“And did you not teach them about loyalty and honor?”
“I did, sir.” Jericho’s face actually blanched.
“Then why were they caught in the act of trying to steal from the Pakhan?”
Jericho looked confused, but didn’t seem to want to ask any questions. “I don’t know, sir. I’m sorry, sir.”
“Perhaps you should be on the ground with them.”
Alexander stepped forward. “I have a better plan for him, sir, if you will allow it.”
Kozlov turned his attention to Alexander. “And what would that be?” The menacing look he gave Alexander made me shudder.
“He should be the one to administer the punishment.” One of Alexander’s guards stepped forward and handed his gun to Jericho.
Jericho immediately pointed it at me.
Kozlov stepped forward. “I don’t think so. I have a better idea for these sorry little beggars.” He picked me up, forcing me to stand. His eyes were hard as he stared into mine. This was Jeremy’s friend? Had he gotten himself assigned to this ship just to stop us from succeeding? Had our meeting backfired on us? Once again I thought of Jeremy and hoped he was watching. “I bet she used her womanly wiles to get you to act tonight. Is that how she tricked you?” His gaze landed on Carson.
He nodded.
“I couldn’t hear you.” He kicked Carson.
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.” Carson’s face angled down.
“Yes.” His hand held my chin up as he examined my face. “She has a good face. A little scraped up at the moment. But that will heal.” He spoke as if to himself. “You a virgin, girl?”
My eyes involuntarily turned the size of apricots. This was not good.
He squeezed my chin, hard. “Well?”
I spit in his face.
“I think that gives me my answer. Excellent. I’ll get a high price for her.”
“What?” I spluttered.
He let go of my chin and turned to Alexander. “Instead of you shooting her, we will send her somewhere her skills will be appreciated.” An ugly smirk fell on his face, and Alexander chuckled. An awful sound that sent a hailstorm through my gut. “Don’t you think that is fitting punishment, Alexander?”
He nodded. “Yes, sir.”
He turned on Mikado. “And you. I won’t have any trouble finding a place for a pretty boy like you.”
Mikado growled, showing his teeth. “I won’t. You’ll have to kill me. You may as well get it over with right now.”
Kozlov’s vengeance was swift and hard. His hand sent Mikado flying back with an extremely hard blow to the head. Mikado didn’t move from his awkward position on the ground. Only Carson remained to discover his fate.
But Kozlov turned to Jericho instead. “And you. You will accompany me on this journey to ensure my two new prized possessions arrive at their new home. Maybe I’ll be able to teach you how to inspire loyalty on the way there. We don’t have any containers available for their shipment. They will need to be kept in the belly of the ship. You don’t have any plans for the next two weeks do you?”
Jericho’s eyes narrowed at me. “No, sir.” I guess he figured he didn’t have the option to say he did.
“It’s settled then.” Kozlov smiled. “And as for this boy,” he swung his head toward Carson. “It’s unfortunate that his parents didn’t teach him well enough to keep him alive. I think his parents need a little lesson too.” Kozlov nodded to Alexander, who nodded to Jericho and with the click of Jericho’s trigger, and deafening bang of a gun, Carson slumped to the ground.
I screamed, lunging toward his lifeless body. A fist hit me in the side of the head. Stars and blackness met me.
Chapter 28
I woke to discover my body tied spread eagle on a bed in a small room with no window. Panic trilled through me. I was on the ship. My head pounded. I looked at the zip ties that bound me to the bed. I tested them, they were tightened perfectly. Not too tight and not too loose. Because I was spread eagle, none of the methods I knew for breaking the ties would work. I did spend some time trying to slip my hand out, but the ties only dug into me more. I couldn’t shim them, and I couldn’t use brute force against them. I was a sitting duck.
Memories of Carson’s body slumping to the ground hit me. There was no mistaking it. I was the reason he was dead. Me and me alone. He’d tried to warn me about what happened to people who got involved with Viktor, and now my actions had ended his life.
Mikado. Where was he? I looked around the room. He was not with me. I had to find him and save him. I could not let more blood be spilt on my account. I played with my bonds for a little while longer and had to accept the reality that there was no way to undo them without help. I would have to take my chances with the guards.
“Help me!” I yelled. “Help! I need to pee. Please. Please. Somebody! Anybody! I need to pee.” I had to have someone untie me. Once I was free, I would take them out. I hoped my body would respond to my call and function as I needed it to. I continued to yell until my voice started to strain and go hoarse.
Two bulky men finally came.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I totally have to go. Untie me, please.”
“Not happening,” one of the guys said. “I couldn’t care less if you wet yourself.” He turned to go.
The other guy said, “But that guy said he had plans with her later.” He made a rude gesture when his partner looked back. “What harm would it do? It’s not like she could do us any damage.”
The other guy laughed. “You got that right.” They cut me loose. They pushed me toward the bathroom where I actually did use the bathroom. There were towels and even soap waiting for me to use. I did and then collected the ceramic covers for the bolts that held the toilet to the floor, a body towel, the bar of soap, and the two-foot mirror that hung on the wall above the sink. These guards had totally underestimated me. I then stood in front of the door and waited.
At long last, a guard knocked on the door once. I didn’t respond, I simply readied myself. When he knocked again, I threw the door open, capitalizing on surprise. The door slammed into the guard who’d knocked and sent him flying back into the metal bed frame where he smacked his head hard and slid to the floor. I didn’t waste a single second.
With speed and accuracy, I flung one of the hard ceramic bolt covers directly at the Adam’s apple of the other guard. He clutched at his throat and bent over at the waist, trying for air that would not come. I whipped around and chucked the second bolt cover at the guard who had stumbled and hit his head. He flinched to the side, and it barely missed him. I set the mirror down, resting it on the doorjamb.
His eyes gleamed with hatred, and he stormed toward me. In one step he’d be upon me. I wound up the towel and took a step back, whipping him in the face, momentarily blinding him. The other guard was now writhing on his back, hands still clutched around his throat. The guard I whipped struck out with his foot, sending the door sailing into me as it tried to close. I stumbled back, still clutching the towel. The door swung back toward the whipped guard, who kicked it again. It slammed into the mirror that I’d propped on the doorjamb as I’d flung the door open.
He lunged for me, and I jumped onto the bed, snagging the pillow as I went and sliding the cover off it. He lunged again, and I’d intended to jump off the bed, but the pressure made me sink into the soft bed, slowing me down. His hand got a hold of my ankle, and I fell backwards off the bed, landing with a thud into the wall opposite us.
My head cracked back, and a moan escaped my lips. Stars scrambled my eyes, and I shook my head to catch my bearings. He was upon me, his thick hands crushing my neck. I let go of the towel and in one swift motion, grabbed the other end of the pillowcase and pushed it up at his neck, then brought my knee up for a nice groin hit. His hands released their hold, and he rolled over in pain, clutching his crotch, fire in his eyes. I grabbed the lamp beside the bed and whacked him over the head with it. It didn’t stop him; it only seemed to make him more mad.
His legs shot out, clipping mine and throwing me to the floor. All the air whooshed out of me, and my hands flew above my head, one landing in the pile of mirror fragments. He was now sitting on the edge of the bed, a gun pointed at my face.
“I give,” I called out, palming a shard of glass as I brought my hands to my waist. “I give.”
He kicked my leg. “If I didn’t have strict orders not to kill you, you’d have a bullet in your head right now.
I sat up, noticing that the guard I’d hit with the bolt cover no longer struggled. I swallowed hard, tasting bile.
“Get up here,” he said in a flat voice, the gun trained on my chest now.
I stood and he did too, giving me access to the bed. In effect, we switched positions. I lay back, ready to be tied up only to cut myself loose after he left the room. But then he sneered at me. “I know what you’ll be doing in Africa, and I think after what you’ve done, that it’s only fair that I get a piece of you before you go.”
A shiver that turned into a flame flowed through me as he moved toward me, a horrid look of nasty anticipation on his face. I let him get close enough that it would only take one double strike to disable him. One of my arms jutted out to whack his gun hand and the other pushed the shard of glass into his eye. I had been aiming for his jugular, but missed as he adjusted to my initial strike. He called out in pain, dropping the gun. I grabbed the gun and hit him hard in the temple. He fell on the bed.
I tied his arms using the restraints they’d used on me and pulled the glass from his eye. I used the pillowcase to tie around his head to stop the bleeding. There was no sense in letting him die, too, even though he was a total scumbag. I hoped he would be around when the bratva fell. I’d be the first one in line to testify against him.
I tucked the gun into my waistband and used a piece of the mirror to look under the door and see if the way was clear. We’d been so noisy, no one could have been anywhere near or they would have heard us. Then I remembered how long I’d had to scream in order to get anyone to come. We must be far away from anyone.
I walked out into a narrow, completely white hall. I was in the last room in the hallway. I hurried to the opposite end of the hall and found a door. A locked door. I felt in my hair for bobby pins, but found none. I looked back to the room. One of those two guards had to have keys. I rolled my eyes and headed back. In my rush, I’d left a lot of valuable things that, had I been in my right mind, I never would have left behind. I stuffed the other guard’s gun in one boot, then took both sets of keys.
I hurried back down the hall to the door and unlocked it, prepared to find more guards just outside, but no one was there. I must have been in the bottom-most accommodations in the belly of the ship near the front third of it. The rear was filled almost exclusively with containers or cells. Above me were more accommodations, the galley, and then the bridge. Once I found Mikado and the kids I’d have to deploy a lifeboat. I had no clue how I’d accomplish it without running into others. And I had no idea how loud such a process might be or how long it would take to lower the boat. Unfortunately, besides the engine room, the majority of people were to be found in the area I’d have to traverse. I prayed that the others were sleeping soundly.
I sifted through all the information I’d ever read or learned about container ships. While they weren’t all the same, they had the same elements. I had a long way to go to get out, and I most likely would not find a clear path. I wondered how long I’d been on the ship, just how far I was out to sea. There were no windows to judge by, so I had no idea what time it was—we could have been moving for hours or days, I wouldn’t know. I had to push that thought away for fear that the idea would overtake me as I began my precarious ascent. I had to focus on the fact that I would soon be outside in the fresh air.
Typically, a ship like this, even as huge as it was, would only need ten to twelve crew members, but something told me there would be many more on this ship. Usually only one third was awake at any given time, which worked to my advantage—at least I hoped it did. If they doubled the amount of crew members to help ensure the arrival of the containers, then I had somewhere around fourteen people I had to avoid in this area alone. With any luck, there wouldn’t be a shift change as I made my way up.
I very carefully and methodically made my way up, stopping only long enough to look at a clock in an unoccupied room. The clock read five a.m. We had at least an hour and a half of darkness before dawn hit. There was such relief in not being time deficient any longer.
Someone walked out of a room about twenty feet in front of me. I froze. To my sides were only ship walls, no doors. I was completely exposed. But he didn’t see me—he was facing the other way and made his way quickly up the hall and through a door at the end of it. The door shut with a clang behind him.
I shoved a hard breath out and stared forward again until I heard footsteps. At this point, I was only a few feet from a door. I flung myself inside and readied to fight if need be.
I realized someone was behind me only seconds before a hand went over my mouth. I twisted, ready to strike and stopped just in time. It was Jeremy. My legs wobbled slightly, and I covered my mouth with a trembling hand. I fell into his arms, and he dragged me to the open closet and said, “Shh!” as he pulled the door silently shut. We heard the click of a door opening, and light filtered under the door. A person walked across the floor, opened a drawer, shut it, and then walked back out, the door clicking shut behind him.
When the coast was clear, I couldn’t help releasing a little sigh of a laugh and wrapping my arms tightly around Jeremy.
“You’re here! I can’t believe you’re really here.”
“Of course I am,” he said gently, holding me even closer. “I told you I would find you.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. My insides sparked with happiness at being with Jeremy, and so close at that. Everything suddenly looked bright and possible. He smelled of sweat and salty air and water. I never wanted to leave the closet, but when Jeremy asked if I was ready, I nodded. Jeremy opened the door and stepped out. I followed.
“We’ll deploy a lifeboat to get us all out of here once we’ve found everyone. The trick is getting there. It’s likely that we’ll have to jump a great distance. We’ll take the ladders down as far as we can, but there is no guarantee, and the water…it’s cold. It won’t be easy.” His eyes looked pinched with worry.
“Do you know where Mikado is? He wasn’t in any of the rooms near mine.”
“I didn’t see him on my way down here, so he must be somewhere else. We’ll find him, and then go get the intended slaves. I sent in an anonymous tip to the FBI about the cars, but I doubt anything will get done, considering they have a man in the field. However, they don’t always make the right calls. We can hope, but that’s about it. Let’s get moving.” His muscles were tight, and his jerky movements told me he was completely immersed in the mission. “There should be a shift change in about twenty minutes, so we need to hurry.” He consulted his watch.
“I hope Mikado is okay.” My stomach filled with squawking birds.
“If they didn’t kill him, he will be okay.”
I was suddenly aware of a sharp chlorine smell. Bleach of some sort. The captain must require total cleanliness in the rooms. “Agent Kozlov is onboard, and...”
“I know. I arranged for that.” He headed for the door without further explanation.
Shock filtered through me. “But he had Carson killed.”
He stopped his advance on the door. “I don’t have time for you to tell me the details, but I’m sure if he had someone killed, it had to be done to save you or himself.”
“Didn’t you see it happen?”
“No. I got to the pier as quickly as I could, but when I got there, they had the place completely locked down. It took me too long to find a secure way in, and by that time you were nowhere to be found. Ace said he hadn’t heard from you since he walked you through finding the shipping manif
est. I knew something must have gone wrong, so I snuck onto the ship before it sailed. I’ve been looking for you ever since.”
I nodded my head slowly. It was all starting to make sense. Mikado and I had been completely alone as we entered that shipyard.
“I’m sorry about Carson, but we’ve got to go. Now.”
“How are we getting out?”
“We need to find a lifeboat, and get as far away from the ship as possible. Halluis and Ace are supposed to be working on our extraction, but with no official sanction for resources from Division, they may not be able to do anything at all. We have to operate as if we’re on our own.”
“All right. We’ll make this work. I think I know where the kids are. At least they were there earlier. In the rows next to the captain’s deck. Maybe Mikado got put in there with them.”
“Let’s hope so.”
I nodded, and he led me up to the next level. As we walked down the short hallway on the next level, two men exited a room to our left. Without a thought, I pulled out one of my guns and said, “Hands up!” Jeremy rushed forward and pushed them back into the room they’d come from. The dining room.
I kept my gun pointed at them, and Jeremy grabbed some dishtowels and gagged and tied them up. After taking away their radios, we locked them in the refrigerator. Only twenty minutes to shift change, and their replacements would find them and free them.
We slinked up one more set of stairs that let us out onto a small deck. I could see the horizon, the thin sliver of the distant sun’s rays poking through the darkness. I couldn’t make out a single landmass. A burst of wind whipped through my hair as we climbed up a metal ladder on the outside of the ship. Jeremy looked down at me and mouthed, This is it.
I knew it would mean he was going to slow down, and I’d have to be even more careful. He stopped for a minute or so and then moved quickly to the top and disappeared over the edge. There must be people moving about. I hurried to the top and peeked over the edge.
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