19. Eoghan
Chapter nineteen
Eoghan
“ W e have about a three-hour drive,” Finn says as we load into the large SUV. He pulls out his phone and fires off a text.
“Who are you texting?” I ask from the back seat where I’m sitting next to Jude.
“Enzo. Just letting him know if Alessia tries to open the safe room door, he has permission to tie her to a damn chair.”
When we left her in the room, Finn wasn’t entirely convinced she wouldn’t try something and somehow stow away in the SUV or something. I can't exactly blame her, but I need Finn focused on Gemma, not worrying about his wife.
When Liam and Jude made it to Finn’s house, Liam let us in on one of his mission objectives. He told us that he’s been looking into Petrov for several years but hasn’t found a way into his organization yet. From whispers and clues on the dark web, Liam knew Viktor was a major player in the sale of women.
“I thought you only worked with high-paying clients?” I asked him while he was going over some aerial images with Nikolai.
“It pays the bills and funds my other endeavors quite nicely,” he informed me.
I’d say so. Liam is the man the rich and powerful call to help them with various jobs when the police or legal channels are of no use. And he charges accordingly. It’s even been rumored he’s involved himself with a coup or two over the last few years.
Before we left, Liam made a call to a doctor he knows in New York and to a few members of his team, who were given the coordinates to the safe house. They may not make it in time to go in and get my woman, but from What Nikolai says, the house they’re at has been used as a meeting spot where some of his father’s customers go to buy girls. It’s entirely possible that Gemma isn’t the only one there. His guys will make sure if there are other girls there, they’ll be taken care of.
Nikolai and Liam are taking another one of my brother’s SUVs since we don’t know if or how many other girls are there. He let Nikolai know that as payment for helping him, he wanted all the information Nikolai has about his father’s operations and the locations of safe houses he uses as a landing spot for the women he kidnaps and sells. Nikolai was all too happy to give him the information, seeing as one of the things he was adamant about was stopping the operations his father so gleefully raked in millions of dollars from.
Silence fills the SUV as I stare out the window, repeating the same thing over and over in my mind. She’s alive, she’s alive, she’s alive .
Her father wouldn’t kill her. Not when he stands to make money from her or to still form an alliance with another family. It just doesn’t make good business sense. But the things he could and probably is doing to her in the meantime have my blood boiling with rage. Even Jude isn't making his normal jokes or ribbing everyone in the silent car.
“A while back, I was in a similar situation with my woman,” Jude says quietly beside me.
“I remember.” He didn’t call me for help, which I would have gladly given.
“There was never a point where failure was an option. Didn’t matter what we were walking into, I didn’t allow myself to imagine a scenario where we didn’t get her back. And there’s no chance we won’t get your woman back, either.”
I don’t reply. Instead, I just keep my eyes on the passing scenery for the next two hours.
We will get her back, and before the dawn breaks, every motherfucker in that house will die.
We stop about a mile from the house and silently get out of the vehicles. Cillian opens the trunk of our SUV and reveals the secret compartment we have outfitted in several of our cars to hide the cache of weapons stored. Each of us grabs a vest and begin loading ourselves with various guns with suppressors attached, knives, and extra ammo. We’re to kill these motherfuckers as silently as possible since Liam informed us when we were back at Finn’s that if these men are tipped off, they’re likely to dispose of the women so as not to be identified if the women are rescued.
“I couldn’t get a layout of the house, so we’re going in completely blind,” Liam tells us.
“There wouldn’t be any plans for this house or records. It’s completely off the grid,” Nikolai says.
“I’ve gone in on less,” Liam says. “The one thing we have on our side is the element of surprise. As far as Viktor’s concerned, no one knows about this place. Typically, places like this will have some sort of basement or possibly an outbuilding where they keep the girls. No other buildings were detected on any of the satellite images, but there are a shit ton of trees that could be obstructing our view. Keep an eye out for any smaller structures as we approach.”
We all nod as he continues, the five of us listening intently, considering it seems Liam has quite a bit of knowledge of what we’re potentially walking into.
“There will likely be at least two exits from wherever they are keeping Gemma and any other girls that may be in there with them. One accessible from the house, and one accessible from the outside. I’d imagine there to be at least one man guarding the exit that leads directly outside, maybe two. Most of the men will be inside the house and a couple with the girls themselves. We have no idea how many men are on the property, but there were two cars, so we can count on at least four, probably more. These guys travel in pairs.”
Liam meets the eyes of every man in front of him, and when they finally land on me, his lips tip up in a small grin.
“Let’s go get your woman back.”
We quietly make our way through the dense thicket of trees before Viktor’s safe house is in view. We don’t meet any of his guards on our way, but there are two standing on the front porch, enjoying a smoke. Liam signals for Finn and Cillian to go around back and check on things there. When they return, Finn informs us of another set of guards standing outside the back door. They aren’t sure if the door leads to the basement or the house. We really don’t know much, but that’s fine with me. I’m ready to go in and start killing these assholes.
Liam nods at Jude and raises his gun, indicating for Jude to do the same.
“Just like South America,” Jude whispers.
I’m not sure what that means, but the two men fire off a silent shot and each guard crumbles to the ground with a bullet between the eyes. We’re all still for a beat, but when no one comes outside and no alarms seem to have been triggered by the dead guards, we proceed.
Low and fast, we rush the house, Nikolai and I taking the lead with the other four men at our back. We creep up the porch on soft but hurried feet. Pressing my ear to the door, I hear the soft murmur of the television but nothing else. I twist the handle and as soon as the door opens, I clock the man in the black leather recliner facing the television before his eyes swing to me. He doesn't have more than a chance to widen his eyes before I put a bullet between them.
Nikolai is right behind me when a man comes from the kitchen at the far end of the room and throws a knife, hitting the man in the throat. No sound is heard, though his mouth is open in a silent scream as he drops to the floor, and I put a bullet in his head, too.
I look to the right, where Nikolai’s standing beside me.
“Fucking show-off,” I mutter, and we make our way to the back of the house while Finn and Cillian have disappeared down the hallway to the left. When they come out, Finn raises one finger then slices it across his throat, signaling that one more dead guard is in the house.
I tilt my head toward the kitchen, and the six of us file past the dead man with Nikolai’s knife protruding from his throat. There are two doors. When I stop at the first, the five men circle my back. I lift my gun and open the door. And come face to face with shelves of canned food, beans and rice.
“We found the pantry,” Jude comments quietly.
That leaves only one option. I press my ear to that door but don’t hear anything. If this is another pantry, I’m going to lose my shit.
We take the same formation, and I open the door. A set of stairs that lead to a black abyss at the bottom greets us.
It’s fucking go time.
Taking the lead down the stairs, all of us step with light feet so as not to alert anyone of our presence. When we get to the bottom, the basement looks empty, but I spot two doors at the far end with a staircase in the middle. That must be the door that the other two guards, who at this moment are still alive, are guarding from the outside.
We’re tucked within the shadows when one of the doors opens, and I see that fuck Andrei walk out of a room. Before he closes the door, my eye catches on something in the room. A corner of what looks like a chain-link cage. He opens the door of the room on the other side of the staircase and it’s a poorly lit, dingy office. He doesn't notice our presence when he walks into the room and shuts the door behind him.
“We need to move this along, gentlemen. There’s no telling when the other two guards are going to do a perimeter sweep and find their dead friends,” Liam whispers in the silent basement. I nod and start walking toward the office. Placing my ear against the door, I listen for any sign of how many people could be in the office with Andrei.
“Yeah.” I hear him say, then he’s silent. “I’ll let them know that something came up.” Silence again. “It’s fine. Viktor has to deal with the Italians, so I’m here to facilitate the transfer. We expect the buyers in the next hour.” Silence again. “Okay. Bye.” When I don’t hear him talking to anyone else, I can only assume he’s the only one in the office.
Turning around to the five men at my back, I raise one finger then tilt my head to the door. My hand goes to the knob, and I throw the door open, immediately raising my gun and pointing it at the asshole behind the desk. He looks up in surprise and tries to grab for the phone he was just talking on, but I rush forward and press the muzzle of my gun to his forehead.
“Not so fast, Andrei.”
He leans back with his arms raised and spots the other men in the room. “You’re all going to die for this. You think Petrov isn’t going to come after every last one of you and take everything you love before killing you? Fucking fools.” His eyes meet Nikolai’s. “Your father knows you’ve betrayed him and his organization. There’s nowhere you can hide where he won't find you.”
“Let him come after me. I look forward to putting a bullet in him,” Nikolai responds with a slight tilt to his lips.
The sound of a door opening and slamming shut breaks our attention from the man at the desk, and Jude and Liam whirl around.
“Andrei!” someone shouts from outside the room.
“Kill the girls!” Andrei shouts back before I fire my weapon and Andrei slumps in his seat with a bullet hole in his head.
Liam and Nikolai rush out of the office to stop the guard from carrying out Andrei’s order. A loud bang echoes through the basement then several softer pops. I charge out of the office to find a dead guard on the ground in front of the other door and Nikolai slumped against the wall, holding tightly to his left side.
“Fuck.” I hurry over to Gemma’s brother.
“I’m fine,” he tells me, though I can tell he’s anything but by the way blood is oozing from between his fingers.
The door at the top of the stairs between the two rooms opens again and another man comes flying down. Finn immediately opens fire on the man, peppering him with at least five bullet holes before he falls the rest of the way down the stairs and lands dead at our feet.
As far as we could tell before we walked in the house, that should be everyone, but whoever Andrei was talking to said that more men were going to be showing up in a matter of minutes. We need to be long gone before they get here.
I raise my gun and open the last door in the basement, having no clue if there’s another guard in there. What I find chills me to my fucking bones. Cages. Four of them, two on each side of the room. And inside are women. Some of them scream when they see a man in the room with a gun, and some sit silently, staring at me with fear and resignation in their eyes. As though they’ve accepted their fate. They don’t know who I am, just that they’ve been taken to be sold. In the last cage with two other women stands a blonde, relief warring with anger in her crystalline-blue eyes.
“I hope you shot that asshole Andrei,” Gemma says as I lower my weapon and walk straight to her.
“Between the eyes, blondie.”
“I would have aimed for the dick,” she replies.
I look at the padlock holding the door together and grab the small lock pick set I brought with me before kneeling down and making quick work of the lock.
“I have a key,” Jude calls as he rushes to the other three cages.
When I open the door, the other two girls rush out toward the door where Liam is waiting. He takes them out of the room, then Gemma throws herself in my arms.
She buries her head in my neck and lets out a gut-wrenching sob.
“Shh, I’ve got you. But we need to go.”
Her tear-soaked face lifts to mine.
“Where else are you hurt?” I ask, examining the bruise on her face.
“This is it. Andrei fucking knocked me out when I tried to escape. Viktor”—she swallows hard—“he had my mom here. She’s dead. He shot her right in front of me.”
My arms tighten around her. “He wasn’t here when we showed up. But Andrei was on the phone and said the buyers are on their way.”
“Let’s get the fuck out of here then.”
We make our way past the two dead guards and up the stairs where Liam and Cillian are getting the girls into the two SUVs we saw.
“We can’t take these. They could have trackers,” I say to Liam.
“Relax. We’re just going to take them to where we parked. These girls don't need to be traipsing through the forest and Nikolai needs to get to the doctor ASAP.”
“Nikolai?” Gemma asks, looking at me.
“That’s how we found you. His father didn’t know he knew about this place. He was shot by one of the guards.”
“Oh God, where is he?”
Liam points to one of the cars, and she rushes over. Just as she opens the back car door, a black SUV and a gunmetal-gray truck approach at breakneck speed. Finn, Cillian and I raise our guns, ready to shoot out the windows, when Liam calls over the loud rumble of engines.
“Relax, boys. Those are my guys.”
The SUV and the truck slam into park and two men from each open the doors and exit their vehicles.
“You missed all the fun,” Liam says to one of the men holding a medic bag. “He’s over there.” Liam points to the SUV Gemma ran to, where her brother is.
Without saying a word, the man jogs over and opens the door.
“What do we got?” one of the other men asks, approaching Liam and me.
“A shit ton of dead bodies and eight girls that were going to be sold. We’re taking them and Petrov to the doc about an hour from here.”
“Oh shit, what did you have to promise her to get her to help you after last time?”
“Fuck off, Hendrix, she loves me.” Liam waves his hand at the tall man with long hair who’s covered in tattoos.
“What about the buyers that are coming?” Hendrix asks.
A look passes between them, but I can’t decipher it.
“Kingston can take Petrov to her. She likes him better anyways.”
Liam stares at Hendrix for a beat then nods. “Okay. Let's get the girls and Nikolai to the other vehicles then we’ll come back here. By my account, we don’t have much time.”
“I'll tell the guys to set it up like Mexico City?”
A chilling grin spreads across Liam’s face. “Perfect.”
My eyes swivel back and forth between the two men, still having no idea what the hell’s going on.
“Mexico City?” I ask Liam when Hendrix walks away to relay the message to the other two guys.
“We’re going to wait for the buyers. See if we can get some information then dispose of them accordingly,” he tells me as Cillian makes his way over to us.
“Need some help?” Cillian asks.
Liam stares at Cillian for a beat then nods. “Go talk to Hendrix. He’s the tall wanker with all the tattoos.”
Cillian jogs over to the three men and grabs supplies from the back of the truck. I don’t know what’s in the duffel bags they’re opening as Cillian nods at whatever directions they’re giving him. Wait, are those bars of C-4?
Finn walks over and looks at Cillian then back to Liam.
“Your man offered,” Liam says, holding his hands in the air.
“Just see to it he makes it out alive,” Finn says.
“We’ll be an hour behind you.” It doesn’t go unnoticed to me that Liam doesn’t make that promise to my brother.
Finn dips his chin then turns to me. “Let’s go.”