Drive.

Prologue.

By: Wolfie Steel.

Hey there and welcome to my humble home, my name is Trent Gardner and as you can probably tell I am a forty-something two hundred pounds six foot four inch Rottweiler, I know it doesn't sound very important the fact that I have a full tail but it is important to me.

I work as a limo driver for a company called Who's Gonna Drive You Home...Tonight? Yeah, I know what some of you are thinking, you will recognise the name of the company as being from the lyrics of the song DRIVE by THE CARS and you would be right, hell any time that you are placed on hold when calling the company you get the song played in the background.

While it is true that I work for the company, the limo that I drive is all mine and any maintenance, fuel, and insurance that is needed comes directly out of my pocket. It is also true that the only work I get is done on a hire basis, so if no one hires me then I don't work.

I do a fairly wide range of limo work, from school prom evenings to 21^st birthday parties or from funerals to transporting the CEO's of major companies from one place to the next.

Within our company, there are what I would say is three levels of driver, the first level which we call standard are guys who mainly take on prom night and birthday party work, then you have the advanced driver's now while they will do the work of standard driver's should the need arise they are primarily used for funerals and moving slightly important people about, and that then leaves us with the elite driver's like me, I can and will do the jobs of the standard and advanced driver's when the company needs me to, but if we get a CEO of a major company who may be having issues with lets say death threats, well those jobs fall at the paws of the elite driver's.

We have just ten elite level driver's most of them are either Rottweilers like me or Dobermans like my good friend Daniel Clarke. Daniel and I do get together from time to time when our schedules allow to kick back and enjoy ourselves, of course, neither of us will get drunk as we don't always know when our next job will be starting.

As well as being un-docked I am also gay but I try not to show it, it's not that I am ashamed of the fact that I am gay, far from it, it's just that I need to portray myself as professional at all times, a single lapse in concentration or judgement could mean then end of my life or that of my client.

Daniel, of course, knows full well that I am gay and even though he is straight and has a wife and son he is okay with being around me, oh sure I have on some occasions when we have been kicking back together thought about trying my luck with Daniel, because shit he is one sexy looking guy, but I know when to party and I know when to keep it in my pants.

Well it is Monday morning at 8:30 am and I am sitting here in my chair waiting for my phone to ring because let's face it even though I am not broke by any stretch of the imagination I can't really afford to turn down any jobs that come my way, take last week, I had a pretty lucrative week with four days worth of work, okay two days were taken up with funerals which are not really my thing but you learn to forget your personal feelings and remain professional for all concerned.

I won't deny that short-term jobs are okay, variety being the spice of life and all that shit, but I actually prefer what I call the long-term jobs, the kind of stuff that keeps both me and my bank manager happy each week. If I get a long-term protection job that is a sweet bonus for me.

The phone rings.

Please excuse me, I have to take this call, it looks like I have a job waiting for me.

“Trent Gardner how can I help?...Oh, hey Chris how are things going?...Cool, so you have a possible long-term protection gig for me?...Okay bud, let me just get my notepad and pen and I will take down the details...Okay, Chris fire away...The client is a company called Atlantis Bank, address 205 London Plaza...Passengers name is Jason Locke...oh, it's a 24/7 live-in post?...well as long as the client is willing to allow me time to keep a check on my place that is fine with me...oh, and the client wants me suited and booted yeah that is all good, Chris when does the client need me to start?...10:30 am today? Okay that is fine, the limo is ready to go, I just need to get myself suited up and then pack a clean suit and I will make my way over to meet the client...thanks, Chris we'll have to catch up sometime...yeah I'll speak to you soon."

I end the call and place the phone back into its cradle.

Well that is indeed a turn up for the books, it seems that I have what is called a live-in post which basically means that I will be on call for my passenger 24 hours a day 7 days a week, it also seems that the client has asked for an elite level driver as they want the protection detail, so this should be an interesting meeting.

X O X

Well it is now 9:15 am and I am driving through the London traffic to get to my meeting, normally I could leave my place half an hour before my meeting and still be there with time to spare, however, this is London at rush hour and I am driving a limousine that is over twenty feet long, yeah I'm not a very popular dog at the moment.

Finally, I pull up outside the office building of the Atlantis Banking Group with just six minutes to spare, I get out of the car and make sure that I straighten my suit jacket out, well after all I need to make a good first impression.

I head into the foyer and I walk up to the front desk and announce my arrival to the receptionist, a smart-suited German Shepherd, I am invited to take a seat and wait to be led into the meeting.

It is at this point that my nerves begin to kick in, it is the same every time I take on a new job, but usually within the first five minutes of meeting the client I am back to being my no nonsense self again.

Thoughts begin to run through my mind as to who will be my passenger and charge, will they be a complete prick or bitch or will they be perfectly civil and make working together a dream, only time will tell I guess.