Chapter Twenty-Eight

D arkness shrouded the docks where they had found themselves hours before. The rain had stilled to nothing, but humidity still coated the air in a thick boil of warm, moist air. The moisture swished under Olivia’s tires as she pulled her car up to the docks, using her windshield wipers to clear away the stray droplets from the road and give her a good view of the area. The lights from the other headlamps and guard shack reflected off the puddles on the ground, making for a blinding light that smeared out the images. Visibility was unclear, but Olivia took her time, not wanting to miss anything. Was the U- Haul still there?

Brock’s eyes went straight to the inconspicuous area where the light wasn’t so bright. “That’s the U-Haul right there.”

Olivia’s fingers found the button for her window and she rolled it down, clearing the cluttered view from the window and getting a fresh burst of humid air. Sure enough, Brock’s eyes weren’t deceiving him. The familiar orange-striped box attached to the same color chassis was parked in a corner that was cluttered with other containers. She couldn’t help but notice the container ship was still there, but maybe with a few more containers than when they’d searched it earlier. The container ship wasn’t that large, as it hadn’t taken forever to search it, so any container that was added later stood out to her. She didn’t remember that bright orange one from her previous trip to search the area with Brock. Interesting. She made a note to check it out, but first things first. That same ship looked like it was about to leave this harbor behind.

“We can’t let them leave.” Olivia scrambled from the car, drawing her weapon. Brock mirrored her motions, barely kicking the door closed behind him and not fully latching it. Olivia’s feet squished on the soggy sidewalk as she ran toward the cargo ship. She didn’t throw caution to the wind but looked around her surroundings, not wanting a surprise visitor to jump out and attack them. Thank goodness the ship hadn’t left yet, so Olivia made her way up the ramp and onto the deck one more time.

“We gotta find the captain and keep this thing from taking off!” she called.

Suddenly, from somewhere behind the boxes of cargo stacked on top of one another, three men shrouded in black and their faces covered jumped out, aiming their guns right at them.

“Look out!” Brock shouted above the firing of his round and Olivia squeezed her trigger. Only one man responded to Brock’s bullet, arching backward and falling to the deck of the ship, lifeless. The others let out a spray of bullets that splintered the railing behind them and punctured the cargo. Olivia’s heart leaped into her throat. If there were any kidnapped teens on this ship, the walls of the cargo containers were not enough to protect them. They could be shot before they even had a chance to be rescued.

Thinking quickly, Olivia shot behind one of the larger containers that she knew contained medical supplies. She’d searched it earlier herself. She dropped to a proposal position, balancing on one leg and kneeling on one knee. Brock sprang behind the wall that led to where the captain would oversee the shipment and leaned around the wall to return fire. Olivia aimed her sights carefully, squeezing the trigger as she held her breath and fired off another round that made her eardrums cower under the bang. Her bullet hit its mark and one of the gunmen went down with a yell, letting out one final spray of wayward bullets that speckled the deck of the ship with brass.

“One down!” Olivia yelled over to Brock, who divided his time by leaning around the wall to fire before ducking back to cover again. “I can’t get a clear shot!”

More footsteps pounded onto the deck, no doubt belonging to Alasdair’s backup. Why else would they be shooting at them? Olivia carefully peered around the corner of the container before crouching alongside it. She got to the other side and leaned around. The first of the remaining gunmen was so intent on firing at Brock that he didn’t notice that Olivia had moved positions. Much to her advantage. All it took was one round and he was down, writhing on the deck as blood oozed from his leg. One more shot silenced him.

Brock sprang from his hiding place, firing at the new arrivals as he went from behind the wall to the container where Olivia was. The spray of bullets followed him, carving tiny rings through the top of the container but no doubt getting stuck in the medical equipment inside.

“There’s three.” Brock crawled beside her, his presence making her feel well protected even amidst the rounds aimed at her and Brock.

“Three more?” Olivia nodded. “We can get past that. ”

“I’ll cover you.” Brock nodded to the other container, another one they’d searched earlier to discover it had nothing but more medical supplies. “See if you can get to the other side and take them out just like you did.”

Olivia gave him a single nod. Before leaving, however, she threw a quick kiss on his lips before waiting for him to open fire on the new gunmen. Her legs sprang up, knees unbending as her crouched legs propelled her to the other container. Brock drew their fire toward him, worrying Olivia with the target on his head. He didn’t need to cover her for long. The upper deck ended, and Olivia jumped over the holding space between the two decks, landing arm over arm. She rolled onto the top of one container nestled into the holding space. She laid on her stomach like a sniper, relying on the upper deck to act as a barricade against the bullets, and took out one more while Brock ended two. Once the firing of bullets was finally quiet, she dared poke her head up onto the deck. “Clear!” She took a moment to reload, then scrambled back to her feet. Brock emerged out from behind the container.

She met up with Brock toward the middle of the deck, keeping her weapon up and ready to go if another threat arose. It didn’t take long for Brock to suddenly step in front of her. Body-slamming her out of the way, he yelled toward the back of their protective container: “Watch out!”

She stumbled to the side, regaining her balance just as another round splintered the walls behind where she had been standing. She cast a quick look up at Brock, gratefulness dancing across her face for a moment. “Thanks.”

Another group of guys moved in to replace the ones they’d worked so hard to eliminate. Olivia thought how they seemed to multiply, along with all of their problems. There was no way they were getting to the captain of that ship.

“Where is our backup?!” Brock demanded, looking behind just as Olivia felt the ship jolt from underneath them. The deck moved, shuddered, and the ship groaned as it started to pull away from the harbor .

“No!” Olivia lifted her weapon but five guys soon turned to twenty, then thirty. Twenty approaching from the front, ten approaching from the back. They circled around Olivia and Brock, closing in on them.

“Drop your weapons.” The one who appeared to be the leader of the group held a steady hand as he pointed the weapon at them. His gruff voice left no room for argument.

Olivia bent at the waist, not wanting to drop the weapon onto the deck and risk it going off. She ground her teeth at the need to surrender and let these guys have the satisfaction of winning, but thirty weapons against two? It was better to survive. Their backup, wherever it was, would get to them soon enough.

She and Brock stood back up, hands shoulder-height and spread out in surrender. The ten guys from the back closed in on them. “Move it.”

Brock side-eyed Olivia as they moved toward the twenty guys who scattered, leaving a small group to lead them around the other side of the ship. “It’s going to be okay.” He mouthed.

Olivia nodded.

“No talking! Just move!” One of the guys jammed the rifle into Brock’s back and Olivia shot him a glare. “Hey! We’re going, okay?”

“Not fast enough.” The man grumbled. “No talking.”

There wasn’t time to retort as they came around to the other side of the stack of containers, surrounded by the guys. There at the railing of the deck, with his back to them in that perfectly polished leather jacket of his, Alasdair Crosby looked out over the waves going by.

Brock’s eyes narrowed into anger and Olivia gritted her teeth.

“Well, well.” Wearing a cocky smirk and superior attitude, Alasdair turned to face Olivia and Brock. She wanted to kick that smirk right off of his face. “This is what happens when you don’t wait for backup.”

The guys surrounding them chuckled. Olivia cast a look at Brock, not bothering to conceal her anger. They didn’t have time to wait for backup. If they’d waited, the ship would have left the port. It already was moving out at twice the regular speed. At least now, they had a chance of busting Alasdair and finding the teens he had in his captivity. That is if they lived through the sea of gunmen that pressed in on them.

Alasdair wanted to taunt them a bit before killing them. Like a cat torturing a mouse before the inevitable death blow. Olivia didn’t mind it when their villain counterparts did that. It gave her and Brock time to come up with an escape plan. She chose not to say anything, but of course, Brock did nothing of the sort.

“This is what happens when you don’t follow the law. You’re busted, Crosby. The Coast Guard and local police know exactly who you are.”

“I’m sure they do.” Alasdair began to casually pace along the railing, looking out over the waves and the cluttered port going by as if this was some kind of cruise. To him, it probably was. “To be honest, I’m surprised you made it here in time.”

He grinned again, abandoning his little stroll along the rail and strode toward them. The smug expression only grew. Olivia tightened a fist at her side and dared a glance around. There were too many people. She’d probably have to talk her way out of this one. Or find a way to get to that railing, but that would involve leaping overboard. She wasn’t interested in that. She had to stay on board and not jump into deeper water like she and Brock seemed to have done with this situation.

“All this time,” Alasdair laced his fingers together behind his back and paced in front of them, volleying his expression between Olivia and Brock. “All this time and I was right under your nose, and you never bothered to see me.” He turned his back to them, looking toward the waters, again. He moved his hands in front of him and Olivia strained to see what he was doing.

“We figured it out soon enough,” Brock bit out. His tone took on a darker hue, rooted in the anger he felt over the business Alasdair conducted. “What you’ve been doing to these kids, it’s wrong. You’re not going to get away with it. ”

Alasdair sneered, casual laughter telling Olivia that he had no intention of letting Brock’s threats intimidate him. “Well, unfortunately,” He pivoted on his heel and Olivia’s eyes widened at the gun in his hands, pointed right at them both. Oh, yeah. They were in a pickle this time. “You’re not going to live to tell the story of what happened.”