Ch 435 - Who’s an Amateur?

Billy wiped the sweat from his forehead. As the head teacher of Class 6, he was responsible for everything that they did.

If he couldn't fix this, then the school board would be furious with him, and he would probably be fired. And with a reputation for being incompetent, who else would hire him? His career would be over.

He had no idea what to do.

He ran to the school gates and saw numerous cars arriving. Even worse, armed police were standing guard, checking everyone who went in or out of the school. What was going on?

Sweat rolled down Billy's face as he stood there, gaping in shock, and not taking any action. When the principal saw him, he was furious.

"Why are you just standing there?" the principal demanded, shaking with anger. "This is a serious dereliction of duty. I told you what was happening, and it's your job to deal with it, so why aren't you doing something?"

Billy said nothing. He just stood there, looking helplessly at him.

"Your poor performance has seriously damaged the reputation of the school!" the principal said. "Get this sorted!"

The principal made his way to the classroom and looked around. None of Class 6 was there, but on a desk, he found a photo of Billy. Someone had taken a pen and defaced the picture, crossing out Billy's eyes and adding horns, fangs, and a pointy beard. The students detested Billy.

The principal swore. "Billy is useless," he muttered. "And I'm fed up with it!" He took out his phone and started dialling.

**

Alex and Debbie snuggled close, savouring their time together. When Alex's phone rang, they ignored it, but the caller was persistent.

Alex scowled at it, and Debbie smiled. "Just answer it," she said. "It must be important."

Sighing, Alex picked up the call.

"Hello, is this Mr. Ambrose?" a voice asked. "Are you busy?"

"Yes!" Alex said, ending the call straight away. Next time, he would leave his phone at home. 

**

Outside the school gate, Jude Hutton sat in a car, looking out of the window.

Well known within the agency, Jude was highly trained and was an expert in explosives and firearms. His angular face and penetrating gaze made it easy to recognize him.

Director Gavin Abbott was a serious-looking, middle-aged man. He sat in the back of the car, watching the school.

"Jude, shouldn't you go and see what's going on?" Gavin asked. "If there's any trouble, our enemies might take advantage of it."

"That's the difference between me and Alex," Jude said. "I don't need to go into the school and pretend to be a teacher. The school is the safest place for the girl, so I'm sure no one will try to snatch her from there."

"You really think the school is safe?" Gavin asked, not convinced. "Didn't two agents already get inside and almost abduct Heidi?"

"Yes, but they failed," Jude pointed out. "And now they'll expect the school to be heavily guarded, so they won't try it again. We just need to sit here and wait for them to show themselves."

In the evening, after the armed police had gone, Jude drove into Oak Ridge High School and parked his car. Instead of getting out, he simply looked around.

He was confident that the campus would be safe. After all, all the students were young, so any intruder should be easy to spot. There was no way they would be able to abduct a student in the middle of the school.

There was no need to warn Heidi or assign her a protection detail. He didn't even give her a silent alarm or a way to contact him. It simply wasn't necessary, and only an amateur like Alex would resort to using an alarm.

"The agency stepped on a lot of toes when we demanded to be the ones to protect Heidi," Gavin had told him earlier. "This is vitally important. If you do well, the agency will look good, but if you fail, you'll take us down with you. It's not just about the two of us."

"Don't worry," Jude had replied. "I'm better than Alex, and I promise I'll be successful. Alex is a fighter, but he knows nothing about protecting people. We'll do a much better job."

As far as Jude was concerned, after the last bungled attempt, the campus was the safest place for Heidi. As long as Heidi wasn't allowed to leave the school, everything would be okay. 

Of course, if anyone did dare to enter the school, Jude would deal with them swiftly.

His phone rang with a call from Director Abbott.

"Jude, what did you mean when you said you were waiting for our enemies to show themselves?" Gavin asked. "Are you using Heidi as bait to catch them?"

"Yes," Jude said. "Playing it safe is getting us nowhere. We need to draw them out and deal with them once and for all. I'm more than a match for them, and once I get my hands on them, they're done."

"I hope you're right," Gavin said. "Good luck." He hung up.

"We'll soon see the difference between an amateur and a professional," Jude said to himself. Although he had never met Alex, he didn't think much of him.

At half-past eleven that evening, just as the school lights went out, Jude's phone rang, and he was informed of an incident in the school.

Heidi had settled into a new dormitory, but it didn't take long for the intruders to find her.

Jude rushed into the school and saw seven people dragging Heidi out of the building.

"I can't believe it went so well, Bill," said one of the men. "Those last two agents must have been idiots. How else could it have ended with a fire, a gunfight, and both agents dead?"

Bill glowered at his other team members as they hauled Heidi between them. "Never underestimate your opponent," he said in a low voice. "Amy and James were the best of the best. They just got a little careless. We won't."