Tease of Spades: Game of Love Series

by Gray, Khardine

  I was just hoping for the absence we’d had in the days prior to seeing Giovanni and The Chameleon. Eight of us had been down in the chamber at several points during the days and nights searching through the vaults. So this was me hoping for a night like that.

  “I have to be okay. It has to be okay. I can’t worry over everything. There’s too many variables.” Just like last time.

  Last time…

  I just couldn’t get the past out of my head.

  The last time I felt this angst was when Claire was killed. Her and the team.

  There were several things at work then but this time the game had a variety of players that I couldn’t keep tabs on. So, like I said to Jia earlier, this was the best way. It was, it had to be.

  “I got things covered from my end,” Wes assured me.

  “Thanks. just keep Ethan and the rest of the team occupied. I’ll contact you as soon as I can.”

  “Cool. Bro, please check in with a text or something when you grab the prints?”

  “Yeah.” I could do that. It would stop him from worrying. I’d grab the prints and fire off a message to him the minute I got back to my car. Then I’d head to Mexico and contact him and Ethan from there when I was ready to meet them. Ready and out of harm’s way.

  Essentially, when I was long gone. That was the plan and me trying to be one step ahead of the game.

  What I hoped was that nothing would happen here in terms of Balthazar. I hoped that with Jia under her mafia protection she’d be safe. I was certain in Italy she’d be safe too. That was what I needed for her right now, to ensure her safety. Then I could figure out the rest. I’d do it.

  It didn’t escape me though, that every time I made some form of promise to her it got blown to hell in some way.

  The hope was that when Giovanni realized the blueprints were missing he’d lose his shit and it would be known that he didn’t have them anymore. The fucking problem now was Balthazar knowing how I felt about Jia.

  Balthazar knew I loved her. It switched up my worry entirely because it wouldn’t take a genius to work out that if Giovanni didn’t have the prints then I’d taken them. Nothing would stop him from using her to blackmail me into giving him the blueprints then I’d be once again torn between my heart and duty.

  Providing I got them.

  I had to factor that in first.

  “Wes…” I had to give the extra warning. “If you don’t hear from me assume the worse.”

  He went quiet. I almost thought he’d gone but I heard him blow out a breath.

  “Shit. Xander don’t talk like that.”

  “I don’t like talking like this but gotta say it. You know what to do if that happens.”

  “I do, and I will.”

  I left him with two instructions in the event that I’d failed. The first was to tell Ethan straight away what had happened and arrange back up because my failure could mean the prints got moved.

  The next thing I asked Wes to do was tell Jia I loved her. That was it. two things. My two last requests I’d left in the charge of my best friend.

  Fuck… I had to focus.

  Focus and get this shit done. Work out the rest later. That was what I had to do and see success instead of failure.

  “Thanks buddy. Gotta go,” I stated straightening up.

  “See you on the other side bro. Xander, be careful.”

  Be careful…

  Yeah.

  “I will. You too. You be careful too and get the hell out if there’s trouble. Don’t worry about anybody else, just get yourself out.” That was me thinking of the other variables at work here, the gray area neither of us knew about.

  “I will.”

  On that note he hung up.

  Time to make this move.

  I looked ahead at the drain entrance.

  I was dressed in my usual black get up. I looked ready for this black op mission in every sense of the word.

  I made sure no one followed me, but there was only so much I could do in that respect.

  It had just gone eight.

  I’d parked up in the park itself near an abandoned greenhouse behind the church. It looked like the caretaker or someone like that might have used it at some point. The whole area was covered with unruly trees and weed. It was a great hiding spot and different to what anyone might have seen if we’d been followed previously by Balthazar’s men.

  I proceeded to the drain entrance, my backpack on my back with all that I needed.

  I entered, turned on my headlight and made my way to the chamber.

  In the darkness of the tunnel, my thoughts of Balthazar and this morning returned.

  I hated feeling fear.

  I hated it with a passion and hated it worse that the fucking man knew how to reach me. He knew exactly what to do to rattle me.

  Jack always said, if you can’t get the head, cut off the foot or stab the heart.

  He was right. All villains checked weaknesses first. It made sense to because those weaknesses were the way to cut down your target.

  If you were as cold-hearted as Balthazar though and didn’t have a heart, it was so much the better, for him, for men like him.

  I couldn’t be like that even with my background. I couldn’t. It wasn’t in me, that innate instinct to care was a part of me as badass as I was. I was a fucking badass, but when it came to it, my heart stood in the way a lot. It was what stood in the way the night Claire and the guys died.

  I’d thought of Paul first. He was a comrade and friend. Although I knew rescuing him could more than likely be a trap, I still went. It was that element of a chance at rescuing him that made me do it. It made the guys in the team do it too. Protocol would have told us not to get him because it was too risky, but even Ethan didn’t follow protocol that night.

  When we saw that he was on board to go rescue Paul and get us out too, it encouraged us to try. I tried and went against instinct. It made me put my woman in danger by allowing her worries to get to me.

  I would never forget what she said to me back at the base. She would have said yes when I asked her to marry me. She mentioned us having kids. I never even thought that far but it was logical. It made sense. It was beautiful when the image of the future came into my mind, and as I’d watched her die the vision wiped from my mind. It became no more. A possibility I wouldn’t have.

  Like today with Jia.

  This morning when we woke up, she’d been in my arms. I held her and it felt like something we always did. Wake up together, make love again before we left for the day. Try to leave the bed and only bring ourselves to leave because the idea of having breakfast together was nice.

  It was nice and I was glad we had it. I was glad I got to tell her I loved her, although the circumstances where shit. It was something I should have said as I made love to her, not as I was leaving her and saying goodbye.

  Up ahead was the entrance to the chamber. It had taken me less than fifteen minutes to get here.

  Well here goes. I was going in blind. Just like that night so long ago.

  There were so many similarities.

  Mostly it was the uncertainty. The not knowing if I was going to make it, not just this part but all of it.

  I had to just trust in my skills.

  Quietly, I got my tools out and looked on the device to see if anyone was inside the chamber.

  Everything seemed okay. No one was around, so I went in and headed to the section where Wes and I had seen Giovanni and The Chameleon go through the flooring into the secret vault.

  I rushed straight to it and took out the fingerprint mask. Placing it on my thumb I touched the hidden panel on the wall. Thank fuck it worked. I’d hoped like hell it wasn’t his whole hand because it seemed that way from the cameras. It was difficult to tell at the time. I’d thought maybe that it was one of those recognition panels that would allow clearance at a certain percentage of accuracy.

  Regardless of how it worked, thank fuck it worked for me and there was the ha
tch in the floor moving open for me to get in.

  It was truly all very clever and I had to give the bastard credit where it was due. First, the place had no surveillance so there was no way outside people would have been able to hack the system, and then there was this. Giovanni had gone on the basis of the old ways. Out of sight, out of mind.

  It showed the depth of his greed.

  There were some steps that led down inside the hatch. As soon as I took the first step, a light came on. Dim at first like the rest of the place above, then growing brighter. I walked down the steps and the minute I got to the last step the hatch closed and the light brightened right up.

  It was truly fascinating.

  What was more fascinating was seeing the fucking blueprints I’d worked so hard to find these last few weeks –month. Fuck it was a day over a month.

  They sat in a glass case in the center of the room, that was all that was in here, just the case. It was like the room had been made for it, it almost felt tomb like.

  Seeing them sitting there in a glass case, in the same tube roll Ethan had shown us back at the base when we’d first been told about the mission was something else.

  For the first time today I felt some form of triumph.

  Good, now for the next part of the plan. Get the prints and go.

  My body moved of its own accord and went over to the case. First I checked out the case to make sure there wasn’t some sort of alarm that would go off when I touched it, that would have been shit and a half.

  I looked around it, on the case, under it and over it, before I took the plunge to lift it.

  So far so good. It seemed like Giovanni did exactly what I’d hoped by just relying on the fact that no one in hell would have been able to find the prints. Unless it was Wes or me.

  Fuck, as I lifted the case and took out tube with the prints, the feel of it in my hands was even better.

  No time to savor it though. It was time to head the fuck out.

  Except that the device I’d carried just started buzzing in my back pocket, signaling that someone was in the chamber.

  Fuck!

  Damn it!

  I never even had a minute to check or try to escape because the fucking hatch I’d come through started opening again.

  Shit! Fucking shit! Someone was coming down here and it could only be one someone I knew of.

  My eyes darted around the room for a place to hide but there was nothing. Nothing at all.

  No fucking place to go besides back the way I’d come and shit, a pair of Italian loafers came into view.

  Loafers and a very expensive suit.

  Giovanni came down the steps with two guns in hand.

  He would have known someone was in here because of the lights.

  His face when he saw me was hell fury.

  Hell fury and wrath.

  “Xander Cage… I’m actually speechless. As with many things, you surprise me.”

  I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

  This was bad. Really bad. Shit bad. I’d slipped up and there wasn’t any way that I could have avoided this.

  Another set of feet came into view. The Chameleon came down next. He frowned and scowled deeply, worse than Giovanni. I wasn’t sure who I should be more worried about.

  I made a move, a move to go with my usual tactics but the Chameleon fired a shot toward me. He was a good shot because it hit me right in my neck and instantly took me down.

  Darkness robbed me of my next thoughts.

  Chapter 18

  Jia

  “Have you got everything ready?” Anya asked.

  I nodded and looked at my friend sitting on the edge of my bed.

  She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on top of them.

  Anya looked like she was doing her best to keep it together. She’d started crying a few times in the hour she’d been here.

  I had a while yet before I had to leave for the airport, several hours in fact. My flight was late tonight so I had the whole day ahead of me. It was just gone eleven now, not even lunch time.

  It was long enough for her to come and hang out for a little while and even for us to go out for one last meal, something to that effect.

  But, damn Armand was here.

  He’d been here since last night and hadn’t left. Pa called in all the muscle like Xander instructed. He actually did it and there were men outside. All armed and ready to kill anything that moved. It was as if I had the whole Italian mafia on my doorstep. Needless to say that I had to give some explanation of the presence of so men to Anya. I’d just told her something was going on and Pa called in extra protection.

  A least it was a version of the truth that explained them and thank God they all stayed outside.

  Armand though had come in and decided to start his husbandly duties.

  Anya and I had been up in my room and I was pretty certain I’d heard the shuffle of feet every now and again outside the door. The asshole was listening in.

  I was sure of it.

  I sat next to Anya and sighed, hugging my knees to my chest too.

  I was dressed and ready to go. All I needed to do was take my bags. That was it, then who knew when I’d see this place again.

  “It feels weird. There’s so much going on. So much I have no control over,” I breathed.

  And so much I couldn’t tell her. I didn’t tell her about Balthazar. I kept that to myself, the same as I kept most of the weekend activities with Xander to myself. I didn’t tell her how Armand tried to rape me, how Xander saved me, or how he told me he loved me.

  None of it.

  I figured it was best for me to shelve it to the back of my mind.

  I had to forget Armand’s treatment of me, just to be able to look at him, and I had to forget that I was about to start a life with a man I didn’t love.

  I had to forget everything and just go with the flow of what was happening.

  “Jia, you’re one of the strongest women I know, you can do this. Everything is shit. I can sense it. I can see it and see how miserable you are, but you’re trying to mask it. You will get through this.” Anya nodded.

  I appreciated her words of strength. I just didn’t feel very strong. I wished I knew where Xander was. I wished I knew what he’d done after. Nothing seemed to happen but that didn’t mean nothing had happened.

  Did he get the blueprints?

  If he did, where did he go?

  I hoped he got them. I really did, it would be his mission accomplished. I just wouldn’t know what would happen next. Pa would no longer have them, so what did that mean in the grand scheme of things?

  Pa was no longer my concern.

  That was what I’d decided last night. It was as I’d said at the start of the week. He’d spread his bed so he could lie in it. What was I really supposed to do?

  Worry about him for the rest of my life?

  No.

  I couldn’t do it. It would get to me to no end if something did happen to him but it felt a little inevitable. Only a matter of time and realistically he would get his end and deserve it.

  Pa was evil. I knew he loved me. I knew that he said it a lot, did a lot to show it in his weird way. Selfishness and greed had however become him.

  I had no place or room in my heart for that.

  “I was hoping we could have lunch,” I told her. “I wanted us to pig out or something.”

  “Me too, but will Armand let you go? Honestly Jia, I’m happy to stay here.” We’d had some candy and fruit. There was a bar of hazelnut chocolate on the bed that we’d brought up from the pantry to share but I wasn’t really in the mood any more.

  She didn’t seem to be either.

  It was habit for us to have junk food and overdose on candy when we got together. We’d done it since we were little and I was going to really miss these sessions with her.

  “I’ll let you know when you can come see me. I mean in Italy.” I gave her a little smile.

  “I’ll be on the fir
st plane over Jia. I’m sorry, I know I’m not saying much. I just don’t know what to say. I was hoping it wouldn’t get this far. That was what I was hoping. Like some miracle could happen and you wouldn’t go.”

  I chuckled. “Well that fairy godmother of mine better hurry up, it’s almost midday and my flight leaves at ten. I have less than twelve hours for a miracle to happen. Let’s say eight. We leave at eight and I reckon once I’m enroute that will be it.” I sounded like I was doing my best. Inside I was crumbling.

  “Jesus Jia, it all makes me feel like shit.” She glanced to the door as we heard shuffling again signaling Armand must have been outside.

  On instinct we both kept quiet. Quiet for a minute or two.

  “Did you buy any nice clothes to take with you?” Anya asked and cocked her head toward the door when Armand shuffled again.

  I smiled. The idiot wouldn’t have wanted to hear about my clothes.

  “Yes, a few jumpers. The fluffy kind. It can be cold this time of year in Italy. I was thinking of getting those thermal tops too. You know the ones that help to regulate your blood pressure.”

  “Oh you should drink garlic tea. My grandma always has that, she gave it to her cat too.”

  That did it. I glanced back to the door as he shuffled away. Asshole, he really was listening, probably wanting to hear if I said anything about Xander. He could have made it less obvious by not going the minute we started talking about what would have bored him to death. I wished it would.

  Anya rolled her eyes. “We should have been talking about boils and shit. What a prick.”

  “I know,” I scuffed.

  “Have you spoken to him much?”

  “No, I don’t want to.” I hadn’t really spoken to Armand at all since he came here.

  “I don’t blame you. We’ve pretty much been up here for just a little over an hour and he couldn’t even pretend to be sociable and get me a drink.”

  He hadn’t greeted her properly either when she first arrived.

  Back when Armand and I were together he hated that I had a friend like her who wasn’t Italian and what he considered mundane so she wouldn’t have understood our ways. He didn’t understand how Pa allowed me to have her, and he worried I’d share secrets.