Romeo, p.23
Romeo, page 23
Hope surged.
“Not so fast,” Kyle barked.
Flinching, I looked up, but Kyle was glaring at the men.
Aiming his anger at the two guards in back, he motioned for them. “Brent and Cavers, you’re both staying.” He glanced at the new guard. “Send two of the girls up.”
Oh God.
The two guards who’d been on the Contender from before I’d jumped gave each other a knowing look. Then they each took up a position on either side of the door.
The new guard frowned. “Sir?”
“Blondes,” Kyle practically yelled. “Now.”
Oh God.
I knew what was coming. Kyle had done this before. To humiliate me, teach me a lesson, or simply because he felt like it in that moment, he would punish me publicly. He’d always liked an audience—on the decks, in the main cabin, anywhere someone could watch. I’d abhorred it, but I’d always taken it, thinking I deserved every humiliation Kyle doled out.
My cries the last time were what put that poor crew member in the line of fire when he’d come at the sound of my screams. With guards standing watch and women lined up on their knees as if they were next, Kyle had whipped me on the main deck for everyone to see. While they’d all watched, Brad had come to my defense, foolishly telling Kyle I’d had enough. One glance from Kyle to his guards, and Brad was being carted off. I hadn’t seen him again until the helicopter landed on the mountain.
Shoving down the memory that felt like a lifetime ago, I tried to focus on the newly discovered weapon in my hand.
I couldn’t overpower Kyle and two guards, but maybe that wasn’t the point.
Maybe it wasn’t my purpose.
I hadn’t saved Shane, and I couldn’t save the women who were currently on the Contender. But if I could get close enough to Kyle and use the blade before his guards stopped me, then maybe I could put an end to this. Maybe I could stop Kyle Kentworth from ever getting to another woman again.
Oh God, I didn’t know if I could do this.
But I had to try.
I had to.
Daring to glance at the guards, I then looked up as Kyle yanked his shirt off and undid the clasp on his watch.
One guard smirked. The other, stone-faced, looked at my breasts.
“Clothes off,” Kyle snapped at me.
This was it.
This was my only chance, but I needed to get the sheath off the knife without him noticing.
“I….” My voice cracked and I tried again. “I need to use the restroom.” Dropping my gaze, I quieted my voice. “Please.”
Kyle’s inhale sounded across the room, and I could practically feel his anger and desire growing in equal measure. It filled the master suite with an acrid, caustic tension I’d never noticed before meeting a stoic, silent Marine pilot.
Lowering my voice even more, I gave up on whatever semblance of dignity I’d ever thought I had on this boat. “Please, sir. I do not want to have an—”
“Hurry the fuck up,” Kyle barked.
Scrambling to my feet, leaving my one pant leg hanging, I limped in a rush toward the bathroom, but before I got to the door, Kyle issued an order at the guard nearest me.
“For fuck’s sake, get that shit off her.”
The guard who’d eyed my breasts stepped forward as he pulled a switchblade from his pocket. With a look that said he was as sick as Kyle, he grabbed the waist of my leggings, and in two swift cuts they were in a heap on the floor. Reaching for the neck of my shirt before I could react, he slashed it down the center.
Fear, anger and cold air-conditioning hit my naked flesh, and my nipples pebbled.
Reaching for my sweater, the guard intentionally rubbed the back of his knuckles across my breasts.
“Touch my property again, and I’ll turn that knife on you,” Kyle bit out, reprimanding the guard before throwing an angry look at me. “You have one minute to get the fuck back out here.”
The stone-faced guard made a show of closing his switchblade as I turned toward the bathroom.
“Eve.”
My skin crawled and bile rose. I looked over my shoulder.
Cold, vicious grey eyes stared at me. “One minute. Naked and in position,” Kyle stated with intent.
With the keys concealed in my palm, I rushed into the bathroom and shut the door.
Flushing the toilet, then turning on the water, I sucked in a breath and tried to calm my shaking hands as I looked down at the two keys.
That’s when I noticed it.
The car key wasn’t the only unusual key.
The key that looked like a house key had a thin line where the notched part met the head. When I pulled on each part, a slight click sounded, and the key separated into two parts. But this one wasn’t a knife. Thin and as long as the key itself, a deadly looking needle emerged right before a bitter, almond-like scent hit my senses.
Sedative? Poison?
I didn’t know. I didn’t even have time to wonder how or why Roark had these.
A double knock pounded on the door. “Eve!”
Startled, I shoved the needle back in and whispered, “Thank you, Roark.”
“Minute’s up!”
Shoving the cut shirt and cardigan off my shoulders, I closed my hand tightly over the keys.
I love you, Shane. I love you so much.
Wearing nothing but my cuts and bruises and Aircast, I opened the door.
Roark
Echo eyed me from across the deck of Neil Christensen’s Cobalt. “You even know how to use a rebreather, old man?”
Talon chuckled. “Oh shit, here we go.” He glanced at Christensen as he zipped up his wetsuit. “You wanna make a bet, Vikin’? Fifty bucks says Romeo paints the deck with Repeat.”
“I do not gamble.” Piloting his Cobalt, Christensen scanned the dark ocean with night vision binoculars.
“It’s Echo, motherfucker, not Repeat.” Echo checked the magazine on his M4. “And for the record, I’ll take any one of you pussy Marines down one-handed.”
Talon grinned. “Repeat, Echo, same thing. But it won’t matter what I call you if you piss off flyboy again. You seen what he carries on his keychain?” Talon made a slicing motion across his throat before shaking his head. “That shit’s next level.”
Fuck, the keychain. That was it. That’s what I’d missed. Reaching for Missy, I patted down her vest.
No goddamn keychain.
Cursing myself, I pulled my cell out.
“What’s he got, a pocketknife?” Echo smirked. “You going old school, Romeo? You gonna take down Kentworth with a toothpick on your Swiss Army knife?”
Talon chuckled and nodded at me before he lifted his rebreather over his head. “Now you gotta show Repeat.”
Even if I had it, I wouldn’t have shown Echo shit. I was still pissed at him for the bullshit in the mountains. I didn’t care whose idea it’d originally been, he’d gone along with it.
Pulling up the GPS tracking website on my burner for the device hidden in the key fob, I logged in.
Fuck.
She had taken it.
Fuck.
It’d been transmitting all day, until thirty minutes ago when it’d abruptly gone radio silent.
“Christensen, cut the engines.” Standing, I stepped toward the helm and checked the Cobalt’s nav system. “What’re the coordinates November gave you?”
Christensen recited them from memory.
“We’re heading in the wrong direction.” Goddamn it. “This was thirty minutes ago.” I held the cell out.
Christensen glanced from the phone to the Cobalt’s GPS before looking at me. “Explain.”
“Keychain.” He’d know what I meant.
“The woman has it?”
She had to. It’d been there when I’d originally buckled Missy into her vest, and the last time I’d fed her on the mountain, I’d felt it. But it wasn’t there when I’d given Missy water after leaving the hangar. The woman must’ve taken it before she’d gotten on the helo.
“She has it.” Or had. I was betting Kyle had found it and destroyed it. Either way, we had a position in the middle of the fucking ocean that was only thirty minutes old.
Swells rocked the Cobalt as Christensen scanned the dark horizon line. “Alpha’s hacker gave confirmed coordinates.”
“They were coordinates from a visual confirmation by a cargo ship two hours before sunset. This is from thirty minutes ago when they were in the Gulf Stream.” My instincts telling me I was right, I glanced again at the coordinates on the cell. Then I calculated the speed of the Contender and the current. “Kentworth’s already evading, and if he found the tracker, he’d change course. You and I both know he’ll go southwest of that position. He’ll need to refuel, and he wasn’t heading toward U.S. waters when the container ship spotted them. That leaves the Bahamas. Taking into account their last known position and the speed of the Contender, we need to head south-southwest eight nautical miles.”
“What’s goin’ on?” Talerco asked.
I glanced at him. “She had the keychain.”
“Oh shit. Had?” Talerco asked.
“Okay, what the fuck is up with this keychain you all are talking about?” Echo interjected.
Ignoring Echo, I spoke to Christensen. “We can intercept them in seventeen minutes.”
“If you are wrong, and the trafficker went north, we are thirty-four minutes off course.”
I wasn’t wrong. “Turn around. Get us within a couple klicks. We’ll get a visual.”
Christensen didn’t reply, but he throttled the engines, turned south and entered the new coordinates into the Cobalt’s nav system before cutting the lights on the cruiser.
“Sixteen minutes,” I warned Talerco and Echo. “And no one touches Kentworth.” That fucker was mine.
Talerco held his hands up. “Not robbin’ you of your glory, Romeo.”
“I shoot who I shoot,” Echo countered.
I glared at him. “You kill Kentworth, I kill you.”
Echo shrugged. “You can try.” He checked the valves on his rebreather before testing his mouthpiece.
Talerco chuckled. “Your funeral, Repeat.”
Echo glared at Talerco, but I didn’t say shit. I fucking watched the tracking site, hoping for an update.
Fifteen minutes later, Christensen slowed down the Cobalt and used his night vision binoculars again before handing them to me. “Two klicks south-southwest.”
I took the binoculars.
There it was. The fucking Contender.
I handed the binoculars to Talerco but spoke to Christensen. “Can you get us within one klick without being seen?”
“Ja.” Christensen glanced at the three of us. “You will have six minutes once you’re in the water.”
I double-checked the oxygen and scrubber on my rebreather. “Kentworth’s brother said there’re twelve guards on board at any given time. I expect they’ll be dispersed across all three decks. Christensen’s covering the bridge once you two clear the first and second decks. I’ve got the top deck and master stateroom. We’re hitting the guards and any hostile crew, then we’re getting the woman out. The rest of the crew and women on board will be left for the Feds. Stealth, no trail. Let’s make this quick. In and out.”
“In and out—just like your first lay, Repeat.” Talon hefted his M4 and grinned. “Let’s fuck some shit up, ladies.”
Echo glanced at me as he stood in the same full dive gear as me and Talon. “You know he’s fucking insane, right?”
Asshole. “He’s the best SARC you’ll ever meet. You’re lucky he’s here.”
“Hot damn, Romeo. Earnin’ that sweet-talker nickname already.” Grinning, Talon slapped me on the shoulder before moving to the edge of the Cobalt. “Knew I got it right the second time ’round. I don’t even miss Mikkey.” Fitting his mouthpiece in, Talon stepped overboard.
Echo glanced at me. “Don’t run to your death.” Fitting his own mouthpiece, he followed Talon into the dark ocean.
“He means the woman,” Christensen stated. “Do not forsake safety for emotion.”
Glancing at the Danish former Special Forces, I didn’t insult him by recounting how we met downrange. “Something happens to me, give Missy to the woman.”
Neil gave me a single warning look. “Do not let anything happen. Remember, I promised the Federal agent that the trafficker would remain breathing.”
“I’m not making that promise.” Christensen was my friend, but I’d already warned him about this when we left the dock. “I only agreed to let you bring your Fed contact in on this because there’ll be trafficked women on board. We’re not equipped for that kind of cleanup with the resources we have tonight. My priority is the woman.” That, and to kill every fucking guard on that yacht.
Christensen stared at me for a beat. Then he gave me his version of an agreement. “Six minutes. I will dock to the Contender’s starboard side. Clear the yacht, get the woman, get off. Then I will call it in.”
“Copy.” Securing my mask and mouthpiece, I stepped overboard.
Ten feet below the surface, Echo and Talon were waiting.
Echo tapped the illuminated compass on his wrist and pointed southwest.
I nodded, and we all swam toward the yacht.
With Echo in the lead, we hit the stern of the Contender and silently climbed aboard. Shoving up our masks and removing our mouthpieces, we all stowed our fins. Glancing at us, Echo tapped his wrist then held up two fingers before making a zero.
In position in twenty seconds, coordinated attack.
I nodded and Echo took off toward the lower deck.
Talon saluted me before heading for the second level.
My rifle aimed, I bypassed the first two levels and made my way to the top deck.
Twenty seconds later, my foot hit the top step, and I heard four muffled shots in two quick double-tap patterns.
“Two down on lower deck,” Echo quietly stated through comms.
“Two down on mid deck,” Talon added.
“Moving,” Echo clipped.
“Copy,” Talon replied before another muted shot sounded through the comms. “One down on the bridge. Backtrackin’ to galley.”
“In position,” I quietly added before quickly glancing over the top step then dropping back down. “Four men, five women on top deck.” All sitting clustered on the loungers. Shifting slightly, I glanced again. The door to the master bedroom was closed. “No visual into the stateroom.” Fuck. “Moving.”
“Romeo, hold for backup,” Echo ordered in a whisper through comms. “Coming your way.”
“Negative.” We all had silencers, but the shots were still audible. “Out of time. Clearing the top deck.” Visualizing the position of the four men, I exhaled.
Then I stood and fired four consecutive shots.
The first three men slumped instantly, but the fourth drew and fired before I hit him mid chest. His shot caught the mask on top of my head, and the women started screaming, but I was already moving.
“Four down. Breaching stateroom.” Firing low to spider the glass of the slider but not hit anyone inside, I kicked through the door.
Two naked blonde women were on their knees, their hair held together in one of Kentworth’s fists, as the fucker sat bare-chested on the edge of the bed. The women positioned in front of him like human shields, he held a gun to one of their heads. “If you want to kill me, you’ll have to shoot through them. But fair warning—you kill me, they kill her.” He tipped his chin.
My gaze cut left.
Two guards, both standing, both aiming point-blank at another naked blonde woman on her knees.
My blonde woman. Head down, not looking at me.
Enraged, I aimed between Kentworth’s eyes. “Tell your guards to stand down.”
“Romeo, sitrep” Echo ordered through comms.
Kentworth smirked. “You first.”
The distant sound of two more suppressed rounds sounded, and Talon spoke through comms. “Galley and lower decks cleared. Vikin’, move in.”
“Copy,” Christensen responded. “Docking. Time, two minutes.”
“Your guards stand down or you die,” I warned Kentworth.
“Romeo, coming up on your six,” Echo quietly clipped.
Kentworth glanced at my gear. “Military?” The fuck smiled like I wasn’t sighted on his forehead. “No chance you’ll shoot and risk killing the women.”
“Please!” one of the women sobbed as she tried to drop to the ground, but Kentworth yanked her hair harder.
“Fuck this shit,” Echo said through comms right before his footsteps crunched over broken glass and he flanked my left. “He may care if he shoots them, motherfucker, but I don’t.”
Neil spoke through comms. “Helm secure, crew contained. Time, one minute.”
His eyes on Kentworth, Echo tipped his chin at me. “What do you say, Romeo? Double tap?”
“Right,” I called.
“Left,” Echo replied.
We fired simultaneously.
The two guards aiming at the woman dropped, and I fired again.
The blonde women screamed as my second shot pierced their hair just below Kentworth’s grip, severing his hold on them as the bullet grazed his arm.
Before Kentworth could scramble and grab the two women again, Echo had the muzzle of his suppressed M4 against the asshole’s forehead. “Go ahead, motherfucker. Reach for them.”
Kentworth aimed at me but glanced at Echo. “You kill me, I kill him.”
“Time,” Christensen clipped through comms.
In nothing but her cast, the woman pushed to her feet. Head down, one hand fisted, still not making eye contact with me, she aimed for Kentworth.
The blondes on the ground crying and scrambling to crawl away, Kentworth blind to what was coming up on his six, the woman raised her fisted hand in slow motion, and I caught the glint of metal.
I knew what she going to do, but I wasn’t going to stop her.
Impassive, Echo looked at me. Then he lowered his weapon.
Kentworth smirked. “At least one of you has some fucking sense.”
“Women secured in cabins,” Talon said through comms. “We blowin’ this joint?”
