Hear Me Roar (The Bloodshed Duet Book 2)

by Dee Garcia

His eyes widened all the more.

  “Knox!” I heard Manny whisper loudly from above us.

  Craning my head back, I realized he was already at the top of the ship. For a big ass man, he moved quick.

  “Coast is clear, let's go!”

  Glancing back to Alex, he regarded me with a confused expression. “Do I stay, or…”

  “We’re only, what, thirty minutes out?” I asked and he nodded.

  “Then go back. I'll have Manny ring you when this shit is all said and done.”

  “Got it. And Knox,” he said as I started up the ladder, “good luck.”

  “Thanks, we’re gonna need it.”

  And then he was gone.

  This was it. There was no turning back from here. Not that I was leaving here without either Hazel or Maya, but if we wanted helped, that help was gone. I climbed wrung after wrung of what felt like a skyscraper when I finally reached the top and jumped down onto the deck beside Manny. Not a soul was in sight but he shook in stance, firearm drawn. With a quick hand, I pulled out the one at my side and cocked back the slide, the telltale click locking one in the chamber.

  “Where the fuck do we go,” I whispered, squinting to see ten feet in front of us.

  “Toward voices. We’ll search up here first, then move downward. You see someone, just shoot. The less rats we have scurrying around, the easier it’ll be later.”

  When I nodded, he took off in front of me, keeping his pistol aimed straight as we treaded through the deck in the dark of night. There wasn’t much to tread, though; boundless cargo pods stacked one on top of the other with barely any space between each row. I didn’t expect to see anyone out here, especially at this hour, but nevertheless, every few feet I found myself spinning around to watch our back. Better to be safe than sorry.

  Whether it was pure luck or the calm before the storm, we made it to the deckhouse at the very back without issue. The door was wide open and upon entering the dimly lit space, we were faced with two sets of stairs. One leading up and other down. I pointed in both directions wordlessly and Manny signaled downward, tapping his ear. Straining my own, I could faintly make out voices and laughter from somewhere below. How far below, I didn’t know. But it looked like we were going down.

  Once again, on my nod, Manny headed down the iron steps first, taking each one quietly. I followed closely behind him with my heartbeat thumping in my ears. The last time I felt this way was the night Jason struck out of thin air and I woke up in that warehouse, strapped to the chair with nowhere to go. You’d think I would’ve learned a valuable lesson from that...never let your guard down. But we had, and now here we were, in a grave predicament far worse Jason Fremont.

  “Don’t move,” growled a deep Russian voice suddenly, a gun held to the back of my head.

  Fuck…

  I stood stock still and peered at Manny from the corner of eye to find him frozen in place too.

  “Hands up where we can see them,” another similar voice instructed, to which Manny and I obliged, lifting our arms in surrender. “Now, walk.”

  We shuffled to the opposite end of the hallway in silence, my stomach lodged in my throat the entire way. I kept waiting for them to blow our heads off when we least expected it and just be done with it, but as we came to another flight of stairs leading downward, the shove to our heads prompted us to descend them. The flight that followed those, too. The further down we went, the more eerie it became, and I couldn’t help but wonder where they were taking us or why they hadn't killed us already. Isn’t that usually how this works? Then again, they could have specific orders to take any intruders to Dimitri first.

  After trudging the short ways to a set of double doors, the man behind me banged on them. They opened breezily to a large room lined with large windows on the backside. I assumed, given our depth within the ship, those windows probably overlooked all the cargo thrown down here, but I couldn't see much. What laid beyond the glass was drowned in sickly yellow lights that flickered every few seconds or so.

  “Drop your weapons,” they said as they pushed us to the middle of the room.

  We released them as advised, and with it, I dropped a little bit of my confidence too. That was my lifeline right there, gone, clanking onto the floor.

  We’re fucked.

  “Sergue. Take this one to the hold.” Another man entered, motioning to Manny as he came to stand before us. “Dimitri only needs to see Mr. Carr.”

  What the fuck? How did he…

  Manny was being pulled away before I could react, and when I finally did flinch, dude behind me was quick to press the gun a little harder, rendering me immobile. I’d get Manny later, somehow. Right now, I was more concerned with the fact that any of these men knew who I was. Through the windows in front of me, I caught the reflection of two men huddled in the hallway. If I listened hard enough, I could just barely make out their hushed conversation, all of it mumbled in Russian. I knew one of them was the man who’d ordered Manny away and the other was Dimitri. Although I wasn’t afraid of him, per se, my heart pumped in double time once more as he clapped the other gentleman’s shoulder and started into the room. This wasn’t how I’d envisioned any of this playing out. Not only did he know who I was, he’d been expecting me. They all had, which meant I had to play this right. If I pissed him off in any way, he might be swayed to strip me of the reason I’m here. The problem was, my temper didn’t usually hold well under pressure.

  “I must say…” he said by way of opening, glancing at me only momentarily en route to stand beside the windows. “I am both impressed and taken aback by your early appearance.”

  “So, you were expecting me?” I asked, watching the way he shoved his hands into his pockets as he beheld the darkness below with pride. He was taller than I imagined. Not quite as tall as me, but pretty built too, his hair slightly tinged with graying flecks. Electric green eyes slithered to where I stood as he nodded with a grin.

  “Oh yes, very much so.”

  “How do you know who I am?”

  “You know how you did research on me?” He swiveled back toward me. “Well, I did the same when you decided to make it difficult to reclaim my wife; which, by the way, was also very unexpected. Well put together, too, if I must say. Most people would have just run scared. I guess that’s how I knew you’d come for her, huh? Though still, I am very intrigued to know how you got here so quickly.”

  “I was already on a plane to Miami when you decided to take what's mine,” I gritted out.

  “Yours?” Dimitri chuckled, shaking his head. “I believe only one of them is yours. The other is mine, as I just reminded her not too long ago.”

  Maya...

  “What did you do to her?”

  “That is none of your concern and not why you are here at this moment. Shall we get onto to that?” he questioned, tilting his head to one side, his casualty toward the entire situation dripping unease through my veins.

  “Where's Hazel?” I snapped.

  “Oh, she's somewhere around here. Proved to be too rowdy for my taste. Had to send her away with Maksim while I dealt with my wife.”

  Send her away… While he dealt with his wife…

  A red veil hastily clouded my vision, shooting me into a silent rage I could barely contain. If he hurt either one of them, he was going to hear me fucking roar, after I ripped his eyeballs from their sockets and stuffed them down his throat.

  “If you hurt her, I swear I’ll-”

  “What? You’ll kill me?” The quirk of his brow revealed how amused he was. “I think not, Mr. Carr. You try, and I will be sure Maksim tortures her in every brutal way possible.”

  “Dimitri…” I growled, balling my fists at my sides, to which he held a hand up.

  “Do as I say and everyone lives. It’s really quite simple.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Your help,” he said simply.

  My fucking help? “My help, with what?”

  “I am a man of many trad
es, Mr. Carr, and with those trades come dealers who I negotiate certain terms with, to ensure all goes as planned. I do not usually have any problems with them, but every now and then, one will stray from our agreement, thinking they have the upper hand. Nikolai Kozlov proved to be one of them, costing me a great deal of money. Not to mention all the goods I lost too.”

  How in the ever-loving fuck was this relevant? Was I missing the bigger picture here?

  ‘What does this have to do with me?”

  “Nothing, and everything,” he declared.

  I motioned for him to continue because I still wasn’t following.

  “You’re the key to getting my money back,” he explained, waving his hands in the air. “Here, I’ll show you. Feliks, Kazimir.”

  The windows worked in my favor once more, revealing two men inching toward me, who I hadn’t known were at the back of the room, baleful expressions on their faces.

  Are you fucking kidding me right now?

  I stood rooted in place until they closed in and, because of my hinderance, I’m sure neither one of them were expecting an elbow to the face. Their groans erupted in tandem as they stumbled back, giving me the opportunity to spin in place and lunge for the one in closest range. With his attention trained on his nose, I rammed a fist into each side of his head and kicked him right in the fucking balls, just as number two bound up behind me and wound an arm around my neck.

  Wrong move, bro…

  Grabbing hold of his arm, I whipped him over my back, and slammed him onto the ground, throwing a swift foot to his gut that curled him into a ball as he sucked in a giant heap of air. Both men laid still on the ground; one knocked out, the other wallowing in pain. Panting, I turned back to Dimitri, mentally talking myself down from doing the same to him. He deserved it.

  “You want more?” he asked, his tone impressed, so I waved my hands challengingly without hesitation.

  “Bring it.”

  A sinister grin spread across his face as he brought his fingers up to his lips, whistling for yet again another two men, who came barreling into the room. This time, I didn’t stall. I went straight the one on the right and tossed a fist dead-center in his face, stumbling him back onto his ass. Just as I spun around, I reached out for the next one, flinging him into the wall with a vicious grunt. Tearing a page from my girl’s book, I wailed on him with those heavy-handed hammer punches until blood dripped onto my knuckles. I won’t lie, he got some in, too, but I hardly felt them through the rush of adrenaline surging through my body. Releasing him, I spun back to put dude one out of his misery, but he’d already scrambled out of the room, droplets of blood spattered onto the ground, revealing his trail. My eyes darted back to where Dimitri stood, my chest heaving as I tried catching my breath.

  To my surprise, he clapped, nodding in approval. “And this is why I need your help. I’d say, let's send some more in, but I’d rather you preserve your energy.”

  “I still” – pant – “don’t understand.”

  “Gladiator fights, Mr. Carr. Are you familiar with term?”

  “Yes…”

  “Well, I have friend who makes most of his money by renting out different locations to hold these fights. Tickets to see fights are not cheap and some bystanders like to bid on fighters too.

  The winner walks away with thousands and thousands of dollars; close to one million if opponent is undefeated,” he disclosed evenly.

  “You’re saying, you want me to win back the money another man stole from you, in a fight to the death?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you out of your mind? Why would I ever put myself in such a position when this man means nothing to me.”

  He grinned. “Because that pretty little blonde of yours does.”

  “You wouldn’t dare…” I threatened, inching toward him.

  “Would I not?” he asked dubiously, pulling out a tiny box from the pocket of his slacks. A tiny box with a bright red button. “You see this button right here? It’s designed to activate an explosive currently attached to your wife. You deny me, I press it, and if I press it…well, you know how explosives work, right? KABOOM.”

  I'd never seen someone look so jovial as they imitated a sound effect, his hands playing part in it, too, expanding in the air for added effect. I didn't know how to feel, frozen in place as fear became the dominating emotion. This sick fucking bastard had a bomb strapped to my girl, her life literally hanging in his grasp, and I was sure I was seconds away from losing it.

  “What the hell did we do to deserve this?” I roared in desperation, unbidden tears springing to my eyes.

  “You know exactly what you did.”

  “She came to us!”

  “And you should have turned her away,” he growled.

  “Why?” My arms flew out. “So you could continue to beat her in peace until you finally killed her?”

  His eyes darkened murderously. “You mean, like I'm going to do to your precious gem if you don't agree and stop talking?”

  Silence.

  Just the mention of Hazel forced me to bite my tongue, especially when he had all the power in his hand. I cringed every time his thumb brushed over the button. Obviously, he was doing so with purpose to rile me up, but what if he accidentally pressed too hard...

  “How does this work?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the little black box.

  “The fight is in two days. You stay alive, win the money, and once you have entrusted the sum to me, I will give you the girl.”

  “So, what the fuck am I supposed to do for two days? Leave her here and be okay with that?”

  “Who said anyone was leaving,” he corrected, coming to stand before me. “Whether you like it or not, I don't believe you have much of a choice, Mr. Carr. Either you take the deal, or your wife goes…”

  Bang…

  Bang...

  Shots fired in the hallway halted Dimitri through his threat. Neither him nor I moved as, one after the other, they resounded louder and louder, grunts of agony following each. I was certain this was the moment I’d die, caught in the crosshairs of some altercation between angered Russians, but then Maya appeared at the threshold with a 15mm in her hand, dried blood crusted on her eyebrow, her lip split a little too. She looked absolutely lethal.

  Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned...

  “Mishka?” Dimitri asked, equal parts nonplussed and astounded.

  Obviously, he hadn’t been expecting to see me walking around anytime soon, if ever at all again, after leaving me to the wolves. To be honest, I hadn’t thought I would either, but when push came to shove and I realized neither Hazel or I would live to see another day if I didn’t react, I channeled my inner-Lioness and used every bit of strength I could muster to fight back. Until I found the gun. Then the cards really turned in my favor. You'd be surprised how quickly even the most powerful man would cower to his knees when a pistol was aimed at him, which is exactly what happened as I held the gun in place and retreated to the door, promptly locking them all inside. They could rot in there, for all I cared. I had bigger things to worry about, like finding out where the hell Maksim had taken my sister.

  But that was before I'd heard Dimitri’s voice carrying through the hall. I knew had to put him down first before I could search every room on this ship, a task that didn't seem so simple when four men came barreling toward me. Unlike the other lot, though, I didn't spare them… I shot them, every last one, without a single ounce of hesitation or remorse. Their lifeless bodies didn't frighten me either; in fact, they fueled me all the more. Regardless of what was coming, I was going to face Dimitri head on, once and for all.

  So now here I was, with a gun aimed right him, the look on his face priceless. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized I was just as shocked to see Knox as he was to see me, in one piece, but I didn't miss the relief that washed over his features too.

  “Don’t look so surprised to see me,” I hissed at my husband. “Or should you, since you left me die with
those animals you call friends?”

  “We had company, love.” He motioned toward Knox by way of explanation.

  “Oh please, you knew they’d kill me, which leads me to wonder... Is that why you left? Because they’d handle the dirty work for you? What's wrong, Dimitri, not man enough to kill your own wife,” I cooed tauntingly, driven by the weapon in my hands.

  A ferocious growl resonated within his chest as his brows cinched together and he pulled a gun from the inside pocket of his blazer, aiming it Knox’s head. Somehow, I figured that was coming, but still I gasped, praying to the Heavens above I was playing this right. Just a few more minutes...

  “Let him go,” I gritted out.

  “I'm afraid I cannot do that. He is too valuable.”

  “Then put the gun down and back away from him.”

  “Drop yours and I will,” he challenged, but I shook my head, holding the gun steadier than ever; my resolve too.

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that. He’s too valuable,” I said, mirroring his words, my gaze darting to Knox, who stood tall. If he was afraid right in that moment, you’d never know, except in the way he mouthed “Hazel.”

  Oh my God.

  My blood ran ice cold. What had he done to her?

  “Where's Hazel?” I blurted out, trying my damndest to remain calm.

  “I believe Maksim tossed her back into the hold, which would be okay, if she didn't have a bomb strapped to her body,” he sneered, though his tone was more amused than anything else as he pulled a little black box from his pocket, an atomic red button glowing right in the center.

  My eyes widened in horror and Knox nodded as subtly as possible, throwing my heart into overdrive.

  Stay strong, Maya. Breathe...

  “Disarm it,” I demanded in the most confident voice I could rally.

  “I will, once Mr. Carr sees through to his end of our deal.”

  “No deals, not with them. Disarm it now and let them go.”

  “I don't think you heard me, Mishka,” he growled. “Mr. Carr is of great value to me at the moment, and his little pet is my leverage. I have no intention of hurting her; unless, of course, he fails, then she won't fare so well.”