Chapter Eleven
Jacie
As much as I didn’t want to be handed over to some Yakuza bastard, I couldn’t wait to get off this fucking plane. My uncle had taken great joy in using the stewardess to make me as uncomfortable as possible. I’d have felt sorry for her, but she’d appeared to honestly enjoy the attention; snuggling up to my uncle or disappearing with the pilot every chance she got.
At least my headache had eased after I’d eaten and taken some meds.
When she came sauntering down from the cockpit toward us, I couldn’t hold back the sigh. Having to watch another round would surely have me throwing up the little I’d managed to eat.
She stopped next to my uncle’s seat and before she could utter a word, he’d thrust one hand between her thighs and used the other to tug on one of her nipple rings. Her voice, now breathy as she stuttered her way through what she came to tell him. “The pilot, ah, would like you to know, hmmm, that we’re about to start our decent into Lihu’e.” She paused to moan, “Did you need anything before I get things put away, in preparation for landing?”
Uncle Terrence smirked my way as he continued to play with her. “I think we can get another orgasm or two outta you before then, don’t you think, pet?”
She gripped the top of his seat with one hand as she lifted her leg, placing her foot on the seat between his legs and giving him one helluva view of all her pink bits.
“Hmm, such a good girl.”
I gagged, on the verge of throwing up.
“I’m heading to the bathroom.”
His laughter mixed in with the wet suction sounds of him finger fucking the chick as I raced to the rear of the plane and shut myself into the bathroom. Leaning over the toilet, I mostly dry retched until sweat slicked my face. Dizzy, probably due to being at least slightly concussed thanks to Animal, I struggled to my feet and turned to the hand basin. After washing my hands and rinsing out my mouth, I cupped water in my hands to splash over my face, grabbing some paper towels to dry off.
Gripping the sides of the sink I stared at my pale face in the mirror.
“How the hell am I gonna get outta this one?”
Opening drawers, I found a disposable toothbrush kit and used it, taking my time so hopefully my uncle was finished before I had to go back out there. A tap on door was followed by the attendance’s voice.
“Ma’am? You need to return to your seat now.”
“Be out in a sec!”
Tossing the toothbrush into the trash, I unlocked the door and made my way back to my seat, trying to ignore the way my uncle smirked.
“You are adorably naive, Grace. Kenjiro will enjoy breaking you of that trait.”
I clenched my jaw, refusing to take the bait as I looked out at the green island we were closing in on.
“Silent treatment? Really? I wouldn’t have thought you’d be so childish, but at least you’re not swearing so I’ll not force you to answer me.”
Bastard liked the sound of his own voice way too much. The stewardess returned from the rear area now fully dressed and moved to the front where she strapped herself into a seat near the cockpit. I mentally shook my head at how put together she appeared. No one would ever guess she’d basically been the star of an orgy for the past several hours.
Blowing out a breath I turned back to the window, watching the little airport get bigger and bigger. I’d always wanted to visit Hawai’i, but not like this. And certainly not to live here forever. Tears stung my eyes at the thought of never seeing Taz, Flick or Lolly again. Of never meeting the new baby. Blinking faster, my heart nearly cracked open when Trident’s face filled my thoughts. He was so bloody perfect for me. Strong enough to stand up to me, his sense of humor was twisted enough he enjoyed bantering with me. He could command my body like no man ever had before. All he’d wanted was to show the world I was his and instead of accepting it with some grace, I went crazy bitch on him.
Thankfully, before I could go too far down that rabbit hole, the plane landed with a small bump, then slowed before taxiing toward an open hanger. Naturally, we weren’t going to the public airport where I may have been able to catch the attention of security. Not that I’d actually expected to be able to do that. Not with how this whole thing was playing out.
Once the plane had stopped and all the checks and shit had been done, a pair of armed men of Asian appearance came to stand near the door, on full alert. Uncle Terrence unclipped his seatbelt and stood, holding a hand to me.
“Come, Grace, it’s time to meet your new master.”
Fuck me, and I’d complained about Trident wanting to make me his property. At least he hadn’t wanted the title of being my master. No one would ever be my fucking owner. I wasn’t a fucking pet.
Knowing I needed to bide my time, I needed to play passive until Kenjiro underestimated me. Then I’d strike and break free. It was still hard to not lash out, verbally or physically to my uncle. Grinding my teeth, I undid my seat belt and put my hand in his, hating that I was being forced to touch him. Especially when I knew what he’d been doing with his hands recently.
He pulled me up with a tug that sent me slamming against his body.
“Did you not enjoy the in-flight entertainment, my dear?”
Glaring, I spoke quietly, so only he’d hear. “You will pay with your fucking life for what you’ve done. Mark my words.”
With a broad grin, teeth flashing, he laughed before moving my hand to the crook of his arm and leading me toward the exit. He stopped near the goons and dropping my hand, moved to open a cupboard. Frowning, I wondered what the hell he was doing. When he turned around to face me, the last thing I expected to see him holding was my handbag. Thanks to Animal lying about my phone, it was still in there. Refusing to give away how excited I was to have it back, I waited until he held it out to me before I lifted my hand to take it.
“In case we get stopped by airport security, you’ll need your ID. It will also help to keep our driver oblivious to the situation.” He frowned. “He is from a local service and not in the employ of Kenjiro. If you try to get him to aid you in any way, it’ll mean his death, and harsh punishment for you that’ll take considerable time for you to recover from. Do I make myself clear?”
Once more, I clenched my teeth so I didn’t verbally lash out in front of the armed guards and show them how much of a fighter I really was. I merely nodded as I slung my handbag over my shoulder. At the bottom of the stairs, I opened my bag and pulled out a lip balm, applying it to my dry lips before tossing it back in and making sure it was firmly closed. Uncle Terrance scowled my way.
“What? I didn’t drink enough water on the flight, my lips are chapped.”
He shook his head before marching over to the large black SUV. It took effort to not roll my eyes at the luxury Cadillac Escalade that was about the furthest thing anyone would think when they thought of Hawai’i. Guess all mobsters were alike in some ways.
Keeping silent as I watched the absolute gorgeous scenery pass by, I mentally took note of every turn and town name. If I could get free, I’d need to be able to return to the airport to get back to the mainland. When I’d told my uncle earlier that I’d been raised by an AFP agent to be everything he wouldn’t want me to have become, he seemed to think I was just throwing out bullshit, but I wasn’t. My adoptive father had taught me a lot, on top of what I learned in my training with the Australian Federal Police. I’d also taken martial arts my entire life, and had discovered early I had a natural talent with languages and could speak five fluently. I had a feeling the fact Japanese was one of them was going to come in rather handy.
When we finally pulled into a long drive, my jaw dropped at how pretty it was. Sure, it was big and fancy, but with the cream walls, brown timber accents and roof tiles, it was absolutely stunning. The lush green, perfectly manicured gardens, added to the opulent feel of the place. I cursed under my breath when we pulled up under a drive-through-carport area, like one you’d see at a boutique hotel. Not waiting for one of the goons to open my door, I let myself out and didn’t have to fake my awe as I took in everything. Uncle Terrence chuckled, clearly amused at my wonder, which I was only hamming up slightly so I could take a few extra moments to catalog what was around the house. Lots of the plants were big and bushy, good for hiding behind. But the two roaming guards were an issue. There was no way to know if they did their patrols twenty-four/seven. Hopefully they only walked the yard during the day, and just guarded the doors at night. I could work with that.
“Come on, Grace, let’s get you settled inside. Kenjiro will be here shortly, and he wants you showered and dressed appropriately for what he has planned.”
I could just imagine what “appropriate” meant in Kenjiro’s mind. Since he couldn’t see me, I rolled my eyes at my uncle, before I turned toward him.
“Yeah, whatever.”
As I slowly made my way toward the front door, I let my gaze track the leaving SUV, using it as an excuse to take in more of the grounds; noting the distance to the road, how far away the neighboring houses were. I was confident if I could find a way to sneak out of the house undetected during the night, I would be able to escape.
Stepping through the door when one of the guards held it open for us, I paused in shock.
“Whoa.”
“Shoes off, pet.”
Without taking my gaze off the view, I slipped my sandals off. While my adoptive parents had been well off, and I’d never wanted for anything I truly needed, I’d never been in such an opulent house before. Without thought, my feet carried me around the two plush white couches and fancy solid looking coffee table, stopping before I went out through the open bi-fold patio doors. The sight that greeted me was like a postcard come to life. A crystal clear pool, surrounded with comfortable looking loungers and large umbrella shades, beyond that was a vista of paradise. Mountains rose up on the other side of the small bay that was near the house, the water was blue, the sand white. Under any other circumstances, I’d have loved the chance to stay here.
Uncle Terrence wrapped his hand around my elbow and pulled me toward the northern wing of the house. “You’ve got the rest of your life to stand there staring at the view, right now you need to go freshen up and change before the others arrive.”
Easily keeping pace with him, I frowned. “Others?”
He nodded absently. “You’ll find out soon enough. Right, this is your room. Private bathroom and walk in robe” he pointed as he spoke “You’ll find both stocked with everything you need. Change into the outfit left on the bed, nothing other than what is there. Understand? You don’t need shoes. You have about half an hour. If you’re not ready, I’ll drag you out there naked. No skin off my nose.”
Thrusting me into the room, I spun to glare at him. “Do you feel no familial ties to me? A little concern over what’s going to happen to me?”
That shark smile of his made another appearance. “Of course I totally acknowledge that we are related. It’s the reason selling you benefited me so much.” He moved to close the door but paused. “Oh, all the windows and exterior doors are locked and are alarmed. Don’t waste your time trying to escape, even if you did make it outside, the roaming guards would pick you up in seconds.”
The snick of the lock after he closed me in had fury filling me, until I had to vent some of it. With it and with a scream, I tossed my handbag onto the bed. A soon as it landed, I winced as I recalled my phone was in there and I needed it to not be broken. Then Trident’s deep voice filled my mind, saying how important it was to always thoroughly check any new area you found yourself in before lowering your guard. Before getting my phone out, I quickly looked through each part of my prison. Shaking my head when I discovered that while the walk in robe was filled with clothes my size, there were no shoes. No doubt my sandals had vanished from beside the door too. Did they honestly think that would stop me from trying to leave? I’d walk over broken glass to be free of these people.
With a sigh, I grabbed the clothing that had been left for me to wear. A simple sleeveless dress in a stunning Hawaiian themed fabric; white with large blue flowers. The top part was stretchy and would hug my chest snuggly, I prayed it would be tight enough to stay up considering it wasn’t like I had huge boobs to anchor it. I cringed at the lacy G-string and strapless bra that was way racier than anything I’d pick to wear myself.
“Well, chick. This is life for now.”
Grabbing my handbag, I went into the bathroom, tossing the outfit onto the counter before going to lock the door. I hadn’t seen any cameras, but those fuckers could be super small and I couldn’t be one-hundred percent sure there weren’t any. Leaning against the door as an extra barrier. After taking my phone out of my bag, I powered it on. As I waited for it to load up, I pondered over who I should contact. Strangely, it was Trident that came to mind first. Probably because I’d just been thinking about him as I’d searched. Taz was the more logical choice, or Keys who ran Athena Security for the club. The moment the screen lit up, I fumbled to get it on silent as it started to ping with a bunch of missed calls and texts.
“Whoa, well, okay then.”
There were dozens of messages and calls from various people. Including one from my father, a request to call him urgently. Guess he got wind of Uncle Terrence’s plan just a fraction too late. The last message was from Trident:
I will find you, Ula’ula M?’ī. Hold on.
Leaning my head back against the door, I squeezed my eyes closed as tears leaked down my cheeks. I loved him. It was completely insane, we’d only know each other such a short time, but there was no denying what was in my heart and soul.
Dashing the tears away, I forced myself to focus on the present. I’d seen how fast an MC could get shit done, so didn’t contact Dad and the AFP but instead set up a text to go to Taz, Trident and Keys.
Taken by Terrance Milani. Sold to Kenjiro Takeda. In Princeville Kaua’i. Unsure how many guards.
That should cover the basics. Once Keys got my message, he’d know my phone was on and track it to pinpoint my exact location. When Trident got it, he’d know what direction to come while he waited for Keys to give him more information. Returning my phone to my bag, I set it on the bench near the sink, then went and turned the insanely big shower on. As I stood under the warm water, Trident’s nickname for me played through my mind. He’d said it was Hawaiian, and he did have the tanned complexion that could be from having Hawaiian heritage. What were the chances he was from this island though? That he’d have support here to help him rescue me.
***
Trident
As much as I wanted to get out of the airport and start searching for Jacie as fast as possible, I was nervous as hell about the greeting I was in for.
Grinder was looking around with wide eyes and shook his head when we came off the plane and into the interior of the small airport.
“Fuckin’ open air terminal. For real. Wouldn’t believe this shit if I wasn’t seeing it.”
I looked around, taking in the two luggage carousels on either side of the large open space. It did have a roof, but only half walls and planter boxes to separate it from the outside. Not much had changed in the last couple of decades, other than the expected TSA and tech additions. Although I hadn’t expected anything different, things on Kaua’i ran at a slower, more relaxed pace. My city born and bred brothers would be in for quite the culture shock.
“Is there seriously a fuckin’ rooster walking through here like he owns the damn place?”
Grinning I watched the little guy strut his way across the floor before hopping up into a raised garden bed.
“Yeah, those little suckers are everywhere across the island. Hey, braddah. It’s been a minute. We gotta catch up in person more often than every twenty fucking years, yeah?”
Noa ‘Toa’ Wailani was a big man; he came in at six foot five, towering over my six two. He had broad shoulders and the solid build of a traditional Hawaiian warrior. He’d always looked that way, and had earned the nickname Toa, Hawaiian for warrior, before we hit the USMC. His black hair was cropped short and it looked like he hadn’t shaved for a day or two. He wore a tank under his colors, showing off the full sleeves of Hawaiian themed ink that covered arms down to his wrists. Those were new since I’d last seen him, but then, I had more than a touch of ink he didn’t know about. I was shocked to see the patch on his cut declaring he was the president of his club. We really did need to talk more often.
I reached a hand toward him, unsure if he’d want to greet me as we’d used to. He took my hand and shook it, as he reached with his other arm to pull me in to greet with breath. Resting a palm on the back of my neck and his forehead against mine, I closed my eyes while gripping the back of his neck in return. Fuck, I’d missed him.
“Damn, it’s good to see you. Wish it was under better circumstances, but I’ll take what I can get.”
He turned to my club brothers and I introduced them.
“Maverick, our club VP and Grinder, club secretary.”
He gave each man a nod in greeting as I’d said their names.
“Welcome to Kaua’i, braddahs. I’m Toa, president of the Losi Kahu MC. I’ve known Trident since we were both in diapers, served with him in the USMC. His pain is mine and I have my club ready to help in any way we can to rescue his woman.”
“Appreciate it. What transport do you have for us?”
He tilted his head toward the exit. “I brought a cage to take you back to our clubhouse. We waiting on any luggage?”
Shaking my head, I started moving. “Nope, we didn’t check anything. Let’s get outta here.”
It didn’t take long for us to cross over to the parking lot and load up in the Ford Explorer Toa had brought. As we sped down the road my phone dinged with a message, stiffening when I saw who it was from.
“Got message from her, brahs”
Maverick leaned forward from where he sat in the back seat. “What’s it say?”
“She’s here, in Princeville. Confirms it was her uncle that took her… ” I couldn’t speak through my rage at what I read next. My whole body tensed, ready to throw cracks on someone, but with no available target, I ended up tightening my grip on my phone so much the thing creaked. When a crack formed across the top corner I dropped the phone to my lap, shoving my hands into my hair and tugging at my braids, trying to calm down enough that I could fucking function.
Maverick snatched my phone and was soon growling his own anger. “Mother-fucking-bastard sold her. That fucker is gonna die hard. Fucking selling his niece. Toa, you ever heard of someone called Kenjiro Takeda?”
When he didn’t answer Maverick immediately, I glanced his way to see he was maybe as furious as I was; his knuckles white with how tight he was gripping the steering wheel, his muscles along his jaw twitching as he ground his teeth.
Forcing my way back to sanity for my friend, I laid a palm on his shoulder.
“Toa? You with me, braddah?”
Hissing out a breath, he tilted his head side to side, cracking his neck before he loosened his hold on the steering wheel and spoke. “Yeah, I know the fucka. He’s Japanese, Yakuza. Wasn’t sure he still had a place here.”
It was easy to pick up there was a whole lot Toa wasn’t saying, but before I could ask him to elaborate, my phone dinged with another text. Maverick handed it back to me.
“It’s from Keys, giving us a location. Damn, Trident, your girl is something else. Not only did she find a way to keep her fucking phone, but she’s managed to use it without getting caught.”
A chill ran down my spine. “Hopefully she didn’t get caught.”
What would a Yakuza man do to a woman who defied him like that?
Maverick gripped my shoulder, squeezing it. “No way would Jacie get caught. I’ve read what we have on her. Her adopted dad was Australian Federal Police, and she went into the same field. Sure, she works for Athena Security now, but that woman’s got a whole lot of training. She ain’t gonna make dumb mistakes.”
With a deep breath, I nodded. He was right. Jacie was intelligent and careful.
“Fuck. Okay. Yeah. Right. And she was clever enough to know who to fucking message to get her rescued. She knew I’d be coming for her, knew Keys would be the fastest to pinpoint her location. She probably also messaged Taz. Toa, you should probably expect some more bikers coming in. Her brother is with the Charon MC, one of our support clubs. They’re good guys.”
“I’ll let my braddahs know. Give them my number, tell them to keep me updated on any arrivals so we can get them taken care of.”
Looking at the message, I read the location. Princeville was up on the north coast of the island, and we’d taken off in that direction when we’d left the airport.
“Toa, where’s your clubhouse? And how far from it is Princeville?”
“We’re about ten minutes out from the clubhouse, and normally it’d take about half an hour to get to Princeville from there, but you know damn well we can do it a lot quicker when we need to.”
He looked my way for a moment, and I gave him a hard stare. “We need to. She was flown in on a private plane, no layovers. He’s already had her way too long.”
Although, five minutes was too fucking long as far as I was concerned. The fact he’d had hours with her had my gut churning. Toa nodded, then focused back on the road, he put his foot down, speeding up as we headed further north up the coast. Flipping back into the text from Jacie, I paused before I sent her a response. I didn’t want to say too much in case someone other than her got hold of her phone, but I wanted to let her know we were close and coming for her.
C U soon
Staring at the screen, I contemplated writing more. Telling her how she was my fucking world and I needed her to hold on, stay strong. But in the end, decided against it and hit send. She was a fucking warrior woman, I didn’t need to tell her to fight. And I’d tell her everything else when I had her back in my arms where she damn well belonged.
Before pocketing my phone, I sent a text to Keys, giving him Toa’s number in case they were sending a crew. I also let him know we’d be at Jacie’s location within the hour.
It was only a few minutes later when the car slowed to pull into a dirt drive at the foot of a mountain. From the street, the place didn’t look like much. In fact, if you didn’t know where to turn, you’d miss it. Once we got past the roadside shrubbery, there were a few buildings scattered around a property that was surrounded by heavy bushland on two sides.
“Nice set up.”
Toa nodded. “It’s served us well. We have dirt bike tracks all over the mountain too. After we get your woman back, I’ll take you and your boys out for a ride. Be like old times, yeah?”
I had to grin at the reminder. From a young age, Toa and I had had dirt bikes, spending our weekends testing our skills and exploring the island.
“That’d be great.”
Parking the car, we grew serious as we exited and he led us over to the biggest of the buildings.
“Welcome to the Losi Kahu MC clubhouse. I’ll have one of the braddahs show you to a couple of rooms you can use while you’re here. While you dump your stuff and get your cuts on, I’ll get a crew and supplies together. We should be back on the road in under ten minutes. Thinking taking cars will be the way to go, the bikes will be too fucking loud. They’ll hear us coming long before we get there.”
As much as we’d be able to get there quicker on bikes, I had to agree with him. The other reason for taking a cage, that none of us wanted to give voice to, was that we didn’t know what condition Jacie would be in when we found her.
***
True to his word, it was less than ten minutes later that we were heading out the door. Maverick, Grinder and I, along with Toa headed back to the Ford Explorer while six more Losi Kahu braddahs piled into the two Jeeps that had been brought up from a garage further back on the property while we’d been sorting shit out inside. We were now all fully armed for a battle, but there were no guns. The plan was for stealth; to get in and out without gaining attention from anyone outside of Takeda’s property. That meant a whole lot of knives. Although, Toa had also grabbed a hatchet, while one of his brothers, Mene, had taken both a full sized and mini crossbow. The young guys had grabbed hunting knives and Tasers, which had Toa shaking his head.
It was utterly insane. But it was also fucking perfect.
Maverick and Grinder had shaken their heads when they looked over all the options. Most of the time, the SCMC went in with guns blazing when we had business to take care of. But I rather loved that Toa had put the effort in to having so many traditional, old school weapons for his crew to use. Many looked to be hand crafted from locally grown timber and tiger shark teeth.
I’d grabbed several modern throwing knives, along with a Pàhoa, a wooden bladed weapon with razor sharp shark teeth all down the curved edge. Swiping it across both Milani’s and Takeda’s throats was something I was looking forward to doing very soon. I’d also slipped what was essentially a set of knuckle dusters, but made from timber with more shark teeth attached across the top edge. It would cause a helluva lot of damage whether I slashed it or cracked with it. The weapons were brutal and primal, and worthy of what we were heading to do: rescue of an innocent; one of our family.
As we’d discussed earlier, all three cars pulled off the road about a quarter of a mile from the property. We quickly piled out, and three of the younger Losi Kahu braddahs moved to the driver seats to move the vehicles further away until they got word to come in, while the remaining six of us took off down the road. All the trees and shit made it easy to stay hidden as we worked our way quickly up the street. I had a throwing knife in my hand ready and Mene, one of the local crew had his crossbow loaded and ready to shoot.
Jogging beside Toa felt right, like old times and how it was meant to be. As much as I loved my SCMC brothers, I hadn’t grown up with them, hadn’t gone through USMC bootcamp and deployments by their sides. Toa was the closest thing I’d ever had to a blood brother, and I hadn’t fully realized how much I’m missed him until now.
Mene had led the way, and as we got near the property line, he stopped to lift and aim his crossbow. He shot two arrows, both landing with quiet thunks. He must have shot true, as the men made no sound other than the thud of their bodies falling. We jogged up the drive but didn’t stop at the front door. One of the other Losi Kahu took off to the left, while Mene, after he’d slung the larger weapon over his back and grabbed his smaller one, had moved further ahead of us and away from the house to the right. Their jobs were to clear the grounds of all outside guards, call an all clear to the drivers to bring the vehicles in, then come back us up inside.
From what we’d been able to find online, the easiest place to gain entrance was through the rear of the house where there was a wide series of bi-fold doors between the outside pool and the inside living room. We hoped they were open as they’d been in the old realtor page we’d found. If not, Maverick had grabbed a glass cutter, while Grinder had a lock pick he was very good at using.
Unlike Mene, I stuck close to the house as I led my small team toward the back, shaking my head as I stepped over the dead man with an arrow in his eye. Reaching the end of the wall, I pressed up against the bricks before carefully looking around the corner, grateful for the palms and other plants along the rear wall that hid me from view. Not that there was anyone around to see me. Happy to see the doors were wide open, I signaled the others to follow me. Staying low, we silently moved over the tiles, keeping close to the plants as we approached the opening. The closer we got, the more we could hear of what was going on inside. Not that it helped, since they weren’t speaking English. There was also a buzzing noise that stopped and started regularly. I paused and cocked my head to try to hear it better. I’d definitely heard it before, but for the life me, I couldn’t identify it.
Grinder moved up beside me, speaking directly into my ear so the sound didn’t travel.
“Tattoo machine.”
Looking down at my feet for a moment, I ground my teeth in anger, and disbelief, because now that Grinder had suggested it, I knew he was right. Someone in that house was getting a fucking tattoo, and what’s the bet it wasn’t Milani or Takeda.
Raising my head, I looked first at Grinder and Maverick, then Toa in the eye, seeing my own rage and agony reflected back at me in each man. I mouthed the words, “They all die today.”
All three nodded and tapped their fists over their hearts, in a silent vow. Then we got back to work, continuing with renewed determination to get inside and take these fuckas down.