"I said not to look," he snapped. "Just do as I say. You need to obey me when I tell you to do something. I don't just say it to hear myself talk."
She pressed her face into his back without speaking, and he found himself sighing softly. Once into the corridor he closed the hatch, took her a few more feet away from the blood splatter and set her down.
"Are you all right?"
She didn't look at him. "Yes. I'm sorry, I didn't try to look, not like you think. I wasn't curious, it was more confirmation."
It cost her to admit the truth. She needed to see a body to know he had actually fought off Saeed's men and it wasn't some kind of elaborate game he was playing with her. She was actually embarrassed that she had doubted him for a moment.
"No harm done. I would have done the same thing." Of course, he was a skeptical man and didn't believe a third of what anyone said to him.
"The weird thing is, I trust you. And that scares me. I don't trust so easily and it's hard for me to get to know anyone or even talk very much to outsiders, but the more I'm in your company, the more I feel comfortable and that's just so strange."
He saw that she kept a grip on her assault rifle. "I understand. I'm having those same strange feelings. It's the situation. We only have one another to rely on." Which was a great line of bullshit, but he delivered it in a reasonable tone.
Some of the panic left her eyes, and she nodded. "I guess you're right. The situation certainly is unusual and very intense. Where are we going now?"
"I'm killing Saeed. I've been after him for over five years and I've never had a better chance. I'm not missing the opportunity." He'd be damned if he made apologies either. She said she wanted to help him, but she'd seen the blood on the floor and bodies lying in the cabin.
"Are there others on board? Others like Saeed?" She stayed right behind him as they moved toward the stairs.
"I studied the layout before coming aboard. There are seven luxury cabins, so potentially, that could be six other sexual predators aboard. They will all have bodyguards, although I suspect not quite as many as Saeed."
"Did you know this was a floating human trafficking vessel?"
"I suspected. There was no way to know until I actually got aboard ship. I wasn't told about any special passengers, only that sometimes the rich and famous are bored enough to pay lots of money for the privilege of traveling on a cargo vessel."
They kept their voices projecting only to each other, that thin thread of sound that connected them. He found he wanted that connection with her, even there, in the middle of a very dangerous situation.
"How many crew?"
"Including the cooks, twenty-one, and there is a security force that Evan keeps aboard. There're eight of them."
"Great. We might be a little outnumbered."
"No problem, baby, that's my specialty."
She touched the back of his shirt. He knew she didn't mean for him to feel the barely there brush of her fingers, but he did. He felt the impact all the way to his bones. She was seeking reassurance, that was all, nothing more, but he felt as if she belonged to him. She had been under his protection for her father's sake, but he knew that was no longer the reason he watched over her. Selfishly, he wanted her alive in the same world with him.
"I wish I could be more of a help to you," Airiana said. "This isn't my specialty, but I'm good at following orders."
He glanced over his shoulder at her, one eyebrow raised.
"When I want to," Airiana corrected.
He put his hand on the railing of the stairs. "We go up slow and easy. Stay directly behind me and try to step where I step. Don't make a sound."
Airiana twisted her fingers into his shirt, bunching the material into her fist. He wanted to give her that much. It would be a small comfort, but he knew he had to be able to move fast when necessary.
"Honey, you're going to have to let go. I'll watch out for you. I will, but . . ."
She dropped her hand away as if he'd slapped her. He cursed under his breath in his own language. He wasn't suave or sophisticated. All the training, all the beatings had never made him into someone different. He could pass himself off as those things, but he was a rough, dominant man whose every instinct was that of a killer.
Airiana needed reassurance, and he found himself baffled by her. She followed him closely, but she didn't touch him again. Her shoes whispered on the metal stairs, but she contained the sound, every bit as adept in that gift as he was.
It didn't surprise him that no one came to challenge them--this was Saeed's luxury cabin and as paranoid as he was, he wouldn't want anyone, not even a crew member, disturbing him. He brought his own security with him and they would keep everyone away.
He signaled to Airiana to move up to his side.
6
KNOWING a depraved monster was just on the other side of the hatch kept Airiana's stomach churning. She pressed her hand over the knots and took a deep calming breath. She didn't know why she believed in Maxim Prakenskii, but she did. He exuded absolute confidence, and somehow, that gave her the strength to stay by his side.
Maxim took the MP-5 from her hand and laid it on top of his war bag, just to one side of the hatch, so when the door opened, no one could see it.
She let out her breath and twisted her fingers together, feeling naked and vulnerable without the weapon.
Maxim caught her hand for the briefest of moments. Her fingers trembled inside of his, and he pressed his thumb into the exact center of her palm. She felt the touch over her heart. Startled, she looked up at him, her gaze colliding with his. He had amazing eyes, brooding and hooded. Sexy. Dangerous. He was all those things and more.
He lifted one eyebrow. "Are you ready for this?"
She nodded her head. Who could ever really be ready to face a monster?
Maxim called on the air surrounding them. He blew out his breath in a circle around their bodies. Instantly she felt the difference, as if the air was heavier, much denser in the passageway. She actually could see it shimmering between them, distorting his features until he looked a little shorter, more compact and his shaggy, wild hair was glossy and polished.
He tapped on the hatch, a one-two signal repeated four times in rapid succession. Clearly he knew the right code, because the hatch began to creak and groan as someone inside slowly opened it. Maxim didn't move aside, but stood firmly in the center of the opening, transferring his hold from her hand to her arm.
"The others are dead, Saeed, but I brought her to you." Maxim spoke in a perfect replica of Shamar's voice.
Saeed's robed figure filled the doorway. The robe was open and his bloated body gleamed with oil. He rubbed his hands together gleefully, leering at Airiana, not even looking at his bodyguard or acknowledging that the men who had served him for years were dead.
She shuddered and forced herself not to move closer to Maxim for protection. Bile rose. The prince was disgusting, his face pure evil. She was afraid if she looked at him too long, she'd throw up. She gave her brain another problem to work on, pushing out fear to try to mathematically understand how Maxim had managed to distort the air until his own features resembled those of another human being. The voice was easy enough, but to be able to change appearances, that was exceptional.
She kept her head resolutely down, working the probabilities in her mind, trying to find a theory that would explain how he'd done such an incredible feat, anything to keep her mind away from what might happen to her if Saeed actually got his hands on her.
Chuckling, pleased with his victory, the prince turned his head to look over his shoulder. "All is well, Sasha. You can have that little used one and leave me alone for a few hours." He sounded smug and magnanimous.
Maxim thrust Airiana behind him and struck fast, a blur of movement, whipping a garrote around Saeed's throat as he spun him around to face the inside of the cabin. He twisted the thin wire mercilessly while the prince thrashed and fought.
Sasha rushed to his aid, dragging a n
aked child of about ten in front of him, holding a gun to her head. She cried continually, terror on her face and bruises on her body. There were thin knife cuts across her small torso.
"I'll kill her, Maxim, let him go."
The child called out in Italian, "Let him kill me. Don't let that pig go."
Airiana felt the breath leave her lungs in a burning rush, terrified for the little girl. The garrote continued to cut off the prince's airway, his wild struggles only making it tighter. Maxim never moved. His face was set in hard, implacable lines. His ice-blue eyes had gone dark, a turbulent storm of absolute resolve.
He whispered in Italian, the thread of sound going straight to the child. "This pig will never harm you again."
Saeed made horrible gurgling sounds, his face purple and his eyes bulging. His efforts to escape became feeble as the garrote tightened relentlessly. Maxim continued to look at the man he obviously recognized, his gaze unblinking while he strangled the prince in front of the bodyguard.
"You know I'll kill her," Sasha warned.
Airiana was standing almost directly behind Maxim. He moved so fast she didn't actually catch the blurring motion as he whipped his hand behind him and withdrew a pistol, pulling it forward around the prince's body and aiming all in one movement. The bullet hissed out of the chamber and smacked into Sasha's forehead. A hole blossomed there, bright red and ugly.
The child screamed and twisted out of the Sasha's slackening grip. His gun fell to the floor. The prince was entirely limp now and Maxim allowed his body to fall as well. Grimly, he bent down to ensure Saeed was dead, using his knife to finish the job.
To Airiana's horror, the child picked up Sasha's weapon and turned it on herself, putting the gun to her head. "No! No! You're safe. Don't."
Maxim was only a foot from the girl, crouched on the floor by the prince's dead body. He reached out slowly, his hand closing over the child's, his finger preventing the gun from firing. He was extremely gentle, every movement easy and unhurried.
"He is dead. Both of them. They can't touch you again."
His voice was so gentle, so compassionate, Airiana's eyes burned with tears. In his company, she knew him as a lethal, dangerous and mostly rough man. He could be kind, but this was an entirely new side she hadn't experienced.
"Find her something to wear. I've got a couple of shirts in my bag," Maxim said, without turning his head toward her. "A dark color."
Airiana hastened to do so. When she turned back, Maxim had the child in his arms. She sobbed against his chest, her black mop of long curls hiding her face. Maxim took the shirt from Airiana and pulled it over the little girl's head.
"Tell us your name," he encouraged.
"Nicia." The girl's voice was muffled. She didn't lift her head, her arms around Maxim's neck.
He picked her up and rolled the prince's body completely into his opulent cabin with his foot and then closed the hatch firmly. "Nicia, we have to be very quiet. There are other men on board like Saeed. Bad men. Is there a place with other women or children where they kept you?"
Nicia nodded.
"How many women? How many children?" Maxim asked.
The terrible shaking that threatened to break the little girl's bones apart had lessened, but she clung to Maxim as if he was the only thing in her world. "My sister Lucia, my little sister Siena and my brother Benito. I think Sofia, my twin sister, is dead. Sasha and another man came and got her last night and she never came back." She began to sob all over again.
They both had seen the body of the child Saeed had killed. Maxim stroked the child's hair and rocked her gently.
"I'm sorry I didn't get here in time to save her, Nicia," Maxim said. "But we're going to do our best, all three of us, to save the others. Will you help us?"
Nicia nodded without speaking. She was so small, a little girl who should have been playing with dolls, not serving as entertainment for a depraved monster.
"The young girls had to be kept for Saeed. He had an insatiable appetite, and they would have brought more than one child aboard for him. Eventually he would have murdered all the girls."
"Could they have brought the boy and the teen for him as well? He was looking at me, and while I might look young, I don't look Nicia's age," Airiana said.
"He might want the teen as well, if she's a virgin," Maxim said. "But not the boy. There has to be another predator aboard. At least one more, possibly two."
"How do we find them?" Airiana asked. She picked up the assault rifle and the web of ammo and weapons, slinging it over her shoulder.
"First we're going to find the other children. I need Nicia in a safe place. We'll move them to one of the cabins not in use. They can barricade themselves inside while we take care of the others."
That made sense to Airiana. They couldn't very well sneak around the ship with children in tow. She was certain Maxim was unhappy about having to take her along with him. More than ever, after seeing what was happening aboard the ship, she wanted to help find a way to stop whoever was running the trafficking ring. She understood Elle Drake's need to put herself in harm's way in order to stop it.
She also understood Lev Prakenskii's need to try to find the source. Even if they stopped what was happening aboard this vessel, there had to be others, both on land and sea, where other children were being harmed.
"Don't cry," Maxim said, his voice firm. "I mean it, Airiana. I've already got this little one weeping, I can't have both of you doing it. Nicia, tell me where you and the others are being held."
"It was very dark. There were big containers everywhere. We were inside one of the containers. It was hard to breathe sometimes."
Maxim swore under his breath. "Let's find an empty cabin. Airiana, I'll leave you with Nicia while I get the others."
Airiana caught her breath, stopping herself from protesting. She didn't want Maxim out of her sight, but she wasn't going to complain. She knew too much time had passed. Saeed had been occupied with Nicia and the other child he'd murdered, so while the teen and the youngest child were probably safe, the boy wasn't. Maxim was going to go after the boy. She wasn't going to whine because she was afraid. He'd given her an assault rifle and she knew, deep in her heart, that she would protect Nicia against anyone trying to harm them.
Airiana's gaze clung to his. Maxim wanted to comfort her, but he needed her strong. When planning his escape from the boat, he knew he had to stop the engine to allow him to get Airiana into the water, but he hadn't planned on rescuing children or having to leave dead bodies behind.
He couldn't take the children with him, and he couldn't leave the crew alive to kill them, which they would. The crew of the ship would have to destroy all evidence of human trafficking in case they were boarded. Airiana didn't have a clue as to the extent of their problem. He glanced at his watch. He was under a time constraint as well. The sub was going to rendezvous with him at night, the best chance for him to get Airiana away without anyone noticing. Now . . .
He put Nicia down, but she clung to his leg, terrified all over again.
"He needs his hands free to protect us," Airiana said, in perfect Italian. "Stay with me, behind him. It's the safest place."
Nicia studied her face for a long time. "Does he belong to you?" She spoke in English, a little halting, but she'd clearly been raised using both languages.
"Yes," Maxim answered her firmly. "I belong to her. I won't ever let anything happen to her--or you. Just stay close and be as quiet as you can."
Maxim followed the passageway down the corridor to the next hatch. No bodyguards were present. There were four luxury cabins on this floor. Saeed would have wanted complete privacy, so the odds that the cabin on each side of his was empty were very good. There would have been some activity already, but no one was moving around at all. Still . . . he wasn't going to take chances.
Maxim signaled Airiana and Nicia to move to the far side against the wall, out of sight of the hatch. He noted that Airiana pushed Nicia behind her and br
ought up her weapon in a very businesslike manner. It was difficult not to feel admiration for her.
She looked darned cute in her black pants and makeshift scarf covering her bright hair, with a MP-5 cradled in her arms and a webbing of weapons and ammunition slung over her shoulder. He sent her a small salute before banging with his fist on the hatch. Silence met his demand for entry. He quickly spun the lock and stepped back to swing the door open. The cabin was empty.
Relieved, he signaled to Airiana. She took Nicia's hand and they went inside. The room was equipped with a large bed, mirrors, a closet, and drawers that locked in place. There was a private bathroom. Along the walls and on the floor were bolts to loop chains and cuffs through. An array of devices was displayed in cabinets locked onto the wall. Everything from whips and floggers to canes.
"I'm sorry, honey, I can't do anything about the room," Maxim said. "But you'll be safe in here. No one will know you're here. I'm going to leave some extra ammo, a knife and a couple of grenades, just in case. I should be back soon."
Airiana nodded her head but she didn't speak. Tears were already welling up in Nicia's eyes and he had the feeling that Airiana wanted to cry right along with her. Nicia took the nearest chair, sinking into its luxury and drawing up her knees beneath Maxim's shirt, unable to control the shivering in her body. He knew it wasn't from the cold, she was terrified of him leaving. Airiana immediately tucked a blanket around her.
Maxim turned to go, but couldn't do it. Not like this. Not without giving her something. "Come here, Airiana," he ordered softly without turning around. He stood facing the hatch, away from the room.
Puzzled, she stepped around him to stand directly in front of him, tilting her head to look up at him. Her eyes caught him like they always did. Sky blue eyes that could signal sunshine or rain, a coming storm or a hurricane.
He caught her wrist and lifted her palm straight up facing him. "In my family there is a small thing a man does when he belongs to a woman--when the woman belongs to us. We have to feel it, not with our bodies, but deep in our soul. Mine was ripped to shreds a long time ago and there isn't much left. But whatever remains belongs to you. I'll come back for you. No matter what, I'll come back."