Page 58 of Fifty-Fifty

The other security guards all looked to the man Kate now knew as Reggie. He must’ve been their supervisor. They looked foolish and incompetent, just standing there while Bloch had hold of Levy.

‘Get her off me, right this second!’ said Levy.

‘You on the job?’ asked Reggie.

‘I’m private now, like you.’

‘Bloch, that’s my boss. I need you to let him go,’ said Reggie.

‘He needs to apologize, first,’ said Bloch.

The red-haired guard who’d been an asshole in the lobby made a move toward Bloch, and Reggie’s huge arm snaked out, grabbing him by the shirt and hauling

him back.

‘Don’t move. Let me deal with this. You can’t cover shifts if you’re in the hospital,’ said Reggie.

Scott, who seemed to have found some nerve, started moving toward his boss.

Levy’s predicament merely gave Scott another chance to suck up to him if he made the effort to rescue him from his plight. He was trying to sneak up behind Bloch, his arms wide, ready to make a grab for her.

Bloch must’ve sensed this. She shot Scott a look and said, ‘I’ve got two hands, hero.’

Scott stopped dead, backed up.

‘Mr. Levy, I think you should apologize, sir,’ said Reggie.

‘What?! What am I paying you for? Get her off me,’ said Levy.

‘Sir, a month before my retirement, Bloch took my squad on an advanced driving refresher and a control and restraint course. She’s six feet away and there are only five of us. I think you should apologize, sir.’

‘She’s hurting me,’ said Levy, forcing the sentence through the pain.

The security guards looked at Reggie, who was holding in his laughter, his mouth and lips trembling with the effort.

‘Sir … I’d do as she says.’

‘I’m sorry, alright, I’m sorry,’ said Levy.

‘Miss Brooks, do you have the papers you need?’ said Bloch.

‘Got them right here,’ said Kate.

Bloch released Levy’s finger, and he backed away, cradling his hand. Reggie stepped aside, leaving a space for Kate and Bloch to leave.

‘This isn’t over, Katie,’ said Levy.

‘It’s Miss Brooks, to you,’ said Kate.

Frank Avellino

Journal Entry, Wednesday September 5, 2018.

7:30 a.m.

Someone is following me.

It happened yesterday. A woman on a black motorcycle. It might be the same person I saw, all in black, last week.