This was going south fast.  Xavier knew just from the look in the captive Companion's eyes that she was either incredibly afraid and cornered or playing them all like a well tuned violin.  He didn't like not knowing exactly where the cards had fallen and he showed it by smacking her hard across that lovely face of hers with his free hand.  The other kept the pistol trained on her with tempered precision.<br/><br/>"No more games, girlie.  Next time, I pull this trigger and leave your corpse out there and cut my losses.  Who was your client and why do you think he has someone after him?"