The Heist (6 page)

Xavier
scratched his chin, gave a dismissive shrug then cleared his
throat. “That’s what she said. You read it for yourself, yeah? The
Doc says I have LWS and I may be either the first or only case to
have it. Of course, she couldn’t be conclusive as she only has my
DNA to go on, but still.”

“
So does this
Lazy Wolf Syndrome huv any side-effects.” To be honest, Shuggie was
by now seeing the humour in the way Teodora had labelled Xavier,
but he was just and only just keeping his tone and face
serious.

Xavier shifted
uneasily in his seat. “Apart from not being able to shift, or
become immortal? Everything else seems to be normal. The indicators
and markers are there which mean that I
should
be able to let my wolf rise,
but for some fucked up reason I have to have the one wolf that is
too damn lazy to bother it’s ass to manifest itself. As the old
bastard said — I’m a runt of the litter.” Those last words were
said with venom. Some things just hurt to the very bone
marrow.

Shuggie
recognised the pain in Xavier’s eyes, but did nothing to contradict
his words.  It would only build Xavier’s defences up even
more, and most likely end up in a punch up between the two of them.
 Instead he opted to steer the conversation away from thoughts
of his sad excuse for a father. “Look at it this way, aye? Jist as
well ye cannae shift tae wolf.”

Xavier arched
a brow. “And how the fuck do you figure that one out?”

“
Well,”
Shuggie replied, wryly, “If ye did we couldnae work the gather.” At
Xavier’s perplexed expression he went on to explain. “Vampires and
werewolves are deadly enemies, Xavier - if ye could shift tae
werewolf an took a bite oota me? Ah’d be toast.  The ‘were’
saliva is lethal tae ma kind.”

It was only
then that Xavier started to grin, letting his tensed up body relax
a fraction. “Shit, and you see that as a negative? It’d come in
handy any time you beat my ass at poker, you cheating bastard!”
Xavier’s laugh bellowed as the two men got up and reached for the
bottle of Scotch at the same time.  Old habits never
change.

Mexico,
Present day

Bringing himself back to
the present, after his trip down Memory Lane, Shuggie accepted that
he and Xavier had an unbreakable bond.  That bond was partly
the reason why, once the Commander had confessed his attraction to
the woman who tried to run him off the road, he was determined to
track her down and see her for himself.

Another reason was simply
that the ancient warrior was a nosey bastard.  

Shuggie decided he wanted
to see this woman for himself, and flashed to the address he had
tracked down online for Friera and stood in the shadows, watching
the house for signs of life.

The thief resumed the
stake-out on the Pascal mansion.  

Decoding
Martinez’ laptop yesterday had been child's play. He had used his
first born’s name as his password — almost the dumbest thing known
to man! Still, it made the thief’s work easier.
From Martinez’ emails, the thief had been able to hack into
the systems, getting a full list of high ranking personnel close to
Belcastro. Sitting high up concealed in the tree of the Pascal
mansion, the thief knew that there was only two more nights until
Belcastro was reached.

By the time
this heist was over, the message will have been delivered loud and
clear… Belcastro had someone to fear! The stealing was only the
beginning — it was a warning to let him know he was marked and his
security systems
could
be compromised.

Tonight was
to teach Belcastro that he and his associates were being personally
targeted. Of course the weapons and jewels kept in the vaults of
this family home were an added bonus.

This Mafia
empire was crumbling and it was very entertaining to watch
unfold.

****

Xavier’s sleep was
troubled.

It was only
when he was unconscious that all the horrors of his life came back
to haunt him, which was why he fought sleep so stubbornly.
 Tonight though, he was troubled not for visions of death,
mutilation, screams of pain, or pleas for mercy. No, tonight he was
troubled with the image of a brunette taunting him with candy and
twisting his words back at him.  The more he tried to reason
with the female, the more she had him in knots.  Every time he
tried to walk away from her, he found himself chasing after her.
 This dream sucked, and not in a good way.

Friera - all
fire, feist, indignation, confidence, stubbornness, wit. Friera,
the kamikaze driver who demanded politeness and manners after
nearly killing him!  Friera, with the swaying hips, pouting
lush mouth and big almond shaped eyes that bore into the very heart
of him.  

He awoke,
hearing a shout ringing in his ears. It took him a few seconds to
realise that he was alone and the shouting he had heard was from
himself.  Xavier stared into the darkness as it dawned on him
that he had been shouting Friera’s name.

Who the hell was she? And
why did she have such an effect on him?  

Unable to get
back to sleep Xavier decided to shower, shave, and shove his
fatigues back on.  He might as well work as sit being plagued
with visions of a female he knew he couldn’t have, a female he
shouldn’t want.

****

The walk home
was a pleasant one, a small breeze in the air, enough to make
Alicia’s hair sway softly. Walking and viewing mansions fascinated
her. To most normal people she was probably a geek, but to
Alicia...she was intrigued at the architecture and how houses were
designed and made. She loved to read books and literature —
information was good and made for a healthy brain.

A small laugh escaped her
lips as she heard her stomach grumble.

“
Gods I’m a lady -
not!”

She hadn’t
been eating well on this vacation, but then Mexico was hotter than
she was used to and she reasoned that the heat effects even the
biggest of appetites. Alicia thought to herself that ‘sustenance is
needed for health’ and the last thing she needed was to become ill
on the final days of her dream vacation, so she made her way to the
hotel kitchens to enquire if the chef would possibly make her a
meal. It was past normal dining times, but maybe a batting of the
eyelashes would work — or she would just help herself.

The Belcastro
family mansion was enormous, almost three times as big as the one
that Martinez stayed in.  It was off the beaten track and
surrounded by a ten foot high perimeter fence, electrified iron
gates and CCTV every few feet. Guards were armed and posted within
the perimeter with radio contact to a main surveillance room which
was probably located in the basement of the mansion, Xavier
guessed.

Since the
Martinez place got turned over, security had been tightened around
the Belcastro mansion. With that said, it took Xavier less than
half an hour to break in, evade all the guards and cameras and
enter into the Mansion alone.

Pulling a
beer out of the fridge, he elbowed the small rectangle of glass on
the wall and took a drink as the siren sounded. Guards came pouring
out of every doorway down the hall.  

“
So good of
you to fucking join me.” Grinning as red dots flitted over his
body, all guns trained on him. “Could someone turn off that racket?
Can’t hear myself think here.” Finishing his beer, he threw it in
the trash. “The name’s Commander Raige, and you fuckers have just
been caught with your pants down.”

****

The thief
checked the time and jumped down from the tree in the Pascal
mansion grounds.  The layout had been memorised and there were
only servants and a few low ranking soldiers left on duty around
the property.
Appearing from the dense
woodland that sat off to the side of the land, the thief was
dressed head to toe in black.  Dodging the sprinkler systems
that were watering the lawns from the day’s heat, the thief walked
to the side entrance door that led to the kitchen.

The noise of a twig
snapping gave the thief all the warning needed, and so turned
around to be met with the barrel of a gun.

‘
Morons,
’
the thief thought before easily disarming the guard of his
gun.

The glint of
the thief’s blade was all that the burly guard saw. In fact it was
the last thing he saw as it was stabbed into his thigh, the femoral
artery being penetrated as the intruder’s blade was twisted for
good measure. The guard fell into a heap on the tiled kitchen
floor.  He would bleed out in no time, but this had not been
on the agenda for tonight!

The dark
figure was more careful now, manoeuvring through the upper floors
of the property. The main safe in the mansion was situated in a
cupboard in one of the bathrooms.
With a
shake of the head, the black gloved hand spun the dial of the
combination lock. It didn’t go unnoticed that it took four attempts
to get into it.
Things were definitely
getting harder, but it did challenge the mind…if you had patience
for this shit
!

Eventually the
combination was unlocked and the loot bag was filled with the
weapons and four flash drives that had been concealed inside the
safe — those would make interesting bedtime reading the intruder
mused.
Closing the safe and locking it,
the thief left the mansion and headed back home.

Smug thoughts
filled the thief’s head. Yet another heist completed without
getting caught!

“
This cannae
be right.”

Shuggie stared almost
open mouthed as he watched the object of his Commander’s desire
from the window outside her home.

“
He must be
working too hard or had completely taken leave of his senses.”
 Shuggie shook his head then took another look.

In all the years that
he’d known Xavier, this was the first time he’d spoken about a
woman with awe, wonder and desire.  But when Shuggie watched
this ‘Friera’ he realised why Xavier had never freely spoken of his
particular tastes regarding women.

“
He’s a bloody
Granny Shagger!”

Hoping he hadn’t spoken
out loud, Shuggie resumed his watch.

Friera, as
described by Xavier was ‘the most beautiful female, a feisty little
thing’. Xavier had elaborated saying she had ‘an attitude that puts
me to shame’ and adding, with no hint of sarcasm or irony that she
was ‘... totally unaware of the effect she has on a
male’.

Well that last
comment was spot on
, Shuggie thought as he
struggled to keep the vomit down from his mouth.

Friera was as
small in height as she was round in circumference.  He
reckoned that she must be at least seventy years old, and by the
looks of her she had definitely lived a hard life. Her grey hair
clung to her face like rats tails, and when she opened her mouth
her yellowing teeth looked like they had imprisoned her tongue. One
of her eyes was unable to stop staring at her bulbous nose, and the
other couldn’t bear to look at it!

Unable to
fathom just what Xavier seen in this woman, he stayed observing her
for the best part of an hour. If this ‘Friera’ was smart, mouthy
and witty, then she done a damn fine job of hiding it. He had heard
of cougars being the next big thing, but this was bloody
ridiculous!

Xavier
wondered to himself how it was that Belcastro hadn’t been done over
years ago with his substandard security systems and personnel.
 They were pretty much sitting ducks for anyone who had the
gonads big enough to decide they would try to break in. A fact
that had been tested less than twenty four hours ago.

Belcastro’s
guards were too used to living the good life, Xavier noted, always
posing around in their Hugo Boss suits and acting like
international playboys. He would bet that in the dark they wouldn’t
know one end of a gun from the other. He made a mental note to test
that theory out at a later date.

There was a
knock at the door and Xavier ordered one of Snr Belcastro’s guards
to let his men in. As his soldiers saluted Xavier they stood to
attention while he barked orders at them. The Belcastro bitches
stood gaping at the display wondering who the fuck this man was and
why he was getting treated with such reverence.

Xavier nodded
in the direction of two of his soldiers and as they marched over to
him, he slapped both of them on the back and they seemed to share a
joke. “Hawkeye and Ballbreaker, good of you to fucking join us,
yeah?” Xavier grinned as the three stood in a circle, talking and
laughing.

Sergeant
Ciaran ‘Hawkeye’ Paterson and Sergeant Harry ‘Ballbreaker’ Reid
were two of Xavier’s most loyal soldiers and, after he and Shuggie,
were the two most experienced and trained. By the way the three of
them kept talking, laughing and glancing at the Belcastro guards it
was obvious to the guards they were ridiculing them. After a
few minutes of hushed discussion, both men left Xavier walking in
opposite directions as Xavier turned his attention back to the
guards.