Provoked

by Riley Murphy

  She saw Neil’s eyes darken, but his expression remained unreadable when he turned back to Lucia. His voice was soft, but firm as he said, “Tell your friends we’ll find Gabriela. They’re not to worry about that.”

  Neil was very efficient when it came to getting them organized. Once the girls were free, Neil decided, given how many of them there were, they’d split up into two groups. The older girls would go with her and Jude and head out the north exit, while Cat and Neil would take the younger ones to the south door. They’d all head east once they were out of the building and meet up at Ameril Street. By then Jude would have some of his guys there to pick them up.

  Charlie had wanted to complain about these arrangements, but one look at the fury simmering in Neil’s eyes, and she figured it was best not to. There was already enough stress between them and she wanted to get this done without anymore. But then he stopped her.

  “Charlotte?”

  “Call me tiger.”

  “Charlotte,” he repeated and he may as well have slapped her. His expression worried her so much she dropped her gaze and got ready to be lambasted. “I know you and your sister don’t speak Spanish. That was a lie.”

  “No. I never said that we could—”

  “Enough with the double talk and semantics. I want to make this very clear since you’ve put it all in jeopardy. A man like me lives to care for his woman. To protect her. He wants to cherish her. Do you know why? She’s worthy of these things because she’s honest and can be trusted.”

  Charlie lifted her gaze and it collided with his when he went on. “I am the man in your life who has been trying to keep the chaos at bay, but you won’t let me. I’m exhausted watching you struggle to find the grace within you. I’ve tried to help you love the part of you that you never knew was there. I’ve encouraged you to pick the bits and pieces up with your sister but…” He shook his head and continued in a solemn whisper, “That night in my hallway when you said you could fall for me? I meant it when I said if you did, I’d catch you and never let you go. But you never did. You never really fell for me because if you had you wouldn’t be here.”

  “Neil.” She tried to reach for him, but he leaned away. “I’m—”

  “Sorry? Me too. After this little stunt I have a lot of thinking to do. We both do. I’m tired of you putting yourself in potential danger. I’m all about identifying certain risks and reducing them. So don’t disappoint me tonight. No matter what happens do not deviate from the plan. I mean it. Listen to Jude and do what he tells you to do.”

  Charlie felt horrible. Not because he was being mean, she understood that, but more because she’d given him every reason to be…and the way he talked was as if this was going to be their last dealing together.

  She couldn’t let that upset her. She needed to put all her focus on getting through the next few minutes because the sooner they did, the sooner the girls would be safe and then she’d be able to deal with Neil and his incorrect assumptions. She’d fallen for him. If not before, certainly after his little speech.

  I’d catch you and never let you go.

  Those words echoed in her mind, her heart…her soul.

  That sealed it for her. If she got her way, they’d be dealing quite nicely in the future together.

  She nodded and then said to Jude, “Let’s go.”

  It didn’t take Charlie long to realize that Jude was a tech guy. He’d disabled one alarm and then managed to get the exit door open without a hitch. There was still a chilly wind coming in off the bay, so she hoped Ameril Street wasn’t too far away.

  “That was easy,” she said, gathering the girls together on the far side of the parking lot. She noticed there was a chain-link fence that was locked across the deserted lot’s entrance, as she tugged long sleeves down on one girl and turned another girl’s collar, speaking to them even though only one of them understood her. “I know it’s cold but we’ll be in warm cars soon.”

  Lucia smiled and while she translated this to the other girls, Charlie turned to see if Jude had finished texting his guys to meet them. He’d finished, but she didn’t like seeing his worried expression. “What’s the matter?”

  “Cat just connected. She and the other girls are in the clear, but Neil’s in trouble.”

  Charlie’s heart skipped a beat. She stepped away from the girls and whispered, “What kind of trouble?”

  “Is there a good kind?”

  She shook her head. “Are you going back or am I?”

  Jude handed her his phone. “I mapped the street. You won’t be able to go by the road, but if you follow the shoreline, you’ll get there.”

  Charlie looked down at the cell phone screen and took a moment to study the directions for a few seconds. It wasn’t too far. Maybe three blocks away. When she looked back up to tell Jude she had this, he was gone. That’s when she realized she was on her own. For the briefest second a pang of panic hit her, but as fast as it came, she squelched it. She needed to keep it together. The girls were counting on her and so was Neil. She wasn’t going let anyone down.

  Turning back to the girls, she said, “Okay, we have to go to the water and then we’re going this way.” She pointed to the east.

  “Charlie!” Lucia looked like she was terrified. She was staring at a spot over Charlie’s shoulder. “He’s coming for me.”

  For a split second Charlie thought she was talking about Kelli Sharp. She spun around and when saw the brawny stranger stalking toward them she may not have known who he was, but she definitely knew he wasn’t coming to talk. She took a step forward, ready to defend the group behind her, when he suddenly changed direction and Charlie knew why.

  Lucia had left the group and took off running toward the pier.

  The stranger was following right behind her.

  Charlie turned to the girls and animated to them to stay put before she took off. It wasn’t until she got within a few feet of the big guy that she saw the gun in his hand. When he stopped at the foot of the pier Charlie ran right into him, hoping she’d knock him down, but all it did was put her on her ass, and punched the air out of her lungs. He never even looked at her. All he did was raise his arm and point the gun right at…

  Lucia.

  The young girl stood at the end of the pier, with her back to the water, leaning against the guard rail, facing them.

  Air. Finally, air flooded Charlie’s lungs and she shot up. She had to do something. She jumped on the mammoth’s back, pulling at his hair, scratching his face, using her elbow to dig into his neck, collarbone, cheek. Whatever she could reach. He had a coat on though, so she wasn’t sure much of what she did was effective, but it kept him off balance enough that he couldn’t steady the gun.

  “You bitch!” He shook her off and she landed on her ass behind him. When he turned she expected him to shoot her. She held her hands up and automatically ducked behind them. “You think I’m going shoot you? I wish I could kill you. I really do.”

  That was all he said before he turned and pulled the trigger. Charlie saw that Lucia had climbed up on the guard rail, but before she made it over, she jerked sharply to the left and then fell into the water.

  “A miss.” The mammoth growled.

  When Charlie realized he was going to correct that oversight she got up and went after him again. “Leave her alone!”

  The guy grabbed Charlie and completely subdued her. He had her in a bear hug, squeezing her so hard she was forced to take short breaths. “Sure. We’ll give it a minute. I don’t need to waste good bullets when she will just as easily drown. Shoulder wounds make swimming in a straight line impossible. She’ll sink to the bottom of the bay like dirty water swirling down a drain.”

  Charlie lost track of time. Her ears began to ring, and when the guy let her go, she was dizzy. She staggered to the rail on one side of the pier and took several lung-expanding breaths. Once she was sure he wasn’t going after the group of girls huddled in the lot, she rushed to the end of the pier and looked out
at the black, choppy water. There was no moon tonight and the lights from the buildings bordering the water only lit up the shoreline so far. She couldn’t see any sign of Lucia in the open water. Was it too late? But then the sounds of the children screaming, crying, for her to do something, got her adrenaline surging once more. This time when she scanned the waves, she caught sight of a white flash off in the distance and she knew what she had to do. She focused solely on that area of water and dove in, swimming straight to it.

  ******

  Greyson Maddox. Neil was sure he’d seen him hugging one of the outside walls before Kelli had arrived and pulled Neil back into the building. What the hell was he doing here? It didn’t seem he was here to help.

  Fuck.

  At least Cat had managed to get away with the girls, but Neil’s shock over seeing Grey out there had cost him. Kelli had gotten the initial upper-hand, and now that he had Neil right where he wanted him. Neil knew he couldn’t afford to make any more missteps.

  All he had to do was keep Kelli away from the workout equipment that surrounded them. He could beat the guy in hand-to-hand, but Kelli would be fighting dirty if he got a hold of any of those metal bars or weights. That’s probably why he’d steered them in here in the first place.

  Neil drew his tongue over his split lip and ignored the heavy throbbing in his jaw. Kelli may have been in better shape than the last time they’d fought, but he still posed no great threat.

  “I can’t let you and your girlfriends walk out with our inventory.”

  Neil circled him. He’d been trying to decide whether to take him down fast or make him suffer. But after hearing that? The decision was out of his hands, so to speak. Or, maybe into them was a better way to put it, because he couldn’t contain his anger. A millisecond later, disgust took over and he drove his right fist into Kelli’s left cheek. Then his left fist into Kelli’s right one. He repeated the alternating actions forcing the guy back toward the wall. When they got close to the cement he gave him an uppercut that propelled the bastard backwards. His head hit the block first.

  Crack.

  That was going to leave a mark.

  He thought he’d go down, but Kelli came off the wall swinging. He clipped Neil in the jaw and then tried to sweep Neil’s feet out from under him. Neil sidestepped that move, and then mimicked it, kicking Kelli off his feet and sending him right to the ground.

  “Oh fuck!”

  Kelli was flat on his back, squirming like a fish out of water. When he tried to turn onto his side Neil realized what had happened. He’d fallen onto one of the metal bars in such a way that the one next to it angled up and skewered him between two ribs. The injury wasn’t enough to kill him. He was still breathing, but he wasn’t moving anymore. His face was dead white and sweat was starting to bead on his upper lip.

  “Are you going kill me?”

  “I’m thinking about it.”

  “Think…f-fast. Something’s not r-right. Fuck!”

  Neil crouched down over him. There wasn’t a lot of blood and judging by Kelli’s shortness of breath his lung had been punctured. “Yeah, it doesn’t look good.”

  “What’s it going to t-take for you…call…ambu…lance?”

  Neil hadn’t expected this. He thought Kelli was the type of man who would have to be dragged kicking and screaming to hell before he looked for mercy from anyone. “I want to know how many young girls you’ve pushed through here.”

  “None. Firs…t time. Not f-for regular auction. S-special one.”

  Neil breathed a little easier hearing that it was the first time. But then breathed a little harder when he heard the word special. Fucker. “You told me maybe one day you’d share why you targeted Jorge that night.”

  “He—fuck!— ruined everything. He told…W-Wilde about the shipment. I never should…trusted him.”

  Neil knew that Jorge and Kelli had history together. He always suspected that’s why Jorge never pressed charges and urged Neil to let it go. “So you nearly burned him alive as punishment?”

  Kelli was struggling to breathe. He was clasping at his chest and wheezing. That punctured lung was probably collapsed by now, and Neil didn’t feel one little thing. Not one twinge of guilt over pushing the guy to talk. He’d get his ambulance right after Neil got his answer.

  “I di…dn’t set him…o-on fire. You never…wat…watched the foot…age, did you?”

  Neil had no need to watch the tragic spectacle again after seeing it live. He was prepared to call him a liar. It couldn’t be true, but before he did, he heard people approaching. He turned and was about to put up his hand, but Max cried, “You rotten mother fucker! I should have killed you two years ago!”

  Neil spotted the heavy red metal fire extinguisher Max brandished and instantly he knew what the man intended to do with it. Quickly, he fell to his side and rolled out of the way. One minute Kelli was wheezing—Thud!—and then he wasn’t anymore.

  *****

  Charlie rode the rush of adrenaline as she headed toward that white in the water. She didn’t look to her right or left, she focused in on Lucia off in the distance. There was no room for fear or exhaustion. She couldn’t let either one rule her.

  “I can’t!” Lucia screamed before she went under the water when a wave hit her. Coming back up she coughed and then cried, “My arm won’t work.”

  Charlie was so glad to hear her voice. So happy to know she was still alive, until she saw her disappear under the water again. This time she was taking too long to come up. “Lucia!”

  *****

  “You okay, Cannon?”

  Neil accepted Max’s hand up, and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good. Thanks.”

  He was still reeling from what Kelli had said, when Max clapped him on the back. “You don’t look good. Are you upset about him? That piece of trash got what he deserved, served up with a little bit of irony,” he said with a smile, and patted the dented extinguisher.

  Neil was trying to sort things out. “How did you…?”

  “Get here? Christ, man, wipe your mouth. You’re bleeding steady. I came to lend a hand for the demonstration. One minute things were going smoothly and the next the whole club started buzzing. There were guys I’d never seen before forcing their way in. They were looking for someone. I didn’t know what the hell was going on. Then I saw Cat and well, you know the rest. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yes.” He wasn’t going to share what he’d just been told with anyone. He needed to find that flash drive, but first he needed to find Charlie and Jude.

  “Neil.”

  Neil turned when Jude skidded to a halt after coming into the exercise room. His first thought was that Jude was alone. “Where’s Charlie?”

  “Who the hell is Charlie?” Max shook his head.

  “I left her outside with the girls. Cat texted and said you needed help and I thought I’d…” He looked down at Kelli, then at Max and took a threatening step forward. “Do you need help?”

  Max scowled. “Not from me. I saved his life.”

  Neil wasn’t going to pick that bone. Kelli couldn’t have killed a fly in the condition he’d been in when Max intervened. “Is she alone or is Cat with her?” For once he was praying the terrible two were standing together.

  “She’s alone.”

  Neil didn’t hang around to listen to anymore. “Take care of him, will you?” he called out to both of them as he took off toward the exit Jude and Charlie had taken earlier. When he got outside and saw the group of girls huddling by one of the sign posts at the side of the lot, he remained calm even though he was dying inside.

  One of them stepped forward. She was crying and speaking so fast he doubted even if he understood the language he’d catch what she was saying.

  “Sister. Sister gone,” the tallest girl said.

  That helped. “Her sister was taken?”

  The girl said the same sentence over and over that he didn’t understand until she acted it out. That’s when Neil started to s
weat.

  “Her sister was shot with a gun and fell?”

  The tall girl nodded. “Lucia.”

  Neil looked around. “Where? Where did Lucia fall?” He imitated the girl’s move. When she pointed to the water Neil nearly lost his mind. He had to work hard to keep it together.

  “Where did Charlotte go?” He made gestures to get his point across and when the tall girl pointed to the pier he closed his eyes, swallowed, and opened them again. “Are they in the water?” He made a wavy motion and all of them nodded.

  “Where’s Charlie?” Jude asked, once he reached Neil’s side.

  “Get the girls out of here. We’ll meet you at Ameril Street. ” He didn’t remember turning, he only remembered starting off in a slow jog toward the pier, but with every stride that brought him closer to the expansive blackness, anxiety built until something snapped inside him and he headed there in a full-out run.

  *****

  Once Charlie managed to get hold of Lucia she towed her toward the pier like she’d been taught to do at Camp Clara. She didn’t feel anything anymore. Not the cold air or the warmer water. She paid no attention to the waves that broke all around them. She was like a machine, moving forward and forward some more.

  It wasn’t until she reached the large piling of the pier that had a service ladder attached to it, that fear invaded. Her body was suddenly in tune with what it had been put through. Adrenaline was no longer her friend and it deserted her.

  Bone weary and exhausted, she didn’t think she could hang onto the side of the ladder against the force of the waves, let alone continue to hold Lucia the way she was.

  “Charlotte!”

  Neil was down the ladder so fast she thought she was dreaming. He dropped into the water and immediately took Lucia from her.

  “Careful, she’s been shot in the shoulder.”

  Did he hear her? If he did, he paid no attention as he went a ways up the ladder and then rather abruptly slung the girl over his shoulder. “I need to get the water out of her lungs. Are you okay? Can you manage on your own?”

  She nodded. She was okay. He was here and he’d make sure that Lucia was taken care of. It was only a ladder. But then she looked up and the longer she stared the higher and more distant it became. She had to do it. She’d come so far. She’d made it, but her limbs weren’t cooperating. Her arms and legs had been straining for so long they felt like jelly now.