Someone on the crew was smoking, just outside the entrance to ship’s controls. I hung on, peeking over the edge occasionally to see if he had gone back inside. It took a good three minutes before he did. We were wasting too much time. Shift change was only ten minutes from now. I hurried over the edge and found shelter under an overhang. I heard some movement to my left and saw Jeremy’s foot protruding around the corner of a container—the container. We’d found the one where they were keeping the kids.
The foot moved. I followed. Jeremy stood, his hand on the handle that opened the door to the container. I was relieved to see he had one of the same tools Carson had used to open the container. He winked at me before opening it and going inside. I rushed to the side of the container where Jeremy had been and waited. I couldn’t hear what happened next, but the fact that he was in there for a few minutes was a good sign. He’d definitely found the kids. I knew he must be instructing them on our escape plan. I took a deep, steadying breath. It was going to be super tricky to get seven people off the boat without being seen by someone.
Once the door opened, Jeremy came out first, then a bruised Mikado. I grabbed him into a silent hug as the four kidnapped kids made their way out. They looked pale and terrified, but they didn’t say a word as we led them around the corner. We all huddled behind the container as Jeremy filled me in on the plan.
“We’re going to climb down two containers lower. From there, we should have a clear shot to the middle of the ship, where we should find a ladder that leads to the main deck. We’ll see. If it’s not there, there will be one at the back of the ship.”
“I was hoping you weren’t going to suggest we jump from here. We must be 200 feet up.”
“No way. No one would survive that jump. We need to get a lot lower. You lead the way. Mikado and I will bring up the rear to make sure no trouble comes after us. I already told them they would be crouching to the middle of the ship. Let’s get moving.”
I was glad we wouldn’t be far from the water, and we could easily pull an inflatable lifeboat in with us. The four former prisoners were eerily docile. They shuffled along behind us, wordlessly, and I was disturbed that their faces didn’t register any emotion—no hope, no fear. Just acceptance. They must have been captive for quite some time.
We scurried along like squirrels until I found the ladder. It felt secure, and I couldn’t see anyone on the deck. Jeremy took up a position of watch about ten feet down from us. I pointed to the area of decking right next to the ladder.
“Lie flat,” I whispered. “When it’s your turn to climb down, keep as low as possible. I’ll go down first and make sure the coast is clear. Mikado, you take up the rear. Make sure everyone gets down safely.”
Mikado nodded, and the four prisoners lay down on their bellies beside the ladder. I quickly looked over the edge and, seeing no one, started down the ladder.
Once my feet hit the deck, I immediately located a little alcove for everyone to get into while we waited for everyone to get down. It should keep them out of sight of anyone walking along the deck. I hid behind a container and kept watch as they climbed. Once the first two boys had made it down, I put my hand up for Mikado to hold the others, and I ducked into the alcove with the first two. I had heard footfalls. Two shipmen passed us.
“Just keep an eye on that one. We may have to transfer all of its contents if it continues blowing fuses like it has.”
“Got it.”
Shift change was in full motion now. It was probably a good thing because the crew was focused on informing each other about what had happened on the previous shift and what needed to be done instead of looking for rogue passengers. I figured they wouldn’t be paying attention to much else. I checked to make sure the guards were gone before having Mikado send down the others.
One by one, the last boy, the girl, Mikado, and Jeremy made it down the ladder. I watched nervously for guards as each one descended, pulling them all into the shadowed alcove.
“Shift change is in full swing,” I said, quietly. “I’m sure the men in the fridge and the one I killed are about to be found. We don’t have much time before the whole ship starts searching for us.” We really had to speed it up. We heard footfalls and pushed closer together.
The shipmate who had been explaining what was going on with the refrigeration section walked past us in a hurry.
“We need to find a lifeboat.” Jeremy’s eyes darted around the ship, and he scratched at his hand. “Amber, you look that way, I’ll look this way.” We went opposite directions along the ship’s main deck, leaving the others to hide in the alcove. Everyone else stayed put with Mikado.
Voices echoed from a nearby stairwell. “I have no clue,” one of the crew said as the door opened.
I scampered into a cubby just to the right of the stairs and hoped Jeremy had heard the men coming.
“They’re going to be in so much trouble when they’re found,” the other crew member said. They passed me. I peeked out as the men turned into the maze of refrigerated cargo. The temperature gauges had to be checked several times a day, and I was guessing it took several crewmen to do that. To my relief, I couldn’t see Jeremy, which meant he had heard the men coming.
We both emerged and began our search for a lifeboat icon again. I had to walk in the direction the men had come, but stayed near the railing instead of entering the cargo area. About a quarter of the way down the almost 220 foot walkway, I found the icon painted on the wall of the ship. I pulled on the lever and started to yank the boat out.
A screaming alarm sounded. The removal of the boat must have triggered it. Jeremy came barreling toward me, dropping all effort at silence. He stopped at the alcove and reached in, bodily pulling the kids out of the hiding place.
“Come on! Run!” He pointed to the boat, and then ran to help me carry the heavy boat to the side. He jumped up on the railing. “Jump, or we all die!”
We jumped, hearing the sounds of shouting and yelling as we propelled ourselves as far out as possible. Mikado and the rest jumped seconds after we did.
As I fell, I kept telling myself that when I hit the water, I had to swim hard, away from the ship. All my thoughts left me, however, when I hit the water. Cold shock slammed into me. It forced me to take a breath of the salty ocean water. I gagged as I kicked my way up to the surface and what I hoped was out and away from the ship. I sputtered and coughed as I hit the surface, trying to stay above the waves, but failing as I gasped for air.
In a pop of bright yellow, the boat inflated about ten feet from me. Jeremy appeared at my side and pushed me toward it. He grabbed hold of the boat and shoved me hard up into it. I felt helpless, unable to control my coughing. I couldn’t get the air into my lungs that I needed to relax and calm down.
When my face hit the bottom of the boat, I threw up, an extremely watery mess that pooled at the side of the boat. I sucked air after that. Other bodies fell into the boat all around me. Jeremy and Mikado were helping all the rescued kids into the boat. I couldn’t seem to lift myself up to help. Finally, Jeremy’s hands grabbed me, helping me get as much exposure to fresh air as possible.
The ship was so close to us, I feared it might hit us or suck us under. Jeremy and Mikado started rowing. We were slowly but surely moving away from the ship. I coughed and sputtered, unable to be excited about our escape yet. The four escaped prisoners looked worse than I felt, clutching the sides of the lifeboat and struggling for air.
Suddenly, buzzing filled the air and two boats appeared, surrounding us. As my eyes rounded in fear, Jeremy saw what I already had. He took a deep breath and said, “You still have that gun?”
I felt around my waistband, neither gun had survived the plunge. I shook my head. I was just getting my air back, when one of the boats pulled up right next to ours and two big, buff men leapt aboard our boat.
One man tried to grab Mikado, but Mikado kicked out, sending the man overboard. The other headed for Jeremy. “Watch out!” I croaked, but my voice wasn
’t loud enough to warn Jeremy. The man punched Jeremy in the head, and he swayed, but managed to stay on his feet. Jeremy ducked, the momentum of the strike throwing the attacker over the puffed up edge of the boat and into the water. Without a moment’s pause, another solid and large man flew into the boat, taking Jeremy at his waist. I wanted to help more than anything, but I barely had the strength to move, much less fight. I did the only thing I could. I crawled over to where the four kids were sitting, watching the fight with dumbfounded expressions. I reached out and wrenched them down one by one.
“Duck,” I squawked. “Get low!”
Mikado fought another man who had come aboard our ship. Suddenly, he fell and the man overtook him. I sucked for breath again, trying to get myself ready to be useful to Jeremy. As Jeremy and the man struggled, I felt the unmistakable click of someone cocking a gun and the cold, hard feel of one touching my temple. “Call him off, Amber. Now.” That cold, cruel voice could only belong to one person: Jericho. He yanked my hands behind me and fastened them with plastic ties that cut into my skin.
“Jeremy,” I called in a weak voice. I hacked a few more times before I could try again. And by that time, Jeremy had taken the knife of the man who had attacked him and slit his throat, throwing him overboard. I’m sure the man had been a well-trained guard, but going against Jeremy was never a good idea.
“Jeremy!” I called, finally finding a voice that could be heard over the rushing water and the struggle.
He turned, a swift, even movement. When his eyes took in the scene, they changed from being on fire to a smoky ash pit. He could see that he was beat. He dropped the knife.
Jericho laughed out. “We’ll save our introductions until after we get back on the ship.”
A boat with another three hulking men with square jaws, motored up to us, and the men boarded our lifeboat and rounded up the other kids. Two other guards crossed over to our boat and threw Jeremy down, securing both his hands and feet with plastic ties. They moved us to the metal boat and secured it to large carabineers attached to winches to haul the boat up. The seven of us were attached to rings on the boats with more zip ties. Four of the guards, along with Jericho, joined us. We weren’t going anywhere.
After the guards attached four ropes to the boat, winches pulled us up to the deck. Jericho emerged from the boat first. Two guards cut our hands free and then re-tied them behind our backs with new zip ties. I stood shivering on the deck, continually clearing my throat. I still had water in places it didn’t belong.
“First things, first,” Jericho said. He raised a thick stick into the air, and before I could even think to duck, he brought it straight for my head.
Chapter 29
I closed my eyes, but the hit never came. When I opened them, I saw Agent Kozlov holding Jericho’s arm, the stick high in the air.
“I thought you understood that the merchandise was not supposed to be damaged any more than it already is.” He sneered at Jericho and then at me. He took a step toward me and grabbed my chin, digging his fingers into my jaw. I cried out in pain, sure I already had bruises. “You do something foolish like that again, and I will personally hold you down for my crew to break you in.”
Fury tinged with raw fear rushed through me. Had Jeremy been right? Was he really only doing things that protected us both? Why was he being so cruel to me now?
He jerked my head to the side before removing his fingers. My jaw ached.
“And who do we have here?” He turned his attention to Jeremy.
“I’m her uncle. Can’t you see the resemblance?” His tone was sarcastic and smart.
Kozlov backhanded Jeremy, making his whole body sway. I thought I heard something crack, and I cringed. “You think you can disrespect me? If you’re a Fed, you can kiss your life away. If not, I have a nice little coal mine picked out for you in West Africa.” He punched Jeremy in the gut, and he doubled over. The crew laughed. Kozlov turned to one of the guards and said, “Get a picture of him to Alexander, let’s see if we can find out who he is so we can apply the correct punishment. Put the merchandise back where it belongs, and bring the others back to their new little home, container RT 264. And no one gets near it until we pull up to port.” His eyes traveled over the crew and stopped on Jericho. “You understand?”
He nodded, his Adam’s apple working hard in his throat.
Kozlov lowered his voice. “I won’t tell Alexander about this little slip up, but if anything else happens, I’ll have to report it. I don’t understand how you allowed this to happen. Unbelievable.”
It took me a second to realize it, but Kozlov was speaking in Russian. I flipped my head to Jericho. He clenched his jaw, and a vein pulsed on his temple. He had definitely understood Kozlov’s words. Did that mean that Jericho knew Russian? Did he have a Russian heritage? Were his parents Russian? Or had he been working for Alexander for a while and had taken Russian classes in order to fit in better? That made more sense to me. Besides, it seemed obvious, now that I knew him better, that he was involved with the bratva for the status, the power of it.
The fire in his eyes told me he would find a way to make me pay. Of that, I was sure
I thought Kozlov would leave now that he had laid down the law, but he didn’t. He stood there, waiting to watch Jericho succeed or fail.
I watched, despondent, as the kids we’d come to save were led away with the same hopeless acceptance they’d shown when we’d taken them out of the container in the first place. It broke my heart.
With military-like precision, Jericho ordered the rest of the guards to take up positions along the path to some container that would be our home for two weeks. I glanced at Jeremy. What was going to happen to us? Would Halluis and Ace be able to send someone? And even if they did, how would we be able to get to our would-be rescuers?
Jericho assigned two guards to each of us, who held onto us as they led us up stairs until we reached the deck just below the captain’s deck.
Two rows of twenty-foot containers sat even with this deck, but directly behind the second row, they were stacked one higher. Two guards stood outside a red container labeled RT 264. I figured that was our destination. I took a deep breath as a guard shoved me forward, almost forcing me against Jeremy’s back. Jericho pushed his way to the door of the container and, using a key he pulled from his pocket, unlocked it. With a little shove, the door swung open. If it hadn’t been for the rope light wound around the bottom of the container, it would have been pitch black inside.
I gulped, thinking about the absence of windows. If for some reason we had to remain in the container for the whole two-week voyage, I’d lose my mind.
“I’d say ladies first, but I see no ladies here,” Jericho mocked, pushing Jeremy inside. His foot hit the lip of the container, and he stumbled into the container.
Jericho stepped toward me and, wanting to mitigate whatever action he was going to take, I attempted to enter the box of my own accord, but he stopped me, his arms wrapping around me and his temple resting on mine. A sticky wetness ran over my ear as he licked it. “I’ll be back for you, to teach you a little lesson in being humble.”
Ignoring the shiver that overtook me, I smashed the side of my head into his. He called me a bad name as he stepped back. I spat on him. He raised his hand to strike me, but stopped, I’m sure thinking of Kozlov only feet behind him.
Despite my attack on him, he still moved in close and said, “I’ll see you soon.” He ran his tongue around his lips as he moved back. I hurried forward, stepping over the threshold and into the dank darkness of the container.
Inside, I found Mikado huddled in the far right corner of the twenty-foot container with Jeremy sitting only a foot or so away. I took a seat on the cold, hard metal and slid my arms under my butt to the front of me. Jeremy already had his bound hands in front of him, and he had his hands raised above him ready to break the ties.
I immediately brought the bonds to the front of me and tightened them until they hurt. Raising
my hands above my head, I puffed out my stomach and slammed them into me, breaking the clasp. The plastic fell to the floor. Mikado followed suit. Mikado sat back down with his knees to his chest, and his arms wrapped around them.
That’s when I noticed all the bruising on his hands, arms and face. I reached out, but he shrank back as I got near. “What did they do to you?”
“Jericho gave me a nice welcome party.”
I hissed. “I think we need to plan our own welcome party for when he returns.”
“Definitely,” Jeremy said, moving next to me.
“Because we could totally overpower him with all our weapons, right?” Mikado huffed.
“We are weapons, Mikado,” Jeremy said. “I watched you fight at your martial arts studio. You were amazing—powerful beyond belief.”
He laughed bitterly. “Haven’t you ever heard, don’t bring a knife to a gunfight? We don’t even have a knife. I’m decent on the mat, but what could I do against semi-auto weapons?” He shook his head, then looked at Jeremy accusingly. “And why the heck were you watching me fight?”
Jeremy chose not to answer the last question.
I started to talk. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’re a machine, and you can easily take Jericho.”
“Not when he has a gun and is surrounded by four or five other guards with guns.” Mikado tsked.
“We can teach you how to disarm not only one attacker, but all of them all by yourself…of course, it will be easier with all three of us,” I said.
“You’re always the optimist, aren’t you?” Mikado mused.
Jeremy nodded. “Yes, she is. Definitely.”
“I try. I try,” I said. “Let’s get busy.”
“Now?”
“Of course. We don’t have a spare minute. We need to be ready when the next person comes through that door.”
We practiced for a good while until I could see that Mikado needed to rest. His injuries had taken a big toll on him. I was feeling tired, too, and I pushed up against Jeremy.
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