He looked at each one of us individually. “Are you all okay with that?”
We nodded. Aiden was pack, and we knew him now. I didn’t care what he’d done before, or about his family. If it helped get Trinity back, then thank the universe he’d been born into that life.
He looked at the pilot once and then back at us. “And if lethal force is needed?”
“Then it’s needed,” Bastian said. Then smiled the smile of a hunter. “My way will be messier.”
It had been twenty minutes, and we were over nothing but open water. Aiden checked his phone and then the displays where he’d hooked in the tracking signal. “That boat is hauling ass.”
“Where is it going?”
He shook his head. “I wish I knew. I would assume the reef they’re ‘conserving’ if they want a shot at covering this up. But…”
But they’d taken her so publicly that it might not matter. A cover-up might not be possible. There was the security footage of them chasing her and beating her, but they wouldn’t be foolish enough to have a camera pointed where they were committing the bigger crimes. Which was bad news for Rin. If they could make her disappear, these companies had enough money to make the consequences disappear too. “Can we go any faster?”
Aiden shook his head. “Max speed.”
Another five minutes, Aiden leaned forward after switching channels to speak to the pilot. “There’s probably not going to be a place for the helicopter to land. Not fast enough. He’ll get us as close as possible, but we’ll probably have to jump.”
“Ask him if there’s a rescue kit.”
There was one tucked behind us. It had rope. No gloves, but rope burn would be better than broken legs.
“I see it,” Brooks called. “There.”
It was a white dot in the distance, but it was visible.
Please, Trinity, be alive. Please, sweetheart.
“They put her in one of the cars,” Aiden said. “Looked like a goldsedan. Back seat. I’m going first. Bastian, you follow, then Theo.” The three most obvious weapons. “Brooks, Logan, find her while we take care of whoever’s in the welcome party.”
No arguments from any of us.
I watched the boat grow in size until I started to see the details. The boat had a crane and a magnet, just like at the port, for sinking the cars into the water. The deck was an open hole that was filled with them. And I saw people. Orange vests that stuck out like flares.
Aiden opened the door, the wind whipping inside and rocking us in our seats. He was already crouching by the door, gun in one hand and rope in the other, ready.
“Ready?”
We nodded, and I ditched the headphones.
The pilot got us closer than I thought possible, ten feet above the deck, and the men on the boat were already converging. Aiden didn’t wait before he jumped, and Bastian followed a second later.
Using the rope as a guide, I swung down onto the deck just in time to come face to face with a man running straight for me. He swung, and I ducked, turning and holding my aim long enough to shoot him in the leg.
No time. No time. No time.
Another gunshot rang out, and someone fell. Bastian picked a man up andrantoward the edge of the ship, tossing him overboard. There weren’t many people here. Many six or seven.
A bullet ricocheted off the deck next to me. I jumped for cover, aiming to return fire, but Aiden already had them down. Bastian hit another man, and the final one…
He was on his knees, and Aiden had a gun to his head.
I ran for them. Logan and Brooks were already down in the pit, looking through the cars.
“Where is she?” Aiden asked, deadly calm.
The man grinned. “You’re too late.”
