Chapter 2:
Discovery
For the last couple of weeks the baby had
been particularly active, so it wasn’t unusual for Aggie to be pacing up and down
the hallway late at night, desperately wanting a cigarette. Xavier had taken
all her smokes away and had threatened (in no uncertain terms) that if he
smelled even the slightest wiff, she could kiss
goodbye any more support. She smiled sourly at the thought of his promise to
withhold financial support and wondered what he would do if he found out that
she was going to sell this baby for a nice little profit. Not that he would
find out, of course. Aggie’s thoughts were
interrupted as she noticed a small sliver of yellow light shine from under
Xavier's door. He had been locked up his room for over a week now with that
damn computer, coming out only for occasional trips downtown. She was glad she
had not hocked the computer he had given her sometime ago; even happier when
she found out last night that he was leaving soon. She knew it had to do with
his fascination over that Backstreet Boy. Aggie tried to put that unpleasant
thought out of her head. She recognized without a doubt that her brother was
dangerous, but to what extent she never cared to explore. Hopefully, the couple
who wanted this kid would pay handsomely and then she’d be gone, taking Lizzy
and getting the hell out of
Xavier shut down the computer and leaned
back into his chair, a smile of content finally crossing his face. It was done.
He had done it, but then he knew he could. Xavier had called in a few markers,
made a few veiled threats, and knowing his ability to get what he wanted, was
not at all surprised when the managing firm of the Backstreet Boys had
telephoned him with a job offer. Xavier smirked as he listened to the HR
representative describe the surprising absence of one of their most trusted
bodyguards and how thrilled they were to find such a "respected and
qualified" bodyguard at such short notice.
As usual, the head of employment had tried
to get him to take a ridiculously low salary and they had haggled for some time
before coming to a decent offer. Xavier would have taken any amount the young
supervisor offered, but knew that the other bodyguards for this group would
sooner or later find out his wage and decided to negotiate for similar pay.
It was a little harder to accomplish the
rest of what he needed. He loved the Internet, and was quite adept at it, but
surprise and then disbelief overtook him as he began his search into the
Backstreet Boys. He was dumbstruck at the amount of shit that was posted. It
took him many long and frustrating hours weeding through all the sites,
discarding this and printing that, but he finally got the information he
needed, then checked and double-checked for accuracy. Every now and then he
relaxed and smiled as he stared at the pictures of the young singer taped
against the computer. Lizzy, in her innocence, had been delighted that her
uncle had thought so highly of her favorite Backstreet Boy and had furnished
several pictures. She chatted away about things he didn’t care about, but
listened politely, then carefully guided her into "what if" scenarios
to get her reaction that only a fan could answer. He mentally stored the
pertinent information away and thanked her, promising solemnly that he would
indeed get autographs for her and that he would do everything possible for her
to meet them. She skipped happily out of his room and he snorted with disgust.
Yeah, right.
***
