by Dale Mayer
If Jax could cut down some of these pirates, without putting Abigail in danger, he would. And then Abby wouldn’t have to go anywhere with the pirates, and Jax and Beau could take her to their ship. Then the pirates here split off, some going left, some going right, but four stayed with him and Abby. Well, that was helpful because four men gave a whole lot better odds to Jax than nine.
She bit her lip as she glanced around at four dead passengers with bullets through their chests, all heaped on one side. She stopped, her chest constricting. As she looked at the pirates, one of the four gunmen shoved her and said, “We were looking for you, and they wouldn’t talk.”
“Of course they wouldn’t,” she said softly. “They don’t know who I am. Why would they?”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. They don’t know anybody now.”
Jax tugged her closer into his arms, seeing the tears in her eyes. Nothing was easy about terrorist actions. They killed wantonly as long as it furthered their cause. Everybody was collateral damage. But it sent shock waves through his soul to realize just how much he wanted to protect her from anything ugly again. She didn’t deserve this. But then the four dead tourists didn’t deserve an early death either.
Just then two pirates from his group were sent off, in a different direction. The remaining two men motioned Jax toward a hallway. He opened the door, shoved her through first, and then, now alone with the two pirates following him, Jax turned, pulling the handgun hidden at the back of his waistband and fired two shots, taking out both men. He quickly opened the closest door and found a large bathroom. He dragged both men inside, chucking their weapons. Now fully armed again, he raced back to her side, and they kept on walking.
She stared at him. “What did you do?” she cried out. “How will this help our cause?”
“There were nine,” he said calmly. “Now we’re down to seven. Beau just took out three more as well.”
“So, he evened the odds,” she said. Then she shook her head. “Is this a game to you?”
“It’s not a game,” he said, “but do you need that pile of dead passengers to remember just what this is?”
Another door was up ahead. Acting casual, he opened the door and moved her inside a women’s washroom. He looked around, nodded, and said, “Nice. I want you to stay here for a moment.”
“For how long?”
He held the door open a sliver. “Until the next two pirates come down,” he said. “We don’t know how many are left in total. I suspected at least twenty to begin with, but we’ve cut their numbers in half. If Beau and I can keep cutting them down, we won’t worry about anybody being taken off the ship.”
Hope lit up her eyes. She nodded slowly. “If you think you can …”
He grinned, leaned forward, and kissed her hard before pulling back. “Sweetie, I know I can. Now be a good wife and stay here.”
He slipped out the door, closing it slightly, and, with a last brief glance in her direction, disappeared down the hallway. And caught sight of the two pirates he was looking for. But he needed to take them out as fast as he had taken anybody out so far. And definitely before any messages were sent between them.
He had a maneuver he’d learned in his martial arts class, but it was hard to do on two people at the same time. Jax took several running steps and made a flying jump, his hands out, both at specific angles. He needed to grab both men at the back of their necks and hit their pressure points.
Jax landed hard. They cried out, twisting and falling, but he maintained his grip as they went down and then quickly let go of his left hand, which had the worst of the grips, and thrust his knee into that man’s jaw and followed it through with a quick half step from his left foot into the man’s throat. The pirate never made a sound.
The other one was trying to aim his rifle in Jax’s face but struggled against the grip Jax held locked on his neck. It was hard for anybody to move if Jax caught the right pressure point. Slowly the man sagged to his knees and then fell face-first into the hallway. Jax quickly released his hands, shaking them out before they cramped up, and assessed the damage. Now he had to get rid of these men and fast. He quickly separated their weapons and comm devices from the men and headed toward the first doorway.
Most of these doors were locked, but there was a simple and easy way to get past that. He pulled out his tools and quickly unlocked the room, stepped inside to make sure it was completely empty, and then dragged both men in. There, he found bedding and tied them up. Only as he tied the second one did he note this pirate was dead.
The first pirate was still alive, though unconscious, and he couldn’t be allowed to get loose. Jax quickly knotted him up around the feet and then around the hands—behind his back—and promptly tied them both together. He gagged the pirate’s mouth too, stopping him from making a sound when he did wake up. And Jax added a special noose around the man’s neck and tied it to the ties he had behind the pirate. This way, if he struggled too much, it would tighten the noose around his neck.
Having done what he could, Jax replenished his own weapons, taking two small handguns and several knives off these pirates. Then he stepped out and raced toward the women’s washroom.
As he stepped in, the door slammed hard against his face. When he had a chance to recover, he saw a handgun pointed at his head. His jaw locked as he stared into the eyes of a man with murder in his gaze.
Heavily armed, the pirate sent an icy smile in Jax’s direction. “Think you’re so smart, do you?” he growled. “I don’t know if you’re responsible for some of our men disappearing, but we’ll make sure you’re not around to do anything more.” And then he pulled his finger back on the trigger as if to shoot Jax in the face.
Out of nowhere the pirate’s head was slammed into the door. Abby slowly lowered her leg from the high kick she’d delivered to his temple, even as Jax pushed the gun from his face, followed up with a right uppercut thrust into the pirate’s jaw, shoving it back and up. The man’s head snapped again. The only sound was the thud as he hit the floor. Jax quickly stepped in and closed the bathroom door. He looked at Abby and said, “Are you okay?”
She shook so badly that he pulled her into his arms just to hold her close. She mumbled something against his chest. He stepped back so he could look down at her. “What was that?”
“You’re suffocating me,” she said on a breathless note. “I’m fine. He wasn’t here very long. He stepped in, took one look at me, and then heard you coming down the hallway.”
“Shit,” he said. “I was trying to be quiet, but I wasn’t thinking about that as much as getting back to get you. I took out the other two men, and I’ve got them both in another room, but I wasn’t thinking anybody else had time to come in here. That was my fault.”
“I don’t really care whose fault it is,” she said, wrapping her arms around her chest. She glanced up at him and then down. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
Jax smiled. “No, I’m fine. Nobody’s hurt me.”
“Good,” she said with relief. “How many more men can they have? And is this one still alive?”
He looked at her, smiled, and said, “You haven’t bothered checking. Are you worried?”
She shook her head. “No,” she said. “I refuse to help mend an injury I intended to cause.”
He laughed at that, bent down, and said, “No point in helping this one. He’s dead.”
“Did you break his neck?”
He studied the pirate’s profile and said, “Looks like his nose was crushed into his brain.”
She gasped and then crouched beside him. “You know what? I think you’re right. Not to mention the man’s neck is broken, and his jaw’s misaligned.”
He nodded. “If you strike out, make sure you do it with purpose.” He rose, picked up the gunman, and dragged him to the farthest stall. There, he sat him on the toilet and quickly divested him of all his weapons. “Now we’re gathering a huge armory, and I have no place to keep it all,” he complained good-natu
redly.
She quickly brought him a garbage can from under the counter. “Well, you can put a bunch of it in here. We can always come back for it later, if we need it.”
He looked at her in surprise and then nodded. “I should have asked you before, but I suppose you know how to shoot a gun, right?”
She laughed. “I’m from Texas.”
He held up what the gunman had been carrying and asked, “What would you like?”
She took both handguns and then grabbed one of the rifles. “If you’re not turning me over to them,” she said, “which I presume from this complete change of plans since we left your buddy, then I’ll take as much as I can carry.”
He nodded. “Only if you know how to use it.”
She checked the semiautomatic and said, “Well, I haven’t ever used anything like this before but wow.”
“Exactly,” he said. “The problem is, you won’t have any trouble once you start firing, but it’s got more kickback than you’re probably used to, and it’s harder to control the direction of your aim.” He helped her adjust one around her back, and then he pulled out a knife sheath from the gunman and said, “So far I’ve taken at least a dozen of these away.”
She looked at it, surprised, and said, “This one I’ll take because it’s got a sheath.” She bent down, tucked it under her jeans, and into her sock. She held out her leg and asked, “Does it show?”
He shook his head. “Not enough that anybody will notice. If you get searched, they’ll find it all anyway.” He looked at her, glanced at the closed stall, and said, “Come on. Let’s go.”
She chuckled and said, “What’s your hurry? Haven’t you killed enough men yet?”
“Well, that’s two more kills and one more injured,” he said. “I need to meet up with Beau too.”
She nodded seriously. “The last thing we want is for him to get in over his head.”
Jax smiled and nodded. “He’s got some serious skills. Though the problem is with his size. Often men go for him almost in a mano a mano fight.”
“That must be hard for him,” she said slowly. “He’s not just big, he’s oversize.”
Jax chuckled. “That’s one way to look at it. I’m pretty sure he’s pretty happy as he is.”
“I think the big guys always are,” she said with a smile.
Jax opened the door, holding up his hand to hold her back, and whispered, “Let me check first.”
And he disappeared.
Chapter 6
Abby watched Jax leave and waited, hating how she didn’t even want the door to close. But his face reappeared suddenly and almost shockingly. She put a hand to her chest and glared at him. “Don’t do that,” she gasped. “You scared me.”
He held out his hand. “Come on.”
She put her hand in his without hesitation. Something about a bonding experience like this either made you trust someone or not. But she already knew what Jax was like inside. He’d pretended—or had started off trying to do what she wanted to do—thinking maybe it was one avenue, but all the time his mind was working on solutions.
When the opportunity presented itself to go in a better direction here, he was right there all over it. He proved that time and time again. The fact that he was gorgeous, lean, and mean appealed in ways that she’d never expected. She wasn’t usually into alpha males. Normally she went more for the academics. But then they didn’t make her blood boil like this one did, whether it was with temper or something else that she wasn’t prepared to examine. No doubt Jax caught her attention on every level. There was just something about him. The power, the self-control, and that can-do attitude were all so very sexy.
She had spent most of her life with books and patients and labs and men so very opposite to Jax.
In the past, she’d always assumed men like him weren’t for her. But right now, she was sure thinking that a taste of this alpha male might be exactly what her body needed. Then again, maybe not as he dragged her down the hallway.
At the set of stairs, they stopped. Of course, on this cruise, no doorways were closed off to the stairs. The elevators here could end up trapped, so stairways had to be accessible at all times. He looked at her and said, “Industrial stairs are off to the side for the staff, and I’ll try to reach the service elevator.”
“Well, there’s no you at all in this,” she snapped. “Where you go, I go.”
When he turned and gave her a dangerous look, she just smiled innocently and said, “Remember what happened when you left me alone the last time?”
His gaze narrowed.
She gave him a winning smile and said, “You know I’m safer with you than left behind.”
He seemed to think about it for a moment and then gave a quick nod. “But you stay right behind me and stay quiet.”
She thought both of those orders were completely unnecessary, but, at the same time, he needed to understand that she was prepared to follow the rules. She kept right on his heels until they got to the service elevator. He pushed the buttons, checked out the inside, stepped in, looked around, shook his head, stepped out again, and then went to a set of double doors off to the side. He opened the double doors and dragged her with him.
Just then one of the handsets he had taken away from the pirates crackled. A man spoke a language Jax didn’t understand. He snatched it from his pocket, but, instead of answering, he played with the dials until it became really staticky. And then he shut it off.
She looked at it, frowned, and said, “Was that a good idea?”
He shrugged. “It’s not like I can answer him. So, at least this way, he’ll think something’s interfering with their reception.”
She stared at him. “I never would have thought of doing something like that.”
“And that’s why I’m the one in front,” he said patiently. “And you’re the one who’s supposed to be staying behind and keeping quiet.”
She frowned at that because, of course, it was the last thing she’d been. “You have a mean streak,” she announced.
He spun, stared at her in shock, and then saw the laughter on her face. He shook his head and headed off again.
It was interesting dealing with him. Outside of the horrific circumstances, she was quite enjoying herself, and how stupid was that? People were dying here. Of course she’d seen death on many levels at many times, but she hadn’t seen violent sudden death like this. And yet, it wasn’t really bothering her. It should.
The fact that it didn’t bother her bothered her. It’s something that she should care about. Except for the fact that these pirates obviously didn’t give a damn about her or anybody else on this ship, and that made her very aware of just how limited her compassion and empathy went.
She could do an awful lot more with her life than sit here and worry about terrorists trying to kill everybody on this ship just to get at her. It was that last part that bothered her. Some doctor supposedly had failed with his treatments, so the patient’s family seemed to think that she would be necessary to help that doctor.
She and Jax came to the top of the stairs, and he stopped, opened the door just a hair, and placed his ear against the opening. When he obviously didn’t hear anything, he opened it a hair more and looked out. The hallway, she assumed, was empty when he stepped forward. He reached out a hand, and she grabbed it. He pulled her with him, keeping her tucked behind him and out of sight. This area appeared to be more staterooms. Which made sense. These cruise ships were just so freaking huge that they needed tons of rooms to hold their passengers, not to mention to house their employees and staff.
Jax’s head tilted to the side. A sign that she now recognized as him communicating with Beau. She whispered against his head, “What’s he saying?”
He held up a finger and shot her a hard look. She rolled her eyes. He grinned, leaned down, whispered against her ear, “He’s taking out four more.”
She wanted to laugh out loud. But instead she said, “So now you’re even?”
; He waited for a second, as if computing it, and then shrugged and nodded.
“They can’t have too many more left,” she whispered.
He nodded. “But just one remaining is too many,” he said.
She agreed with that. He led her up another flight of stairs and then another. Now they were getting up to the higher levels and the more expensive suites on board. She could see the gleaming water out the windows, and yet, all that beauty held such a fake calmness to what truly went on inside. Suddenly he darted forward, checked the cabin number, opened it, and pulled her inside. He closed the door quietly, and, at the sound of a voice behind her, she gasped and turned.
There was Beau, standing with his hands on his hips. He grinned at her. “Not quite the plan you had envisioned, huh?”
She shook her head, ran a few steps, and threw herself into his arms. He chuckled and hugged her close. When she stepped back, she looked up. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
He raised an eyebrow and looked from her to Jax and then back at her again. “Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Abby groaned. “There’s just something about being around men who are difficult.”
He looked at Jax. “Number count?” Jax told him, and Beau nodded. “Same. How many more pirates do you think we’ve got ahead of us?”
“You’d think they’d run out soon,” Jax said quietly. “But every time I turn around, there’s more of them.”
“Right,” Abby said. “They never seem to quit, do they?”
“No. We need better intel.” Beau held up four communication devices he’d taken off his pirates encountered. “These keep crackling, and I keep interfering with the reception but can’t keep anybody alive long enough to question him.”
“I left two alive, one should still be alive for sure,” Jax said, “but they’re not in any shape to talk.”
Beau nodded. “What we need is to grab one and keep him prisoner and interrogate him. I think we’re down to that point now.” Just then he cocked his head to the side and held his finger up, then headed toward the door.
