He turned on some music. Classical musicrang out around us, and my throat tightened. He was setting thestage. “I love Bach.” He breathed in deeply through his nose andclosed his eyes.
I stood still, waiting for him to comecloser. My insides churned.
With steps that swayed with the music, hemoved toward me. I rehearsed my plan in my mind. Two more steps,and I could see it through. One more step. The music hit acrescendo, and he took that last step.
It was time.
I let my tied arms fall to my sides, and therope fell to the floor. I struck him first with my bound hands,under his chin, causing his head to fly back. I immediately twistedon one foot inside the puddle of rope and kicked with the other,the hit slamming into his groin with a vengeance. He leanedforward, gasping. I slammed my hands into his back, and he fell tothe ground, his head hitting the leg of the bed. He didn’tmove.
I quickly tied his hands to the bedframe andused a pillowcase to gag him. I only needed to delay him longenough for me to get back to the container and free my friends andthen the other kids. From there, we could try to escape withanother lifeboat. We’d have to find a way to disable the alarm. Ifwe had known about that, we might be long gone by now. I cursedmyself for that mistake. I searched Jericho’s pockets and retrievedthe keys. I ran to the door and swung it open only to find the twoguards right outside it.
I lunged at them before they knew I wasthere. I smacked one with my bound hands on the back, sending himinto the opposite wall. As the other guard turned to investigate, Igrabbed his shoulder and kneed him, and he bent over, calling outin pain. I slipped between the injured guards into the hallway andgrabbed hold of the doorknob to the stairwell.
Someone grabbed my hair and pulled me towardhim. I twisted and kneed him hard in his outer thigh, irritatingall the nerves there. He let go of my hair and collapsed, screamingout in pain. As the other guard charged forward, I ground my heelinto the arch of his foot, stopping his progress all together. Hebent down and grabbed his foot, hopping around on the other one.That’s when my focus fell on Jericho, who stood just outside hisdoor with a gun pointed right at my head. I froze. The two guardsbetween us moaned in pain.
“That’s quite enough, wouldn’t you say?”Jericho’s voice was almost a growl. An angry red mark, darker inthe center, stood out against the white skin of his temple.
I didn’t speak. I only stared. I had failed.He had me. This time I would not escape.
“Come along now. We have some unfinishedbusiness to attend to.” He beckoned me with his hand.
Cold and hot assaulted me all at once aspure fear sank into me. I was breathing hard from the fight. Irefused to enter the room, and was rewarded by the guards shovingme in. Before Jericho could enter the room, however, a call cameover the radio.
“What is Jericho’s location? Please advise.”It was Kozlov’s voice.
I suppressed the hysterical snigger ofrelief that bubbled up inside me.
One of the guards spoke into the radiothrough clenched teeth. “He’s in his room, sir.”
“Well, wake him up. I need him on thebridge. Right now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jericho huffed before turning to me andsaying, “Don’t worry, darling. We’ve got almost two weeks to seethis through. We don’t need to rush it.” He turned to the guards.“Well, you heard him. Get her back to the container. I’mneeded.”
They pushed me into the container, and Istumbled inside, landing in Jeremy’s arms.
“What did he do to you? I’ll kill him.” Heglanced in my eyes before shifting to look at my bloody, sore ear.“Good grief, he almost bit it off.”
My relief was so great at being back withhim, I couldn’t speak. He’d gotten out of his zip ties again, deepgouges of blood and bruises ringed his wrists. He’d fought hard toget them off. He took off his shirt, exposing his firm, muscledchest. Even in the dim light, it made my heart race. He bit intothe shirt, tearing a strip from the bottom edge. He wrapped itaround my head, securing my ear tightly to it.
“Did he touch you? If he did—”
“No. He didn’t.” My words felt hollow. I’dsimply been lucky. “He got called to the bridge. It was a closecall.”
I felt hot, stinging tears rise up in myeyes so I turned away and looked up, hoping to stop them.
“I’m sorry I let him take you.”
“Don’t be sorry. You did everything youcould have. You couldn’t have stopped it. And it all turned outokay…but he promised to come for me later.”
“I won’t let that happen.” The earnest wayhe looked at me left no doubt he was speaking the truth. “The nexttime someone comes to that door, we will be ready.”
We came up with a plan and moved toward thedoor so we could be ready. Mikado slept, but Jeremy and I keptwatch, holding hands against the darkness.
Chapter 31
An hour or so later, the lock on the doorrattled softly. Jericho was back. Cold permeated my heart, and itthudded a hard, slow rhythm. Using the wall, I stood. Jeremy didtoo, rousing Mikado, who got into position.
A sliver of light shone through a smallcrack in the door. Every muscle in my body was set to spring. Thebeam widened as the door opened. Before we could act, someonespoke.
“Don’t attack me. I’ve come to get you out.”Kozlov’s thickly accented voice echoed through the container as hestepped inside, pulling the door shut behind him.
Warm relief filled me.
“You must get off this ship, now. I’ve gotJericho and the others busy with other things. You’re going to haveto get to the back of the ship and jump from there. I hope yourpeople know where you are,
