Saviours

by Beth Abbott

  “Yeah, well, it seems his planning might have taken a bit of a turn from the last time you spoke to him.” Abram frowned. “He wants two more fights tomorrow… well, later today actually. But Sunday night is going to be completely different.”

  Micky stared at Abram as though she was trying to read his mind.

  “How so, different?” She demanded.

  “It looks like there will be just one fight on Sunday, a kind of winner-take-all fight, with the winner getting the arms deal.” Abram explained, but the look on his face said that there was a second part to Sergei’s plan that neither he nor she would like.

  “Then, after an appropriate rest period, he seems to be planning to have all the trafficked women brought into the ring, where they’ll be tied to the ropes. The fighters and Sergei’s guests will be given free access to do whatever they want to them. When they’re finished, the security guys can have what’s left of the women as a reward for their patience.” Abram looked so angry Micky thought the veins in his neck would pop.

  “What?” She whispered, unable to believe her ears.

  “Micky, he’s planning a mass orgy, with the trafficked women being right at the centre of the action.”

  Abram still couldn’t believe it even as he said the words.

  How could a man inflict that sort of pain and degradation on a bunch of innocent young girls?

  In Abram’s world, and the world of most of the men he associated with, women were valued, treasured even. They were the responsibility of every man to protect and care for, regardless of whether they were related to him or not.

  Last night he’d gone with Katya, the little red-headed hostess, if not under protest, then certainly with some reluctance.

  As the guys had put it, it was his duty to ‘take one for the team’, and he really hadn’t wanted to touch the woman. He figured she must be working as a hostess out of desperation for money.

  He couldn’t have been more wrong, and as Micky had suggested, he’d found Katya to be as far from someone forced to do her job as it was possible to be.

  She was actually quite sweet, and extremely playful, and Abram had found it difficult to keep scowling at her when she prowled around him like a cat, giggling like a teenager when she finally got a smile out of him.

  He’d tried to distract her by asking her questions, but Katya had gotten wise to his tactics, and after only a few answers, where he’d established that she was twenty-five and lived with her elderly aunt and uncle, whom she happily supported, Katya had only agreed to answer further questions if he kissed her as payment for each one.

  Abram had rolled his eyes and agreed, thinking he was only going to give her a few pecks on the lips for the information he wanted.

  Katya had other ideas.

  She was an amazing kisser, and each time she’d answered a question she’d devoured his lips like they were candy and she needed a sugar fix.

  Of course, he’d demonstrated only too well that he was ‘only a man’, when after five minutes his cock was hard as a steel rod, and he was ready to burst.

  His willpower had only lasted twenty minutes, and even then, only because he’d taken a five-minute bathroom break to cool himself down.

  When he’d returned to the bedroom, she’d been lying naked beneath the sheets, the shyest smile on her face.

  He hadn’t lasted a minute when she sat up, letting the sheet fall to her waist revealing the most luscious pair of high round breasts he’d ever seen.

  When he’d noticed that both nipples were pierced, he lost it completely.

  He’d grabbed her and hoisted her up over his shoulder, loving her giggles as he took them both into the shower.

  He’d been sweating in the ring tonight and hadn’t wanted to touch her while his skin was probably still salty.

  Abram guessed he should have felt guilty for giving in to his primal urges, but he’d done nothing to hurt Katya.

  In fact, he’d gone out of his way to make love to her, deliberately stopping her when she did anything, he guessed was part of her standard repertoire, and designed to make a customer happy.

  The shower had been fun and intimate all at once, and when he’d discovered she had another piercing in an even more private place, he’d dragged her from the shower and dried them both off as he carried her to the bed.

  Abram had wanted to make sure she enjoyed every second of what they did, and he especially wanted her to forget that she was supposed to be there to give him pleasure.

  The discovery of her pierced clit had left him so hard he could barely breathe, and the first thing he’d done was to go down on her and lick and suck the little gold stud until Katya screamed with pleasure.

  Two hours and numerous orgasms later, she’d finally fallen asleep, and after another shower, Abram had finally slipped from the cabin in search of food and drink to revive himself.

  “Abs?” Micky sounded frustrated. “I asked you how you’d managed with Katya.”

  Abram realised that he’d been so caught up in his memories of the night, that he’d stopped listening to Micky a while ago.

  He glanced up and saw that Micky was staring intently at him.

  “It was fine.” He could feel the colour rising up his neck and into his face. “No drama.”

  Micky broke into a grin.

  “I’ve never seen you blush before.” She chuckled. “Katya got to you, didn’t she?”

  “What do you mean, she got to me?” Abram bristled.

  “Abs, I’ve known Katya for a couple of years, and I know how easily people fall in love with her.” Micky smiled. “She’s a sweet girl, and she loves people. If you were kind to her, I’m sure she’ll have been in seventh heaven.”

  “What do you mean, ‘If you were kind to her’?” Abram frowned. “Did you think I’d hurt her?”

  Micky clucked her tongue.

  “I know you very well, Abs.” She smiled. “It’s not in you to hurt her.”

  Abram breathed a little easier.

  “But not everyone treats the hostesses so well.” Micky pointed out. “Katya’s had more than her share of unpleasant customers, men who’ve been rough with her. A few of them have gone too far and had to be dealt with by Sergei’s men.”

  Abram couldn’t stop his hands from clenching into fists.

  And they were back to the issue of how the women should be treated.

  “We’ve got to figure out a way of getting the trafficked women away from the ship before they’re due to be in the ring.” He said firmly. “But how are we going to do that?”

  Micky was obviously thinking along the same lines.

  “They’ve been locked up in the back room which stinks of shit and vomit.” She explained. “That’s deliberate, so that Sergei will go on thinking they’re sick. But it could also work to our advantage if I tell him that we have to move the women upstairs to the cabins earlier in the day, to get them showered and cleaned up.”

  “We could do that a couple of hours before the fight starts.” Abram nodded. “Then, once everyone was distracted by the fight, we could take them down the inner stairs and try and get them up on deck without being seen.”

  “Do you think we’d be able to put them in one of the lifeboats?” Micky wondered. “We could lower them over the side without anyone realising what was going on, and the Russian submarine could pick them up.”

  “I suppose it’s possible, although wouldn’t the ship’s Captain be warned if one of his lifeboats was being launched?” Abram frowned. “We wouldn’t want him raising the alarm and alerting Sergei to what was going on.”

  “Would your people back in London be able to find out how to disable the warning system?” Micky wondered. “The woman Kellen was talking about, Hannah, seems to be able to find out anything. Let’s give her a little test, shall we.”

  Abram grinned at her.

  “Jealous much?” He raised an eyebrow. “Kellen did explain that Hannah was happily married, didn’t he?”

  “O
f course, he did.” Micky replied, a little too sharply. “But if she’s as good as Kellen claims, a question about the lifeboat warning system shouldn’t be too difficult for her, should it?”

  “Ok, I’ll get someone to ask her in the morning.” Abram agreed. “Do you think we should offer any of the hostesses the chance to get away? When we rescue the trafficked women, I mean.”

  Micky frowned at him, and he guessed she knew he was talking about Katya.

  “Most of them are happy to work for Sergei because it’s good money and Sergei looks after them pretty well.” Micky shrugged. “They have kids they’re supporting, and the life suits them well enough.”

  “But not all of them.” Abram pointed out. “A few may not want to stay behind.”

  Micky bit her lip and Abram knew she was trying to find a way to let him down gently.

  “Leave it with me over the next day or so, Ok?” She suggested. “I’m going to be doing a lot of planning, and I’ll see if there’s a way of getting Katya out of sight on Sunday night without her being missed. But please don’t say anything to her beforehand. She might start stressing about it and let it slip to the other girls. She can be a bit ditzy that way.”

  “Ok, I won’t say anything.” Abram nodded. “But if it could happen, I’d like to give her the choice.”

  Micky stood up and stretched, before turning to go back up the stairs.

  “I need some more sleep.” She yawned. “And you’d better get back to cabin five before Goldilocks wakes up and realises you’re missing.”

  Abram stood up and followed Micky up the stairs, keeping his head down to hide the silly grin on his face.

  He waited for Micky to enter her room and close the door behind her before he stepped out of the stairwell.

  As he opened the door to cabin five, Abram couldn’t help but smile.

  How dedicated did it make him if he was prepared to take another one for the team?

  Chapter 47 – Zach

  Zach stood in the ring next to the referee, bouncing up and down on the spot as the nervous anxiety in his system spiked.

  He glanced around and spotted two of the cameras they’d planted around the room, and silently prayed that Sacha wasn’t watching.

  He’d begged and pleaded with her to stay away from the office where Hannah would have the screens set up, but in typical Sacha style, his stubborn wife had refused to promise him anything of the sort.

  Now he could only pray that Candy and Tuck would keep her from watching too closely.

  He glanced around the room and watched as his teammates settled themselves near his corner.

  There were fewer people around the ring than the previous night, following the premature departure of the Polish team, but even so, there were enough people standing around for it to have a good atmosphere.

  Thankfully, Drago and the other team sponsor had been called into the ring before the fight began to check the gloves of both fighters, so he was reasonably satisfied that there wasn’t going to be a macabre repeat of the previous night’s bloodbath.

  It had been something of a surprise to find out that Sergei had changed the rules of the game tonight, and that there would only be two fights.

  As one of the other teams had lost both of their fights the previous evening, they had been all but out of the competition, but Sergei had given them a final chance by offering their two untested fighters a chance to redeem the reputation of the team, by taking on one of the Guardians and one from the other remaining team.

  By the flip of a coin it had been decided that Zach would fight first for the Guardians, and if he won his match, Kris would fight in the ‘winner-take-all’ grand-final to be held on Sunday.

  Zach would have actually preferred it to be the other way around, not least because the guy he was fighting tonight was closer in size to Kris.

  It wasn’t that he doubted Kris’ skill in the ring. The guy was fast and agile, and packed a mean punch, way above his bodyweight.

  No, it was just that the guy Zach was fighting was likely to be more of a pushover, so it would have made more sense for Zach to have fought the tougher opponent. It was all about winning, not about egos or point scoring.

  As the referee called them forward, Zach touched gloves with his opponent and moved back to his corner.

  “You’ve got this.” Abram grinned at him. “Even Micky could take this guy down.”

  “He looks like he’s about to piss in his pants.” Zach scowled. “I feel like a schoolyard bully.”

  “Don’t let that fool you.” Drago warned him. “He didn’t make the team he’s on by being a little pussy. He’s gonna have skills.”

  As the bell sounded, Zach moved into the middle of the ring, and within seconds the fight started. The shorter guy didn’t waste any time getting right up in his face, and it took half a minute before Zach was able to get off a shot to make the little fucker back off.

  As it turned out, Drago was right in part, in that the guy did have some talent. He was constantly throwing a leg out to trip Zach up and get him to the canvas, but his years of training with Candy weren’t wasted as he constantly hopped and used both his strength and balance to counteract the swinging feet and legs.

  Time and time again Zach skipped over a foot only to immediately lunge out with a leg and catch the guy at the back of his knee, or sideways onto the guy’s ankle.

  By the third ankle attack Zack could see that he was really doing some damage, and while he felt guilty at actually hurting the guy, he kept his focus on the mission, and his eyes firmly on the prize of saving all those women. He just had to let the fight go on for long enough so that it didn’t leave their host pissed off that they’d disappointed his guests.

  Three rounds completed, as they started the fourth round his opponent was already puffing and panting, a small cut above his left eye dripping blood that was making it hard for him to see what he was doing.

  Zach waited for him to step forward on his right foot, and side-stepped him, hooking his leg behind the man’s knee and bringing him to the floor.

  He’d just about had enough of getting kicked and punched, and decided it was time to finish things.

  As the guy lost his balance, Zach grabbed his arm and twisted it back. With a quick movement, Zach had rolled him over and spun him one hundred and eighty degrees, locking the man’s head between his muscled thighs.

  He fervently hoped that Candy was watching, as this was her signature move, and one she had taught him well.

  Zach leaned backwards, lifting the guy off the floor, probably leaving him feeling even more incapacitated than he already was.

  As he stretched backwards, the man must have felt the pull on his neck and spine, and in a panic that he was about to be paralysed, he began smacking the canvas to stop the fight.

  Zach waited patiently for the referee to step in and call the fight in his favour before letting the man go.

  Only once the result was beyond any doubt did he slowly lower the guy to the floor.

  As he unlocked his legs and jumped to his feet, his opponent rolled over and began coughing as though he’d almost been choked, and Zach all but growled at him.

  No way had he held him so tight that he couldn’t breathe. Zach was too well trained and disciplined to make a mistake like that.

  He leaned down and stared the man in the eye.

  “Don’t act like a fucking pussy.” He growled. “You lost fair and square. Take it like a man.”

  If there was any doubt that the guy spoke English, it was clarified when the man instantly stopped coughing and jumped to his feet. The blush staining his cheeks was enough to confirm that he was embarrassed at being called out for his shitty acting.

  Drago jumped into the ring and clapped him on the back.

  “Great job, man.” He grinned. “Sacha will be mightily relieved that you finished it quickly.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Zach smiled. “I just have to get her on the phone as soon as possible to stop her
from freaking out that I’m hurt in any way.”

  “Well, just do me a little favour, will you?” Drago leaned in. “When Sergei asks you which of the hostesses you want, ask for Katya will you?”

  “I don’t want…” Zach started to protest.

  “I know you don’t want a hostess, but Abs seems to have a little crush on Katya, and if you don’t claim her, there’s a good chance the winner of the next fight will.” Drago shrugged. “Do the guy a good deed and give him another night with her, won’t you?”

  Zach scowled.

  “I will, but if Sacha doesn’t believe my reasons, you’re going to have to get every team member on the phone to explain it to her.” He warned.

  Zach waited in the ring for the official announcement of the winner, and then turned to climb out of the ring.

  “But our winner hasn’t picked his prize!” Sergei bellowed, stopping Zach in his tracks.

  Zach almost growled in frustration.

  He turned and looked around until he spotted Katya sitting with a few of the other hostesses.

  “Katya!” He pointed, not waiting for Sergei’s response.

  He climbed out of the ring, headed straight for the hostesses and walked straight up to Katya, leaning in to murmur into her ear.

  “I picked you for Abram.” He said quietly, hoping her English was good enough to know what he meant.

  Katya jumped up and hugged him, but when she pulled back, he could see she was staring straight over his shoulder.

  Zach turned and saw his Russian friend glaring at him.

  “Abs, can you give me a hand to get out of these gloves.” He said loudly. “I don’t want to keep the lady waiting.”

  He didn’t wait for Abs to reply, but instead turned and headed straight out the door, Katya scurrying behind him.

  By the time he reached the upper landing he could hear Abram’s footsteps as he took the stairs two or three at a time.

  Zach waited outside their cabin, realising that he didn’t have a key-card on him.

  As Abram charged through the door at the top of the stairs, Zach held his hand out.

  “Do you still have the keys to both rooms?” He demanded.