by Diana Downey
Eyeing Tang, the man holding the truncheon slaps it into his palm. Tang trembles and steps back.
Chang checks his watch and paces in the room. “We don’t have much time. Get him a computer, and if he accesses anything but his bank accounts, you’ll be in his chair,” he spits out.
Tang noticeably shakes in his boots. The other men don’t appear as worried.
“You should’ve stuck with me,” I say to Tang. “I don’t beat or threaten my employees.”
He scowls at me and opens up the laptop on the desk. He keys into it before walking over to me.
I don’t know when I’ll be able to use my hands. They’ve fallen asleep, and pins and needles stab at them.
“Untie him,” Tang barks out.
The other men laugh at him. “Do it yourself,” the big man says.
Tang picks up snips and cuts off the ties. Chang checks his phone periodically before wandering back to the door. He reminds me of a cornered rat.
I rub my hands to regain feeling, and my battered arms ache from the exertion. They wheel me over to the computer where I attempt to peck at the keyboard, even that is too much effort.
I have it set up so that my accounts cannot transfer large amounts of money without my explicit verbal order. It takes seven days before a transfer can go through, and the bank has to notify me. I’ll need to keep that information from them.
But if this buys me some time, I may be able to come up with something to get me out of this mess. Exhaustion sinks my wasted body. I’m one big bruise and cannot think clearly. My hands shake with the effort of pressing down the keys.
Blood from my face drips onto the keyboard, and my ribs, especially where the bull slammed into me hurts like a mother.
“Hurry up,” Tang screams.
The truncheon comes down on my back, and I grit my teeth from the knives piercing my body. Everything hurts.
I don’t think I’ll get to see my princess again or fish on the banks of the Kenai with her, and that hurts worst of all.
Chapter Willa
I’ve never seen Cyn so distraught. Her lips are thinned and her brow crinkled, like she’s going to cry. I don’t know how she’s keeping anything together. The Chinese, like Manny, have no problem killing. Cyn told me she found Shane’s ex-girlfriend dead.
When are we going to be free? We’re putting our men in danger, and I don’t like this. This is our problem, not theirs, but I couldn’t get Aedan to stay home. He insisted on coming.
Tanner lands the chopper on the docks down from Wong’s warehouses. It took us hardly any time to get here. I don’t take any chance but load the assault weapon right away.
Aedan cups my cheek and kisses me. “I love you, Willa.”
His words bring tears to my eyes. “I love you, too.” I don’t want our relationship to end here. We made love several times last night, and my sex is a little sore. My first time was perfect because I had the right man.
We prep for a fight, the element of surprise our only advantage. Cyn only has three flak jackets. She gives one to Fay, me, and Aedan. I want her to wear it, but she won’t go for that.
“You should wear it,” Aedan says, passing it back.
“It’s Shane, so it’s too big, and you have the least amount of experience shooting a gun.”
Interestingly, Tanner has his own. I can’t believe we’re going into a strange place heavily armed. We could be arrested, but that’s the least of our problems. What if Shane is already dead? The Chinese killed Lindsey in cold blood.
We carry our weapons in gym bags, so the dockworkers don’t call the police. It’s oddly quiet, and I’m afraid to find out why. Several neat rows of warehouses line the docks as well as metal storage bins.
“Which warehouses belong to Wong?” I ask Aedan.
“There was one we weren’t allowed to enter during our filming,” Aedan says. “I bet that’s where they’re holding Shane. Wong was pretty secretive about what was stored in that one.”
Using the cargo storage bins as cover, we stalk to a warehouse right on the water. Aedan leads the way, and he has the least amount of experience with guns. Until the shooting range, he’d never shot an assault rifle.
My muscles tense holding my bagged rifle. I’d feel better with it in my hands.
Once we get to the warehouse, we wait and watch. Two black Escalades are parked out front, but it appears quiet until a couple men walk out of the building. One lights up a cigarette, and they speak in Mandarin.
After seeing the Asian men and the Escalades, Cyn closes her eyes in relief. We may have a shot. Gesturing for us to stay, Cyn leaves us and circles around to the back.
When she returns, she whispers, “Shane’s in there.”
From her pinched expression, I can tell she’s fighting off tears. She relaxes her shoulders and blows out steady breaths.
“They beat him,” she says. “He’s working on a laptop, probably accessing his foreign bank accounts.”
“Maybe we should call the police,” Tanner offers.
Fay grips his arm, and he comforts her with gentle words of encouragement. “I’ll protect you.”
Looking unsure, Cyn chews on her lower lip. “Calling the police could make it worse. There are four men watching him inside. One is Tang, and he’s the only one not armed.” She swallows, staring off in the distance.
“Wong isn’t in there, and there’s probably a lot more working for him on the docks,” she says. “I have to get Shane out of there.” She chokes on her words, her hands trembling.
“We’ll back you up,” I say. “What do we need to do?”
“I can crawl in through the window,” she says. “If you could remain covered and shoot the two men on Shane’s right, I’ll take the two on the left.”
She makes it sound easy, when it’s not. I swallow and nod while watching around us. No one has discovered us yet.
“Let me do it,” Aedan says.
My body feels like it’s shutting down. Little Manny lies dead in my mind, cramping my stomach. I can’t let Shane die. “I’m a better shot. Why don’t you cover me?”
“What should we do?” Fay asks clutching Tanner’s hand.
“Watch for stragglers and stay out of sight,” Cyn says, emotionless. “Let us know if someone is coming.”
“We’re in this together,” I tell her. She and Fay are all I have left other than Dad rotting in prison.
“Stay behind us and keep an eye on everything around us,” Cyn says and then she stealthily moves like a feline through the bins and toward the back of the warehouse.
Aedan and I follow her. Holding my rifle at my side, I walk backward, keeping a lookout. When we reach the back of the warehouse, Cyn slips quietly through the window and slinks through rows of crates.
Aedan boosts me up to the window. I make a little bit of noise and freeze halfway through it, waiting for someone to hear me. No one comes, so I continue and come up in the rear of Cyn. I don’t watch for Aedan. I focus on Cyn to signal for me to shoot.
We get into position, and I can see Shane finger the keyboard. He’s bleeding all over, so my breath catches in my throat. He moves slowly as if he’s in excruciating pain, and my heart aches for this man. It would take a lot to hurt him, and from his injuries, he’s suffering. I don’t think we can depend on him for any help.
Cyn crouches behind a metal crate. Her assault rifle rests on the top of a crate while she eyes her targets. I do the same, nerves twitching inside my arms and tingling in my legs squatting in a cramped position. I’m a good shot, and I can’t believe I’ll kill another human being, but Shane is practically my brother.
She glances at me and nods. She picks off the closest man to Shane and then the other. Each slumps to the ground, the crack of gunfire echoing in the cavernous metal box. Blood pools around the men.
I hesitate a second too long, my previous deeds weighing heavily on my mind. I pick off one of my two marks but not before he gets off a shot. It hits me squarely in the ch
est and knocks the wind out of me.
The powerful blow sends me sprawling backward, and it hurts so bad I believe the shot penetrated the vest. No, it can’t be. It’s just a massive bruise on my chest.
Aedan swoops me up in his arms. “Willa, Willa,” he cries.
From the corner of my eye, I see Tang run for the door. Cyn gets off another shot and hits him in the leg. He’s bleeding profusely and crawls toward the exit.
I gasp for air and can’t seem to take in a lungful. Aedan pulls me closer to him but doesn’t squeeze.
“I can’t breathe,” I choke out.
Cyn looks at me and then Shane. From her pained expression, she’s torn between the two of us. She checks the vest. “It didn’t go through. You’ll be okay.”
I touch my chest, and there’s no blood. I gesture for her to go to him. Shane staggers up from the bench, stumbling toward us.
Oh God, he’s badly hurt. He can barely walk, but he hurries toward Cyn.
As he jets behind a crate, he motions for her to get down. A volley of gunfire hurls over our heads. A bullet pierces through a crate next to my face, and I flinch.
“Move,” Shane says, pointing to the back and picking up my rifle.
Aedan picks me up and carries me out while Shane and Cyn back toward the window we came through. Their rifles point toward where the gunfire came from.
Shane doesn’t fire and indicates to Cyn not to either, probably to not give away our position. He’s barefoot and his big toes are smashed, and I almost cry out from the blood and bones poking through the ripped skin. The toenails are completely ripped off.
I think I’m going to be sick.
We crawl through the window, which is quite the feat for Shane. Cyn helps him, but he’s grimacing in pain.
“You sure as shit didn’t listen to me, princess,” he says, using his battered arms to push himself off the sill.
Cyn used to scowl at her nickname, but now she relishes in the warmth in which he says her pet name. “It’s a good thing. Now, we’ll die together.”
“No, we won’t,” he says.
Taking in staggered breaths while grunting, he crawls outside into the bright sunny day where anyone can see us.
Cyn scoots through the window last. She slings her arms around his neck. “Yes, yes. I’ll marry you.”
Shane grins and kisses her naughtily, his hand groping her butt and pushing her into his groin. All the while, he grits his teeth in pain. “We’ll discuss this later, princess—in private.”
She gives him a half-hearted grin, tears forming at the edge of her eyes. “Oh Shane, how are we going to get out of this?”
“We will,” he says. “There aren’t many of them here yet, but more may come. Wong is waiting on a heroin shipment. It should be at the docks anytime now.”
My chest hurts, and I can’t really draw in a full breath. “Doesn’t that mean more drug traffickers will show up?” We’re not out of the woods yet.
Aedan lets me stand. My chest feels like a baseball smacked me right in the center. We reach the bins close to the docks where we left Fay and Tanner.
“Where are Fay and Tanner?” I ask, looking around.
Shane holds me back behind him. “Where were they?”
“Here,” I half sob.
Cyn raises her rifle and points ahead of us. Shane stalks slowly in front of her, his rifle raised and his body erect despite the injuries.
The gunfire hasn’t stopped, and I don’t know where it’s coming from. Who are they shooting at? Are Fay and Tanner in a gun battle? I don’t want her to die.
As we creep up to the next storage bin, Shane tells us to halt with a signal of his hand. When I peek around the corner of the bin, my stomach climbs into my throat, burning it raw.
Tanner lies in a puddle of blood, and Fay is slumped over in her captor’s arms. The Asian man has a gun pointed at her head, and I feel sick. No. Using the back of my arm, I wipe the flood of tears flowing down my cheeks.
“Wong, let her go,” Shane orders in that deep growl of his. The rifle is pointed at Wong’s head.
“You need to walk away,” Wong says, visibly shaking. “I will take her with me, and you will give me my money.”
Blood drips from Fay’s head, and I want to go to her, but Shane holds us back. From the way she’s leaning over his arm, I can’t tell if she’s dead or alive.
Chapter Cyn
I stand there frozen while Wong holds my sister. If he leaves with her, she’ll end up dead like Lindsey. I couldn’t stand that, even if we don’t stand a chance given all the gunfire. It’s coming from the docks, and I haven’t had the chance to see what the hell is going on. The explosions and rapid report of automatic weapons storm in my ears. It sounds like a war.
Tanner hasn’t once stirred, and we need to get to him. Don’t let him be dead. It’ll crush Fay. He seems like a good guy, and she deserves him, like I deserve my not so Prince Charming.
I lift my rifle and take careful aim. Shane hasn’t moved from his position where he has Wong in his crosshairs. Like his brother Red, he’s an excellent marksman.
Fay’s eyes flutter open. When her gaze lands on Tanner, she screams and struggles against Wong’s hold. She needs to hold still. This asshole is not going to take my sister.
I don’t threaten or even speak. Holding my breath and waiting for her to relax, I shoot, my bullet finding its target and drilling a hole through his head.
Fay screams even louder and scowls at me. That was a clean shot.
“Great shot, princess,” Shane says. I can hear the smile and pride in his voice.
Shock spreads across Wong’s face as he drops her and crumples to the asphalt. She frees herself from the tangle of arms and legs to scramble to Tanner’s motionless body. The puddle of blood has grown, and she sobs over his body.
Shane rushes over to him, checks for a pulse, and applies pressure to the wound on his chest. “He has a punctured lung. I need petroleum jelly to seal the wound, so he can breathe.”
He used to work for Fairbanks Search and Rescue. It’s how he found my dead mother before the feds.
“I have some in the chopper,” Fay says, wiping the tears with her arms.
Taking my gun, I follow her to the chopper. We stay low because guns blaze near the waterfront.
She sprints, and I honestly have never seen her run so fast. While she grabs her purse, I glance over at the water where the gunfire has suddenly died down. The Coast Guard blocks a freighter from leaving the bay. What I believe are DEA agents and the feds surround not only a platoon of Wong’s men but other dockworkers. The men on the boat are lined up and have their hands in the air.
How did they know? They haven’t been telling us shit, which makes me wonder if Timmons knows about our trip to Mexico. He hasn’t arrested us, but he hasn’t mentioned Manny’s death, which was in the papers.
As I look out onto the water and the size of the freighter, I realize this is a big seizure for the DEA and probably requires a large taskforce. Timmons has been playing us all along. Shane is pretty messed up because of him. If the reality of jail wasn’t looming over my head, I’d add him to the body count.
We race back to Tanner where Agent Timmons stands over Tanner and a paramedic attending to him.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. When I pull it out, I read several texts that must’ve come from Juarez. The last says, “I tipped them off about the drop. Wouldn’t want my beautiful lady to get hurt.”
He knew, and if he hadn’t told the feds, Wong’s men would’ve overpowered us. I don’t understand why Juarez likes me. Unlike my uncle, he’s always seemed to have his act together, so I don’t worry about him. He’s always kept a low profile. He doesn’t need the attention so many drug lords crave.
I send my reply, “Gracias. I will destroy all of the copies.”
I get a smiley emoji from the infamous drug lord that the feds don’t even have a photo of and a short message. “I would love to take you to dinner in my ho
meland and many thanks.”
“Gracias, but I’m getting married.”
I chuckle at the frown emoji returned, and I look over at Shane. He’s pretty messed up but waves off the paramedic. Good lord he’s tough. I smile at my strong, brave man. God, he’s gorgeous, even covered in bruises.
As I approach him, he gives me a crooked grin. Surprisingly, the feds haven’t collected our weapons.
“You need to go to the hospital,” I say afraid to touch him. He’s like one massive contusion, and I want to care for him and soothe his bodily aches.
“Willa has a helluva bruise on her sternum,” he says. “We’ll both go.”
“You saw her boobs?” I ask, teasing him.
Laughing, Shane leans on me. “I saw the pretty bra she wore for Aedan.”
Aedan blushes. His arms protectively hold her. She’s shaking hard. I never wanted to expose her to any of this. Are we really free? I don’t think Juarez will bother us, especially in Alaska or the Virgin Islands where I would like to live in the winter. I’ve heard Juarez has a place there where he takes his yacht. I don’t know which island though.
Two agents prod an unwilling Tang toward a cruiser. One agent says, “We caught this one trying to get away.”
Shane goes over to Tang. “You sure as hell fucked up. I would’ve given you another mil when I sold this company, which is more than Wong is paying you.”
“I will get you back,” Tang threatens.
“Not where you’re going,” the agent says. “You’ll be in prison for several life sentences.” He pushes the furious Tang struggling against his restraints into the back of the SUV.
“How did you know to come here, Miss Diaz?” Timmons asks, standing way too close to me.
“How did you?” I shoot back. “Did a little birdie tell you?” Which was Juarez or one of his men.
Aedan speaks up, “Wong owns the studio I work at, and I suggested here. When a bull charged Willa at the rodeo, Shane figured out Wong was involved.”
“Yeah, right,” Timmons says. “Why didn’t you call me, Cyn?”
“We weren’t sure,” I say, which is the truth, “and I don’t like you.”
