Chapter 7 #2
“I’ll do you one even better,” Mozzi chimed in. “I’m working on accessing all her accounts, in the US and outside the country. Your son is about to be set for life. I’m moving everything into a trust for Dane. Mira gon’ pay ten fucking fold,” he vowed.
“I appreciate y’all coming to tell me.”
Kong and Mozzi led the way off the porch, but Moose lingered a little longer as Inari pulled the screen to her front door open. She carefully canvassed him from head to toe.
“Bring my sister home.”
“I’m fucked up, Nari. A nigga ain’t never claimed to be perfect or none of that. If I ain’t kept my word about nothing else, I promise to bring your sister home to you. Lock up and hold tight.” Moose ambled toward the stairs and trailed his brothers back to Kong’s truck.
Mozzi checked in with Coast and made sure she and Iara stayed put at the house with Audiemar.
The three stopped for gas and something to eat before hitting the road to their next destination.
Moose had already gotten word to some of their men to load up and bring the artillery with them.
Nearly two hours passed with traffic to their destination.
Mozzi clicked away on his laptop as night fell around them on the single narrow road.
They passed shipping yards, rock sites, and other large outdoor facilities until they arrived outside Blackwater Logistics.
The building took up nearly half a block and was closed off behind an electric fence.
Behind it was a view of the river and different ports where the cargo containers could be dropped in.
This wasn’t some technical site. This was a front.
“What we looking at?” Kong asked, peering at Mozzi through the rearview mirror.
His focus was on the screen in his lap. His fingers clicked away on the keyboard, and his eyes moved back and forth across the screen as he absorbed the information in front of him.
The entire layout of the facility was pulled up, and he could view every entrance and exit.
He could override the gate for access, but he wanted a different vantage point for them to enter.
The dock air was coated with the smells of dust and salt.
Something else lingered, something wrong.
The freight terminal was abandoned, or at least it looked that way.
Tapping the earpiece against his ear, Mozzi took in the setting from his position.
“The power grid is weird around this muhfucka,” he muttered. “She’s running this shit off a split line. Hidden feeds.”
Kong didn’t respond; he adjusted his earpiece in his ear so his brother could talk to him and got ready to move.
Moose checked his weapon before hopping out with him.
He’d been a lot quieter and chill. Focused in a way that was new to both him and his brothers.
He might have made things even worse coming at Inari the way he did, but there was no way he was letting her walk into this.
Approaching the building with his brother, he knew whatever was inside was going to change everything.
“I don’t give a fuck about none of that. We’re going in.”
“Hol’ up. Just… gimme a minute.” Mozzi focused intensely on the screen in front of him.
Vein flexing in his temple with the beginning of perspiration.
He enjoyed a challenge just as much as anybody, but tonight wasn’t the night for that.
His keystrokes grew aggressive, and finally, a green light flashed over his face.
His slanted eyes darted to Kong standing outside his driver’s seat, waiting.
“Make it count. I suggest the side entry. Gives you access to all the lower-level security. I logged the activity history. They rotate every thirty minutes, and three of them take the perimeter while one remains inside.” Bringing his arm up, Mozzi checked the time on his sports watch.
“Rotation begins in three minutes. Brim and Prime are on the other side of the building in position.”
“Let’s go,” Kong urged Moose.
Two of Mira’s shooters were taken out before Moose and Kong even made it to the door.
Brim and Prime each had their scopes locked in and ready, knocking them down before they even saw the brothers approaching.
The double metal doors didn’t hold for Kong.
Raising his foot, he kicked them open and marched into the darkness.
Lined with metal crates along the concrete pathways, the cold slapped them both in the face.
Sudden movement nearby sent both of their automatic weapons shifting in the direction of the shadows of men.
Gunfire crackled through the space; sharp and echoing like controlled chaos.
There were more men than they anticipated.
Kong moved like he’d done a hundred times before.
Hugging the wall if needed to avoid being hit and lining up his target through the gun smoke.
Moose was faster than usual. Precision with the pull of his trigger.
The thermal cameras in Mozzi’s feed detected more movement.
“Left side. Two more coming in. Watch the corner,” he warned.
His brothers took out the two no names with no problems. Frowning at his screen, Mozzi leaned forward. There was a separate space beyond the walls where his brothers stood.
“There’s a sublevel. Push that shelf to the side for access.”
From his position parked in the lot between two large cargo containers, Mozzi observed Kong lower his weapon while Moose covered his back. Once the shelf was pushed aside, a hidden door was revealed. A pad was on the outside, requiring a handprint for access.
“Shit, she got a separate system for this one,” Mozzi mumbled, still clicking away.
Moose glanced at Kong and then looked around. He picked up the closest nigga on the ground and dragged him over. Kong raised his arm and held his hand steady against the scanner. It flickered green.
“We’re in,” Moose announced.
The door slid open, and the air immediately shifted.
It was warmer and stale. The silence was dark and deafening as he and Moose descended.
At first, soft cries, whimpers, and little coughing spurts echoed around them.
Concrete floors made it a little cooler, but there was a stench of sweat and dirt in the air.
It was like one big production floor. In one section, tables were arranged where they assumed people ate.
A small kitchen setup wasn’t far from it.
Moose thought that was it when he first flicked the flashlight on in his hand.
Outside of his peripheral, something shifted, and he spotted the cages lining the wall.
All big enough for a toddler mattress with a small space for food and water.
Some had two girls in one. All curled up with fear living in their eyes.
Most of them were pretty and brown skinned.
Some were still babies, barely teenagers.
Something in Moose’s gut wrenched. For a moment, he thought about Tiara.
If someone had snatched her up and did something like this, they wouldn’t be able to find the pieces of them when he was done.
Kong’s mind immediately went to Kara. This was no way for any girl to live.
Flicking their lights in each cage, the brothers searched.
Kong’s heart thrummed loudly in his ears.
Was she really here, held up like this? None of the girls matched her description.
Once they reached the final row, he found a cage and quickly flicked his light over the area.
A small figure curled slightly in the corner.
Hair wild, skin smeared with dirt in a white tank top and gray sweats, she barely moved.
The cages had been welded to the walls, so he couldn’t move it, and he didn’t have a key to open the lock on the outside.
“Ayla?” Kong kneeled at the cage door.
Her name barely left his mouth, and he watched the shadow flinch.
She looked like she’d stopped breathing.
Sensing something behind her, she slowly sat up.
Eyes dull and empty, she stared at him like she didn’t recognize him.
Kong stepped closer, then stopped when a flash of light flickered across the window in the corner of the room.
Headlights from the only window in the room.
“Ayla,” he repeated, voice low and careful when he paused a couple of feet behind her.
“Watch out, bro.” Moose aimed his pistol at the lock. He had to fire twice, fracturing it from the chain.
Ayla’s frame was smaller, thinner, something he wasn’t used to, but he knew it was her. Her eyes landed on him, then Moose. Emptiness waited in her gaze, guarded like she was here but so far away at the same time. She blinked back tears.
“K-Kong,” she whispered, voice cracking.
Dropping to his knees, his sweaty hands shook.
Afraid to touch her, he stared at her in disbelief for the longest. Never allowing himself to hope for this meant he wouldn’t be let down if it wasn’t true.
This had exceeded his expectations. Seeing her weak and disheveled angered him.
He saw bruises, and all he wanted to do was put down everybody who had ever touched her since she’d been gone.
“It’s me, baby. I’m here.”
Ayla stared at him, trying to match her memory to reality.
“You’re not—”
“Not what?” Kong’s thick brows bunched together.
“You’re not real.” She sniffled.
Kong reached out, grabbing her and pulling her into his arms. He was careful but firm when he wrapped his arms around her.
He held his breath, the stench of sweat and days old clothes smothering him.
Yet he couldn’t let her go. Her warm body against his was something he decided to never take for granted again as he allowed his eyes to close and take in the moment.
At first, she was tense in his arms, then the familiar waft of his body wash and cologne awakened something in her.
“I’m real,” he said, voice breaking. “I’m right here.”