She took off at a jog, Jess trailing with Nicolas in tow. If her memory served her, they were two levels down. Once they reached the deck, Jess thought, even if they couldn’t find the lifeboat in time, she would rather risk jumping overboard than face the crew.
They reached a hatch. Two spins and Chin Lee went through it. Their shoes clanged against steel-grate stairs. Nicolas whimpered softly, but Jess encouraged him, hoping the fear leaping through her veins didn’t leach into her voice. “Come on, sweetie,” she whispered. “You can do it. Just a little farther.”
They hit a stairwell, passed a second hatch and continued up. Midway to the final hatch, the blare of an alarm split the air.
“What’s that?” Jess asked.
Chin Lee had gone white. “They know,” she said. “Hurry.”
When they reached the top stairwell, Chin Lee went to work on the door. Jess knelt beside Nicolas and gave him a hug. “We’re almost there,” she whispered.
The hatch opened. Chin Lee burst through. Taking Nicolas’s hand, Jess followed.
And found herself face-to-face with two uniformed men, their semiautomatic weapons trained on her heart.
Chapter Nineteen
The Dorian Rae was midway to the mouth of the port by the time Madrid climbed over the rail on the lowest weather deck. The first thing he noticed was the intermittent blast of the alarm.
He was soaked to the skin, but he barely felt the cold as he sprinted along the rail toward the bridge. He’d hated leaving Vanderpol behind—he needed the backup—but Madrid had had a split second to make his decision; he’d done the only thing he could. He had to find Jess and Nicolas. Once the ship reached international waters, he’d never see them again.
Ahead, he saw the bridge lights and the silhouette of the radar mast against the night sky. The ship was massive, and he had no idea where to look for Jess. If he could reach the bridge, maybe he could get the ship stopped.
Ten feet from the deckhouse four men dressed in uniforms and armed with semiautomatic weapons clattered down a steel stairway. By ducking into a darkened alcove Madrid barely avoided being spotted. He watched them pass, his heart pounding. The men were going somewhere in a hurry. He listened to the scream of the alarm and wondered if it had anything to do with Jess.
Sticking to the shadows, Madrid followed the men. He tried to catch what they were saying, thought he heard the words security breach, but he was too far away to be sure. They took him past the wheelhouse, up a short flight of stairs. Ahead, he heard more voices. Drawing his weapon, he slinked up the steps, in plain sight if any of the men had had a notion to turn around. In the near distance he saw the silhouettes of two large lifeboats suspended by ropes and massive pulleys.
His heart stopped in his chest when he spotted them. Two women and a child. Jess. Her silhouette was unmistakable. He could tell by her body language that she was frightened. Yet she kept herself squarely between the gunmen and Nicolas.
The need to protect what was his slammed through him. But Madrid had enough experience to know better than to rush into a situation where he was outmanned and outgunned eight to one. Recklessness was the fastest way to getting killed.
He looked down at his weapon and silently cursed its inadequacy. He had a knife strapped to his belt, too. But not even the combination of the two would be enough to stop eight armed men desperate enough to murder women and children. He thought of Vanderpol and wondered if the other man had made it on board.
The only way Madrid was going to get to Jess was if he could come up with some kind of distraction. But for the life of him he couldn’t think of a way to stop what he knew would happen next.
His worst nightmare became a reality when he saw the familiar silhouette of a man who was stepping toward Jess. Mummert. Horror flashed inside him when Mummert raised a pistol and leveled it at her. The people he’d loved and lost in his life flashed in his mind’s eye. He couldn’t believe fate would steal another.
“You’ve become quite a thorn in my side,” Mummert said.
“Go to hell.”
If he hadn’t been so terrified, Madrid might have smiled at Jess’s response. But while her words were strong, he heard the quiver of terror in her voice.
Mummert ran the muzzle of the pistol from her cheek to her breast. “Though I’m sure you would have made our voyage much more interesting, I’m afraid I have no more time for delays.”
In one smooth motion he grasped Nicolas’s arm. Jess launched herself at him, but two men moved quickly forward and forced her back.
“Let him go!” she screamed. “He’s just a little boy.”
Easy, Madrid thought. Don’t push him too hard.
“Ah, but children make for excellent leverage.” Mummert set the pistol against the boy’s temple. “Don’t you agree?”
“What do you want?” Jess screamed.
He gave her an evil smile. “I want you to jump overboard.” He pulled back the slide on the gun. “Or I’ll kill him where he stands.”
JESS COULDN’T BELIEVE it had come to this. She was standing on the lifeboat platform. Twenty feet down, the ocean taunted her with three-foot whitecaps and the promise of a cold and terrible death.
“Do it,” Mummert said.
Terror twisted inside her like barbed wire. Her body screamed with tension as she weighed her options. But there were none. If she refused, Mummert would kill Nicolas. If she jumped, she might live long enough to hear the bullets that would end Chin Lee’s and Nicolas’s lives. An unfathomable dilemma…
“I’ll do it,” she said after a moment.
“Of course you will.”
“On one condition.”
Every nerve in her body jumped when he fired a shot. The hot zing of the bullet whizzed by inches from her ear.
“Stop wasting time,” he said.
“Let the boy go. Do what you like with me.” Despite her best efforts, a sob squeezed from her throat. “I’ll do anything.”
“Tempting.” Mummert’s gaze raked over her. “You certainly have your charms. But the time for play is over. Your time is up. So is the boy’s. Now, jump or I’ll put a bullet in his head.”
Jess stood facing them with the water to her back. Eight men, all of them willing to murder an innocent child for the likes of whatever money their illegal cargo would bring them once they reached their destination.
In the back of her mind she wondered if Madrid had gotten her message. If he was trying to reach her. Considering she had mere minutes left, she accepted the reality that he wasn’t going to arrive in time.
“You coldhearted bastard,” she choked.
Mummert gave her an odd half smile. “That would be true if I had a heart. Make no mistake, my beauty— I do not.” He shifted the gun to Nicolas again.
“Don’t,” she pleaded.
“Jump or I’ll make sure you see him die.”
Jess wanted to take at least one of them with her. For a crazy instant she considered charging Mummert, tackling him, taking him over the side and into the water. But she knew he would shoot her down before she got close enough.
Her only consolation was that her hands weren’t bound. She would be able to swim. But judging by the lights back at the shipyard, the vessel was already half a mile out. She would succumb to hypothermia long before she reached the shore.
She looked at Nicolas and couldn’t hold back the rush of tears. “Everything’s going to be okay,” she choked.
It was a lie. They were going to die.
She hadn’t wanted to give Mummert the satisfaction of seeing her break down. But the injustice was too great. The heartbreak of an innocent child’s impending death shattered her.
Giving Nicolas a final look, she turned her back to them and faced the sea. She thought of Madrid, and another layer of grief fell over her. She loved him with all her heart. He was the kind of man she would have been able to spend the rest of her life with. Why hadn’t she recognized that when she’d been with him?
; Terror stole through her when she looked down at the black, churning water. Her entire body shook violently when she stepped toward the edge of the platform.
“I love you, Madrid,” she whispered. “Always.”
Closing her eyes, she stepped closer to the edge of the platform. Behind her she heard Mummert shout something, but Jess’s heart was pounding too hard for her to hear. She visualized herself jumping, her body slamming into the cold water, the black abyss sucking her down.
Her foot reached the edge of the platform. Terror raged like a wild beast inside her. A scream waited to burst from her throat. Oh, dear God, help me.
The platform jolted violently beneath her feet, throwing her off balance. She dropped to her knees as a bullet whizzed over her head. She heard shouts from the ship and looked over her shoulder to see one of the huge lifeboats plummet into the crowd of men. The uninjured men scattered, and Jess caught a glimpse of Chin Lee grabbing Nicolas. When a second lifeboat plunged into the water, Jess looked up to see a huge plume of fire and smoke billow from the aft stack.
“The engine room!” someone yelled.
Out of the chaos, a black-clad figure swung down from one of the lifeboat pulleys. Hope burst inside Jess when she realized it was Madrid.
She screamed his name on the wind. In her peripheral vision she saw him gather Nicolas into his arms. With Chin Lee behind him, he hit the platform at a sprint.
His eyes met Jess’s. “Jump!” he shouted. “Jump!”
He didn’t give her a chance to hesitate. Snagging her hand in his, he hauled her over the side of the platform. Time stood still as they free-fell. Vaguely she was aware of shots being fired behind them.
Then the water rushed up and slammed into her like a solid block of ice. The cold snatched the breath from her lungs, and the water enveloped her like icy hands, shook her, tumbled her.
But Madrid never let go of her hand. His warmth was like a lifeline, the only thing that separated life from death. She kicked, hoping the buoyancy of her body would float her to the top quickly.
An instant later Jess broke the surface. Next to her she saw the white oval of Madrid’s face. He was holding Nicolas. The little boy was crying and struggling, but he was alive. It was the most beautiful sight Jess had ever seen.
“Get in the lifeboat!” Madrid shouted.
Treading water, Jess looked around, spotted the small craft twenty feet away. Another layer of relief swept through her when she spotted Chin Lee already hanging on to the side.
Jess didn’t know how she made it to the boat. Using the last of her strength, she clung to the side. Then strong arms were pulling her on board. She looked up to see Madrid’s eyes on hers.
“I’ve got you,” he said.
“You came for us,” she choked out as he pulled her into his arms.
Vaguely she was aware of a chopper hovering overhead. A spotlight sweeping down. Cold wind and spray lashed them. But it was the strength and warmth emanating from Madrid’s body into hers that she felt all the way to her heart.
“How did you manage?” she asked, referring to the rescue.
Madrid smiled down at her. “I had a little bit of help.”
“Vanderpol?”
He nodded. “Looks like the agency came through, too.”
The realization of just how close she and Nicolas had come to dying shook her all over again. “My God, they were going to—”
“It’s okay,” he said. “They didn’t.”
Shaking the horrible thoughts from her mind, she looked around. “Where’s Nicolas?”
Madrid motioned to where Chin Lee and the boy huddled beneath a blanket. “He’s going to be okay.”
Jess blinked back tears. “You saved our lives,” she whispered.
“I had my own selfish reasons.”
She choked out a laugh. “I’m glad.”
He pulled her closer. “I’m never going to let you go. Think you can live with that?”
“I can’t live without it.” She smiled. “I can’t live without you.”
“Can I get that in writing?”
“I have a better idea,” she said, and pulled his mouth down to hers.
Epilogue
One month later
The small chapel was packed. Madrid paced the marble hall outside the rectory and tried hard not to be nervous. He found it ironic that he’d faced down some of the most dangerous criminals the underworld could produce. But here he was about to marry the woman he loved and he’d suddenly been attacked by a bad case of nerves.
“Well, you’re a hell of a sight to behold.”
He looked up at the sound of Sean Cutter’s voice. His superior wore a black tuxedo and looked every bit as uncomfortable as Madrid felt.
“I’m glad you could make it,” he said.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” The two men shook hands, their gazes locking. “She’s gorgeous.”
Madrid shoved his hands into his pockets. “I don’t know what the hell she wants with me.”
Cutter grinned. “I guess that’s one of those mysteries we’ll probably never figure out.” Removing an envelope from the inside pocket of his tux, he passed it to Madrid.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“Open it and find out.”
Madrid tore open the envelope, pulled out the single sheet of paper printed on official MIDNIGHT Agency letterhead and quickly read. He wasn’t an emotional man, but for a moment he couldn’t speak. “You’re promoting me?”
“You earned it.” Cutter grimaced. “You followed your instincts on the Lighthouse Point PD case. You did the right thing against tremendous odds.” He sighed. “Against pressure from your superiors.” He looked down, then met Madrid’s gaze. “I was wrong.”
Madrid didn’t know what to say. A month ago when he’d laid down his badge and gun, he’d thought his career with the MIDNIGHT Agency was over. “Thanks,” he managed.
“Norm Mummert and most of the officers working for him are behind bars as of last week. The corruption had penetrated all levels of the Lighthouse Point PD and another small police department with partial jurisdiction over Humboldt Bay. It was one of the most far-reaching cases of police corruption the agency has ever seen. Prosecutors say it’s going to be a slam dunk.”
“What about Capricorn and Yates?”
“Jake Vanderpol took Yates into custody yesterday in Paris. So far as we can tell, Capricorn in clean.”
“What about the women?” he asked, referring to the young immigrants who had been smuggled into the United States using Capricorn container ships in Luna Bay, Lighthouse Point and Humboldt Bay to the north.
“Most of them have been reunited with their families.”
Madrid was overwhelmed by a powerful sense of gratification knowing justice had prevailed. “I couldn’t have done it without Jess and Nicolas.”
“Jess received a formal apology from the governor of California for what local law enforcement put her and the boy through.”
“I’m glad.”
Through the closed doors leading into the nave where dozens of people had gathered for the celebration, they heard the organ begin the traditional wedding march.
Cutter cleared his throat. “You’ve got the next three weeks off,” he said. “I suggest you use them wisely, because I’m going to work your butt off once you’re back.”
Madrid couldn’t help it; he smiled. He thought of Jess waiting for him beyond those doors. He thought of little Nicolas, and for the second time in two minutes he found himself fighting emotion.
“After the wedding today, the three of us are flying to Hawaii for some R and R,” he said.
“You’re adopting the boy?”
Madrid nodded. “We’re crazy about him. He’s a great kid.”
“Angela would have been pleased.” Cutter crossed to the ornately carved doors. “Ready?”
“I’ve been ready my whole life.”
Cutter swung open the doors. “Good luck, man.”
Entering the nave, Mike Madrid stepped into his future, his destiny, his fate. And in that moment he was the happiest man in the world.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-4285-2
OPERATION: MIDNIGHT RENDEZVOUS
Copyright: © 2006 by Linda Castillo
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Operation: Midnight Rendezvous Page 18