The second Hazel hung up on me was the second I ripped open my laptop and bought the earliest possible ticket to Miami. Why hadn't I seen this coming? How did I not know she was hurting? Unfortunately for me, it wasn't early enough. I was going to miss her fight by two hours, but I hoped like hell the fact I showed up at all would restore even a smidge of her trust in me. If I'd known the overtime and Brie’s persistent ways were going to drive her to believe I was cheating, I never would've done it. Not even for Luis, who was the one and only reason I'd done it in the first place. Why? Because he'd done it for me when I up and left L.A. last year to finishing touring the nation with Hazel. This was me returning him the favor. But with Brie precariously stuck in the picture, said favor had been a screw up of royal proportions. A screw up that had the power to rip away the most precious thing in my life.
Not on my fucking watch, I thought for the upteenth time, after we’d landed and I raced through the airport like the entire building was seconds away from exploding. I hightailed it right past baggage claim – perks of only carrying a duffle – and shot out the doors to pick up. Despite the fact the sun had long since disappeared before my arrival, the humid Miami heat clung to my skin the second I stepped foot outside. Small beads of sweat formed on my brow as I pulled my phone out from my pocket and powered it on to give Manny a call. But apparently, he'd beat me to it...fifty times over. Fifty missed calls from Manny, all continuously displayed in red over the last two hours. I almost threw up. Alarm bells blared in my mind, my hands shaky as I clicked on his name and waited for him to answer.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Carr, there you are. I've called you a million times. Where the hell have you been?” he asked, panting as though he'd been running for miles.
“On a plane,” I said simply, waving my arm in the air to hail a cab, all of them practically ignoring me. “What the fuck happened?”
“On a plane? Where?”
“Here.”
“Where is here, bro?”
“Miami.”
“You're in Miami right now?”
“Yes, I just got here, trying to fucking hail a cab,” I explained.
“Well, hail your ass one faster and have the driver drop you off at the marina ASAP.”
“Why would I have the driver drop me off at the marina?”
“Because Dimitri snatched the girls after the fight and I tracked Hazel’s phone. They're on a ship.”
The world around me instantly fell away. My arm dropped to my side and my legs felt weak, but I forced myself to stand tall. Regardless of the fifty calls I'd seen on my screen just seconds ago, I hadn't thought this was the reason for them; not when the Russian bastard hadn't been an issue in almost two months. Don't ask me what I thought he'd been calling for either, because now that I knew it was Dimitri, nothing else made sense. We’d slipped. This was our fuck up for dismembering the security we’d set in place and it's the shot Dimitri had been waiting for. And the worst part of it all was that he'd succeeded. He had my girl.
“Which marina?” I asked Manny, pulling out a fifty from my wallet and waving it in the air.
I had to get to my girl. The situation was dire, yes, but now was not the time to panic.
“Miami Marina. I’m here already,” he answered.
“Are they docked or…”
“No, they’re on the water. But I called in a favor, we’ve got a way out to them.”
A cab pulled up and I flung the door open, throwing myself in. “I’ll be there in twenty. Miami Marina, please, as fast as you can,” I said to the driver as I ended the call and shoved my phone into my pocket.
But he couldn’t drive fast enough. Palm trees and street lights blurred past me as the cabbie weaved in and out deftly through Miami traffic, and still it wasn’t enough. Every minute that ticked by was another minute Dimitri held the power over my head. He could hurt her or worse, he could kill her. What if he already…
No. No, no, no.
I pinched the bridge of my nose as a deep-rooted pain spread through my chest. There’s no way. She couldn’t be. I wouldn’t allow myself to think that way. If there were ever a time to be strong, it was now. I needed to be stronger than ever.
I was out the door, throwing a handful of bills at the driver, as soon as he pulled up the curb. Manny was posted up beside his SUV with the trunk open, chatting with a man I'd never seen before. I assumed this was his way out to whatever ship Dimitri was on. Running towards them, I tossed my bag into the trunk, and threw the door closed as I came around.
“Are we ready?”
Manny nodded and motioned to dude beside him. “This is Alex, one of my college buddies. He's got a boat out here.”
Alex and I shook. “Nice to meet you, man, and thanks for this.”
“I've gotta tell you, this is by the far the last thing I thought Manny would be calling me for, but I'm happy to help. She's right this way, come on.”
Manny and I followed behind Alex as he led us through the docks to where his boat sat. We hopped on board and while he went about the motions for us to embark on our trip, Manny pulled out a firearm, passing it to me with a steady hand.
“You're gonna need that,” was all he said.
The weight of it in my hand with a silencer in place sobered me. What awaited us on that ship was not going to be pretty, and the chances of actually having to take someone's life to get to the girls far exceeded any chance I'd ever hoped to take.
But I was taking it, and I'd put a bullet through anyone who tried to stop me.
Eerie was the only word I could use to describe the ride out to the ship. The waters were calm but it was so dark, I couldn’t see past what the small boat illuminated, which wasn’t much. The sky was full of stars too; not a cloud obstructing them or the half-moon that reflected off the distant horizon. Ironic, I thought to myself as I stared at the beautiful and seemingly tame backdrop for what was going to be anything but. Salty, humid air whipped past my face as Alex raced us toward the coordinates Manny had acquired without question. For that, I was thankful because it gave me the time to prepare myself, or at least be as prepared as anyone could be for something of this nature.
The ocean really felt endless as we headed further and further away from the port. Open water, that’s all there was, amplifying that gnawing sense of danger in tenfold. If, for some reason, we needed backup, we’d be dead long before anyone arrived. That’s how far out we were.
Stop thinking this shit, I berated myself, shaking my head just as Alex pulled up alongside the rusted monster, as close to the ladder as possible. It was massively intimidating.
“You sure you don't want me to ring for the Coast Guard?” he asked, killing the engine.
“I'm positive. If this man even senses people out here, he'll kill them both,” I explained.
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 trades, 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...