by Jessie Cooke
“I like your fighting spirit,” Gunner said. “Now tell me, how many men with guns are on this tub?”
“Fuck you,” the man screamed. He was holding onto his right wrist with his left one and shaking all over. Blood poured from his hand and was pooling on the floor next to him.
“You don’t learn well, do you? Saying ‘fuck you’ is what got your dick-stroking hand shot. You want to go for a leg this time?”
The man looked like he might cry. “Three, okay? There are three, counting me.”
“Where are they?” The man closed his eyes and hugged his hand up to his chest. He rocked his body back and forth and moaned. Gunner gave him a few seconds and when he continued to ignore the question, he used his bare foot to kick the man’s injured hand. He screamed in agony.
“Fuck! You little prick! I am so going to fucking kill you!”
“Big words from a man on the floor, facing my gun while slowly bleeding to death.”
He was stubborn, Gunner had to give him that. It was obvious that he was still considering saying no. At last he said, “Where is who?”
“The men with the guns. Keep up, will you?”
“One is up top in the wheelhouse with the captain and the other one is patrolling both decks. I’ve been gone a while. He’ll be looking for me soon and he’s going to fuck you up when he finds me. I can’t wait to watch that.” So, counting the captain, there were three other men Gunner would have to deal with. Even if the captain was unarmed, he was still outgunned.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re getting off-subject again,” he said to the bleeding man on the floor. “Focus. How many kids and women are on this tub?”
He groaned again and said, “Ten or eleven.”
“Where are they? What deck?”
“The deck right above us. There’s a hatch on the starboard side. They’re down underneath that.”
“And the lady who was put by herself? Where is she?”
“I don’t…” This time Gunner used his foot to push the man's injured hand down to the floor, and he stepped on it. He could feel the warm, slippery blood squishing up between his toes. The man was screaming and crying like a five-year-old again. Gunner had to speak louder, but he used a slow deliberate tone when he said, “Where—is—she?” for the second time.
The man was gasping for breath as he said, “In that second room next to the storage room outside this door.”
“Give me the key.”
“I don’t have it.” Gunner pressed more of his weight down and the man screamed out, “I seriously don’t fucking have it! Vince, the guy on patrol, he’s the one that put her in there. He has the key. Fuck, that hurts!”
“Which one of you threatened to shoot her in the face?”
“What?”
Another shift of his weight brought another scream and then the man passed out. Gunner looked down at him in disgust and moved his foot. He wiped the blood off on the man’s clothes and then had an idea. He crouched down next to the unconscious man and fished the wallet out of his back pocket. He opened it up and took the driver’s license out and the cash, and then he tossed it aside and felt the rest of his pockets until he found a set of keys and the man’s phone. He pressed in his own number and on the second ring, Billy’s hesitant voice said:
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Adam?”
“Yeah, man, it’s me. Is Dax coming?”
“Yeah, they’re on their way. Dax said they’re less than an hour out. He sounded pissed that you were on the ferry, Gunner. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, and he’ll get over it.” At least Gunner hoped so. “I didn’t know if they were coming. I couldn’t wait.”
“Yeah, I get it, I’m just warning you. He said something about you being a stupid punk.”
Gunner laughed. “Well, I can’t really argue with that.”
“Me neither,” Billy said then chuckled. “Man, it’s freezing out here. I feel like fucking Leonardo DiCaprio in that Titanic movie.”
“Just the fact that you’ll admit you saw that movie says all kinds of things about you.”
“Fuck you,” Billy said, followed by another chuckle. “I can’t see the ferry anymore. I’m a little worried that by the time they get here, we won’t be able to catch up.”
“I thought of that. I’m in the engine room, but I’m not sure how to stop this thing.”
“Are the engines covered?”
Gunner looked around at the big equipment that filled the room. He wasn’t sure what most of it was, but there was one in the dead center of the room that looked like an engine. “No.”
“Shove something in one of the moving parts.”
“Like what?”
“Anything. Just wedge something in there so the parts can’t move. Stop the belts from moving if you can and the engine will burn itself up.”
Gunner looked around again. He saw a toolbox in the corner and went over and opened it. There was a large crescent wrench in the top drawer. He picked it up and went back over to the engine. He stood there indecisively, watching the engine run. There was one big belt that seemed to be wrapped around almost every pulley. He went back and dug through the toolbox until he found a small clamp. Taking that back over, he adjusted it so that it was open just wide enough for the belt to slip through. Holding it with one hand while the belt slipped through it, he began tightening it with the other. As soon as both sides of the clamp met on the belt, it was snatched out of his hand and pulled about a foot before it hit resistance. The engine made a loud groaning sound and as the belt sat there stuck, it began to smoke. Gunner smiled. “That worked. It’s smoking!”
“Okay, be safe, you stupid punk. Don’t get yourself dead.”
“I’ll do my best. See you in a bit.” Gunner ended the call and stuffed the phone in the elastic of his shorts, before picking up the rest of the things he’d taken from the unconscious man. He grabbed the automatic rifle on his way out of the room and went to find Tamara.
24
Tamara woke up like she was hooked to the mains. She shot up off the floor with her eyes wide open, trying to take in everything around her all at once. It was dark, she was wet and cold, and she couldn’t remember where she was. There was a banging noise that was causing her head to pound along with a loud whining noise coming through the wall. She tried to stand up but realized too late how sore her body was, and she fell back down to the floor. The banging started again, and that’s when her memory kicked in and she was inundated with all the horrible things that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.
“Tamara, are you in there?” Gunner’s voice floated in through the door on top of all the noise and for the first time since she’d been taken from her home, she felt a tickle of real hope.
“Gunner?”
“Yes!” He sounded ecstatic to hear her voice. If she weren’t still fighting the effects of the drugs and the knocks to her head, she would have been ecstatic to hear his as well. “Tamara, I’m going to shoot this lock off. Are you away from the door?” She looked around again. The sliver of moonlight, or early sunlight…she wasn’t sure which…that was coming in through the small round window gave her enough light to find the corner furthest from the door and crawl over to it.
“Okay,” she said. When he didn’t respond, she yelled in a hoarse voice she barely recognized, “Okay!”
“Alright. Turn your face away.” She turned her face into the corner just as she heard the shot. It was like a “pop” that was barely louder than the noise still vibrating through the wall. Suddenly Gunner was at her side. He dropped down to the floor next to her and as he put his strong arm around her she burrowed into his side. She didn’t know if she wanted to laugh at the fact that he was in his underwear and barefoot, or cry at the relief she felt that he was there. He rocked her back and forth gently, and his tenderness brought a fresh round of tears rushing down her cheeks as she clung to him and whimpered. She felt him brush his lips across her h
air and say, “Shh…it’s okay. I’m here. You’re okay. I’m going to get you out of here.” She clutched onto him tighter, suddenly afraid if she let go he would disappear. “We have to get out of here, Tamara. They’re going to come down and check that engine soon and they can’t find us here, okay?” She didn’t want to move. She wanted to stay right there in his arms forever, but she heard the urgency in his voice and she had seen first-hand how ruthless these men were. She nodded. “Can you stand?” he asked her. She nodded again. “Okay, I’m going to stand up first and I’ll help you to your feet.” Tamara continued to clutch onto him as he tried to get up. He felt her grip tighten, and he stopped long enough to give her another hug and another light kiss on the head. Then, wrapping her up so tightly that she could barely breathe, he brought them both to their feet. Her legs ached, and they were shaking so hard that when he tried to let go of her she almost fell again. She felt his grip tighten on her waist and then he bent down and picked up something off the floor. It was a gun, an automatic rifle like the ones the kidnappers had.
“Gunner?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have another gun?”
“I have my handgun.”
“Let me have it, please.” Gunner hesitated and she said, “You don’t honestly think my father didn’t teach me how to shoot, do you? I need to feel like I can protect myself if they come at me again.” Her voice cracked and she cursed herself silently for crying again. She didn’t think she had shed this many tears in her entire twenty-four years of life. Gunner let go of her slowly and made sure she wasn’t going to fall over, before reaching under his t-shirt and into the back of his underwear and pulling out the handgun. He handed it to her and for a second she caressed it in her hands. She didn’t normally like guns, but the heavy, cold, steel weapon gave her a sense of security at that moment like nothing ever had before…or maybe it was the combination of Gunner and the gun. She’d felt so helpless when those men were abusing her and Chloe, and that pissed her off more than anything. She wasn’t going to be helpless the next time they met face to face. They weren’t going to face her father’s wrath like she’d been promising them…they were going to face hers instead. “You ready?” Gunner asked her.
She nodded and then smiled and said, “You look kind of sexy in your boxer.”
He grinned. “I hope all this manliness won’t make it too hard for you to concentrate on getting out of here.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’ll be hard, but I’ll do my best.” He put his arm back around her and led her to the door. He stopped and looked both ways before steering her out into the hallway. Gunner was walking so fast that Tamara almost felt like he was dragging her along. His legs were much longer than hers and covered a lot of ground in a single stride.
When they got to the end of the hallway, he half steered and half pushed her into a room that said “Galley” on the door. It was a good-sized kitchen. Gunner led her over to a table with bench seats and sat her down before going over to the sink and getting her a drink of water. She gulped the water down, not even realizing how thirsty she had been. “Why are you here by yourself?” she asked him.
“I came out here on a hunch. Billy’s with me, waiting in the boat. Dax and his guys are on their way. I’m not sure where your father and brother are, but I know they’re out looking for you.” When she didn’t say anything, he sat down next to her on the bench. Once again, he put his arm around her and pulled her into him. Even though his clothes were wet, his body radiated a warmth that she wanted to curl up and disappear into. “I’m sorry this happened to you. I never should have left you alone,” he said.
“It’s not your fault, Gunner. They were coming for me whether you were there or not. Eddie wants to hurt or punish my father and I provided him a means to do that.”
“If I find him before your dad and brother do, I’m going to kill him,” Gunner said, flatly.
Tamara’s voice was filled with hate as she said, “You better find him before I do.”
Gunner hugged her to him and then got up and went over and opened the pantry doors. It was a walk-in pantry with shelves filled with food and supplies on both sides. “I want you to wait in here while I go…”
“No.” Gunner turned to look at Tamara. She’d gotten up on her feet and she was glaring at him. “I didn’t go through all of this so you could leave me behind and be the hero.”
“Believe me, I don’t think of myself as a hero. You’ve been through too much already.”
“I’m not hiding while you go after these guys. I have a gun too and I know how to use it.”
“Tamara…” She got up and started walking toward the stairs. Her legs were visibly shaky and she had to reach out for the railing when she got close, but when she turned back to look at Gunner again he saw the steely determination in her eyes. Short of tying her down, he wasn’t going to be able to keep her hidden. With a heavy sigh, he said, “Okay, but I have the big gun so I get to go first.”
She rolled her eyes and said, “Why is it men are so obsessed with size?” Gunner chuckled, but he let that one go. It felt good if only for a second to joke with her and forget that they still might not make it through this day. He stepped in between her and the stairs and said, “You ready?”
“Yep.”
“Stay close and stay behind me.”
“If I have a clear shot, get out of my way. I wouldn’t want to have to shoot through you.” He chuckled again, but he wasn’t completely sure that she was kidding. She was unlike any woman he’d ever met before, and that was exactly what made him want her so badly.
They had almost made their way along the stairway to the upper deck when there was a loud popping noise. It sounded like fireworks on the Fourth of July. They both hit the wall in the narrow stairwell as the ferry came to an abrupt stop. By the time Gunner got his bearings back, the stairwell was filling up with thick black smoke.
“Shit, the engine blew up.” Gunner’s eyes were beginning to burn and water, and each breath he took felt like it singed his lungs. Tamara started coughing and he said, “Come on, we have to get out of here. It’s on fire.” He held onto her tightly and half-dragged/half-carried her up the rest of the stairs. They could hear loud frantic voices as they reached the top. He hesitated at the edge of the stairwell as he felt Tamara squirm out of his grip. She brought the handgun up and gripped it with both hands and nodded at him. Gunner wasn’t sure he was ready for this, but their only other choice was going back downstairs. They could feel the heat and hear the fire popping like mini-gunshots as it raged through the engine room. He took a deep breath and stepped out onto the deck. As soon as he did, he heard the crack of a gun. They were waiting for them. Tamara screamed, and he grabbed her and pulled her behind a large, wooden crate. “Did it hit you?”
She looked at him like he was crazy. “No, Gunner, it hit you.”
He looked down at his side where her hand was. Sometimes in a fight when his adrenaline was pumping, he didn’t feel his cuts and bruises until much later. Apparently, gunshot wounds were the same. Tamara’s hand was covered in blood and his white t-shirt was slowly turning a dark crimson color. She pulled up the shirt, and when the cold air hit the wound, Gunner finally felt it. He sucked in a breath and Tamara winced. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I’m okay. We can’t just sit here and wait for them to come and get us. We have to move.” Gunner pushed himself back up into his crouching position, but as soon as they started to move his body registered the pain and his legs gave out. He went limp against Tamara, crushing her down against the deck with his weight. “Oh, shit!” He rolled off her. “Fuck. I’m sorry.” He was talking loudly and there was no way the gunmen didn’t know where they were. Tamara was surprised they hadn’t come for them yet.
“Shh! It’s okay. I’m okay. Stay down. I’m going to see where they are.”
“No…”
“Shush, Gunner. Stay down!” She left him there and he tried to move and go after her, but th
e pain in his side was crippling. His vision was blurry and his eyelids wanted to close, but he kept them focused on her as she made her way to the end of the pile of crates and started to stick her head out around them. Gunner felt, more than saw, the shadow that crossed above him. With a great deal of effort he looked up, lifted the gun, and took a shot at the man on top of the crates who had his gun trained on Tamara. The man fell backward off the crates, and the kick of the shot caused the gun to hammer into Gunner’s shoulder, sending a jolt of pain from there down to his wounded side. He wanted to curl up in a fetal position and cry like a baby, it hurt so fucking bad. He forced himself to stay focused, however, until his eyes finally landed on Tamara. She was staring at him like she was in shock. Her pretty brown eyes were wide and her face was as pale as a ghost. “Are you okay?” he croaked out.
She nodded. She had tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He tried to smile and think of something clever to say, but the blood pouring out of his side was making him weak and shaky, and he could tell that his consciousness was slipping away. “There’s one more,” he said, “maybe two if the captain is armed.”
Tamara nodded and once again she poked her head slowly around the crates. “He’s lowering the life raft. The rat is leaving the ship, or so he thinks,” she said. Gunner tried to stop her but he couldn’t move or speak. She stood up and stepped out from behind the crates. He heard her yell, “Hey!” And then he heard the sound of multiple gunshots. When they stopped, all he could hear was the hammering of his pulse in his head.
“Tamara?” His voice came out in a raspy whisper. He summoned all his strength and said, “Tamara!”
“I’m okay,” she said, coming back around the crates. “I think I got him.”
“You think?”
“He fell over the side. He’s in the water but I think I hit him. Oh, shit, Gunner, look!” He turned to look where she was pointing toward the stairwell. Orange and yellow flames were shooting up through it. “We have to get the kids out of that hold they’re in before the fire reaches them.”