“That’s not everything,” River said.
“I know.”
“Run!”
Newt ran but he let River catch him. The harness camein useful.
The morning of the day they were due to go to the premiere, they took turns to role-play star and bodyguard. When Newt was pretending to be River, he was a gormless twit, which made River laugh. While River wandered around the house in star mode, Newt looked out for potential ambush points. Then River pounced on him and they played a different game for a while.
Ever since he’d been with River, Newt had done his best to protect him, looking for anything out of the ordinary, people who seemed suspicious. They might be treating this as a bit of joke, but Newt wasn’t forgetting the potential threat to River.
The car collected them after lunch. As they travelled towards London, River quietly practised his responses to the questions they were expecting. Newt made up a few more that he might get asked.What’s your favourite thing to do?Newt – was not an acceptable answer. They’d had limited success learning the script forKaden’s Monster. River could just about read it, but wasn’t yet able to remember much. But recovery from a serious brain injury would always have its ups and downs. The important thing was to keep River optimistic.
Newt was glued to the window once they were travelling through London. He’d visited the city once with Phelan and they’d gone on an open-topped bus tour for Newt’s birthday. He took a picture of one of the red tour buses as they crossed the Thames and sent it to Phelan with messageRemember when we did this in the rain?
When the driver called Max to tell them they were a few minutes away from the hotel, River squeezed Newt’s fingers.
“Remember to stay standing when I sit down,” Riverwhispered. “But if you get hurt…I’ll kill you,” River continued.
Newt chuckled. He needed to stay observant. And hope like fuck nothing kicked off. He put in the earpiece, a clear, coiled acoustic tube, though there was no speaker attached so it was purely cosmetic. Yet strangely enough, it did make him feel more legitimate. He was relieved bodyguards weren’t allowed to carry guns in the UK, unless they were looking after someone very important like heads of state or royalty. River didn’t qualify though he was very important to Newt. His heart thumped hard.Please don’t let anything happen.
When the car pulled up, they put on their suit jackets. A liveried doorman stepped forward to open the door of the car on River’s side, and Newt leapt out to take the doorman’s place while remembering to check who was nearby. He felt more on edge than he’d thought he’d be. No way would he want to do this for a living.Oh yeah, I am doing it for a living.He allowed himself a small smile as he followed River up the steps into the hotel.
Max was waiting in the lobby and looked them up and down. “Very nice. You scrub up well, Newt.”
“We were a bit puzzled by the dog leads,” Newt said. “Especially when we don’t have a dog.”
River smirked.
Max laughed. “Hope you found a use for them. Dila and her crew are waiting in the room. Let’s go up.”
Newt had known she was going to the premiere with River but he still felt a pang of jealousy. Still, he’d be close behind in bodyguard mode. Although, apart from throwing himself in front of a bullet, assuming he’d be quick enough and that was unlikely, he wasn’t sure what use he’d be apart from being able to whisk River away if the conversationbecame tricky.
Andy let them into the room. Dila waved at River as Xander styled her hair.
“Hi,” Newt said to everyone.
Andy pointed to his earpiece. “Are you linked to anything?”
“No, are you?”
“No. There’s plenty of security around and to be honest, if anything kicks off, it would too late to call for help. We can be each other’s backup, right?”
Newt nodded. “Except you stand in front of me.”
Newt was relieved when Andy smiled.
“There’s a limo booked for four this afternoon,” Andy said. “Max wants as late an entrance as possible. River and Dila will walk the red carpet, go inside, mingle in the lobby, possibly listen to the producer or director make a speech and then we’ll sneak off. The car will be waiting at the rear. Not many actors sit and watch themselves in the screening room.”
“Have you done one of these before?” Newt asked.
“A couple. How’s River doing?”
“He’s good. We have a signal for if he needs help. He’ll drag his fingers through his hair. Worst case scenario, I’ll create a diversion.”
“Such as?”
“We couldn’t agree.” Newt smiled. “But I have a yoyo in my pocket and River has one in his. We’re both very good.”
