by Leah Wilde
We stood where we were, frozen with anticipation. We knew any wrong move could end it all right then and there. Instead, we waited to see what Dimitri was going to do.
The sun was coming up. Daylight was beginning to brighten the scene before us.
“We probably need to wrap this up, Gage,” Ricky urged. “Didn’t the mayor say he had men coming to clean the boat out of the weapons and drugs below deck?”
“He did.” My body ached as my desire to shoot Dimitri now clashed with my sense of self-preservation. I didn’t want to miss and risk making things worse for Julia. I didn’t want to hit him and have to explain to the mayor why I had chosen to take him out the way I did.
“Well, we need to get out of here before we lose the cover of night.”
“You’re right.”
Julia looked up and repeated what Dimitri said to her. “He says your time is up, Gage, and he’s going to make you choose now.”
What happened next was the stuff of nightmares. Dimitri kicked Julia’s chair, which had weights tied to the bottoms of the legs. He shoved it overboard with his foot, sending her crashing into the water below with no way of getting out.
Time stopped.
I looked at Dimitri. I looked at the falling chair as it collided with the water. I took aim, focusing on the bear’s shoulder. I lowered my aim to his leg. I wanted to ground him, not just aggravate him.
He laughed and started to say something in Russian, and I squeezed the trigger, letting off a round right into his thick, muscular leg. When the bullet hit, it jerked him to the side, and he lost his balance, crashing down on top of the yacht. I was surprised the whole boat didn’t quake when his body collided with it.
“Guys, shoot them in the legs or wherever you need to. We don’t need them being able to get around. I’m going after Julia.”
The clock resumed.
I ran for the side of the boat and dove in right where her chair had splashed down into the water. She was sinking fast with those weights on her chair. I pushed myself down to catch up with her, taking out my knife as I swam. I hurried to cut the ropes around her back, her arms, and her ankles, all while both of us were being pulled down by her heavy chair.
Once I had her free, I draped her body over my shoulder and swam up. I could already tell she was in trouble. She was unconscious over my shoulder. There was no telling how much water she’d taken in after sinking below the surface. When she hit, the force must have knocked her out in the chair.
We broke the surface, and I adjusted her to keep her head above the water behind me. I swam back to the boat with her over me. I had to work doubly fast. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the mayor’s men showed up to claim what was theirs on the boat. We had to get what was ours off.
Ricky threw a rope ladder over the side, and I grabbed ahold of it, pulling myself and Julia’s body up from the water. The whole time, my mind was racing. What was I going to do if I lost her? What was I going to do if I didn’t lose her?
This couldn’t be the end for us. It just couldn’t. There was no fucking way I was going to let those bastards take her from me.
“Is everyone else down below deck?” I asked Ricky as we stretched Julia out on the ground.
“Yeah, they’re tying the guys up and locking them in a room they found,” he told me.
“Good. Look, I’ve got her. You make sure any bodies that are just lying around are dumped off in the water, okay?”
“Got it.”
After he got up and ran off, I started CPR on Julia.
“And you aren’t going anywhere, Julia,” I told her as I pumped her chest and pushed air into her lungs.
“You’re staying right here with me, whether you like it or not,” I kept talking to her as I kept working on her.
I lost count of how many times I performed the same routine—pumping her chest and trying to breathe for her—but I wasn’t going to stop until she responded, dammit!
“Don’t do this to me,” I told her. “You don’t get to check out just because I lied to you and tried to protect you from all of this. Damn it, Julia. You weren’t supposed to get this damn involved. You were just supposed to ask that asshole a few questions and report back to me his answers.”
Pump. Breathe.
“Now, wake up, damn you. Wake up.”
Pump. Breathe.
She coughed, and water came up from her lungs. I cupped behind her head and helped her sit up. She coughed up more water and wiped at her mouth as she tried to breathe through it.
“It’s okay. Take your time,” I soothed her. “Take your time.”
She coughed a couple more times and took a good, deep breath. She grabbed my dive suit and pulled me close, kissing me.
Our lips met and mouths parted to let our tongues dance and tangle between us. She continued pulling me to her while she kissed me deeper and harder.
She pushed me away. “Thank you for not giving up on me,” she said. “I love you, Gage Noll.”
I wrapped my arms around her and held her against me. “I love you, too, Julia Danvers. God, I love you.” We held each other like that for a few minutes, until we were interrupted by the voices of my guys.
“We’ve got Boris, Ivan, and Dimitri tied up downstairs. We still haven’t seen Jorell, Aleskei, or any of the other guys who came on board with us,” Ricky said behind me.
I turned around to face him. “I don’t know what to tell you about them, Ricky, but it’s time to go. We’ve got to figure out how to get Julia back to our boats.”
“No, I don’t think we do,” Juarez said, stepping forward and pointing at a small boat approaching.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Ricky said.
“Just play it smooth,” I told him.
“Gage Noll?” the man on the front of the boat called as he stepped onto Ivan’s yacht. He wore a nice black suit with a red tie. He wasn’t law enforcement, like I figured we’d been expecting. He apparently represented a different interest on the part of the mayor.
Cautiously, I stepped forward. “Yes, sir,” I addressed him, still uncertain of exactly who he was or what entity he represented.
He flashed a friendly smile and gripped my hand for a firm shake. “The mayor said you would probably need a lift back to shore and told us we’d probably find you here.”
I glanced at the rest of my guys, tired and dumbfounded from the night we’d just had on the boat.
“We’d appreciate it, yes. Is there anything you need us to do before we board your boat?” I asked.
“No, it’s fine. We’ll handle everything we need to do here.” I could see several men in suits with blue gloves on their hands hustling back and forth with sealed packages from the yacht. “Let me show you to your quarters.”
I grabbed Julia and carried her in my arms across to the stranger’s boat. I could hear Jorell and Angelo telling me to be cautious in the back of my mind, but I ignored their advice and accepted the stranger’s help without question. The mayor had been good to us so far, and if this man said he was sent by the mayor, then he was alright with me already.
He showed us to a small room with a couple of bunk beds and couches. I set Julia down on one of the beds. The guys took to one of the couches, and I knelt down beside Julia, keeping her company and comforting her while we waited to figure out what our next move was going to be.
After a few minutes, our stranger came back. “Gage, we’re about to take you back to shore. Do you have a way to get back to Kings HQ or do you need us to escort you? I’ll be more than happy to provide you with a way back so that you can focus on taking care of your people.”
I looked at the guys. This stranger’s generosity almost seemed too good to be true, but I accepted. We needed all the friends we could get right now.
Chapter 33
The man in the suit gave us a ride back to HQ in his black SUV with its blacked out windows. He never told us who he was or who his people were. They definitely weren’t law enforcement. Their m
annerisms were too relaxed. They seemed to be government types, or else they belonged to a gang we didn’t have a rivalry with. Either way, they dropped us at HQ and offered to get our bikes replaced.
One of the men went out and took down the year make and model of each motorcycle we had. He got contact information for each member of the MC so that he could work with them to organize the replacements. We took the men at their word, and it was only a few days before they started coming through on their promises. All the bikes were replaced, and the replacements were delivered directly to our members.
I shut HQ down in the meantime. It didn’t feel safe to have anyone hanging around while there were still some rogue agents out there. Aleskei, Jorell, and the princes who had come out to the boat with us were still missing. I didn’t want to put anyone else in harm’s way, especially while I was at home with Julia.
I watched her condition worsen before it improved. I had doctors and nurses visit her at my place.
“It looks like her body went into shock when she hit the water,” my doctor told me after examining her. “She’s dehydrated, malnourished, and it looks like she might have been suffering from sleep deprivation at the time she went into the water.”
I liked Dr. Fiso because he was old school. He believed in house calls. He billed reasonably and allowed me to pay him in cash, instead of demanding that I provide insurance information. And he didn’t ask questions. Of course, I was sure my cash payments helped ease his professional curiosity a good bit.
“Just give her some time. I’ll send a nurse around to help you keep an eye on her. She needs lots of rest and plenty of fluids. She’s probably going to sleep for the better part of the next couple of days, but once she comes around fully, she’ll probably be pretty hungry, I imagine,” he told me.
“Yes, sir. I don’t need a nurse here full-time, just maybe a couple times a day to check and make sure she’s doing alright,” I suggested to him.
In true Fiso fashion, he accepted my suggestion without question and told me he’d send someone around in the morning and evening, twice a day, unless I called to request additional visits.
“I understand you value your privacy,” he said. “So, I won’t intrude, but let me know if she gets worse. I don’t expect her to, but just in case.”
He left me there with my sleeping beauty. And she slept, alright.
I kept her propped up with pillows and helped her sit up when she woke up for a few minutes here and there to get something to drink or use the bathroom, though I couldn’t imagine how her body was able to work up enough waste of any kind to expel.
I sat next to the bed and watched TV. I watched the news while I waited for her to come around. News of the drug bust on Lake Michigan aired that same night with images of the FBI agents raiding the yacht and carrying Ivan, Dimitri, and Boris into custody. The men looked away from the cameras.
“Those cocky bastards,” I said to the TV. They never expected to be caught. They had never considered for an instant that they could possibly have been taken down by anyone, let alone a bunch of bikers.
There was no mention of the men who helped us leave, no mention of us, no mention of anyone else who was supposed to be involved. They simply mentioned the size of the bust and the apparent purpose of the drugs and weapons—to be distributed on the streets of Chicago.
My phone buzzed while I watched the news.
“Good job, Gage.” The mayor was talking before I even put the phone up to my ear.
“Yes, sir. Thank you,” I said.
“Also, I trust my men helped you get home safe,” he added.
“Yes, sir, they did.” I couldn’t express my gratitude any other way besides just being polite at the moment.
“I’m sorry that your friend suffered at their hands. If she needs anything, you let me know, got it?”
“Yes, sir. And, Mr. Mayor?”
“Yes, Gage?”
“Thank you. Really. Thank you for all of your help,” I gushed.
“It’s the least I could do for how much you helped me with Ivan. For the next few days, you and yours should take care of yourselves and regroup. Once you get back on your feet, give me a call, and I’ll make sure you get connected with the other clients who were working with Ivan,” he explained.
“Thank you again,” I said.
“Don’t mention it. Oh, also a very good call shutting down HQ for a few days. I don’t control everyone around here, so it’s a good idea to lay low and make sure there’s no fallout from the bust,” he said, not specifying where the threat was coming from.
“Yes, sir, I figured my guys earned some time off. Plus, your men did some work to help clean up from where we were attacked by Ivan’s men the other day. They’ve really stepped up for us, Mr. Mayor, and I don’t know how to thank you.”
“First off, you can stop saying thank you every few words. It’s pathetic. Once is enough. I understand you guys were struggling for a while, but now you’re in good hands. As long as you continue to take care of me, you won’t have to worry about anything else for a very long time,” he assured me. “At least as long as I remain in office,” he added with a laugh.
I thanked him again and let the call disconnect.
The next few days were long. I watched my sleeping love on the bed and waited. I stayed close to her side, only leaving when the nurse was present and I could leave Julia in her care long enough to grab something to eat or take a shower.
It was a nightmare, but I had hope. It looked like it could turn into the Lisa situation all over again, but the fact that she was resting peacefully in my bed meant that it was just as likely that she would pull through and be okay. I sat through the monotony and waited for her to wake up.
“Please wake up, Julia.” By the third day, I was talking to her. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I know that if I had been completely open and honest with you from the start, things wouldn’t have happened the way they did. If you wake up and come back to me, I will be open and honest with you from now on. There will be no more secrets or lies. That’s not how I want to build a relationship with you. That is not how we will build a successful future together.”
I held her sleeping hand while I talked, hoping that she heard what I was saying to her. I’d read somewhere once that sleeping people could actually comprehend what was being said in the room around them. The concept came up again and again when talking about subliminal messages and ways to influence people without them being able to notice what was being done. I hoped that I remembered what I had read correctly, and that it was working on Julia while I sat at her bedside.
I laughed at one point while talking to her sleeping figure. “I’m going soft thanks to you,” I told her. “You’ve got me getting all teary eyed over here. You’ve got me so worried and stressed, Julia, hoping you’ll be okay. I’ve shut HQ down until you come back around. I’m not leaving your side,” I assured her.
“The guys have all stopped by,” I told her. “Ricky brought you flowers, and the knuckleheads, Chase and Juarez, the ones who beat Dimitri so badly, brought by some sweets for when you wake up. They also sent a sympathy card from both of them. Talk about a bromance,” I chuckled. “You’ll understand when you meet them again. They aren’t horrible guys, but they’re really good at doing the horrible things I need them to do.”
I must have imagined it, but I thought she smiled while I told her about the guys coming by. She probably would have if she had been awake, but I couldn’t say if she definitely smiled or not in her current state.
I sighed, sitting at her side.
The nurse came in for her evening visit. She was a blonde with blue eyes and gentle features. She looked like a college student, probably interning with Dr. Fiso. She wore plain clinical green scrubs. I must have looked like a mess when she came in. I couldn’t remember the last time I had shaved, and I may have bathed once since returning from the lake with Julia and the guys. She gave me a sad, concerned look when she came in the room.
“Thanks. You know, she smiled, I think,” I told her as I lifted my creaky joints out of the chair. “I think. I don’t know. Hell, I probably imagined.”
“She may have.” She touched my arm with a kind, gentle hand. “She may be on her way back around. Her vitals have been steadily improving, so she could wake up any minute. When that happens, she’s not going to want to see you sitting here looking tired. And trust me, I know it’s been hard emotionally, but watching after her like this has been the easy part. Wait until she starts asking for food and everything else she’s too weak to get on her own.” She winked.