We move quickly for Pier 9, which we’ve seen mentioned again and again, and I see the ship hulking there in its port.cold, dark, and waiting.The gangplank is down, awaiting passengers, and I can see men moving around on the deck of the ship.
No one down here on the ground, though, and that feels wrong.
More than wrong.
It feels familiar.
My mind flies back to the first time I was here, when I was chasing Brooks and trying to keep her from being shipped out, and all of my hair stands on end.Because we came to the port that night expecting a fight, too, and instead we found the place dark and nearly deserted.We hadn’t been able to see anything, and it had been sheer luck and the madness of a bad plan to bring the smugglers out and start the battle.
If we hadn’t gone running in with guns blazing, the smugglers would have loaded the girls and sent them into the night without us seeing anything.
I can see the ship they’re supposed to be using, though, and nothing is happening there.Sure, there are people on the deck of the ship but no one is walking up the gangplank.No vans full of girls there, and no trafficking victims being pulled out of the vehicles and sent on their way into the international trafficking market.
I glance at my watch, confused, but see that we’re on time.I’ve seen the manifests for this exact shipment and the girls should be loading right now.Yes, we beat Dom’s vans here, but by this time I should see girls walking in single file, on their way to–
The shooting, when it starts, catches me off guard and I foolishly look to where I see the flashes rather than running for cover.To my surprise, it’s not coming from the ship–which it would be, if Dom’s men had found us out.Instead, there’s a man on top of a shipping container two rows over, and he’s got something pretty big in his hands.
He’s aiming right at us.
Seconds later someone else is shooting, and seconds later a third shooter joins in.
My men scatter and run for cover, and when someone calls out for instructions, I already have them on my tongue.
“Take out the shooters!”I scream.
Several of my men freeze and start shooting back, and though the shots from the shipping containers slow down, they don’t stop.I get around a corner and then turn, putting the rocket launcher up on my shoulder and taking careful aim.The men who are shooting at us aren’t taking cover, and that seems beyond stupid, as they should have expected us to be armed.
What are they,bait?
I steady my breath, take aim with the launcher, and pull the trigger, and the shipping container and everything inside it explodes, sending the man sky-high, flames licking at his body as he flies.When he comes down, the flames engulf him and I turn to the next man.He dies just as quickly, prey to another explosion, but by the time I turn again, the third man has disappeared.
Now, men are running from behind the containers, and they also have rocket launchers.
They also have us dramatically outnumbered.
“To the vans!”I shout.“Retreat!”
Because I don’t know who those men are or what they’re doing, but they’re obviously prepared for some kind of war.They have weapons that match mine, and there are enough of them to kill all of us.
I did not come here tonight to die.
I came to rescue a group of girls, and they haven’t materialized yet.Instead, we found troops here who were evidently expecting us, given the weapons they’re packing.
Troops who knew we were coming?
Or troops who’s here for the same reason we are: to intercept the girls and take them to a different location?
God, is there another group out there trying to steal from Dom?
And if so, who the fuck are they, and can I use them?
Brooks
It’s raining the next morning when I wake up, and that matches my mood so well that for a moment, I wonder if Heaven itself can see right into my black heart.
I mean, of course Heaven can see into my heart.
In theory.
