The Heist (19 page)

Reaching over
to place his hand over both of Alicia’s, Shuggie offered a small,
encouraging smile.

“
Ye huv
courage beyond yer years, youngling.  Life hus dealt ye a
tough hand, an ye take it all oan the chin.” Patting her hands then
sitting back and reaching over for his drink, he let Alicia’s words
sink in. “Ah jist feel like ah should gie ye a hug or summit.”
Shuggie was about to laugh when his bedroom door was kicked to
splinters, and a stony faced Xavier stood facing him, his eyes were
narrowed and his nostrils flaring.

“
Get your bastarding hands off of her right the
fuck
now,
Scotsman!”

“
Now Sir,
there is no need to address my friend in such a manner, you have no
right entering Hugh’s room with knocking and waiting to be invited
in.”

Alicia was fuming at the
male who had kicked in the door demanding that her friend stopped
patting her hands.  As Alicia slowly turned her head her to
look up, her insides started to do the double loop.

He was the most gorgeous
man she had ever seen!

“
I have every
right, female - you are M...” Xavier stopped himself just before he
uttered the word ‘Mine’ — the word that the wolf kept repeating in
his dream — and quickly corrected himself. “Mental!” Almost kicking
himself internally. Of all the words he could get to substitute, he
had to go for an insult!

Smooth move.

Alicia dropped her hands
from Shuggie’s hold as she stared at the male, his blond hair sat
on his shoulders, clean shaven. His skin was marred with scars
which just added sexy with a capital ‘S’!

As she looked him up and
down she froze, those green eyes she would know
anywhere!

She leaped
through the air like a puma going in for the kill, her hands
wrapping around Xavier’s neck as she shouted out to
Shuggie.

“
It’s the
stalker! Hugh you must help me bring him down!”

Shuggie
hadn’t had this much entertainment since the time he had to fake
Xavier’s death in order to get him away from a band of Romany
Gypsies after the Head of the family found out he had not only
deflowered his twin eldest daughters, but was also getting cosy
with their mother.

As Shuggie ensured his
treasured gift of Glenlivet was hidden so as not to be included in
any collateral damage from the interlude, he noted that his best
friend had it seriously bad for Alicia.

The youngling
may need a little more convincing, however, but fuck it — this was
hilarious to watch!

As Alicia’s
hands tightened around Xavier’s neck, she was swinging from him —
her body radiating with fury — who the hell did he think he
was?!

Xavier didn’t
have time to blink before the midget ninja flew through the air and
connected with him, the force of her attack forcing him to step
back.  If he had time to think, he would have noted with some
interest that she had a very good grip, but then that would mean he
was thinking with his cock and not his brain, and this was neither
the time, nor the place. What he couldn’t deny, even as she started
to throttle the life out of him, was that he was enjoying the
physical contact — and if she did kill him, he could think of a
million worse ways to die.

“
Alicia,
lass, he’s startin’ tae turn blue.” Shuggie was relaxed as he made
the comment, and wished that he had turned on the camera function
on his cell phone. This would make one helluva blooper tape for
their downtime.  The great Commander, beaten up by a wee
lassie!

Hearing
Shuggie’s words behind her, Alicia flashed herself away from Xavier
over to the other side of the room and in a quick motion she bent
down and grabbed the pink Glock from her left boot.  Keeping
her back to the wall, her gun was drawn and pointing at
Xavier.

“
Hugh, you
grab him. He’s the mortal that has been stalking me and if it
wasn’t for his meddling then Belcastro would have been mine!
 He’s a threat and he also tried to kidnap me!”

Shuggie
remained where he was, but he was smirking. “He has, has he?”
Shaking his head.  “Ye are a disgrace o’ a man, tae dae such a
thing tae a wee lassie!” Instead of helping, Shuggie was making
things decidedly worse for Xavier, but this was the showdown of the
century and he had front row seats. “Ah think ye shud make him
apologise tae ye, Alicia!”

Xavier had
reached number seventy six in his ‘
Ways to
Kill Shuggie’
monologue that was by now an
almost daily recurring event that played out in his
head.

As he
massaged his throat, he kept his eyes on Alicia and knew that one
sudden move and she’d shoot. That didn’t concern him, except
that he didn’t know how good a shot she would be and with the
height difference between them, she could quite easily shoot him in
the balls.

“
I am no
stalker, Friera - or should I say, Alicia? Put the gun down,
yeah?”

“
Dance for
me!” Alicia lowered her aim and shot to the side of Xavier’s foot
deliberately. She never missed her intended target.  “I don’t
know who the fuck this Friera is but you have thirty seconds to get
the fuck out of here before I shoot you between the eyes, are we
clear soldier boy?”

“
You seriously have a screw loose…
you
told me that your name was
Friera, remember?”
Xavier quickly glanced
over Alicia’s head to look at Shuggie, giving him a warning look
that he’d better start helping or he was going to be beaten black
and blue.  He returned his attention quickly to Alicia when
she fired off the gun.

“
Calm the fuck
down!”

He ignored
the ‘dance’ comment. He was on his own with Shuggie sitting,
grinning like a fool, seemingly enjoying watching him suffer.
“Shuggie, inform your little friend who the fuck I am, yeah?”
Xavier lifted his hands slowly, palms facing Alicia as he addressed
his Lieutenant.

Shrugging a
shoulder, Shuggie took his time replying, “Alicia, meet Commander
Xavier Raige. Commander, meet Alicia ‘Sharpshooter’ Carberletti.”
He was about to spontaneously combust with laughter, and really
didn’t care that Xavier was going to kill him. He wouldn’t have
missed this for the world.

Alicia's eyes
never left Xavier, her weapon was held steady in her hands as she
glared at him.
“His name is Hugh, not
‘Huggie’! Get it right soldier boy. I’m aware he’s Commander Raige.
I had his mousetraps in my fingers when he hauled me from my sun
bed. Now Commander Prick, I asked you nicely to
Fuck Off
!”

Both men
looked puzzled at each other when Alicia mentioned Xavier’s
‘mousetraps’ but it was Shuggie who piped up. “It’s no mousetraps,
Alicia, they’re called dog tags.” But he nearly ended himself when
she referred to Xavier as Commander Prick.  He’d heard many a
thing in his time, but that was up there with the best. “An he
cannae leave, as he’s ma Commander.”

Although it was Shuggie
that spoke, it was Xavier that gave Alicia a pointed look as he
lowered his hands back down to his sides.

“
That’s what I
said! Dog tags, Hugh listen to me please when I’m trying to save
us!”

The delayed
reaction to Shuggie’s words finally sunk in as Alicia looked over
her shoulder at her friend then back at the Commander.  Both
men had military dog tags hanging around their necks.
“Don’t you fucking look at me like that you
prick!” Alicia's hand slowly lowered as she looked between the two
men. “Hugh, would you mind explaining why I feel I have been
tricked by you this eve?”

Just as
Shuggie had opened his mouth to answer, Xavier stepped forward,
twisted Alicia’s wrist and took custody of her weapon, holding it
up higher than her reach.  He tilted his head and smirked down
at her. “Yes, Shuggie, why would Sweetcheeks think you’d tricked
her?” Xavier’s tone and expression indicated that he thought the
tables had just been turned on his old friend.

“
Ah ne’er
tricked anyone. Bit ah dae think ye shud both calm doon an talk tae
each other wi’oot trying tae kill each other.” Shuggie really
wished that he had had popcorn and a hotdog while he had been
watching the interaction between the two hotheads, but at least he
had his Scotch.

“
His name is Hugh and my name is not fucking Sweetcheeks!”
Alicia growled up at Xavier, his hand taunting her with the gun he
had swiped from her hold.  In a swift move, she grabbed
Xavier’s balls, twisting them hard.
“You are the root of all my problems and you got in the way
of something personal.  You know who I am now and what I do
for a living, so can you please just leave me the fuck
alone?”

“
Leave
you
alone? You’re the one squeezing the fuck out of my balls,
Sweetcheeks,” Xavier grunted as he kept the gun out of Alicia’s
reach.

As Shuggie
watched, he remembered that the Doc needed a sample of Alicia’s DNA
to test to see if she was, indeed, the fabled ‘
Sanguis-solis’
vampire.  As the
fight between her and Xavier started for Round Two, he thought this
might be a perfect opportunity to get some of her blood.
 Reaching down to his kitbag under his bed, Shuggie grabbed
his first aid box, and took out a syringe and a vial, hiding it in
the palm of his hand as he waited for the right moment.

Alicia's hand
let Xavier’s jewels drop as if her hand was on fire, but the look
in his eyes… He was enjoying it!

“
Why don’t you
fuck off and be the ‘leopard’ that you are? I was having a nice
evening with Hugh and you just had to turn up didn’t you? Look
Xavier Stalker Raige, I’ve done you no harm.  I’ve been
nothing but polite to you.”

Xavier’s jaw
ticked at that comment. As he slid the pink gun into the back of
his waistband, his jealousy started to rear its ugly head
again.
Alicia took a few steps back,
looking over her shoulder at Hugh as she walked.  “Sorry Hugh,
I must take me leave now, thank you for everything, you have been
so kind to me but I cannot stay here with
Mr. Hottie
Commander
Prick.”

At this,
Shuggie stood and placed a hand on Alicia’s shoulder, to make her
sit back down. “Jist hold yer whisht lass, ye are going nowhere til
we sort this oot.” Xavier’s eyes honed in on Shuggie and that was
enough of a warning for him to move his hand away from Alicia’s
shoulder.

“
Apologies if
I interrupted your date with your boyfriend, Sweetcheeks. I was
intending to come down here and meet with you to offer our help
with your mission to bring the Belcastros down, but I can see you
neither want nor need…” He was about to say ‘me’ but instead said
“my help”. Instead of walking out, though, his feet were cemented
to the floor.  The very thought of leaving her here to be
consoled by another male had his wolf tearing him apart
inside.

Alicia sat
back down in the chair as Hugh gently pushed her into it. She
crouched forward as her hand slipped into her right boot and pulled
out a purple Glock, straightening her body back up, the gun spun
around her index finger.

“
Let’s get
something straight here, Hugh is my friend. A male with impeccable
manners — unlike you. I don't need anyone’s help, never have done,
never will do! If the Belcastros are paying you to find me? Deliver
me to them now! I am a vampire, Com-an-derrr. I can get myself
free.” Alicia sat with a smug grin on her face, then drew a cherry
lolly from her pocket and popped it in her mouth.

Xavier
wondered where the hell the next weapon would appear on Alicia. She
seemed to be able to pull guns out of thin air!  He exhaled
slowly, when she said she had no romantic interest in Shuggie.
 He wasn’t aware he had been holding his breath until
then.

“
I know
exactly what you are, vampire,” he said, matter-of-factly and
kicked the shards of broken door out of his way as he walked around
the bed to lean on the back wall.  Shuggie had shown him
discreetly what he had in his hand and when he mouthed “Blood
sample?” to Xavier, he had barely nodded.  He had to keep
Alicia’s attention on him so that Shuggie could quickly jab the
syringe into her and extract the blood.  “You have a personal
beef with Belcastro, I get that. But what you don’t know is what I
found out today, and that is the reason that I was proposing that
we join forces to get him and his organisation once and for all.
 It’s true, I was hired to find you and bring you in, but that
has changed and we are no longer in Belcastro’s
employment.”

Shuggie knew what Xavier
was up to and as he spoke to Alicia, he took the opportunity to
stab the needle into the small of her back, extracting her blood
and transferring it into the glass vial.  Alicia must have
thought she had been bitten by a mosquito as she tried to swat her
hand behind her as the needle was inserted.

What Shuggie didn’t know
however was that Xavier had ended the contract with Belcastro and
he wondered whether it was just ‘talk’ to engage Alicia, or if
something had happened in the time between his and Xavier’s
disagreement earlier in the day and his returning to the
base?