Boxes & Smoke

Box 4

Alexei

He's been used to waking up just before the sun would start to rise. But this time, he got out of bed later than that. Carver did his morning routine and took his white sleeves to be on standby if ever the heiress would make him drive somewhere again.

He got out of his room and he was not surprised to see Paisley standing just outside the hall that led to his room.

"Xios, I heard last night you-"

An alarm echoed through the mansion as explosions raged outside. Carver's senses took place. He immediately grabbed Paisley's wrist and made her duck through the ground. His eyes roam around through the windows. He saw Mr. Schleifer and his men with their guns shooting the truck that crashed through the gates.

The guards marched inside, and they surrounded Paisley.

"Who the fuck is at patrol last night!? How come they breached security!?" said one of the guards. Xios took Paisley by the arm and led her away from the halls.

"Damn it! They're closing in!" The other guard fired bullets one after another, shooting the tires of the cars that entered the premises. He aimed through the broken window to get a good shot. And Carver wanted to click his tongue at how badly the guard aimed.

Four of the guards led Paisley to safety while the other five were on her back and sides. They entered the garage and Xios followed, he was grateful that they had also covered him from the attacks.

One of the men threw a key in his direction. "This is no time to kid around! Drive the lady away from here!"

Shattering glass windows and loud thumps in the ground were heard. Xios immediately entered the bulletproof car as two guards went on the back with Paisley in between. He took hold of the wheel and sped up outside with the other men guarding their backs. Another car of the Schleifer followed them from behind as their upper body peaked from outside the car window.

Xios focused on driving. Though he's too distracted by the sound of the guns. As if something was steering inside him that he also had the urge to take his rifle and aim at their pursuers. But he can't do that. He needed to pretend that he's never good when it comes to this.

And this pretending thing irks him as much as the Schleifer men's nasty aims at their targets. They're good–but still, that kind of marksmanship didn't pass Carver's standards.

Xios maneuvered the steering wheel from right to left. As his feet had continuously stepped on the gas and brake. There are a couple of times he drifted the wheels to a certain direction just so he could lose the three cars tailing them. His eyes casually took a glance at the side mirror but this time, uneasiness began to creep to him when the other car of the Schleifer wasn't following them anymore.

He was about to turn the speed some more when he heard Paisley's scream. He saw the two guards beside Paisley lying in a pool of blood. The car's cushion was stained in scarlet and Paisley covered her ears watching the two guards in horror.