Page 10 of Roman

“I know.” He crosses his arms over his chest and my attention is drawn to the leather cuff around his right wrist. I find myself focusing on that one spot in an attempt to get words to form.

“I realized I never told you her name. I just wanted you to know her name.”

“I’ll find her.” He makes the promise and then turns to leave. Only to have me stop him once again.

“Wait. I need to-”

“No, you don’t Pria. You don’t need to do anything. Just sit tight. When we get back then we can go there,” he tells me.

“Be careful.”

He looks me over for a moment then shakes his head almost as though he is attempting to clear his mind. “Always.” A smile draws on his face. “Except for when I’m not.” He grips his bottom lip with his teeth then leans down to place his forehead on mine, wrapping his hands around the back of my neck. “I’m a failure at most things but I promise I won’t fail at this.” He sucks in a deep breath as if to breathe me in, then shoves away without a sound and takes off toward the boat.

10

Roman

The scent of Pria still lingers even with the salty sea air penetrating my lungs with each mile we make our way out to sea. The sun has completely set in the sky giving us the cloak of darkness we need as we draw closer to where the ship should be in the next couple of hours. The radar we have on shows us right where the spotter boats are, and if the device that Stan gave us works, we should keep going undetected by them and the ship. “Gear up, something big just popped up.” Steven steps away from the control panels and heads down below deck. I follow after him, grabbing my duffle bag in hand and doing as he says. I pull on my bulletproof vest and secure it tightly around my chest. Then slide on my shoulder holster that holds my desert eagle. I tuck full mags inside the two pockets on the vest and double check my knife is inside my boot. When I glance up at the movement to my right, I find Steven has also come prepared. Only he has himself a sniper rifle instead of an eagle. “This is more my jam.” He shoots me a devious grin and steps past me to pull up one of the benches to retrieve a set of ropes, complete with harpoon guns.

“No fucking around,” I muse as he hands me one.

“How the fuck did you think we were going to get on that ship? Fly?” I shake my head and listen as he explains how to use the damn harpoon. Not once have I ever had the need to shoot one. Today is the day I suppose.

All the lights in the boat are doused causing us to be swallowed up by the night sky. Everything seems to go silent then, including Steven, which is a miracle. We stand there for what seems like hours but is probably only minutes until the wake at the base of the boat starts to grow then a light draws closer. “That’s it,” Steven whispers and holds his harpoon at the ready. “Get ready to climb your ass off,” he rasps as we stand and watch as the ship slowly makes its way past us. We are floating just far enough away to not be seen but close enough so when the ship is completely past, we are able to take our aim. Steven goes first and an auditable clunk smacks the ship. Instantly the rope starts to unravel until it reaches the end and gives a sudden tug on the boat that jolts us both forward. “Take your fucking shot!” Steven hisses as he pulls out his rifle. He points it up to where he shot the harpoon and I take my shot. By some fucking miracle I hit the damn ship and it latches on with another thunk.

“Where are you motherfucker,” Steven whispers to himself as I grab the gear to start climbing up the rope that leads to the ship. That’s when I hear the hiss of a bullet leaving a gun through a silencer. Then a splash that’s swallowed by the sound of water behind the ship. “Knew that noise would have drawn someone over there.” Steven stands there for a minute longer then nods at me to get going. “I’ll keep a lookout while you make your way up there.”

“Yeah.” I hook up to the rope and start my ascent. My muscles strain with the effort and sweat forms on my brow each inch I pull myself up the rope. I sure as fuck hope it’s easier coming back down.

When I reach the top, I cautiously pull myself up and over the railing of the ship, being sure that no one spots me. There are lights on all over the place but still, there are some decent places to keep undercover and in the shadows. Everything seems easy enough as I take in the expanse of the ship. There is no one to be seen given it’s the dead of night and Steven already killed one of the guards. The only problem I can see is that there are hundreds of the damn containers on here.

“I hope to fuck you know which one she is in,” I grumble as Steven pulls himself up over the railing. The containers are piled high on the ship, all different colors and letters printed on them.

“I have an idea.” I scoff at his ‘idea’ comment and follow as he pulls out some suction cup things and starts climbing up the stacks like he is in a mission impossible movie. I do the same, taking the cups he gives me in hand. Damn, I am going to feel this tomorrow. I make a mental note to start working out more by the time we reach the halfway mark. “Back in my day they would mark the containers with an upside-down number. Anyone who saw it would think it was just a gang tag or something.” He nods toward a container on our left that has the number seven written upside down. “That looks like a winner.” We start that way when I notice another container. This one with an upside-down four.

“You get that one I’ll get this one.” He nods as he continues making his way toward the container with the seven on it. I go for the four. It’s two containers above me but I make it there before he makes it to his. The way the containers are sitting gives us access to the doors. They of course are padlocked so I take out the bolt cutters Steven tossed me before we started climbing. Anchoring myself to the container I clip the lock and undo the latch. The door gives way with a bang, smacking the neighboring container. “Shit,” I hiss and pull out my flashlight. Getting my ass into the container as fast as possible, I try to get the door closed behind me so it doesn’t bang around and create more noise. That’s when the smell inside the small space hits me. Death and shit. It turns me to stone as I go and shine my light over to the small bunch of girls huddled in the corner, clutching each other for dear life. I can’t dwell on them or try to help them all. I’m here for one girl. As much as I hate it, I can’t save them all. “Rhylee?” none of them move so I take a step forward, shining my light in their faces. They all gasp and flinch away and as I look over each of them, I don’t find Rhylee’s face among them.

“Find her?” Steven hisses from the opening of the container.

“No. None of them are her.” I start over to him but he is already inside, making his way over to them. “Englace?” the girls shake their heads at Steven then he starts talking in some other language getting all of them to smile and nod their heads. They cling tighter together and stay put. “Let’s get out of here and find her. We’ve already been here for too long. We need to check the next row. I don’t see any more numbered ones on this side.”

We take off outside the container and close it back up. Then we keep fucking climbing until we reach the top. Huddled down close to the roof we make our way across and peer down at the next row. “There.” I point at the number five.

“There were only supposed to be three on here. That should be where she is.” He settles down on his stomach and pulls his rifle from his back. “I’ll cover you. Get your ass over there and get her quick.”

The space between the containers isn’t too much for me to jump across so I do it quickly then start to descend with my suction cup climbers. The number five container is three down from the top and it takes me no time to get there and the door open. A ‘plink’ noise comes from under me followed by a thud. I look down to see Steven has taken out another guard. “Hurry the fuck up,” he mouths when I look up his way.

I jump into the dark space and flick on my light again. “Rhylee?” please be fucking here. “Any of you Rhylee?” As I get closer one stands up, shaking slightly. She is covered in dirt and her dark hair hangs down in front of her face in clumps. Without thinking I reach out and pull away the hair. Her glossy blue eyes hit me right in the chest and I reach out without a second thought and pull her to me. “Let’s get you out of here.” She doesn’t question anything just follows behind me.

I force myself not to give the remaining girls a thought as I tell Rhylee to hold on to me as tight as she can and we start making our way down to the deck. The dead man still lies on the floor when we reach the bottom and start our way down the tiny space between the containers. We nearly reach the back where Steven and I came aboard when a guard comes from around the corner. He draws first but I’m faster when I pull the trigger. Unlike Steven I don’t have a silencer and the gunshot echoes around the whole ship alerting everyone that we are here. “Run.” I grip Rhylee’s hand in mine and we run as fast as we can to the back of the ship. “I’m going to hook this to you. You’ll slide right down to our boat. I’ll be right behind you,” I promise her. She nods and does as told. “Grip this tight if you need to go slower.” I point to the top of the harness. Then I watch as she drops off the side of the ship. She lets out a small squeak then is swallowed up by the night the further away she gets. I look behind me when I hear shouting and then up to where Steven should be coming from. Only he isn’t. What the fuck? I can’t wait for him. For all I know he is already on the boat waiting for me. I hook up and right before I let myself drop off the ship, a thundering boom shakes the whole damn thing. One last glance up and I see Steven jump off the side of the containers and start descending at a rapid pace. That’s when three guards come around the corner. I take my shots hitting each one the closer they get.

“Hurry the fuck up,” I call out to Steven who is nearly at the bottom now.

“Me hurry? You hurry.” His feet hit the deck and he darts over to his rope to hook up. We both drop and fly back down toward the boat, hitting with a smack when we reach it. “Cut the lines. Quick.” Steven runs past me and to the helm starting up the boat in a rush. I do as told and cut the ties. Then we are off at a rapid speed as lights start flashing in the distance. I look back long enough to catch the wordcoastguardwritten across a boat that pulls up to the side of the ship.

“Did you have something to do with that?”

He shrugs. “I know a guy.”

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