Page 88 of Night Shift

I barely heard him over the blood pounding in my ears. This attack had been personal, a declaration of war. And as I stood there, amidst the ruins of my life, I made a vow that I would not stop until I found her.

I descended from the back porch, and my attention was immediately drawn to a whirling ball of fur. The last thing I’d expected was to find Newton here, yapping like the place was on fire. “Not now, Newton,” I grumbled, trying to shoo him away with a nudge of my foot, but the dog was on a mission, persistent as hell, and kept jumping up on my legs.

He dashed around the corner, then back again, barking louder, practically doing backflips to get us to follow him. “What’s gotten into him?” I muttered, going after him out of sheer frustration.

We rounded the corner of the house, and he led us straight to the generator, which lay silent and dark. Then he started digging furiously at something behind it. Colton leaned over and pulled out a man’s wallet. “Guess they weren’t so slick after all,” he said with a snort, flipping it open.

I gave Newton a quick pat on the head. “Not bad for a little furball,” I told him. He seemed pleased with himself and trotted off with his tail wagging—mission accomplished.

Inside the wallet, Colton found an ID and tossed it to me. “Well, this confirms it—Russians,” he said, then resumed flipping through the wallet for more clues.

He pulled out a business card from some shipping outfit based out of the Port of Tacoma. “Bet this is where they’re heading,” he said, snapping a picture of it as I checked Samantha’s location on my phone. Sure enough, she was moving toward the port.

“Shit, let’s move,” I said, already turning back toward the front of the house.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Colton yelled into his phone. He had already dialed up his team and was barking orders like a general. “Wrap it up here, leave guards, and get our best on this. We’re heading to the port!” He ordered his men to secure the house and call in his private SWAT team. “And get the cops to the port, ASAP. We’ll update them on the way.”

When we rounded the house, Braxton and Conan were there, looking like they were ready to tear into someone. “In the SUV, now,” Colton said, gesturing with his thumb and hopping into the driver’s seat. “We’ll brief you en route.”

We piled into Colton’s SUV. As the engine roared to life, he started to lay out a plan. “Since we’ve got a lead on their location, and they appear to be heading for the port, I’ve called in the big guns, and we’re coordinating with the police. Time’s not on our side.” The vehicle peeled out down the street before anyone could even buckle up. “After twenty-four hours, the chances of successfully recovering a person who has been kidnapped decrease significantly.”

The drive was a blur of motion and tension as we barreled toward the port. Now that I had a moment to sit still and think, the gravity of the situation began to settle in. Samantha was out there, in the hands of the Russian mafia, and every second counted.

“We’re going to get her back,” I said through clenched teeth, my resolve hardening. “And God help anyone who stands in my way.”

As we veered off I-5 onto Port of Tacoma Road, adrenaline surged through me, and I mentally prepared myself for whatever hell awaited us. The roar of the SUV’s engine became background noise to the calm, cold focus taking over.

Glancing at my phone, I realized Samantha’s location hadn’t been updated in over fifteen minutes. “Shit, her phone’s gone dead,” I muttered, my panic starting to rise. “Last ping was midway up the waterway.”

Colton didn’t miss a beat. He started jabbing at his phone. “We’ll find her, Atticus. Trust me.” He dialed one of his top guys. When the man on the other end picked up, Colton said, “Listen up. Samantha’s last known location is at the intersection of Port of Tacoma and Ashton Way. Head to the address we found in the wallet. Fan out, look for anything odd, and move fast!”

The SUV’s tires screamed against the pavement as we took a sharp turn, everyone inside bracing against the shift in momentum. The SUV was now a pressure cooker, and the taste of uneasiness and retribution mingled in my mouth.

“Check every warehouse, every boat, every goddamn container if you have to!” Colton barked into the phone. The port loomed ahead, a sprawling maze of possible danger.

Soon we approached Samantha’s last known location. This was the moment of truth. The port’s vast, industrial landscape stretched out before us, hiding who knew what secrets within its shadows.

When we rolled into an area along the Blair Waterway, a pang of uncertainty hit me. There were a thousand places where they could have stashed Samantha before stealing her away on a container ship. Warehouses, small structures, and containers littered the vast expanse. Colton steered us into the shadows behind a towering stack of metal giants. Moments later, two of Colton’s cars slid in behind us, silent as ghosts.

“We’re close,” Colton said, his voice a low growl of focus and fury. The SUV skidded to a halt, and we all leaped out, ready for anything. We gathered behind the SUV.

With a click, the back door popped open, revealing an arsenal fit for a small army. Colton lifted an eyebrow in a silent question, sweeping his gaze over us. “Ready for a real fight?” he asked.

“We’ve got this,” Braxton and Conan stated flatly, their eyes gleaming with fury.

I couldn’t help but add, “The navy didn’t just teach me how to patch people up. I can hold my own.”

Armed with guns and strapped into Kevlar, we moved like shadows along the foreign landscape. The port loomed around us, a giant sleeping beast we were about to poke.

And there, against the backdrop of towering cranes and stacked containers, I spotted it—a flicker of shimmering red movement, a shadow that didn’t belong, the unmistakable bounce of auburn curls I’d grown to know so well. My heart skipped a beat. They were dragging Sam into a sprawling warehouse.

“Over there!” I whispered, pointing toward the anomaly.

Immediately, we all took off running. After what felt like an eternity we came to a halt outside of the building. Sam was nowhere to be seen. Then we crept forward until the distinctive sound of a safety clicking off shattered the silence.

We froze, the realization hitting us all at once.

We weren’t alone.

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