Chapter 25 Lucien
Lucien
Generally I go into any situation with a plan, and a backup to that, and a backup to that. I like to know what I’m getting into and how I’m going to get out of it, and I always have people who are better than the people we’re going up against.
I go into any battle expecting to win, and I set myself up for that victory every time.
But tonight I’m going in hot and reckless and out of control, and I don’t even care that it’s a stupid fucking idea. I got that note from Brooks and knew that I didn’t have a second more to waste, because she’s done something stupid that is inevitably going to get her into trouble.
And like always, I’m here to fucking make sure she gets out alive again.
Because I’m no hero–I’m the devil in the dark who’s always trying to trick you into doing something dumb–but when it comes to Brooks, I always end up playing some kind of stupid fucking white knight, riding in on my charger to save the day she’s trying to blow up with a hand grenade she got from some shady guy in a back alley.
I have never met anyone who tries harder to get themselves killed, and then calls it badass and convinces herself she’s immortal.
And fucking hell do I love the girl. I don’t think I ever realized how much before, but this has been growing in my belly since she disappeared from her father’s house, and at this point I’m finished lying to myself about it.
The sheer panic of knowing she may have gone in again, and the bigger frenzy of realizing I don’t know how to get her back out again, is forcing me to admit the truth.
I love Brooks Landry.
Fuck, I’ve loved her for a very long time. I’ve just spent the last ten years pretending it wasn’t true, because loving her and losing her was too much for my ego to take.
But I’ll be damned if I’m going to lose her again.
This time, when I find her, I’m tying her up and handcuffing her to my bed.
I’m going to force her to marry me and then I’m going to tell her she’s never allowed to come up with any stupid plans again unless they involve sexy lingerie and her being in my bed.
I growl at the thought and throw open the door the moment the SUV stops, then gather my men and start going over what we do know.
“We only know about the one ship, so that’s the one we’re after,” I say firmly, looking each of the men in the eye.
“I’m not sure whether they’ve involved other ships, but we can’t worry about that right now.
The other girls are going to have to wait a second.
Brooks knows what we know, which means she’ll be going after the ship we already have in our targets.
We find her and we get her the hell out of here.
Then we start working on how to take down their organization. ”
No one responds to that, so I keep going.
“They have to get the girls here somehow. I’m guessing a truck drives right to the loading dock. But there’ll be at least ten minutes where they’re moving the girls from the truck to the ship. That’s when we’re going to make our move.”
Every man nods as if this is no big deal, and I feel a moment of pure love for them. Some of these guys have known Brooks since we were all kids, and some of them just met her. But they’re all willing to lay their lives on the line to rescue her, and that tells me everything about them.
These are good men.
And they’re going to help me make sure we get her home.
“We get in there, rescue the girls, and get everyone back out again. Get them to safety. No girl left behind. Hard stop.”
More nodding. No arguments.
I turn and look out over the water, trying to decide if there’s anything else. But there’s not. We know everything we’re going to know, and we’re the only ones showing up for these girls. I wish we had a better plan and more backup, but there’s no time for that now.
Every second that passes is a moment too long. Every second is one where those men could be hurting Brooks.
I glance at my watch and see that we have half an hour until we expect the trucks to arrive.
We need to find the ship and find cover.
I want the element of surprise when they arrive.
If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to pick the guards off from afar, then rescue the girls without having to defend them from violent men.
I hope to God Brooks is with the group of girls we’re going after. I don’t know what, exactly, she has in mind–her note was light on details–but this is the only thing I can think of, and it makes sense that she would go back in.
After all, the best way to take an organization down is by infiltrating it.
Her father taught her that the day he tried to send her into the Boudreaux family as a mole.
And now, if I know Brooks, she’s trying to use what he taught her to send him to jail.
Devils, I love that girl.
“Let’s go,” I growl.
We take off into the night on foot, our eyes on the containers in the distance and our hands on our guns as we seek the ship that’s going to try to steal my girl away from me.
***
By the time we get to where the containers are stored, I’m starting to get suspicious. Everything in the port is quiet. The ships are at anchor and the containers are deserted. This place should be crawling with workers, and instead it’s a fucking ghost town.
What the fuck is going on here? Where are the dock and ship workers? Where’s all the noise that usually comes with the port, and where the fuck are the trucks that should be carrying the girls for the ship?
I look to the left and let my gaze run along the ships in their births, looking for the name of the ship we’ve targeted.
It’s sitting right there, lights off and looking like it’s parked for the long haul.
That’s not a ship that’s getting ready to head out.
That’s a ship that doesn’t have a date with the open water tonight.
And suddenly I remember my earlier fear that the idea of this ship was a bait and switch.
Hell, they’ve already thrown additional complications into the picture with those fucking auctions, and then canceling the auctions and deciding to ship all the girls out instead.
These people evidently don’t believe in plans either, and like to change their direction at the drop of a hat.
What if something else has changed and they’re not even here? What if they aren’t coming, and we’ve just rolled out for no reason?
What if they have Brooks and they’re taking her out of the city by train right now, while I’m fucking around at the docks? If someone tipped Dominick off that they had her again...
Oh my God, what if they took her right to him, and he has her right now?
That’s almost more terrifying than anything else. If a buyer has her, I’ll track her and get her back. I’ll pay whatever I have to pay to save her. But if Dominick has her and knows she was trying to take his operation down...
He did enough damage to her when he claimed to love her, and when she was nothing more than a child.
I can’t imagine what he’ll do to her if he knows what she’s been up to.
I pull out my phone and dial Simon’s number, desperate for news.
“Boudreaux,” he says by way of greeting.
“We’re at the docks and they’re quiet,” I say without preamble. “There’s supposed to be a load going out tonight. What the fuck is going on?”
He snorts. “There’s still a load going out tonight. Dock workers just know to stay out of their way when they’re loading the girls. What you’re seeing is the product of a lot of money changing hands, my friend.”
“They’re here?” I hiss. “Are you sure?”
“Dead positive.”
I hang up without answering, and look to my men. “Simon says they’re here somewhere. That’s the ship they’re going to be loading. Let’s make enough noise to draw them out.”
We go in screaming like banshees, our guns blazing and our knives swinging, like there’s actually someone in there to fight, and to my surprise, it works.
Men appear from out of nowhere, shooting and shouting, and behind them, I see a row of vans I didn’t see before, their windows dark and their doors opening.
Girls are already running out of the vans, guards at their sides dragging them toward the ship.
Those are the girls, I realize. They’re already loading, and we haven’t killed the guards yet.
Fuck, we wouldn’t have even seen them if we didn’t decide to attack ahead of time, and now we’re a step behind and everything is going sideways.
Well, when it comes to catching up, there’s no time like the present.
I start picking off the guards, rushing toward them like a fucking madman, and I can see that they’re confused by our behavior. This isn’t what any self-respecting New Orleans gangster does. Down here, we’re more subtle. We rely on trickery over outright warfare.
But I’m not just a gangster. I’m a pirate, and it turns out I’ve learned something from my new friends in New York.
We go in screaming, and beneath my scream, hiding in plain sight, is fury that these men have dared to touch my girl and steal her again. I feel possessed, like a man who has actually made a deal with the devil. Except I didn’t get any guarantee that I’d get my girl back when I sold my soul.
At this point, I’m flying blind, and I hate that.
When I see Brooks in the line of girls, her flaming hair lighting up the night around her and her eyes big in her face, my anger reaches a whole new level.
I shoot and kick and slice, going through men like they’re smoke, my eyes on the girl in the distance.
She stops the whole line and stares at me, her mouth open like she’s shouting something, and I have enough time to wonder why the fuck she thinks this is the time for a conversation before she’s hidden by the raging battle around us.
I slice through the man in front of me and shoot one running for me, swerve and spin to avoid someone’s knife, and come up shooting again. I get rid of the spent magazine and reload my gun on the run, my eyes on the place where I last saw Brooks.
When the space clears, though, she’s gone.
And when I look for the line of girls, she’s no longer with them.
I scream, furious, and shoot man after man to get to the spot where she was. When all the guards in our area are dead, I turn to my men.
“Follow the girls!” I shout. “Save the guards for questioning! I’m going to find Brooks.”
I run through the containers, taking turn after turn and shouting for her.
No matter how many alleys I take, though, I can’t find her, and I’m starting to think I need to slow down and actually come up with a plan when I see something on the ground.
The sky above is dark but I’m standing under an old light meant to make it easier to find the container you’re looking for, and in the faded yellow light of the lamp I see. ..
Blood on the ground.
A trail of blood on the ground.
I gasp and run to it, bending down to dip my fingers into it.
This blood is still warm. Someone’s bleeding. And if the trail is correct, they went into a container across the alley from me.
Heart in my mouth with fear, I rush to the container and throw it open, terrified that someone was hit in the gunfight. I’m even more worried that Brooks herself did something she shouldn’t do, and managed to get herself hurt.
Or killed.
When the door opens, I find Brooks sitting near the entrance, bleeding from the head, another girl in her lap, and though my heart leaps at the idea that she’s still upright, one look at her wound tells me she won’t be in the position for long.
And the girl in her lap looks like she might already be dead.