by Nicole Fox
He kisses me back tenderly, his hand smoothing down the length of my spine. “It will be okay, Courtney. We’ll win. I know it.”
I don’t know it. I don’t know anything at all. But I take solace in Dmitry’s confidence and pray he’s right.
I give him one last kiss and turn away to open the door, but it’s already open.
Tati is standing there, eyes wide with shock and staring at Dmitry.
Daddy?
Dmitry kneels down, arms wide, and Tati runs into them.
What are you doing out here? I ask.
I woke up and you were gone. I moved to sleep by the door so I’d know when you came back.
I kiss her forehead. Clever girl.
Dmitry buries his face in Tati’s neck, tickling her with his new beard, and she smiles, throwing her head back to get away from him, though she keeps her arms tightly around his neck.
I know we’re nowhere close to freedom yet, but the dark cloud that has been hanging over me eases slightly at the sight of the two of them together.
As soon as we have Olivia, I’ll feel even better.
“Come on, you two. We need to get going if—”
“Hello, Dmitry.”
I gasp and spin around, putting myself between Tati and the man’s voice.
It’s the other guard. ‘The nice one,’ as I’ve referred to him with Sadie, though he doesn’t look especially nice right now. His forehead is wrinkled and his mouth is pressed into a stern line.
“How does he know your name, Dmitry?” I ask. “Who is he?”
Dmitry stands up and moves in front of me, blocking me from the man. “An old friend,” he says simply.
The man nods in agreement. “The oldest of friends.”
14
Dmitry
I almost can’t believe he’s standing in front of me, but then he tilts his head to the side slightly, his dark hair falling over his forehead, and I can see my old friend in there.
Sevastian.
“Sevastian?” Courtney asks in shock when I explain. “But he—”
“Died?” Sevastian finishes for her. “That’s what everyone was supposed to think. I suppose the plan worked perfectly.”
“It did,” I assure him. “No one has any idea.”
When Rurik came to me with the information that Sevastian had gone to the FBI, I knew he could no longer be my most trusted lieutenant. I knew I couldn’t allow him to stay in the Bratva. It would make me look weak and everyone would question my loyalty to the organization.
However, I also couldn’t kill my best friend since childhood.
“What plan?” Courtney asks, bending down to wrap her arm around Tati’s shoulders and reassure her that everything is fine.
“The execution was staged,” I explain quickly. “I pulled the shot. Went through his cheek instead. I didn’t want to kill him, but I couldn’t let him go unpunished lest other members of the Bratva find me weak.”
“I still have that scar, too,” Sevastian muses, rubbing the cheek in question thoughtfully. “He set me up with a new identity and some money. Dmitry let me live, and I’ve wanted to thank him ever since.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“Working.” He shrugs. “I don’t have many usable skills, but I can do security. So, I’ve been working for several different illegal trade routes ever since.”
Courtney shifts to pull Tati closer to her side, and I know what she’s thinking because I’m thinking it, too.
“How can you stomach it?”
Sevastian shoves his hands in his pockets. “Don’t tell me you’re soft now. I’ve always been the more emotional of our duo.”
“Having kids changes you.”
Sevastian looks at Tati. “Kids?”
“The baby on the ship is ours,” Courtney says. “Olivia. They took her from us.”
“I thought something was weird about this shipment,” Sevastian says. “I didn’t know who you were, but the way everyone talked about you and the little girl—”
“Tati,” I remind him. “Her name is Tati.”
“I know. I remember.” Sevastian runs a hand through his hair and looks up at me beneath lowered brows. “Dmitry, really. You have to know that if I knew who they were, I would have gotten them out of here sooner. I wouldn’t have let them get on this ship.”
I nod. “That’s good to know.”
“But you were nice to us,” Courtney says. “Nicer than the Tiger, anyway.”
Sevastian chuckles. “That isn’t hard to do. That man is a monster.”
“You aren’t.”
“No,” Sevastian agrees. “At least, I try not to be.”
In the distance, lightning cracks across the sky, illuminating the deck, and we all turn to look at the sky.
“The water is getting choppy,” Sevastian comments. “A storm is moving in.”
Courtney grabs my hand. “What does that mean?”
I’ve never sailed a boat on calm waters, let alone in the middle of a storm. How will a tiny life raft survive in bad weather? I have no idea.
“It means our escape will have mood lighting,” I say with a smile, hoping to lighten her spirits.
We can’t delay. If we had more time, I’d push the escape back, but one of the servers mentioned that we were getting close to shore, and with the pilot missing and the key to the helicopter in my pocket, it won’t be long before Elena and Devon are looking for the culprit.
It has to be now.
“Escape?” Sevastian asks. “Is that what you’re doing right now?”
I nod. “As long as you don’t plan to alert anyone to our plans.”
He sighs. “I lied to the FBI, man.”
“You talked to them.” Talking to the FBI is more than any other member of my Bratva had ever done. The fact that he acknowledged his identity within my Bratva and spoke to a federal agent is reason enough not to trust him. I may not have wanted to kill Sevastian, but that doesn’t mean I have to be best friends with him again.
“I talked to them to get them off your trail,” he said. “If the video Rurik showed you had audio, you would have heard me lying through my ass to blame everything on the Yakuza and the Italians. I don’t know if the FBI bought it, but they at least didn’t get any useful information out of me.”
The video didn’t have sound, so I don’t know if I should believe him or not. But I do anyway.
He seems genuine, and unless I want to really kill him this time, I don’t have any other choice than to trust him right now.
“I’m not going to tell anyone you’re here,” he insists. “I’m going to help you.”
I run my tongue over my top teeth and nod. “Fine. Do you know where Devon and Elena are right now?”
He shakes his head. “Elena just got to the ship today, so I don’t know what her routine looks like. I’d guess she’s in her cabin the same as everyone else.”
“What about Olivia?” Courtney asks. “Where is she?”
“She has a separate nursery next to Devon’s quarters, though he doesn’t wake up for shit. I’ve been the person in charge of getting him out of bed before and good fucking luck is all I have to say. He is a heavy sleeper. Like his father, I suppose.”
“Did they make a formal birth announcement?” I ask.
Sevastian snorts with laughter. “Yeah, almost thirty years too late. I can’t believe Rurik had a secret son.”
“I can’t believe I let Rurik’s secret son get the better of me.”
“I don’t know,” Sevastian says. “I can believe you. You always were pretty gullible. Remember when I convinced you I had an alligator living in my bathtub?”
I smile despite everything. “You told me you let it walk around the bathroom while you took a shower and then put it back in when you were done.”
“And you bought it hook, line, and sinker.” Sevastian grins.
“So did you.” I jab a finger towards him and, for a second, it feels like old times. It feels lik
e he never left my side.
But he did. It’s not old times. And we need to get moving before the shit hitting the fan begins to rain down over us.
As if to illustrate my point, thunder tears through the sky. I almost think I can see ripples in the water from the force of the rumble.
“We need to get out of here. Now,” I urge. “We need to find Olivia.”
Sevastian bites his lip. “They always have a nanny on her and a guard outside the door. I’ve taken the shift more than once. That is going to be tough.”
“We also need to get into the comms room.”
Sevastian sighs. “Shit. You never did like to make things easy on me.”
“Do you still want to help?” I ask, wrapping an arm around Courtney and laying a hand on Tati’s small shoulder.
Sevastian takes in all three of us and opens his mouth to say something, but just then, lightning rips across the sky, turning his skin a ghostly white.
He closes his eyes and takes another deep breath like he can’t believe what he’s saying. “God help me. Yes. Yes, I’ll help. Whatever I can do.”
15
Courtney
Sevastian is going to help us, which is a huge relief. Having someone who knows the ship even better than Dmitry and knows the inner workings of the operation is going to be a huge asset.
Except, before our operation can even get off the ground, it’s found out.
“What the fuck?”
We all turn to see the Tiger standing in a narrow hallway to the left. His eyes are still droopy from whatever Dmitry dosed him with, but he’s coherent enough to know that Tati and I should not be out of the container talking to the likes of Sevastian and Dmitry. Though, I’m sure the Tiger doesn’t know them by those names.
For several seconds, we stare at one another, no one moving or saying anything. Then, the Tiger comes to the realization that some kind of coup is going on, and he turns to run and raise the alarm, no doubt.
Without hesitating, I wrench myself out of Dmitry’s hold and run after the Tiger.
I hear Dmitry’s footsteps behind me and Tati whimpering for both of us, but I don’t slow down.
The shiv Tati found on the deck—the same one I gave to Sadie to use against the sailor—is in the pocket of my pajama pants, and I pull it out and grip it in my hand. Then, when I’m within reach of the Tiger, I jump and plunge the sharp end into his back.
He yells and falls to the ground. Neither my weight nor the stab wound is enough to take him down, but the drugs are clearly still in his system, making him sluggish. Dmitry catches up to us in a second and presses his boot into the Tiger’s back.
“Finish him,” he urges.
The end of the shiv is covered in blood and small splatters of it dot my wrist and the sleeve of my shirt.
I know that, if anyone deserves to die, it’s the Tiger. He is an evil man who locks women in containers and sells them for profit. Though, so does Sevastian, and he’s … helping us?
I want to say that he’s an evil man with no soul, but I don’t know that for sure. Plus, if I’ve learned anything being trapped on this boat, it’s that life comes at you fast.
Annika is here because Dmitry killed her pimp in a shoot-out.
Actions have consequences, and I’m not sure I want to know what the consequences of killing the Tiger would be.
“Tie him up,” I say. “Let’s leave him in the container. No one will find him for a while.”
“What? No.” Dmitry falls down, driving his knee into the Tiger’s back. He is fighting back, desperate to get away. “Give me the blade. I’ll kill him.”
“No.” I spin around and see a storage closet not far away. I run to it and grab a length of rope. “We don’t have to kill him. We’ll leave him in the container the way he left us. It will be a fitting punishment.”
“Death is fitting,” Dmitry growls. “He needs to die.”
I shake my head. “No. Please.”
I can tell Dmitry doesn’t understand my insistence, but he sees that I am serious. He grits his teeth before dropping his head down in a sigh. “Fine. Give me the rope.”
We bind the Tiger’s hands and feet and wrap a length of rope around his head and through his open mouth for good measure.
Dmitry and Sevastian carry him kicking and screaming to the container where the rest of the women are still being held.
As soon as we bring him in, they all wake up and back against the walls, ready for whatever horror the crew of the ship is about to unleash next.
“Is that … ?” Annika asks, staring at the Tiger where he thrashes on the floor. Then, she looks up at me. “What the hell?”
Sadie rushes forward and says the same thing. “Where did you go? Where have you been? What is—”
Then, she sees Dmitry and Sevastian standing behind me. “Why isn’t he tied up? Are we getting out of here?”
“He’s on our side,” I say to Sadie and everyone else, trying to silence the endless questions. “His name is Sevastian, and he’s going to help us get out of here.”
I feel a hand around my arm, and Dmitry pulls me back towards the corner of the container. His voice is low. “Us? Courtney, I’m only worried about you and the girls. I can’t guarantee that everyone else will get out of here.”
“No whispering,” Annika says, pulling a sleeping Larissa to her feet and holding her against her chest.
I frown up at him. “Were you just planning to leave them here?”
He shrugs and nods. “I mean, yeah. Kind of.”
“Tell us what is happening!” Annika shouts. Her voice is a hollow echo inside the container. I hold up a finger to try and buy us another second.
“We can’t. What about Sadie, at least? Weren’t you planning to save her?”
“I already saved her life once,” he says. “The rest is on her.”
“You can’t be serious.” I shake my head, not willing to believe Dmitry would be so cold. “Do you realize you are the reason some of these people are in here in the first place?”
Dmitry’s mouth falls open like I’ve slapped him, and I reach out and grab his wrist. “I’m not talking about me and Tati. I’m talking about Annika.”
He doesn’t know who Annika is, but he turns to take in the rest of the woman in the container as I continue.
“You got into a shoot-out and killed her pimp. His brother sold her to the Yakuza.”
Dmitry snorts. “Courtney, that hardly counts as my fault. She was already a prostitute. I didn’t make her do that.”
I hiss, “But you played a part in it. This is your opportunity to make it right. Help them.”
He raises his brows, his blue eyes peering into mine. “Not if it means risking you or the girls.”
I open my mouth to respond but Annika gasps. I turn and see that she’s talking to Sevastian. His forehead is wrinkled in confusion, and Annika stumbles away, hand over her mouth. Her eyes are pinned on Dmitry like he’s a ghost.
“You bastard.”
“Annika, what is—?” I move towards her, but Dmitry grabs my wrist and pulls me back. I shake my hand free. “She’s my friend.”
“Friend?” Annika spits. “Well, friend, you failed to mention that your husband is the reason I’m in here. Perhaps that would have been a good piece of information to share between friends.”
“Annika.” Sadie steps forward and lays her hands on Annika’s shoulders. “Courtney just didn’t want to upset you. Telling you wouldn’t have changed anything, so she—”
“Lied!” Annika spits. “She lied. Just like everyone fucking lies. All the time. This world is full of fucking liars, and I’m the only one who cares about the truth.”
“Courtney,” Dmitry whispers. “We have to go.”
“See?” Annika balls her hand into a fist. “He isn’t going to save us. He is here for her, not us. We aren’t friends. We are obstacles. Fucking disposable.”
“We’re going to save all of you,” I cry. “You just need to calm
down so we can formulate a plan.”
Annika steps forward, her eyes narrowed and hard as glass. “Fuck. That. And fuck you.”
“What does that mean?” Sadie asks.
Annika turns on Sadie, and Sevastian steps between them, giving Annika a warning look. “This is going to be hard enough without everyone breaking rank.”
She throws her head back and lets out a loud, sharp bark of laughter. “This is coming from the man responsible for keeping us in here.”
“I didn’t sell you,” Sevastian says.
“No, you just carted our piss away and made sure to lock the door behind you when you left.” Annika rolls her eyes. “You aren’t innocent, and if you think I’m going to put my life in your hands or the hands of that fucking psychopath behind you, then you are insane.”
“The only psychopaths here are Devon and Elena.” I reach out to touch Annika’s shoulder, but she shies away like a cornered animal, spinning towards the door and backing up.
Everyone clears a path for her, not wanting to get too close. I am the only one set on getting close to her, on breaking through her anger and betrayal, but with every step I take, she moves further away.
“Please, Annika. Let us help you.”
She presses her dry lips together in a harsh line and then tugs on her worn, stained jeans with nervous fingers. Finally, she shakes her head. Her eyes are unfocused. “No, I don’t think I will.”
“Please, Annika, we—”
“No!” she screams, making everyone flinch. She pushes open the container door and steps outside. “You all do what you want, but I’m going to get myself off this ship. The only person I can trust is me.”
She gives everyone one last look and then lifts her middle finger in a sick wave. “Fuck you all.”
She sprints off to the right, and I lunge forward to chase after her, but Dmitry’s arm wraps around my middle and stops me. “We can’t follow her. We don’t have time.”
“But she’s going to—”
“She’s going to do whatever she wants,” he finishes. “You can’t make her go with us, and chasing after her will just be a distraction from the goal: find Olivia, call for help, get off this ship.”