15. Chapter Nine

Xander

With Knox, I always rode shotgun, that was my spot.

Being reduced to the back seat with Trevante while Wave rides shotgun with that dick Nano grates on my nerves. She shouldn't be here. I keep warring within myself to send her ass back to the warehouse and do this without her but I know she will fight me. For fourteen years I dreamed of her being alive and well and one day seeing her again, but I didn't expect that dream to come true except, she isn't really back. She's still a prisoner of her own mind and a slave to her vengeance.

I know what that feels like, being a prisoner of your own mind is the worst.

I was freed of that burden eight years ago when the truth came out about what I had done the night of Wave and Lake's accident. I was freed but at the same time I lost everything, my family, my home and worst of all, I lost my best friend.

"Stop here," Wave instructs Nano. He does as ordered and pulls off to the side of the road with the others following behind doing the same thing.

"The ship is already here, we're too late," Nano says with a slight hint of anger in his tone but it isn't directed at the woman sitting beside him.

"No, they won't unload the women until all the cargo has been removed. Karl doesn't have enough pull at the ports since Ian stopped backing him. Once all the workers leave, then the others will come to claim the girls but we'll have already freed them before then." I'll admit, I am in fucking awe of her and my cock is twitching in my pants. Her leading is something I never thought I would see, she used to follow and do whatever Lake did but now, she seems to have come into her own.

"How long before we move?" The hint of respect in Nano's tone has pride bolstering inside me, she earned that shit on her own. I cut a glance to Trey to see the fucker is sitting there with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"As soon as the crane operator removes the last container from the ship we move, the room the girls will be in is in the engine room of the boat."

My face contorts. "Why there? The heat would be suffocating!" I growl. She swivels in her seat and meets my gaze head on with a cold look in her eyes.

"You won't hear them scream over the engines. If they die from the heat then they weren't cut out for this life." The way in which she says that shit like it's just a matter of fact is fucking worrisome, she is more detached from her feelings than I thought. I'm a cold, heartless fucker and I don't care for many people, but she is coming across like she cares for nothing, no emotion.

After ten minutes, the crane finally stops and the final container is loaded onto the back of a truck. We wait another five minutes before getting out. I frown when I watch her head to the back of the car and pop the trunk. When she returns, she has her bow slung over her shoulder with arrows strapped to her back and a knife on each hip, she looks like a fucking badass. She ties her hair in a messy bun atop her head, then cracks her neck side to side.

"She looks like a wet dream." I grit my teeth at the fucker's comment and try to ignore him as I listen to her relaying orders to the ten guys that came with us. She refused to allow more, saying they would draw too much attention. "She was born for this shit." I hate to fucking agree with the dick, but watching her and seeing her command a group of men without an ounce of fear shows he's right.

"She should never have had to suffer to end up here," I spit out.

"No, she shouldn't have, but going through that shit shaped her to be the woman that now stands before us. She needs us both, Xander." I turn and glower at the bastard but he keeps his gaze ahead. "You may not like it or even want to admit it to yourself but you know I'm right." I don't bother answering because fuck him! When I move to take the lead I attempt to reach for her but she shoots me a scathing look.

"You try that shit again and I will put a knife between your fucking eyes. You follow me." My nostrils flare in anger but she doesn't stick around for a response, she takes off down the steep bank with the others trailing after her. Gritting my teeth, I fall into step beside Trey and follow after her.

We're all hiding behind a large container as we wait for the two scouts Wave sent out to return. When they do, they go straight to her, not Nano. She nods to the two guys, then looks at all of us.

"We move quickly and silently, I want these women gone before Karl's men arrive," she says.

"How are we getting them out of here?" the guy to my left asks.

"Peta is bringing a truck, he'll be here in ten minutes," Nano answers. Done with the discussion, Wave takes off with all of us trailing after her, all our heads on a swivel as we cross the open space. As we board the ship, Wave draws both her blades and it takes every ounce of self-control I have not to dart in front of her and take the lead.

"Protect her but stop trying to hold her back." I snarl at Trevante over my shoulder before darting through the metal door after Wave. She doesn't falter in her steps. She's sure and moves with poise like she has done this a million times. How she knows where to go is beyond me. When we finally get to the engine room, I look around but see nothing, she continues on until she reaches the back wall where there is a set of lockers.

"Move this," she demands. Two men brush past Trey and me and shift the lockers out of the way to expose a door with a padlock on it. Wave doesn't ask, she just snags the gun from the guy closest to her holster, turns and shoots the lock, causing all our ears to ring. She hands the gun back to the guy without a word and kicks the door open. The moment she does, we are assaulted by the stench of piss and… fuck, that's definitely shit I smell. Screams sound out but that doesn't deter Wave as she raises her hands in the air, showing she isn't a threat. "We are here to help you and set you free but in order for us to do that, I need you to be quiet and trust me because the man that brought you here has men coming to collect you very soon and believe me, you won't like what happens."

"Why should we trust you?" one of the girls calls out.

She doesn't falter in her response. "Because two weeks ago I was you and now I am standing before all of you trying to save your lives so you don't suffer the same fate I did." Her words seem to be enough for them to trust in her. She steps aside as the girls slowly start trickling out. My eyes widen at the sight of them, they look malnourished and filthy, some of them look deathly ill.

"Follow me but be quiet," the guy behind Trey says. He leads the girls out of the room and they all shakily follow after him. Bile rises in my throat and disgust churns my stomach, how the fuck could someone do this?

"Eight of the girls didn't make it," I hear Wave say to the two guys beside her. "Put the locker back and let's go." Her tone is hard and unyielding, she brushes past us without a glance and races after the girls. Once we make it back to the dock, the truck is already there and the girls are being loaded inside. At the sight of a girl no older than ten I freeze. She's a fucking child and here she is about to be sold to some sick cunt that will rape her all because he has a kiddy fetish.

"Peta will take them back and hold them at the warehouse until we return," Nano says to Wave as she stands back with her arms crossed over her chest, watching the girls with anger in her eyes.

"Once the truck is gone I want this area surrounded. Mike, Tom, Jones and Aaron will be the ones to board the boat. The moment they are inside your men will move in on the drivers," she says.

"What about the four on the boat?" he queries.

"They are going to burn alive for what they did to me. As soon as the men take out the drivers, pull them back because that boat will go up in seconds." I frown at her words but she continues to explain to Nano. "I may have caused a gas leak in the engine room."

"Holy fuck, while we were standing there with our dicks in our hands she was already onto phase two," Trey mutters from beside me. Too stunned to say anything, I just nod.

The moment the truck leaves the dock we all scatter and hide in the shadows or behind containers as we wait. Twenty minutes later a truck and four SUVs pull up. I spy Wave from the corner of my eye, she tenses as men begin to exit the cars and her jaw works side to side. I know without a doubt some of those cunts out there are the ones who hurt her. My blood boils in my veins with the need to skin each of the cocksuckers alive for touching her. I shift but she clamps her hand down on my shoulder. I meet her dark gaze.

"They are mine, you don't get to play hero. You lost that right when you didn't try to find me. I will save myself and kill each of those sons of bitches for killing a part of me until there is nothing left!"