Hostage (Bodyguard #1)(23)
‘RUN!’ bawled Amir into Connor’s ear.
Roughly seized by the shoulder, Connor was spun round and shoved in the opposite direction to the shooter. Amir was directly behind him, holding his body close to shield Connor from the threat. Like some mad three-legged race, they sprinted across the field for the safety of a stone wall.
‘Keep going,’ ordered Amir, gripping him tight.
As they neared the wall, Connor spotted a burning fuse amid the grass.
‘Grenade!’ he cried.
Amir’s eyes widened in panic and he attempted to alter their course. But their feet became tangled up by the sudden change in direction. They both tumbled to the ground, landing face first in the dirt. The grenade exploded inches from their heads. There was a blinding flash. An ear-splitting blast. Then a shower of red sparks rained down on them.
‘That was close,’ remarked Amir, laughing nervously as the firecracker burnt out.
Connor dislodged Amir from his back and glared at him. ‘Not as close as this sheep muck!’
Amir stifled a snigger as Connor wiped off a dark brown smear of dung from his face with his sleeve.
‘Gross,’ said Amir, but his amusement was brought to a swift end when he heard the angry shouts of their instructor.
‘A-C-E,’ said Jody despairingly, as the two of them rejoined Alpha team on the school’s front lawn. ‘Amir, have you forgotten what that means?’
Amir shook his head. ‘Assess the threat. Counter the danger. Escape the kill zone.’
‘Then why didn’t you assess your escape route? It’s no good running with your Principal if you’re heading in the wrong direction. Or worse – towards the threat itself!’
Jody was teaching Alpha team the concept of ‘body cover’: how to effectively shield a Principal from an attack. They’d spent all day doing ‘action-on-drills’: grabbing their Principal from sitting, standing, walking and running positions, and covering them against various assaults from the front, rear, left, right and even from above. Through constant practice, the aim was to make A-C-E as instinctive as ducking.
‘Whenever there’s an apparent danger, you must assess the situation before you react,’ Jody reminded them. ‘This might take a millisecond or ten seconds, but it’s vital to your survival. The threat – whether it is a punch, a knife, a bullet or even an egg – determines your response. Then, once the assessment is made, you cover your Principal, placing yourself between them and the threat. For example –’
She grabbed Marc, stepped in front of him and shouted, ‘STAY BEHIND ME!’
The demonstration took less than a second, but was effective.
‘You need to control the Principal both physically and verbally,’ she explained, still holding on to Marc’s arm. ‘The shock of the attack might have caused fight, flight or freeze. This could mean the Principal is either functioning with you or has brain fade. Whatever the case, you need to stay in control and ensure they don’t hamper the evacuation.’ Jody held up her right hand. ‘Leave your strong arm free to punch and defend. And, when you do evacuate, the body cover must remain on. As you’ve just witnessed with Connor and Amir’s spectacular bellyflop into the sheep dung, this isn’t easy. Which is why you need to practise.’
She released Marc and asked Connor to step forward.
‘Punch Marc,’ she instructed.
Marc looked shocked. ‘But he’s a kickboxing champion!’
‘And I’m your bodyguard,’ replied Jody with a wink.
Obeying his instructor, Connor swung a fist at Marc’s face.
‘GET DOWN!’ screamed Jody, leaping forward and driving her hip into Marc. He was shoved so violently sideways that he was thrown several metres. But he was no longer under any direct threat and Jody now engaged with the attack. Effortlessly blocking it, she countered with a hook punch that stopped just short of Connor’s jaw.
‘You see, by suddenly moving your Principal, the assailant doesn’t know where to look: at his original target or at you, his new threat.’
Jody lowered her fist and patted Connor on the shoulder. ‘Remember to block next time,’ she said with a grin.
‘Isn’t the technique a bit aggressive?’ commented Connor, as Marc stood rubbing his bruised hip. ‘You could hurt the Principal.’
‘In a life-threatening situation, this technique needs to be aggressive,’ Jody replied. ‘The Shove, as I like to call it, will save your Principal from any direct attack – a punch, a knife or even a bullet.’
‘We’re expected to take a bullet for someone else!’ exclaimed Amir.
Jody’s expression became solemn. ‘Hopefully, with your training, it won’t ever come to that. And even if it did you should be wearing your issued body armour. But when you’re on assignment you take on the very same danger your Principal faces. You are their shield. That’s why bodyguards are sometimes known as bullet-catchers.’
The waves rolled towards the shore, long white lines that peeled in perfect curls. Bobbing on the sea’s surface like eager seals, local surfers waited to catch their ride and follow the surge in. Along the three-mile stretch of golden sand, a few families dotted the shoreline but otherwise the beach belonged to Alpha team. After twelve weeks of basic training, they’d finally earned some proper time off and Steve had driven them to the Gower Peninsula to relax. Now it was June, the sun was warm, the sky cloudless and the day perfect for a barbecue on the beach.