Xavier: (Indestructible)

by Mortier, D. M.

  Neo smiled grimly. “I’m glad that you and I are on the same wavelength, but we have to deal with this Qin prick first. Do you have any idea why he wants Cassandra so badly?”

  “I don’t give a fuck why he wants her. He’s not getting to her,” Xavier growled.

  “So what’s your plan? I assume you called me in because you intend going in without your boss’ authorization?” Neo asked.

  “Hell yeah, I am. The DEA has to go through too much red-tape to conduct an official investigation and possible extradition afterward. There’s no evidence that the local authorities have the will or the resources to deal with the Triad. That bastard is like a fucking cockroach. Every time I eliminate one of his men, he just keeps sending more of these fuckers after her. It’s obvious he couldn’t care less whether Cassandra is willing or not.” Xavier was getting more pissed as the morning wore on. After they had been questioned at length by officials at the US Embassy, he had brought Cassandra back to the apartment. She had been closeted in the bedroom since, calling her boss and her siblings to tell them what had happened. However, he had cautioned her about telling anyone her location.

  “I spoke to Dom earlier.”

  “Dominic Stone, your former SEAL commander? He lives here in the Bahamas permanently, right?” Xavier asked.

  “Yeah. Dom is one of the partners in my securities firm,” Neo told him. “Dom didn’t like it one little bit that scourges like the Triads have set up shop here. I can’t believe all of this happened here right under our noses. The Bahamian government had no idea who they were inviting into their island paradise when they gave the Chinese contracts to construct such major developments in the country. It was too easy for the Triad to get their men in here.”

  Neo stopped talking as they heard the bedroom door on the second floor being opened and closed. They listened as Cassandra ran down the stairs, and then she came into view.

  Xavier didn’t miss his friend’s shocked, audible, indrawn breath. Yes, Cassandra is that beautiful. He watched as Cassandra looked over at Neo briefly before her eyes lit up with adoration on him. I’ll never get used to that. Her obvious preference for me is fucking intoxicating. Xavier didn’t even realize that he had moved and was now standing in front of her. He wrapped his arm around her tiny waist and turned to introduce her to Neo. Not a word came out of his mouth. He was suddenly reluctant to share her with anyone.

  “Hi, I’m Cassandra.” She reached out her hand to shake Neo’s hand.

  Xavier pulled her back against him, preventing her from actually touching Neo.

  Neo laughed out loud. “I’m Neo, this man’s closest thing to a brother.” Neo grinned at them. “But you won’t know this by his attitude.”

  Cassandra smiled. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t want my sisters to touch him either.” She snuggled into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “X, I think you were right about my brothers, one of them anyway.”

  “What was I right about?” Xavier was happy that his voice didn’t come out thin and whiny like the insecure prick he’d been acting like a few moments ago.

  “I was telling Keisha that I wasn’t coming home tonight when Dylan took the phone from her. He sounded scared out of his mind.”

  Xavier went perfectly still. He knew he wasn’t going to like what she told him next. “What did he say?”

  “He told me that I had to come home. I laughed and told him that I didn’t have to do anything, except—”

  “Stay black and die,” Xavier finished for her. “Yeah, honey, I know. But why would that make me right about your brothers?”

  “Well, you didn’t let me finish.” She punched him in his stomach. “Dylan told me that if I didn’t come back to the house that they would send Cameron out on a drug run.”

  Xavier looked down at her and did his best to blank his expression. “What did you tell him?”

  She raised her left eyebrow and grinned. “I told him to kiss my ass.”

  Xavier laughed; she never stopped surprising him.

  “I can’t believe that ass would try to sell me out to Qin. Didn’t he realize that Qin’s intentions can’t be good if he’s resorting to kidnapping? I’ll bet Dylan has it in his head that Qin wants to become part of the family. I swear sometimes my brothers can be so dense!”

  “Qin will be pissed at being outwitted,” Neo stated. “Are you sure he won’t hurt your brother for not delivering on his promise?”

  “It would serve him right.” Cassandra smiled grimly, but there was obvious worry in her eyes. “I can’t imagine Qin losing much sleep over my not wanting to be with him. Seriously, his family won’t tolerate a relationship between us, so Qin could only be after something very unsavory. He’s just going to have to get over his momentary obsession and get his rocks off with other hobbies.”

  “I hate not knowing what that bastard is up to,” Xavier grated out. “No matter what your family tells you, don’t fucking return to that house.”

  “Well, you don’t have to tell me that. No one is going anywhere anytime soon. There’s a hurricane headed our way. It should be here within the next twenty-four hours.” Cassandra held his gaze. “So I suggest whatever you’ve got planned, you do it now.”

  “Remember what I told you about drowning, X,” Neo said, caution evident in his voice.

  Xavier immediately understood what Neo was trying to say. Qin would have to wait until after the hurricane. There was no way he would risk Cassandra’s safety when he would be at his most vulnerable. “Given that we are so close to the coast, we will have to move more inland, correct?”

  Xavier looked to Neo, trying to gauge what the other man thought about an impending storm.

  Cassandra rolled her eyes at him. “No, don’t ask the Bahamian for advice. Ask another foreigner,” she said sarcastically. “Nassau is surrounded by shallow water. So unless that hurricane reaches Category 3 status, we can stay put. We need to monitor the storm from here on out.”

  “Why don’t you get a flight out of here and come back once the storm passes?” Neo gave Xavier a meaningful stare.

  “Do you anticipate problems?” Xavier asked.

  “I just think you would be a sitting duck in this situation. With all resources temporarily interrupted, Qin can easily overpower us. I don’t have my guys on the island, and Qin has hundreds of men at his disposal. He can use the cover of the storm to attack when all normal resources are focused elsewhere.”

  “He doesn’t know where we are,” Cassandra reminded them.

  “This island is only so big. It’s only a matter of time before he finds you,” Neo cautioned. “Coming in, I saw quite a number of Qin’s men combing this part of the island and at least two Chinese men were lurking outside this apartment complex. I took the liberty of silencing those men indefinitely.”

  “My God,” Cassandra breathed.

  “They know X lives somewhere around here. If either of you leave this apartment, they will spot you.”

  “We need to get you off this island,” Xavier said finally. The risk was mounting.

  They spent the next few hours trying to find a flight off the island. Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone else had the same thought and also wanted to leave. Then they realized that she didn’t have her passport with her; it was still back at her house. They could only travel within the Bahamas on her driver’s license. Xavier arranged for a private jet to take them to Grand Bahama Island, which was outside of the storm’s projected path for seven p.m.

  By six p.m., the weather had worsened, and Xavier was seriously rethinking the decision to get into a small jet in ninety-five-mile-per-hour winds. It was at Category 1 hurricane strength but borderline Category 2. They had no luggage, only the clothes on their backs. He wore jeans, a T-shirt, and his customary combat boots. Despite being out of US Special Forces for years, he still preferred the footwear. Cassandra was similarly dressed but was wearing sneakers instead.

  At first there seemed to be a problem finding their pilot. Whe
n they walked onto the private airstrip, there was no one there to greet them. Five minutes into their wait, a tall black man, who seemed slightly distracted and sweating from some recent exertion, came and guided them to a waiting jet.

  “Are you sure we can fly in this?” Cassandra asked the pilot.

  “Once we get above the clouds, everything will be okay,” the pilot said. Xavier couldn’t place his accent. It was obvious the man wasn’t a Bahamian, but he sounded either British or African. His body scent was very strong, so that pushed his origin to more African in Xavier’s mind. The pilot was muscular, but Xavier was wider and taller. He couldn’t quite determine why the other man made him uneasy, other than he seemed out of place somehow.

  Xavier glanced at Neo who had brought them to the airport. He and Cassandra had ridden in the back seat of the dark-tinted Escalade with Neo at the wheel. Sure enough, Qin had practically lined the streets of Paradise Island with his men. Neo also looked at their pilot skeptically.

  “Don’t I know you?” Neo asked the pilot.

  “I can’t see how that’s possible,” the pilot said, dismissing him, and walked toward the aircraft parked on the tarmac.

  Both Xavier and Neo watched the other man walk away. “Did I just become super paranoid?” Xavier asked.

  “No, I feel it too,” Neo said softly. “I can’t see how this dude poses a threat though. No one knew you would be trying to leave the island.”

  “Yeah.” Xavier narrowed his eyes. “We don’t have time for this. I’ll call you once we land.”

  “I’ll get Cassandra’s documents from her home and send them to you once this storm passes,” Neo promised.

  “Thanks, man,” Xavier told him, grabbing him in bear hug.

  Despite the scowl on Xavier’s face, Cassandra hugged Neo as well.

  Xavier boarded the jet behind Cassandra. They fastened their seatbelts as the pilot started down the runway. He could feel the wind pushing hard against the small aircraft, but the pilot determinately ploughed through and got the plane airborne. The aircraft shook violently with sickening instability. Xavier started to question his decision to take Cassandra on an airplane in this severe weather. As a child, he had been through a number of hurricanes in Miami. He knew better than to travel anywhere in a Category 1 hurricane. He held Cassandra’s hands as she bent her head, closed her eyes, and whispered a prayer for their safety. As the plane climbed higher, the pockets of turbulence grew less and less as they topped the clouds.

  However, ten minutes into the flight, the pilot started to descend out of the clouds again. It was only a few minutes after seven p.m., so Xavier could still clearly see the ocean under the aircraft with an approaching landmass in the distance. “Why are we descending?” Xavier shouted to the pilot, trying to be heard above the noise in the cabin.

  “It takes at least thirty minutes to get to Grand Bahama,” Cassandra said. She frowned in confusion.

  The pilot ignored them both and then did something neither of them anticipated. He suddenly got up from his seat and took off a bulky jacket he had been wearing. He had what looked like a parachute strapped to his back. Xavier reached for his gun, but the pilot shot him with three consecutive shots point blank in the middle of the chest and forehead before he could retrieve it.

  “X,” Cassandra screamed in shock.

  Xavier remained stiff in his seat. Initially, the pain from the gunshot temporarily stunned him.

  This gave the pilot the opportunity to riddle the control console of the plane with bullets, disabling the plane. He then opened the door of the plane and jumped out before Xavier could rise to his feet.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Oh my God, X,” Cassandra sobbed as she unclasped her seatbelt and started to come toward him. The plane nosedived violently. The wind from the open door pushed her back and pinned her to her seat.

  “I’m fine, Cass. Keep your seatbelt on.” Xavier’s shirt was soaked with his blood, and the thick liquid leaked into his eyes, obscuring his vision. He was grateful that he wore a black T-shirt so Cassandra wouldn’t be able to see the extent of the injury to his body. There was nothing he could do with the wound to his head.

  Xavier sprang into action and launched toward the opened door of the aircraft. With brute strength, he pulled the door of the plane closed. “Sit tight, Cass,” he shouted as he climbed into the pilot’s seat.

  “When I see that bastard again, I’m going to kick his ass,” Cassandra foamed.

  Xavier only grunted, impressed that she wasn’t freaking out and assumed that he would get her out of this alive. It took him only seconds to note that not only were they too close to the ground for him to do much about their descent but also that the aircraft was not operational. He had only one option.

  The forest trees below were rising quickly to meet them. He only had sufficient time to launch himself toward her. He unbuckled her seatbelt, folded her against him and tried to drape his body all over her. Trembling violently, she wrapped her arms around him. He held her tightly against his hard body, shielding her from the imminent impact.

  Xavier had no idea if they would survive this. He held her gaze and whispered urgently, “I love you.”

  “I…” He knew what she would say, but the plane crashed through the trees.

  Cassandra screamed into his chest and then passed out on impact.

  He shielded her as best he could. The impact was brutal and loud. Excruciating pain exploded throughout his body as the plane split apart, the jarring sound of metal being ripped apart filling the air around them. His skin was cut to ribbons. Almost every inch of him was cut or bruised. He determinately held her, being her armor against the tree branches, the metal of the aircraft, and then against the hard ground. He absorbed all of it. He was barely conscious of rolling them both out of the wreckage, knowing that he had only seconds before the plane ignited in flames. Everything then went blank.

  Cassandra woke up disoriented, initially wondering why she was lying outside on the hard ground. There was barely any light left in the cluster of trees. It had to be barely eight p.m. Still confused, she turned her head and saw Xavier lying beside her. He was unconscious and covered in blood. It all came back to her in a mad rush.

  She covered her mouth to stifle the scream that rose up in her throat. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. She was also bloodied, but she was puzzled. Not only did she not have any broken bones she barely had any cuts on her.

  They were both several yards away from the plane, which looked as if it had caught fire and was still burning. The bushes around them were also on fire, and the flames were growing larger. How did we escape that?

  “X,” she whispered urgently and shook his shoulder. She pulled her hand away. Her fingers were wet and red with blood. He wasn’t moving, and there was no apparent air expanding in his lungs. “Xavier. Oh God.” Her voice cracked to barely above a whisper. She refused to belief that he was dead.

  “Xavier, wake up.” She sobbed, shaking his shoulder to try to wake him. “Xavier, sweetheart, please wake up.” Tears poured down her cheek and splashed on his face. “Baby, I can’t do this without you. You have to be asleep. God, please let him be asleep.”

  The fire was expanding fast in the densely vegetated pine forest. The flames around her were growing, as the wind seemed to grow fiercer. They had to move or risk being engulfed.

  Cassandra determinedly wiped the tears from her eyes, got to her feet, and grabbed Xavier’s hands. She started dragging him along the forest floor. He was so big and heavy she could barely move him. Her tears were flowing more earnestly now as she despaired that she wouldn’t be able to save him. She fell on her ass numerous times in her attempts at dragging her over-two-hundred-pound burden. After surviving a plane crash, I can’t let us die in the damn fire! She had never felt such heat on her skin. It was as if she was being slowly roasted alive.

  “Oh sweet Jesus, please help us,” she whispered. With renewed determination, she got to her feet ag
ain, angrily wiped the tears from her eyes, and grunted and groaned with dogged strength to pull Xavier away from the flames. It was getting dark, and she was concerned about trying to navigate the forest without adequate light.

  She had pulled Xavier almost a half a mile, but still the flames were spreading too fast. This time, when she fell on her butt, she looked around trying to determine which direction the wind was blowing. She knew that, given the amount of time they had been in the air, they were likely on Andros Island, which had one of the most dangerous forests in the Bahamas. She climbed to her feet again, but before she could start her laborious journey, Xavier groaned.

  Her heart exploded with joy. She fell on her knees beside him. “X?”

  Xavier opened his eyes and gazed directly at her.

  Cassandra couldn’t contain herself. She was awash with such euphoria that she fell on him, wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, and kissed him with complete abandonment. At first he was rigid in her arms, still disoriented, but then he slanted his lips over hers, returning her passionate kiss.

  The heat of the fire bit into their skin, effectively ending the brief intimate interlude. Xavier raised his head, and his eyes widened as he took in the size of the flames around them. He sprang to his feet, grabbed her hand, and started to run through the thick foliage.

  “X, please stop!”

  “We have to get out of here,” he shouted, pulling her along as he continued to run.

  “X! Wait!” She tried desperately to pull away from him.

  “Babe, we can talk later.” Without breaking stride, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

  “X, stop! There are blue holes in these forests!”