26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Ryder

T ucking my wire into my shirt, Matt and I nod toward each other as we begin our shift. I'm still horny as hell and wishing terribly that I was still with Meghan, but duty calls and I have a job to do tonight.

From everything we learned so far, I knew that a shipment was coming in tonight with illegal contraband. I have had the guys working with us from Salvatore Security Forces keeping a close eye on Nathan. My assignment tonight is to not let Nathan out of my sight. When the shipment comes in, I am to give our signal to the awaiting officers just outside of the Port. There was no way they could be within the confines of the Port, that would surely stick out and alert Nathan and whoever he was working with that something was amiss.

"You ready?" Matt asks, as we walk toward the docks.

Glancing at my watch, I check the time. It's a quarter past three in the morning. Two ships are heading this way and I memorize all of their details.

"Yeah, I'm just excited to get this over with," I respond.

The vibe down here tonight was off and I didn't like the strange feeling it was eliciting in me. In my years of combat, whenever we had a bad feeling about something, there was usually a valid reason for it.

Nathan waved at us as he began walking faster than needed down to the docks. I kept my face neutral as I waved back. Matt did the same, too.

"Guys, I have eyes on Nathan. He is heading toward the south dock," I whispered into the mic.

Matt looked back, like he was inspecting some cargo, while I walked a few feet ahead of him. Another thing I had learned in my combat training, was to always keep distance between you and your partner when on a sting operation. We needed that space in case one of us needed to act or draw a weapon, but we never veered too far away, so that we could always hear one another.

"Stay back, but don't lose sight of Nathan," Lance Salvatore whispered back. With this new assignment presenting some real danger and risks, Lance flew back to California to help us out. He was typically stationed on the East Coast, but I was thankful to have his expertise guiding us tonight.

Both ships docked at the same time and I watched as the crew split up to begin unloading the cargo. My job, or rather, my pretend role here at the Ports, was just to play a security guard. I had no business near the men as they unloaded the cargo, but if I just walked down and inspected the area quickly, no one would think anything about it. However, if I lingered, then I might tip someone off.

Slowing my pace, I made sure to keep my eyes locked on Nathan. I watched with keen interest as he began heading to the second ship near the last docking station. He shook hands with a man who jumped from the ship and began tying the lines onto the dock. I watched as they chatted for a minute before Nathan nodded, looked around quickly, and then began moving toward the back of the ship.

Curiously, I swiped my hand across my forehead. This was mine and Matt's signal that something was up and to tread carefully. I didn't bother to look back and make sure he was following my lead, I knew he was.

I took a turn and shined my flashlight against the security fence. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nathan take a turn before jumping onto the back of the ship. I may not be a true Port worker, but I did know the crew here had no business stepping foot onto one of those ships.

The rest of the men were busy unloading the cargo and laughing and joking. They were happily blind to whatever scheme Nathan had going on.

As I approached the back of the ship, I heard arguing. I recognized Nathan's voice, but the other man, I didn't.

Matt came up to my left and we crouched down, shielding ourselves from being seen. Thankfully we were in the darkness and it helped to camouflage us.

A loud sound rang out, like something had hit skin. A yell cried out followed by a scuffle.

"We have Nathan arguing with someone on the ship. Everyone hold steady for now," I advised.

Matt was keeping a good lookout for our team while I was following Nathan. Somewhere out there, local cops and the rest of Salvatore Security Forces were just waiting to invade the area on our cue.

"You have been hiding the goods," a voice roared, followed by a smash.

"I told you, nothing came in the last shipment. Your informant told me there would be ten tons of cocaine on that last shipment, but there wasn't anything," Nathan cried out. His voice sounded strangled and I had no doubt he was compromised.

I moved closer to get a better look. Nathan and the man who I had seen a few days ago were standing on the back of the ship.

"Well, my informant and boss say otherwise. So tonight, they are giving you a little surprise," the man said, his smirk giving me an uneasy feeling.

Nathan's eyes rose with fright. "What are you talking about?"

"See, I knew you were stealing our goods and selling them on the streets. We had a few people following you. Tonight, one of the boxes you had unloaded and placed aside, well, it has a bomb in it," the man laughed.

"I didn't…" Nathan began, but the man stopped him.

"No use lying. In less than three minutes, this place will blow up," the man raged.

Nathan took off running as the other man chuckled before returning back to his ship. I knew then that the bomb wasn't near the ships. Nathan must have hidden the cargo box somewhere inside the large warehouse.

"There's a bomb near the warehouse. We need to evacuate the premise," I said into my mic.

Matt began making commands and all at once, a siren rang out and the men around us began running toward the exits.

I went to run, too, but then realized, I had to find Nathan. He wasn't going to slip past me tonight.

I turned to run and then, everything went black.