I took the win and lay down on my seat, ignoring the rain, the cold, and the pit of dread in my gut. Only the yearning for home truly bothered me, but we were reaching a point in time where I had to ignore that too.
In the military, I’d become somewhat of an expert at pretending I was an orphaned only child, but it seemed I’d lost my touch. As I drifted to sleep, I thought of everyone I’d ever loved. I dreamed of them, of life, not death. And when Alexei woke me sometime later, I resented him more than he’d ever know.
“Veles. It is time.”
* * *
We entered the water at midnight. Weighed down with more gear than we’d carried before, it was a brutal swim to the idling trawler. Acoldswim, as we moved further out to sea than either of us wanted to.
On the way, we dove deep and picked up the explosives we’d spent weeks securing in handy-dandy locations. By the time we reached the last spot, my shoulders were already protesting, my jaw clenched with exertion.
We ascended with care, taking as many decompression stops as we had time for. Then I passed Alexei my tank and respirator and kicked away from him, funnelling through the icy water until I reached the trawler.
I caught my breath and swapped my shoes. Then I closed my cold hands around the hull ladder and climbed, boarding the boat undetected. Like before. But this time, if we’d synchronised our approach to perfection, I had a lot more people to avoid. Boat crew. Security grunts. And if the sea gods favoured us, a couple of top ranking Sambinis involved in the transportation of smuggled sex workers.
This family.
This dynasty of evil.
Where it had all gone wrong for the Kings, every thread led back to them.
They’d conspired to kill Cam.
They’d assassinated Alexei’s mentor.
And they’d murdered my best friend.
Press on. It ends tonight.
I mopped the water that had dripped from my wetsuit with a fast-drying cloth and ran it over my body for good measure.
Then I tucked it away and drew my weapon, keeping it loose at my side as I crept around the boat, trusting my senses to keep me safe.
I did a crew count.
And the grunts.
With them all accounted for, I eased onto the converted upper deck of the trawler, to the comfortable lounge where the top dogs were about to take their seats around the makeshift table.
It was the riskiest move I’d make before the sun rose. To come within spitting distance of men who wouldn’t hesitate to shoot me on sight and cut my body into a dozen pieces before they tossed me overboard. But my adrenaline remained dormant as I took my position behind the metal partition concealing them from my view. I’d forgotten more about amphibious combat than any idiot on this boat would ever know.
And they were idiots, a fact confirmed as I took a silent sidestep and surveyed the scene before me.
Nine men, but the numbers weren’t important. It was their faces, and I knew each and every one.
They all came.
The Sambinis.
For reasons I’d spent so long trying not to contemplate too hard,everyintegral part of their operation was on this boat.
Gianni.
Mario.
Their underbosses and their seconds.
It was more than we’d dared dream of, and for the first time since I’d left Decoy three days ago, my heart began to pump with purpose.
