A/N… Clearly, this chapter came faster than the last. ;) I hope that continues. Thank you all for your support.
I'll let you guys get to it.
~o~H&E~o~
Chapter 21
BELLA
"Okay, Carlisle, everyone's in position. Give 'em hell."
Jasper's voice was calm, which was his usual temperament, but so was Carlisle's when he spoke over the radio next.
"Jasper, you're to shoot anyone who steps out of this warehouse who isn't us or the Carvers. Am I understood?" he queried softly as we hid behind a parked truck.
"Yes, sir," Jasper replied. "I've got a decent view of the front door and the side alleyway. You'll need someone with eyes on the back door and the other alley."
"I'm on it," Alec replied, breathing heavily, and I knew he was in pain, but he was pushing on anyway. "You'll have eyes back there in twenty seconds… Okay, maybe thirty. Don't judge me!"
We all chuckled, and Mickey shook her head, saying, "How can we judge, Alec? Hell, we thought we lost you."
Carlisle's gaze met mine, and there was a touch of sadness mixed in with the harshness he'd had for the situation at hand when I said, "No shit," under my breath.
"Now that we're covered all the way around, Mickey, I want you taking the back door, with Alec covering your back. It's most likely locked anyway. Let me know when you're ready to go in." He turned to me once she took off into the night at a run. "Bella, you're with me. Once we clear this warehouse, we have to let the other team know. Hopefully, they'll have reception by that time."
"Okay," I said through a deep breath, readying my nine mil. "I'll warn you, Ji-Yun is a scrappy thing."
Carlisle nodded. "Do we need her?"
"Not if we can get Miranda and Marcus out of there safely. Although, she is an international fugitive wanted for terrorist crimes while working for Kim. Never mind that I think they're in a relationship, which means she could be rather useful," I rattled off dryly, which made my godfather snort softly.
"And that I owe her an epic fucking ass kicking," Mickey added.
"Copy that," he whispered, jerking his chin for us to move into position to take the front door.
"I'm at the back door," Mickey whispered over the earpieces. "Unlocking now."
"Bella, take the right. I'll take the left. Mickey, on your say," he commanded easily.
Working with Carlisle wasn't unlike working with his son. While Edward had a tendency to go in guns blazing sometimes, his dad was scary with his meticulously calculating ways. He was silent and eerie. He could be cold, and I was well aware that when he started his mercenary teams, he was a force all his own, without much remorse for anything while working a job. Now, he was older, wiser, but no less calculating as he once was. Even though he was Poppy to all the kids and CEO to a Fortune 500 company, he was still damned sharp. He could assess and react just as quickly as ever if he had to, but if he didn't have to, he'd be just as happy being Poppy all damn day. Which reminded me this all started with a trip to the damn zoo.
I laughed silently to myself, shaking my head, but I sobered up when Alice's voice came over the radio softly.
"Bella, Bella, Bella, you guys have heat sources inside there. Two at the front door, two at the back door, and one wandering in the middle around two more that have been still for some time now. My guess is the wanderer is Ji-Yun. I've tried to set eyes inside the warehouse, but they don't have security cameras. Or if they do, they aren't attached to any network that I can find."
"Thank you, Alice."
"Want me to kill the lights?"
I glanced over to Carlisle, who was shaking his head. "No, we're good, but kill her stolen phone."
"Okay, okay, okay. Just FYI, the cargo ship will be pulling up anchor shortly. So far, no one has seen Edward or Eleazar, or at least, no alarms have gone off. However, I've lost sight of Boris."
"Ten-four, Alice," I whispered, looking to Carlisle when Mickey let us know she was in.
"I've cracked this egg. On me in three…two…one…"
Carlisle turned the knob, pushing the door open quickly. Just inside was a small office, with a hallway to the warehouse area. That door was wide open. I slipped in toward the right, and he did the same to the left. The warehouse had the usual stacks of pallets, shelves of boxes, and a forklift parked in the center. Alice was right; there were four guards and Ji-Yun. Two men immediately caught sight of us, loudly calling out, which had everyone turning our way. I shot the man closest to me, and Carlisle ended the one in front of him. Mickey had moved stealthily from the back door, ending one man with her knife, but the other was yelling at us.
However, all came to a screeching halt when Ji-Yun pressed the muzzle of her gun at a scared, crying twelve-year-old boy.
"I'll kill him. I'll kill them both!" she practically growled.
I smiled at her split lip, knowing that little souvenir was a gift from my Edward's elbow back at the mountain cabin. My smile was also for Mickey, still unseen and unheard behind both Ji-Yun and the guard yelling at us.
The mother in me wanted to shoot her right between the eyes for ever touching that innocent boy. Given my colorful history, I could understand Miranda's fear, so I couldn't stop myself from taking a step forward. The guard and Carlisle were at a standoff; Ji-Yun and I were at our own. It was Mickey who was the unknown tie-breaker, and she was telling me silently to stand down and wait, so I checked on the two captives.
"Miranda, Marcus, you guys okay?" I asked them, meeting Miranda's red-rimmed eyes.
"Shut up, bitch!" Ji-Yun snapped, pressing the gun harder at Marcus's temple. "I'll shoot him now!"
"No, you won't," Carlisle countered, giving her a quick side-glance. "Because if you kill them, then your inside man will completely unravel on you. He'll kill Kim Min-Jun where he stands."
"He won't find out." Her argument was weak but seemingly valid.
"Oh, but he will. We have someone in place, too. All it takes is one word."
She went for the phone she'd taken from the owner of the motorcycle but threw the damn thing across the warehouse when it didn't work. It hit the forklift, shattering into several pieces, the screen a total loss.
"Bad reception?" I asked with false innocence.
Mickey cracked a smile behind her but shifted from her spot in the shadows between tall shelves, moving to a stack of pallets. She was slowly and silently working her way closer.
Ignoring her explosion of curses in Korean, I looked back to Miranda and Marcus Carver. The two looked tired and scared but relatively unharmed. I didn't see bruises or signs of mistreatment, simply the mental and emotional weariness that comes with being held against your will, something I was more than familiar with myself.
Miranda was a pretty woman with honey-brown hair. Standing, she was probably a few inches taller than Mickey and me. With bright-green eyes, she assessed her son repeatedly. Marcus was definitely his father's son. He was broad shouldered like Dean, and he was already tall for his age. He was a handsome boy with eyes that matched his mother's.
Mickey shifted again, and this time I moved a bit to my left to make sure that both the guard and Ji-Yun wouldn't see her coming. The advantage was the guard would've had to look behind him to even see Ji-Yun, so when Mickey gave the signal, I took my aim off Ji-Yun and aimed it right at the leg of the guard. My shot was loud inside that warehouse, and Carlisle reacted instantly, disarming the guard. Mickey had a knife to Ji-Yun's throat and a grip on her hair.
"Drop the gun, bitch," she ordered her, giving the skin on her throat a tiny nick. "Now. I won't fucking ask again."
The gun was tossed aside, but I'd warned Carlisle the woman was a scrappy fighter, and Ji-Yun brought her head back to Mickey's face. The sound was a sickening crunch, but Mickey barely flinched. Keeping a grip on the girl's hair, she swept Ji-Yun's feet out from under her, and another crunch resounded through the warehouse. This time it was of skull meeting concrete.
When Ji-Yun's bleary gaze met the end of my nine mil, the fight went out of her. Mickey swiped at the blood coming from her nose and handed me her knife, opting for her own handgun. Rolling Ji-Yun onto her stomach, Mickey slammed a knee between her shoulder blades, causing a grunt to escape her. She then secured the woman's hands behind her back with the roll of duct tape that had been used on Miranda and Marcus.
I glanced back at Carlisle to see his opponent unmoving and facedown on the warehouse floor. I was pretty sure the man wouldn't be getting back up.
Pressing my earpiece, I said, "Jasper, Alec, the warehouse is ours."
"Copy that," Jasper stated. "I'm taking my eyes off you just long enough to check on that ship before it's too far out."
"I'm heading your way, Bellissima," Alec advised. "Please don't shoot my ass again."
"Ten four." Grinning, I shook my head but walked to Miranda and Marcus. "Hang tight. I'm going to cut you loose. Okay?"
Miranda's nod was filled with relief, but she asked, "Who are you?"
"We're Gravity Investigations. Bella Cullen," I introduced myself as I cut the duct tape off their arms and legs. "The woman behind you taking her frustrations out on your captor is Mickey Giovanni-Malik."
Mickey chuckled, giving a wave before yanking Ji-Yun up by her hair and propping her up against a support post. "'Sup?" she answered.
"And that gentleman over there is Carlisle Cullen." I pointed his way as he rounded up all the discarded weapons.
Recognition of the name dawned all over Miranda's face. Carlisle's name was pretty well-known around the world but specifically the Pacific Northwest. His smile was small but charming all the same – something he'd truly passed down to his son. However, her recognition came with a touch of fear. Miranda knew way more than I'd anticipated.
I knelt in front of Marcus, freeing his legs. He still looked a bit shaken.
"Hey, Marcus," I said softly. "You're okay. It's over. We're going to get you someplace safe. I promise."
The fear would cling to him a bit, but it was understandable. Miranda looked like she was pretty damned strong, though, and she was already letting out a deep breath as she kissed her son's forehead. Marcus was just a bit older than Bethy, which made me miss my kids so very much.
"What I'd like to know," I started, locking gazes with Miranda, "is why were you taken? What does Kim Min-Jun have on Dean?"
Miranda floundered a little, glancing her son's way. "I don't know what you mean."
"Miranda," Carlisle started softly and calmly. "Right now, my son – her husband – and a high-ranking officer in the CIA are on that ship out there loaded down with thermobaric bombs. If Kim gets them out of the country, he could destroy innocent lives. If he gets an itchy trigger finger, then he could blow most of this area into oblivion. That includes Dean, Mrs. Carver. Now, I'm asking you to tell us what you know. If we can get word to my son, then we can get word to Dean. We need to stop Kim."
"My dad is a Marine. A Raider," Marcus snapped.
"Hush now, Marcus," Miranda chastised him halfheartedly, and she stood up and walked us away from her son a few feet. "He's right. Dean was a Raider. We were stationed in South Korea for the last few years of his tour of duty. Being a Raider meant he infiltrated North Korea for information, to recover people – both military and civilian – and to basically become a damned spy."
She spat that last word out like she hated it.
She took a deep breath, looking between us. "Dean caught wind of Kim Min-Jun's activities when he stumbled onto intel of an arms dealer who had some nuclear bombs. He worked his way into the rogue group working for Kim. He stayed undercover, basically. When the deal went sour, Kim blamed everyone. When Kim found out Dean was a US soldier, he blamed him solely, accusing Dean of ratting him out. He threatened Dean, us, everyone. He's already killed most of Dean's fellow Raiders."
"Oh my fucking God," I barely uttered aloud, glancing up to Carlisle, whose face was dark and angry.
"When it came time to come back to the States, Dean was adamant about our safety. He had a feeling Kim would go global, so he decided to split us up, make it look like we were no longer together," she said with a tone that was utterly heartbreaking, and that explained Dean's sadness from before all this started.
He wasn't divorced because they couldn't get along. He'd divorced her to keep her and their son alive and off Kim's radar. I'd once thought Dean was still in love with his ex-wife, and I'd been right.
"But it didn't do any good because Kim still blamed Dean, and when he found him, he found us. Dean had no choice but to do what Kim said," she concluded softly. "He took the job with you in order to get closer to Twi Tech."
"Actually, Mrs. Carver," Carlisle started slowly, placing a hand on his chest, "it's my fault that arms deal went south. Mine and my crew's." He gestured around the room, glancing up when Alec limped into the warehouse from the back door Mickey had opened, and Seong was quietly following behind him. "That responsibility rests on me. And I promise to rectify it."
"We have to get word to Edward and Eleazar," I whispered to Carlisle. "If they can somehow let Dean know his family is safe, then that'll change everything." I tapped my earpiece. "Alice…"
"I'm on it, I'm on it, I'm on it, but I don't think they have radio reception inside that floating metal monstrosity. And they've pulled up anchor. What do we do?" she rambled nervously.
"First thing, we need to get Seong and the Carvers someplace safe," Carlisle replied firmly, assessing his surroundings.
"Well, let's do this…" Mickey said, pulling out her phone and walking to Miranda and Marcus. "Say cheese." She took a selfie with the two of them, which would show we had the two in our protection. She immediately sent it to Edward. She met my gaze. "He'll get it whenever his signal connects. That's the best we can do for now."
"Carlisle, Kim's men are still all over the place," Alec started, wincing as he stepped over Ji-Yun, who was giving us all a death stare, but I'd noticed Mickey had slapped a piece of duct tape over her mouth. "I'm sure they'll be rallying somewhere, but for now, they're in the city, they're in this harbor, and they're in hiding until they're called. There's only one place safe for these two." He pointed to Miranda and Marcus.
I sighed, wrinkling my nose as I looked to my father-in-law, and he answered for us.
"Aunt Kate's."
We all went silent for a minute. He was right. Aunt Kate's would be the best place, especially since Emmett had brought in extra security.
"But this one needs to answer to her father," Mickey said, leering at Seong. The poor, confused girl was fidgeting where she stood. "I still vote she needs to be on that base where her dad is, because that asshole Kim will kill her just for knowing the tiny shit she knows."
Seong's eyes widened and snapped to Mickey, but she stayed quiet.
Carlisle studied all of them and then turned to Alec. "You are done." He pointed to his injured leg. "You take Miranda and Marcus to Aunt Kate's. You'll take Seong just as far as the closest airport." Turning to me, he added, "Have the girls get a flight for the three of them," he said, gesturing to Alec, Miranda, and Marcus. "Have Eleazar's men send a transport for this one." He jerked a chin toward Seong.
Seong started to shake her head in protest. "My father will kill me."
Mickey huffed a laugh, but Carlisle held up a hand, saying, "Seong, I've known and worked with your father since before you were born. I assure you he only wants you safe and sound. I'm also fairly certain that he'll be aware that Kim manipulated you. Despite the mistakes our children make, we still love them." He stepped closer to her. "And if your father takes issue with anything that's happened, then you call me, and I'll explain it to him in detail."
"Thank you," she whispered, her eyes watering a little.
"Or he could send her to military school," I teased my father-in-law, because he'd sent Edward away for getting into trouble when he was in high school.
"Hush, you," he playfully growled at me. "You're the only good influence on my son."
Laughing, I nodded. "I'll tell him you said so." Tapping my earpiece, I said, "Alice, Rose… I need a private plane for Alec, Miranda, and Marcus to take them to Aunt Kate's." I wasspecifically not saying where Aunt Kate's was located for safety reasons and I knew the others had thought the same. "I also need a military transport to meet them at the Port Angeles airport to take Seong to her father on the base."
"Already on it, Bells," Rose replied.
"Alec," I said, handing him Edward's car keys. "Take his car. But if you wreck it, he'll shoot your other leg."
Alec cracked the fuck up and pocketed the keys. "Don't I know it."
"Make sure you check IDs when you hand Seong over. If something seems fishy, take her," Carlisle ordered.
"Roger that. Okay, guys, let's get you somewhere safe." Alec started to lead his three charges out the door, but Miranda stopped and looked to Carlisle and me.
"Please get Dean out of there. Please. He was only doing what he thought would keep us safe," she pleaded sincerely.
"We'll do our best, Mrs. Carver," he told her, waving to Mickey. "Get Ji-Yun on her feet. She's coming with us. And trust me, if she gives us any shit, I have no problem shooting her and dropping her into the water." He raised an eyebrow at the woman.
To Ji-Yun's credit, she stayed passive as Mickey pulled her up into a standing position. She probably didn't know if she could push the man in front of her. All her fellow guards were dead, so I could imagine she was merely grateful she wasn't one of them.
We stepped out of the warehouse and into the dark, quiet street of the harbor. Grimacing, I noted that the ship had already started to pull away from the harbor, like Alice had said. They were farther away than I'd expected.
"Go! Get them out of here," Carlisle told Alec, turning to Mickey and me. "You two, on me. And make sure she keeps up. We have to find ourselves a ride out to that fucking ship."
"Please give me a reason to drop your ass into the Pacific Ocean," Mickey warned Ji-Yun as we ran toward the docks.
~o~H&E~o~
EDWARD
"Edward—"
"Alice, come in," I replied, but what came over the earpiece was static and cut-off words.
It wasn't a surprise; these massive ships were essentially metal tubes. Metal on metal, steel all around – even the sound was different as we walked quietly through the hallway. In spite of the giant satellites on top of the bridge, radios and cell phones were struggling to connect. And as we heard the anchor pull up, we knew we'd be even more out of contact as soon as we left the harbor.
Eleazar took the lead, ducking us into rec rooms and galleys when he heard footsteps. Down the longest hallway, there were long diagrams of the ship in frames along the wall. It made for a fantastic fucking map as we aimed for the container that Kim had loaded. From what I could tell on the diagram, there were four levels. The bottom was for vehicles, but the rest housed all the metal containers being shipped everywhere all over the fucking world.
Pulling out my phone, I tried to find the EMP's location, but either it wasn't transmitting any longer or I just didn't have connection.
"There should be a control room around here. It'll be the computers that show every location of every container," Eleazar advised softly. "My guess is that Kim won't let his precious package out of his sight. We find that container, and we'll find him."
"Copy that," I whispered, holding my breath when a galley worker walked by just outside the room where we were hiding.
No one who worked on this ship needed to catch sight of us. The employees on this big-ass boat were innocent, but Kim's men were a different fucking story. They were walking dead men as far as I was concerned. The longer this shit went on, the less I gave a damn about how all this ended. We were all fucking exhausted, and we'd been running and fighting now for what seemed like a solid damn week, but really the attack on Twi Tower had only been three days ago…or was it four? Fuck me, I wasn't sure. I just knew I wanted it over. I missed my kids. I needed my wife safe and sound. And I'd decided that I was definitely on Team Dad Must Retire.
We passed by the laundry room, the captain's office, and even a small gym before we finally reached a deep square set of stairs. Glancing down, I nodded that we were clear to go.
We'd safely made it one level down when the slamming of a metal door from below caught our attention. Slipping quietly out of the stairs and behind the closest door, we waited until the two men walked by us, and they were loaded down with automatic weapons. I couldn't quite see their faces, but when the chatter in Korean met my ears, I grinned at El like it was fucking Christmas.
"Who needs computers?" I asked him, and he chuckled and nodded.
Just as they had their backs to us, we slipped back into the stairwell behind them. We each grabbed a man, pulling him backwards off the stairs so that they fell with a heavy thud onto the metal landing. The surprise knocked the air out of their lungs, but they froze when two guns met the middle of their foreheads.
"Which one of you speaks English?" I asked the man on the floor in front of me, but both stayed silent. Chambering a round into my Glock, I pressed harder into his forehead; I'd cut his skin soon. "Which one?"
"B-Both!" he stammered.
"Excellent," I muttered. "Where's Kim?"
The two assholes went quiet again, and I sighed in frustration, reaching for the knife in my boot. I spun it, aimed it, and jammed it into the side of the other man's thigh. Eleazar immediately covered the guy's mouth when he cried out in pain.
Twisting it, I asked again, "Where the fuck is Kim?"
"N-Next level d-down," he sputtered out, giving his friend a worried look. "Down the middle. Where the maintenance office is…"
"Get up," I ordered, pulling the man to his feet at the same time El helped up the other one.
We pulled them into the hallway of the closest level, finding a storage closet. Improvising with the shit in there, we bound and gagged them both with rags and extension cords, locking the door behind us and then breaking off the doorknob.
When we were back inside the stairwell, Eleazar chuckled wryly. "You sure you don't want a job with me?"
"Fuck you," I spat, smirking at his laugh. "I've done my time for the government. You couldn't afford my ass anyway."
"God, kid," he said, still laughing. "You are way too much like your father."
Grinning, I shook my head. The mention of my dad made me wonder how he and Bella were doing with Dean's family. Checking my phone by habit, I frowned when I still had no signal. Fuck, I hated being cut off from communication from any and all of them. It was unnerving. I had no idea if my wife, my father, or my crew was okay. That shit was not cool.
"Relax. We'll get a signal soon enough. Maybe if we can find a porthole." Eleazar was calm, and I tried to follow his lead, but we neared the door we needed, and he told me to go silent.
It was darker on the third level. The light was blocked by towering stacks of shipping containers. There was no moving air, so it felt still and closed in, the smell around us metallic with a hint of oil or fuel. The door opened onto a steel grated walkway that seemed to be around the edge of the storage area and right down the middle. Below the walk was what looked like pipes and wires.
Using hand signals, Eleazar told me he was taking the middle, but I needed to go around, which meant I needed to move my ass in order to meet him on the opposite side.
Nodding, I split to the left, taking the walkway to the end. This put me port side, moving forward up toward the bow. There were four stacks of containers before the end. Thank fuck the ship was loud enough and the walkway sturdy enough that I could run without being heard.
As I neared the end to turn, I heard more than felt my phone vibrate. I pulled it out of my pocket, grinning at the message from Mickey. Relief that my crew was not only safe but that they'd freed Dean's family ran through me. I tucked my phone back away when I heard footsteps approaching. There weren't many places to hide, so I went up, climbing up the back of the closest tower of containers. Staying low and quiet, I decided to cut the distance instead of going all the way around. I could hear voices ahead and below, so once I got to the last container, I lay down on my stomach, taking a peek over the edge.
Below was the maintenance office and a group of men – Kim and Dean included – and down the walkway, I could see Eleazar's shadow moving silently. But it was Dean I focused on, needing to get him to step away from the group of men.
Glancing around me, I looked for something for a distraction. There was nothing on top of that container except me and dirt. Patting down my pockets, I found an empty ammo clip, and I pulled it out and gave the group of men one last look. Dean seemed to be pissed off, his ire aimed Kim's way.
"You'd better hear from that bitch soon, Kim," he threatened, pointing a finger in his face. "If she's done something to my family—"
"Shut the fuck up, Carver," Kim answered him calmly. "There's no signal down here."
I threw the clip toward the walkway on the front of the ship. It clanged and rattled with an echo.
"The hell was that?" Kim asked, shoving Dean. "Go look. Make sure Shin isn't getting seasick already."
I followed above Dean as he walked to the end of the walkway, taking the left. Silently, I dropped down behind him, wrapping a hand around his mouth.
"Breathe a fucking word, and I'll kill you where you stand. You'll be overboard before you can fucking blink, asshole. In fact, I should kill you for the shit you've stirred up," I warned him.
"Ed—"
"No!" I hissed in his ear. "You'll shut the fuck up and look." I pulled out my phone, showing the picture Mickey had sent of Miranda and Marcus. "He's got no shit to hold over you now. So…if I let go, you gonna behave?"
Dean nodded, and I let go. His first words would've been my own, had I been in the same position.
"Are they okay? How did—" He let out a long, slow breath.
"They look fine to me, but I can't hear them." I pointed a finger in his face. "I owe you a phenomenal ass kicking for not being fucking honest with me. The reason behind what you did is the only fucking reason I haven't put a bullet in your head. You put my family in danger, you targeted my dad, and I've lost count of how many innocent lives were lost back in Seattle. Dean, if I hadn't been where you are, if I didn't understand the desperation of your situation, I'd—"
"I know! And I wouldn't blame you, but he didn't give me any other choice!"
I bit down hard on my bottom lip in order to stop myself from punching him the face anyway.
"You'll tell me why when this shit is over. But for now, I need you to play your fucking part," I said quietly, jerking my thumb behind me. "Kim Min-Jun dies on this damn boat."
"If my family is safe, then I'll probably pull the trigger myself." His tone was wry but honest.
Grinning, I nodded. "And I don't blame you. The problem I'm having is I can't communicate with them, so—"
The din of noise that had been the engines suddenly stopped. The barely there lights were gone, leaving emergency lights only over the doors on either end of the storage area.
The radio on Dean's hip gave a static-filled warning. "Engine trouble. Dropping anchor. Everyone, sit tight."
Dean glanced up to me. "Is that you guys?"
"Most likely," I replied in a whisper, giving my surroundings a quick glance. "Though, I'm not sure who it would be at this point."
I honestly didn't know. I'd lost sight of Boris back at the harbor. I had no idea if Bella and my dad had called in help or moved quickly enough to get on board. Neither of those things would have surprised me. I knew where Eleazar was hunkered down, but without any communication, I was winging this shit.
"Dean!" Kim called from down the middle walkway.
"Go!" I said, starting to climb up again. "Wait for my signal. I'm not alone down here, so watch for an opportunity to turn this fucking mess around. Got me?"
"Yeah, yeah. Copy that." He started to walk away. "Hey, Ed… For what it's worth? I'm sorry."
I waved that shit away but nodded at the same time. Of all the people, I was the last person to judge a man for breaking all the rules in order to get back the people he loved. I'd walked through hell, killing demons and Satan himself, just to kiss my wife again, to save my Bethy, and to bring my father home. No, I was the last person to hate the man for doing whatever had to be done to keep his family alive. That still didn't mean I wasn't pissed that he hadn't come to us – to me – about it instead of putting my family at risk like he had.
Once I was back on top of the tower of containers, I stayed low and kept near the edge so I could listen. The sound of someone calling for Kim and running footsteps met my ears.
"Kim, there's someone on board with us. Shin and Yong were just found in a closet bound and gagged. Shin was bleeding to death," he said through heavy breathing from his run.
Peeking over the edge of the container, I smiled at Kim's livid expression. I knew what was coming next, and I was ready.
"Get everyone off their asses. Find whoever is on this ship and bring them to me…dead or alive."
~o~H&E~o~
A/N… I know. It's a bit of a cliffie. Although, it's not the worst one I've ever left you. Anyway, we'll switch back to Bella with Carlisle next. The action on the cargo ship isn't over.
Again, we're still on a "play it by ear" basis when it comes to updates, but I'm hoping things continue on this way. Something is working. Until next time… Mooches, Deb ;)