While he had come to the island knowing that his friend Neo had connections here with his former SEAL commander, Xavier had had no intention of making contact. However, he had needed someone to watch his back, and he had called Neo when he realized the Asians were trying to follow him. Xavier hadn’t spoken to Neo in years before now, but he had known that wouldn’t matter. Neo had immediately come to assist and had provided the intel he needed on Qin.
He and Neo had been teammates on the same NFL team right out of college and had both left after the first year. The team had made it to the conference finals, and despite their loss in the finals, they had all been proud of the young team’s efforts. On a night of celebration at a local club in Chicago, a teammate, who was from the area, got into a vicious scuffle with another man.
At first they had thought nothing of it, and with at least ten of them in the club, no one thought any man in his right mind would challenge them. However, with tempers hot and apparent bad blood flowing, guns and knives soon entered the fray. He and Neo had grown close during the season, so when the fight came toward them, they had each other’s back and were able to escape with only minor cuts and bruises. Six of their teammates were not so lucky. Fifteen men lost their lives that night, including the two men who had started the fight and five of their other teammates.
Both he and Neo had been shot as well, but both had taken the bullets and still been standing. No one else had known that they had been shot. The men had looked at each other that night and known immediately that they were kindred spirits. It had been the first time in his life he hadn’t felt like a freak and an anomaly. Neo had been a few years older than him and had looked at him with those piercing black eyes with complete knowledge. After witnessing the senseless killings, he and Neo enlisted the next day. Despite recognizing their brotherhood, they had forged different paths with him going to US Special Forces and Neo becoming a Navy SEAL.
With Cassandra’s safety at stake, he had reached out to his brother for help. I’m damn glad that I did. Now that we know who the fuck we’re dealing with I can’t afford to wait for the bureaucracy to get to Qin. Qin had the resources to impose his will once he realized that his men had failed tonight. Xavier had only a few hours to get Cassandra to safety. And then they would have to bring Qin down.
Chapter Fourteen
Cassandra woke as bright sunlight streamed through her bedroom windows. Initially she was a bit confused as to why she was on the floor and not her bed, but then she saw the indentation of the pillow beside her. She rolled toward the pillow, anticipating Xavier’s essence. She was not disappointed, burying her face into it and absorbing his scent as though she was a junky trying to get her next fix.
She finally opened her eyes to glance at her bedside clock. “Oh my God!” Cassandra flew out of the makeshift bed, realizing that she was going to be late for work. After a quick shower, cleaning her teeth and brushing her hair into a ponytail, she slipped into her active-wear gear, pulled on her sneakers, and sprinted out of her bedroom.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?” Monique asked as Cassandra rushed down the stairway.
“Work, I can’t believe I’m late again.”
“Well, that’s what happens when you spend the night screwing your brains out.” Monique snickered.
“I don’t have time to go into what your problem is, but we can discuss it tonight,” Cassandra muttered as she opened the front door.
“I have nothing to discuss with you. I just can’t believe you would sleep with some guy you just met!”
“I told you last night what X means to me. He is not some guy.”
“You met him yesterday!”
Cassandra sighed in exasperation. “Monique, you know that’s not true. We’ll talk later.” She grabbed her car keys and started toward the Honda Civic but came to standstill when she saw Xavier leaning against his Land Rover waiting on her. She couldn’t help lighting up as though she was a Christmas tree: her smile widened, and a feeling of pure euphoria permeated throughout her body. Butterflies exploded in her stomach, and her breathing became fractured with her love and adoration. She glided toward him, her feet moving as if she had wings.
“Hi,” she rasped out breathlessly.
He opened his arms, and she walked into them, exhaling blissfully as he clutched her tight against his solid frame.
Xavier bent his head and gave her a soft, probing kiss. She curled her tongue around his and sank into his warmth.
Moments later, he raised his head and held her gaze with smoldering eyes. “How are you?”
Cassandra melted into him, his voice liquefying her bones, his now familiar taste and scent short-circuiting her senses. She shivered delicately as his heat permeated her skin. Damn, I’m such a mess. At this rate, I’m going to become a babbling idiot around him. She had to fight through the fog of desire to articulate a response.
“Cass?” he inquired with a gravelly voice, seeming to be just as affected by her as she was by him.
She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself enough to respond with some coherency. “Thanks for holding me last night,” she finally voiced. “I slept like a baby.” She grinned up at him. “But now I’m late for work. Am I mistaken in thinking you’re my ride?”
“Sorry, change of plans, sweetheart,” he murmured.
“What?”
“Our friend Qin made a play for you last night. I can’t protect you if you’re out in the open. I need you back at the house where I can protect you.”
“What do you mean? Qin came here last night?”
“Get in the car. We’ll talk on our way.”
After they were both settled into the vehicle, Cassandra turned to him in dawning understanding of the implication of what he was proposing. “Are you saying I can’t go back to work?” She frowned, not at all liking that conclusion. “I have to tell you that’s not an option for me. This job is my only source of income. I have a full scholarship, but I need this income to pay for my incidentals in college.”
“I know, Cass. But I can’t chance Qin getting his hands on you. I have no idea what his intentions are.”
Xavier continued driving along the Eastern Road. Cassandra couldn’t grasp what he was saying. The concept of Qin wanting to harm her or capture her for any reason was just inconceivable. Xavier had to be mistaken or reading the situation wrong.
“What happened last night to make you believe Qin was interested in me like that?”
“I intercepted two of his men trying to gain access to your house.”
“What? How? When? Why?” She stared at him as if he had lost his mind. “I know they had been following me, but I never thought this would escalate to this level. I don’t understand any of this.”
“One of the men is being questioned and is still in custody.”
“In custody by the police? What did he say?” She was truly bewildered by this development, despite the shootout in the parking lot yesterday. She had somehow convinced herself that was Qin trying to act macho.
“The bastard refused to answer questions,” Xavier muttered. “He’s not being held by the local police by the way. Qin’s reach is too extensive for us to trust local authorities to hold onto any of his men.”
As Xavier turned onto Shirley Street, Cassandra tried to reason with him again.
“Look, X, I think you may be misreading this situation. I can’t afford to give up this job. It’s the only one I could find during my holidays. Mr. Stuart is kind enough to make sure I have a job every break I get. I can’t screw this up,” she argued. “Why would Qin wish to harm me anyway?”
Xavier didn’t answer her. His eyes were glued to his rearview mirror.
“What is it?” Cassandra asked anxiously.
“Stay low. We’re being followed,” Xavier answered, sounding more than pissed and ready for the upcoming confrontation.
“How do you know? This road is usually heavy with traffic, as it is now.”
“The bla
ck Mercedes, two cars back with dark-tinted windows, has been following us since we left your house,” Xavier said calmly. “And the Expedition ahead of us is also with them.
“This is so crazy! Let me call my boss and let him know I won’t be in today.”
“No, you will call him later and tell him that you won’t be in for the rest of the summer.”
Cassandra gasped. “That’s not possible, X. I don’t know why things between you and Qin have escalated to this extent. My brothers can call Qin and smooth things over. Despite their ineptness at times, they are much respected in their world.”
Xavier pressed down on the accelerator, weaving in and out of the thirty-miles-per-hour traffic. “Qin’s men were already in your house, Cass. Your dogs were secured in their pen, and the alarm wasn’t on.”
“What does that got to do with anything?” She turned in her seat to gaze at him in confusion. “So someone must have forgotten to turn the alarm on and leave the dogs out?”
“And Qin’s men chose the one night they forgot to enter your house?” Xavier scoffed.
“What are you saying? Do you think my brothers were trying to help Qin get to me?”
Xavier didn’t answer her. Instead, he refocused on the men following them by glancing into the rearview mirror.
Cassandra could see, in the side mirror, the black Mercedes keeping pace with them. “My God, you’re right. The guy in the passenger seat is Qin’s right-hand man, Sai.”
“You can see that well through the tint?”
“Not really, but Sai is uniquely huge for a Chinese. He always looks as if he has been stuffed in the car.”
“If you weren’t with me, I would have a chat with our friends. I can’t chance them hurting you,” Xavier told her.
“X! They have a gun,” Cassandra yelled just as the Mercedes pulled up on the left side of the Land Rover and Sai started shooting at X.
The deafening noise of shattering glass, screeching tires, and horns blaring from other motorists filled the air as the vehicle was riddled with bullets. Xavier got hit.
Cassandra screamed. Blood covered the console of the car and driver side window was shattered. “Oh my God, X! Are you okay?”
“I’ll be okay,” he muttered, but he kept the left side of his head well out of her view.
More bullets entered the car, and the Expedition in front of them slowed down to try slow down the Land Rover.
“Stay down,” Xavier yelled. He suddenly pressed his brakes, fell behind the Mercedes, and turned the car off the main Shirley Street road to enter Kemp Road. That maneuver forced Xavier to run the red light, but it meant that the other cars would take a while to turn off and find them again.
“What are you doing?” Cassandra shouted.
“There’s too much traffic on that road. Someone could get hurt from them shooting at us,” Xavier told her.
“This is a densely populated area. Someone will definitely get hurt if they shoot at us through here,” Cassandra told him.
Xavier increased his speed and put some distance between them and their pursuers.
As Cassandra had predicted, there were a number of people walking about the low-income neighborhood. Houses were mere inches away from each other, and there were numerous narrow streets and no sidewalks. Children, dressed in their uniforms, slowly walked toward the public school for summer classes. Adults walked toward bus stops on their way to work, others carried buckets to collect water, and still others were simply going out to run routine errands. Dogs, local potcakes, roamed the streets at almost the same level as the human population.
It was in this chaos Xavier navigated the big SUV in an attempt to out-run Qin’s men. The Expedition and the Mercedes soon came back in view a few cars behind them.
“Let me drive, Xavier. I know these streets better than you do, and if they get too close, it’s better that you have your hands free to deal with them,” Cassandra said urgently.
Xavier accelerated the vehicle, turned the corner out of the view of their pursuers, and weaved around another corner, as the streets tended to be interlinked and numerous. “We don’t have time to stop. You’re going to have to direct me.”
Cassandra muttered under her breath in annoyance. “Make this turn coming up on the right.”
Cassandra spent the next ten minutes directing him through the narrow streets and numerous corners, making sure to avoid traffic lights, pedestrians, and other motorists by traversing the obscure access points to Kemp Road, Jerome Avenue, Palmdale, Collins Avenue, the even more narrow streets of Mason Additions, on to East Street, across Market Street, and then on to Blue Hill Road. All the while, Qin’s men struggled to keep pace with them. They managed to maintain a distance that didn’t allow the men close enough to shoot at them.
“I have no idea how the hell we came to be here in front of the Hilton,” Xavier said in awe.
“Yeah, well, make a left turn here and blow your horn while approaching the gate.”
“What the fuck? This is the US Embassy,” Xavier said as heavily armed American and Bahamian Marines immediately assembled in front of the barricade to the entrance of the embassy, preventing them from actually entering the gate.
“Let’s see Qin’s men try to come after us now.” Cassandra grinned in triumph.
Sure enough, they both turned to look behind them to see the car with Qin’s men drive past the Embassy.
Xavier exited the vehicle.
Cassandra knew that they were going to get hell for this stunt from the US officials. She gasped in alarm when she finally saw the left side of Xavier’s face. The pink flesh beneath his dark skin was graphically visible, as it seemed that the bullet had driven a path from his ear to the middle of his cheek. It was a ghastly sight, bringing involuntary moisture to her eyes in anguish.
Xavier didn’t even acknowledge his injury. He was too busy showing his credentials and explaining why they were there.
Chapter Fifteen
Xavier embraced Neo as he entered the apartment. “Thanks for having my back the other night, man.”
“It seems you have attracted the attention of a vicious organization, X.” The man, shorter by mere inches, slapped him on his back and grinned. “Qin is pissed. You now have a huge bounty on your head in the underworld.”
“Who knew that the Chinaman would be so thin-skinned,” Xavier joked.
“I see they tried to penetrate that hard head of yours.” Neo smirked at the huge bandage covering the left side of Xavier’s face and looked him directly in the eye, their brotherhood bond clearly evident in his gaze. “Any reason why you’re wearing a bandage?”
“Cass doesn’t know about me yet,” Xavier told him dryly. He hadn’t had the heart to let Cassandra see his skin seal together in mere hours after being shot. She would have freaked even more than she had when she saw his injury.
“Yet? Are you planning on telling her?” Neo widened his eyes in shock.
Xavier almost grinned at his friend’s stunned expression. He understood Neo’s astonishment. As far as he was aware, neither of them had ever told anyone what they were. They had been able to piece together years ago that their fathers were descendants of the last kings of Africa. At least that was what Neo’s intel had uncovered. It was believed among the elder tribesmen that the men who were born with this capability were considered the legitimate royalty of Africa. They hadn’t been certain if they believed that assessment or not, but at least it helped to explain a little bit about their ancestry.
“Yes, I will tell her because I hope she will agree to be my wife.” Xavier held his friend’s gaze. “You and I both know that we are not immortal, just very difficult to kill. Neither of us had our fathers around to guide us. Why is that? How did they die?”
Neo nodded in understanding. “You’re right; we’re not immortal. I discovered a few years ago that my father died from drowning in his early thirties. He was killed,” Neo told him. “Your father was also killed.”
“I never me
t my father. He disappeared when I was a baby according to my mom. She never spoke about him. I just always assumed our fathers were absentee fathers, men who were not interested in raising children, not realizing that they may have been killed.” Xavier frowned in confusion.
“No, they were killed. My investigations show that they both died from drowning. Their deaths occurred more than thirty years ago. Your father was killed in Florida first, and my father was killed six months later in New York. Neither death drew police suspicion, as they were both ruled accidental. Given the similarities in how they died, I don’t think their deaths were an accident. Knowing how hard it is to kill us, I can imagine that our fathers were just as difficult to kill. Both men were police officers.”
“When did you uncover this?”
“I’ve known for years. I just assumed you knew as well.” Neo’s eyes darkened with concern. “Look, I have other half-siblings from my mother, but as far as I can tell, none of them have our distinctive skill-set. None of them know about me. Think carefully about what you’re doing.”
“I don’t understand a lot about who and what we are, but I want my sons to know where they came from and who they are. Cassandra will be the mother of my sons. If something happens to me, she will have to guide them. I don’t want my sons to be blindsided by this.”
“I hear you, man. But you have to know that there is a reason why our fathers died young. They were hunted. We have avoided that enemy because no one knows about us, other than you and me. You need to tread carefully on this, and maybe, Cassandra doesn’t need to know. She may not mean to place you in danger, but she may say something to the wrong person. We don’t know who that is. We don’t know who our enemy is, how they know our secret or why they want us dead. It will make it almost impossible to guard against this enemy since we have no idea of who we’re looking for or even where to look.”
“I never thought of that aspect of it.” Xavier didn’t like the thought of some unknown enemy lurking in the shadows posing a threat to Cassandra. “My God! I had no idea.” Xavier felt such pain now that he knew his father hadn’t willingly left him, reopening the wound of never having his father in his life. He wanted justice. “I’m not willing to be a sitting duck. We have to find them before they find us. And I have to tell you, I want those bastards, whoever they are.”
Xavier: (Indestructible) Page 13
