Chest Pounding
Cruz could feel his heart thundering in his chest. He was a known adrenaline junky. He’d be the first to admit it. He’d sky dived multiple times in his life. He loved activities which got his blood pumping and his heart racing. Yet, this time, the adrenaline running through his veins was not excitement but nervous terros
Belkin let him know before they boarded the chopper Presley wasn’t lying about Liborio taking a hit out on him. The man wanted him dead. Belkin said he’d sent out a message to the underworld indicating Cruz was now one of his and any attempts on his life would not end well for anyone. He’d also confirmed he declared a war against Liborio for violating multiple treaties between their families and he’d collected allies. The problem was, Liborio had friends in places as dark as some of Belkin’s hid and as a result there was a great divide. Many families were indeed on Liborio’s side, supporting his right to choose his bride how he saw fit. Most of those families were not ones which worked with Liborio and Belkin on their side projects of anti–trafficking.
This is where Cruz was confused. Liborio was a savior to hundreds of women, according to Belkin. He didn’t
only rescue them, but he helped with therapy, getting them resituated in lives where they prospered and did
well. None of what he was doing with Presley made any kind of sense to anyone. Because of his reputation with women the people siding with him were a hundred percent on board with him and his story of saving
Presley from an abusive family, falling in love with her and doing whatever it took to protect her.
This was a level of crazy, Cruz wasn’t sure he could combat, and he was terrified. Belkin made a couple of comments already about how if Liborio couldn’t have her, he’d simply kill her and went so far as to suggest the nutjob might have planted bombs on the ship to simply blow it all up if captured.
What started for Cruz as hope, a small army of men brought in by Algernon and Belkin, was now mired in thick feelings of despair as he considered it was entirely possible they might not get her out alive. Belkin tried to reassure him his men were keeping her safe, protecting her with their lives and even told him she’d bravely let them use her as a hostage to negotiate the release of the captain’s family which has now made her an honorary bratva. Yet, he couldn’t shake the fear in his gut. The idea of losing her was too great and too
difficult for him to process.
He could see the boat as they were coming up to it and while they were in choppers, there were also several small speedboats packed with men following behind. He would be one of the last to leave the choppers because it was probable Liborio’s men would be shooting at the men descending from the ropes to the deck of the boat and they needed to be coordinated and fast. He was neither since it would be his first time sliding down a rope from a helicopter onto a ship. He was quite nervous.
“Here we go,” a man next to Cruz said bluntly as they got close to the ship.
Cruz noted multiple helicopters pulling away as men streamed onto the vessel. There were only two other
helicopters.
Algernon looked at him from where he was piloting the craft. “Don’t get killed. If you or Presley get hurt, Sloane will leave me and let me tell you, the way that girl can bend is a gift for a man like me. Go rescue your princess, Donkey Kong!”
He rolled his eyes at Algernon. One of the men on Belkin’s team heard Sloane call him an ape and immediately screamed Donkey Kong. It was a new nickname on which he wasn’t very keen. He’d been called
Chest Pounding
many things, but this was a weird one. It seemed Belkin loved old video games and often encouraged his men to play with him.
Doing exactly as they’d trained him to do in the quick forty minutes before they took off, he managed to get out of the chopper, down the black rope and landing on the deck of the ship without burning his hands, scraping his shins, or breaking an ankle. He felt this might already be a victory in and of itself.
All of the men working for Belkin were dressed the same. In black garb, with black make–up on their faces and little Russian flags pinned to their chests. It seemed their pride of their country circumvented the need to be in all black. He was glad because it made it easier to identify Liborio’s men. As one of them in front of him lifted a pistol to shoot at one of Belkin’s men, Cruz grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, lifted him up and slammed him to the floor rendering him unconscious.
“Yay!” a collective cheer at his actions and several men smacking their chests made him grumble as he took off running.
“Where the f**k is she?” he yelled out to another man he grabbed by the throat and lifted off his feet.
“Safe from you,” the man yelled in his face.
Cruz walked to the side of the boat and threw him over. “Hope you can swim motherfucker.”
He was looking for Belkin, who Cruz could hear barking out orders, but it was needless. They outnumbered the Italian men two or three to one.
“Where is she?” he yelled as his emotions got the better of him. “Presley!”
Belkin whistled a piercing sound, and Cruz’s eyes snapped to meet the other man’s gaze. He waved him over and they were racing to a set of stairs which descended into the hull of the craft. A shot rang out from below and Belkin pulled Cruz to the side. “Do not let the crazy fucker get you in his crosshairs. Liborio Bartoli is a better shot than my brother. He has this corridor blocked off and he’s now saying he has the crew and Presley barricaded in the kitchen and unless we all leave, he will continue to shoot every single person who comes down these stairs. He has enough bullets to wipe out our entire team one by one. He also said he has no problem shooting Presley to save her from a lifetime of your abuse.”
“He’s insane.”
“It would seem so.”
“I know a girl he’d be a perfect match for,” the thought of Ramona’s twitchy eye flicked to his mind and he
shuddered.
“We need to find another way in.”
“Is there another way in? Can we find a way to protect us from bullets, and push him back? Like shields the cops use for crowd control?” He was looking around the boat for something to use as a block.
“It’s not a horrible idea but it would need to be light enough for us to carry and bullet proof. We’re not able to get our hands on Captain America’s shield,” Belkin said dryly.
“Your sarcasm is impressive.” Cruz commented with a shake of his head. “I’m trying to be inventive.” Another man came up behind them, one of the French men who worked with Algernon, “we have most of Liborio’s men surrounded. The ones down there with him and a few stragglers are left. The kitchen has a window but it’s not big. We are thinking of putting Joey down a rope off the side of a ship, taking the window
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out and if we can pull Presley through it, then we can get her to safety.”
“She is the only thing keeping my men, the captain and his family alive” Belkin shook his head.
“We can get the wife and kid through there as well, I imagine. We don’t have to let Bartoli know we have them. We can continue to trouble shoot ways to get Bartoli out of there so our guys can come out,” the man argued, “but our mission was to get Presley off this ship. We found a way to do it. Let’s do it.”
“Except her brother is in there too and she might not leave him behind.” Belkin argued.
“Yes she will,” Cruz added his two cents. “He got her into this mess. If she thinks your men will protect him, she’ll not be fussed on how you get him out so long as you promise to try to get him out alive. Personally, I don’t care if he comes out alive or not. He’s a sick bastard. Who the hell sells his sister?” He muttered under his breath.
“We’ll need a distraction for Bartoli to not hear the glass breaking in the small window. It’s going to take a lot of force to break it.”
“I have an idea.” Cruz looked around the deck and smirked. “You’ve been calling me Donkey Kong. Let’s use it to my advantage.”
“How so?”
“I’m a strong motherfucker,” Cruz laughed as he pointed to what looked like a giant spool which appeared to
have netting wrapped all around it. He was going delirious in his need to get to Presley and was grasping at any straw he could see. Surely a giant “Can we get it off? How hard is it to disassemble?”
“It’s going to weigh a half ton,” Belkin rolled his eyes. “Do you know what Donkey Kong’s problem was and why he never got the girl? He was thinking with the wrong muscles.” He patted his temple, “think Cruz. You are not one for quick thinking on your feet. You’re more of a sit and ponder a situation. You would be a shitty
bratva leader.”
“There has to be a way for me to get down there and beat that fucker’s face in.” Cruz admitted his true motives. He looked around the ship while Belkin went back yelling at Liborio about how he was surrounded, and they were going to remind him of who he really was. Cruz considered these two must have been great friends in another lifetime because he was sure if Liborio were anyone else, Belkin would have already thrown a smoke bomb in and shot him. The thought struck him, and he started laughing. “Smoke.” He took off running around the deck, knowing there would need to be flares for when the boat was in dangerous situations. He skidded to a halt as he recognized one of the men as one who’d been with him in the bathroom the first night Liborio came to their room.
“You.” He glowered at the man being detained by the Russian and French army now in command of the ship.” I know you. You put a gun to my head in a bathroom while your boss scared the f**k out of my girl. You helped him terrify her.” He grabbed the man by the neck and shook him. “Not so f*****g tough no I’m going to beat your ass and then I’m going to toss you overboard like I did your buddy.”
“No!” the man trembled as his feet dangled off the floor.
e you?
“How do we get Liborio out? Tell me now or you are going to f*****g die.” He was screaming at the man. He was sure if Presley were around she’d likely make a comment about the veins in his neck or the way his entire face was flushed bright red. He could feel his rage simmering.
“Estrella.” The man must have been terrified by the look on Cruz’s face because he began to beg. “He dotes
Chest Pounding
લોક
મેળાનું આ
on her. He treats her like a little sister. Not the way he lusts after Presley, but he found her when she was a
little girl in a brothel, and he is protective of her. He’s not in love with her but he loves her. He arranged her marriage for her and everything. These men took her. You might be able to make an exchange of his life for
hers.”
As the men raced to tell Belkin this information, Cruz punched the man in the face and then dragged him to
the side of the ship.
“No. I told you what to do. Don’t throw me overboard. I’m not a good swimmer.”
“This is for putting a gun on me in my own room, asshole.” Cruz lifted him high over his head like he would weights and threw him. He smiled at the splash.
When the men all pounded their chests again and cheered he couldn’t help but laugh. Time to get his Ladybird.
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