by Vi Carter
“Have you got any merchandise for us to sample?” I could hear the smile in the Latino voice, which was the Blood group’s leader.
“Andrei ...” The rest of the sentence was spoken in Russian, but I was relieved when Andrei finally looked away from me and left the warehouse. My heart thumped at what I might see. I sought out Emmett, but he was glancing at his watch. Then, as if sensing me, he looked up and right at me, and my stomach churned. I didn’t see the calm in his face that I needed right now. All I saw was his fear, and that sent panic racing through me at an alarming rate. If he was afraid of what was going to happen, then I really didn’t stand a chance. In that moment, I knew that my life would end here, tonight. My breathing became harder, and tears burned my eyes and throat. I bit my lip, pushing back the hysteria that was building in me. A metallic taste filled my mouth, and I let my abused lip go. There was no point getting myself worked up. Being hysterical never helped anyone. I needed to keep calm, just in case.
The roar of an engine had me blinking the tears away as Andrei drove into the warehouse. The white van was something a kidnapper would drive. He jumped out of the driver’s door and moved to the back of the van, where he pulled open the doors and the startled squeals of frightened girls were ceased almost immediately. They got out, one by one, each one shielding their eyes from the harsh lights. Each one scantily dressed. Each one afraid. I was glad I was sitting down. The weakness that overtook me would have taken me to the floor. My hands shook as I watched these innocent girls being paraded around in front of the men. They were all extremely beautiful, and young. All in the prime of life. A life that, if these men got their hands on it, would be short-lived.
“Here is your new merchandise, Russian beauties who will work hard and fast.” Some of the men laughed. My stomach tightened with disgust. Kirill spoke in harsh Russian, and the women stood a little taller. The fear didn’t leave them, but they tried to appear calmer.
“I consider myself a businessman. A very successful one.” Emmett’s father pointed at the girls. “This is not something I want to get into.” I was surprised. He had a heart. “They don’t last long, it gets messy, they need to be fed, and they need somewhere to stay. That means it gets expensive.” Okay, so he didn’t have a heart. At least he had a line, though. That must count for something, right?
“It sells, and I can’t do this without you,” Kirill took a step towards Emmett’s father. Both groups moved with their leaders. “We had a deal,” Kirill’s face was reddening, and Andrei marched all the women back into the van. One looked at me with such hopelessness in her eyes, it twisted my stomach. She disappeared into the van as the tension grew between Kirill and Emmett’s father. Looking around, I realized that everyone was distracted. This was my moment.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EMMETT
I CHECKED MY watch again, when everyone was distracted. It was taking too much time. I looked at Amber, but the lorry was empty. My heart stalled. I searched for Andrei, and to my relief, he was locking the van. I didn’t move, but tried to remain calm as I searched the warehouse for Amber. I needed to find her before anyone else realized she was gone. I needed to find her, to make sure she was okay. Movement behind the van had my heart beating again. This wasn’t good, but she was okay. Amber looked at me from behind the van, her green eyes absolutely terrified as she stared at me. I couldn’t stop myself as I quietly left the distracted men and moved towards the back of the van. Amber mustn’t have seen me move, as she still leaned out of the corner of the van, her attention focused on the girls.
I approached her from behind. Covering her mouth, I pulled her to me. She tried to scream like I knew she would, so I turned her around and made her look at me. Her screams stopped, and she dropped into my arms like someone had zapped all the energy from her. I held her for only a second before taking my undiscovered knife from its hiding place and worked at her ropes. Her wrists were red and chafed. The moment the rope was off her hands she was in my arms again. “You need to go, now,” I whispered into her ear. I breathed her in, and for a split second, I allowed her scent to calm me.
She shook her head, tears spilling down her face. I should have known that she wouldn’t follow my orders, she never did. “You’re coming, too.”
“We don’t have time to argue, right now I need you to trust me. I’ll be right behind you. I promise.” I could hear the fear in my own voice.
She swallowed her panic, but her tears wouldn’t stop. “I’m not leaving you.” She clung to me.
“Amber, please, for me. There is a door to the left of the crates,” I pointed and made her look, too. “You can see it?” She nodded, but I could still feel her shake with her silent tears. “That door takes you outside. Once you get out there, stay low and run. Don’t stop. I’ll find you,” I told her. “Amber!” I shook her, pleading with her.
“Okay,” she finally said, anger laced in her voice. I wanted to kiss her and tell her I loved her, in case I never got the chance. But I didn’t, I knew that would only make her want to stay. I needed her gone. I needed her safe. So, instead of telling this woman what she meant to me, I pushed her towards the door just as gunfire went off in the warehouse. The noise of so many guns was deafening. I reached for my own gun to find my holster empty. Shit, I had forgotten that the bastards took all of my firepower. This was not good. I turned, but Amber was no longer there, and then, the sound of a gun being loaded behind me had me standing up slowly. I turned to Andrei, who pointed his weapon at my head.
“The girl?” he asked.
“What girl?” I countered. The blow that I received from the butt of the gun took me to my knees. My head throbbed, but I didn’t wait. I rose, throwing out my arm with the knife in my hand, and it stabbed into his abdomen. Surprise widened his already large eyes. I grabbed the gun with my free hand and got it away from him easily. Pulling the knife up, I tore through him as far as I could before letting him fall to the ground.
Gunshots still rang out as I moved away from the van. I needed to make sure Amber got out, but the moment I stepped out from behind the van, I was under fire. I ducked behind the crates and lay still as bullets bounced off the ground and walls. A scream from close by had apprehension eating away at me. I waited, then fired three shots before moving to the next crate, where I found Amber huddled, her hands covering her ears. She screamed as I pulled her hands away.
“When I tell you to run for the door, you run,” I ordered, and she nodded her agreement, no longer arguing. Sirens, along with the splintering of wood, ceased the gunfire for a brief moment. I exhaled the fear that was eating away at me. They had finally arrived. I knew the time for her to run had passed. With backup on its way, she was safer hidden than she was out in the open. “It’s nearly over, just stay here,” I whispered while turning to Amber. Her wide eyes soaked up all the fear in the room.
Emmett
(Twenty Minutes Before)
Before leaving the car and walking into an ambush, I made one final call that I hoped saved the woman I loved. “You found her?” Benny spoke straight away.
“I want to make a deal with you,” I looked up at the battered warehouse, eaten away from neglect and the power of the sea.
“What kind of deal?” Benny was moving, the noise of ringing phones, and people talking dwindling in the background.
“I can give you two Russian mobsters, the leader of the Black Bloods, his men, and my father, all with their hands dirty.” I continued to watch the warehouse for movement, but it looked abandoned.
“How dirty? And what do you want in return, Emmett?”
“Guns and drugs. The only things I want are me, my men, and a girl, Amber Green, to walk free.” It was the deal of the century that would lift his career to new heights. I could hear him pausing, so I offered the cherry on top. “In addition to this I will testify that you were not of the dirty cops working for my father. I will say that you were undercover the whole time, working with me to bring him down.”
&
nbsp; “Where and when?” Benny was moving back into the noise. I felt hope again that I might survive this. I took a deep breath and gave him the details.
“The location you gave me and now. I am walking into an ambush, Benny, so be as quick as you can,” I hung up and entered the warehouse.
EMMETT
(20 minutes later)
“FBI, everyone drop your weapons and lie face-down on the floor.”
Benny’s words had Amber shifting closer to me. “It’s over?” Her words were muffled as she clung to my arm, her face buried in my shirt. I didn’t think it was completely over, and I was right. It wasn’t. Someone fired their gun. It was one bang that gave everyone a split second to move into action. The warehouse lit up with gunfire, the force of which was heavier now that the FBI had joined in. Amber screamed. I didn’t think, just reacted, pushing Amber flat down. I roared at her to stay there. I had to help my men.
No one was firing at the crates anymore, now all attention was on Benny and the officers that had swarmed the building. I raced behind the van and paused, coming out the other side wouldn’t be easy. I stepped across Andrei’s body, took three breaths and fired, hitting one of the Black Bloods, my aim perfect. He fell instantly. I scanned the area for Kirk, but it was chaos, police along with some of our men lay on the ground. In the middle of the panic, the girls must have left the van. Some of them lay dead or dying. I spotted one girl hiding under the van. Finally, my eyes found my men, I let out a small sigh of relief. I had gotten them into this, and it was my job to get them out. Kirk and JP weren’t far away, and were taking on gunfire from some of the Russians while everyone else was focused on the police. I fired at the Russians, hitting one in the leg. He fell and Kirk finished it off. His eyes met mine. I pointed at my father, who was moving towards the back, Matthew on his heels. Kirk nodded and followed. I would circle back around. There was no way these bastards were going to get away.
“Freeze, Harrington,” Benny stood not far from me, his gun pointed at my head. Kirill was being handcuffed, his brother dead at his feet. His face was slammed onto the bonnet of a police car, he looked right at me. I needed more time. I took a step back. “I will shoot, freeze,” Benny warned. “Don’t, everyone is watching.” His voice was low enough for only me to hear, but I couldn’t do as he asked. I needed to stop my father. I dove behind the van as his gun fired, and the burn in my left arm told me that he had hit the mark. Blood was soaking through my shirt, but I kept moving.
The shooting had dwindled; the police were winning. As I neared the crates, the door opened to my father’s figure disappearing outside. I couldn't let him get away. I knew that while he lived, Amber would always be in danger. I was so focused on him that I didn’t see Matthew standing over Amber until a gun was fired, and I heard Amber’s screams. My head automatically spun to where it came from. My heart dropped to my stomach. How could I have left her unprotected?
“Drop your weapons now!” Several police stormed towards us. The glint of a gun behind a stack of crates got my attention. The green army jacket, I knew. Kirk pulled the trigger, everyone ducked, not sure who was the target, and Matthew hit the ground, blood pouring from his head wound. I stared at him, unfeeling.
“Drop your weapons.” The police ordered again.
I dropped my weapon and raced to Amber. “NO!” The cry was ripped through me with such force, and as I held down on the wound that was oozing too much blood, rage filled me like none I had ever felt. I wanted nothing more than to gut every bastard in here. “Get an ambulance!” I roared. “Amber, stay with me,” I pleaded as her eyes flickered, opened and closed. She moaned in pain. She focused on me for a second before closing her eyes again. I called her again and again, but this time she wouldn’t open those eyes I loved so much. In that moment, I knew I was losing her, and nothing in my world seemed right.
“Move away from the girl,” an order came from beside me. I glanced at the officers that now surrounded me, guns pointed at me from all directions. I didn’t care, in this moment, if they shot me. There was no way I was leaving her side again.
“Amber, stay with me,” I pleaded as her eyes flickered.
“This is your last warning, move away from the girl.”
AMBER
I burned everywhere. My whole body felt like it was on fire. I tried to roll, but my brain was scrambling and misfiring. Somewhere, I could hear Emmett so clearly, then the fire would boil my veins, and I wished for death. If I was alive, being so hurt too much. I said his name, pleading with him to stop this, but it didn’t end. His breathing was close to my face. Was he burning too? I wanted to ask him, but I couldn’t form the words. Then he was gone, leaving me to burn. I was sure my skin was gone from my body. Light burned my eyes and there he was, a vision, leaning over me. So perfect, his mouth moving. My eyes closed against the pain that was refocusing to one area of my body, getting more intense. As it moved away from the rest of my body I started to feel cold, a cold that rattled my teeth and shook my body.
I opened my eyes again to Emmett’s face, blood now trickled down from a split on his head as men pulled at him. I reached for him, and it was like he had permission to come back to me. He threw the men away from him and he was there again, his breath on my face, fear in his eyes. “I love you. I can’t live without you.” His words gave me peace, and I smiled, my eyelids heavy now.
Emmett was moving away from me again, being dragged by policemen, his mouth open in a roar as he tried to push them away again. I tried to make out what they were saying, but it was as though I was underwater. Everything seemed cloudy, and nothing was clear. He continued to fight them, but there were too many. They covered him as they took him to the ground. His eyes, so full of pain, were the last thing I saw before the cold captured me fully. As my eyes closed, I realized that there was no more pain. No more anything.
EMMETT
I pushed against all the bodies that lay on me, holding me down. My arm burned, but I didn’t care about that. I just needed to get to Amber. “Emmett, you need to let my men arrest you. The ambulance is here now, she will be alright.” Benny spoke from above me, and it was then I could see the wheels of a trolley and the paramedics’ feet. I struggled again, refusing to give up. Benny was making sense, I had to be arrested like everyone else, but my heart wasn't ready to stop fighting.
For the second time, I was hit across the head, this one sending me into a spin of blackness. I was pulled from the ground, my hands in cuffs. They half-carried me as I was taken to the police car that waited outside. I passed two others, one with Silver’s father, the other with mine. I smiled as I passed his window. He couldn’t get out of this. I had feared he would get away, but faith had a way of finding us all. Everyone had to pay for their sins, including me. I just hoped that it didn’t come at too high a price. I looked back at the ambulance and watched as they loaded Amber in. My heart broke that I couldn’t go with her, but I would fight to get there as soon as I could.
***
It was several hours later, after being seen for my bullet wound to my arm, which turned out to be a shallow graze. My head had taken a few knocks, and I had to get stitches. As I sat still, my hands gripped the edge of the hospital bed. I told myself it wouldn’t take much longer. Benny leaned against the wall, watching me. Once I was cleaned up, he was letting me see Amber, who was out of surgery and stable. She was very lucky to have survived. I closed my eyes against the horror that I felt at the thought of how close I came to losing her. “Am I hurting you?” The nurse took my closed eyes as pain. I didn’t look at her.
“No, just hurry up.” I knew I was being terse with her, and that she in no way deserved my anger, but I couldn’t help it. All I wanted to do was be with the woman I loved.
“We really should numb the area before I start. This second wound is a lot deeper,"
“Just stitch him up,” Benny said. My patience was frayed, and he could sense that I was close to walking out of the room. I had tried several times, but Benny�
��s threat of not letting me see Amber at all had me sitting back down.
The moment the nurse cut the thread I jumped off the bed and had the door open. “Thanks,” I could hear Benny say to the nurse as he caught up with me. “You have ten minutes, tops,” he told me, stopping outside Amber’s room. I paused at the door, now feeling unsure. “You’ve been huffing and puffing, Emmett, and now you are staring at the door. I suggest, if you want time with her, you quit pissing around and get in there.” I wanted to punch Benny in the face, but I didn’t. There were too many witnesses. So, I pushed open the door instead.
The room was dim, and the beep from the heart monitor and the soft breathing of Amber were the only sounds in the room. She was pale but otherwise, you would just think she was asleep. I finally moved beside her, sitting on the chair that was supplied for visitors. Her hand looked so pale and small against the white sheets; I lifted it and kissed her hand softly. She stirred. I waited, almost holding my breath, for her eyes to open. I was afraid what I might find there. Hate, anger, even fear. I didn’t know how I would feel if I saw fear in her eyes. The one thing I never wanted was for her to fear me. That, I could not deal with, but when she finally did open them, relief flooded my body. The green sparkled like she was about to cry. There was no hate, anger, or fear in her eyes, only love and relief. “Emmett,” she said my name like it was a prayer, like I was everything to her. I sat back slightly.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I knew that I would be apologizing for the rest of my life to her. I just hoped that I got that chance. I wouldn’t blame her if she left. My heart broke at the thought, but I knew I would let her go, as long as she was alive, that was all that mattered.
