Pack of Trouble (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 5) Read online

  The Adventures of

  Xavier & Vic

  –

  Book 5

  Pack of Trouble

  By

  Liza O’Connor

  ∞

  Cases to be solved:

  Missing Ladybird Finds a Nest

  Tainted Urchin Turns Deadly

  Stroke of Shame

  Trouble in the Underworld

  ∞

  All rights reserved.

  This novel is allowed to be downloaded electronically per Amazon Guidelines. Sharing of the electronic file beyond that parameter is not allowed.

  If you have bought this anywhere other than Amazon, you have purchased a pirated copy. Please don’t support pirates. They often carry viruses. Instead support authors. We are much nicer.

  All characters in this book come from the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names, titles or professions. They are not based on or inspired by any known individual and any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely coincidental. For this book, I’ve stepped away from any historical resemblance to the real First Minister at this time. Instead, I’ve inserted a character who holds the job a half year before losing it to the real First Minister.

  Table of Contents

  All rights reserved.

  Table of Contents

  A Note on Punctuation:

  Blurb

  Chapter 1

  A woman’s scream pierced the early morning

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  OTHER BOOKS BY LIZA O’CONNOR

  HISTORICAL

  The Adventures of Xavier & Vic

  Untamed & Unabashed

  CONTEMPORARY

  A Long Road to Love Series

  White Oak Mafia Series

  Requires Rescue Series

  Ghost Lover

  SCIENCE FICTION

  The Multiverse Series

  Artificial Intelligence Series

  Birth of Adam

  A Note on Punctuation:

  I go by the English Logical Punctuation rules when it comes to commas and periods used within dialog. This means if a character says, “Then he declared me a ‘pragmatist’.” I will punctuate it logically as the English do.

  In U.S. rules, it would be: “Then he declared me a ‘pragmatist.’” However, that is illogical. The single quote only discusses the pragmatist. Thus, the dialog single tags should surround the word, before the punctuation for the sentence.

  How did we come to be illogical? Long ago, we —yes, I’m from the U.S— had shoddy printing presses. Thus, fragile, half-block punctuation was always protected by the tall dialog marks when possible, regardless of logic. Since the shoddy presses no longer exist, we need to return to logical punctuation, and I am more than willing to be a forerunner in this matter, because quite frankly, it makes us appear silly.

  Blurb

  While Xavier’s plan to take a holiday in Europe so Vic can have her baby incognito works well enough, complications during the birth almost takes both mother and child. Dr. Connors performs his first cesarean ever. While successful, it takes Vic months to recover. A prisoner to the bed, she spends her time encouraging marriage between two of their employees. Unfortunately, Xavier’s original negotiations with Tubs prevents the giant from acting upon his heart. While Xavier chases ladies enjoying the sun, Vic convinces Tubs to resign his service.

  When Xavier and Vic return to England, the head of Scotland Yard awaits them at the dock. A great change in Parliament has occurred due to the fallout of their last investigation. England is crumbling beneath an outbreak of crimes and their help is desperately needed before lives are ruined and jobs are lost.

  Chapter 1

  Cadiz, Spain, 1895

  A woman’s scream pierced the early morning peace of the wine fields. Birds added their own cries in a cacophony of alarm as they took flight. Workers stopped tending the vines, looked upward to the heaven, and crossed themselves as their mouths moved in silent prayer.

  Another scream followed.

  “Is there nothing to be done?” one of the workers asked the foreman.

  A howl that sounded more like a wounded animal than woman came from the main house. Then dead silence filled the air.

  ***

  “Push, damn it!” Xavier Thorn yelled.

  Vic glared at him from bloodshot eyes. Sweat drenched her long blonde hair; her jaw rigid in agony. “I am pushing! But your bloody child has a head the size of a cannonball and it’s trying to go through a musket-size hole.”

  Xavier stormed to the door.

  “Don’t you dare leave me to do this alone,” Vic warned.

  “I was going to see if Connors had arrived.”

  “If he had, I’m certain he’d follow my screams. Cries of pain are a siren to a doctor.”

  Xavier slammed his palm on the doorframe. “We should have brought him with us. Then he would be here when we needed him.”

  “We? Are you trying to push a cannonball through your body? No!”

  Xavier focused on the Spanish mid-wife, muttering softly as she shook her head.

  He stormed over and tried to see what was keeping the baby from coming out of Vic.

  The old woman’s swatted at him as she scolded in rapid Spanish. He deduced her complaint and replied in slow, albeit imperfect Spanish.

  “I put the child in there. I want to get it out…now.”

  “Let him try!” Vic yelled. “You clearly don’t know how to do it.” As if to punctuate her displeasure, she released another blood curdling scream.

  Xavier pushed aside the mid-wife and tried to determine why their child was being so difficult. He had no doubt where it inherited that trait. Vic had been troublesome from the day he hired her.

  “Vic, stop screaming; it impairs my concentration.” His request earned him a curse to hell. He ignored her and focused on the blood oozing from between her legs, soaking into the formerly white sheet. He looked up to ask the mid-wife if that was normal, but the woman had run off. “Where the hell did the mid-wife go?”

  “Forget her, she’s useless,” Vic said between pants of pain. “Xavier, get a knife and cut this child out me.”

  He stood and glared at Vic. “Are you bloody insane?”

  She responded with yet another heart rendering scream.

  The sudden realization that he might actually lose Vic hit him forcefully.

  No! She would not die! She was everything to him. Damn it all, why had he not been more careful? Vic had told him from the first having a child would kill her. He’d thought she’d been speaking metaphorically, but as always, it looked as if her intuition knew the truth before any facts had gathered.

  He grabbed a towel and placed it between her legs to hopefully stop the bleeding. It was futile, he knew. The wound was inside her.

  His child was killing her.

  Escaping the troubled end of Vic, Xavier hurried to the angry end. Gripping her hand, he met her
glaring eyes. “You cannot leave me, Vic. Without you, the streets of London would be overridden with crime.”

  Her steady pants punctuated her pain, as demented red feral eyes focused on him. “Get a knife and cut this cannonball out of me.”

  Before he could object that he had no clue how to do such a thing, she screamed again, forcing him to do something he swore he’d never do.

  Xavier dropped to his knees and prayed.

  God—if that is your real name—I cannot imagine you know me, since I’ve made a point of never speaking to you. Honestly, I believe people should solve their own problems…or pay me to solve them if they involve crimes. But Vic is my life and I cannot lose her. If you really are capable of performing miracles, now would be a very good time to impress me.

  “I’m here!” Connors declared as he entered the bedroom, carrying his doctor’s bag.

  Xavier stood up. “Finally! The mid-wife has run off and Vic is demanding that I get a butcher knife and cut the child out.”

  Connors went immediately to the point of trouble. “Who the hell stopped her up with rags?”

  “I did. She’s bleeding,” Xavier stated.

  “It’s not a wound, Xavier. She’s having a baby.”

  “It’s a bloody cannonball and I’m a narrow musket,” Vic yelled. “Now grab a blade and get it out me!”

  Connors ignored her and focused on Xavier. “How long has she been in labor?”

  “Since I sent for you yesterday.” His voice resonated with resentment and a clear accusation that Connors had taken his damn time getting here.

  “No, I mean real labor.”

  “I don’t know…Vic?”

  She lifted her head and glared at him. “I’m not in labor; I’m in hell where a cannonball is slowly ripping me apart. Now get it out!”

  Their young maid, Sara, spoke from the door. “She’s been in labor for fourteen hours and thirty-six minutes.”

  Connors reached between Vic’s legs.

  Vic screamed in agonizing fury. “Damn it, Connors. You are supposed to help me, not make it worse!”

  “What are you doing?” Xavier demanded of the doctor.

  “Trying to determine if the baby is breech.”

  “Is it?” Xavier asked, having read enough to know that such an event always resulted in the death of both woman and child.

  “I’ve no idea. My hand cannot get through.”

  “Then how the hell is the baby going to?” Xavier demanded.

  “It can’t. Vic’s intuition remains as amazing as ever. I will do a cesarean.”

  “Explain what that is,” Xavier demanded.

  “I will carefully cut into the womb and remove the child.” He opened his bag and began pulling out items. “Could you possibly find the mid-wife? I require her assistance.”

  Sara stepped inside the room. “She left, but I can help.”

  Connors frowned at the girl. Xavier understood why. She looked more like a child than a woman.

  “Have you ever assisted in a birth before?” Connors challenged.

  “Once, when I was held captive at Dragon’s Cloud. One of the girls had her baby during the day when we were locked in our room. The madam refused to call a mid-wife, so I helped her.”

  “How did you even know what to do?” Xavier asked. Sarah had only been fifteen when she was forced into the ugly profession of a sex slave.

  Tubs’ low booming voice spoke from behind the door. “I told her how.”

  Xavier glared at the door. “Tubs, get in here!”

  Their seven-foot-tall, four hundred pound employee ducked beneath the doorframe and stepped inside. With one glance at Vic, his eyes turned glassy.

  “Tubs, are you saying you knew how to get this baby out of Vic and said nothing?” Xavier demanded.

  Vic turned her head toward her protector and glared at him with her maniacal red eyes.

  “No! I only know what to do when they come out like they’re supposed to.”

  Connors sighed. “We don’t have time to wander down memory lane with Tubs. It is sufficient that you two will be able to deal with the baby once I remove it, so I can focus on stitching Vic up.”

  Tubs stared at Vic. His face, misshapen from a life of violence, contorted with anguish as he moved to her side. “If I knew how to save you, I would have done so at once.”

  Connors shooed the giant back. “Fortunately, I do know. Xavier, can you handle the application of chloroform?”

  “Yes.” He jumped at the opportunity of doing something rather than standing by and watching Connors eviscerate his beloved partner and wife, all to remove a child she’d never wanted. “I have a great deal of experience with chloroform,” he spoke aloud, to no one in particular. “I can apply it lightly, so they sleep peacefully, while I search their room, or I can apply it heavily, so they can be transported to a new location where I can interrogate—”

  Placing a bottle and clean cloth in his hands, Connors advised, “Apply it liberally and frequently; just don’t kill her in the process.”

  Xavier opened his mouth to assure him that he would never allow that to happen, but Connors had moved on to instructing Sara and Tubs. The doctor’s words were tense and clipped. “And for God’s sake, don’t drop the infant. It will be covered in blood and slippery.”

  Tubs’ brow furrowed. “We won’t drop it,” he growled. “Now save Vic.”

  “Yes, let’s do!” Vic snapped between pants.

  Ignoring her, he asked Sara to boil water and bring a pan to hold the placenta, which he would manually remove after the child was extracted.

  “Hot water is ready, sir. Has been all night,” Sara said.

  “Then bring it in. We need to make this room as clean as possible.”

  “I’ll help you,” Tubs said and followed the maid out.

  Connors approached Vic and took her hand. “We’ll need to expose your stomach and wash you.”

  “I don’t care what you do. Just get this thing out of me!” To emphasize her need, she released a scream that tore at Xavier’s soul to such a degree that he almost joined her with his own cry of anguish.

  Her situation was entirely his fault. He should have been more careful to always use a condom; only he’d wanted a child of Vic’s. Yes, it would cause endless challenges in their lives, especially for Vic, who most of the world believed was a young man. Never, had he once thought their child might kill his brilliant, amazing partner.

  The moment her scream died out, Connors spoke. “Xavier, there is no reason for Vic to continue suffering. Put her under.”

  Xavier wasn’t sure if it was Vic’s suffering or Connors’ need to concentrate that prompted his order, but Xavier saturated the cloth and applied it to Vic’s nose and mouth. “We’re going to get the cannonball out of you. Just don’t die on me. I won’t survive without you.”

  When he lifted the cloth, a vague smile had formed on her lips.

  He wished she had followed it with words, because the only thought he could think of to justify the smile was “It’ll serve you bloody right if I do.”

  Connors paused before he raised her gown. “Are you sure you want Tubs seeing Vic naked?”

  Xavier stayed focused on Vic. “I don’t give a damn what Tubs sees. I just need you to save her.”

  He cut away the gown exposing her swollen belly. Soon after Sara entered with a small pitcher.

  “Is that all the hot water you boiled?” he asked in dismay.

  Tubs entered, lugging a large iron pot in each hand. Xavier doubted there was another man in the world who could carry such weight with ease.

  After Connors washed Vic, he left to change into clean clothes while Sara mopped the floor, and Tubs scrubbed down the walls. Xavier kept watch over Vic, giving her another whiff of chloroform whenever she showed any sign that pain touched her unconscious state.

  Once Connors had returned and cleaned his surgical equipment with carbolic acid, he applied an alcohol based rub over Vic’s belly. He then sent
Sara and Tubs to the corner behind him. “When I have the baby, Sara, come and take it.” He paused and focused on her. “Do you remember what you are supposed to do?”

  Both she and Tubs nodded.

  “Then let us begin.”

  As his knife sliced into Vic’s tightly stretched belly, Xavier stared in helpless horror. A soft cry of pain escaped him. Nothing in his life had been as terrifying as this current nightmare.

  Connors spoke as he continued to cut. “Xavier, keep your focus on Vic’s face. You don’t want her to feel this.”

  Xavier returned his attention to Vic, wishing he could push time back and faithfully use his vulcanized rubber condoms. He was a selfish bastard and now his beloved had to pay a terrible price for his failing.

  His eyes remained focused on Vic. He very well might go mad if he saw what Connors was doing to her. Instead, he studied the dark skin beneath her eyes. She looked as if she’d been boxing with Tubs. Her pale cheeks bothered him as well. Normally, she had rosy cheeks to match her exuberant nature. He ran his hand through her hair until it snagged on a tangle.

  While in Spain, Vic had allowed her hair to grow out so she could stop wearing the itchy wig he’d bought her. However, her long hair had been a trial in itself, always getting in the way and tangling in his hands. He much preferred the two-inch hair she normally had when she lived her life as a young gentleman.

  “Sara, come take the child,” Connors stated.

  Xavier was determined not to look, but then something hit the floor.

  Had Sara just dropped their child?

  He stared at the maid crumbled on the floor. Sara had fainted, thankfully before Connors had the chance to pass her the baby. His eyes fixated upon sight of Vic’s womb splayed open like a gutted calf. He felt damn close to joining the girl.

  Tubs reached over and took the baby then carried it to the dresser. A moment later, the child screamed at the top of its lungs.