42. West
CHAPTER 42
WEST
She tried to sneak out without me, of course. I was ready for her. The second she slid out of bed, I was up too.
She scowled and argued furiously, but I stuck with her. I wasn’t about to let her go face the lions alone. On the way to the Port of Oakland, in the back of a taxi with suitcases full of money, she filled me in on the emails, texts, and her not-so-brilliant plan of trying to buy Lucky’s freedom.
She’s still trying to convince me to leave when we arrive at the pier. She’s still trying to protect me.
Once she accepts the fact that I’m not going to leave, she hands the bigger suitcase handle to me. “Fine. Hold this while I go use that disgusting bathroom over there. I have to admit I’m nervous, and it’s making my bladder nervous, too.”
I follow her to the bathroom. “You can always walk away. We can try to get Lucky free some other way.”
Sydney turns to level me with an even stare. “I am many things, but I am not a coward.”
And then she disappears into the small brick building that serves as the port bathroom.
She shrieks and comes flying back out.
“What is it?” I grab her hand and push her behind me.
“A spider!”
It takes everything in me to not laugh. All her speeches about being brave…she’s willing to take on a well-known murderer but not a spider.
“It’s in there.” She points to the dark corner of the restroom.
“Can’t you just ignore it?”
“It’s looking at me.” She grimaces. “I can’t go to the bathroom with an audience.”
I sigh. She can tick off the Italian mafia but she can’t go pee with a spider in the room.
I step inside, letting go of the door. It’s so dark in here that I’m not sure how she even spotted that stinking spider.
“Where did you say it was?”
“In the back right corner! Behind the sink. It looked like a tarantula.” Her voice is muffled, but I move toward the corner.
There’s a suspicious thump and then a clink outside the bathroom.
“Sydney.” I spin around, worried something has happened to her—and slam into the door. “Sydney! Are you alright?” I shove at the door. It’s wedged shut.
“I’m fine. Are you okay?”
“The door’s stuck!” I jiggle the handle and even though I can feel the latch engaging it doesn’t open.
“Don’t hurt yourself!”
“Sydney, see if you can pull the handle on that side.”
There’s a thump-thump against the door as though she’s knocking.
“Is it opening?” I ask.
There’s a clicking sound. “No, it’s stuck here.”
An alarm goes off in my mind. “Sydney, watch out, I’m going to try and slam the door open.”
“No!” Her voice is muffled. “Don’t do that! You’ll hurt yourself.
That’s when the truth hits me.
The door isn’t broken.
She locked me in here.
The minute I realized what she’d done, I was filled with disgust and pride.
Disgust that she thought she could take the mafia on by herself, and pride that she wanted to protect a life with her own.
Not just any life— my life. She’s trying to save me. She loves me.
No one has ever tried to save me before Sydney, and I didn’t know it could make me love her more than I already do. But now I realize I’m going to have to keep her. I can’t just love her and let her go.
She’s mine now.
As soon as I figure out how to get out of this damn outhouse.
The walls are stone. The floor is concrete. The door is steel.
And I can’t figure out how she locked the door. I’m hoping a few good kicks will break whatever it is.
Four good kicks later and I know she’s used something strong. There’s a dent in the door where I’ve repeatedly kicked, but it’s held strong.
“Damn it, Sydney. Why do you have to be so thorough.”
I glance around the room and eye the grate on the floor. It would be a tight fit, but I might be able to make it.
I grab the bar on the wall and swing downward toward the grate with one foot. It bends a little.
I grab the bar with both hands and launch forward with all of my weight on two feet.
The grate pops off, and I slide halfway out. I release the metal bar and slowly shimmy the rest of the way out. I have to turn at an angle so my shoulders fit through without scraping them. When I’m outside, I sit up and look around. There’s no one in sight.
This is going to be a little bit of a problem.
I follow the line of cargo containers to the end of the pier and turn left, running until I see the sun reflect off the corner of an SUV. This must be what I’m looking for.
I slow my steps, careful not to step in some broken glass that could give me away.
It’s all I can do to behave rationally. Actually, as a matter of fact, what I’m doing right now isn’t rational. I should be waiting for the police to get here.
I should be waiting for backup, and I should have some sort of sense of self-preservation. And I have none of those things.
All I care about is if Sydney is still alive. I creep as close as I can, keeping some shipping containers between me and the cars.
I catch a glimpse of red hair.
Lucky is there. His hands are tied behind his back, and he has two men standing on either side of him—the two men we encountered at the docks. And then there’s an older gentleman with a man standing next to him, holding a pistol out and ready: Dario and his bodyguard.
Dario says something, and then Sydney laughs.
Of course, I hear her laugh. Because who wouldn’t laugh while they’re facing the mafia? I really am going to kill her once we get out of this. And we will be getting out of this. There’s no other option.
“$30 million?” Sydney laughs. “What would I know about $30 million?”
I glance around, not able to spot the suitcases anywhere. She must have stashed them. Smart girl. If she had walked in holding them, she would have been killed on the spot.
“Why have you been running from us when we just want to talk?” Dario Ricci asks in a creaky voice.
“Because when someone chases me, I run,” Sydney replies.
The man laughs, “You run with some information that doesn’t belong to you.”
“I didn’t even know what that information was. That man had dropped it. That’s why I returned to that hotel room to return what I found. But instead, he was…” She drops off. It’s an unfortunate reminder that she witnessed the murder of their employee because no matter if she knows about their 30 million or not, they’re not going to let a witness live.
I need to act now .