by Via Mari
“Come on, Princess, we’ve got a ton of work to do between now and tonight,” Matt says, kissing me lightly on the lips before taking my hand and guiding me back into the dining room.
“You two plan to fuck around all day while I do all the work,” Cole says, rifling through papers on the table as the microwave dings. He gets up and pulls a plate of the defrosted dessert tray that Gaby has made from the microwave and brings it to the table.
I shake my head. “I can see you’ve been working hard getting the dessert ready,” I say, pouring us each a coffee as he hands us each a small plate.
“It’s for fuel,” Cole says, his eyes dancing with amusement.
“Works for me,” I say, reaching for the spatula to scoop a piece of the strudel off the dish and onto my own plate. I then give each of the men a piece, and when I place Cole’s on his plate, use the edge of the metal spatula to scrape some of the frosting along his piece and smear it onto my own.
“For fuel,” I say, smiling widely and laughing as Cole’s eyes widen with surprise.
“You see that, Matt. We need to set some rules for this woman of yours.”
I laugh, because setting rules for me is exactly what Matt has been telling me about, wanting to teach me. Like when he won’t let me move when he’s having his way with me. All the things, but for now we have our work cut out for us, and the rules I’m thinking about are starting to leave me with a moist center.
It takes methodical planning, and we have to call in the help of our intel team to get a tracker set. We work hard as the sun comes up and throughout the day, only taking a break to order sandwiches and wolf them down in between calls to our team and getting details in place. When we finish hours and hours later, we are all feeling the need to stand up, stretch, and move around. “I’ll put in an order for pizza,” Cole says as I contemplate what’s to come and walk out to the balcony.
“Can you catch the order when it arrives,” I hear Matt say as I glance back through the screen door I’ve left open and see him throwing some bills on the table. “I’m going to spend some time with Marenah,” he says.
“No problem. You need me to give you some space for a while?” he asks.
“Unfortunately, not,” I say, catching the smile he gives his friend before he joins me on the balcony and closes the door.
It’s turning dusk and the temp has dropped a bit, not cold this time of year but just a little cooler than earlier. I wrap my arms around myself. “You okay, Princess?” Matt asks.
“I will be once we get through tonight. Thank you both for all of your help. I really don’t know how I can repay you.”
Matt grasps me around the waist and pulls me to him. “You don’t have to thank us. We want to help,” he says, and I nod.
Cole opens the balcony door. “Hey, don’t mean to break up the moment, but we’ve got movement at one of the docks. If it’s what we think, things are going to go down fast. Brian and Jenny are in town, so we’ve got Keith for the night,” he says, looking at the two of us.
Matt scowls. “Who’s on point for Jenny?”
“It’s been taken care of. She and Brian are locked up tight. No one’s coming in or out of their penthouse. Relax dude,” Cole says.
“Let’s move, then,” Matt says.
When we walk out of the skyrise and onto the street, a sleek black Cadillac is waiting for us. Matt holds open the door and I hop in and slide over to make room as he gets in beside me, and Cole jumps into the front passenger seat.
“Let’s move this thing, Keith,” Cole says to the driver.
“Roger that,” he says, and I know he’s already been apprised to where we are going. The city traffic is not as congested as it could be, but in a state of hurry, we are crawling at a less than ideal pace until Keith veers off a ramp, puts his foot to the floor, and we finally start making some time.
We’re nearing the south side dock when the driver pulls off the road and shuts the lights down. Cole turns in his seat. “I just got word that our team has visual confirmation that we’ve got women, young boys, and girls in route. They have them in a truck, and they’re heading to the dock right now. This is the one, and we’ve only got one chance. Jay and Sheldon are out of the picture, they won’t be landing for a while. Dereck and Nick have their crews in place and they’re sending in backup,” Cole says.
“Roger that,” Matt says, putting his arms around me. “How much time do we have?” he asks Cole.
“Not long. The boat’s scheduled to leave in forty minutes, and intel has the truck clocked arriving in about thirty. It’s a ten-minute move, if that. Intel says they have a lift and move scheduled, so they must have the people in a pod that’s been placed in the truck. They’ll pull it forward, hoist it with the crane, load it on the boat just like they do with any other product, and that ship will sail right the fuck into a different country if we don’t stop it,” Cole says.
“When do we move in?” I ask.
“We’re positioned where we’ll see the truck go by. We’ll follow it to the dock and be in place in case something goes south, but we’ve got air support coming in, and our ground crews are in place.”
“Excellent,” I say at the very moment Keith lets us know the truck will be passing us in the next few minutes and to hold tight. We all wait, watching the traffic, and the minute a large semi lumbers by us, Keith pulls out behind it, and my chest tightens at the thought that if we don’t stop this vehicle, innocent people will be sold off into the world of modern-day sex slavery.
We are tailing close enough to keep the truck in sight, doing about sixty miles per hour, but Keith has allowed a discreet couple of cars’ distance to alleviate any suspicion, at least until we get closer to the dock. “What’s the plan when the truck exits to the ramp?” I ask.
“Don’t worry, Princess. We have inside help. Interpol is extremely interested in situations like this, and they’re sending their people in to provide support and backup,” Matt says.
Fuck! I knew his equipment was Interpol issue, but it’s clear that he has no clue that the division has been corrupted and that the same people he thinks are going to swoop in and save us could in fact be the same people that are in charge of trafficking millions of people to different countries every day.
Matt
Marenah’s looking at me like she wants to say something, but Cole’s voice disrupts my thoughts. “Interpol’s swooping down. ETA less than five minutes.”
“We’ll go in from the rear and cover the exit. We don’t give these fuckers an escape route,” I say.
“Roger that,” Keith says, swinging off the highway.
“Where are you going, man?” Cole says as we watch the truck continue down the road.
“We know where they’re headed. Trust me. I know these docks like the back of my hands. I grew up running shit around this area. We’re going to slide in from the back, and they’ll never see us coming,” Keith says, navigating us down the frontage road that runs parallel with Lake Michigan.
“Roger that,” I say because Keith was born and raised in Chi-town and there’s nothing about the underground that he doesn’t know. I message Scottie to see how far away they are, and he’s got his team in place with air support, on the alert, if needed.
Keith pulls up behind a warehouse, and we wait as the truck begins to plod down the road, and then turns and starts to back up toward the dock adjacent to a large ship vessel.
“Hold up everyone. Intel just got wind of explosives on the truck. One false move and these fuckers will blow that truck, those people, and any evidence they were ever here away,” Cole says.
“We need to get to the captain. I’m going,” Marenah says, opening the door and rolling out of the car, but I’ve been watching her, sensing a change. I don’t understand it, but something isn’t right. As soon as she pops that lock, I reach for her, but she’s just a little too
quick. Fuck. I roll out the same side she did, but she’s got a few seconds on me now, and my princess can move. I don’t catch up to her until she slides into the shadows beside the boat’s ramp. There are a couple ways to get on this thing, but the guards have the easy way blocked, and Marenah knows it. This doesn’t deter her one bit as she slides into the lake and disappears underneath the water.
I see exactly where she’s heading and take off after her. She hadn’t planned on being pursued by a man who had no parents to pay for extracurricular activities at school, and who instead swam the currents of the lake for exercise and stress relief in his high school years and continues to use that as a conventional source of exercise.
I reach her just as she comes up for air. She thinks she’s going to climb those fucking stairs and go onto this ship filled with enemies all by herself. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Princess?” I growl softly, pulling her soaked body back into my own.
She turns in my arms, hanging onto the stairs that she intended to climb, treading water, looking up at the massive boat above us. Her eyes are intense, watching me, and her heart is racing against my body. “Marenah, tell me what’s going on Princess? Whatever it is, I’ll help you if it’s for the right cause,” I say, pushing her drenched locks away from her face.
“I think we have a traitor in our midst,” she says.
“Who? Tell me that, Marenah,” I say.
She’s intermittently glancing at me, contemplating, and it’s longer than I would usually allow for an answer, but I give her time, just watching her as she processes. “Interpol, I’m not sure who, but some of them are trafficking. We may be walking into a trap. We have to get to the captain and take over where this vessel goes. If anything goes wrong, that’s the only thing that’s going to save these people,” Marenah says.
Fuck! I reach for my phone to send our team a text and realize that I’ve lost signal thrashing through the turbulent waters of Lake Michigan. I can no longer connect with my team silently and I’m dependent on my mic and headset. Interpol is only a few moments out and timed to reach the boat exactly when the passengers are supposed to board. “You’re right, Princess. We’re taking over the goddamn ship. I’ve lost all connectivity, so it’s you and me. I’m going up first, cover me,” I say, spinning her and heading up the ladder, pressed flush against the hull as I make my way upward.
I’m only halfway up when I hear voices above and pause. They seem to move on, and I continue the climb, but slowly. I’ve almost reached the top when the team alerts me to the incoming helicopter. I double-time it up the remaining stairs and pull her over and up, pushing her head down just before the lights of the craft come into view and light up the entire surroundings.
“Let’s go,” I say, grasping her, crawling across the deck, slowly inching toward the door that will take us to the captain. I reach and open it, standing and taking a moment to get my legs back while pulling her inside the door and upright, too. She stretches to one side and then the other.
I look her over to see if she’s okay, and she raises her eyes at me. “I’m good,” Marenah whispers.
I take her hand, keeping us both pressed against the wall of the hull as we make our way to the north side of the ship, where I believe the captain will be. We shimmy along the walls and are fortunate that most of the men have been sent out to the shore to oversee the incoming. We settle in behind the mammoth man who oversees the ship and is talking into his speakers. “The packages are being loaded. We’ll be on our way shortly,” the captain says to whoever is at the helm.
“Roger that, Lad. Let’s get this ship sailing as quickly as we can,” a voice says over the speaker in the main quarters.
Marenah’s pure look of fear after hearing that voice and my knowing precisely who it is tells me everything that I need to know. I put a finger to her lips, pressing against them to keep her silent, but also to calm her.
Instead of looking scared, she sucks my thumb and then my forefinger into her mouth, and when she looks up at me with those wide blue eyes, my cock hardens with desire at the most inopportune time.
I keep her pressed against me, quiet, just waiting, watching her eyes dilate and grow hazy as she continues to suck my fingers. Fuck she is hot!
I know that my team will do everything in their power to keep these innocent people safe, but Marenah is right. If something goes south, we are in precisely the place that we need to be.
The water is cold this time of year, and her body is drenched. She shivers, and I wrap my arms tighter around her, pulling her back against me, sliding my hand down her nape. Her pulse is racing, and I wish I could talk to her, but one sound could bring the entire mission down.
Instead, I keep Marenah pressed tight against me, running my hand along her arms to keep her warm as I listen to my team deal with the situation on the dock.
“The truck gate is opening. No one moves until we get a lock on the fuckers that are moving these people,” Cole says.
“Roger that,” the team says, almost in unison.
It’s quiet for a few moments, and then all hell breaks loose. “Steady guys, let’s make sure we’ve got the person responsible for moving these people.”
There’s shuffling in my headset and then nothing but utter chaos.
Marenah
When I hear that voice, I cringe, knowing for sure. I always suspected Scottie. His name was on every single file and always assigned in the same area the trafficking occurred, but somehow every question that arose he always seemed to have an answer for.
Matt keeps me pressed against him, trying to keep us warm, but suddenly the sound of boots stomping down the hall begin, and the sound of Scottie’s voice gets closer and closer. Matt puts his finger back on my lip, gesturing me to keep quiet as he pulls my body even tighter against his own and into the recessed little alcove we’re hiding in behind the cabin as a group of men barrel past us.
As soon as the men get into the main quarters, we hear the captain’s loud and aggravated voice. “We’ve got heat this trip. Get rid of them in the next ten minutes or the trailer’s going up in flames and we’re heading out,” he says.
My heart sinks at the thought of all those people being wiped out in one explosion, and I know even if it weren’t my job, I can’t allow it. I’ve evaluated the sounds of boots, and by my best guess, Scottie’s got two men with him, plus the captain. I don’t know how close Matt’s surveillance team is, but it doesn’t even matter, because they’ve been made and if they get any closer to these people, they will be dust in moments. The men in the cabin are not about to get caught. They would rather blow a truckload of innocent people up and turn them and the truck into ashes.
I evaluate my weapons and our options. It’s clear the captain is the one calling the shots to the man at the helm, and the only way we’re going to stop this is to take him out, and it’s not going to be easy with Scottie and whoever else he has with him running sidekick.
I gesture to Matt with my finger, letting him know that we need to go in. He shakes his head no and my heart sinks. His team has been made and he knows it, the captain is getting ready to blow the fucking truck and send these innocent people to an early grave and he tells me no. I don’t fucking think so. I do a mental play-by-play of my weapons one more time, checking through all my escape routes, and then grasp Matt’s hand, which is still on my nape, and bring it to my lips.
I draw his finger back into my mouth, sucking on it and watch in the dim light as his eyes grow hazy and his hand moves from my nape, hitting his headset with one hand so he can listen to an incoming call. “Roger that,” he says as his other hand makes its way down my body, caressing my waist. It is at the perfect height and I grasp his wrist, turn it and bend it, intending to get free and get to the men in the cabin before they can hit the button that will send tons of people to an early death, but he’s somehow faster than me and won’t allow it.
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He grasps my wrists and pins them behind my back, but suddenly another team of boots start clomping down the stairs, and it’s now or never if we are going to save them. I swivel, turning and pivoting, so I’m no longer captive, pulling my Glock from my waistband as I march forward and take the entire captain’s cabin by surprise.
Scottie’s look of surprise is priceless along with the other two fuckers from Interpol. Those sons of bitches are not about to take these innocent people to an early grave. I will not allow it, and I hope to hell he knows that as I plow into him using his surprise to push my gun into the side of his temple. “Call off the execution order. If you don’t, you die.”
Matt walks into the room, his own Glock pulled, walking toward us and then aims it directly at me. “Drop it Marenah, or you will die,” he says, and if I thought he was talking to Scottie he clarifies for me exactly whose side he’s on. “You’re testing my patience tonight. Drop that fucking weapon or the whole trailer goes up in smoke.” My breath catches and heart pounds. I knew his equipment was standard issue, the same that all the Interpol ops have. I knew they were involved, and that this was a very real possibility, yet I let my heart and emotions take over and I let him in. How fucking stupid, and now every one of those people will suffer at the hands of these men.
The chambering of a round in Matt’s Glock brings me back to the present, and I know that he has at least seventeen after that, and even if he didn’t, the men in the room would overtake me, so when he tells me to drop my weapon again, I do exactly that. I swallow back my tears as Scottie pins my hands in front of me and locks the handcuffs around them. “Get her out of here and get those people moving. We’ve got the tails covered and taken out. We’re down to minutes to get this boat loaded, Lad,” Scottie says to Matt.
