Thousands

by Pepper Winters

  I hadn’t locked the door.

  I really should have.

  My voice did two things at once: it tried to hide and become mute. It tried to scream and become noise.

  I settled on a combination. A stuttering caterwaul full of sleep and horror. “Put m-me down!” I screeched and kicked, doing my best to attack my assailant. “No! Stop! Let me go!”

  “Pim...it’s me.”

  I blinked back terror, latching onto the voice that’d been whispering sweet nothings in my dreams. “Elder?”

  What the hell is he doing?

  “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Could’ve fooled me.

  I bounced painfully over his shoulder as he rushed from my room, down the corridor, and flew down the stairs instead of waiting for the lift. The Phantom was a blur of carpet and sconces, making me sick. “Where are you taking me?”

  What the hell had gotten into him? Why was he flying around the Phantom at God knew what time in the morning?

  “Almost there. The majority of staff are in position.” Selix appeared from a floor above, chasing us down another flight. “Machine gun ready at your command.”

  “What?” I squeaked as Elder shoved his free shoulder through the door blocking a level I’d explored but found boring and discounted, jogging with me slung over him like a sack of sugar.

  He ignored Selix entirely.

  At the end of the corridor, he slammed to a stop, swung me from horizontal to vertical, and dropped me to my feet. I stumbled in place as my brain sloshed with dizziness.

  I swallowed a thick mouthful of nausea.

  With a clenched jaw, Elder yanked open the façade of a simple cupboard, revealing a thick bombproof door behind it.

  My eyes popped wide as he pummelled the barrier with his fist. “Open up.”

  It opened instantly by a girl I recognised from the kitchen staff. Her blonde hair fuzzy like a halo around her head from rubbing on a pillow in sleep. “Roster has been counted. All accounted for minus the staff manning the bridge.”

  Elder swiped a hand over the sweat glistening on his forehead. “Keep them here until the all-clear is given.” Shoving me forward, he didn’t touch me, kiss me, or whisper anything kind to me. I was nothing more to him than someone to protect while his mind was in a battle elsewhere. “Keep her with you. Don’t let her out. Do you hear me?”

  I bristled. I didn’t appreciate being talked about as if I wasn’t there or had any brain cells to understand simple commands. The head cleaner—an elderly woman with curlers in her hair—took my bicep, tugging me unwillingly into the room. “We’ll take good care of her, sir.”

  Elder grunted in acknowledgement, already focusing on another task.

  Instead of seeing me as an ally and someone who could help fight with him, he saw me as a liability to remove so he didn’t have to worry.

  How dare he?

  I knew I’d been weak when we first met. I knew I still had fading bruises from Harold, and I knew I still had other issues to overcome, but how dare he not trust me enough to lean on me?

  After everything.

  Whatever was happening, I wanted to be with him—not stuffed in some closet and forgotten about.

  I grabbed his hand. “El, let me come with you. I need—”

  His fingers wrapped around my wrist, tugging my grip away. “I need you to stay here, Pimlico. Got it?”

  I eyed the door. Or rather the fortress entrance—it wasn’t lacquered wood like the rest of the Phantom’s entrances. This was utterly bullet-proof with thick hinges, dead bolts, and metal encasing front and back.

  Shoving me once again into the hold of the cleaner, he barked, “Keep her here. Understand?”

  The woman nodded. “Understood.” Grabbing my elbow again, she pulled me away from Elder.

  I yanked my arm against her tugging, locking my knees. “Elder, wait. What’s going on?”

  The air of apprehension and concern infected me. Every staff member on the Phantom stood worried behind me.

  That could only mean one thing.

  Oh, my God, they’re here.

  Elder’s black eyes met mine, glowing with remorse, brutal with violence. “Nothing. And for the love of Christ, Pimlico, stay here and do as I say.” With a sharp shake of his head as if fighting the same need I had to touch him and find some sanity in this crazy wake-up scare, he stormed off down the corridor, leaving me entrapped with staff members.

  The moment he vanished into the stair-well, the girl with blonde hair shut the door, and I whirled on the woman holding me. “Let me go.”

  She unwound her fingers, backing into the room. “Just keeping you safe.”

  “Well, don’t. My safety is not your concern.” My eyes followed her. My temper fizzled out as I took in the space. Just like the door wasn’t just a door, this wasn’t just a room. The walls had no windows, there were couches around the perimeter but narrow and uninviting compared to the luxury of other Phantom furniture. A long table to the side with buckled down crates held hundreds of water bottles and packet food ready for a famine, but it was the centre piece that caught my attention.

  In the middle of the large space, hidden behind multiple milling people, sat a boat. Not just any boat but one Fort Knoxed with guns and canopies, big enough to hold everyone in the room.

  What on earth?

  My gaze shot to the back wall where a small slope in the floor disappeared into nowhere. There weren’t windows, but the wall wasn’t just a wall. It was a door—a large exit ramp for the lifeboat.

  “What is this place?” I blinked at staff members—some wired and awake, others blurry-eyed and napping on the uncomfortable couches.

  A guy I’d seen tending to the helicopter said, “It’s the safe room.”

  “Safe from what?”

  “Pirates, of course.”

  My mouth hung open. “There’s no such thing.”

  “Not the typical ones in storybooks, no. But there are many rogue ships that board, rob, rape, and kill. It’s a maritime requirement to have a safe room with enough food and water for all souls on board. Normally, the protocol is to call for help and wait it out, or the pirates take what they want and leave. But Mr. Prest went one step further and ensured we had a way off the yacht in case something catastrophic happens.”

  My heart was what turned catastrophic. Bombs detonated inside me, sending shrapnel ripping through my blood.

  Why was Elder out there and not in here? Who would protect him and the men on the bridge?

  The longer I stood in safety with food and escape at my fingertips, the more I couldn’t stand it. Elder. The captain. They were out there...fighting for us.

  What the hell are we doing?

  Why were our lives worth more than theirs? Why should we be out of danger when they faced it head on?

  I-I can’t stay here.

  I needed to be with him. If the Chinmoku were paying a visit, I couldn’t let him face them on his own.

  I wouldn’t.

  I didn’t care it was stupid to put myself in danger. I didn’t care that Elder would be livid at me for getting in the way.

  I literally couldn’t stand here while he was out there facing who knew what.

  A loud foghorn shattered the tense murmurings in the room, dragging our eyes to the ceiling. A loudhailer sounded, but the words were warbled and hard to hear.

  “Oh, God. We’re being boarded,” the head cleaner said, pacing by the lifeboat.

  Staff members forgot about me as another horn sounded—this time vibrating and echoing through the Phantom. The captain had replied with his own thundering call.

  Was it a call to war or surrender?

  Elder will never surrender.

  I still didn’t know all his secrets, but if it was the Chinmoku, then he would kill or be killed. There were only two scenarios available, and I refused to stand here and let him face such terrible choices alone.

  Pretending to keep my eyes on the ceiling like everyone el
se—waiting for another boom of gunfire or horn of retaliation, I inched toward the door. No one paid attention as I fumbled with the locking mechanism and unhooked multiple deadbolts.

  Safety did that to people. The knowledge they were untouchable in their special bunker allowed them to focus on the way life had split. Them versus us. The soon-to-be extinct and the ones who would survive.

  My hands worked faster at the thought of Elder being hurt.

  Please let him be okay...

  Another loudhailer bellowed, chopped and incomprehensible. Whatever they were telling Elder and his crew to do, I didn’t think he’d obey. My skin prickled for the first round of gunshots, already picturing carnage and hoping to God my over-active imagination never came true.

  With shaking fingers, I finally managed to unlock the door. The damn thing weighed a ton. I struggled to pull it wide enough to slip through. Pushing my leg through first, I angled my hips and slinked past the gap.

  At the last second, a young maid spotted me. She opened her mouth to say something, but I shook my head, pressing my fingers to my lips.

  This was my decision. Not hers.

  If I wanted to risk my life, it was my choice. I’d had far too many choices taken away to let her take that away from me, too.

  She scowled but nodded, watching me wriggle my way through the gap.

  The staff had to stay here. Their loyalty to their employer worked with service in exchange for money—nothing more, nothing less. My loyalty to Elder was something completely different. I offered my love hopefully in exchange for his. He would never make me face something horrific on my own. Therefore, I wouldn’t let him.

  I’ll never forgive myself if I’m not there when—

  I cut off those thoughts.

  Slipping the final way to freedom, I swallowed my huff of frustration at being so slow and leaned on the massive blockade to slide it back into position.

  I knew it was secure when the sound of deadbolts clicking into place echoed in the corridor.

  I had no regrets. No second-guesses.

  Hoisting up my pale pink nightgown, I took one last look at the safe room then flew down the corridor.

  Hair flying.

  Heart winging.

  I soared up the stairs—up, up, up toward Elder and the Chinmoku.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  ______________________________

  Elder

  ALL I WANTED to do was tell these bastards to get the fuck off my yacht.

  But I wouldn’t because that would earn me a one-way ticket to jail.

  I stood facing the man in charge—boss to boss—eyeing up his uniform, hating his arrogant airs, and scowling at the patches on his arms. Patches celebrating his rank as if I gave a flying fuck.

  Jolfer stood on my right with fists clenched, and Selix stood on my left—his face mimicking my unreadable mask.

  My night had turned from bad to worse, and now I waited to see what other new hell they’d bring.

  Goddammit, couldn’t they have waved us on? Did they have to board after giving me a goddamn heart attack thinking it was the Chinmoku about to terrorize my entire crew?

  Swallowing my temper, I growled. “Look, you know us. You don’t need—”

  “Wait!” Something pink and fast and suicidal bowled through the bridge’s door and careened straight toward me.

  “Oof.” I stumbled as Pim barrelled into my side, knocking me off balance.

  She shied away with an apologetic look then pinned her gaze on the uniformed interlopers. “I don’t care who you are, but if you hurt anyone on this boat, I’ll ensure you all pay.”

  What.

  The.

  Ever.

  Loving.

  Fuck?

  Her pure, perfect voice ripped my balls off. Her strength and ferocity bulldozed through my knees and spine.

  I couldn’t bloody move.

  What the hell was she doing? What the hell was she thinking?

  She could’ve gotten herself killed with a stunt like that. I was in charge of her protection, not the other way around.

  Christ, this woman!

  My heart froze even as it gushed with bone-deep affection for the calamity she almost caused. All because she would rather die to keep me alive than permit me to do the same.

  I didn’t have the luxury of figuring out how twisted up that made me feel.

  How awed I was. How annoyed I was. How amazed and pissed and happy and furious I was.

  Lucky for us, tonight wasn’t what I thought it was. I’d locked everyone in the safe room for nothing. In fact, they’d all have to slink from hiding and meet these ship visitors. Questions would be asked and answers would be given just as ocean law commanded.

  I blamed my overreaction on my paranoia, insomnia, and chaotic mess of a brain.

  I’d studied the horizon with too much suspicion, seeing Chinmoku instead of other travellers and happy-go-lucky seafarers. I’d painted the maritime police as the bad guys.

  Grabbing Pim’s upper arm, I jerked her to me. “Keep your mouth closed.”

  Even though the safe room drill was a false alarm, I would’ve still hidden Pim because technically, she wasn’t cleared to be on the Phantom. No one would be murdered tonight but someone—mainly me—would be in for a world of interrogation and rule book berating.

  As if I don’t have enough on my mind.

  “A guest of yours, Mr. Prest?” The man in charge looked Pim up and down, his beady eyes not permitted on her. My fists curled as his look of suspicion slipped to appreciation. The pink nightgown didn’t exactly hide much of her slim, tempting figure, especially with the bright lights in the bridge highlighting her curves.

  My hands curled, but I kept my face professional. “She’s not important.”

  Pim sucked in a breath. I tightened my fingers around her arm.

  I’d never said a more heinous thing. She was important. Far too fucking important. And that was why she’d utterly ruined me by disobeying a direct order and coming to fight my battles.

  My heart literally shot itself at the thought of what would’ve happened had it been the Chinmoku and not the coastguard.

  She needed disciplining. She needed to be taught the repercussions of not listening to me.

  “Everyone, regardless of importance, must be logged and cleared for travel. You know that,” the M.O.—maritime officer—in command muttered. “Don’t tell me you need a refresher on sea etiquette, Mr. Prest?”

  A growl percolated in my belly.

  I prepared to lie, but if I bullshitted she was staff, they’d know instantly. I couldn’t fib thanks to the meticulous records and employee passports we had to lodge.

  My teeth wanted to stay locked together, but I clipped, “She’s a guest.”

  “Ah, so you just lied when you said there was no one new on board?”

  I stuck my chin in the air, daring him to come closer to that line. The line where I’d snap and throw everyone off my boat—consequences be damned. “Momentary lapse of judgment.”

  Pim glanced between me and the coastguard captain. Her beautiful face contorted with confusion, doing her best to catch up and understand.

  It was a simple enough mistake. I thought we were under attack and called for a routine shutdown and call to arms. I hadn’t seen the coastguard logo, and Jolfer failed to tell me they’d radioed ahead for the request to board and perform a common inspection.

  I’d been on edge ever since finding out someone else had accessed Pim’s file. No boat could sail close without me instantly going on the defence and believing it was fucking war.

  “Ma’am?” The chief inspector pulled out a notebook. “Can you tell me your name?”

  Pim narrowed her eyes; her throat working as she swallowed. She didn’t answer, and once again, I was reminded how silence was her friend when she was uncertain or afraid.

  If I was to get out of this without an arrest or a serious fine, she had to do what they asked—including giving up her
true name. Nodding gently, I encouraged, “It’s okay. Answer him.”

  She frowned as she looked from me to him, trying to see a trap. Finally, she straightened her spine and said with ringing steel, “My name is Tasmin Blythe.”

  “And how long have you been a guest on the Phantom?”

  Ah, Christ, I’d get a fine tonight no matter what she said. Another rule I’d broken: I’d refused to lodge any of her details. No mention of embarkation or places visited. I hadn’t logged a single thing or notarized what country she was from for ports and immigration.

  Why did I do that?

  Was it because Pim technically didn’t exist? That if anyone knew I had her, they could link me back to sex trafficking and the QMB? Maybe it was because even when I first rescued her, I knew I wanted her far more than I should, and a woman like Pim would be missed. She would be searched for.

  I’d deliberately kept her presence a secret for my benefit.

  “Umm,” Pim hedged, her bare toes turning white as she dug them into the hardwood floor. “Not sure....” Turning to me, she searched my face for guidance.

  She was too obvious.

  The officer rolled his eyes, telling me what I already knew—that I was an idiot for not following protocol. This could’ve been a simple board, cross check, walk around, and departure.

  Now, with Pim’s arrival and the extra weapons on board, it would mean a full-on snoop fest.

  “Answer me, girl,” the officer pushed.

  I nodded for her to continue, not giving any hints on how she needed to reply. This was on her. I’d tried to prevent her from being in this mess, yet she’d ignored me.

  You’re on your own, Pimlico.

  And then, when we’re alone...you and I are going to have a serious chat.

  Tearing her gaze from mine, Pim cleared her throat. “I’m not sure exactly. A few weeks. A few months? Time seems to pass differently on the ocean.”

  “And do you have a passport? Visas?”

  She stiffened. “I wasn’t aware I needed them.”

  “Anyone sailing on international waters must be prepared for immigration.”

  “Oh.” She looked at her feet then back to the man in question with rebellion in her gaze. “I might not have a passport, but I do have a police file with my fingerprints and who I am. Is that enough?”