Daybreak

by Nicole Fox

  I know he’s right, but I hate the idea that Annika will be left behind.

  “We will save everyone else,” he says, finally agreeing to my plan. “I will save every other person in this container, aside from this piece of shit,” he says, kicking the Tiger in the back. “We can take them all with us, but you have to promise me you won’t go after Annika.”

  I take a deep breath and nod. “I promise.”

  “Good,” he says, grabbing me and planting a quick kiss on my forehead. Then, he turns to the rest of the container. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

  Sevastian surprises us all by unlocking a second container of women only a few yards away from our container. Four of them—unwashed and terrified—come stumbling out and Dmitry curses under his breath.

  “How many more are there?”

  “This is it,” Sevastian assures him.

  Dmitry takes a deep breath and nods. “Everyone, follow me.”

  We do. Like ducklings trailing behind our mama, we follow Dmitry across the deck to where he “punished” me the other day. My face blushes when he touches the lifeboat I used for stability, and I’m worried everyone will see my handprints scorched into the side and know what we did.

  They don’t, of course, and there are much bigger issues to worry about, so I push the thought from my mind.

  “Half of you need to go in this boat,” he said. “Now.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better to all go together?” I ask.

  Dmitry shakes his head. “We can’t walk around the ship with a group of twelve. It’s too obvious. If we’re going to remain covert, we need to get our number down. We have to split up.”

  Several of the women from the other container jump forward at once to be in the first boat, desperate to get out. Dmitry assists them one by one into the boat while Sevastian hands them each life jackets.

  “Do you know how to get this thing into the water?” I ask Sevastian, looking at the rigging system holding the boat into the air.

  He nods. “They did a run-through once, before we got on the boat. Hopefully, I paid enough attention.”

  “It will be fine,” Dmitry says. Then, he turns to the women in the boat, which includes everyone except for me, Sadie, and Tati. “Head west away from the ship until you can’t see it anymore and then turn north. You should hit land.”

  “And if we don’t?” one of the women asks, a thin blonde with a tattoo of a butterfly across her chest.

  “Stay put as long as you can and we’ll try to find you when we land. From there, we’ll contact the Bratva and arrange transport back home.”

  No one seems particularly comforted by this thin plan, but anything is better than being on this ship. Clearly, they are all willing to risk being lost at sea than being on this ship for another minute.

  “There are provisions on the boat, but save them for as long as you can just in case,” Sevastian advises. “You might need them.”

  Dmitry turns to me and holds out a hand. “Come on, Court.”

  I frown. “Excuse me?”

  He tips his head to the boat. “Get in.”

  I laugh, though nothing about this is funny. “You’re kidding, right? I’m not getting on this boat.”

  Dmitry grits his teeth. “Would you just listen to me? For once? Please. Get in.”

  I look into his eyes, giving him the same look he gave me back in the container. “No.”

  He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Take Tati and Sadie and get out of here. I and Sevastian and Olivia will meet you in another boat, and—”

  “N. O. No. I’m not leaving this ship without my entire family,” I say. “I won’t do it. I’m going to help you find Olivia.”

  Dmitry opens his mouth to argue, but Sevastian steps forward. “We could use her help, Dmitry. You need to get to the comms room to reach the Bratva, so she and I can go find Olivia while you do that. Then, we will all meet up at the next rescue boat over.”

  Dmitry glares at his old friend, and then looks back to me, his anger shifting into obvious concern.

  He is terrified.

  I step forward and lay a palm on his cheek, drawing his face down to mine, pretending as if no one else is there. “It will be okay. We will all be okay.”

  Suddenly, his arm is around my waist and our bodies are flush together. He kisses me. It is a soft, hungry kiss that says more than words ever could.

  When we pull away, I’m breathless. “We’ll be okay,” I say again.

  Dmitry takes a deep breath, presses his forehead to mine, and then steps away. “Fine.”

  One of the women in the boat clears her throat. “Can we go now?”

  Dmitry glares at her and then nods to Sevastian to help him get the boat in the water. They have to turn a crank to engage the boat in the lift, but once that happens, a series of gears and levers do their work and it only takes one person to turn the crank until the boat is high enough to make it over the side of the boat and then begin to drop down.

  “How will we all get off the boat if one person has to stay behind to turn the crank?” Sadie asks.

  “Weight will pull the boat down as soon as it’s over the ledge,” Sevastian says. “The last person will just have to jump over the side and into the boat before it gets too low.”

  Sadie seems relieved and gives him a soft smile. He returns it and continues turning the lever until the women disappear beneath the side of the ship. As soon as they do, Sevastian stops turning the lever, but the ropes continue to move anyway.

  Within thirty seconds, they are in the water, and I look over the side and can see them detaching the boat from the ropes and moving away from the ship.

  Hopefully soon, we’ll be doing the same.

  “Okay, time to move,” Dmitry says. He points to Sadie, Tati, and Larissa. “You three, go to the next boat and hide. Don’t make a sound. Stay low and quiet.”

  Sadie wraps her arms around the two girls protectively. Larissa has been crying since Annika ran off, but she wipes her tears and nods at Dmitry’s order.

  “We will,” Sadie says.

  Tati runs forward and wraps her arms around Dmitry’s leg, and he bends down and kisses the top of her head. He presses her to him for one long second, and I can see his eyes going glassy. But quickly, he shoos her away with a smile and a promise to be back soon.

  We’ll be back before you know it, I tell her. Be quiet and still. Be safe.

  I will, she says, wiping at her nose. There is blood on her sleeve.

  She needs a doctor soon. I’m not sure what will happen if we can’t get her off this boat.

  I push the thought from my mind, instead focusing on the task at hand. I give her one final kiss and then push her into Sadie’s arms.

  “Be safe, you three,” Sadie says, nodding to each of us. She gives Sevastian a slightly longer glance, and he looks away after a second, averting his gaze to the ground.

  “You too,” I tell her.

  Then, she herds the girls into their hiding place, and I turn back to Dmitry.

  “What now?”

  “You go with Sevastian to the nursery,” he says.

  “But I want to go with you.”

  He shakes his head. “You need to find Olivia while I call for help.”

  “Why can’t Sevastian call for help? We should both go find our daughter.”

  “They think I’m dead,” Sevastian says. “The Bratva won’t listen to anything I have to say. They’ll think it’s a trick or a trap. It has to be Dmitry.”

  I know he’s right, but I don’t want to separate from Dmitry. Not again.

  Dmitry grabs my arm and pulls me into him. He strokes my hair away from my face while he speaks. “I will see you again soon. Go with Sevastian and get Olivia. Meet me back here, and we’ll leave. All of us. Please.”

  Tears fill my eyes, and I nod. “Okay. Okay, I’ll go.”

  He kisses me again, but it’s just a quick peck. Then, he pulls away and leaves. Like that.

  No go
odbye, no parting words. Not even an “I love you.”

  And I understand why. Because that would be saying goodbye. And this isn’t goodbye. I will see him again in a few minutes. We will get off this ship. Together.

  At least, that is what I keep telling myself as Sevastian and I move through the ship towards the nursery.

  Sevastian knows the ship well. Whenever we hear people coming towards us, he pushes me into small nooks and crannies, hiding me until they pass.

  He doesn’t need to hide because he’s supposed to be here. He is wearing the uniform of the rest of the crew, and no one knows he has defected.

  Sevastian talks to people when he has to, but he keeps the conversations short and brief, telling them he’s on a task from the Tiger and can’t delay. As soon as they pass, he pulls me from hiding and we keep moving, staying silent and low.

  We move down the side deck, up a set of exterior stairs, and then down a long stairwell with metal walls on either side.

  “How much farther?” I ask, hating every step I take further from Dmitry and the surface of the ship.

  “Not much,” he whispers. “It’s just down the hall to the right.”

  “What about Devon and Elena?”

  “They’ll be in the meeting room upstairs. It should just be Olivia and the nanny inside.”

  “What about a guard on duty?”

  He turns around and smiles, pointing to his own face. “You’re looking at him.”

  That’s a relief. Sevastian and I will be able to handle one nanny on our own without a problem.

  The hallway is empty and quiet as we approach the door. Sevastian stops in front of it, and I press myself to the wall a few feet away, keeping out of sight. He gives me one last nervous look before knocking.

  Immediately, a middle-aged woman with graying hair and a short, plump frame answers the door, looking confused.

  “Yes?” she whispers in a thick Japanese accent.

  “Elena wants to see Olivia. She told me to come get her.”

  The woman frowns, a deep line etching between her brows. “She’s sleeping.”

  “I know,” he says. “But she wants to see her. Please get her and bring her to me.”

  The woman shakes her head. “No one told me anything about this. I would rather hear it from Elena herself. I can call Devon and—”

  “And anger them both?” Sevastian asks, pushing past the woman and moving into the dark room. I stay pressed to the wall, though I desperately want to be inside to see the conditions of the room, to know whether my daughter has been well cared for while I’ve been trapped in a shipping container.

  “You can’t be in here,” she hisses. “Let me call to confirm, and then—”

  Her words cut off with a gasp, and I know Sevastian has changed tactics. I follow him into the room, and see the woman cowering against the wall, hands raised in the face of Sevastian’s knife.

  I’m about to ask him how we’re going to keep the woman quiet so she doesn’t alert anyone when suddenly, a dark shadow separates from the opposite wall and launches towards Sevastian.

  I have just enough time to yell his name before he’s tackled to the ground.

  The two figures roll around, and I can see the dark shadow is another guard. One we hadn’t anticipated being there.

  The caretaker runs for the door, but I pull out my own shiv, still red with the Tiger’s blood, and wave it at her. I close the door, and she shrinks back against the wall.

  “We’re here for the baby,” I explain to her, talking loudly over the sound of Sevastian and the other guard yelling. “She’s my baby. I’m not going to hurt her or you if we can help it.”

  The woman’s eyes are still wide and terrified, but she nods in understanding.

  I can’t move away from the door without risking the woman escaping and alerting everyone to our presence, but I want to help Sevastian.

  He and the guard are still brawling on the floor, but Sevastian seems to be getting the upper hand. He is hunched over the guard, both of his arms around the man’s neck and shoulders.

  The room is bare except for a metal crib and a few shelves of books and toys, so I grab one of the hard plastic play cubes and launch it into the melee, hitting the second guard square in the back of the head.

  The toy bounces off him, mercifully rolling back my way, and I grab it tightly in my hand and lunge forward, bringing it down again, harder, on the back of his head.

  The skin opens at once, blood gushing from the wound, but I back up to guard the door again. Even in the half second it took for me to strike, the nanny made a beeline for the exit. I cut her off and wave the shiv at her again, herding her back into the far corner of the room.

  The guard grasps at the back of his head, moaning as blood pours between his fingers, and Sevastian raises his knife in the air—handle down—and knocks the man in the head a third time with the wooden handle.

  Immediately, he slumps to the floor in a heap.

  Sevastian stands tall, arranges his clothes, and then grabs a length of rope I didn’t see him pick up—it’s from the same rope we used to tie up the Tiger. He ties the unconscious guard up and then moves to the nanny. He is gentle with the woman even as she spits curses at him in a language neither of us understands.

  Only when they are both secured do I move to the crib. Olivia is awake, eyes wide and staring at the chaos just beyond the bars of her crib. As soon as she sees me, she stands up and reaches for me.

  I crush her to my chest and kiss the back of her warm neck.

  “Mama’s got you, baby. Mama is here.”

  There is a sharp static noise, and Sevastian and I both look to the guard as the source of the noise.

  “Lukas?” a deep voice says. “What’s going on?”

  “Shit.” Sevastian bends down and unstraps a walkie-talkie from the guard’s belt.

  “Is something wrong?” the voice asks.

  Sevastian clears his throat and grabs the walkie. “No,” he answers. “Everything’s fine.”

  There is a long pause before the other man responds. “We’re sending someone down to check on things.”

  Sevastian immediately drops the walkie and grabs my hand, pulling me and Olivia behind him. “We have to go. Now.”

  I don’t argue. We run down the hallway and up the stairs in the direction we came.

  16

  Dmitry

  Unlike last time I went to the comms room, the room isn’t empty. There is a communications officer standing in front of the controls. He appears to be alone, which is lucky, but if we keep knocking people unconscious, eventually someone is bound to notice. Especially if that person is in the comms room. The second he doesn’t respond to a call, someone will be sent to check things out.

  Time really is beginning to run out.

  I nabbed the Tiger’s gun before leaving the shipping container, but I don’t want to use it if I don’t have to. It will be too loud and draw too much attention. Hand-to-hand combat is the better choice. Even if it does take longer.

  I turn the doorknob silently, but the second I push the door inward, the hinge squeaks.

  The comms officer spins around and frowns when he sees my server’s uniform. “What are you doing here?”

  I don’t even bother to come up with an excuse. I step inside, shut the door behind me, and lunge for the officer.

  The man shouts in surprise and fumbles at his waist, but I reach him before he can pull whatever weapon he was planning to.

  I plow into the man, and we both hit the ground. Hard. The officer gasps as the wind is knocked out of me, and I have to blink stars from his vision.

  Usually, this kind of tumble wouldn’t affect me, but the wound to my ribs is sapping my energy more than thought. I am starting to feel a bit lightheaded.

  The man grabs me by the shirt and tries to push me off him, but I pull back my fist and let it fly, my knuckles cracking across the man’s face. A cut opens on his cheek, blood dripping down, as I hit him a
gain and again.

  The man lifts his arms to protect his face, and I spot the knife sheathed at the man’s hip. I snatch it out and consider stabbing the man in the heart. It would be simple, effective, and ensure the man doesn’t call for help the moment he wakes up.

  However, Courtney’s earlier mercy plays in my head. I didn’t understand why she didn’t want to kill the Tiger on sight after everything he had done to her, but then she explained Annika’s story to me.

  I killed Annika’s pimp and now she’s on this ship somewhere, refusing to go with us and threatening our escape at the same time. Killing this man could have unforeseen consequences.

  In a split second, I spin the knife around and hit him with the metal handle. It takes two blows, but his eyes roll back in his head, and he’s out cold.

  The phone looks like a classic landline, and when I pick it up there is a dial tone. I say a silent prayer of thanks and tap in the number to Pasha’s burner phone, which I memorized.

  He answers on the third ring.

  “Dmitry?”

  “Pasha, I need help.”

  He sighs. “Shit. I’m so glad to hear from you.”

  “The ship is about to make port, and we’re going to escape on lifeboats.”

  “We?” he asks. “You found Courtney and the girls?”

  “And a lot of other women,” I admit. “There will be two boatloads of people. I’m not sure where we will land, but I have my phone with me, and I’ll be able to call you when we do.”

  “Spain,” Pasha says. “The ship will make land in Spain. I checked around. I’m already there.”

  “In Spain?” I ask, not believing it.

  “I got here yesterday. When you didn’t send word sooner, we figured we’d have to meet the ship. You just tell us where to be, and we’ll be there.”

  The weight on my chest eases, and I take a deep breath. “Damn, that is good news.”

  “How many people should we expect?”

  I count them quickly in my head. “Fourteen, I think.”