“Help me! Help me! He’s trying to kidnap me!”
Alicia started screaming at the top of her voice as she looked up at the most unusual shade of green eyes that she had ever seen. A small smirk started to appear on her lips and she began to deliberately sway herself like a pendulum in the brute’s hold.
Slapping a gloved hand over the screeching female’s mouth, Xavier lowered her to the ground, giving her a warning look before removing his hand.
“Kidnap you? You are out of your goddamn mind?” Xavier growled low as he moved away from her to survey the damage she’d done to his motorcycle. Crouching down, his hands caressed it like a lover. He looked back at her, his face full of fury.
“You were driving like a maniac and nearly totalled my damn bike,” he said clicking his fingers then opening his palm out. “Your insurance details. Now!”
“The sun hit off my windshield for the love of the gods! I swerved as I was momentarily blinded — you must have been coming around the bends too fast! Where did you say you got your licence? A Kinder egg?”
Alicia stood looking down at the male. He looked to her like he was having an emotional breakdown over the now twisted piece of metal. Her hand moved, but not to give him any piece of paper with her details. Her left hand reached into her jacket pocket where she pulled out a lolly, unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth before turning and proceeding to walk back to her car.
Never. Never in his adult life had anyone addressed him like this — especially not a pixie sized female with the driving skills of a kamikaze. Xavier’s jaw nearly hit the ground as she smart mouthed him, then casually stood at the roadside sucking on the candy. It was only then that Xavier got a good look at her. The rising sun had illuminated her outline and his eyes took their time, checking her out from feet to head.
She was slender, but her curves were in all the right places. Her long auburn hair tumbled over her shoulders and her big brown eyes seemed to look right into his soul. Her full pouting lips were taunting him with that damn candy. Almost forgetting why he was pissed off with her, he shook his head and focused.
“The sun was in my direction, so there’s no way it could’ve blinded you. Besides, you were steaming down that road like a bat out of hell. Now, I’m not in the habit of repeating myself — your insurance details.” His jaw ticked as he faced up to this little female with the huge attitude. Usually his sheer size and no nonsense approach had people running in the opposite direction, not trying to go head to head with him. This was a new experience for him, and he was pretty sure he didn’t like it.
Using her thumb and forefinger to gently tug on the stick of the lolly, Alicia removed the candy from her lips, her hand moving as she addressed the giant with the vibrant green eyes and blond hair, strands of which had come loose from his ponytail.
“And I am not in the habit of giving my personal details out to hooligans that crash into me and then blame me for their reckless driving! Look…neither of us were hurt so what’s the problem here? You go your way and I’ll go my way, simples.”
Exasperated, Xavier was for the first time in his life stuck for words. This small female was facing up to him — and winning! Twice he’d demanded her details, and both times she shot him down without as much as a blink.
“Sweetcheeks,” his voice lowered as he stood up to tower over her, “you damaged my bike through your dodgem-car style driving. If you don’t have insurance then you can give me the cash up front to fix it, yeah?”
Xavier had no need for the money, he was wanting to scare the female into providing her details. It wasn’t so much about fixing his bike anymore as much as…he just had to know her name. He’d never met anyone quite like her and as much as she irritated the fuck out of him, there was something about her stubbornness and conviction that intrigued him.
Alicia’s words came out through her gritted teeth. “Please! ‘Please may I have your insurance details ma’am?’ Manners seem to be very much lacking in you, don’t they sir?” she said, thinking to herself that he did not just refer to her as ‘Sweetcheeks’!
She was having to strain her neck further and further upwards just to look at this man. He was enormous in both height and size. He made her look like one of ‘Snow Purples’, little men she had seen in a children’s film once.
Alicia was only 4’11”, so he must be over six foot, even adding at least another six or seven inches on top of that! Hands the size of shovels, and his shoulders were so wide that she could probably lie across them and her feet wouldn’t even hang over the edge!
She could tell that he was extremely pissed off at her. His jaw was doing this little dance all to itself. The main vein that ran from his neck to his heart was bulging, and stubble fit for a homeless man covered his jaw, so she couldn’t get a true picture if his skin was soft or if he was hiding a bad skin complexion behind there. One important thing she did notice however was that he was not a native. Spanish was the predominant language spoken here in Mexico and there was no hint of it in his accent — it was more of a European one mixed with English.
So, it was a fucking tourist given her a hard time? Not fucking likely!
Alicia recognised that this type of male usually got what he wanted by using his sheer size alone to make people shake in their boots. Ha! Well, intimidation wasn’t about to work here. She could take him on and she would win!
Alicia rolled her eyes as she placed the lolly back into her mouth, then clicked her own fingers at ‘Mr. Arrogance’ and in a sickly sweet voice said, “May I have a pen please, sir?”
Dumbfounded, Xavier stood for a good two minutes just staring at the diminutive female before reaching into his pocket and handing her his cell.
“Just put your details into that, yeah?” He folded his arms across his chest watching her closely, and was totally unaware that he was going to be late with his appointment with Martinez.
Alicia pushed the candy to the side of her mouth with her tongue, then took the cell that was shoved at her.
“The word ‘please’ is severely lacking from your vocabulary isn’t it?” Without even so much as looking up, her perfectly pink manicured nail typed in the name ‘Friera Silvestra’ along with the first random digits she could think of to make it look like a genuine cell number and then handed the iPhone back to the rude giant. “Call me, maybe?” A sarcastic smirk spread across her face. She knew there was no way he was tracking her down, not with that false identity and number.
Xavier gave a quick glance at the name the female provided before sliding his cell back into his pocket.
“My insurers will be in touch,” adding with the hint of a smirk, “Friera.”
He had her name. He didn’t know why that was so important to him, but there was something about her that both pissed him off and intrigued him in equal measure. He didn’t know whether to put her over his knee and spank her, or grab her and kiss her full pouting lips until she stopped smart mouthing him. Uncomfortable at the sudden thoughts in his head, he cleared his throat and walked back over to the car to retrieve his bike from the road, checking that it was at least roadworthy until he could get it fixed at the garage.
“In future, less speed and more attention, Sweetcheeks.” Xavier noted that when he called her ‘Sweetcheeks’ a flash of annoyance showed in those big browns of hers, so he decided that if — no, when — he met her again, that was the name he would always call her. The taunting was too damn entertaining. Swinging one long leg over the bike, Xavier started the engine and fixed his shades into place.
“And Sweetcheeks? Next time, you might want to be a little nicer to me, yeah?” Grinning to himself, he put the bike into gear and circled around her a couple of times before heading up the road towards the Martinez Mansion. He would no doubt be pissed off at him being late — the one and only time he had ever been late for anything — but the encounter with Friera seemed to dominate his thoughts.
“If he was a bar of chocolate he’d eat himself!” Alicia mumbled as
she headed back to her hired car. Giving the pink Audi the once over, she was happy that there wasn’t a scratch to be seen on it. Alicia jumped in behind the wheel, grabbed her shades from the passenger seat and fixed them in place over her eyes. She sped off towards the holiday resort where she was currently residing. The encounter with ‘Mr. Prick’ had her fuming! Who the hell did the hulk with the blond hair and green eyes think he was? It had also left her starving and she knew exactly what was on the breakfast menu for her back at the hotel — something juicy and meaty.
Chapter Five
Parking the bike in the drive of the Martinez mansion, Xavier rolled his eyes upwards as two of Martinez’ goons patted him down for weapons and wires. Keeping his smartass comments about them not taking him out to dinner first to himself, he was deemed ‘clean’ and escorted into the premises. He had expected the ‘Godfather’ treatment and knew that they would all be edgy with him coming in person to the mansion, but what he hadn’t counted on was the chaos he encountered when he got inside.
“Someone set the breakfast on fire this morning?” Xavier said dryly as he was shown through the mansion towards the Boss’ main office. There were goons on cells shouting in Spanish and Italian, while others were checking and rechecking their weapons and looking decidedly shifty. As the door was closed behind him, Martinez’ second in command, Juan Esteban, eyeballed him before speaking.
“You’re late.”
Last of the great conversationalists, Xavier mused silently, gave a one shoulder shrug and then removed his shades.
“You’re point is?” He never had to explain himself to anyone and wasn’t about to start now. “Mind telling me what the fuck is going on around here?”
As Esteban sat behind the Boss’s desk, looking like he was trying it out for size, he lit a cigar and motioned to Xavier to sit. Xavier remained standing. “We were hit, this morning. The bastards actually came here and stole guns, ammo and money from right under our noses. So I’ll ask again, why are you late?” His eyes were trained on him and his voice was trying to sound authoritative, but Xavier could almost smell the fear from him.
Arching a brow, Xavier stared back at Esteban but his tone and demeanour did not change. “And what were you girl scouts doing while the thieves were here? Braiding each other’s hair?” A click behind him let him know that the guards were armed and ready. Big fucking whoopee, Xavier thought to himself and continued, “My business is with Martinez, so if you want to be a good little boy and get him here, I’ll stay. Otherwise, I’m out of this dump, we clear?”
Esteban's face almost went purple as he stood up, leaning over the large mahogany desk, but his attempts to look menacing fell well short. “Martinez has given me the authority to speak for him.”
“I don’t speak to the monkey — where’s the organ grinder?”
“I speak for Martinez! You will deal with me.” Esteban's voice was strained and Xavier was pretty convinced at this point that he was probably going to have an aneurism by the way his face had gone to a marbled blotchy beetroot colour.
Pulling out and lighting a cigarette, Xavier smirked as the action had the guards going for their guns. “You all seem a little tetchy, yeah?” he took an elongated draw, exhaling slowly. “You have ten minutes to get me Martinez, or I walk.” His poker face on, and his give a fuck function switched firmly off.
Chapter Six
“What is with these families and all this fucking jewellery? I have an enough to open a god damn shop of my own here!” The diamonds, rubies, and precious gem stones were thrown to the other side of the room where the artwork was situated. They would all be sold off to dealers later — it was the weapons that the thief was interested in. The money, not so much. Money had no significance when you were a skilled thief. Okay it was a bonus to have for the pretence, but the weapons were the true win here.
The thief stopped as the monitor in the adjacent room made a beeping noise. The bug that was planted at the Belcastro’s place was in a frenzy…there was a meeting happening and things were about to get really interesting.
The rumour mill had it correct, there was an outside contractor working for them. The task at hand now was to find out whom was trying to catch the thief out. This was going to be fun.
‘Let the chase begin’ the stranger thought, giving out a mouse-like squeak just for the fuck of it!
****
As Xavier stubbed out his cigarette on the Axminster carpet of Martinez’ office, Esteban was almost shaking with anger. He sat down, picked up the phone and swirled the seat with his back to Xavier, as though it was some sort of soundproof booth. By the snivelling and contrite tone of Esteban’s voice, Xavier knew it was Martinez on the other end of the phone, and it wasn’t going too well for his red-faced flunky. Turning the seat back, and without making eye contact, Esteban handed the receiver to him.
“My associate tells me there is a problem, Commander Raige.” Martinez sounded distracted, and by the female laughter and squeals in the background Xavier gave an educated guess as to why.
“You tell me, Martinez. I came here to meet with you, not your secretary, yeah.” That last comment had Esteban giving him a death glare. “Your place has been hit while your guards were filing their nails, so you either want my help or you don’t. Ain’t no skin off my nose either way? You have my terms, so what is your answer?”
Without hesitation, Martinez agreed in full to Xavier’s’ terms, which seemed odd to him. Normally heads of organisations in the game liked to dance around, negotiating until their ego was pandered to. But Martinez was too eager — which meant he was truly rattled. Xavier wondered if there was more to just the thefts, if it was something personal, but instead he merely listed off to Martinez what he needed to start the contract — a list of locations; items taken; dates; times and information on all personnel. He handed the receiver back to Esteban as Martinez ordered him to provide all that Xavier had requested. Xavier didn’t wait for Esteban to finish the call. He was already out of the office and heading outside to do some recon of the building and grounds. Xavier Raige didn’t believe in hanging about or adhering to socially acceptable practices.
He didn’t have the fucking time for that. Ever.
****
Alicia made her way back to her hotel room. She had paid for the damage to the hired car and the hotel manager had been full of concern for her after she had recounted the tale of how she was a victim of a ‘hit and run’. She was feeling generous this morning so had decided to give some items that she didn’t need away to the hotel staff. They were courteous and friendly with her — unlike that giant prick from earlier!
“Oh for the love of Meer Kats,” She mumbled as she realised he was in her damn head. It wasn’t that she was thinking about him in that way, it was the arrogance of him! Lucky for her she was never going to set eyes on him again. Her little vacation was nearly over, only having two days left before she packed her case and headed back home.
Grabbing her cell from the sideboard, Alicia collected the various sized bags and exited her room. Making her way to the manager’s office she handed the bags over to him. After he finally regained his composure from her act of ‘generosity’, she left his office with a sly smirk on her face. She liked giving out gifts to polite people who appreciated them! Heading to the pool, Alicia decided it was time for some R&R and to work on the last of her tan.
Chapter Seven
As Shuggie downloaded the information that Xavier had brought back from the Belcastro’s mansion into the computer, he laughed while his Commander described the scene when he arrived and how much of a spineless dog Esteban was.
“So they’d been turned over ahn all o’them were there? Jesus fuck, Commander! This group of thieves must’ve been laughing their arses aff.”
“This is going to be the easiest job we’ve had since that missing persons one in London, remember?” Xavier kicked his feet up on the desk, folding his arms behind his head and closing his eyes behind his shades. “M
y bet is that it’s an inside job, so I want all the names on that list checked out — bank accounts, family contacts, any recent extravagant purchases — then we can relieve Martinez of some of that ill-gotten gain of his and get on with our fucking Leave, yeah?”
Giving Xavier a grin as he got back to work, Shuggie agreed that this was like a walk in the park compared to their usual contracts. A comfortable silence fell between the two old friends as Shuggie worked and Xavier took a power nap. As he rested, his mind kept going back to his encounter with the small brunette earlier in the day. Opening his eyes, he reached into his jacket pocket and threw his cell over to Shuggie.
“When you get a minute, I want that female checked out too.”
Shuggie caught the cell, reading the name and number. “Does she work fur the Belcastros too?”
Sitting up, taking off his shades, Xavier shook his head and lowered his voice. “No. I... erm - she ran into me earlier, knocked me off my bike. I just needed her insurance details.” There was something about Xavier’s body language that let Shuggie know there was more to this story than he was letting on.
“Ye were knocked aff yer bike?” Cracking up laughing, Shuggie put the cell down. “A wee lass ran intae ye ahn ye came aff the worse? Ye needin’ stabilisers oan yer bike noo, Commander?”
“Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Shuggie.” Almost embarrassed at his confession, he blurted out without thinking, “She was the most beautiful female I have ever seen, Shug — and she was a feisty little thing. An attitude that puts me to shame, and totally unaware of the effect she has on a male.”
This sobered Shuggie up quickly. He had known the Commander for decades, fought at his side, been close to death — and not once in all that time had he ever heard him speak about a woman like this. He knew the Commander had a healthy appetite for female company on their downtime, but he never actually had any emotion or connection to them. Yet here he was confessing more than a passing interest about a stranger who almost damn near killed him on the road earlier. Clicking his fingers in front of Xavier’s face, Shuggie looked at him seriously.
The Heist Page 2
