The Heist (2 page)

As Shuggie
firmly but politely told the waitress to sling her hook, Xavier
gave a short nod to him and stood up, putting the flash drive in
his back pocket, then fixing his shades and pulling his gold-blond
hair into a tight ponytail with a leather tie. As he made his way
out of the club the crowds parted like the red sea, his boots
pounding the floor, his eyes straight ahead and focused.

Outside, the
cold night air hit him like an arctic blast. He took out a
cigarette, flicked his lighter three times before lighting and took
a long hard pull of the coffin nail.  Exhaling slowly, Xavier
knew what he had to do.  He wanted this job. He couldn’t
resist the cat and mouse of tracking down perpetrators and bringing
them in. It also intrigued him as to why Ricky Martinez, the
spokesman and right hand man of Snr Belcastro, had approached him —
it was highly unusual for any Mafia family to bring in an outside
contractor. Why had these thieves eluded the Mafia family’s own
security teams?  Were they merely incompetent, or were the
thieves just too good?

As Xavier
kicked the stand away from his customised Ducati and started the
engine, his thoughts were his own. He headed towards the Martinez
mansion to accept Snr Belcastro’s contract and start the hunt for
their elusive band of thieves.

The stakeout
was boring, but had to be done.

At the same
time every nightfall for the last week the Martinez crew’s
movements and routines had been observed — all of their comings and
goings, when Martinez was heavily guarded and when he was most
likely to be alone.  It had paid off though, as Ricky Martinez
had left town on business and would be away for a week.

Two of the
crew’s places had been done over already — fine expensive jewellery
and artwork taken.  It was the guns and other weapons that
were the object of desire for this next job.

There was a
feeling of unease between the Mafia families. Word on the street
was there was a skilled thief at large and that the Belcastros were
employing security before said thief reached the Don’s
mansion.

Well, wasn’t
that little bedtime story coming closer to becoming a
reality?

A figure
emerged from the shadows, making his way up the long
driveway. As the final light was switched off in the large
four bedroomed property, the modern day mansion was plummeted into
darkness.  Being careful not to make a sound on the loose
stones that covered the asphalt, the intruder walked on the
grass.
A mist was falling, which in return
coated the grass in moisture, ensuring that there would be no trail
of footprints.

Of course,
having custom made boots with no treads also helped.

This was a
professional at work who knew every move the security teams made,
the tests they carried out, and the equipment they used to do
so.

The front
door was a heavy one, manufactured to a high bulletproof
specification, as were all the windows. High dense plastic had been
made to look and reflect like glass — after all when you are a
Family of the Underworld you shouldn’t expect enemies to come
knocking at your front door.

A ten lever
locking system adjourned the red main entrance, four cameras alone
surveying different angles. The intruder disabled the cameras with
ease, a trick even the nerdiest of I.T. boffins would drool
over.
The springing of the locks was the
nail biting part, even for a veteran thief like this one. There was
always those five minutes of ‘will someone hear and wake up?’
 Not that the confrontation part mattered — it was more the
inconvenience of someone getting in the way and wasting precious
minutes of time!

Once the
intruder was inside, the interior decor opened up. The reception
area was nothing to write home about — marble staircase, high
polished black floor and generations of pictures that were
strategically hung on the walls. It was the love this family had
for their precious children and ancestors that made this task too
easy!

The safe was
a wall-mounted one which was hidden behind a canvas of the children
of Ricky Martinez.

“
Fucking
Bingo!”

Weaving his
bike at the sharp bends in the narrow road on the way to the
Martinez mansion, Xavier mulled over the fine details of his
agreement to their job offer.  He didn’t notice the vehicle
hurtling towards him in the opposite direction, and he hadn’t
factored in that the sun was just rising.  He most definitely
didn’t expect that the driver of the other vehicle seemed to have a
death wish.

The rising
sun bounced off the windshield of the oncoming vehicle, blinding
Xavier momentarily. As he swerved to the right he felt his front
wheel dip, and he flew over the handlebars of his bike as it slid
under the front wheels of the offending vehicle. Lying in the
bushes at the side of the road, Xavier checked himself over to
ensure he wasn’t bleeding or broken and slowly stood up.
 Making his way over the now stationary vehicle, he curled his
hand into a fist and punched through the driver’s window, pulling
out the driver.  As he was about to make chowder out of his
face, he noticed that the driver’s feet were dangling off the
ground.

He then noticed that he
was a she.  A very small she.

“
What the
fuck
do you think you are playing at, female? You
could have fucking killed me!” Narrowing his eyes, Xavier dangled
the female in front of him.

“
I was
driving my car. You fucking crashed into me, you fucking prick, so
don’t ask me what I was playing at!” Alicia glared at the huge male
that had her suspended in the air, her boots hovering as he gripped
her tightly by the shoulders.

“
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.