“Who the fuck are ye, ahn wit huv ye done wi’ ma Commander?”
Xavier looked back at Shuggie, confused. “What? I’m just fucking saying that I need her found — for her insurance details — but if you’re not up to the job, I can get someone else to do it.” He tried to look nonplussed, but Shuggie was having none of it.
“Naw, naw, naw - ye cannae fool meh, Commander - this lass has got tae ye.”
Despite his protests, Xavier knew he was right.
Chapter Eight
After two hours of soaking up the sun, Alicia finally removed her body from the lounger, collected her beach bag and took a leisurely stroll back to her apartment.
It was late afternoon, the staff were busy in the hotel kitchens getting the evening meal prepared. Children were screaming at their parents for daring to remove them from the swimming pool so they could get ready for their evening, which consisted of dinner in the main restaurant then entertainment in the amphitheatre.
Swiping the card over the sensor, the hotel door opened. Alicia walked in and then threw herself belly-first onto the bed. Alicia loved this vacation more than any she had in previous years. Days were spent relaxing by the poolside and evenings were spent away from the complex. She was a loner in life but this was the way she liked it. No one to answer to —not that she would anyway — but her life was simpler with no baggage.
Her profession paid well enough for her to enjoy the finer things in life. She was a non-smoker and an occasional drinker which meant that she saved most of her money, allowing her to treat herself once a year to a lavish getaway.
She passed out on the bed, the drool emitting from her mouth waking her up two hours later. As she slowly pushed herself up from her lying position, the room was dark. Nightfall had come. She took her time in the shower, letting the water pelt over her, her own olive skin tone having bronzed with the Mexican sun.
As she stepped out the shower, Alicia wrapped a towel around her wet body and another securing her damp hair on top of her head. She allowed her skin to dry naturally before applying her specially made cherry body lotion. Only she and the creator knew the recipe. Alicia Carberletti was unique and it was damn going to stay that way. Once the lotion had soaked in, she slipped into a pink bra and boy-shorts followed by her signature black skinny jeans. Of course in this heat the ones she was wearing for this occasion were three quarter length ones. A simple black vest top shimmied over her head and shoulders as her feet slipped with ease into her boots, and she placed her beloved purple and pink Glocks into each boot. Her slender fingers tied the laces half way up, leaving the other eight holes of the Doc Martens loose and free.
A quick ruffle of her hair and she was ready to go. Evenings were her time to go sightseeing and tonight's destination was the beautiful mansions of Mexico.
Chapter Nine
When the sun went down and Xavier finally gave in and caught some sleep, Shuggie started to reminisce about when he had first met Xavier Raige. They had both been handpicked for recruitment into a secret division of Special Forces, and although both men knew of each other, they had only started working together when they were selected for that high level mission in Prague. Shuggie was thirty eight years old and Xavier was twenty five.
Prague, 1991
As usual the brief was short and to the point. A spy had gone rogue and was considered a real and present danger. It was both Shuggie and Xavier’s mission to track down the rogue and ensure that he was eliminated. A good old, clean ‘get in, get the job done, and get out’ mission.
Xavier had gathered more Intel from the contacts he had made before Shuggie had even arrived in Prague, and had discovered the rogue had taken out insurance to ensure he wouldn’t be caught and brought in. He had hired three Eastern European hit men. Xavier recounted to Shuggie how he had dealings with them once before — a long fucking time ago. As though to emphasise the point Xavier ran his hand over the scar on his left side as he told Shuggie just how fucked up these pricks were.
“I was captured along with the rest of my Unit. Out of twelve men, only three of us survived. They use torture as sport.” Xavier looked away from Shuggie, and the two men sat and drank a bottle of Scotch in silence.
The next day Xavier and Shuggie started working on their strategy plans. They were under no illusion — this was war and it was going to get personal. Armed to the back teeth, Xavier and Shuggie drove to the enemy camp using the information the contacts had obtained for them. They dumped the truck miles from the location, not wanting any scouts alerting them of their impending visit. The element of surprise was the only chance they had of making it out alive when taking on a gang of bloodthirsty seasoned soldiers.
According to the Intel, there were three soldiers who were taking their orders directly from the rogue.
Shuggie smirked at Xavier, “That means that he trusts them completely and that there would be definite lines of communication between them.”
Smearing the camouflage over their faces, Xavier and Shuggie lay on their stomachs, using their elbows to crawl along the ground, keeping low and movements undetectable. Xavier used his night vision binoculars, and Shuggie monitored the surveillance equipment. There were voices coming from the tents two miles ahead. Waiting until they were sure their targets had no idea they were there, Shuggie launched two grenades either side of the camp and when the targets ran to investigate, Xavier bolted straight into the camp, rolling to avoid a volley of bullets, and dived into the main tent.
Shuggie held back as Xavier went out of his line of sight. There was something not quite right about these soldiers.
Something not quite human.
And Shuggie should know — unknown to Xavier, or any of the men in their Unit for that matter, he was a vampire.
Shuggie waited ten minutes, but when that time elapsed and there was still no sign of Xavier, he followed him into the main camp. Hiding in the shadows, he watched as Xavier went face to face with one of the soldiers, and from the conversation he recognised him as the one named Stefan. Xavier had told Shuggie that he had killed Stefan’s brother in his last encounter and from the sounds of it the scrawny prick still bore a grudge. Standing to his full height, Xavier looked Stefan square in the eyes, his arms by his side and palms out to show him he had no weapons to hand.
“Nice place you got here Stef…” The thud as the back of Xavier’s skull caved in gave Shuggie a split second warning that their plan wasn’t going exactly to plan.
The Intel that Xavier had been given was wrong. Shuggie only found that out approximately ninety seconds after he had witnessed Xavier being knocked out and falling unconscious to the floor. The particular piece of information that the contact had gotten wrong turned out to be quite important, because the rogue had not hired three soldiers. There were actually five. Something that Shuggie and Xavier hadn’t accounted for. Which was also the reason why he hadn’t bothered to look behind him to ensure the coast was clear as he got up to prepare to go in and save Xavier’s ass. If he had known of the other two soldiers, he could have taken steps to ensure that they hadn’t crept up behind him, waited until he wasn’t looking and trapped him under a steel webbed net — which rendered him practically powerless, and unable to stop them from taking him prisoner and delivering him to Stefan, where he was to be chained back to back with the still unconscious Xavier.
It was not, Shuggie mused, their finest hour.
Xavier kept his eyes closed as he came around, not wanting to let the pricks know that he was awake, and listened carefully to the soldiers as they talked in hushed tones about what the fuck they were going to do with the prisoners. Prisoners? Plural? What the fuck! Xavier’s hands were bound behind his back and his fingers felt the rope, and then someone else’s hands. That fucker Shuggie just went and got himself captured as well. Well wasn’t that just dandy?
Shuggie’s forced slumber was rudely interrupted when he felt the steel rope tying his wrists behind his back tightening as someone was pulling
at it. He knew that he was sitting on a chair, and his ankles were bound in the same manner. He deduced that the boys had a little kick around while he was out for the count, because his mouth tasted metallic and stale. He could hear Xavier’s shallow breathing behind him, so he knew that at least he was still alive and awake.
Xavier twisted his wrist enough to flex his fingers, nails digging into his palm as he started to meticulously pick at the stitches that he had put there earlier in the day, wincing slightly as the wound that he had made opened. He managed to slowly extract the thin steel spike, doing the same with his other hand, and hoping that the smell of fresh blood from the sliced palms would mingle with that from his earlier beating.
Xavier had omitted to tell Shuggie one important fact about his previous dealings with Stefan and his goons, primarily because he thought Shuggie would think he was a lunatic and refuse to work with him. After all, what rational thinking person would believe him if he told Shuggie that the soldiers they were going up against were actually vampires? Shuggie would have had him sectioned and institutionalised. Any of the men that he served with would. So, he had taken his own precautions as best he could to prepare for the mission, and had hoped he could deal with them himself, so that Shuggie didn’t need to get involved. Well, Xavier thought to himself, that plan went down the shitter now that both of them were captured.
“Dae ye huv a plan?” Shuggie hissed quietly to Xavier, keeping a check that the soldiers didn’t realise they were both awake.
Xavier was almost tempted to open his eyes when he heard Shuggie address him, but he kept his body hunched over to keep up the pretence he was still watching tweety birds circling around his head.
“I thought we could invite them for a game of naked twister, what do you fucking think? And how the fuck did you get caught as well. In fact, no, I really don’t want to know.” Xavier was whispering but his tone was still harsh. He knew that he had no choice but to tell Shuggie what they were both up against, and he really wasn’t relishing the task — doubting even more that Shuggie would believe him.
“We kin huv a domestic later, but fer noo we huv bigger fish to fry.” Shuggie needed to tell Xavier that the soldiers were vampires. He knew that the big man would either laugh it off as a side effect of concussion, or think he was stark raving bonkers. Regardless, he needed to tell him, because as sure as shit he would be finding out the hard way soon enough once the soldiers realised they were awake.
“There’s summit ye need tae know an there’s no a good way o’saying it, so you jist need to trust me Xavier - the soldiers aren’t human, they’re vampires.”
“Just shut up and listen to me Shug, I know you’ll think I’m talking out my ass but I am deadly serious - Stefan and his bitches aren’t like us, they’re vampires.”
Both Shuggie and Xavier had spoken at the same time, and both men were equally stunned that the other knew what they had been dreading telling each other.
“How the fuck did you know?”
“Ye a’ready ken aboot vampires?”
Again they were talking over each other, but the shock of the revelations — not that they were facing a group of bloodsucking vampires, but that it didn’t faze the other man one little bit — was in danger of giving the game away to their captors.
“Shut yer geggie, an jist listen tae me. Ah know because...” This was the first time that Shuggie had ever told anyone about what and who he really was, but in that one moment he trusted the other man with his life, “…because I’m a vampire an all.”
Xavier sat in silence as Shuggie’s confession sank in. Even though his voice was barely above a whisper, he could hear the emotion in his voice and knew how difficult it had been for him to tell him. That kind of information in the wrong hands could be a signed death warrant. Luckily for Shuggie he had put his trust in entirely the right man.
“Not gonna say I’m not surprised, cos I fucking am, but it explains a helluva lot Shug, yeah?”
“How so?” Shuggie could feel Xavier wriggling and trying to manoeuvre himself behind him and he was trying to figure out what he was up to.
“Cos you never fucking tan, and I’ve caught you salivating over my fucking handsome throat when you thought I wasn’t looking.” In a normal circumstance Xavier would have laughed after his own smartass comments, but he kept his voice low as he ensured the steel spike was kept away from Shuggie’s hands so as not to add to his friend’s pain.
“Ye seem awful calm aboot finding oot that vampires exist, Xavier - you’re no one an all are ye?” Shuggie’s curiosity at what Xavier was up to was starting to get the better of him.
“Me, a vampire? Shut the fuck up Shug!” Xavier went quiet as he quarrelled with himself whether he should tell him the truth or not. Finally, he decided he had nothing to lose. For one thing, Shuggie had trusted him with his secret so he knew he could trust him, and for another it was likely that Stefan would be having them both killed before the day was through, so he might as well tell someone his story. It might be his one and only chance.
“I’m not a vampire, but my dad and my brothers are werewolves.” Xavier continued to whisper to Shuggie when he heard the other man ask him to go on. “I have never been able to shift. I was called the ‘runt’ of the family, basically reviled for my faulty DNA. I hit puberty and couldn’t shift and that was an embarrassment to my father, so he publicly disowned me in front of the whole pack and sold me to a clan of succubi for them to use as a slave.”
The shame of this last confession still hit Xavier deep, and he knew that Shuggie would comprehend the exact nature of what his duties would have entailed with the succubus bitches. Suddenly Xavier clammed up, unable to go on.
Shuggie was glad Xavier couldn’t see his reaction on his face as he poured his soul out to him. He knew the last thing that a man like Xavier needed was to be pitied. There was no denying, however, that Shuggie respected Xavier more than he had any other being he had encountered in his long life. How a father could disown his own young son and sell him to a band of sex crazed demonic bitches was almost incomprehensible to him.
Just as Shuggie was about to speak words of comfort to Xavier, one of the assholes was ordered to check if they were both awake yet. In one way, he thought to himself, it was probably perfect timing. Shuggie doubted there were any words that could help heal the deep wounds that Xavier carried.
Xavier slowly raised his head and tried to open his swollen cut eyes, grinning at the vampire who had punched the side of his head to wake him up.
“Morning sweets, black coffee for me thanks.”
The soldier was warned off from hitting him again as Stefan approached Xavier. Stefan didn’t dispense with the normal pleasantries and instead gripped Xavier’s skull with his fingers, digging into the bleeding scalp.
“So, you’re playing with the big boys now Stefan?” Xavier laughed loudly as Stefan spat in his face and clawed a scar down his left cheek. “You know the ladies just love men with scars, Fanger.” Xavier masked his thoughts from his captor when he felt him trying to search his memories — a typical Vampire trick. He was so fucking predictable. “Now that’s just plain rude, trying to read someone else’s head Stefan, yeah?” Xavier’s eyes darted around the room sizing it up. Seeing the torture table being laid out he added, “All this bother for us? We are honoured, although, it kinda reminds me of that snivelling fuckwit brother of yours just before I beheaded him. What was his name again? Where’s Wally? Wilber? Ahh that’s right — Limp Willy.”
Shuggie heard Xavier spit a tooth out as he was punched in the jaw, thinking that his temper would always be his downfall. As soon as Xavier was hit, Shuggie rocked back on the chair legs, knocking both him and Xavier off balance. Xavier took the opportunity to loosen his hands from the ropes on his wrists, and he trapped the vampire that was between Stefan and the tent beam. Shuggie caught a glimpse of Xavier stabbing the soldier in the thigh with what looked like a small steel rod. As the soldier bent to hold the puncture wound
, Xavier punched his hand upwards, and tore the steel across his throat, getting himself drenched in the vampire’s blood in the process.
Shuggie ripped his hands loose from the restraints with a strength that even surprised him, and ignoring the huge welts and burns he swung himself around and head butted one of the soldiers in the stomach, winding him. He gripped the man’s head on either side and gave a sharp twist, detaching his spinal cord from his brain. The screams and howls from the injured vamps were making his ears bleed. Shuggie crouched down, kicking the legs off of the broken chair, and took the splintered wood in his bloodied hands. With an upwards jab, he speared the third vampire soldier easily.
Out of the corner of his eye, Xavier could see Stefan and the last vampire soldier gathering up the various data and equipment that had been stored in the tent, ready to make their escape. He launched himself to tackle Stefan to the ground, his soldier intervened and Xavier landed in a heavy thud onto his back.
Giving a strong right hook to the soldier’s face, Shuggie joined Xavier. Offering a hand to help him to his feet, he watched as Xavier used the soldier’s face as a punching bag and smirked when he heard the satisfying crunch of bone as the soldier’s face crumpled. The soldier was a resilient little bastard though, and came towards Xavier with some funky Kung Fu shit. Xavier moved with the grace of a dancer, and one round-house to the side of the soldier’s head and he heard Xavier comment it was ‘bedtime for Dracula’.
The Heist Page 3
