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Authors: LLC Dark Hollows Press

Tags: #vampire, #werewolves, #mafia, #urban paranormal suspense, #urban paranormal romance

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BOOK: The Heist
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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.  “My 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.


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.

BOOK: The Heist
11.01Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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