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Bethany Anne said, “I’ll call him and ask. If he will do it, I’ll get a Pod over to pick him up later so he can work with the guys.”

    “Do you think they will have problems in front of the camera?” Jean asked.

    Bethany Anne eyed the shorter woman, “I think if I let you rub John down with the baby oil, he won’t be able to get in front of the camera.

    Jean smiled mischievously, “Sure he would…eventually.”

CHAPTER FOUR

    Rancho Santa Margarita, California - USA

    Mark Koeff had been surprised to get a phone call from Bethany Anne earlier that day. It took him about thirty-seven seconds to say ‘yes.'

    He grabbed two bags of camera equipment to hand to the man who had landed a black Pod that night in his backyard. It was a good thing the vehicle could fly straight up and down, his yard was pretty small. Orange County had a lot of positive things going for it. However, large lot sizes weren't one of them.

    Tanner, the guy helping him, grabbed the two heavy bags that contained the lighting equipment and walked out of Mark’s kitchen into the back yard. Mark watched him for a second as it sunk in that Tanner wasn’t struggling with the weight at all.

    Kari, Mark’s wife, came and kissed him good-bye. He stepped over to the twenty-seven inch iMac he used for his business and shut it down. Mark had rescheduled some headshot work by a few days to do this gig, but only one person complained, He offered to do his pictures for free, just a week late, which seemed to please everyone.

    “Come back safe, sweetheart,” Kari told him. They kissed another time, and the two walked out to see Tanner standing in front of the Pod.

    “Ready?” he asked Mark.

    Mark turned to Kari, “I’ll be safe. I’m going to be shooting pictures of heavy duty guards. I’ll just hide behind them if anything happens.” He chuckled as he sat down in the Pod and Tanner helped him strap in with the five-point harness.

    Kari watched as the black Pod lifted into the darkness before disappearing from her eyes. She turned to go inside, hoping she didn’t hear about her husband in the news.

    —

    Mark was amused to be teaching four of the most famous guys in the protection business the ins and outs of his profession to calm their fears. While he often had to reduce anxiety for those he photographed, doing that for these four, who probably walked through walls rather than finding the door, was funny.

    As long as he didn’t let them know he was laughing on the inside, he should be fine.

    Mark had made it to the Pacific to land on the QBS Polarus with the famed Ad Aeternitatem a couple of hundred yards away, heading to the west at a slow pace.

    His stuff was offloaded as he was shown to the meeting room on the huge ship. It was in here that he found the four guards waiting for him. Mark had kept a few things with him to help with the discussion. He shook everyone’s hand and exchanged names before opening his bags. Placing the contents on a table at the front of the room, he looked up to see that the four men had taken seats in the front row.

    Mark held up a camera body. “This is a Canon 5D Mark III, I have the Mark IV pre-release version Canon provided me to review before release, but for this shoot, I’m going with my tried and true tools.” He looked at his attentive audience, “I’m sure you have preferred tools you use.” He got some nods of agreement.

    Mark set the camera down and picked up a long cylinder, “This is a Canon 70-200 zoom lens, which gives me the flexibility to go slightly wider if I need, but primarily to take advantage of its 2.8 aperture at a 200% compression factor to obtain dappled, indistinct backgrounds. I also love the way it flattens the nose and brings out the eyes, making a deeper spiritual connection with the viewer. This lets the viewer catch a glimpse into the soul, which is eminently more appealing.”

    He put down the lens and picked up the next piece of equipment, “For