“These men are horrific,” Alicia said softly. “I can’t allow this to happen.”
“Wait, just wait,” Drake said. “I know where they’re going and I’m pretty sure they’ll want to be alone. We can make this right and stay hidden.”
Badru hauled the unfortunate woman to her feet and made a show of zip-tying her hands behind her back. His knife was never far from her flesh. In the meantime, Tabia was searching for his own female whilst the three pirate guards watched.
Another passenger rose, gesticulating. “Can’t you stop these animals?” he cried out. “Where’s your leader?”
All three pirate guards hesitated. Tabia kicked three seated figures aside to get close to the protester.
“You have a wife? Girlfriend?” Tabia got right in his face.
“Yes, I mean no.” A guarded light came into the man’s eyes.
“Where is she?” Tabia reached out, gripping the man by the throat. “Which one?” He dragged the man forward to face the room.
“I . . . have . . . no one,” the man gargled.
Tabia cursed and threw the man against the windows. He crashed into a pane and left a long streak of blood in his wake. His head was cut. Tabia didn’t even look back, just grabbed the nearest woman and hauled her to her feet.
“You will do,” he said. “For now.”
The two pirates didn’t bother to quiet the women as they dragged them away. They seemed happy to hear them cry, struggle and scream. They marched them in the direction of the cinema.
Drake and the others continued to keep a low profile, perched on the edge of a blue sofa. Badru and Tabia passed within a few feet but never noticed them, so gleeful were they on herding their prisoners out of the restaurant area. Drake signaled for the others to watch them leave and turned his attention to the three guards.
They too were watching Badru and Tabia, which wouldn’t work at all.
“We need to distract them,” he said. “Sorry Luther. Since you’re the biggest . . .”
Luther gave him a grim smile but nodded. Soon, he was working his way in the opposite direction and then coming up from behind a big earthenware pot with a small palm tree growing inside it.
“What the fuck, man?” he shouted. “You let them do that? I mean—what the fuck are you doing, man?”
At first the pirates turned a lazy glare upon him but then, noticing his size, they rose to attention and trained their guns on his chest.
“Stop!” one cried. “Come no closer.”
“You must sit back down!” another shouted.
Drake saw Luther slow and then open his arms wide, grabbing their full attention. It was now or never. With a quick nod to Alicia and Mai, he darted to the front of the restaurant, following the path that Badru and Tabia had taken. A couple of passengers saw them move but said nothing.
They passed a high, curved wall that formed the outer partition for the restaurant and hid behind it. Ahead, a wide corridor led to the cinema according to some blue signage. Of course, they didn’t need the signs. They could hear the women screaming as they were pushed and shoved further and further away.
Both Alicia’s and Mai’s faces were set hard as flint. If Drake hadn’t seen the treatment these men doled out to both men and women alike, he’d have felt sorry for them. But not now. Not after what he’d just witnessed.
Ahead, there was the sound of a door opening, closing, muffling the women’s screams. Drake nodded at Alicia and Mai.
“Ready.”
There was no thought about how this rescue would affect their mission. No concern for what came next. Their only unease came from knowing what would have happened if they hadn’t been here, and what might have happened to the previous two women. Drake led the way, reaching the cinema door first and drawing his Glock.
Alicia and Mai had their handguns ready. Drake grabbed hold of a D-handle and eased open the door. Alicia peered inside.
“Targets three rows from the front. Their attention is . . . elsewhere.”
No more words were needed. Drake slipped inside the dark, cool cinema after the two women. Not wanting to get in their way. Alicia and Mai crept down the rows of seats, as silent and deadly as female Grim Reapers.
As they came closer to the gleeful pirates, they pocketed their Glocks and took out their knives.
The use of the bladed weapons wasn’t just so they could just remain silent. Drake knew that. This was an intensely personal attack, against men who had no ethics and would be treated as such. Eight feet from their target, both Mai and Alicia paused.
Badru had laid his captive out along a row of seats and had been tying her wrists above her head. Now he drew back to admire his handiwork. Tabia had been up to the same thing and now, seeing his colleague taking stock, looked over.
“This will be fun.”
And then he saw Alicia and Mai poised just a few feet away.
“Hey!”
That was all either pirate got to say.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Both pirates went for their weapons.
Alicia and Mai leapt at them, zero to lethal in under a second from a standing start. Alicia skipped around Badru and brought her knife up at Tabia. Mai plunged her blade toward Badru’s gun arm.
Drake covered them both with his Glock.
Through the comms system he got the message that everything had gone back to normal in the restaurant. Which was good. One of his concerns was that the guards would snitch on Badru and Tabia and bring everyone running but it seemed they were too scared of the vile pair.
Alicia’s vicious attack made Tabia fall backward. Her blade scraped along his wrist, drawing blood. The gun glanced off the back of the next row of seats and flew away. Tabia fell to his knees then scrambled up, raising his arms to fend off Alicia’s next blow.
Alicia went low, jabbing the knife at his stomach, but not once. She struck four times in rapid succession, perforating spleen and parting the ribcage. Tabia’s sharp intake could barely be heard as he collapsed. Alicia stood over his heaving frame, jerked up his head by the long, greasy hair and wasted no time in slitting his throat from ear to ear.
Mai’s attack missed by inches. Badru brought his gun around, but Mai was too close for him to use it. They were practically nose to nose. She could smell his reek. She brought her free hand, palm out, straight up, striking under his nose. There was a crack and his head flew back. Badru hit at her with the gun, bringing its steel bulk across her face. Mai ignored the pain, stood her ground, and watched Badru’s only weapon, his only chance of getting out of this alive, arc away from her body with the force of Badru’s swing.
She thrust her knife up into his gut. Badru’s eyes opened wide. He gasped, breathing a foul stench into her face. She clamped his gun arm at the shoulder so that he couldn’t bring it around to bear, then forced her knife in to the hilt.
“Not quite how you expected this to go,” she hissed.
Badru’s knees buckled but she held him upright, tearing the knife to the left before stepping quickly away. She didn’t want her shoes splattered with his blood and guts. Badru collapsed and lay dying on the floor.
Drake stepped over to the women, parting their bonds with his own knife and helping them to sit upright in the black leather seats. Their faces were red, their eyes wide and terrified.
“It’s okay,” Alicia told them. “Those guys won’t be harming anyone ever again. Drake, why don’t you take a look around?”
He knew exactly what she meant. First, it would be better if two female soldiers reassured the two women and second, there was a strong chance that the two previous victims may have been hidden close by. Either tied up and gagged . . . or worse.
Drake followed Alicia’s lead and started checking the rows. It wasn’t a large cinema and it took him just a few minutes to check every seat.
“Nothing,” he said with relief.
Mai had moved away from the two freed captives and now came back with a more terrible scenario. “It’s p
ossible they threw the bodies overboard.”
Drake gritted his teeth, feeling hatred deep in his gut. Yes, it was certainly possible. This filth was capable of anything. Badru and Tabia might be the worst of them, the most open, but he saw the same inclinations in the eyes of all the other pirates. They were just too scared to act on it.
For now.
Drake checked the screen and behind, where he found a storage cupboard. This time he had mixed feelings on finding it empty.
There were no more areas to inspect. Alicia and Mai worked on the two women whilst Drake dragged both Badru and Tabia to a storage cupboard to hide their bodies. All being well, they wouldn’t be found. Drake wrapped them in bin liners he found to reduce the inevitable stench of death that would start to emerge and even overpower the stench they pervaded in life.
“We okay?” he asked on returning to the four women.
“You have a little blood on your jeans,” Mai warned.
Drake looked down. The bottom inch of his right leg was a patch of gore. Drake found napkins at the front to take the worst of the redness away and then threw them in the bin.
Alicia signaled him. “Both Jane and Erin here are okay, save for a few bruises.” She didn’t say how their ordeal might have affected their mental state. “I’ve told them why we’re here. If we can smuggle them back to the restaurant, I think they’ll be fine.”
Drake studied them, trying to gauge their resolve. The last thing they needed was a scared individual, anyone, that knew them to be military, possibly outing them in a moment of crisis. Drake and his teammates were trained to think clearly and strategically under pressure. Civilians were not.
“You ladies gonna be all right if we take you back to the restaurant?”
The one called Erin bit her lip. “Is there anywhere else we could go?”
“There are 100 empty rooms on this ship,” Drake said. “But you’d be alone, out of the loop. And if any more of these evil bastards found you there, it’s unlikely we could help in time. Your best hope is to go back to the restaurant and wait it out with the rest of the hostages.”
“Just give me a fucking gun,” Jane said.
“Me too,” Erin said.
Mai smiled. “They’re okay.”
“Whilst I love your attitude,” Alicia said. “Unless you’re trained to use it, you’ll end up shooting a hole in the ship, or in Erin here.”
“I can go back,” Erin said. “I can go back now I know that you guys are here, protecting us.”
“It will be all over in a few days at the most,” Drake said. “We’re hoping to end this farce tonight, but I can’t promise.”
Jane’s face lit up. “Oh, really? I can do that then. It’s the not knowing that destroys your soul.”
Drake took his time helping them out of their seats and then headed toward the exit, desperately hoping he wasn’t telling them both a bare-faced lie.
CHAPTER TWELVE
There was only one thing for it. Alicia knew what she had to do.
Truth be told, it fitted both her temperament right now and her character as a rule. Everything came to a head that night, around 7:00 p.m., when their three pirate guards were hassling two young guys. Alicia was just six feet away, knees drawn up, her chin resting on them, just gazing into the middle distance.
The commotion snapped her mind into focus. Already, one of the young guys was bleeding. Another was nursing a sprained wrist. The pirates’ eyes were feral; it was clear they wanted to hurt some more. Like everyone, they had been cooped up on this ship, in this restaurant, for way too long and were going stir crazy. They were circling the young guys like sharks, their evil passions roused by the sight of blood.
Alicia discreetly plucked her gun and knife out of her hoodie, holding them in her hand.
“I’m using this distraction,” she said through the comms. “I’m gonna find out where their fucking HQ is, and we can end this tonight.”
“Wait . . . Drake started to say. “We . . .”
But Alicia was already in action, taking the lead. She didn’t hear Drake’s curse as she pulled out her comms earbud and hid it, with her weapons, in a nearby planter, scooping fallen leaves and dirt over the items to hide them.
Pigswill was closest to her. She would have to handle this carefully but, through all she had observed, she believed that the pirate guards weren’t authorized to shoot anyone. It was the way they behaved, the way they reined in their natural violent tendencies. It was a gamble, but she trusted her instincts.
Alicia rose and snapped her hand out, grabbed Pigswill’s arm and pulled hard. She wanted to appear capable but not military trained. A have-a-go-hero. She made sure she hurt Pigswill, extending his elbow far further than it ought to go, but then cowered as he grunted in pain and brought the gun around.
Pointed it at her face.
“Bitch,” he breathed angrily. “Bitch, bitch, bitch.”
One of the other guards laughed.
Alicia decided she hadn’t done enough, swatted Pigswill’s gun to the side, and took great pleasure in breaking his nose. Pigswill staggered. She remained rooted in place and his friends laughed.
One of them pointed his gun at her. “Stop,” he said with a thick accent. “Stop hurting him or I shoot.”
There was more laughter.
Alicia held up both hands. Everyone studied Pigswill as he recovered, wondering what he would do. Blood dripped through the fingers of the hand he had clasped over his nose, spattering the floor at his feet. A few moments passed before he locked angry eyes with Alicia.
“Bitch,” he said.
“Thanks,” she said. “Give me thirty, forty seconds more and I’ll make you my bitch for life.”
Pigswill came at her, swinging his rifle as she’d expected. At the last second, she turned her head to lessen the impact, but the blunt end still struck her a harsh blow across the temple, sending her to her knees. Alicia put a hand on the ground and another to her temple. The fingers came away stained with blood.
“I will . . . I will . . .” Pigswill seemed unable to decide what to do. She guessed he was desperate to shoot her. But, as she’d hoped, there was clearly an order in place that prevented him.
An order from the boss.
“You remember what you were told to do,” one of Pigswill’s comrades said, “with unruly passengers. You can’t kill ’em. They’re worth more than you. But you can take them to the boss.”
Pigswill hissed with frustration. Alicia was tempted to ask how Badru and Tabia had gotten away with worse than what he’d done, but that would have drawn attention to the fact that they were missing. The minutes dragged. Alicia helped by sticking her hands on her hips. Pigswill saw it as a challenge. Without wasting any more time, he grabbed hold of her wrist and forced her to walk in front of him. Alicia swung her head for a last look at Drake and the others.
They were dire-faced, serious and angry. She hadn’t expected anything else.
Pigswill shoved her ahead of him. For Alicia, this was the opportune time; she was learning the way to his boss’s HQ. Pigswill fell back, prodding her with the gun, and shouting directions. Alicia committed the route to memory.
Just once, she glanced over her shoulder at Pigswill. “Remember me,” she said. “Remember my face.”
The pirate laughed. “I will. And then I will happily remember the day, the moment, you die.”
It was an off-the-cuff comment, but Alicia prodded harder. “Not likely. When the ransom’s paid you’ll never see me again, asshole.”
“The last thing you will see will be the bottom of the fucking ocean, bitch. Along with all the other bitches on board.”
He jumped forward and kicked her then, right in the ribs. Alicia found herself propelled sideways, against a door that burst open under her weight. She staggered through into a room, the door smashing back against its hinges. Alicia half fell but managed to catch herself, remaining upright.
When Pigswill’s face appeared at the door, sh
e made a move toward it.
“Wait!”
The voice surprised her. It was deep and commanding, possessed of smooth tones. Something she hadn’t yet heard from any of the pirates. She turned in surprise to see a man seated behind a desk.
Three others stood to his side and behind him, adding more to the overall count. We’re at thirty-four total now, minus the two dead inbreds.
Alicia studied the man she assumed was the pirate leader. He was a tall, broad-shouldered individual with medium-length brown hair and pitch-black eyes. He stared at her without expression, without anger or compassion or even suspicion, and it was the complete lack of emotion in his gaze that sent a shiver down her spine.
“What is this?” His head swiveled toward Pigswill.
“Unruly passenger, Kobe,” the pirate said. “You said we couldn’t kill them.”
Kobe appraised her quickly. “You want to kill her? What did she do? Tell you that you stink worse than an open latrine? That would be true, Kordu.”
Everyone laughed except Pigswill. Alicia kept her guffaws to a minimum. She could see how dangerous Kobe was. She saw it in his body language, his eyes, the way his mouth formed a disdainful expression. Even sitting, she saw that he held himself like a military man.
“She attacked me,” Pigswill whined, which was true.
“And what were you doing?”
“Dealing with . . . some unrest.”
“I see.” Kobe pushed his chair back and stood up. The chair legs scraped harshly. Kobe came around the desk, stopping when he was close to Alicia.
“I understand the situation on board is stressful. It’s edgy. We do not like it either. I am doing everything I can to make it go quicker.” His eyes flitted to the mobile phone on the desk. “But my men serve a purpose. They are there to guard and protect you. To secure my investment. That said—” he pursed his lips “—it would not do to let you return unscathed. A message must be sent.”
Before Kobe had stopped speaking, his men were darting around his desk. Two positioned themselves behind her, pinning her arms; the third grabbed her neck and held her head steady.
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