“Stirling,” he asked, barely above the hum of the engine, “how’s the op going?”
“Funny you should ask that,” Stirling began, and Josh had to work not to pop the trunk and leap out of the vehicle as it ran.
LIAM’S SENSEof direction was best described as fair-to-middling, which was one of the reasons he always hovered over his laptop before an op.He supposed it had something to do with his mild dyslexia—remembering his left from his right was difficult and painstaking, but it wasn’t something he made a big deal out of because people tended not to trust somebody when they had that problem.
It took a concentrated effort to zoom through the ship’s corridors, climbing up to one deck and down to another in order to bypass the galley, and feeling the giant plastic-covered package of passports thudding against his hip from the black canvas satchel he’d brought in with him.Danny’s idea, of course, or Liam would have been forced to shove them down the front of his pants.
In his ear, scenes from his nightmares played out while he tried to do his bloody job.
“Molly, luv,” he sang, “I don’t suppose you know how many girls you have?”
“Sixty-three,” she said promptly.“How many passports do you have?”
“Sixty-five,” he replied, his voice grim.“Any idea where to search for the missing girls?”
“Hold on,” she said.“Some of the girls know English.”
He let her do that while he tagged overwatch.“Stirling, how are they doing?”
“Grace has almost gotten himself killed at least three times in one conversation,” Stirling said brutally.“And Josh keeps threatening to expose his position to shut Grace up.”
“No,” Liam said, his heart thundering in his ears.
“Ohhellno,” said Felix.
“And fuck no,” Danny said.Liam knew they’d both been escorting girls from the cold water of the river, where they’d had to swim the last twenty feet from where the inflatable path to the cofferdam gave out, under the dock that held Leon’s yacht, and up the offered narrow steps into the bottom portal itself.
A volunteer Julia had secured from heaven knew where was there to give the victims hot soup and clean warm clothes and promise them their passports and a return to their homes, which Interpol would secure just as soon as Liam (Ha!Like he could do this alone!) broke them out.
And Chuck and Hunter were down below the ship, working whatever industrial magic they’d produced to keep the water pumped from the hole they’d carved in the hull.
Thin, he thought in frustration.So many of us, and we are spread too thin.
Well, theywereattempting, in one fell swoop, what many government agencies had tried to do over the last fifteen years.
And they were so close to succeeding—but dear God, what the cost?
“Ideas?”Liam panted.In the silence after his last breath, he heard a sound—one he’d heard on the streets often, and one he was there to stop.With a frustrated grunt, he threw open the door to the cabin he was passing and took in the scene with one glance.
Sex slaves were often trained, and it was as brutal and as awful as it sounded.One girl was on her back, sobbing, and another girl was chained to a fixture in the corner of the room, and Liam didn’t have time to be a good guy.
He didn’t carry guns—but he did carry a telescoping baton and a short dagger on his belt.He pulled off the baton in one practiced gesture and telescoped it out in mid-swing.It hit the crewman assaulting the girl at the base of the skull and spine, killing him before he had a chance to turn his head.With a grunt, Liam pulled him off the girl, saying, “Found the other two girls—taking them to escape now.”
Turning to the one on the bed, he asked, “All right?”in his threadbare Russian.She nodded numbly and stood, pulling the rags of her shirt around her, crossing her bare legs in what was obviously pain.
“Wash,” he said, trying for gentleness.“Get dressed.We have little time to leave.”
She swallowed, tears running down her face, and then swallowed again.And then showed far more courage than Liam would have been able to and set about the cabin, going far enough to pull the sweater off her rapist’s back to cover her thin adolescent body.
It hung down to her knees, which was cover enough for Liam.He was busy picking the locks on the other girl’s chains.The two girls embraced, sobbing, mumbling to each other in Russian, and Liam gestured them firmly out the door and down the stairs to the next deck,
He knew the word forhurry,and that was enough.As they ran, he with his telescoping rod held at his side, he tried his comms again.
“I ask again, ideas?”
“We’ve been discussing that while you were busy,” Danny said, coming back online.“How much do you know about munitions?”
Liam grimaced.“Not as much as Chuck and Hunter,” he said.“And they happen to be right under the ship.”
