Johnny Becomes a Bodyguard ©
My cousin Julie had just started a career as a model. Her agent, Kathy, had suggested I might want to consider becoming a bodyguard, and she had arranged for me to attend a two-week class. So, bright and early on a Monday morning, I drove to downtown Dallas where I found a ten-story office building and I parked in the underground garage. I rode the elevator to the fifth floor and walked down the hall until I came to a door with a sign that said, "Sean Smith, Personal Security". I went inside and was greeted by an attractive receptionist, who asked, "Are you here for the class?"
I told her I was, she asked my name, and when I told her, she checked a list on her desk, wrote my name on a sticker, and told me to put it on my shirt. She then gave me a three-ring binder with some printed materials inside, a cardboard name tag with my name printed on it, and a ruled yellow notepad as well as a pen. She took me through a door where I found a very roomy classroom. She told me to sit anywhere and to place the name tag on the desk facing the instructor podium. She also pointed out a coffee pot in the rear of the room and told me to help myself.
I sat in the front row and was drinking a cup of coffee, watching the room quickly fill up. At 8:00 am sharp, a gentleman in a suit walked in and stood behind the podium. He introduced himself as Sean Smith and said he had been a bodyguard for the last twelve years. He had started in the military and when he got out, he got a job working for Hollywood celebrities. He explained that the popular image of a bodyguard was a 250-pound gorilla, but he said, in reality, you needed to have more brains than brawn.
Over the next two weeks, I learned about past attacks on what he called "the Principal", and we discussed the various ways we could avoid the same mistakes with the person we would be protecting. We learned about walking formations, driving techniques, and advance work. We also practiced unarmed defense and shooting. I had gone to the range with my dad in the past, so I was familiar with firearms, but with dad, we just stood behind a table and shot at a target. Sean taught us how to shoot while moving with a principal.
On the last day, we had a practical exercise where we conducted an advance of a restaurant, determined the best routes, and then picked up the client, escorted him to the restaurant and then back to the hotel. As Kathy had mentioned earlier, she was asked to play the part of our VIP. I was selected to be her personal protection officer which meant I would be the closest person to her all night. I learned that the personal protection officer rode in the right front seat and the principal sat in the right rear seat. When we went to her hotel, I picked her up at her room, escorted her to the car, held the door until she was in, and then I jumped in the right front seat.
After dinner, we took her back to the hotel, and after arriving, we were told the exercise was over and we could go home. When I walked Kathy back to her hotel room, she told me to tell the driver to return the car and that I would have someone pick me up at the hotel later. She then told me that after the driver had left, she wanted me to come back to her hotel room. Since she had paid for the class, I assumed she wanted to ask me what I thought about the training. I soon found out I was only partially right.
Since Kathy had a suite, when I walked in the room, I noticed a sofa, coffee table, and an overstuffed chair in a corner. She pointed to the sofa and told me to have a seat. She then sat down next to me. When I had dropped her off at the room earlier, she was wearing a black dress and black high heels. She was now wearing a white robe that I assumed had been provided by the hotel and she was barefoot. I was right to assume she wanted to talk to me about the class. She started by asking, "Sooo, what did you think about the training?"
I told her I had really enjoyed the class, and she then asked, "Do you think you would like to work as a bodyguard full time?"
I thought about it for a minute before answering, "You know, it sounds like a really exciting job, and I think I would probably enjoy it, but Sean pointed out that it was sometimes hit and miss. He said sometimes you might work for a client for a week, and then you might not have another job for a month or more. He said he had a list of guys that he could call if a job came up, but very few of them were working full time."
She sighed before saying, "Okay, I understand that, but what if you had an offer for a full-time job? Would you be interested then?"
"Well, I guess it would depend on what the job required, and what it paid. Sean explained that you might be offered $100,000 a year to protect a Mafia boss, but you probably wouldn't live long enough to spend it."
Kathy laughed and said, "Yeah, I've heard him say that before. Here's the deal. I want to offer you a job working for me full time. As you already know, I'm an agent. I have over 100 girls under contract. At any time, I could have one or more girls traveling out of town or even out of the country on a photo shoot. Sometimes they might need protection but not all the time. There's a lot of creeps out there that would like to sleep with a model, even if she's not interested in him. I have used Sean's agency in the past, but I was thinking that I could use you to travel with the girls when needed, and the rest of the time, you would work directly for me here in Dallas. I'm not bragging when I say I'm rich. I'm just stating a fact. I'm sure Sean mentioned that when people are rich, especially if they are well known, they sometimes become a target for kidnapping or robbery. I also live in a large estate outside of town, and I would feel much safer knowing I had someone protecting my residence. Of course, I have an alarm, but if it went off, it would probably take the cops five minutes to respond. What do you say? Would you be interested in working for me?"
"Wow, Kathy. I mean, I think I would very much like working for you, but I have to ask, why me? I just completed a two-week class and I have no experience. Wouldn't you like to have someone who's been around the block a couple of times?"
She laughed again before explaining, "I have my reasons. The first time I met you I immediately thought you could be a bodyguard. First, you're built like a brick shithouse! Even your muscles have muscles, but then when I talked to you, I could tell you were not just another guy with muscles. You are also smart and very level-headed. Even now, when I offer you a job that I'm sure every guy in that class you were in would jump at, you're weighing the pros and cons and asking questions before you accept. As far as experience, Sean told me that you were an excellent student, that you performed all the tasks well, usually better than everyone else, and that you asked a lot of good questions. He said he would recommend you to anyone looking for a bodyguard. I have some other reasons, as well, but let me explain the job to you first."
Kathy explained that a few of her models had a problem with stalkers. She said she would feel much better if she knew they had someone watching out for them when they were traveling. She also said that occasionally, but not often, someone from the photography crew might make a pass at one of the girls and make them feel uncomfortable.
Then she surprised me when she revealed that she had recently received some threats herself. She said she was not the type of person who was easily frightened, but she thought it prudent to take some precautions.
She explained that I would work directly for her and that I would be available to travel with her models when needed, stay with her at her residence when I wasn't traveling, escort her to various events she might need to attend, and any other job she might need me to do. She offered me $52,000 a year plus expenses. I was shocked that I could make that much money as a recent bodyguard course graduate with no experience.
I thought about it for a minute, and then said, "Kathy, I'm honored that you would trust me to work for you, and the amount of salary you are willing to pay is just unbelievable. I would be happy to work for you. I have to ask, though, when you said you had other reasons to hire me, what did you have in mind?"
