Page 48 of Sold By The Siren

“Shit!” the Siren exclaims. “Katana, I keep lifeboats on the Tentacle ships for important people and some preservers for others. Do you have lifeboats on this tub?”

“Yes, it came with a few lifeboats, and there are enough preservers for everyone else currently on board,” Katana answers. “You and I should go right away. No one will survive long in this cove’s current with just life preservers. Not in the storm that’s heading this way.

“Alright, don’t let the others know,” she says to the thugs in earshot.” We’ll take my men with us.”

“Half of mine and half of yours,” Katana negotiates.

“Alright, you take some of your best men, and we will take a few more of mine. We’ll tell the rest that we’ll send help for them.”

“Help will never get there in time. You know those men will die out here,” Katana says.

“We can hire more later,” the Siren says with a shrug.

“Fine, let’s just get going,” Katana sighs.

“What about our deal?” I ask.

“Don’t worry. The deal is still on. You'll be the one to kill Yuuto,” she says. “After you caused all this destruction, we’ll be able to say how you killed him, and Artyom will have killed you trying to defend Yuuto. That will make a good story and explain all this mess.”

“As long as you keep your end,” I say.

The storm on the horizon is coming toward us pretty fast. It will get dark, and the water will be even more rough. A lot of these poor grunts are going to die. It will be a shitty way to go. They are going to be live chum. Even I wouldn’t do that to people. If I don’t make it through this, I’m pretty sure I won’t be living when I get tossed in. Lucky me.

“Rope,” I say.

“What are you talking about, Blondie?” the Siren asks.

“There’s rope and a harpoon gun on the Splash. Have them shoot it over. Hook it and use the rope to pull the lifeboats.”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Katana says. “We won’t be able to control the little boats otherwise when the waves get higher.”

“Good boy, Blondie. I’ll tell Artyom to make it quick,” Sonomi adds.

“Thanks,” I say with a smile.

“I am going to miss that pretty smile. As they say, it’s just business. I hope you understand.” the Siren says.

“I understand,” I say while trying to calculate if I could lean over, rush her and knock her overboard. Her man is in between us, and I’m not sure how that would work out anyway.

She’s radioing over to Artyom. He and many of his men have boating backgrounds and know what they’re doing. Artyom’s boat, Azartnyy Igrok, Gambler in Russian, was bigger than mine. He got rid of it in some insurance scheme a week ago and hasn’t gotten his replacement yet.

The rope shot over from the Splash falls just before hitting the Yokai. Sonomi’s man is hooking it. She instructs another one of her men to untie my hands. We begin climbing over the side and getting in the small boats. The guy that untied me falls into the water. I should let him drown. He reaches his arm up. Another one of Sonomi’s men has hold of the rope above us. I’m glad he knows better than to let go. I grab the jackass in the water and pull him up and in.

“Thank you,” he says.

“You’re welcome. I’m sure you would do the same for me,” I say and grab the rope. We pull hand over hand with water splashing us as we slowly move toward my boat and Mari.

21

MARIKA

“You can’t let them take our dad!” Honey stands and shouts at Artyom, nearly hysterical. “What the hell are we going to do?”

I make my way over to my sister's side, so she's positioned between our dad and me. I wrap my arms around Honey’s shoulders, squeezing tight, and gently guide her back down to a seated position. I give Artyom a stern look as I try to comfort Honey. I want to yell at him, but that will only make things worse.

“It’s alright, girls. It’s just another bluff. Artyom has to make sure he sounds believable. Right, Artyom?” Dad joins me in trying to abate Honey's panic.

“Da, exactly,” Artyom answers. “Listen to your papa, girls.”

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