“Hope Winters. Not your real name, is it?” the woman says.
“Yes, it is,” she returns. I look at the boys, wondering what the fuck they’re gonna make of this. What does it matter? It’s the truth. They’ll either…
“Hope Cane,” the woman continues. Nathan’s eyes widen immediately, his frame tilting to something other than his Gabby. “It has a nice ring to it. Although, I’m not sure I’d want to be associated with them.” Seems the statement was enough for Quinn to wake the fuck up, too. He gets to his knees, neck cricking out as he stares at Hope. My fingers keep moving, eyes now looking around at what guns are available to me, hanging in the hands of the men in the room.
Andreas first, then that cunt behind Emily. I flick my eyes to Nathan, wondering how quickly he can get to the guy by Gabby. Four strides if he’s lucky. “I’ll leave you to tell Benjamin about your other deceit.”
I frown and keep sawing, putting more pressure on the tie to quicken the fucking process. “Hope?” I ask, not giving one fuck what comes out of her mouth. I know everything already, but I also need time and a conversation gives me that. I look at Quinn as he slowly gets to his feet, arms still wrapped tight. The move causes the guy behind Emily to move towards him, twitching that gun too much for my liking. But good. She can run now if she needs to. “What deceit?” I ask, trying to bring the room to heel until I'm ready for explosions. “Talk.”
Slowly, those eyes come up to mine as she quivers, painting a picture of fear. Good girl. Astute. It makes me pull in a long breath, trying to shut out all other noise but what I need to focus on. With any luck she’ll understand what I’m after and start slowly, keep the information coming. “Truth, Hope. All of it.” Getting us out of here is what I need, time to get this fucking tie off me.
Andreas turns his gun on her to hurry her up, and he’s in too close for my rational thought to contend with. I yank at the tie, pissed it’s taking so long to cut through. Hisa looks at me, a slight drop in her holier-than-fucking-thou attitude as she looks me over.
“I’m sorry, Benjamin. I only wanted them gone,” Hope says, pulling the woman’s gaze away from me. She fiddles with the ring around her finger,nervously searching for words. “I never meant to get you in trouble. I thought I could manage it and then they’d fucking feel it,” she continues, now looking at Quinn. I watch her take a step towards him, hatred all over her features, and tug again, twisting the tie to put as much pressure on it as possible without giving myself away. “I only ever helped them to get to Cane. Wanted them to know what real pain feels like.”
The fucking volume of Quinn’s bitching makes two guys hurry to him, one of them reaching to contain his movement. It doesn’t happen quickly enough to stop him running at them, and a final yank on my wire suddenly breaks the goddamn tie loose.
I’m up and at Andreas before anyone knows what’s hit them, shoving Hope to the side of the room and spinning to pull the trigger in his hand at anything that isn’t us. Nathan launches in my vision, rushing his shoulders at the guys over by Gabby. I tackle the gun, throwing my weight into Andreas and firing at one of them, barely avoiding Quinn as he barges through towards Emily. My arm swings wide, aiming back for where the woman is as Quinn and Nathan knock their targets to the floor.
Two more shots come from me, aimed straight at the fuck reaching for Hope. He drops dead, weapon clattering to the floor. I spin to find it in the hustle, running and scooping it up so I can aim back at the room again.
“Benjamin!” Hope screams out, followed by a shriek from one of the other women.
I turn, scanning and starting to fire at any goddamn thing. Nathan’s like lightning, his body forcing Gabby towards the door as he rolls to the floor and manages to get his arms in front of him somehow. Fuck. He calls out to Quinn, a rally of language being shouted between them, and then dives at one of the cunts still breathing.
More shots come from somewhere. I glance back towards the entrance to see a new fucking round of guns coming around the door at us. Seconds it takes me to run for the bitch. She glares as I approach, raising her hand, gun aimed. I grab at Andreas, pulling his body into me and then pushing him back towards her as a shield.
“Vico!” Quinn calls.
I half turn, looking as he holds his still bound hands up, beckoning. I throw one of the guns over to him, watch it travelling through the air as I keep pushing Andreas to get to the woman. That’s all I need to end this—her fucking dead.
He spins the moment he has it and aims at Hope. She ducks, fear wide in her eyes at the reality. A fucking heart I didn’t know I had breaches my throat, and I hover, not sure what to do. He’s gonna kill her now, end what she’s done to his family, the threat she’s brought with her. I would, still fucking might given her treachery, but the eventual sight of a Yakuza behind her dropping has me thanking God for his aim.
Shot after shot fires from him then, all of them pounded towards the door as he powers on, but even he can’t hold them off, and the sight of one of them trying to grab at Emily has all my power pushing through Andreas to get to Hisa.
Another rally of shots, this time from Nathan, as I turn the body I’m holding to spin into it and reach for the bitch. She dodges me, feet sprinting and gun firing behind her. It’s a fucking blur of bodies and feet, smoke and shots. I shove Andreas away, moving around him to pin the bitch in the corner. A scream deflects my purpose. Hope.
My body swerves back to see her being bounced off the side of the ship, head banging off the metal as a piece of scum dares touch her.
“HOPE. GET DOWN!” I bellow as she scrambles upright again.
Her eyes latch onto mine, some fucking intent I don’t understand as I grab hold of Hisa and drag her into me. I knock the gun from the bitch’s hand, swinging it back into my own as she struggles in my hold. It’s not enough for me to get drawn away from Hope’s focused eyes as she stares back. One second. Two. What the fuck is she doing? She’s fucking defying me, that's what.No getting down at all. She starts running, heading for the door and. . . A goddamn fist comes into my face out of nowhere before I can shout, slamming my head back so I can't see straight. My vision blanks for a few seconds, hands trying to hold onto the body I’m clamped around.
“GABBY, MOVE!” Nathan’s voice.
I grab hold of Hisa’s neck, shoving her forwards into the noise and aiming the barrel of my gun at her head, hoping it's enough to stop the cunts. My line of sight clears enough for me to see Gabby in Andreas’ hands, his gun aimed at her. A fucking shot comes out of the gloom, barely missing Gabby, and he drops her and runs. Nathan’s there in a goddamn second, clutching her from the shock. He spins around, his gun aimed at anything in sight. Rage rides his features as he surveys the carnage. There’s suddenly nothing left. No one. Just us and the blood.
I scan for Hope and Emily amongst the dead, watching as Quinn throws his gun, grabs another weapon, and races from the room. Fuck.
“Call them off,” I spit at Hisa. She doesn’t. She struggles and tries to kick my legs, fingers clawing at my hand. “You fucking call them off or I’ll kill you now.”
Japanese pours from her mouth as I push her out into the corridors, searching for Quinn. It’s fucking noisy, pissing me off that I can’t hear where the others have gone. I shove her to her knees, thinking about whether I need her at all as Nathan barges past me.
“Stay the fuck back,” I snap, pushing harder to keep the bitch down. “I need you alive, Nathan. Check yourself.” He backs up and turns around a corner, listening, but door after door of the same fucking emptiness is all he can see, me too.
“Where the hell is Andreas?” Nathan seethes, his voice low as he checks off down another corridor. He won’t find anything this close. It’s like they’ve vanished. It’s a rabbit warren of dirty white doors and corridors, all of them vacant.
I listen more intently, searching the ship’s sounds for anything, but another volley of Japanese erupts from the bitch in my hold, orders being screamed no doubt. I’ve slipped my beads off and looped them around her neck before she gets any more out. All this shit in my city, all this crap we’re in now is because of her.
