Untamed: Duty Bound Book 3 (33 page)

Combined with the stench, the rocking of the boat made his stomach churn. He might have fooled security upon boarding, but it wasn’t worth the humiliation of wallowing in his own filth.
Yvonne, where are you?

The platinum blonde had promised to come get him once the coast was clear.
The engines have been humming for hours.
To
sustain his grisly imprisonment, he fed his impatience with murderous thoughts.

Scurrying steps on the metallic floor resonated inside the bay, interrupting his mental frenzy.

A clicking sound pricked his ears, causing his muscles to tense in thrilling anticipation. The hinges of the trunk screeched and light filtered through the widening gap. “Alan? You still there?”

It took a moment for the fake name he’d given her to register. “It’s about time. Did you see any cops?”

“If there’s cops on board, they ain’t wearing any uniform.” Fidgeting with the car keys, Yvonne rocked back on her high heels. “Sorry I’m late. I fell asleep waiting for the attendant to clear the stairwell.”

He climbed out of the trunk and stretched his legs. If he didn’t need her to safely disembark at the other end, he’d send her for a swim and save his hard-earned money.

“I’m going for a walk on deck. Meet me back here in two hours. And don’t be late.”

***

The first tendrils of sunlight pierced the darkness, extending their rays across the ocean.

“It’s beautiful, Avery.”

In awe of the peaceful feeling that accompanied the dawn of their new life, Avery held the railing with one hand, the other secured around the waist of the woman he loved more than his own life. “Not as lovely as you were, lying in the afterglow of our lovemaking.”

A nice, rosy shade of pink flushed her cheeks, accentuated by the cold wind sweeping over the ocean and the light shining from the above deck. “Is that your way of saying you want to go back inside the cabin and try to sleep through the neighbors’ exploits?”

“How…” While the couple in the neighboring cabin hadn’t mustered much discretion vocalizing their pleasure, he was puzzled by how Hannah had become aware of them. “How do you know?”

“Every time they banged on the wall, the vibrations traveled through.” Her head rested against his shoulder with her chin tilted up. “I sense what I can’t hear.”

Her ability to compensate never ceased to amaze him. “You’re an incredible woman, Hannah Parker.”

A white mist whooshed through her lips. “With Reed and Cooper smearing my reputation, you could have dismissed me, but you didn’t. You believed in me. Why?”

The day she’d stood at the back of the church, something about her and Rory had caught his attention.

“There was a quiet resilience about you I couldn’t ignore. I just knew if I dug a bit deeper, I’d find a different kind of truth.” Tightening his embrace, he placed a gentle kiss on her nose. “And I was right.”

“Avery…would you like to know why I dropped the charges against the man who groped me in an elevator?”

Her gaze bore into his soul, baring the last mystery between them. Whatever had transpired between her and that man couldn’t—and wouldn’t—change his opinion of her.

“You owe me no explanation, Hannah. I trust you had your reasons to keep it quiet.”

“Yes…very good reasons, and you need to hear them.” Enveloped in an elusive aura emanating from inside her person, she glanced at the sea. “Back when I worked at Child Welfare Services in Halifax, I dealt with stress by going mountain bike riding. One day, I didn’t see the coyote on the trail until I rounded the curve. I swerved to avoid it and crashed into a bush. I was purple and blue, and dirty. I sported more cuts and scratches than a klutzy daredevil.”

The glimpse into her former life drew a smile onto his face.

“I went to the hospital. I saw the doctor tell the nurse to call the cops because he thought I’d been beaten. A teenage girl was in the bed next to mine, looking worse than me. She warned me not to squeal, or back on the dock, Uncle Drew would beat me up twice as hard. Her name was Lindsay. She’d obviously mistaken me for another girl. I wanted to ask her more questions, but
Uncle Drew
showed up to pick her up. When the cops came, I told them about the suspicious uncle.”

Hooked on every word, Avery held his breath for confirmation the officers had indeed listened to her suspicions.

“At the time, I wasn’t confident they’d taken me seriously. A week later they called. They wanted me to identify Lindsay’s body. She was found in a dumpster, the fifth girl in six months to meet the same fate.” Her voice dropped to an eerie whisper, sending chills down his back. “When the picture fell from Freddy’s pocket, and I looked at the dumpster girl, she reminded me of Lindsay and the others. That’s when my past came flowing back.”

He’d realized the picture had been the trigger, but it’d never occurred to him she’d seen worse.

“The other four girls had no name. The police suspected human trafficking, but they had no lead. Uncle Drew was an unknown character no one had ever encountered. Since I could identify him, the police enlisted my help. Accompanied by an officer posing as a pimp, I began touring the docks at night. It took me weeks to infiltrate the ring and months to gain the trust of the girls. I stayed undercover with my pimp for eleven months, until we gathered enough evidence to dismantle the ring.”

“You’re the gutsy girl who worked on the Marina case?” Unbound admiration swelled inside his chest. The raid on the docks couldn’t have been orchestrated without the in-depth information provided by the courageous undercover girl. “Hannah, do you realize thirty-one girls were saved that night? I was part of the task force. We were flabbergasted we managed to rescue all of them alive.”

“Then you understand I had to withdraw the charges. I couldn’t betray them, not after working so hard to save them.”

“You lost me.” The correlation between the man in the elevator and the girls had flown right over his head without touching his hair.

She rolled her eyes, as if it should have been obvious. “The man in the elevator was one of the ringleaders. I didn’t recognize him until I had to identify him the next day at the police station. We still hadn’t wrapped the case. To protect my undercover identity and the integrity of the Marina trial, I had to cite mistaken identity. A week later, the police raided a cheap motel where I was meeting the girls. Like everyone else, I was charged for prostitution. My criminal record was supposed to be purged once the culprits were arrested. With my reputation in temporary shambles, I quit my job at Child Welfare but kept working undercover until the operation was over. Gramp’s timely illness gave me a valid excuse to leave Halifax without raising suspicion. This was the price I had to pay, and I could never redeem it.”

The choice to press or drop charges had never belonged to her. The day she accepted the undercover assignment, she chose to forsake her reputation and put the girls’ wellbeing above her own.

“You’re wrong, Hannah.” He wiped a lone tear brimming in her eyelashes. “Life is priceless. You redeemed it in the eyes of everyone who mattered that night. I’m so very proud of you for—” From the corner of his eye, he caught a familiar silhouette strolling down the deck below. “Stay here.”

Without waiting for an acknowledgement, he rushed down the steep, narrow stairwell. Standing in the shadow of a lifeboat, Avery searched the deck for the man he’d glimpsed. He spotted him at the bow.

“Staff Sergeant Avery Stone, RCMP.” His voice carried over the sound of the waves crashing against the hull of the ferry. “Victor Young, you’re under arrest for murder. Raise your hands above your head.”

The man stilled. “You have the wrong person.”

“I said hands up.” Skilled in combat training and armed with a bad temper—he’d had to surrender his gun after firing on Russell—Avery approached his suspect from behind. “Don’t make me shoot you.”

Young spun around. In his right hand, a blade shone in the sunrise. Amidst profanities and death threats, the murderer lunged at him and slashed his sleeve, searing his flesh like fire.

The man wasn’t supposed to call my bluff.
Fuming over the unprovoked knife attack, and still reeling from the previous one, Avery countered with a right hook and caught him in the guts. Young stumbled backward, and the weapon fell onto the deck.

“Give it up, Young. Don’t add another murder charge to—”

His adversary dove down for the knife that had once adorned Avery’s mantle. Done issuing warnings, Avery packed a kick to the felon’s jaw. He miscalculated. His boot connected with Young’s solar plexus instead of his face. The man fell onto the railing and tipped backward. His feet flew off the deck.

Swiftly reaching forward, Avery gripped Young by the front of his coat. He pulled him onto the deck, and with one blow, smacked the daylight out of him.

“That’s for resisting arrest.”

His suspect collapsed at his feet. Avery handcuffed him to the railing, checked for pulse, and patted him for concealed weapons, finding none.

“Is he dead?” Looking haggard, Hannah stood on the last step of the stairwell.

He joined her and was pleased when she snuggled into his arms. “He’ll live long enough to face justice.”

The nightmare was over. His family was finally safe.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Busy driving along the coast of Nova Scotia, Hannah couldn’t glimpse more than a few random words of Avery’s conversation. Out-of-context, they made no sense.

Young was in custody of two officers, awaiting the next ferry for Newfoundland. The getaway car had been confiscated. And Yvonne, a girl who aided and abetted his escape, had been arrested.

In light of all these recent developments, Avery had no reason to frown on the phone. He hung up as she pulled into a gas station to fill up, but didn’t shed his guarded expression.

A dreadful thought formed inside her mind. “Is it Vic Young? Did he escape?”

He met her gaze, then shook his head in what looked like frustration.

“Young was shackled, ankles and wrists. They were on board, a few klicks from the coast. Young wanted to smoke, so the guys took him to the upper deck. He jumped.”

Bemused by what she read, she stared at his lips. “Jumped where?”

The corner of his eyes crinkled. “He jumped overboard, hit the railing below, bounced against the hull, and was swallowed by the sea. Divers are searching for his body.”

“Really?” That resembled the ending of a bad movie. “To be honest, I can’t say I’m sorry.” The killer had gotten what he deserved. She was just relieved he didn’t die on Avery’s watch. “That’s one less trial to worry about.”

“There won’t be any trial, just an inquiry.” He took her hand. Through the leather glove, she felt his caresses. “Russell died in his hospital bed while the guard was away from his post. To rule out any suspicious activities, Mitchell reviewed the security tape. Young was seen entering and exiting the room minutes before Russell’s cardiac arrest. On his way out, he was carrying what looked like a syringe in his right hand. They’ll run a full tox screen.”

The monster had tied his loose ends, finishing off anyone who could have implicated him.
Sick.
“You sent Russell to the hospital, Avery. You didn’t kill him. His death doesn’t belong on your conscience.”

“I know. It’s just…” He unbuckled his seatbelt, and for the first time since the medic on the ferry bandaged his arm, he relaxed. “It would have been easier to clear the names of the two teenage boys if Russell or Young had stood trial for their murders. I’ll be buried under so much paperwork trying to bring them justice, you’ll have to dig me out with a shovel.”

After all these years, the boys deserved to be heard from beyond the grave. They couldn’t have asked for a better voice than Avery’s.

“I’ll do better than a shovel, I’ll steal a snowplow.”

***

Sprayed by ocean mist, Buccaneer lay on a white blanket of snow under a pale blue sky. Avery parked in front of the garage, like he’d done so many times during the fateful summer he spent at the Bed and Breakfast.

“What if Rory forgot me?” In the passenger seat, Hannah slipped her gloves on and off. “I’ve never been away from him this long…I’ve never been away at all.”

To watch false insecurities seep though her strong and courageous nature was both mystifying and mesmerizing. A tender heart fed her wild spirits. As her lover and future husband, it’d become his honor and duty to protect it at any cost.

“A boy never forgets his mother.” It’d only been a few weeks—weeks that had seemed to extend into years—but time wasn’t something he wanted to argue in the confine of his vehicle, not when he had no chance of winning. “Let’s go, sweetheart. You’ve waited long enough to see him.”

Avery knocked. The front door opened, revealing Bill’s naked skull.

“That’s what I call a wonderful surprise.” The old man ushered them into the vestibule. “You must be Hannah. I’m Grampa Bill. I’m so glad to finally meet Rory’s pretty mama.”

To Avery’s amazement, Bill hugged Hannah. A big spontaneous hug that seemed to release all the tension from her body and brought a teary smile on her beautiful face. “Thank you.”

“Rory! Come down, Buddy!” Bill winked at them. “Someone is here to see you.”

A baby cried and bouncy steps reverberated from the staircase.

Bill, your granddaughter will wring your neck for waking up Savannah.
Rowan was as fiercely protective as Hannah, and Avery doubted the old man would get away with this.

Beside him, Hannah exhaled a sharp breath. “Was Rory good?”

“He’s a great little guy.” Grandfatherly pride pumped up Bill’s chest, inflating his sweater. “You raised him well.”

As Rory appeared at the bottom of the stairs, a huge grin stretched across his face. “Mama!” He dashed into his mother’s arms. “You have funny hair!”

Astounded by Rory’s shrill greeting, Avery looked at Bill for confirmation. “His voice…it’s back…how…”

“Long story, but you were right. Rory is a witness.” As he inched closer, Bill lowered his voice. “He saw three people attack your guy. Tell me you’ll keep on protecting him.”