Spy Games (Tarnished Heroes #1)(87)

This felt wrong.

There was no movement, no one around, nothing going on.

Rand’s gut said they were at a dead end. Still, they went on, creeping through one warehouse then another, peering at empty ships. A few lights were on here and there, but not enough movement to indicate more than a single person was around.

His pocket vibrated. He ducked into an alcove between shipping containers. Matt moved into the opening, watching the coast.

Rand pressed the phone to his ear. “Yeah?”

“I’m guessing we found them. Ship on the south end, maybe two hundred yards from where we split. Couple vehicles idling, and a large presence on the boat.”

“On our way.” Rand ended the call.

“They found her?” Matt asked.

“Maybe. This way.” Rand wove through the shipping containers, keeping the water to their left.

It took them longer than Rand would have liked, but he understood almost immediately why his instincts were on target about the north end of the marina. The farther south they went, the more activity they ran into.

At least two vehicles came and went. The guys loitering at the dock entrance weren’t just bored men off-shift. They were plainclothes guards.

Suffice to say, they’d found where Sarah was being held.

“Rand.”

He peered into the thick darkness up against the nearest warehouse between the next set of crates and the road.

Andy and Noah.

Rand slipped into position next to them with Matt close on his heels.

“About a dozen men watching the dock and the ship.” Andy tilted his head toward Rand without taking his eyes off the boat. “Two people just left.”

“Could you ID them?”

“Two guys in suits. I haven’t seen Wei or Sarah.”

“Too bad we can’t just call in the cops,” Noah said. He was right. Technically, the Coast Guard was who they’d need to rope in, and even then they’d have to wade through the red tape to get permission to board. In that time, Sarah could disappear.

“We’re going to have an exposed approach no matter how we do this,” Andy said.

“I vote we hide in one of these crates and one of us sacrifices himself to drive us down there in a forklift.” Noah’s white teeth were easy to spot in the darkness. If he were closer, Rand might have tried punching one out. “No, but seriously, I’ve got one silencer. I could snipe the deck watchers if you guys can handle those two dock guards. Thoughts?”

“That’s messy, and you stand as much of a chance hitting us as them.” Andy spoke more like a robot than a human. Almost all the life was just gone from behind those eyes. The man was broken.

“Give me some credit. I’m a damn good shot.”

“Let me do it,” Matt said softly.

“No,” Rand said on instinct.

“Come on, Rand. You know I can.”

“I don’t want you to do it.”

“Noah would be more useful in hand-to-hand.” Andy peered past Rand. “No offense.”

“I’ve only got one hand to offer for that kind of thing, but I only need one to shoot.” Matt crouched, facing them.

“Have you fired a gun since…?” Rand didn’t want any more blood on Matt’s hands. If he had his way, Matt wouldn’t be there.

“Every week.”

“Fuck,” Rand muttered. “Give it to him.”

He didn’t have to like the plan. Hell, it might not last half a minute in execution, but they had to do something, and Matt always had been one hell of a shot even in the worst of conditions. It didn’t get much worse than this. All they needed was for a monsoon to hit.

The sky lit up in a brilliant display of lightning while thunder reverberated through the clouds.

Well, hell.

…

Sarah knotted the bits of remnant rope together.

“Good,” Charlie said.

Bad didn’t begin to describe the alarming way he breathed, the swollen eye, or anything about the way he moved. Still, he was a brilliant, resourceful mind, and his knowledge might be their ticket out of here.

“I got the window loosened.” He gestured to the window he’d been lying under. “If you push open the glass, you should be able to use the rope to open the bars.”

“Why would they put us in a room you could get out of so easily?”

“It’s a cargo hold, not a cell.” He gestured at the window. “Go on.”

“Charlie, what’re they going to do to you?”

“Doesn’t matter. Only thing that does is you destroying the protocols. Go, before they come back.”

She hated that because of her fuck-ups, because someone had burned her, Charlie would likely end up dead. It wasn’t fair. Not one bit.

Sarah crossed to the window. She had to stand on tiptoe to pull the thick, murky glass open. Even then the hinges protested. He must have had to pry the catch loose back in the beginning, before they hurt him this badly.

What she wouldn’t do to have Andy in her pocket right now. She was starting to lose her adversity to vigilante justice.

“Got it?” Charlie asked.

“I’m kind of short. Give me a minute.” She fed the rope out of the window, through the bars.

The handle for the protective bars was above the window on the outside. She grasped the knotted loop between her fingers and focused on the lever above her. She’d have to lasso it just right and then use her weight to pull. It would be an inelegant escape, but she’d make it out. If she didn’t get caught first.