Enough.
I pull the wire taut, levering my knee against her back, and increase the pressure so it stops the goddamn noise. Gabby comes around in front of me, eyes directed at what’s happening in my hands. It’s interesting to me as I watch her watch the life slip from scum. I yank tighter, feeling the wire cutting in now, encouraged by the slight smile on Gabby’s mouth.
“You like a party, huh?” I mutter, watching her. Her fucking eyes flare as I listen to the air for sounds of Quinn, all the time holding the struggling woman in my grip. Bitch is nearly dead now. Ended. As she should be. I still can’t hear Quinn or the women, though. My hands tug once more, twisting the wire for more purchase, and then finally let go when the last of the fight has gone from her. Good. Done. Fucking quiet, at last.
“The hell did you do that for?” Nathan spits, coming back around another corner and staring at the slumped body at my feet.
“Fucking mouthy. Couldn’t hear a goddamn thing. You got anything?”
“But we could have used her to—”
“I’m fucking done with this shit, Nathan. I’m not hauling the bitch around with that mouth constantly speaking a language we don’t understand.”
“Hold on,” Gabby says, sprinting off and around a corner. She comes back a few seconds later with two guns in her hands. “You’ll need these,” she says, handing them over. “I’ve got a knife,” she continues, holding it out at Nathan. “Hands.”
He smiles at her as she slices through the bindings, then frowns at Hisa again as Gabby stares at me. “You getting on with this then?” she says, nodding up the corridor. “I want my life back, Benjamin.” I nod, amused at her attitude.
My body spins to run quietly, searching and listening for anything to give their position away. They both follow, Nathan covering me like Quinn normally would. We end up breaking out onto the dimly lit deck, searching the night for any sign of life. There’s nothing but black and stars, heavy containers piled up on top of each other. I look out into the sea for speedboats—nothing. Then I scope out the deck around us. Nothing there either, so we skirt the shadows of the containers, working as a team to find our target, and finally end up back where we started, still none the fucking wiser.
“The hell is it always like this?” Nathan grumbles, rounding a corner to come back to me. “This is the last time.”
“What?”
“Fucking death and violence.”
“Pussy.” My gun fires into the sky three times, the sound reverberating around the ship. I’ll damn well draw them to me if I can’t find them.
“The hell you doing?”
“Making my fucking presence felt.”
Three volleys come at us out of the gloom, enough that we duck and run.
“From the left,” Nathan says, edging his way over, Gabby tight to his back. “Up high.”
I follow and wind around the corners, my back braced against the containers for cover, then watch as Nathan scuttles the long side of one and searches upwards. It makes me nod at him and split to the other side, eyes and gun aimed towards the next level of the ship. We all climb the stairs, inching our way in the vague direction of the shots, and then Nathan lets another round go into the air. There’s a scramble in front of me somewhere, feet trying to be silent as a shot or two come back at us.
Fucking stealth then. That’s all we’ve got.
Twenty-Six
My eyes stay fixed on Quinn. His eyes are fixed on Andreas. In this environment, he’s not the man I met with. The calm veneer he’s always presented is fast unraveling, which makes me far more nervous. Add Quinn into the mix, and the terror that has me caged to my spot next to Emily is understandable.
The man at our side fidgets at his post, the gun in his hand still on display. It gives pause to any idea of running. I couldn’t run without Emily anyway. Despite everything that’s happened, I’d never leave her here alone. It's why I chased after her in the commotion, why I defied Benjamin and ran, hoping to help. She’s here because of me, because of my vendetta against her husband and family.
Her face has started to colour where the bruises will show. Every time Quinn scans over to check on her I see the hatred in his eyes. He might be concerned for his wife, but he blames me for putting her in a position of danger. The more I see of him with Emily, the more I see a protector—a word I would never have been able to associate with Cane until now.
The words my mother used to say about Quinn rattle around in my brain, how he was the reason we were kicked out, why she had to leave and hide away so that the Cane name could remain strong. Quinn would take over the business, she'd said. She knew Quinton wasn’t a saint—she was having an affair with him for God's sake—but I wonder if she truly knew the dark underbelly of life that Cane was involved with. For some reason I doubt that now. I think she just saw the gilded life that he chose for her to see.
I turn to Emily, trying to focus on the here and now rather than the ghosts that led me to this.
Piercing gunfire breaks the stillness around us, making me jump. I grab for her hand, because the one thought running through my mind is that I must stay with her and ensure she’s safe. I need to help her. Not only because it’s the right thing to do because of my actions, but because if we do get out of this in one piece, Emily will be key to Quinn accepting the knowledge that we’re related, that he and Nathan are my brothers.
The shots seem to improve Quinn’s mood. He steps up towards Andreas as if they were a signal for him to move. I can only hope he understands what they mean to him. With all these bullets flying, I have no idea who’s up here with us. The room we were in was bad enough, but here on this deck, I can only see the man guarding us, and Andreas.
My hands shake, gripping onto Emily's. She seems far more capable than I’ve proven to be. If only I knew what had happened to Benjamin and Nathan, or even Gabby. That might keep my mind from turning my imagination against me. Who's out there now shooting for us? All of them? None of them?
“You hear that, Andreas? That’s the sound of your death coming right for you,” Quinn taunts loudly.
