Page 38 of Through Any Fire (Any x #1)

“ A ccording to the ledgers, they’re in lots forty-three and forty-four.” Rose points to a schematic of the port, her finger tapping on the southern lots. “Each row is stacked three to four containers high. They’re in the bottom containers.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Matthias grumbles.

I smack him on the back of his head. “Nothing about this is easy. Or did you not notice that they’re using the Bianchi lots?” Rage bubbles in my chest, and my gaze slices to Rose. “Is Bianchi their partner?”

Rose looks between Matthias and me, hesitating. Then she shakes her head. “No. I couldn’t find any connection between Agapov and Elias, so I can only imagine that means they’re sailing under the radar with their exports.”

I scrub a hand over my jaw and nod, relief loosening the knot in my chest. “It doesn’t make it any simpler. If Bianchi catches us, it’s terms for war.”

Rose’s brows furrow. “War?”

I sigh. “Our fathers established rigid rules that we must follow. When they weren’t, the streets were painted with blood.”

“Why?”

Matthias and I look to each other, neither knowing exactly what to say, or if we should say. Finally, after a few tense seconds, I explain. “Our uncle was in love with a Bianchi.”

“Cal—”

I raise my hand. “It’s not our secret to keep anymore.”

Matthias sobers and nods. Rose glances between the two of us, her eyes wide and posture tense.

“Our uncle was in love with a Bianchi,” I start again. “Mia. They fell in love as teenagers, and our uncle would’ve died for her.”

“He almost did,” Matthias spits out.

Rose’s brow furrows, but she doesn’t speak.

I scrub a hand over my jaw and continue. “When our grandfather—his father—found out they were secretly in love, he offered our uncle two options: either end things with her and she’d live, or don’t, and he’d kill her.”

Rose’s mouth parts, a hand landing on her lower belly. Jace shuffles closer to her.

“Our uncle refused, and a few months later, our grandfather followed through. One day, her car exploded, killing her instantly. Our uncle lost it, unable to cope with the pain of losing her. But the Bianchis blamed our grandfather, and what started out as mild rivalry turned into outright enemies overnight. Territory lines were drawn and enforced. From there, the rest is history. It’s been decades of bloodshed, but the past few years have been peaceful.

” I leave out the most recent discovery that Mia might have survived and changed her name .

“And if the Bianchis find you here tonight?”

“It’s grounds for immediate retaliation,” Matthias says.

His declaration is sobering. Quiet falls over the group, no one daring to speak.

I clear my throat. “Then I suppose we shouldn’t get caught.”

It’s completely dark by the time we reach the port.

I’ve pulled the men I could spare, leaving the rest to guard the remaining warehouses and the residence.

But most importantly, Loren. Matthias and Luc lead their teams from the north side of the port, and Everett and I lead ours from the south. In total, we have about twenty-two men.

Rose and her men march behind us silently. She insisted on coming along, refusing to wait in the car like I’d asked. She said my responsibility wasn’t to ensure she stayed alive—that belonged to the men she traveled with—but to save the women and deliver Peter Agapov to her.

Still, something protective tugs deep inside of me, but I shake it off.

I need to stay focused and not think about the fact I can still feel the heat from Loren’s cunt grinding on my cock.

With that thought, my dick hardens, and I have to shake that off, too, focusing on the present.

I won’t get killed because I can’t stop thinking about getting my dick wet.

It’s not about getting my dick wet. It’s Loren I can’t help but think about sinking into.

I focus back on our task and readjust my grip on my gun.

We’re clearing the port from both ends, working toward lots forty-three and forty-four.

At this time, we can only assume the Disciples entered falsified ledgers and are working with an unknown player.

It’s tedious, taking the time to clear the port even as tensions rise, but if I want my men alive, we can’t just go rushing in .

The air is crisp, a mist forming and threatening to come down harder with each minute that passes.

Row after row of metal containers line the port, stacked three, four containers high.

After ten minutes of working through the stacks, we reach the Bianchi lots.

We wait in silence until Matthias, Luc, and their team come into view.

Their faces are set in stone as they round the last of the shipping containers.

Matthias nods once, and we both approach the containers.

“Three, two,” I count, hands reaching for the metal rod locking the container, “one.” We both yank our respective rods out and pull open the doors. Rusty screeches break the quiet night. Then the yells begin.

A stunned man hops from his seat and reaches for his gun, but I fire off a shot before he can pull his weapon.

Everett takes out another, and we enter the shipping container.

It’s dark and quiet—too quiet. When we reach the end, I frown in confusion.

There’s only a ladder and a bucket. I glance inside, but it’s thankfully clean.

Well, it’s dirty as fuck, but it isn’t filled with human waste.

“They should be here,” Everett murmurs, however obvious.

One of his crew flicks on a flashlight and shines it around, illuminating the container.

“If they aren’t here, why did they have a guard?”

The question plagues us as we walk back outside, only to find Matthias and Lucas exiting their container with similar masks of confusion.

“No women?” Matthias asks.

I shake my head once, then turn to Rose. Anger thrums through me. “You said they’d be here.”

Rose clenches her jaw. “All the data pointed to these containers. Are you sure they aren’t here? ”

Luc scoffs a chafing laugh. “Unless they’re hidden behind a false wall, then yeah, we’re pretty—”

I yank Matthias’s flashlight from his hands and stalk back inside, all the way to the edge of the container.

Luc’s words trail off in confusion. Tapping to feel for hollowness wouldn’t work with this sort of container, and there’s not a false wall to be found.

The light shines over the empty container, but there’s nothing here.

With a sharp exhale, I tilt my face upward and groan.

It’s then that I see the cutout above. A ragged square is slightly tilted, like an askew vent in a ceiling, and my gaze narrows, slicing down to the ladder on the ground.

My lips curl into a triumphant smirk, and I lean it against the wall.

Climbing to the top, I lift the metal like a vent and push it off to the side.

I pop my head into the shipping container above, scanning the flashlight through the space, and my stomach settles like stone.

A group of terrified women huddle in the corner, with two in the front shielding the rest with their arms.

Their faces and clothes are stained with dirt and probably blood, and a stench permeates the room. Flies buzz around, and I suppress a gag. It’s been a while since I’ve encountered an imprisonment like this, and my nose isn’t used to it anymore.

I pull myself into the container and lift my hands, curling my shoulders to show I’m not a threat.

“We’re here to help.”

They flinch as if I’d struck them. My words are lost on them. They tremble as a group, and with each step closer, some openly cry. “I promise, we won’t hurt you.”

Everett climbs into the space, and one woman lets out a whimper. Other than a woman who throws a hand over the trembling brunette, no one breaks from their huddle. No one believes my words. And why would they?

As my mind rapid fires how to gain their trust, I almost miss their flinch when another person appears. This time it’s Rose.

“Hey, hey.” Her tone is soft, and I step aside to let her by.

She approaches them gently, and they look at her with hope shining behind their shadowed eyes, but I can tell they’re confused.

I don’t hear what she says next, her voice so quiet as she reassures them.

Taking a few steps back, I ease the pressure of my presence.

About a minute later, Rose turns back around. “Okay, they’ll come with us.”

As if they had a choice , I want to grumble.

Instead, I nod and stand at the opening.

One by one, we help bring the women down to the ground floor.

They immediately form another huddle. By the time the last woman is down, they’re shivering more than trembling.

“Get them some blankets,” I shout, indicating for Rose to follow. Time to get the second group out.

This time, I scope out the container to make sure there isn’t a threat, before sending Rose up first. Jace swears, but Rose holds up a hand and climbs the ladder, not paying him any mind.

I follow close behind to make sure we can help their descent, and also to ensure Rose doesn’t get hurt.

I wouldn’t blame any of these women for striking first and asking questions later.

After another ten minutes, all the women have been brought down and counted. Twenty-six . Fury sparks in my chest that this many women have gone missing and no one’s batted an eye or lifted a finger, except to print a few missing posters .

As the women are being handed blankets and water, I scan each face, looking for Alice.

Loren sent me a picture of the two of them from some bar a few years ago, and I admit, it was difficult for me to even notice another woman in the picture until Loren snapped her fingers in front of me.

Loren wore a red and white checkered top tied under her perfect breasts and the tiniest Daisy Duke shorts imaginable.

She had braided her hair on either side of her face and was wearing dusty brown cowboy boots.

She said it was from when they went line dancing for Alice’s twenty-first birthday.

All I could think was how I wanted her to break out those shorts again so I could peel them off her myself.

The thought makes my dick go hard again, and I will it to soften as I scan each woman. God fucking forbid they think I’m hard because of them. I might not be a righteous man, but I’m not pure evil.

When I reach the last group of huddled victims, my heart sinks. Alice isn’t here.

“Fuck.”

Lucas walks over to me, likely about to confirm the same.

“I’ve been showing her picture around. No one’s seen her.”

A curse falls from my lips, and I scuff the bottom of my boot on the concrete. If Alice wasn’t here, where could she be?

It takes another fifteen minutes, but Everett, Luc, and the rest of our men get the women loaded into cars and taken to the hospital.

They’ll brief them on the way there and encourage them to report what happened, but leave any Keane involvement out of it.

We don’t need to be answering questions right now.

It leaves Matthias, Graves, Rose, and her three men. The misty night picks up, the rain falling in thick drops .

“Where the fuck is Peter?” Rose spits, furiously shaking in her boots. The ground seems to tremble even though she only comes up to my chest. Or that might be the thunder that booms, storms swirling in the cloudy sky.

I shake my head. “Alice isn’t here either.”

“Think Peter still has her?” Matthias asks.

“It’s a possibility. But they’re supposed to leave at 0600 this morning. That’s only a few hours from now.”

Rose shakes, and Jace pulls her into a fierce hug. All it does is remind me of the woman waiting for me at home. My cock aches, and I whistle sharply, indicating it’s time to leave.

“I hope you didn’t think you could come into my lots and there wouldn't be any repercussions.” Thunder rumbles, lightning flashing, as Elias Bianchi’s voice rings out in the dark of night.

My blood chills as I turn and face the leader of the Bianchi family. My hand rests on the butt of my gun, and a tightness coils around my chest. I haven’t spoken to him in person in years, before we were both leaders, and this time…this time, everything has changed.

This time, it’s grounds for war.

Fuck.