Our Version Of Events

19:45, I was driving a black Lamborghini. Just another black expensive car in the lines of black cars in front of me.

We had arrived in China the day before, it wasn't a memorable journey for me. For Jack he seemed quite excited, he had never been to China before. Come to think of it, never have I.

Technically, I have been to China but I was at the point of death and on a stretcher.

"Xander, what does that mean?" Jack asked.

I looked up, it was a Neon sign, the writing on it was in Chinese.

"Sorry, I can't translate" I replied

"I thought you spoke multiple languages?" Jack asked. For a while now he tends to start off random conversations with me, it wasn't really annoying but I wasn't comfortable with it either.

"I don't, who told you I did?" I asked.

"David said you spoke multiple languages" He said.

"I speak Spanish, french, a littte Chinese and sign language, I'm not really that fluent." I replied.

"How did you learn to speak?" He asked.

"My ehn....my guardians used to move around a lot for work so I did a lot of adapting" I said, throwing on a grin which I hoped he got a glimpse of.

"Guardians? What about your parents?" He asked. I almost blurted out the F-word in front of the kid, I knew I should have just said parents.

"My parents weren't really around" I said.

"Why what happened to them?" He asked.

"Why don't we talk about something else" I retorted. I had to hold myself back so not to snap at the kid, Mr Ings hated us swearing around the kid but I was pretty sure I said something after that.

"You think Dad's gonna let us live here?" He asked.

"I don't know Kid, but anything is possible" I muttered that last part. Mr Ings hated it here because he had made so many enemies. In fact, there were rumours suggesting that Mr Ings did something that made him wealthy but it also devastated a lot of people and that was why he had to flee the country.

If those rumours were indeed true, it made no sense for him to be here. But there was also what he told me about a seize fire, I pulled my right arm from the wheel to reconfirm if I still had the card he gave to me. It was still intact

"Where did you get a dummy grenade?" Jack asked. Maybe it was because we were stuck together for the rest of this journey but for some reason he was extra persistent today.

"I found it, someone threw it at me hoping to.....you know" I said, for some reason after David's burial I tried avoid talking about death near the kid.

"Was that during your time in the east?" He asked.

"Yeah"

"Why did you quit?"

"Not a lot of good beds and peaceful night" I said chuckling. Jack didn't get it but he seem contented with my reply.

"You think it has to do with Dad's work?" He asked, we had about 10 minutes of silence. I had almost believe he was going to remain silent for the rest of the journey.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The reason we came to China, you think it has something to do with Dad's work?"

"What exactly do you think your Dad does?" I asked curiously.

"Dad said he was an importer, but David told me that he had business with dangerous people"

"Is that all he told you?" I asked.

"The rest I sort of figured out after a while" he said

"You figured out, huh?"

"I'm 11, I'm not stupid. The guns, the secret meetings? You honestly think I would not think of something?" He said. I tried to catch a glimpse of his face through the rear view mirror but we had just driven into a tunnel and the lights were pretty dim

"No one said you were" I replied.

After another 20 minutes we had reached our destination, it was a 5 star hotel. Jack and I stood in awe as we scaled with our eyes the sky scrapper that stood right in front of us.

The space in front of the main building was used as a parking space, trees and flowers were planted to create a sort of demarcation so people who missed the white lines on the floor would still know where to park. Mr Ings' convoy took most of the parking space facing the entrance, I had to park my car a bit far from theirs. I hated the stress it took to reverse a car when leaving so I always parked in such a way that I simply had to put my car on drive when it was time.

As I backed up into the allocated parking space I noticed Mr Ings approaching me; none of his guard came with him which it self was a bit weird .

He got close to the car and tap on the glass, Jack opened the door and tried stepping out but his father motioned him to stay.

"Can I talk to you privately?" He asked. He was addressing me.

One look at his posture I could tell something was wrong, he felt scared. I turned off the engine and stepped out the car.

It was now 20:02, I took a glimpse at my watch as I closed the car door.

"Do you still have that card I gave you?" He asked.

"Sir, whatever is going on I believe I can help" I replied.

He gave a weak smile and then walked pass me, he grabbed the door Jack had opened earlier. I saw his fingers hit the child lock

"You haven't answered my question yet" he said, returning back to me

"Yes, I do" I replied.

"Show me" he said. I brought out the card and showed him, he seemed pleased when he saw that it was the same card

He patted me on the shoulder, I could see in his eyes the regrets, the pain and sadness.

"Thank you" he said and he walked pass me again this time he turned round the car to go meet Jack from the other side even though the side he was just on had an open door.

"For what sir?" I asked. I felt that deja vu feeling come over me yet I couldn't tell why.

I watched him open the door and entered the car, they spoke for a while. I didn't bother paying attention to their discussion, I was more concerned on why Mr Ings' 'thank you' felt so heart breaking. It wasn't like he never said those words to me before.

He came out the car and walked back towards his security, he didn't look towards me. He didn't even look back at his kid. As they gathered, they all walked into the hotel together.

I got back in my car and started the engine, even though it was night time it was a bit hot. As I turned on the car's A.C Jack closed his door, I quickly turned on the radio to avoid an awkward moment of silent that will bring about any form of discussion; it took me a while to find a station that spoke English, the one I finally found was playing American hit songs.

"What's your favourite genre of music?" Jack asked.

I sighed in my mind, what was the point of the radio if he was still planning on having another discussion.

"When I was younger I used to enjoy rock" I replied

"Rock? My friend's mom always said that was Satan's music" he said.

"I think your friend's mom confuses rock for metal" I said chuckling. Just then, some cars drove in; they were painted black, tinted wind shields. The doors except one all opened at once like it was coordinated, that was all I needed to see to know that they were all filled with bodyguards protecting one single individual. The last was opened and an average height man stepped out; he was dressed in a white suit and white shoes to match, he was smoking as he stepped out. I recognised him immediately his name was Malcolm, Malcolm Johansson. I once worked for him for a short while just that I couldn't stand his attitude so I quit.

"Who's that?" Jack asked.

"No one that should concern us" I replied.

It didn't even take up to 10 seconds another set pulled up; they were just 3 cars, the man that came out had on an African attire I couldn't really tell where exactly in Africa. Then a giant of a man came out after him, this man was so huge you could guess almost immediately that everything he wore was custom made. His name was William Tobias, I recognised him because of the scar running from his right cheek, crossing his nose and stopping before it touched the left eye.

We had met a few years ago, it was before my unconscious trip through China; he had broken a few of my ribs before my captain gave him that scar.

"Now there's someone that should concern us" I muttered but Jack must have overheard it.

"Yeah, he's freakishly huge. Who is he?" Jack asked.

"William Tobias, they called him the white bear" I said.

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Honestly, I never thought about why" I replied.

"I've never seen a bodyguard that tall before" He said

"He was a mercenary, I have no idea what he's doing here" I said. It didn't take long, another one pulled up and another and another, they were all gathering like ants around sugar. Some I recognised, others I didn't but one thing was sure, whatever Mr Ings was here for that was what brought them here.

When they had all gone in every activity seemed to carry on as before, I wasn't fooled by it. My eyes was glued unto everything I could all at once, I had even forgotten to check on Jack.

Time seemed to move swiftly as I sat in that car, the engine was still running and that was when I saw Mr Ings come out. He was accompanied by a dark skinned lady in a red gown, she wore a white suit to cover the revealing parts of her gown. My first guess was that it was offered to her by one of the men I saw walked in earlier, but then Jack said

"Hey, who are those guys?" I didn't think much about it at first but when they slowly approached the car, I realised what Jack was talking about; the guards with Mr Ings weren't his, I couldn't recognise a single familiar face among them.

They were all holding semi automatics and they seemed tensed, in fact their tension was contagious. I quickly switched to drive, my leg slowly felt for the throttle pedal until I was confident my foot was leaning over it.

I looked at Mr Ings, that confident man I knew was nowhere to be found. Our eyes locked for a second and that was when I heard him scream

"Run!" There was nothing else I needed to confirm, I took my foot off the brake and hit the throttle.

"Don't shoot!" I heard the lady yelled. I quickly swerved to the left before I got close to them, one of them tried shooting at me in that instant; I felt the bullet go through the passenger side glass and hit my seat. Jack jumped back on his seat, I was now driving into the open road.

"Seat belts!" I yelled at him. He didn't pay attention, he turned to look at something

"Dad!" I heard him yelled. I tried glancing through the side view mirror and I saw Mr Ings on the ground, he had his hands on his throat but that wasn't really what scared me, the lady who was with them was literally running towards my speeding car. She wasn't just running, she was catching up to us.

"Seat belts!" I yelled again, this time he paid attention.

I pushed harder on the throttle, while I held the steering with my left hand I pulled out my gun using my right. There was nothing but clear roads in front of me I turned to check on the lady, she was already one more step to the back of the vehicle, I tried shooting at her but she leaped and landed on the top of the moving vehicle.

"Xander?!" Jack yelled. He wasn't comfortable, not one bit.

It was something out of a horror movie, I started shooting at the rooftop hoping to see her fall off but she didn't. Then I heard something hit the wind shield; it was her fist, I also heard Jack screamed simultaneously.

I was not a doctor but the way the glass cracked I knew immediately that this was not suppose to be humanly possible. I saw the fist go up and I swerved again into the open road. She fell over to my side of the car but she held on tight to the roof, her head hit the glass and I saw blood flow from the area of impact. She tried lifting herself up as she used her knee to kick the glass, it shattered instantaneously, her knee almost making contact with my head.

I pushed away from the door, dropped the glock, pulled out the second one and started shooting her through the broken window, I was 100% sure each and every of the 9 bullets got her but she was still right there struggling to hold on to the roof. That was when I looked up and realised her fingers had dug into the rooftop and that was what she was holding unto.

"What the f**k" I muttered in fear. I wasn't dreaming, whatever this person was, she wasn't human.

I froze up, watching her struggle to get into the already torn up car and suddenly I heard the sound of another vehicle; it was a white truck and it was coming towards us.

Without even reconsidering I floored the throttle and turned the steering, crashing my side of the car into the side of the truck. She tried grabbing my shoulder but it was a bit too late; she tore off the sleeves of my suit along with the driver's door as she flew back.

The truck stopped immediately after impact.

I swerved away from the truck and kept moving even though the 2 left tires were torn during the accident. I tried searching if the woman was still alive from the rear view mirror.

At first all I could see was my battered up car door and her lifeless body, then I saw her move as the truck driver came down to check what had happened.

And with shock and awe I saw her slowly stood up, she kept watching the car as we drove away.

"Xander? What the hell just happened?" Jack asked, all this while he was just speechless.

I didn't have a response to him, I simply kept my leg on the throttle while I kept watching her through the rear view. Due to the bad tires we couldn't move at full speed not anymore, so I had no reason to even have my leg on the brake pedal. I drove till we got to a bus stop a few miles away, after which we abandoned the car and took a bus, luckily for us it was empty.

The driver spoke in Chinese I couldn't understand anything he said I just kept yelling the name of the hotel we were staying in.

"Its a bus not a cab" Jack said. He was quiet ever since, just following along as I dragged and told him what to do.

I knew of course it wasn't a bus but how am I suppose to know what direction he was heading to. He stared at us for a while realising he couldn't understand us.

"Are you tourist?" He finally said. From the way he said it you could tell he couldn't speak English he just learnt some few words.

"Yes" I replied.

"Good, I know best place for tourist" he said.

Jack pulled out a card from his pocket it had the hotel logo

"Here" he said.

The driver looked at it and went

"Great choice" after which he continued driving continued.

As he drove off I went to the back of the bus expecting to see any suspicious vehicle coming from the direction we just came from. I tried reloading as silently as I could to not alert the driver that I was armed.

About 45 minutes, we arrived at the hotel. I literally gave everything I had in wallet to the driver I didn't want him to think it wasn't enough even though it was more than enough for a tour round china. My mind wasn't really at the right spot but I was sure I had about 300 dollars in that wallet

"Let's go" I said as I grabbed on to Jack. We went to the receptionist directly

"I have a room under the name of Jack Ings, it is one of the rooms booked by Xavier Ings" I said.

We watched her check her computer after which she brought out a key from a drawer near her.

"Here you go sir. Do you know where it.......?" She said.

I could see that she was staring at my torn suit

"I got in a brawl" I said grinning. She simply nodded and we hurriedly left to the room; Jack's room was 2 floors up and we shared it because Mr Ings wanted Jack protected at all times.

"Pick whatever you need" I said as soon as I opened the door.

I ran to my bag and changed into something else as quickly as I could. As I was about throwing the torn up suit on the bed Mr Ings'card fell out.

I remembered his words as I picked up the card

"The phone on the bed is working right?" I asked.

I turned around and saw Jack sobbing quietly, he hadn't changed yet he just sat there crying.

"Hey, hey...." I said gently

"....look at me, whatever is going on I'm sure we will figure it out" I said.

"Dad was the only family I had left, now he's gone." Jack said still sobbing.

"I know you are sad and there's nothing I can say to change that, but I can tell you for a certain that only the living gets to mourn the dead. Whether you like it or not your dad is gone but you are not, and the only way you can honour his memory is by surviving. Alright?" I said, I had grabbed him by the shoulders when I started talking. Of course, I wasn't sure Mr Ings was dead, all I saw was him dropping to the floor and besides why would they kill him there if they didn't want to kill us.

"Tell you what, get changed and we can figure this thing out as we leave" I said. He gave a brief nod, I reciprocated with a smile.

As he started changing I reached for the phone and dialled the number that was on the card, it rang for a while then someone picked before it could disconnect.

"Hello?" Said the voice on the line.

"He.......hello. I got this number from an acquaintance, he said to call if....."

"Alexander? Is that you?" The voice jumped in before I could finish.

"Who.....who is this?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter for now, are you with the kid?" The voice asked.

"I believe that also does not matter" I replied back, the fact this person called me by full name was pretty suspicious to me because no one ever did.

"Look I know you may not trust me but whatever you do, avoid public places alright? These people are more connected than you can imagine." He said.

"What people exactly?" I asked.

"It's not safe to talk on the phone, can you meet at the address that's on the card?" He asked.

"I'm in bloody china" I said.

"Wait, what?....." I heard him cursed a few times.

"What about Mr Xavier?" He asked.

"I cannot confirm what has become of him at this point" I said, slowly turning to look at Jack who was still packing his backs.

"Hey, just 3 complete set of clothes. Alright?" I whispered to Jack as I covered the microphone.

"So you are with the kid?" The voice said immediately after I resumed the call.

"Can you help me out or not?" I asked

"I can, but you'd have to move fast. There's a likely probability that this call is being monitored. Speaking of, where they hell are you calling from?" He asked.

"Ummm......a hotel" I said

"A what?! You need to get out of there now!" He said

"Let me worry about my safety" I retorted.

"They are coming for you right now as we speak"

"Then tell me what to do" I said

"Ok, first find a map and find way and get to a train heading north, stay on that train till the last stop. Call me again before the last stop, I will have someone waiting for you. " He said, then ended the call.

I dropped the receiver quickly and grabbed my bag

"Jack? Time to go" I said, Jack had been seating staring at me for a while, he held on to his bag.

I unlocked the door and two men stood at the entrance, immediately they saw me one tried attacking me with the dagger in his hand. I was already two steps ahead of them, immediately I saw them I had pushed Jack back with my right hand and dropped the bag that was on my left. The first attacker swung with his left arm, I was already out the way before his attack even started. I tried reaching for my gun but the second attacker was already on me, he threw a jab which I dodged, then a second one followed by a cross. I dodged all 3 but I instinctively knew this man was a boxer, the first one had drawn closer again for another attack from my left. But it was a little too late between the second jab and cross I had pulled out my gun. The first shot hit the man with the dagger in the chest the second man tried to move towards me before I had a chance to aim at him but his legs were slower than his arms.

They both died instantly.

"Jack, let's go!" I yelled, the had kid stood there staring at the bodies. I used to shield him from seeing dead bodies, when David died I was there to make sure he didn't see him in the car but now there was no way to give him that level of protection not anymore. As we ran to the elevator I cleaned my prints off both my guns and dropped them in a trash bin in the corridor, before exiting I told the receptionist that they were 3 men engaged in a gun battle at the top floor, she believed and hurriedly called the police. But before they arrived we were long gone.