Chapter 35

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

DRAVEN

Gunshots ring out all around us. Blood-curdling screams and curses follow. That first gunshot sends me into a panic so none o' it registers fully. Everything slows, receding into the background, leaving me laser focused.

I stalk through the chaos in search o' my boy. People are running and shit's blowing up around us as the guests pull weapons o' their own. I ken he's here. How I dinnae ken. My heart and soul feel right again, and I know I'm close to him.

Then I see him. Samuel has a hold o' him and a woman. Both of them naked and wobbly on their feet.

"Tavish!" I yell, ducking under something someone swings at me and taking off at a dead run.

"God dammit! I've lost eyes on Big Dipper!" Ghost yells over the headset.

Ignoring him and everyone else, I chase after Tavish, determined to get to him.

"Daddy?"

A couple of people fighting block my path. I shove them to the side, only for someone to grab me. I look down at them. The drugged, dead look in their eyes tells me they're nae here of their own volition.

"What's yer name?"

"Peyton. Help me. Please."

"Get to the deck, Peyton. Find someone dressed like me," I tell them. "Take as many o' the others with you as you can. We're here to help."

I push him away, giving him no more thought as I keep moving toward where Tavish disappeared from my view. His screams lift above everyone and everything else. I get to the stairs, but I'm nae sure if I need to go up or down.

"Guiding Light, this is Big Dipper. Do ye have eyes on Little Dipper?" I ask, remembering to use the wording and code names Ghost and the others have been.

"Negative Big Dipper."

"Fuck!" I scream. "Tavish! Where are you, pojke?"

"Daddy!"

I rush down the stairs toward his voice. The wide circular stairs down to the next level are slick as fuck, and I have to catch myself several times as my boots slip off the stairs, nearly sending me tumbling down them.

"Fuck," I groan as I right myself.

"Guiding Light, is there a way off this ship below deck?" I ask, taking the stairs a little slower.

Cato responds, "There's an escape pod, but someone already launched it," he says with a chuckle, making me think he managed to launch it remotely. "There's also a chopper on board, but the bow team took control of it."

"Daddy! Help me!"

"I'm coming, lilla du!"

Near the base of the steps, I slow, creeping down the last few steps with the stairwell to my back. Turning to assess my options, I dinnae see anything in front o' me or behind me. With the escape pod gone, and the chopper out o' commission, Samuel's only options are to jump overboard or kill himself and them.

Coming downstairs eliminated the first and I'll be damned if he follows through on the last one.

I stalk down the hall, checking doors, when two voices call out to me.

"Draven!"

"Daddy!"

Maeve . I cannae believe after all this time I've found her, and yet, I might be too late. Too late for her and for Tavish.