The Handyman-Book 1 Cheerleaders Delight
CE Savage
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Mid-October
Holy Mother of God Private School
Bellevue WA
He’d had worse jobs thought Pete.
Although rewiring the scoreboard was a huge pain in the tookus, watching the cheerleaders prance around below his ladder was definitely not. They probably thought he was an old perv but truthfully, he didn’t give a shit what they thought. The pleasure of being close enough to watch the fine beads of sweat trickle down their graceful necks in the warm Indian Summer heat was compensation enough but when they started their routines he nearly fell off his ladder.
One in particular drew him. She was ivory skinned, slender and fit with dark, almost black, waist-length wavy hair. Her eyes were glacier blue as they looked out over a small pert nose and full, naturally rose-red lips. It was a good thing she was the one he was being paid to watch because none of the others caught his eye like she did.
Well, being paid was a stretch. It was a favor for a friend of a very good friend but Pete felt obligated to treat it like a paying gig. The girl's name was Lexi, short for Alexsis but her father called her ‘Princess” or so he was told. He hadn’t spoken with her yet, and it was very unlikely that he would- if everything went as it should.
Not that she’d deign to speak with him in normal circumstances. She looked and acted like she wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire. Pete gave a mental shrug, that was about par for the course for a girl of her age, beauty, and position. Pete was quite certain that Lexi knew beyond a doubt that her poo didn’t stink. Pete would’ve given a month's pay to get close enough to that tight little bubble butt to verify that supposition. Pete guessed that probably did make him an old perv.
“Okay, ladies let’s wrap this up!” said the cheer coach clapping her hands and bringing Pete back to earth.”Once more, then warm downs!”
Shit, he better get the wiring back in order post haste if he was going to be in place for the hand-off. He’d drawn this out as long as possible and it nearly wasn’t long enough. Say what you want, but these girls worked hard and were on the field long after the football team had cleared off.
Nothing was actually wrong with the scoreboard which was probably a good thing since Pete hadn’t a fucking clue how it worked. Yes, he was actually a real handyman, but this fell outside his wheelhouse. He was lucky he didn’t shock the piss out of himself as he frantically threw the cover back on the back of the scoreboard and made his way down the ladder to gather the rest of his tools up. The scoreboard had been an excellent ploy the last couple of days and had given him a good vantage point to get familiar with the typical ebb and flow of the after-school activities and the immediate surroundings. He may be an old perv to these girls but he was serious about his job, paid or not.
That was one reason why the van caught his eye. He hadn’t seen it before and it didn’t fit in with the high-end luxury cars the students typically drove or even the more staid vehicles the staff and teachers drove either. But then people in the neighborhood did need plumbers too and there was no other overt reason to be suspicious. Still, as soon as he could, he’d have his employers check it out. These plumbers had been there across the street for hours.
His timing was impeccable and he stowed the last of his equipment just as the girls finished their warm-down stretches on the natural grass of the sideline. Lucky grass he thought as he began making his way back toward the school itself
“Mister Longman, a word please?” said the Cheer Coach.
Shit thought Peter, she probably caught me leering at her charges. The drool must have been a dead giveaway.
“Ah sure, what can I help you with?” Funny she didn’t seem upset. In fact, she seemed a little flirty. Hmm. This could be interesting. The pert blond, Ms.Golightly was no slouch as she stood there hipshot in her stretchy short shorts and tight t-shirt and she wasn’t but a handful of years older than the cheerleaders.
“Well I hate to ask but I was wondering if you might be able to help us out this weekend. One of our chaperones for the Saturday away game had to cancel and there are no teachers available. Would you consider it?” she asked biting her lip.
Let’s see 2 hours each way on a bus full of nubile young women? Pete thought he could manage that. Besides, it would give him the perfect cover for keeping an eye on his client.
“Well I dunno, I am pretty busy this weekend…” Pete lied. He just wanted to see if she’d up the ante.
“Please! We really need you” Ms Golightly said as she flipped her shoulder length blond hair, batted her doe eyes, and took his arm, making sure to squeeze one firm apple-sized breast hard against his bicep.
“Okay, okay, just text me where to be and when,” Pete laughed. Even if it hadn’t been his job to watch Lexi, he’d probably have been persuaded anyhow.
He was relishing the feel of that boob and Ms.Golightly’s subtle fragrance of fresh woman sweat and soap when a car door slamming brought him out of his reverie. Shit, he was going to be out of position for the handoff if he didn’t get his sorry ass in gear.
“Sorry, I have to run!” he said, disengaging himself and leaving a slightly disappointed Cheer Coach in the dust as he trotted up the stairs to the maintenance rooms at the back of the school. He had just time enough to stow everything, break out his bucket and mop, and get to the hallway adjacent to the girl's showers. From there he could monitor the doorways until the ‘real’ bodyguard showed up to escort the Princess home to her castle. With the football and cross country teams done for the day, the hallways were nearly deserted which in one way made his job of unobtrusively observing Lexi harder. Thankfully, no one paid attention to the new janitor, or ‘custodian’ as the fancy private school liked to label his current position.
He could hear the girls within giggling and goofing around with each other as they took showers and dressed. He kicked himself for not making a better case for cameras in the shower. But a glowering look from his friend nixed that idea quickly. Sometimes it didn’t pay to work with someone who knew you well, Pete thought morosely.
Several girls passed by the hall on the way out to the parking lot, but still no Lexi. She was often the last one out though, so he wasn’t worried yet. But the normally reliable bodyguard, Fred was a little late as well. Maybe he was finally getting tired of Lexi’s shit. She seemed to revel in making him wait on her and seemed to deliberately draw out her shower.
That’s when he heard the shrill scream.
It came from outside the door to the parking lot. Before he even realized it the compact .45 Sig P320 was out from under the back of his shirt and in his hand and he was pushing his way into the girl's showers. Pete didn’t bother investigating the scream, it was too late to do anything, and his training dictated covering the principal before anything else.
No one had come in past him so the threat must have come in from the door leading out to the playing fields. What worried him was the public nature of the threat. He knew if they came for her here this was a hit and they wanted to make a statement. Collateral damage was never a concern in these scenarios.
The instant he blew through the door Pete heard the assailant from the other side of a row of lockers.
“Youse there settle down or I’m gonna have to kill allayah!” said a thick voice in an almost cartoonish Jersey accent. “Where’s this Lexi chick?”
Great, a fucking goombah, thought Pete. He hated goombahs. They were untrained and unpredictable with little sense for self preservation.
The girl's screaming must have masked the sound of the door swinging open. Pete knew he didn’t have long though. This moron wasn’t going to have any patience in fact it was likely the only reason he hadn’t killed them all, is that he didn’t see his target and needed info.
Then Pete saw her crouched under a table full of towels by the shower area. He could tell she was terrified. She was wearing nothing but panties and a sports bra, trembling like a leaf in a hurricane with silent tears streaming down her face, but Pete was impressed. She wasn’t screaming like an idiot and she hadn’t panicked- she had done what it took to survive for a few more seconds. Unfortunately, those seconds were up.
“Come out, come out wherever you are Princess Lexi or this skinny bitch gets one in the melon,” said the goombah as he strode to the center of the room carrying a screaming naked blond cheerleader in front of him with his left arm, while his right hand held a pistol to the side of the girl’s head.
Pete saw the goombah a split second before he saw Pete. The lack of a mask indicated to Pete that there was no way this was a kidnapping, that man was going to kill everyone in the room along with Lexi. Pete did the calculus in a millisecond. It would have to be a very risky ‘T Zone’ shot in a room full of noncombatants. It was a difficult shot even on a range with paper targets that couldn’t shoot back. Pete made his choice.
He was barely aware of the trigger break and then the sound as he watched the target's head come apart like a clay pinata spraying brains across the far wall and two stunned nearly naked cheerleaders standing behind him. The target dropped like a puppet with his strings cut. A remote part of his mind thought ‘Good to know these new rounds worked as advertised’.
Pete knew it wasn’t over yet though. These Mafia types might be untrained but they weren’t stupid. The first goombah had a nearby partner somewhere, They’d never send in one by himself. Sure enough. Pete had only taken two steps toward the body when the rear door opened.
“Vinnie, didya find…” the second man started before the Talon Hollow Point penetrated the back of his mouth and blew out the top of his spine. Vinnie’s partner fell backward out of the door, his twitching feet propping it open.
That seemed to unleash the tide and as Pete started toward the table where his principal was hidden, the three other cheerleaders flew out the doorway like the hounds of Hell were nipping at their backsides.
"No, don't go out there!” Pete yelled as he reversed himself to block the door, but it was too late. Goddammit, these girls were fast!
Luckily he recovered just in time to snag Lexi around the waist as she flew past him. Her momentum whirled them both through the doorway and as they tumbled out onto the concrete steps she fell on top of him, her face just inches from his.
‘Let go of me!” She yelled while punching him in the ear with her free hand. Maybe she hit like a girl but sonofabitch that still hurt. What the fuck was the safe word again? Pete was having a hard time focusing while trying to restrain the rabid badger in his arms currently masquerading as a teen princess.
“Armadillo! armadillo! armadillo!” He shouted. That made her stop momentarily as she stared at him as if he’d completely lost his mind. Shit, someone forgot to tell his principal the safe word.
It nearly became a moot point as Pete saw a flickering red dot cross the side of her head. Without thinking he rolled her underneath him just as he felt the ‘whap’ of air and heard the snap of a high-velocity slug pass through the 3 inches of air separating them. Pete had a microsecond to pray that the sniper was old school as he continued his rolling motion, dropping his pistol, wrapping both his arms around her, and bringing them to their feet with his back to the sniper, just in time to lurch back in through the open doorway. He nearly made it, but the shooter must have been fast on the bolt. Just as he crossed the threshold, he felt a sharp burn punch across the top of his left shoulder and heard the loud ‘spang’ as the spent bullet collided with the steel lockers inside. Another roll and they were safely behind the brick wall to the side of the doorway.
He couldn’t tell how hard he’d been hit, but more importantly, he’d lost his sidearm. There’d be another team on the way in seconds. Time to get the fuck outa Dodge.
Luckily Lexi must have had the breath knocked out of her or she was just momentarily stunned.
“Listen your dad hired me to keep an eye on you at school. Since you wouldn’t allow a bodyguard anywhere near you during school hours I had to do it this way. Now we have to get the fuck outa here because there are more on the way. “
“Huh, huh how did you know they were going to shoot at me outside?” she stuttered childlike. It was a strange question, but at least she wasn’t beating on him.
“Because that’s how I would’ve set it up. It’s also how I know there’s at least one more team on their way here now.”
“Fuckers!” she spat.
“My sentiments exactly, now let’s get gone,” Pete said, taking her hand and pulling her toward the hallway door. He was encouraged. In spite of it all Lexi had some fire. Truthfully, had their situations been reversed he didn’t know if he could’ve said the same about himself,
He cracked open the door and listened. He could hear a door bang on the other side of the school. Dammit. They were almost out of time and he still had to call in, he thought as he pulled Lexi with him down the hall and around a corner to where a short hall dead-ended in a supply closet. He drew her in next to him and shut the door as he flipped out his cell phone and hit the speed dial.
“Actual 6- this is Hounddog, code red. 2 tangos down. 1 friendly presumed KIA. Principal is safe. Hostile teams remain in area. Going to ground at position alpha,”
“Copy, remain at position alpha until relieved. DO NOT hand over principal to local LEO’s. We have a security breach and are working with a trusted team to clear the area but it may take some time. Repeat, do not leave position alpha until verified relief arrives.
“Roger, wilco. Hounddog out.” Pete finished just as he heard footsteps approaching in the hallway.
Working quickly, but quietly he cleared the area around an old heating air return vent set low in one wall and carefully lifted the vent cover up to reveal a small opening closed with a hinged, welded steel plate. He undogged the plate and wedged it open.
“In you go,” he said quietly in Lexi’s ear with a gesture toward the dark uninviting hole in the wall.
Her eyes flew open. “I am NOT going in there!” she said in a forceful whisper as she crossed her arms.
He’d been afraid of this. He didn’t have time to argue. The second assault team was nearly on them.
“Sorry sweetie, but yes you are,” Pete said softly as he swept her both feet out from underneath her with his leg, scooped her up, and stuffed her into the hole with a firm two-handed push on her delicious caboose. She managed to whack him pretty good in the forehead head with one of her feet as he followed her in. Quickly he flipped around and carefully lowered the vent cover back in place and then working by feel in the darkness, slid the steel door home and lowered a solid steel locking bar in place behind it.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he located the switch and flipped on some LED lights.
“Home sweet home!” He said in a normal voice. He’d only had a few days to work on it but he’d managed to install 1-inch thick steel panels and rubberized acoustical foam throughout this mini safe room. If they were found it would take explosives or a blow torch and several hours to get them out of here. Hopefully, the cavalry would arrive before the bad guys found them. Of course, Lexi might kill him long before that. Right now she was shooting razor blades out of her eyes.
“You can speak normally in here , no one outside can hear us.”
“So this is where you bring your captives huh? I knew you were a perv.” she snapped.
“Settle down there Sally,” This is a safe room. They can’t get in. We can stay here until rescue arrives. Your virtue is in no danger.” Pete said gesturing around him to the tiny 6x8 room that was just over 6 feet in height. It had been a part of the old abandoned boiler room before Pete found and converted it.
“My what? Who are you anyway? You don’t talk like a janitor.”
“Oh well thank god then, that I’m not. God forbid your pretty little butt be saved by the wrong sort of people,” Pete replied with a little snark of his own.
For a second it looked like Lexi was going to start up again, then she paused and her eyes softened. “Sorry, you’re right. Thank you.”
“No problema,” said Pete, wincing a little as his wound tightened up. “Say, would you mind getting that red first aid bag off the shelf behind you?
“Ah, sure… Wait shit! You’ve got blood everywhere,” Lexi said as she got the first clear glimpse of his shoulder. She stood and grabbed the medic bag from the steel shelving along one wall.
“What can I do to help?” she said, kneeling next to him where he sat with his back to the wall.
“Crap, this one’s in a bad spot for me. Can you help me off with my shirt?” He said leaning forward slightly.
Lexi helped him unbutton his short-sleeved work shirt. Luckily as part of a janitor's uniform, it was meant to shed stains and didn’t absorb much blood. It still was not fun pulling it away from his wound which quickly began bleeding again.
“Shit your back! This isn’t the first time this has happened to you is it?” she said pointing to the tracery of scars across his back and chest.
“Ah, nope, not really.”
“Are you going to be okay?”
“Tis merely a flesh wound,” Pete said in a poor imitation of an English accent. He grinned realizing that he’d always wanted to say that.
“What? God, you’re so weird.” Lexi said, giving him another of those looks.
Pete shook his head and despaired of the state of contemporary youth culture. They’ll never even know what they missed, he thought.
“Okay, It looks like a through and through, if you can help me clean it we should be able to stop the bleeding,” said Pete confidently. Lexi seemed more curious than upset at the sight of his wounds. This girl was full of surprises.
Pete walked her through using gauze wipes and then Betadine to clean the wound. Pouring the Betadine into the wound actually hurt worse than being shot. Despite what television shows depicted, shoulder wounds were not minor. The shoulder was an extremely complicated joint and if any of the major tendons or nerves were damaged it would never work the same. Pete thought he’d probably gotten off easily, but he was not looking forward to the physical therapy he’d have to go through in the next months. Until it tightened up though he could still use it in an emergency.
‘Okay now then sprinkle a little of this QuickClot on the wound and tape some gauze on it and we’re good!” Pete said cheerfully as he handed her the foil packet and swallowed four ibuprofen from the kit. “You’d make a helluva doctor Lexi!”
Lexi finished up and gave him a little smile as she taped the gauze in place. “Really, you think so?”
“Yep, I feel 100% better already,”
“Sorry.” She said, hiding her eyes.
“For what? You did great work.”
“No, I mean, sorry you got shot saving me.”
“It’s part of my job Lexi.”
“Bullshit. To you, I’m probably young and stupid but I know more about people than you think, and I know that there can’t be one in a million who would put themselves between me and a bullet, job or not,” she replied with some heat and a little moisture in her eyes. “I could have died today, if not for you and you will not minimize that,” she said with a touch of the imperiousness that he expected.
Pete was flummoxed, he never knew what to say in this sort of situation so he fell back on the last resort- simple honesty.
“Okay then, you are welcome, Lexi.”
“So are you like a professional bodyguard or something?”
“Uh no, I really am a handyman now, but I had some personal protection training when I was in the military and a friend who helped me out of a tight spot once asked if I could help him so I’m doing this as a favor,” Pete said with a shrug.
“So let me get this right. You aren't even getting paid for this?” she said wonderingly.
“Ah, that’s not how the friend thing works in my book.”
Pete was further perplexed when she put a hand on his face and kissed him full on the mouth. It wasn’t a lingering kiss but it wasn’t a quick peck either. Before he could respond in any way she leaned back and stood up. Could she be a little disconcerted as well? Pete didn’t know what to think. He was touched. Maybe she wasn’t the stuck-up little snot that he’d assumed.
“Um, one question, well actually two?”
“Sure, Lexi.”
“First what’s your real name, second where’s the potty?” said Lexi with a tentative grin.
“Hah. My real name is Pete Longfellow, and the potty is that white 5-gallon bucket in the corner there.”
“You’re kidding me right?”
“Sorry, but no. Unfortunately, the Four Seasons was booked so our facilities are limited.”
Pete thought she’d balk at peeing less than 5 feet from him in full view. Instead, she just laughed.
“Thank god it’s a tinkle and not a turdle” is all she said.
“Yeah that’d be awful,” Pete said, holding his nose. Lexi responded by picking up an MRE (Meal Refused by Everyone) from the shelf and tossing it at his head
‘Hah! Be good old man or I’ll whack your shoulder!” Lexi said as she pried the lid off the bucket.
“So I take it, I'm supposed to sprinkle some sawdust on it?” she said as she noticed the scoop and bag of fine wood shavings next to the bucket.
“Yes that would be great unless you’re positive your pee won’t stink, then don’t bother,” Pete said with a grin. He was just glad that she had no way of knowing what he’d been thinking out on the football field a couple of hours ago.
“Fine. Turn around you perv,” she said, her cheeky grin giving lie to her words.
“Your wish is my command, Princess,” Pete said, shifting his position to face the door.
A soft swish of her panties hitting the floor was all he heard before the torrent. In the empty bucket, it sounded like a race track paddock right before the final race of the Triple Crown. Damn, this girl pissed like a thoroughbred.
It would have been indelicate to mention it so of course Pete did.
“Damn Lexi, don’t they let you pee at school? Did you fill the bucket? I was about to put on my life jacket,”
“Shut up you old fart, I pee when I’m nervous!” she snorted in amusement.
“Sorry, is it safe to turn around now?
“Sure, and it doesn’t stink by the way.”
Pete looked around to see that Lexi had turned her back to him and deliberately waited. When she was sure she had his attention, she gave her tight little buns a shimmy and pulled her cotton panties back into place.
“Tease.”
“Perv.”
They both laughed and then Lexi sat next to him on the rubber-padded floor. She grabbed his good right arm and draped it over her shoulder and laid her head on his chest. Pete once more didn’t know quite what to make of this unexpected affection. She probably just needed some comfort. He couldn’t imagine the mental stress she’d gone through in the last minutes. His first time in combat had nearly incapacitated him for days. Seeing people die and having others try to kill you could shatter normal mental and social barriers.
“So are you going to call and find out what’s happening out there?” she said quietly.
“I wish I could, but a cell signal won't go through these walls. If I’d had more time I coulda rigged some sorta comms, but this is the very last thing we expected.”
“How long do you think it will be?”
“I couldn’t say, but from what my contact said it’s going to be a while until they are 100% sure everything is okay. It sounded like there might have been some security leaks and that this is probably the safest place for you right now.”