by Trish Loye
“As long as I get a chance to satisfy you too.”
“Count on it.” He gave her a soft kiss and tucked the blanket around her. “Get some rest. I’ll stand watch. As soon as the storm passes, we’ll leave.”
Sleep came almost instantly, her body exhausted and satisfied…and her thoughts on home.
Derrick let the tarp fall back into place and checked his watch. Three in the morning. The rain had almost stopped and the storm had passed by. It was safe to go on the water now and still dark enough that the fishermen wouldn’t be up.
Cassie slept on the blanket they’d shared earlier. She’d been so beautiful in her response to him. God, he just wanted to crawl back into that blanket with her and make love to her until they were both senseless. But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t lose control in enemy territory. He’d promised Rose he’d protect her mother and he would do that, no matter what.
He crouched down beside Cassie and touched her shoulder. “Time to go.”
Cassie jolted upright and jerked away from him. His heart squeezed at seeing the automatic fear in her eyes. It would be a long time before that left. “It’s okay, Cassie. It’s me. It’s time to go.”
Her gaze darted around and fear coated her voice. “Soldiers?”
“None that I can see,” he said calmly. “We’re safe for the moment.”
She nodded and took some deep breaths. She nodded again as if she were mentally talking to herself, building up her confidence. She stood and folded the blanket. He handed her his water bladder and she hesitated only a moment before drinking. That was a good sign.
“I’m ready,” she said a moment later after he’d found her a dark spot outside to relieve herself.
“Let’s go,” he said.
They moved from house to shadow to building, toward the docks. Nothing moved in the aftermath of the storm. The misting rain soon soaked them again. A wind off the ocean stole any warmth they’d generated under the blanket. Cassie didn’t mention the cold or her shivers, so he didn’t either. He trusted her to tell him when things got bad.
Derrick left Cassie in the shadow of a two-story concrete building while he prowled the variety of boats docked along the shore. Some were tied to the pier while others floated apart from the docks, attached to buoys. Those he dismissed because he didn’t want Cassie in the cold water unless they had no choice. He prowled the docks until he found the one he wanted. He did a quick recce, before heading back and signaling Cassie.
With a quick glance around, she ran to him. He led her out on a rickety, narrow dock past large and small fishing boats until he stopped at the small but well-maintained craft he’d chosen. About twenty feet long, it had a covered helm and a small hatch that led below.
“It’s good?” she asked.
“It has a decent motor that looks to be in good shape. And most importantly, a full gas tank. Help me untie her.”
They untied the lines and hopped on board. Cassie went to the hatch and tugged. It wouldn’t budge.
“Locked.” Derrick hadn’t bothered to break in. He hoped they wouldn’t be on the boat long enough to need to shelter below deck. He lowered the motor into the water, making sure the blades could rotate freely.
He heard a small sound of distress, pulled his Sig Sauer and spun to find a strange man holding a blade to Cassie’s throat.
20
Cassie wanted to apologize when the rage flashed over Derrick’s face before he schooled his features into what Cassie termed his professional hard-ass look. How could she have let someone sneak up on her?
Derrick held a wicked-looking handgun, leveled at them both. Logically, she knew it was pointed at the man with the knife, but she could still see down the barrel. Her heart pounded against her ribcage like a prisoner screaming for release.
The man behind her was about her height and smelled of salt, fish, and body odor. Not pleasant but expected if you lived on your boat, which was what he must do. The open hatch beside them indicated where he’d come from. He must have been sleeping below. Why had she assumed that no one would be below if it was locked?
“Thieves,” the man said in Korean. “Foreign thieves.”
“Ani,” she denied in Korean, keeping her voice as calm as she could considering he had a knife to her throat. “No. We just wanted to…borrow it.” Omigod. How lame did that sound?
The man made an exasperated sound. “You will pay with your life for your mistake. I don’t let anyone steal from me.”
“What’s he saying, Cass?” Derrick said in a low, dangerous voice.
“He’s calling us thieves,” she said.
“Well, we are.” He stepped closer to them. The man tightened his grip on Cassie and the blade dug into her throat. A wet warmth trickled down her neck. Derrick’s gaze narrowed but he didn’t move closer. “Can he speak English?”
“I don’t think so,” she whispered. Then she spoke Korean. “We’re trying to escape. Please help us. Please.”
“Why should I? You were going to steal my livelihood.”
She switched to English. “I’m not having any luck reasoning with him.”
“I don’t want you to move.” Derrick’s face dropped all semblance of emotion. A killing face.
“Don’t kill him,” she said. “We’re the ones in the wrong.”
Derrick sighed softly. “Fine. When I tell you to, I want you to grab his forearm with all your strength and pull it down your chest. Not away from your neck, but down. Keep it close to your chest.”
“And then?”
“Then I’ll do the rest.” His voice held danger.
“Stop talking!” The man pulled her back a step, off balance.
“What if I can’t?” she whispered in English.
Derrick stayed focused on the man, though he spoke to her. “You are the strongest woman I know. You can do this. You will do this.”
“Well, that’s a little arrogant,” she muttered. But a grin ghosted on Derrick’s lips and it boosted her up. He was right. She could do this.
“Stop talking!” The man’s voice had risen.
A light came on in the building on the dock. They might have company soon.
“I’m ready,” she said.
“Now,” he whispered.
Adrenaline flushed her system. She yanked at the man’s wrist and forearm, pulling it down her body, slightly bending forward to put her weight into it. The man grunted and twisted his arm, trying to slash at her neck. She dug her fingers into his wrist and arm, straining to hold it close to her and yet away from her neck. A whimper escaped her.
Then Derrick was there. He seized the hand holding the knife and hauled it away from her. With a powerful strike, he hit the man in the temple with the butt of his gun. The man thudded to the deck and lay still.
Cassie’s chest heaved as if she’d forgotten to breathe the whole time the knife had been against her throat.
Derrick threw the knife aside and pulled her into his arms. “I’ve got you. You’re okay.”
She buried her face in his chest and wrapped her arms around him, wanting nothing more than to just breathe in his scent. But they weren’t safe yet. She pulled away. Now wasn’t the time to lose herself in Derrick, though she could finally admit to herself that she wanted to. “Do you have any more of those zip-ties?”
She could feel his reluctance in letting her go by the way his hands caressed up her sides, down her arms before dropping away. He grabbed two zip-ties from one of his pockets and tossed one to her. He flipped the man over and looped it around his hands, yanking tight. So she took hers and pulled the man’s feet together. She could feel Derrick’s gaze but didn’t look up or ask for help. She wasn’t as quick as him, but when she yanked the zip-tie tight, a grim satisfaction filled her.
This fucker wasn’t going anywhere. She grinned up at Derrick.
“Come on, Little Wolf,” he said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Elation filled her. They were going to do it. They were
going to leave this country.
“I assume you’ve got a bigger boat stashed somewhere,” she said. “’Cause I don’t think this is meant to cross the ocean.”
He laughed, found the key by the ignition, and turned over the engine. The noise made Cassie cringe, but no more lights came on. No one came running from any of the buildings. She watched the docks while Derrick expertly steered the boat away from port.
Once they were out in open water, Cassie strained to see anything in the dark. She shifted from foot to foot. “How far?”
“It won’t be long now,” he said. “We just have to go twelve nautical miles offshore to make it to international waters. Our ship will be waiting for us there.”
They drove without any lights and the engine couldn’t completely cover the sound of waves breaking against the boat’s hull. She tried hard not to think about the dark water roiling below the boat. The waves rolled and broke against the hull. She focused on the engine, but all she heard was the sloshing of water in a bucket. She shook her head, trying to stay present.
She wasn’t back there. They were getting away from there. She would be safe soon. The wind bit into her and she hugged herself.
Derrick pulled her against him as he continued to steer and watch the black horizon. “Look at the stars,” he said. “Focus on them. It’ll help.”
How did the man always know? But rather than being contrary, she looked through the window and the beauty of what was above them settled her. While she’d been on this trip, there hadn’t been an opportunity to look at the stars because she’d been under the foliage of the forest for most of the time. The millions of pinpricks of light flung across the sky captured her attention. Her breathing evened out and she kept looking at the sky and feeling Derrick’s warm body against her.
“Almost there,” Derrick murmured. He pulled his arm from her and touched his throat mic. “Bravo Two, this is Bravo One. Come in.”
Derrick nodded. “This is Bravo One. We are inbound to you. About six miles off the coast and moving west at twenty knots.” He listened again. “Copy that. We’ll be ready.”
Almost there.
A light appeared in the distance. “Is that your team?” she asked.
Derrick stiffened. “No. That’s coming from the north.” He got back on his radio. “Bravo Two, this is Bravo One. We have potential contact from the north.” Derrick grunted at whatever their response was. “Get a move on, Spooky. We don’t have long…roger. Bravo One out.”
“Who do you think it is?” she asked. “Could it be another fishing boat?”
Derrick twirled the wheel so their course veered farther south. “I doubt it.”
Oh, God.
Her heart rate tripled. “Can we go faster?”
“No.”
“How far?” She watched as the light grew bigger. It was clearly a large boat speeding its way to them.
Derrick pressed his lips together, as if stopping his words.
“Answer me.” She glanced again at the coming lights. “How far until we reach international waters?”
“Too far.”
She stepped back and ran a hand over her grimy hair. No. They’d come too far to get recaptured. “There must be something we can do.” She glanced at the dark churning water. “Can we swim and wait for your team to pick us up?”
“They’re still too far. We need ten minutes.”
Crap. All they needed was ten minutes to get to safety. She frowned. “They’ll be here in ten minutes?”
He nodded.
An idea came to her. “We’ll just have to stall.”
“You have a plan?”
When she told him her idea, he wasn’t excited about it, but he had no choice.
She shook the fisherman awake and spoke Korean to him. “We need your help.”
The man glared at her. “Why should I help you?”
She pulled out her wolf necklace. Derrick’s gaze sharpened.
“It’s gold,” she told the fisherman.
He studied it. “What do you want?”
She told him and he laughed.
“If you don’t help us,” she told him as she cut his zip-ties with Derrick’s knife, “then we’ll tell them you were helping us escape.”
The man’s eyes widened. “No!”
“Yes,” she said ruthlessly. “Help us or you’ll go to prison. You wouldn’t survive a year in Hwasong.”
“Bitch.”
She shrugged and glanced at the North Korean naval ship now clearly visible. “You know you have to do as we say.”
“We don’t have much time, Cass,” Derrick murmured.
She stood. “He’ll do it,” she said in English. “He has no choice.”
“I don’t like this.” He held up a hand when she glared at him. “I know. No choice.” He moved close and pressed his handgun into her hand. “Do you know how to use this?”
“The basics.”
He nodded and she was thankful he didn’t mention her trembling hand when she took the gun. His dark eyes captured hers and his hand brushed her cheek. “We’ll get you a new necklace.”
Her heart leapt and did a free fall. She nodded.
“We’re getting out of this,” he said. “And then we’re going to talk.”
She clung to his words like the lifeline they were. “We’re going to do more than talk.”
His gaze went to her lips and a grin flitted across his face. “Damn straight.”
“They’re almost here,” the fisherman snarled in Korean.
Cassie stepped back from Derrick. “Showtime,” she said. “Get below.”
“I’ll be listening.” He stepped down the ladder into the darkness. “Any word in English, and I’ll come.”
He didn’t close the hatch but stepped farther into the shadows, where he couldn’t be seen. She hid Derrick’s coat that she’d been wearing under a tarp. Derrick had the daypack with her camera. She hunkered down next to a coil of rope. The fisherman had assumed control of the wheel. She pulled some strands of hair around her face. Her clothes were dirty and torn and actually matched the dirty and torn sweater and jeans of the fisherman.
“What’s your name?” she asked him.
“Min-jun. I’ll call you Soo-mi. That’s my wife’s name.” His lip curled. “She went to Hwasong five years ago.”
Regret filled her. This man had already been through so much and they were putting him through more. “I’m sorry.”
He glared at her. “She spoke against our great leader. I was the one who turned her in.”
Oh fuck.
A spotlight highlighted the main cabin. A loudspeaker clicked on. “Stop your boat and prepare to be boarded.”
Men in uniform lined the brightly lit naval vessel. It dwarfed the little fishing boat. Min-jun no longer looked smug as he shut off their engine. The noise of the large vessel’s engines overpowered any other sound. Her breath came in little pants and she started to notice all the details around her with a vivid clarity—the slickness of the deck, the lingering odor of rotting fish, the twitching of Min-jun’s left eye. Only the knowledge of having Derrick below, watching her, let her stand still. She trembled; her heart pounded with the need to escape, but she stood her ground.
Barely.
“We have guns targeting your boat. If you try to flee, you will be destroyed.” The voice spoke of their destruction with no emotion.
The naval ship reversed its engines, drowning them in a roar and slowing its forward momentum. Sailors moved about on deck, but their spotlights were kept trained on the much smaller fishing boat. The ship slowed and halted, though its engines still churned. Men in black combat uniforms with assault rifles lowered a Zodiac into the water before climbing down into it. It looked as though they were sending soldiers, not just sailors, after her. Naked fear showed on Min-jun’s face. The Zodiac bounced over the waves to the fishing boat, their spotlight shining first on Min-jun then sweeping past and finding her. She lifted her hands automatically. She
just had to stall until Derrick’s team arrived. She could do this.
The Zodiac bumped alongside the fishing boat. Six soldiers with assault rifles leapt on board, leaving one to man the motor.
“Get on your knees,” the lead soldier said in Korean. “Hands on your head.”
Both she and Min-jun dropped down and obeyed. She couldn’t seem to get enough air. Oh God, this was happening.
The soldier slung his rifle and planted himself in the middle of the boat. “Is there anyone else on board?”
“No,” she said quickly before Min-jun could say anything. “What’s this about? We’re just a fishing vessel.”
The lead soldier stomped over to her and shined a flashlight in her face. “Where’d you get the bruises?”
She glanced at Min-jun before she dropped her gaze. “My husband… I…I made him angry.”
The soldier snorted. “Nice try.”
A scuffle sounded behind them. The soldier turned. Min-jun had struggled to his feet while another soldier tried to restrain him. “She made me!” he shouted. “I’m innocent.”
“Sure you are,” the soldier said. “Gag and bind him.”
Within moments, they dragged a flailing, but silent Min-jun onto the Zodiac. Cassie almost felt sorry for him.
“Now, Cassandra Kwon, it’s time for you to pay for your crimes.”
She gasped. The soldier tilted his head to fully see her face. “Yes, that’s right. We know who you are. You can’t escape righteous justice. Choe shi will see you punished and executed for your crimes. Get up.”
She stood on shaky legs.
“Come,” he ordered.
She’d run out of time. What else could she say to stall? The guard snarled at her to move. They were still speaking Korean, so Derrick hadn’t been alerted yet. He wouldn’t come on deck until she spoke English.
She hoped.
Just keep the guard talking. She only had to stall for a few minutes.
“This is all a mistake,” she said.
“Shut up,” he said. “Or I will bind and gag you as well.”
