A dream ride
Saturday night, 22.00 hours, Northwest harbor district, Baltimore MD.
Xander was at the club again. Like a month ago the place was packed with people, moving to the infectious beat. Cautiously he moved down the stairs and started moving through the crowd, taking care not to bump too much into anybody.
Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to come here after all. While in Gibbon's office he had felt a whole lot better than a week ago, now was another thing... By the time he had reached the bar he felt like he had just out-boarded an oncoming avalanche on a snow-covered mountain. He ordered a beer, to celebrate two facts; one: he had made it to the bar and two: as of yesterday, he had refused to take anymore painkillers.
The taste of the cool beer released some tension in his muscles. That he felt so much better than a week ago was not surprising, considering the fact that at that time he had been drenched, alone in the dark, clambering onto a boulder in the middle of the Lower Kern river, California, while being hit again and again by an abundance of water. His kayak shot to barrels by a scumbag named Whitteker and more bones broken in his body then he ever imagined having. However, Whitteker himself was a corpse right now, his ride being a real explosion, when his hot-wired kayak; originally X's; bumped into one of many boulders. So actually X got the good end of the bargain, and that was without questioning the cascade; the run had been a continuous adrenalin shot: long turbulent rapids of raging and fuming whitewater. During that night on the boulder X had wandered in and out of consciousness and his feverish dreams were fed by the ongoing roar of the water. Most of his dreams included diving out of a plane in a kayak and landing in the Kern for the ride of his life again. However this time he was conscious from the moment he started his free fall instead of coming to in a liquid hell and, to his content, there were several waterproof cameras strapped to his vessel.
Somehow he had managed to struggle on shore the next morning and after wandering the woods for hours he had come to an abandoned campsite: his kayak-season had started a bit early this year... He had broke into the reception desk cabin and used an emergency-phone to contact Gibbons, who had come to the hospital in Bakersfield two days later to pry him for information but also to rescue him from a month in a boring ward. And now their most reviled but yet irreplaceable agent was back in Baltimore, with nothing else to do than to recover. The ultimate time to hunt down the other feverish dream he had had on that rock: the spellbinding vision of a girl laughing, illuminated by a streetlight.
Much to his chagrin, the girl of his dreams, was not behind the bar. Erica Green was. He gestured at her. "Hey! Mister X-treme! I remember you... it's been a while, hasn't it?" her smile seemed to hold a sweet promise, "Where did you went last time? Couldn't you find 'The New Haven Lounge'? I will be more than happy to show you the way in about two hours, you know... Or did you get cold feet?" "Yeah... among several other body parts..." X. muttered; he spoke up: "And how have you been?" Knowing well, before he said it, that his question would smash a dam and as he predicted a constant flow of words started to cascade down. I should stop comparing things with water related topics, he thought with a quick grin: must be a side-effect. He cleared his throat: "So, you've been fine lately... Listen, the last time I was here, there was this girl named Charlie..." If a piranha could smile it would probably look a lot like Erica right now. "Oh yeah... I remember her..." she started in a content voice: "Yeah, she quit! All of a sudden. I personally think she was not able to handle the customers, or maybe she was unable to combine her study with her job here. And I do not blame Saddie, I mean, sometimes she wouldn't show up for a week or so..." "When?" X interrupted the continuing flow. "What do you mean 'when'? When do I get off?" Xander did his best not to groan: "When did Charlie quit?" "Oh," her face clearly displayed her disappointment, "I don't know, is this so important, I mean... there are more enjoyable subjects to discuss here, now are there...?" "Erica...," he suppressed his irritation and continued: "you're in the same occupation. Charlie quitting may have something to do with a danger that could happen to you... I just don't want anything happing to you..." He dangled the bait in front of her, gift-wrapped in the sound of his husky, sexy voice. "Oh, you're such a darling, worrying about me..." Dream on! X thought as Erica continued: "Well, Saddie only told us last week, but she didn't work the week before that one either so... Hey..." her voice was anticipating enthusiastic: "We don't have to go to 'The New Haven Lounge', I mean, it's mostly tiring jazzmusic, we could..." "Thank you Erica, but no, I must decline." he said brusquely and simply turned back.
When Erica turned away insulted, Saddie just put down the phone at the other end of the bar. The moment she had seen Erica wasting time talking again while the club was jam packed she was about to fire her. But seeing the object of her stalling, she changed her mind; just for now anyway. The mentioning of Charlie's name only confirmed her, she didn't hesitate any longer, took out her stale notebook from under the bar, flipped through it, stopped and dialled the number.
Saturday night; 22.20 hours; exclusive dining-conference room at the Millenium UN Plaza Hotel; One United Nations Plaza; New York, NY.
Charlie was leaving the restroom when her cellphone buzzed, and she stepped back in to answer it. The inside of the room was imposing and luxurious: honey-shade marble, gold-plated fountains, adorned by rich red oak accents with big mirrors framed with an abundance of carved fruits and flowers in gold. The music coming from the piano in the room next door filtered in. The noise coming from the other end of the line was like from an alternative universe and it took her a moment to recognize Saddie's voice through it. "Is that you Saddie? Are you calling from the club?" She concentrated and could hear her boss trying to make herself audible: "Where the hell are you Charlie?" Charlie frowned: "I'm in New York." Saddie was silent, in direct contrast of her surroundings. "And what the hell are you doing in New York?" "Attending a supper after a tour of the UN headquarters, Saddie, what's wrong?" "You're attending a what?" her boss yelled, continuing without waiting for an answer: "Well, it doesn't matter, listen, remember you once asked me to call you in case you were not in? Well you better get your butt out here and dress hot! I have to go now!" Charlie could hear Saddie starting to yell at a customer before the line went dead.
Saturday night, 22.25 hours, Northwest harbor district, Baltimore MD.
Had she quit because of the incident with Russel? Xander kept wondering. He did not like the idea that he had anything to do with her quitting her job. On the other hand, he wouldn't dare to think of what would have happened if he had not been there that night. He smirked: she probably would have kicked the guy into oblivion. He revelled in the memory of her sublime roundhouse-kick and suddenly felt lost in the middle of the crowd. Emptying his bottle, with one last sip, he started to get up when with a 'tud' another bottle of beer was placed in front of him. He slowly raised his head, meeting Saddie's eyes. "You were not thinking of leaving now, were you Xander Cage? Remember: You're-in-the-Saddie-zone now!" she smiled at him. He smiled back and started: "Well..." but then a guy next to him accidentally poked him in the ribs and his face went pale, he had to make an effort not to moan in pain. Off her worried expression he reacted: "It is nothing serious, just some bruises: occupational hazard," - his slow smile would have melted an iceberg - "...but I really should be going, sorry." She replied before he could move: "Oh, come on now, don't you dare leaving without telling me how you got those bruises! I won't tell anybody, that is... nobody besides Lee and anyway this beer is on the house so..." At first Xander was inclined to let her sweet-talk him into staying; at this moment he wouldn't be able to walk straight up all the way back to the stairs anyway. But after she went to take care of some other customers he felt the pain lessen and knew that if he did not leave now, he would probably have to crawl back to his car. Now that the adrenaline from the thought of seeing Charlie again died out he felt even more that he shouldn't have come here, in his condition he should be in a bed, sleeping. Slowly he got up and started the long way back to his car. He almost reached the stairs when a hand on his shoulder made him grind his teeth in pain. He slowly turned around, swearing to return after recovering and make this person pay for his actions. 'This person' turned out to be Saddie again. "Hey mister Cage, you really shouldn't leave, I mean..." then seeing that he was about to double over, she led him the last few steps to the stairs and sat him down. "You're not well at all, are you? " she continued and muttered: "A few bruises, my ass!" She looked at him, the expression of pain on his face made way for one of embarrassment, when she suddenly sat down next to him. X raised an eyebrow: "I'm okay Saddie, I don't need you to babysit me." "Don't worry I'm not gonna..." all of a sudden she continued: "The thing is, Charlie had every intention of showing up tonight, but she got preoccupied this evening." This made him raise both his eyebrows: "Well, it doesn't matter," he answered, "I shouldn't be here Saddie, I was just wrong..." He grabbed one of the balusters to hoist himself up when Saddie said: "No wait, there is a bit more to it actually. I shouldn't be telling you this, but you're really gonna leave, aren't you?" With a bit of a sigh X let go of the baluster and looked at her expectantly. "I promised Charlie to call her if I would ever spot you in the club again." She continued hastily: "And it is true she quit, but only because..." "She asked you to call her when you saw me?" X interrupted her, his voice reflecting his surprise: "How many guys do you have to call her for?" Saddie stood up again and looked him up and down: "Well, at the risk of you getting ideas: just one: you!" "And you did? Call her?" he started laughing, but stopped soon because of the pain in his ribs. She couldn't hide a hint of contentment in her voice: "Well, I've played the messenger boy long enough: I've given you the information, now you see what you do with it," and with that she went back to the bar, leaving a rather astonished Xander on the steps.
Sunday morning, 02.30 hours, Northwest harbor district, Baltimore MD.
The quietness of the Northwest harbor district was suddenly disturbed by the unmistakable sound of a Ducati motorbike. The sound from the engine was reflected off the buildings and it startled X, he yawned, his bones were giving him a hard time and the nap in his front seat hadn't improve things. After his conversation with Saddie he had wanted to stay in the bar and wait around for Charlie to show up, but his body protested against even the slightest physical exertion; there was no way he was going to make it to the bar again. So eventually he gathered all his strength and went up the stairs to sit in his GTO. There he had fallen asleep, waking up now and then because of the uncomfortable position.
The Ducati now rounded a corner and came into sight in the rearview mirror. It's rider parked it on the pavement in front of the club and got off. She, the tight black leather suit revealed every curve of her body, made her way to the entrance. Xander cautiously sat upright, could it be... would she ride a bike? By the time she tried the door and found it closed, he had gotten out of his car. Leaning against it he admired both bike and biker. When she turned towards her dark blue and white S4R she noticed him. For a moment she stared through the tinted face shield. Then she slowly took of her helmet and an cascade of reddish-brown curls confirmed his suspicion... Charlie...