to move on from it.”
“It’s not that,” I said, even though it was, in part, exactly that. “It’s just—”
“All right, let’s go!” Lena shouted as she stepped out of her own office. I was relieved for the interruption, and hoped that Cole wouldn’t bring it up again, at least not tonight, though I also hoped that Jocelyn wouldn’t show up at Heathens, or, if she did, that we wouldn’t run into each other. I’d spend the next ten hours at the club, immersed in the deafening, pounding music, the flashing strobe lights, the crush of screaming, sweaty bodies. And once that was over, I’d get to go home and try to unwind and hopefully enjoy a few quiet days off.
Parker Security Complete Series Page 1
