Page 50 of Explosive Vengeance

This wasn’t the plan. Wasn’t supposed to happen. Now no one had a visual on her. But the broker had refused to bring any of the women on deck to speak to, insisting she go below with him to inspect the cargo. She hadn’t seen a way to talk herself out of this without tipping her hand and blowing her cover. She could have just walked away. But saving these women was important enough to her that she’d stayed and accepted the risks.

The heels of her pumps tapped on the metal steps as they descended the well-lit stairwell. “Is it far down?” She wanted in and out of here as fast as possible. She would make sure the women were aboard and still alive, then immediately go back up on deck and signal Chloe and the rest of the team.

“Two more decks. Take off your shoes if they’re bothering you,” he said without looking back, his almost bored tone making it clear he didn’t care one way or the other.

She wished she were like Chloe, able to kill this evil cockroach, then free the women herself. But she wasn’t, and all she had was the knife Chloe had given her tucked into the sleeve of her suit jacket.

Her steps seemed to echo off the narrow walls, the broker a good twenty stairs ahead of her, nearly to the next deck hatch now. Her shoes were painful, but without them her feet would be completely unprotected. If she had to run for it, she wasn’t sure which was worse, being barefoot, or trying to escape in these torture contraptions.

Metal groaned as the man opened the hatch and stood waiting for her with an annoyed expression. “In here. Hurry up.”

Fleur hurried, her heart thudding hard against her ribs as she followed him through the hatch into the dim interior. As soon as she did, she smelled it.

Sweat, unwashed bodies and human waste.

She swallowed a gag, barely kept from covering her nose as she followed him down a narrow corridor. It was quiet. Way too quiet, and she didn’t see any other crewmembers on this level.

The broker stopped beside a panel and hit a switch. Blinding white light lit up the space. Fleur squinted and held up a hand to shield her eyes, her unfocused gaze landing on a sight before her that made her stomach twist.

A large shipping container with a hole cut into the side, metal bars acting like a jail cell window.

“In there,” the man said, and tossed something at her.

Fleur reflexively caught the flashlight to her stomach. Swallowing, doing her best to cover her revulsion and fear, she switched it on and aimed it at the metal bars.

She saw nothing but darkness inside. She stepped closer, keeping the beam of light at eye level. A few paces from the container, she stopped. Eyes gleamed in the residual light that penetrated the bottom of the container. She couldn’t see them well enough to make out their faces, but she could tell all the people trapped in there were staring back at her.

A wave of rage swept through Fleur.

She couldn’t tell them she was there to help. That they were close to freedom.

“Satisfied?” the man asked in a bored tone.

“How many are there?”

“Twenty-seven.”

She turned to face the monster who had facilitated this evil transaction. “One is missing.”

He shrugged. “Died on the way here.”

“What did you do with the body?”

“Shark food, by now.”

It took everything Fleur had not to react outwardly to that hideously callous statement. The prisoner had died of God only knew what, and they’d dumped her overboard like a dead fish.

For an instant she fantasized about slitting his throat with her knife. Catching him off guard and leaving him down here to bleed out all over the floor. “That will change the price.”

“No, it won’t.”

She put on her stoniest expression, pretended that her heart wasn’t beating ten times too fast, aching for these women and filled with hatred toward him and the men who had done this. “It will. My employer won’t pay for something he doesn’t get.”

“We’ll see about that.” He turned and started for the stairs. “Let’s finish the transaction topside. An important guest is arriving shortly.”

She faltered. “Oh? Who’s that?” She forced herself to follow him. She would finish this in plain sight where Chloe and the others would see her, finish her part in making this rescue possible. And she hoped the team found an excuse to kill this evil monster in the process.

He shot her a cold smile over his shoulder before disappearing through the hatch. “The seller.”

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