Millions

by Pepper Winters

  I smiled, revealing a pastime I was well versed in. “I’m going to make them disappear.”

  Mercer understood straight away. He prattled something off to Franco. I caught the words van, keys, and hurry.

  Turning back to me, he added, “I have my own way of disposing of them. You don’t need to—”

  “Yes, I do.” I allowed my temper to show. “This is my mess. It’s mine to clean up. You stole any chance I had at physically cleaning. The least you can do is let me do is take them out to sea and drop them into the deepest part of the ocean I can.”

  Tess walked into the kitchen, her eyes widening as she towel-dried freshly washed hair. In grey track pants and black hoodie, she looked as if she’d just come back from the gym and not a shower to wash away an evening of murder. “Are you sure? All of them? Will your boat hold the weight?”

  “The Phantom can carry hundreds, if need be. So yes. I’m sure.”

  “In that case.” Mercer clapped his hands as Franco reappeared and handed him a key. “I guess we’ll help you load your cargo.”

  * * * * *

  I’d never driven a delivery van before.

  Not that I would be driving today with my arm and leg buggered as they were.

  Almost three p.m. and each Chinmoku was tucked up tight in plastic bags to prevent leakage and strapped into a massive sandwich of bodies.

  The only thing hiding them from the public eye was a thin piece of metal siding and an old logo of a food delivery service.

  Mercer returned after taking a phone call as we placed the last corpse inside. He tucked his phone away then glanced at the van and back to me. “That was the chief of police. I’ve cleared a path for you. You shouldn’t encounter any road blocks or drunk driving barricades at this time of day. However, if you do, no one will ask questions. My reach doesn’t include border security or port officials, so you’re on your own there.” His eyes narrowed, evidence of his migraine paling his skin. “Please tell me you’re not going to drive onto the pier and unload bodies in plain sight—night or day?”

  I smirked, fighting the heaviness of exhaustion. “No. They’re going to stay in the van. That’s their coffin.”

  Mercer didn’t ask any more questions—either he didn’t want to know or he understood more than he should. “In that case goodbye, Prest. I’ll store your helicopter until you’re ready to retrieve it and you have my email if you need anything.” He stuck out his hand. “I’d say it was a pleasure. But it wasn’t.”

  I shook his grip, wincing as my body cursed me for yet another painful action. “Likewise. I would prefer to forget this entire incident, but unfortunately, I have a token to remember you by with the gunshot to my shoulder.”

  He grinned. “I have been told I’m unforgettable.”

  “Yes, well.” I broke our handshake.

  I should say thank you. I should promise to pay him back if he ever needed help, but I just wanted to get the fuck away as soon as possible.

  I backed toward the van, and Mercer backed toward his home. We’d said all the farewells we were interested in, but our respective women drifted past us and met in the middle of the driveway. They smiled awkwardly then leaned in for a hug.

  Suzette, the maid, also hugged Pim, offering Mercer’s son for Pim to cuddle in one last attempt.

  With a laugh but a very visible wince, Pim denied the chance to hold the sleeping baby and slotted herself into my side. “We’ll stay in touch, I’m sure.”

  Tess nodded. “I’d like that.”

  More awkwardness settled, signalling our time to leave.

  With nothing else to do and a van full of rotting Japanese samurais, we waved one last time and climbed into the delivery van.

  Selix took the driver’s seat, I took the passenger, and Pim sat in the middle.

  All of us silent.

  All of us ready to go home.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  ______________________________

  Pimlico

  FOUR AND A half hours was a long time to be trapped in a van’s front seat with the stench of decay in every breath.

  I couldn’t sleep.

  I couldn’t relax.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about the men all jiggling and discarded behind us.

  Elder didn’t sleep either, even though his nose steadily trickled blood and he groaned with every bump or pothole.

  Selix had already called the Phantom to ensure the crew were safe, that no more infiltrators lurked on board, and to prepare to sail the moment we arrived.

  Elder spoke to Jolfer and planned the departure route but only after he’d advised Michaels of the long shopping lists of maladies he now needed his on board surgeon to repair.

  I had no doubt Michaels was cursing him already.

  Once calls were made and the Phantom ready to leave the moment we drove into her belly with such terrible gifts, we all settled into companionable silence.

  We had no energy to talk and no desire to rehash what we’d seen and done in the past few days.

  The only thing we were interested in was bouncing along cobblestone roads and staring at black and white cows as we drove our makeshift hearse through French countryside.

  As rural life gave way to town life and we switched lanes for main arterial highways, we merged with evening rush hour—as men and women, hungry and blurry-eyed from working all day, sped home to loved ones.

  Unbeknownst to them, they sat in traffic with twenty-one dead Chinmoku, one saved slave, one friend who kept secrets, and one thief who’d stolen enough money to make himself an almost billionaire.

  We were an odd bunch with odd morals and compasses, but Elder and Selix were two of the best human beings I knew.

  Even if blood stained their hands.

  That didn’t matter.

  It never would.

  Because I was in love with Elder.

  And blood stained my hands, too.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  ______________________________

  Elder

  CLIMBING ON BOARD the Phantom, I expected the same homecoming and safety net I always did. Admittedly, that comfort had been missing when I’d left Pim in Monte Carlo, but she was beside me now. I should step onto the Phantom with relief and contentedness.

  Especially now the Chinmoku were dead, we’d made a new ally through battle, and I was finally free from vengeance and being hunted by my enemies.

  Nothing was wrong.

  For the first time in forever, things were finally right.

  Yet, the Phantom felt unfriendly. As if she didn’t agree with the cargo she was about to carry.

  Jolfer had already arranged for staff to re-jig the garage to make space for us. The Town Car was pushed into a further berth and expensive toys juggled closer together. It’d been a simple matter of driving the van straight on, applying the chocks and straps, and clambering out onto Phantom territory.

  Moving after almost five hours in a cramped car with injuries that had been overused and abused meant my inner thoughts were full of filthy curses as I inched toward the cab door and dropped down.

  I tried to hide the level of my pain but feared Pim knew how close I was to shutting down and not having the power to restart again.

  I’d never felt this wretched. This torn and shattered and exhausted.

  All I wanted was a shower and bed and not to wake until I was back to full health. But that would have to wait because my evening wasn’t finished yet.

  I’d removed the Chinmoku from Mercer’s house.

  I had yet to remove them from mine.

  Jolfer met us as the three of us took the elevator from garage to top deck. His face was sombre; his eyes serious. We needed to debrief and talk about the Chinmoku stealing on board a second time. We needed to have staff meetings on what protocols worked and what didn’t. We needed to make sure everyone was on the same page going forward.

  But right now...we had more pressing things to attend to.

  Grabbing
Pim’s hand, I pulled her to face me and tucked a loose, messy strand behind her ear. For a woman who’d already endured her fair share of evil, she’d been bathed in it since meeting me.

  I wanted to take her into my room and wash her gently. I wanted to hold her as she fell asleep and beg her to tell me what she was thinking. We hadn’t talked since this started. I had no idea if she was okay or freaking out or shutting down.

  But again, our reconnection would have to wait.

  My brain had fixated on finishing this. And I had no choice but to carry that out.

  “Go to bed, little mouse.” I kissed her forehead, inhaling the faint smell of Pim under the metallic stench of death. “There’s something I need to finish.”

  She knew what sort of gruesome work I spoke of, and her days in the darkness had provided her with enough apathy to deal with the dead—especially dead who had dabbled in slavery and dwelled on the wrong side of the law. However, I didn’t want her to take part in the next stage. Even if my yacht judged me—whispering that my past might’ve been dealt with, but I still had other bridges to cross and repair. Even if I hobbled and hurt and hadn’t slept in days, my task was not yet over.

  My task.

  Not hers.

  She looked up, her fingers landing on my chest like tiny butterflies. I barely registered she touched me, yet my body burned beneath her fingertips. “I want to help.”

  I shook my head, kissing her again and pushing her gently toward my quarters. “You’ve done more than enough.”

  “But—”

  “No buts. I need to do this on my own.”

  Our eyes locked; arguments rose and fell on her face. I understood her desire to stay by my side and be equal in each task, but I didn’t want to layer yet more insanity onto her. She knew what I was about to do, and I rather she stayed away.

  I’d leaned on her too much as it was. I’d failed her too many times to count. In this, I wouldn’t be swayed.

  “Go.” I pointed at my room. “I’ll come to you soon.”

  Her lips pursed, but finally, she nodded. Flicking a glance at Jolfer and Selix beside me, she gave me a sweet, sad smile. “Don’t be too long.” With weary steps, she turned and disappeared in the direction of my quarters.

  The moment she was gone, I snapped my gaze to Jolfer. “Sail now. When you hit deep water where the shelf falls away and there are kilometres between us and the bottom, let me know.”

  The unusual request was met with a raised eyebrow but utter obedience. “It will take a few hours, at least.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  I’d wait all night if I had to, but I would wait far away from Pimlico.

  I wouldn’t relax. I wouldn’t move into a fresh future—not with the bodies of twenty-one Chinmoku rotting in a van beneath my feet.

  Jolfer stepped toward the bridge. “Oh, what’s the itinerary this time around? Do you have a destination in mind? Or is this a ‘see where the tide takes us’ kind of journey?”

  I closed my eyes, hating how they stung from lack of sleep, and rubbed at the aches in my neck. Fuck, everything ached. I’d sleep for a century once this was finished.

  The right answer would be to just sail. To see where the currents took us with no pressure or deadline.

  Pim deserved that.

  I deserved that.

  Shit, everyone deserved a holiday after the past few months.

  But just like the Phantom was no longer entirely my confidant and friend, my own heart wasn’t satisfied with ending this way.

  I’d cleaned up my mess.

  It was time to tell those who mattered that they were no longer hunted for my mistakes.

  “Set course for America. It’s time I paid my family a little visit.”

  * * * * *

  Seven hours.

  That was how long it took to clear boat traffic and reach an area where the sonar showed a cliff far below us. The world fallen away beneath our feet—a shelf turning solid into nothingness.

  The void was over two kilometres deep.

  A perfect grave for men I never wanted to be found.

  For seven hours, I’d permitted Michaels to try to put me back together. I rested at his instruction, I ate what he ordered, and swallowed medicine he concocted. I even submitted to the braces and slings he dressed me in to start the lengthy recovery to full mobility for the parts of my body I could no longer feel.

  While he tended to me, I sent Selix off to tend to his own superficial wounds and to sleep. Staff kept me updated on what Pim ate, when she’d fallen asleep, and if her rest was peaceful or full of nightmares.

  I hated that I wasn’t up there with her, but I preferred the black tomb of the garage. It was fitting for the undertaking job I was about to perform.

  The main engines stopped whirring as Jolfer held us stationary and Selix appeared from my wake-up call.

  I’d given Jolfer extra instructions tonight: turn off all lights. Disable the radar. I wanted to be as incognito as possible.

  We truly were a phantom, a ghost, a death ship that needed to stay hidden. Two kilometres was a long way down, but I wanted to be sure no one would investigate the coordinates or concern themselves with why we’d hovered over the abyss for longer than normal.

  I hobbled over to the van, tossing Selix the keys. Dawn once again knocked on the horizon. Yet another morning spent dealing with Chinmoku, and the last one I ever wanted to waste. “Ready?”

  He yawned. “Yep.”

  “Good. Let’s get these bastards off my ship.” Moving toward the back of the garage where a wall with fortified seals and waterproofing hid yet another submersible entrance like that with the Viper submarine, I entered the code and waited for the lengthy process of hydraulic bolts and locks to unfasten.

  Once the seal broke and door opened, Selix hopped into the van and drove it through into the specially designed cube. He parked the heavy van full of Chinmoku on the correct fulcrum point for ease of tipping.

  Killing the engine, he tossed the keys back inside and slammed the door. Together, we opened the double doors of the vehicle and braced ourselves against the reek.

  Disgusting body excretions and rigor mortis by-products had been contained thanks to the plastic bags. At least, my ship would remain sanitary from their decay. The plastic would also act as a sarcophagus and prevent any lightweight items such as credit cards and driver’s licenses from floating free. Identities and mementoes would remain in their pockets, never seeing the light of the surface or shore again.

  We had deliberated, in the seven long hours it took to sail here, if we should cut off their fingers and remove their teeth to ensure they forever remained John Does, but neither Selix nor I had the stomach for more gore, especially seeing as our enemy had already fallen.

  We’d won.

  We didn’t need to dismember the dead to confirm such a grisly conclusion.

  Besides, by burying them all together, we removed any need to attach heavy weights or other methods to keep them submerged. All we’d need to do is crack a couple of the cab’s windows and punch perforations into the panels of the van to ensure seawater filled up the vehicle and it sank like a boulder.

  Funny to think, as I stared at the ragdoll pile of useless limbs, that somewhere in there was Daishin. He didn’t have prime real estate rotting on top of his men. He could be on the very bottom or face down in someone’s asshole.

  He’d been the leader for decades.

  And now he was nothing more than fish food.

  I didn’t smile, knowing he was dead. I didn’t celebrate or dance on his grave. I only felt empty and tired...so, so tired.

  “Let’s get this over with.” Slamming the doors, I ensured they were latched and locked before winding down the windows for the upcoming seawater. Once completed, I looked back at Selix.

  Without waiting for instruction, he disappeared into the garage and the well-stocked tool kit we kept for our mechanics. He came back with a sledge hammer, a chisel, and a sharp knife
.

  Handing me the knife, he headed to the old delivery logo on the van and held the chisel against the metal. With a hard whack, he hit it with the hammer and broke through the thin metal in one strike.

  The noise boomed around us, joining more and more, louder and louder as he made his way around the truck, hitting holes that were too small for evidence to float out of but big enough for small fish and seawater to dissolve the contents inside.

  While Selix tweaked the vehicle, I took the knife and slashed all four tyres.

  No point in having anything that had air while sinking to the bottom of the sea. We wanted this bitch to plummet not dawdle.

  My back fucking killed from bending over, but it didn’t take long for the loud hissing of escaping air to deplete, leaving us with suspenseful silence.

  “Ready?” I jammed the knife into my waistband and headed toward the exit.

  Selix followed, returning his tools to the chest from where he’d taken them. We reconvened at the control panel where I pressed a switch and closed the door to protect the dry dock and everything inside it—including us.

  We waited while every lock and seal slid back into position and the sensors announced that it was safe to proceed.

  I always got nervous flooding my ship, but I had to trust in the fail-safes I’d built into this convenient trap door. I’d tested the locker multiple times in the design and construction phase. I’d used it once to discard evidence of another crime I’d committed in the name of building my reputation.

  I knew how it would work.

  And the waterproof cameras inside the room would film in full colour, letting us witness the final farewell.

  I hit the second button and large pumps whirred into action.

  Gushing seawater splashed around the slashed tires, rapidly turning the area from dry to drenched.

  Selix and I waited the entire time it took for the cameras in the top of the room to drown in icy blue. Once the water hit the roof, the pumps stopped and a green light appeared on the control panel before me.