Carson’s head ached, and it felt like there was sandpaper inside her knee. But she was free. Which was more than she could say for her family.

The fall from the window to the deck below hadn’t killed her. She’d managed to land feet first, which in hindsight maybe wasn’t such a great thing. Something was wrong with her knee, but she couldn’t allow that to slow her down. There was a goose egg on the back of her head from where she’d connected with the railing, but her vision wasn’t blurry. She could move, she could hide and maybe she could get off this boat.

She pressed her back against the metal wall. The deck she’d fallen to was an open level below the uppermost deck where the cargo was stacked. Even down here she could see where pallets, crates and containers would be stored. Except the boat had been unloaded, which made hiding harder.

A masculine sing-song voice drifted toward her in a language she didn’t understand. Another man answered him. It wasn’t the same language that Kawa’s people spoke. This was different. She didn’t know how, only that it was.

Come on, leave already.

Carson peered around the corner, but couldn’t see the men.

Until the two moved on she was stuck waiting while her sister slowly bled to death.

Time was not on her side.

RYAN PARKED THE MUSTANG as close to the boat as he could get without catching the eye of the port authority officials. At this early hour there was a lot of activity as teams assembled to load and unload cargo for the day.

“What if this goes wrong?” Joe stared off into the distance at a boat.

“It won’t. He’s in this for the money and what you can do for him. It doesn’t make sense to go back on the deal. Come on.” Ryan patted Joe’s shoulder.

The senator nodded and let Ryan usher him along.

“When we get there, call him and tell him to come down. You don’t want to go into the boat, but if we have to we will. If he asks about us, tell him it’s for both of your safety. Do not mention the FBI or Carson.” Ryan was banking on Kawa having never seen him. Alec would have to hang back, but that wasn’t a bad thing. They didn’t want to play all their cards for Kawa to see.

They strode toward the boat, dodging other traffic as normal business went on. Things grew quieter as they reached the ship where Joe had met with Kawa previously. The decks were empty and there was no crew to see. Considering the bustling activity everywhere else it seemed strange.

“Alec, wait here.” Ryan gestured at some kind of crane tower a short distance from the boat. “Joe, ready to call?”

Joe lifted his phone to his ear and slowed his pace, staring up at the boat.

“I’m here,” he said.

Ryan watched the lower entrance where Kawa had been seen in the photographs earlier.

“No, I’m not coming on the ship.” Joe shoved his hand in his pocket. “As a friend you’ll understand if this whole thing makes me uneasy. Certainly you can meet me halfway?”

Joe glanced up at Ryan.

What was the problem this time?

Joe tapped the phone screen. “He says we either come on the ship or there’s no deal.”

“Then for now there’s no deal.”

Ryan hated saying those words, but he couldn’t walk into a trap knowing full well that was what it as.

THE PHONE WAS HOT against Kawa’s face. The scent of blood clogged his nose.

What a fuck up.

“Check every part of the ship. She’s here somewhere.” He ended the call and glanced at the young woman lying on the floor, her parents hovering around her.

They were disposable. He didn’t need to concern himself with their outcome now that a fraction of the money he’d lost was coming back. No, it wasn’t the win they needed for Akkadia, but it was something. The senator’s cooperation could go a long way to turning opinions on the world stage.

His phone rang again.

He glanced at the number, but it wasn’t one of his men.

It was the senator.

“Please? Please, she needs help.” The woman reached for him.

Kawa stepped out of her reach. There were casualties in every revolution, on all sides. He couldn’t concern himself with one girl.

He exited the room and secured it with one hand. The man he’d posted out here was gone, as was one other. As far as he knew, they’d fled. That left Kawa with four men at his back he couldn’t trust.

This could still be handled.

He pressed the answer button.

“Good morning, friend.” Kawa did his best to sound relaxed, pleasant, and not sweating his balls off. If the girl got off the ship she could bring the cops here, and he wasn’t certain his arrangement with the captain would hold.

“I’m here,” Joe Neilson said.

“Wonderful news. Would you care to join me on the upper deck? Such a lovely view.” And far away from wherever that woman might have escaped to.

“No, I’m not coming on the ship. As a friend you’ll understand if this whole thing makes me uneasy. Certainly you can meet me halfway?”

The senator was getting scared as he should be. He’d walked into the lion’s den without a clue and now the teeth were around his neck. It was a little late to start pulling back.

“Remaining in America has put me in a bind, my friend. Are you sure you won’t consider the view?”

“No.”

Kawa needed the money, but he couldn’t make himself agree to the plan. He strode across the hall and peered out a window onto the deck. He could just make out two small shadows on the dock.

Joe was not alone.

“If you won’t come on the boat, then I’m afraid we have no deal.” Kawa hung up.

The senator didn’t travel with security. He’d never been escorted by a body guard before. Why was he getting antsy now? Had he been tipped off?

Kawa headed down the hall. The crew was overhead, sequestered for meetings about loading cargo in the near future. He had to find the girl before loading happened or else he ran the risk of her slipping off on her own or someone that wasn’t the crew finding her. He had no doubt the captain would not stick up for him if that happened.

He descended the stairs to the tune of his phone ringing. At this rate the battery was going to die. At least this time it was one of his men checking in.

“Have you found her?” he asked without a greeting.

“No, but the crew said there was an unexplained bang earlier.”

“She went out the window. That’s a long way to fall. It was probably her that made the sound.” And his man leaving his post was the reason no one had known.

“What do you want us to do?”

“Keep searching. The senator is here to make the transfer of funds, so we need to tie up our loose ends and leave.” Kawa was more than ready to be done with all of this even if it wasn’t the win they’d wanted.

He made it to the side entrance without seeing Carson or anyone else. From the depths of the shadows he peered out at the senator and his bodyguard. The unknown man was the garden variety tall stocky, intimidating in a black suit. Not the sort of person that bothered Kawa.

But could he trust them?

If he was on the boat he was granted some measure of safety.

Off the boat he was vulnerable.

Then again if he didn’t gamble, he might lose it all.

Joe lifted his arm. A moment later Kawa’s phone rang.

“Hello, friend,” he said.

“We are coming up.”

CARSON WAS GOING TO have to run for it.

She’d only seen two ways off the boat. There was some kind of door a few levels below where she’d hit the deck. She’d tried to get close to it, but there were always people in that area. Which left the forklift ramp at the end of the ship.

She’d made it most of the length of the boat without being seen, but that was by chance. There was too much open, exposed ground from here to her exit. For her to get closer she had to take the stairs up one level then walk herself down the ramp.

Someone would see her.

Would her knee hold up to a run?

Pain shot up and down her body with every step. That would be worse at a run. She could do it so long as she didn’t trip.

All she had to do was get off the boat and find someone. Anyone at all. She’d scream her head off if she thought she’d be heard.

Carson tried to listen for voices or footsteps, but it was difficult to make out subtle sounds.

What she wouldn’t give for a hat or something to disguise her.

She crawled up the metal stairs on her stomach, keeping as low as possible.

The deck was still empty, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was out there.

If this were a nature documentary, she was the nervous rabbit about to take on a bird of prey with sharp, pointy talons.

Where would her threat come from?

There were two sets of what she could only assume were cranes to move cargo set up at two points on the ship. Then there was a kind of tower at the very front.

She was closer to the ramp than the tower. If she didn’t fall, she could make it.

Carson gripped the stair and placed her feet higher so she crouched. She’d have to go all in.

A cold, hard thing jabbed her in the back and a man’s voice speaking words she couldn’t understand made the hair on her arms stand up.

Shit.

“Okay. Okay, I’m not doing anything. See?” She held up her hands.

He grabbed her by the arm and jerked her backwards. She grasped the railing to keep herself from falling.

“Okay,” she snapped as her knee throbbed.

She turned and her gaze clashed with her captor. He was one of them. The ones from the boat. He hadn’t spoken to her, but she recognized him by the scar on his cheek.

Carson glanced over her shoulder at the clear, blue sky. She’d waited too long to run.

Too late.

Just like so many other things in her life.

The man grasped her by the arm and hauled her down the last few stairs. She hissed as her knee protested, sending sharp jabs of pain down into her bones. He kept a tight grip on her as he guided her back toward where she’d come from.

“Will one of you at least help Frankie? Please? She’s just a kid.” Carson stared at the cold face of the man.

He didn’t respond.

“Can you understand me? Do you know what you’re doing? My sister, she’s just an innocent kid.”

Still no reaction. Not a flinch or even the slightest tremor of feeling.

There was nothing more she could do. She’d made the wrong choice every time it was presented to her. She hadn’t even told Ryan how she felt about him, and now it was too late.

They went down stairs and across more empty cargo space until they reached a door. The same one she’d glimpsed from above but hadn’t been able to get to.

Sunlight poured in, giving the area a sad glow.

A man turned to face them.

Carson shuddered and her feet stopped working.

Kawa.

“JUST LIKE WE TALKED about, okay?” Ryan kept one step ahead of Joe as they climbed the stairs to the hatch leading to the below deck areas.

The whole purpose of this exchange was to get eyes inside the boat. Once Ryan knew what they were dealing with he’d make one of two calls. Either he’d stay on the ship or retreat to gather the guys and go in. With any luck he’d find out where Carson was and what state she and her family were in.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Joe asked.

“It will. We’re good at what we do.”

“Stop there.” A guy in a dark suit that had seen better days stood above them. He had a gun tucked under his suit jacket judging by the unnatural way he held his hand. “Weapons?”

“You get your toys, I get mine.” Ryan lifted his suit jacket to expose the holsters under his arms. “Fair is fair. I’m just here to ensure the transaction goes smoothly.”

There was only the smallest chance the man had glimpsed Ryan’s face in the parking garage. It was a gamble he had to take because they sure as hell would remember Alec.

The man jerked his head toward the door above.

Ryan took another step and the man side-stepped with him, keeping some distance between them.

This was good. No recognition, a healthy suspicion, nothing out of the ordinary for dealing with paranoid terrorists. As they reached the top of the stairs Ryan couldn’t help but hope that this would go smoothly. He could get Carson back.

The hatch loomed ahead of them.

Just another couple of steps.

Sirens wailed, not in the distance, but below them from four SUVs barreling down the dock.

The man they’d followed up the stairs grabbed the inside hatch. Ryan threw himself against the heavy, metal door.

“Get in,” he barked at the senator.

The man inside pushed at the door. Ryan braced his hands and foot on the ledge and locked his arms.

“How?” Joe stood back, gaping at him and the people below.

“No, please!” a woman cried out.

Carson.

Ryan braced his foot and shoved back.

They had to get inside the ship before Kawa and his men sealed themselves below deck. That would create a hostage situation no one was coming out of alive. He didn’t have the ability to go after Carson and ensure the senator’s safety. He could only take care of one.

The door gave way and Ryan toppled sideways onto the deck. He glimpsed the back of a retreating man. Ryan got to his feet and yanked Joe inside then sealed the hatch.

“What are you doing? That’s the FBI.” The senator’s pale face seemed to gleam in the low light.

“Giving you an alibi. You and I were kidnapped. Got it?”

“But—”

“No buts. You got in contact with me because the company I work for has a contract with the DoD and you wanted to check into a man who said he could get your sister back. Got it? It might be the story that saves your career.” Ryan peered down the halls.

“No one will buy that.”

“Then practice it.”

Ryan couldn’t make out anything. There was noise from outside and overhead.

The FBI were not going to come on a Chinese ship, so what were they really doing?

Ryan reached up and powered his comm back on.

The first thing he needed to do was secure the senator. Once that was done, he could go after Carson.

“Alec? Tell me you can hear me?” He pulled out his gun.

“Ryan—that was not you shutting the hatch, was it?” Paxton’s ragged voice was unexpected.

“I will neither confirm or deny that.” Ryan ducked around the corner, weapon ready, and looked over the room to the left of the entrance.

“Shit, man.”

“Where are you?”

“In FBI custody.”

“Is Alec arrested yet?”

“About to be.”

Ryan was on his own. He muted his comm and waved at the senator.

“Joe. In here. Secure this door. Do you know how to use a gun?”

“No.”

“That’s unfortunate. Inside.”

Joe tripped over the lip of the hatch, but otherwise made it into the room without hurting himself.

“Secure this. I’m going to get Carson.” Ryan strode down the hall, leaving the senator to fend for himself.

If Kawa’s group hadn’t gone for Joe before, they wouldn’t now. Their priority would be to get somewhere they would deem as safe. They had Carson as a hostage right now, and she could be enough. Her family would be more leverage.

These were not good odds. Deep down he knew that someone was going to get hurt, he just had to hope it wasn’t her or him.

“I’m coming for you,” he whispered.

“WE SHOULD GIVE OURSELVES up.”

“No, we can’t.”

“They’ll throw us in a hole and we’ll never get out.”

“We can’t stay here.”

Kawa listened to the not so quiet conversation going on behind him.

He’d known he did not have his men’s faith, that they were here because they’d been assigned and now their fates were tied together. There still had to be a way out of this.

“Stop. Be quiet.” He turned to face them.

The woman stared up at him.

“There has to be a way off this boat,” he said. The next logical step was right there. He couldn’t think of it though. “Think. How do you get off a boat this size?”

“The doors?”

“Lifeboat.”

“Yes!” That was the word he’d been looking for. “We need to get to the lifeboat.”

Problem was, he had no idea where that was or how to get there and the FBI were right behind them. But if they could find it and get off the ship, they might survive another day.

RYAN CREPT DOWN THE hall, peering into rooms.

This was going to take forever.

By himself he had to clear every room and backtrack to check his tail before going forward or risk getting himself killed.

“Ryan? Ryan, they want you to come off the boat,” Alec said out of nowhere. The sound was full of static and unclear.

The guys had traded off asking him to disembark for the last twenty minutes, probably at the bequest of Agent Walker with increasing interference. Well, he could go fuck himself because Ryan wasn’t leaving the boat until he’d found Carson and her family.

“Hey, Ryan? They’re talking with the captain and he’s saying they’re not supposed to be there. They might give the FBI permission to board, buddy.” They’d gone back to Paxton, who was finding a creative way of giving Ryan a heads up.

He didn’t have long before the feds might storm the ship. With Walker in charge he didn’t trust the FBI to prioritize Carson’s life in their attempt to get their guy.

Low voices drifted toward him, carrying farther with all the metal surfaces.

That wasn’t Mandarin. He didn’t know what that was.

He followed the noise to an intersection of halls. Two men stood just around the corner, their heads together talking. Not the Chinese crew. He still couldn’t understand what they were saying but the tense vibe was easy enough to understand.

They didn’t like what was going on any more than he did.

One slapped the other on the shoulder and together they turned, headed away from Ryan.

Where were they going? Could they take him to Carson? Did he dare try to subdue two at once?

The two turned left into a stairwell. Ryan darted after them, straining to listen to their footsteps overhead as they rose to the next floor then the next. Then the next.

Where were they going?

Why weren’t they finding a defensible room? Were they looking for something? Did they have a plan for getting off the boat?

Fuck.

Ryan’s stomach sank.

He reached up and tapped his comm.

“Where’s the lifeboat?” he asked.

The only thing that answered him was static.

There had to be too much metal between him and the others for the signal to connect.

Ryan took the stairs two and three at a time, doing his best to keep quiet.

The lifeboat would be somewhere above deck toward the rear of the ship, likely over their head right now. If Kawa got on it and launched the thing into the water he could still escape. The boat wouldn’t move fast, but if they could get to land and slip away it could provide them with the lead they needed.

Up and up Ryan climbed following the sounds of other feet. He didn’t know for sure if Carson was with Kawa, but he’d heard her voice so he had to believe she was alive.

Ryan reached the top of the stairs letting out onto the deck. Blue sky stretched out overhead, only a few white, puffy clouds floating past. The brisk breeze blowing in from the ocean carried with it the cry of gulls and boat motors. Above him the orange, enclosed lifeboat dangled in the air.

That had to be Kawa’s plan. Get away in the boat and either meet up with another contact or make a run for it. The FBI were watching, but could they anticipate this?

Ryan had to act now. He could not allow more men in that boat. If he could separate them, divide them somehow, it could help the feds capture the whole group and save Carson.

He continued to charge up the stairs, watching the stairs doubling back on themself until he saw a pair of ankles climbing at a slower pace.

Now or never.

He leaned over the railing and aimed at the stairs across and above him. The man clothed in black didn’t even see him coming.

Ryan squeezed the trigger.

The first man cried out and hit the ground.

The second was following close enough Ryan just had to adjust a tiny bit.

He fired a second shot and the other man lurched out of view.

There were two men who wouldn’t be getting on the lifeboat.