by Siera London
“I am marrying Lina in four days. Nothing will stop me, not you, not Monica. I will conquer death itself to make Lina my bride.” Determination and grit in his voice.
“Who’s Monica?”
“She was my wife,” he ran his fingers through his hair. How had his life come to this?
“In all likelihood, if anything went wrong with the bust neither of us will make it out of this unscathed.” Okay that raised the stakes for Gideon.
“My brothers, Ian and Thane are close by. I’ll have them meet us at Lina’s.” Three men wouldn’t be enough if the stalker was any indication of the men they were dealing with. “I need to make a phone call.” Gideon dialed the number of the one man he knew he could always count on to be there for him.
“Hello,” the steady voice on the other end of the phone answered.
“Dad,” he heard himself say, “I need your help.”
Gideon and Troy approached Lina’s parking lot to find, Thane and Ian surrounding a man lying on the ground. Gideon hugged each of his brothers, grateful they had answered the call for assistance when he had explained the danger surrounding Lina. They rolled the man over and Gideon was surprised to see a blotchy, drooling Jace Harper.
“Jace what happened to you?”
“A man took Lina, and they have Janna, too.” They were too late. In a panic, Gideon turned to Thane.
“Go knock on the door next to Lina’s. The woman’s name is Estrella. Ask her if she saw anything.” Troy looked at him in stunned silence, and then he started shaking his head like he was warding off an invisible attack.
“I’m on it,” came Thane’s terse reply.
“The Estrella woman was helping the man take them,” Jace responded.
“I left Estrella safe in Peru.” Troy said, his tone one of disbelief. “How long has she lived next to Lina?” Troy’s voice was strained and filled with anguish.
“Two months, why?” Gideon asked.
“Damn it, he used her as the plant. Can you describe the van?” Troy’s face was raw with emotion. The question was directed at Jace.
“Troy, what are you talking about?”
“The dealer that took Lina, his street name is Sky. He calls his right hand woman Star. And his hit man goes by the name Moon.”
“So what?” Ian questioned.
“Estrella means star in Spanish.”
“It gets worse,” Gideon chimed in.
“How, so?”
“At Ava’s engagement party, the waiter that offered Lina a glass of champagne. His name was Moon. Means they’ve been trying to take her for weeks.” Gideon curled his fingers in fists at the revelation.
“Maybe you coming into the picture kept them from getting to her, Gideon. They didn’t know you were a factor and then you took her away to Waverly Falls.”
“But how do we find her?” Gideon questioned. Fear and need to destroy pumping through his blood in equal measure.
“Follow the smell. Yuck.” Jace said with a grimace. “The guy smelled like rotten seafood.”
Troy inhaled a deep breath and smiled. “I have an idea of where they are holding them, but I can’t assemble a team large enough to take the Princessa before they have time to move her. We have to move fast to get our women back.”
“Point us in the right direction. My brothers and I will get my woman back.”
Chapter 23
Moon stood on the helicopter landing deck of Sky’s mega yacht. Rotating in each direction, he did a visual survey of the one hundred and eighty foot luxury liner and the lush tree line surrounding the private pier.
“Where are you, Troy?”
He knew Troy would come for Lina. Moon would be ready to bury his blade deep into the man, feeling the life drain from his body. Gutting Troy for his betrayal would be his gift to Sky. Now that he had Lina in his possession he understood the man’s desire to keep her to himself.
A smile curled his lips recalling how her soft curves filled his arms. Flames of lust licked at his skin in anticipation. The look of surprise and fear on her face when he’d taken her had his erection pushing against his zipper. He yearned for them to be alone, but he hadn’t been prepared for the other woman. Janna. Lovely name, he could have her, too. His pulse leaped with excitement. No, not this time. He understood how jealous women could be. He would not disrespect his bond with Lina by delighting in her friend.
Before their life together began, Lina had to be punished for her infidelity. She didn’t have the decency to wait for him, after all he’d given to her. He clenched his fists at his side as rage surged through him. Slicing Gideon Rice’s neck would be a gift to himself.
Jarring pain ricocheted through Lina’s head when she hit a hard surface rousing her to consciousness. Terror spiked through her when she realized she’d been moved from the van. The air smelled of dead fish, the ocean, and gasoline fuel. Her skin felt clammy and slick with humidity.
Moon had left her exposed to the elements. Would he return? She cast her eyes left then right. No Janna. Mind working, she realized she had to find Janna and get them both off this boat. She tried to sit up, but her hands didn’t work. Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks, but she kept them at bay. Stay calm. Panic and fear would only help Estrella and Moon. Inhaling deep in and out, she curled her hands up to view a thin, white nylon rope bound her hands in front of her body. Rope was better than plastic zip ties, not that she knew how to escape either one. But she felt hopeful.
Sounds of the water hummed beneath the call of the night owls. A boat. She was lying on the deck, taken, because she had to do things her way. God, would she ever see Gideon again? He wanted to keep her safe. Love her. Regret, like she had never felt before, had her head curling to her knees. A sharp pain in her abdomen drew her up short. Had she been injured when she lost her hold on consciousness? Where was Janna? Shifting, Lina surveyed her surroundings.
Straining to see her surroundings in the low lighting, another female sized body lay still not more than twenty feet away from her position.
“Janna?” Lina listened for a response, but no sound came from the other person.
“Janna, please.” A soft moan reached Lina’s ear and she sighed in relief. “I’m coming to you.” Assessing the distance to the hull of the boat, Lina rolled until her back made contact with metal. Using the wall at her back, she pushed herself upright. Sweat beaded her forehead and her abdominals ached. Breathing in heavy pants, she scooted herself to a vertical support, grasped it with her bound hands and pulled herself upright. Sucking in a hungry breath, she listened for voices or anything to tell her where she was being held. They were at a pier, privately owned most likely. Taking in the expansive deck and flooring she surmised she was on a yacht. On bare feet, she padded over to the unmoving figure at the far end of the deck.
She reached for her friend’s shoulder. After several attempts she rolled the limp body onto her back. Slowly the other woman’s features came into view. A scream that never came reverberated in her head. No. Lina snatched her hand away as if fire had seared her skin.
“Estrella?” Panic rose and threatened to spill out of her in a bellow of fear, anger, and desperation. Where was Janna?
Determined that Janna would not pay the price for her folly. Lina gripped the lapels of Estrella’s shirt and shook hard. Estrella’s head flopped backward like a broken bobble head figurine, before her eyes blinked open. She watched as Estrella struggled to focus, her eye movements jerky and uncoordinated. Drugged. Why was Estrella left on the deck, drugged alongside her? She needed Estrella to make sense of this living nightmare. Her friend turned enemy was her only option to finding Janna and getting the freak out of here.
Estella’s dry lips parted to answer Lina’s unasked question.
“So sorry,” she croaked.
Dismissing the woman’s feeble apology, Lina cut to the chase.
“Where have they taken, Janna? Whose boat is this?” Estrella’s eyes drifted closed and Lina let go of the lapels s
he’d been holding. Her head hit the deck flooring with a thud and Estrella’s eyes shot open, regarding Lina in disbelief.
Lina shrugged. “Desperate times, require desperate measures. Now, where is Janna?”
Lina gave her five seconds before she grabbed both shirt lapels again, lurched Estrella up, only to let her compliant body fall back to the flooring.
This time Estrella swung a hand at Lina’s face–with all the force of a cotton ball.
“Stop doing that, Lina.”
Ignoring her protests, Lina batted the offending arm out of striking distance and pulled Estrella as high off the ground as she could manage with bound hands.
“Not sure a fall from this height will give you a concussion, but I’m willing to take the risk.”
Estrella began to struggle in earnest.
“Talk,” Lina jostled the semi-conscious woman.
“Sky has her,” came the soft reply.
“Who is Sky?” Lina demanded.
“He controls the drugs, the women.”
“What does he want with us?”
“Not us, just you.” Estrella’s tone spoke volumes. Now that they had her, was Janna of no consequence to their captor?
“Why? What do they want from me?”
“Troy,” Estrella muttered, before she started to cough violently. Even in the shroud of fear, Lina recognized the voice of sorrow.
“What does Sky have to do with Troy or me?”
“Troy moves the money for Sky’s organization.” Lina’s heart stilled in her throat.
“Troy is not a criminal.” Estrella was mistaken. Terribly, terribly mistaken. Had to be.
“He’ll wish he was when Sky finds him. He’s an undercover cop, Lina.” The anguish in Estrella’s voice pulled at Lina’s heart strings.
“No.” How long had Troy been undercover? Had he hidden this from her when they were together?
“Almost five years Troy played the part.” He’d told her the truth. Estrella coughed again, a protective hand over her ribs. “Sky trusted him until two Galaxy shipments got seized by the cops within four months. So, Sky knew there was a leak within his network.”
“Why signal out Troy?” Lina questioned.
“Sky had Moon review everyone’s background, again. This time they researched back to childhood. A money trail from Troy to Bernadean James, a widow to a corrupt cop led us to you.”
“If you’re one of them, why were you drugged and left here?”
“I’m not one of them. I tried to save you from Moon.” Estrella stared at Lina with haunted eyes.
“But they have my little sister.” A gasp escaped Lina’s lips. “Sky turns girls into whores. I had no choice, but I have displeased him.”
“You tricked me into thinking we were friends, then you drugged me and handed me over.”
“I am your friend, Lina. I tried to stop Moon from destroying your house, from taking you. Moon has repaid my disloyalty.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He broke my ribs, then he drugged me.” Oh God, if this was how they treated their spies, what did they have planned for her?
“Tell me how we can get off this yacht and I’ll get help.”
“I’m afraid my darling niece can’t help you, Princess.” A man’s voice sounded behind her.
Lina had heard that voice before. She pivoted on her heel and she came face to face with five large men. Four of them were dressed in black tee-shirts with dark cargo pants. She stumbled backward, before her eyes met with the bluest eyes she’d ever seen on a man. Even in the semi-darkness, his blonde hair was visible. With a wicked facial scar she recognized. Her mouth fell open. A heavy feeling settled in her stomach.
“Bluton Faraday.” Bluton Faraday was Sky. The international business man that brought jobs to third world countries? He was a white collar thug and a drug pusher? Disgusting.
“No witty come back for me tonight, Princess?”
“I don’t waste my energy dealing with the garbage.”
“Explain to our guest, my darling niece, that I do not suffer rudeness well.” Lina hung her head on a make believe swivel from Sky to Estrella. Unreal.
“Star is related to me by marriage. Unfortunately, both her parents met with an untimely death, leaving her nine-year-old sister in the custody of her aunt, my wife. Drug addiction does terrible things to a marriage, does it not, Star.”
“My aunt never used drugs,” Estrella screamed. “You forced drugs into her arm. You are a monster.”
“Don’t listen to her, Lina. It is wonderful to have you all to myself, Princess. We will have fun together, but business comes first.”
“Boss, we are running out of time.” Moon stepped out of the shadows taking the spot next to Sky. Six men including Moon, the likelihood of a successful escape dwindled against those odds.
“Moon, have the captain ready the engines. The rest of you keep a look out for the cop.” Lina watched as the four men turned away without a word, each moving in a different direction. Rising panic churned in her stomach. She had to find Janna and get off this boat before they left the pier.
“Tell me where I can find your former lover?” Bluton pulled the tail of his jacket open as he spoke. Sky casually stuck his hands in his pants, revealing the butt of a gun. It glinted in the faint light coming from the cabin’s door he’d left ajar. The shirt visible behind the gun was covered in blood. As she watched the stain grow larger, so did the knot in her gut. She thought of Gideon. Would she ever see him again?
The night wind blew warm air, thick with moisture across Gideon’s face, but fear ripped through him like an arctic blast. Crouched low into the shadows, he and his brothers followed as Troy led them to a private dock along the Saint Dasius River. Crickets’ chirps and frog croaks rang out in competition as if preparing themselves for the blood that would be spilled if any harm had come to Lina. The slap of whitecap waves held a steady cadence over the squawk of an occasional bird.
Estrella had betrayed them all. And Moon, a madman had handed Lina over to a killer. His brothers were at his side. Gideon placed a call to Bishop in case there was more trouble. He didn’t want anything to happen to his father or future mother-in-law.
His father agreed to stay behind to protect Bernadean. Troy was certain she wasn’t out of danger. If her yelling about being kept in the dark about her own daughter was a precursor to the rest of her conversation, his father had his work cut out for him.
According to the news report, Sky had been wounded during a police shoot out with local law enforcement. An injured man was a deadly man. And Lina was at his mercy. Fear coursed through his veins and he prayed that he reached her in time. Killers didn’t want to die, but he knew from experience they would take as many people with them into death if backed into a corner.
“Troy are you sure we are at the correct pier? Lina is running out of time,” Gideon whispered.
“Look to your left, about fifty yards.” Gideon glanced in the general direction. Other than a late model luxury sport utility vehicle that looked vaguely familiar, he didn’t recognize anything indicating that Lina was being held in this location.
“That’s Moon’s Range Rover. And smell the rotten stench in the air.” Anxious to get to Lina, Gideon hadn’t noticed how foul the air was at this end of the pier. “Moon’s family has worked for Sky’s since before he was born. His loyalty is legendary. Trust me, Lina is here.”
The Marine in Gideon couldn’t be contained. He turned to his brothers, “Put every man down hard. We won’t have a second chance,” he ground out.
“Wait, we need Sky alive, he’s the key to…” Gideon interrupted Troy, he was done listening. “Everyone in position, signal when you are ready.”
Gideon stayed in a low crouch as he approached the tree line adjacent to the pier. Gideon waited till his eyes adjusted to the darkness and the outline of a yacht with low lights came into view. A tall, dark figure came to stand along the railing. Gideon could make out a
man’s facial features when a second appeared at the stern of the yacht. With stealth like precision, Gideon unsheathed the hunting knife from his leg strap.
He could take out the first man, but without knowing if his brothers were in position, the second man was free to alert others to their presence.
Gideon hit the ground as the swish of an arrow’s release hit his ear. He felt the swoosh of air for a split second as it flew over his shoulder, then lodged in the chest of the man farthest from his location. Without a second thought, he gripped the handle of his blade and hurled it for the last known position of his target. The weight of the bodies, hitting the water sounded loud in the night, but Phoenix’s nuthatch bird call rang out loud and true. His brothers would secure the crew and search for Janna. He would find Lina. He would bring his woman home this time.
Pain shot through Lina’s forearm as Sky incrementally constricted his grip until she winced in pain. Those blue eyes flashed with lightning before a smile split his lips. He was pleased with her reaction. Lina fisted her hands around the rope and forced a blank expression.
“Take the Princess to my cabin.” Lina saw Moon’s jaw tightened, but he moved in her direction. The look in Moon’s eye’s as he surveyed her body had goosebumps breaking out on her skin. Her heart raced at the thought of lying in wait for Sky’s arrival. He wasn’t the type of man you wanted to find yourself alone with in an elevator.
“Come with me.” Moon reached for her arm, but she jerked away from him.
“I can walk.”
Sky grabbed her face, digging his fingers into the flesh under her chin. It was difficult to breath and the pain intensified, as he pressed deeper into the soft tissue at her neck.
“You should know, I like my women pliable during playtime. I can drug you now, then Moon can carry you to my bed. The second option, you tell me where to locate Troy and I let you say goodbye to your little girlfriend, and then I drug you. It’s your choice.” Estrella’s warning rang in her ears. No “too stupid, to live” moments allowed. She had to think smarter to survive. She couldn’t risk Janna.